Blue beats Gold 41-40 in the Notre Dame Football spring game

Apr 25, 2026; Notre Dame, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman greets players before the Blue-Gold game at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael Caterina-Imagn Images | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

So… Blue beats Gold in Notre Dame’s spring game with a last second field goal by Spencer Porath.

And I think that’s all we need to mention about “who beat who” here, because this was more of a glorified practice than any other in recent memory — which is fine.

Due to injuries and an abundance of caution, there were a number of players out of the game. Marcus Freeman really didn’t ask much of the team in this game either with multiple series being “THUD” series (no tackling to the ground).

A few players that stood out:

• Spencer Porath. The Purdue transfer was perfect for his PAT’s and kicked the game ending field goal with the entire team around him shouting only god knows what. He’s legit.
• Ethan Long. The safety had an assist on the Jaylen Sneed interception, and then grabbed an INT of his own later in the game.
• NFL Blood. Both Devin Fitzgerald and Elijah Burress caught touchdown passes.
• Blake Hebert looked noticeably better than Noah Grubbs, but the battle for QB2 is definitely going to a big thing during fall camp.
• Both Aneyas Williams and Jonas Walton scored touchdowns, but both only averaged a little over 3 yards per carry.
• Jayden Sanders was really good in coverage against CJ Carr and had 2 pass breakups on the day.

Overall, the most important thing here is that no new injuries were made.

I’m going to have to watch the tape one more time before I offer any big picture take aways, but given the way Notre Dame handled the scrimmage, that’s going to be pretty thin.