Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 SEPT. 20, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Benji Anderson — Cross Country The freshman from High- lands Ranch, Colo., finished his first career college race in grand fashion with an individual championship at the season-opening Winrow- Valparaiso Open Aug. 29 in Valparaiso, Ind. Anderson covered the 6,000-meter course in a time of 17:44.61 to finish more than three seconds ahead of the race's run- ner-up, fellow Fighting Irish rookie Jason Parra. Annabelle Chukwu — Soccer The sophomore forward from Ottawa, Ontario, scored all three Irish goals in a 3-0 shutout win at Michigan State Sept. 4. This marked the first hat trick — and even the first multi-goal game — of Chuk- wu's career and earned her ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors. Chukwu, who earned ACC All-Freshman Team and third-team all-league accolades after recording 3 goals and 2 assists in 2024, had 5 goals through six games this season. Mitch Ferguson — Soccer The senior defender from Glen Carbon, Ill., earned ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors after a stellar performance in a 1-0 Irish win at Alumni Stadium over No. 14 Oregon State Aug. 28. In addition to helping the Notre Dame defense shut out the high-pow- ered Beavers' offense, Ferguson also scored the lone goal of the game on a header in the 39th minute off a free kick. Emmelin "Rosie" Mucharsky — Cross Country The freshman from Denver helped open Notre Dame's women's cross country sea- son with a first-place indi- vidual finish at the Winrow- Valparaiso Open Aug. 29 in Valparaiso, Ind. Competing in her first race for Notre Dame, Mucharsky covered the 5,000-meter course in 16:39.48 to win the event by more than 12 seconds. As a team, the Irish swept the top-five places at the meet, and eight of the top 10 spots. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Notre Dame football on a Sunday night in Week 1 meant big-time ratings for ABC. Notre Dame's 27-24 loss at Miami Aug. 31 drew 10.8 million viewers to ABC's presentation of the game. That became ABC's second-best ratings for a Sunday night game in Week 1 behind Notre Dame's matchup at Texas in 2016, which attracted 10.95 million viewers. Both resulted in Notre Dame losses. But Notre Dame's loss to Miami likely won't be followed by a dreadful season with a 4-8 record for the Irish, like the 2016 campaign that followed the 50-47 double- overtime loss to Texas nine years ago. Only one game in college football's Week 1 slate this year drew more viewers than Notre Dame-Mi- ami: Texas at Ohio State. The matchup of the top- ranked Longhorns and third-ranked Buckeyes to open the season drew 16.6 million viewers on FOX. Notre Dame-Miami offered college football fans a top-10 matchup between two programs with histori- cally documented disdain for each other. But it might not take much of a story line to get folks to tune in for Notre Dame football these days. The Irish appeared in four of the 10 most-watched games from last sea- son, all of which were College Football Playoff games. Notre Dame likely won't have another regular sea- son game this year to rival its viewership in the sea- son opener, but the Irish will be back in the Sunday spotlight to start next season. NBC will benefit from having the TV rights for Notre Dame's 2026 Shamrock Series game against Wisconsin at Green Bay's Lam- beau Field on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. — Tyler James CHARTING THE IRISH HIGH MARKS Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa started his 2025 season with the best Pro Football Focus defensive grade of his young Notre Dame career. The sophomore linebacker received an 85.4 defensive grade for his performance on 37 defensive snaps in Notre Dame's 27-24 loss to Miami Aug. 31. Viliamu-Asa's grade was Notre Dame's best on defense against the Hurricanes. Wide receiver Micah Gilbert had Notre Dame's highest on offense at 85.5. Viliamu-Asa, who recorded 4 tackles and 1 tackle for loss, didn't start against Miami but played regu- larly. Only starter Drayk Bowen played more snaps (58) at linebacker for the Irish than Viliamu-Asa. Viliamu-Asa played two more snaps than starting linebacker Jaylen Sneed. In the eyes of PFF, Viliamu-Asa's performance against Miami was good enough to be considered among the best linebackers in the country through Week 2. Only nine linebackers who played at least 30 snaps re- ceived higher grades than Viliamu-Asa through Week 2. The nine higher than him played in two games compared to his lone outing. Notre Dame needs to keep finding ways to get the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Viliamu-Asa involved in the defensive game plan. He's starting to live up to recruiting expectations after Rivals rated him a five-star recruit in the 2024 class. Viliamu-Asa emerged as a contributor for the Irish as a freshman last season, but he received a PFF defensive grade better than 80 on just one occasion in 2024: an 82.6 in 23 snaps of a 66-7 victory over Purdue. He'll have a chance to put up high marks against the Boilermakers in Notre Dame Stadium Sept. 20. — Tyler James Notre Dame's 27-24 loss at Miami was the second-most watched game of this season's opening weekend. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S MOST- WATCHED GAMES OF WEEK 1 Rk. Game Viewers 1. Texas-Ohio State 16.6 million 2. Notre Dame-Miami 10.8 million 3. Alabama-Florida State 10.7 million 4. LSU-Clemson 10.4 million 5. TCU-North Carolina 6.6 million PFF'S TOP-GRADED LINEBACKERS THROUGH WEEK 2 Rk. Player, School Grade 1. Jacob Rodriguez, Texas Tech 92.2 2. Brayden Johnson, Wyoming 92.1 3. Jerry Mixon, Oregon 91.4 4. Ethan Wesloski, North Texas 90.8 5. CJ Allen, Georgia 90.7 6. Maverick Baranowski, Minnesota 90.0 7. Mikai Gbayor, North Carolina 89.0 8. Mitchell Gonser, Buffalo 88.0 9. Daniel Wingate, Maryland 85.9 10. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Notre Dame 85.4