(Notre Dame) — Marcus Freeman has had a conundrum since getting on the team plane Sunday night after a win vs. Wisconsin.

He knew his team was emerging from a physical game with the Badgers — “some of the guys looked like they were in a boxing match,” he opined — and they have a short week to prepare for the home opener with Rice.  So how to handle practice this week?

“I thought about it a lot,” said the fifth-year Irish head coach. “We got data feedback of course, and then I saw them this morning for meetings and I knew we were ready for practice. We have to practice in pads Tuesdays. How we structure practice may be different, but we’ve got to have a Bloody Tuesday.”

The Irish got a little beat up in Green Bay Sunday night. Defensive tackle Jason Onye and safety Brauntae Johnson will both be “out a couple weeks”, according to Freeman, but are expected to play again this season. Notre Dame should get linebacker Kyngston Villiamu-Asa back for some duty against Rice.

“He’s trending that we expect them out there Saturday,” stated Freeman. “How much he plays is to be determined. As of today, we expect him to get out there a little.”

Rice (1-0) presents challenges with an offense and defense that Freeman calls “non-traditional”, including a triple-option attack that is run from the shotgun.  However, the Irish head coach — who saw his team go up to #3 in this week’s Associated Press poll — is more concerned about his own team.

“In 2024, we didn’t improve week two,” recalls Freeman of his team’s home-opening loss to Northern Illinois. “We have to improve eye discipline. We had a punt blocked. We had a kickoff return stopped inside the 20. We let a kickoff out. We can’t let our standards slip because of the outcome of a game.”

Freeman was not ready to anoint Sullivan Absher as the starting left guard, despite appearances that Absher outplayed Styles Prescod at the position Sunday night.

“I thought both played extremely well,” reflected Freeman. “The plan going in was to get 30 reps for each guy. We were intentional about that. This week could present something different. The biggest thing is you’re going to reach a point where this guy isn’t going to come off the field because of consistency. They’re playing most consistent right now with 30 reps.”

Two of the last three times Notre Dame has played Rice the Irish have gone on to win the national championship (1973, 1988). The Irish and Owls meet for the sixth time ever at the Stadium Saturday afternoon with kickoff just after 3:30 p.m. on NBC/Peacock.