Live pregame observations: Notre Dame vs. Stanford

Notre Dame and Stanford meet in South Bend Saturday for the first time since 2018. The Irish are looking for their fourth straight victory in the series.

Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. ET. Follow along here for live pregame observations and news from Notre Dame’s warmups.

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5 p.m. ET: The victory march from pregame mass as the Basilica of the Sacred Heart to the stadium begins. Defensive players arrive at midfield for their usual pregame prayer and huddle around 5:20 and disperse to change shortly after.

5:42 p.m.: The first Notre Dame players – the specialists, as usual – emerge for initial warmups.

5:49 p.m.: Skill players and quarterbacks are out for initial warmups and start throwing routes on air.

6:00 p.m.: Notre Dame announces grad student cornerback TaRiq Bracy is a game-time decision. He left last week’s game vs. BYU with a hamstring injury. Head coach Marcus Freeman called him questionable throughout the week, but said he had practiced Wednesday.

The @NDFootball availability update for tonight's game with Stanford (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC) pic.twitter.com/53HV4RysPs

— Notre Dame Football PR Team (@NDFootballPR) October 15, 2022

6:00 p.m. ET: Senior defensive tackle Howard Cross III, who missed last week due to an ankle injury, is going through initial warmups with the rest of the defensive line.

6:09 p.m.: Freshman linebacker Jaylen Sneed is in sweat pants and not the gold warmups shorts many of his teammates are wearing, though that may be just his warmup outfit of choice. Freeman said the season-ending knee injury linebacker Bo Bauer suffered Tuesday wouldn’t immediately elevate Sneed into defensive snaps. He’s running without issue, though, and even chased a thrown ball down in the end zone. Sneed did travel with Notre Dame to Las Vegas last week.

6:15 p.m.: Bauer is on the sideline on crutches, wearing his No. 52 jersey and sweat pants.

6:17 p.m.: Cornerback Cam Hart and safety DJ Brown are among the last players to go back into the locker room to change. They were running 1-on-1 against each other. Sophomore running back Logan Diggs, like normal, is one the last two still on the field. He’s doing some running drills on his own while cradling a ball in his arm. Freshman running back Gi’Bran Payne is putting himself through similar drills.

6:23 p.m.: All players have cleared the field.

6:28 p.m.: The specialists emerge in full uniform to begin more warmups. Kicker Blake Grupe, holder Jon Sot and long snapper Michael Vinson start field goal warmups. The second-team field goal unit is kicker Josh Bryan, holder Chris Salerno and long snapper Alex Peitsch. Grupe kicks from both hash marks. He hits from 48 yards on one side, misses from 50 on the other side and then hits his second 50-yard attempt. The miss had less distance than the make.

6:38 p.m.: Kick and punt returners are on the field and begin fielding balls from Sot and kickoff specialist Zac Yoakam.

Welcomed by 5️⃣2️⃣ pic.twitter.com/LZRJnSpbyv

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 15, 2022

6:45 p.m.: Quarterbacks and centers take the field for warmup snaps. Starting quarterback Drew Pyne comes out doing the Conor McGregor strut he first broke out last year after throwing a touchdown vs. Wisconsin last year.

6:49 p.m.: Defensive backs emerge for position drills and warmups. Bracy is in uniform and first in line among the corners. Cross is going through warmups as well. Freshman defensive tackle Tyson Ford and sophomore safety Justin Walters are not in uniform. Ford has not played this year. Walters has been a staple of kickoff units. Sneed is in uniform and going through warmups.

6:53 p.m.: Notre Dame lines up for full-team stretching.

7:08 p.m.: Notre Dame goes through full 11-on-11 warmups. Bracy and Cross are participating.

7:32 p.m.: The Irish run onto the field after the stadium goes dark for the light show.

7:34 p.m.: Stanford wins the toss and defers. Notre Dame will receive.