Since 2022, Jason Garrett has served as the game analyst for NBC’s coverage of Notre Dame football home games.
Garrett was known for being a bland head coach with the Dallas Cowboys and as offensive coordinator with the New York Giants. In the booth, he’s often the same way.
Garrett isn’t immune from making occasional strange comments either, like the one he had today during the Fighting Irish’s home opener against Northern Illinois.
When discussing NIU quarterback Ethan Hampton, Garrett mentioned how impressed he was with the Elburn, Ill. native’s performance in last week’s 54-15 win over Western Illinois.
“He’s started games in the past but this is the first time he’s started a game when he was the starter, and he responded well,” Garrett said of Hampton.
We’re guessing that Garrett meant that this is Hampton’s first time being NIU’s full-time starter.
He served as Rocky Lombardi’s primary backup the last three seasons, but made multiple starts in 2022 when Lombardi got hurt.
There was a point to Garrett’s comments–we think–but they just came out weirdly. Anyway, Notre Dame fans have much more pressing matters to worry about at the moment.
After beating a ranked Texas A&M team in College Station last Saturday, the Irish moved up two spots to No. 5 in this weeks’ AP poll top 25.
They’ve followed that up by sleepwalking through the first two quarters this afternoon. After driving down and scoring a touchdown on their opening possession, Notre Dame’s offense has sputtered and its defense has at times been pushed around by a MAC foe.
At halftime, Northern Illinois leads 13-7. You can catch the second half on NBC.
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