How Notre Dame football will score its annual Blue-Gold Spring Game on Saturday

USA Today

10-04-2025

How Notre Dame football will score its annual Blue-Gold Spring Game on Saturday
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team will be back on the field this coming Saturday, and what you will see won't quite resemble what normal football looks like.
Mainly, it is due to the Irish trying to limit injuries, and with that in mind they will score the game much differently than we are accustomed to. In a social media post from Eric Hansen of Inside ND Sports, he broke down how Notre Dame will score its spring game.
A normal touchdown plus extra point will be seven points, but the offense will also get a point for each first down, two points for an explosive play over 20-yards, the normal three points for a field goal and two points for a two-point conversion.
On defense is where it gets very interesting, as typically the only points they would score is on a turnover. That won't be what we see on Saturday, as they'll get a point for forcing a punt, five points for a takeaway in plus territory, seven for a takeaway in minus territory, a whopping twelve points for a defensive touchdown, a point for a tackle-for-loss, two points for a sack, three points for blocking a field goal, two points for a point after touchdown return or failed two point attempts or a forth down stop or missed field goal and finally three points for a 4th down stop in minus territory.
All of these adjustments tell us that they'll like be testing the first team offense more than what we would normally see in a spring game, due to the fact that a starting quarterback has yet to emerge.
While these will be significantly different rules, we will get to see Notre Dame football back on the field, even though its just a tease until the regular season gets going.