GREEN BAY, Wis. — Adon Shuler and Drayk Bowen had been wondering where they’d do a victorious Lambeau Leap even before Notre Dame’s 41-13 win over Wisconsin on Sunday night. It’s hard to fault either two-time Irish captain for planning ahead considering the venue for this edition of the Shamrock Series, Notre Dame’s annual neutral-site showcase, and considering the opponent, a program that has to squint to see hope for 2026.The Irish should think highly enough of themselves to choreograph postgame celebrations before kickoff. Notre Dame is built to win the whole thing. It knows it. You know it. That makes human nature one of Notre Dame’s more difficult opponents this season, which may not be saying much considering the schedule.But at Lambeau Field, playing its first football game in nearly 10 months, Notre Dame got a reminder that there is no skipping steps in a season that could end in the national championship game. There is no fast-forward button. Notre Dame can’t atone for the way last season ended in one night any more than it can secure its spot in this year’s College Football Playoff by winning in September.“The biggest thing was the ability to just let go of what you thought this game was going to be like and focus on the moment,” coach Marcus Freeman said. “Whatever you thought going into this game it was going to be, let it go. It will be a struggle.”For one half, Notre Dame didn’t look like the team it expected to be. And in the other half, it did, ultimately running away from Wisconsin in a blowout that felt closer than the final margin, even if the outcome was never in doubt. Notre Dame’s run game needs work. The offensive line doesn’t know its best lineup. It’s not clear whether all that defensive depth is ready to help on the field. Special teams could use a tune-up after an up-and-down night, allowing a blocked punt but also picking up a turnover on a Wisconsin muffed kick return.Notre Dame players celebrate after win over WisconsinNotre Dame’s performance had more positives than red flags. And there was no reason to think the Irish wouldn’t give off at least a few warning signs on opening night. The offensive line features just one returning starter at a familiar position after an offseason shuffle by position coach Joe Rudolph. Quarterback CJ Carr has chemistry with veteran wideout Jordan Faison, but everybody else in the passing game is a work in progress. It’s not clear whether the Irish have a running back worth featuring.But this is the curve on which Notre Dame will be graded this fall. Beating Wisconsin doesn’t move many needles. The same will go for upcoming opponents Rice, Michigan State, Purdue, North Carolina and Stanford. Beating those teams won’t signal anything to the rest of the sport. Struggle even for a quarter against any of them, and it will be easy to analyze Notre Dame harshly. But that’s how the Irish should be judged: not against the opponent right in front of Notre Dame, but against how this performance might hold up in January. It’s just that the Irish can’t say that part out loud with Freeman pressing hard to make amends for last season.“Sometimes you don’t believe it till you’re in it,” Freeman said. “Like, I can sit here and tell you, you have to struggle to achieve what we achieved tonight. But until you’re in the middle of it, it’s hard to understand that.“And don’t assume the future is going to go in any direction. Just don’t assume it’s going to go anywhere. Just focus on what you have in the moment. They did a good job of doing that.”Especially in the second half when Notre Dame snuffed the life out of Wisconsin and half of the Lambeau Field crowd dressed in red. The nine-play, 70-yard touchdown drive to open the second half felt like something out of the playbook from two years ago, when the Irish didn’t always rely on the spectacular to score points. DJ McKinney’s 55-yard pick six immediately followed, extinguishing the Badgers’ hopes of a four-quarter fight. From there, Notre Dame leaned on Wisconsin until it toppled over, a reminder that the Irish can win games with persistence over pyrotechnics. Even if Notre Dame may lack the human uppercuts of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, it’s got plenty of jabs to throw with this year’s roster.The Irish got there in the second half by leaning into their quarterback’s brain as much as his arm, figuring out how to throw against a Wisconsin defense that kept two safeties back at all times. Just handing the ball off to Aneyas Williams and hoping was not a strategy. But forcing Williams and Nolan James Jr. to become focal points of the offense was a plan of attack that worked, even if it took a minute to get there.Under normal circumstances, two backs combining for 187 yards and three touchdowns on 32 offensive touches would be more than enough to turn heads. But for Williams and James, those numbers are a reminder of where the Irish need to get better.“There’s moments in the game tonight that they showed to be the backs that we expected,” Freeman said. “I’m confident. Not just because of the day, but because of what I’ve seen over fall camp, right, and spring ball. There’s a lot of confidence, and they’ll continue to work, and the evidence will show in the future.”As his teammates got in their Lambeau Leaps, Williams made his way to the locker room with a bleeding cut above his left cheekbone. As much as Notre Dame’s starting running back wanted to celebrate the night, it left him bruised, too. The Irish emerged from all this better for the experience, able to flush last season on national television and get back to work.Maybe that was the best feeling of all for Notre Dame, why it felt like half the roster got on the ledge of the student section, celebrating not just the win but the fact that this longest of offseasons is finally over. So it was worth planning ahead for Shuler and Bowen, the captains trying to keep the program rolling without looking too far down the track.One game into this longest of regular seasons, it appears the Irish are off to a strong start.