The Irish are about to open the season on a national stage, and the injury report is already working against them. Notre Dame and Wisconsin meet at Lambeau Field on Sunday, Sept. 6 at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC, and the biggest storyline heading in has nothing to do with X's and O's.
Right guard not quite settled for the Irish, who will be without WR Quincy Porter (knee) against Wisconsin. LB Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (knee) is questionable for the opener.
Adam Rittenberg confirmed what Notre Dame fans had been bracing for: Quincy Porter is out for the opener. The Ohio State transfer was billed as a difference-maker in the passing game after crossing over this offseason, but a left knee issue that required patella surgery wiped out his entire spring and has lingered into fall camp. Reports out of South Bend have suggested the injury was more serious than it initially looked, and now it's cost him a shot at Notre Dame's biggest non-conference game in years.
Pete Nakos backed up the same news and added the other name Irish fans are watching closely — Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, who's officially questionable for Sunday as he works back from a torn ACL.
Notre Dame LB Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa is listed as questionable for Sunday vs. Wisconsin. Recovering from a torn ACL. Ohio State transfer WR Quincy Porter is also out. t.co/qaoDUXhON0
Viliamu-Asa's injury dates back to a Nov. 22 blowout of Syracuse last season, and by most accounts his rehab has gone about as well as it possibly could. Coaches have described him as roughly 6 weeks ahead of schedule, which is why he's questionable rather than a flat scratch — a real, live chance he suits up for the opener instead of a nice story about progress. That's a fast track for a torn ACL, and it says a lot about how hard he's pushed to be available for a game this big.
Losing Porter is the bigger near-term hit. He was expected to step into a featured role in the receiver room immediately, and instead he'll be in street clothes for the debut in front of a national NBC audience. Notre Dame will need someone else to win early targets against a Wisconsin defense that's going to be plenty motivated to make a statement in its own opener.
Whether Viliamu-Asa ends up active by kickoff is the thing to watch this week. If he's cleared, it's a genuine boost to a front seven that will already be without one of its expected offensive weapons — if not, Notre Dame opens its season thinner at two different spots than it hoped to be in August.