In a season opener pitting longtime rivals against one another, No. 6 Notre Dame will take on the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes.
Miami will host the Fighting Irish at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday evening in a top-ten matchup that will undoubtedly set the tone for the college football landscape this year and line up the two teams with College Football Playoff aspirations in 2025. Despite the Hurricanes winning the meeting between the two teams, Notre Dame does, in fact, own the all-time series between the two programs, 18-8-1.
However, some fans might be interested to know that ESPN broadcaster Molly McGrath will serve as the game’s sideline reporter.
Who is Molly McGrath?
McGrath joined ESPN in July 2016 and now serves as the go-to sideline reporter for ESPN/ABC Saturday college football games and the occasional Sunday game.
According to ESPN.com, she previously hosted various renditions of College Football Live and College Basketball Live, and covered select games as a sideline reporter for the XFL on ABC. McGrath used to report from the sidelines of ESPN’s Thursday night college football package and regularly served as a sideline reporter on ABC and ESPN for men’s college basketball.
IT’S A GREAT DAY FOR SOME @CanesFootball 🙌 pic.twitter.com/SZ9L2T7kvr
— Miami Hurricanes (@MiamiHurricanes) August 31, 2025
McGrath, who has already arrived on-site in Miami, has various ties to the city of Boston.
She previously served as a web and in-arena reporter at TD Garden for the Boston Celtics while also hosting Celtics Now on Comcast SportsNet New England in 2012 and 2013. She also completed internships with NESN and WHDH-TV in Boston. If that wasn’t enough, McGrath graduated from Boston College in 2011 and was an ESPN production assistant that same year.
During her time at Boston College, she received the Athletic Director’s Award for Academic Excellence and was captain of the cheerleading team.
Read More: Miami vs. Notre Dame Preview: Head-to-Head, Grades, and Prediction for College Football Week 1
Flashing back to more recent accolades, McGrath was nominated for Outstanding Personality/Reporter at the 44th Sports Emmy Awards in 2023. Additionally, McGrath and the entire SEC on ABC team won the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Live Series in 2025.
Notre Dame enters the 2025 season with one of the best rosters in the nation following a College Football Playoff run in 2024 that ended with the Irish finishing as the national runner-up to Ohio State.
Molly McGrath back on my screen pic.twitter.com/VIxJaMb1Ab
— Brian (@_Braizen) August 30, 2025
 Kick-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST, with the game being televised live on ABC.
