The Notre Dame Fighting Irish completed their road sweep of Penn State in men’s hockey on Saturday evening at Pegula Ice Arena, defeating the Nittany Lions 4-2. Saturday’s win follows Friday night’s 5-4 overtime win.
The wins have improved the team to 4-6 on the season and were a nice bounce-back after last weekend’s abomination, when the Irish were absolutely throttled by Wisconsin, 9-1 and 7-1. Even though the losses to the Badgers were especially ugly, the victories over the Nittany Lions show Notre Dame can find a way to get a foothold in the Big Ten and, if nothing else, play spoiler.
Luke Talich paid the price for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish win
Safety Luke Talich was the hero of Notre Dame’s win over Miami, getting an interception off Miami quarterback Darian Mensah (just the second Mensah has thrown this season). He also broke up a touchdown pass on fourth down, ending the Hurricanes’ final push for a comeback.
After the game, fans rushed the field to celebrate the win over the No. 1 team in the country, and Talich got caught up in the rush. He later talked about how wild the field was right after the final whistle: “Oh, my gosh. I think I got a minor concussion from all the fans hitting my helmet.”
Notre Dame Fighting Irish get third commit from the Miami weekend
Notre Dame has things rolling on the recruiting trail, and the latest good news for the Fighting Irish is a commitment from a talented linebacker in the 2028 class. Sacramento Grant Union’s Julian Bruno, the No. 472 overall recruit and No. 32 linebacker in the class according to the 2028 Rivals Industry Ranking, announced his pledge to Marcus Freeman’s program the day after the Irish defeated Miami, during his first visit to campus.
Notre Dame scored Bruno over Stanford, Cal, and Ole Miss, among other schools. Bruno is the third commitment of the weekend, joining Asa Burch and Zaiden Jernigan, who committed before the game.
Notre Dame essentially locks in a College Football Playoff berth
Now that the Irish have beaten the No. 1 team in the country, ESPN certainly believes they’re going to the CFP. According to ESPN’s FPI, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have a 92.0% chance of making the College Football Playoff and a 17.3% chance of winning it all.
Only No. 1 Georgia has better national championship odds.
Miami head coach can’t handle losing to Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Saturday night’s final score says Notre Dame beat Miami 31-24, but Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal isn’t so sure.
Cristobal is focused on an incomplete pass on fourth-and-6 from the Fighting Irish’s 16-yard line, where safety Luke Talich broke up a Darian Mensah pass attempt that receiver Elija Lofton looked like he’d hauled in. Because the pass was ruled incomplete after Lofton couldn’t complete the catch before going out of bounds and Talich knocked it loose, the drive ended with no points, and that was the last time the Hurricanes threatened.
“Really, really disappointed that they negated Elija Lofton’s touchdown with two hands on the ball and two feet in bounds,” Cristobal said, kicking off his postgame press conference. “But like we told our team before we left Miami, do not leave it in the hands of the officials, because that’s what you’re going to get out here.”
“So aside from that, a very hard-fought game. Congratulations to Notre Dame for winning the game, and very disappointed in the way that was called with the game on the line and clear possession of a football inbounds.”
Even if Cristobal whines louder, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish still got the win, and on Tuesday night, they’ll find out what that did for their CFP seeding.
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