The Heat is About to Be On Notre Dame

To begin the 2024 college football campaign, Notre Dame will take on the twentieth-ranked team in the land, the Texas A&M Aggies. The Irish will also be taking on over 100,000 rabid SEC fans when they invade Kyle Field. They’ll be taking on a new enemy as if that were not enough. It’s a foe invisible to their eyes, but the players will know it when it hits them.

“Sometimes you can overdo it,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman explained.  “We can’t control the weather here. We’ve had some hot days, and we’ve had some not-so-hot days. I think as we change our practice schedule to the afternoons, you’ll have more heat, but I think the thing we have to remind our guys about is how to replenish their bodies. How to make sure that they’re fueling the right way in between practices, in between series, and in between plays. It’s not just hey, right before the game, make sure you hydrate. All of these things we have been practicing during practice now.

“The other part is just a mentality, Freeman continued. “It’s going to be hot, yeah. We’ll be fine. We’re hydrated. We’re well-conditioned. Our strength staff has done a great job, and you can’t let things that shouldn’t distract you, distract you.”

The temperature in College Station is supposed to still be over one hundred degrees during week one, with a heat index of 112. Luckily for the Irish, the game will be held at night, so the temperature may drop to a warm 108 degrees. Not only will hydration be vital to Notre Dame’s success on the field, as coach Freeman alluded to, but having depth on the roster to keep the team fresh will also be key.

“We’re trying to develop kind of a herd at each position or a pod that we can rotate through irrespective of where we play,” Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden informed. “Obviously, the heat in the opener is one of the elements of the game, but for us we are trying to develop that at every position.”

One of the positions Notre Dame added depth to via the transfer portal during the offseason was wide receiver. Coincidentally, one of the transfers is familiar with the enemy he will be facing during week one. Former Florida International standout Kris Mitchell admitted that the weather may be the biggest difference between fall camp in Indiana and fall camp in Florida.

“It’s way hotter in Miami,” Kris Mitchell exclaimed. “It’s way hotter in Miami! Here I feel more comfortable.  I was losing eight pounds at practice last year. I feel like I’m maintaining my weight now. I’m not losing too much. I’m feeling more comfortable and not going through so many injuries.”

There’s another transfer that is not only familiar with the heat in the south but also everything the “Home of the 12^th Man” will have to offer. Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, who returned to Notre Dame this season after having served a tour at LSU from 2022-2023, knows exactly what to expect on August 31^st.

“It’s a hornet’s nest,” Denbrock said of Kyle Field. “It’s loud, chaotic, and warm, I think someone brought up. All those things are true, and it’s a very difficult hostile place to function, especially as the visiting team on the offensive side of the ball.  We’ve worked on different cadences and snap counts to make sure we are clued in and have to be careful about how much motion and shifting and different things that we build within the gameplan because you can’t hear.

“Communication is hard, Denbrock added. “I think the work we’ve done with a good doctor about focusing and blocking out the noise, literally the noise at Kyle Field, is going to be a huge factor in how we perform. I think some of that is the confidence and calmness that we can walk into that stadium with as a program and that comes from being successful on the practice field and building that trust in one another.”