Notre Dame enters its matchup with Wisconsin looking loaded almost everywhere, which is exactly why the Fighting Irish are favored so heavily. But if the Badgers are searching for a place to make this game uncomfortable, the edge of the Irish offensive line stands out as the clearest spot to test.
The rest of Notre Dame’s two-deep looks sturdy and familiar, with an experienced group of returning players who are used to operating together. That kind of continuity is a big reason the No.
4 Irish don’t have many obvious openings. Still, there is one position group that carries real uncertainty, and it comes at a premium spot.
Keeping quarterback CJ Carr upright is the mission, and the tackle spots may determine how well Notre Dame can do that. Right tackle Guebry Lambert is expected to start there, but that’s not the role where he built his résumé.
He has 737 career snaps and started full time last season at right guard, where he was excellent in pass protection and gave up just one sack and 10 pressures. He has had the offseason to work at tackle, but his experience on the right edge is limited to fewer than 70 career snaps, most of them from two years ago.
The bigger question is on the blindside. Sophomore Will Black is projected to handle left tackle, and the Irish clearly believe in him.
He was one of the top offensive linemen in the class of 2025 and earned a five-star rating on On3/Rivals. But the experience is almost nonexistent: Black has never played left tackle in college and has just 27 total snaps, split between 16 at left guard and 11 at right tackle.
“Like any freshman, he had a bumpy road that first year,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said. “It's extremely high, if you look at his ceiling. He's doing a really good job at the left tackle position going against really good players,” he said.
At 6-7 and 316 pounds, Black has the kind of frame and upside coaches dream about. The issue for Notre Dame is what happens when that upside is tested by a rusher like Sebastian Cheeks, who brings speed, quickness and plenty of battle-tested experience against quality offensive tackles.
Wisconsin’s own pass rush is not a finished product, especially beyond Cheeks. But if the Badgers can turn Notre Dame’s lack of tackle experience into a problem, they have a chance to put pressure on Carr and make the Irish far less comfortable than the rankings suggest.
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The betting line says plenty about the size of the task, with Wisconsin listed as a 20.5-point underdog. For a program trying to sort out chemistry, roles and leadership in a hurry, opening against a playoff-caliber opponent leaves little room to ease in. It also gives the Badgers an immediate chance to see how far the offseason work has really carried them, and how much more there is to do once the lights come on. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin Opens With A Lambeau Test That Could Set The Tone
Wisconsin will get an early measuring stick in 2026, and it will come in one of the most recognizable venues in the sport. The Badgers are set to open the season against Notre Dame on Sept. 6 at Lambeau Field, a marquee nonconference matchup that immediately gives Luke Fickells team a chance to show whether the roster overhaul is moving the program back in the right direction after a 4-8 finish in 2025.
There is plenty of curiosity around how that new-look group will come together, especially with quarterback Colton Joseph now in the mix. A season opener of this magnitude does more than draw attention nationally on NBC - it also puts Wisconsin under a spotlight usually reserved for November pressure games, and the way the Badgers handle it could say a lot about how far they have come since last fall. [Read more 🡒]