36 days until Notre Dame opens the 2025 season at Miami
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) -WNDU.com is counting down the days until the Notre Dame football team begins its 2025 season against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium. We’re providing bits of information and insight about the team and the game every day until the season begins.
Most of us don’t think too much about the kicking game when it comes to big football matchups like Notre Dame vs Miami, but it can be an important part of the game.
Both schools will likely have transfer portal field goal kickers when they hit the field on Sunday, Aug. 31. Miami picked up former Texas kicker Bert Auburn, who will have one last year of eligibility. Auburn connected on just over 76 percent of his field goals at Texas (66-86 ) and he made 24 kicks from 40 yards or more. He had a bit of a down year last year, making only 16 out of 25 kicks.
Notre Dame picked up Noah Brunette in the transfer portal. He spent the last four years at North Carolina. Last year he made 15 out 21 field goal attempts for the Tarheels. He has connected on 49 out of 62 kicks over his career, including 16 out of 19 from 40 to 49 yards.
It doesn’t seem like either team has a definite advantage when it comes to field goals, but what about punting? James Rendell returns for Notre Dame. The former Australian rugby player had an inconsistent year for the Irish, averaging 41.8 yards per punt. Miami’s Dylan Joyce is also from Australia. It’s interesting that both schools have Australian punters. Joyce averaged 42.7 yards per kick. So again, no obvious advantage for either team.
That’s perhaps more than you wanted to know about the kicking games for Notre Dame and Miami, but when teams are pretty evenly matched the game can be decided by a made or missed field goal and or a good or bad punt.
36 more days and we’ll find out if kicking made a big difference or not.
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