Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1539676
14 SEPT. 27, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Wyatt Borso — Soccer The senior forward from Aurora, Ill., scored his first goal of the season in the 67th minute to help Notre Dame to a 2-0 road win over Pittsburgh in its ACC opener Sept. 12. He paced the Fight- ing Irish with 3 shots in the victory. Through six matches, Borso was tied for the team lead with 2 goals and 4 points while pac- ing the team in shots on goal (4). Izzy Engle — Soccer The sophomore midfielder/forward from Edina, Minn., scored a goal in the 39th min- ute to erase a 1-0 deficit and help catapult Notre Dame to a 2-1 victory over North Carolina State Sept. 11. The national player of the year candidate led the team with 6 shots against the Wolf- pack. Engle paced the 6-0-1 Fighting Irish with 7 goals, 15 points and 26 shots through seven matches. Sonoma Kasica — Soccer The sophomore goalkeeper from St. Peters- burg, Fla., made 4 saves in the second half and a season-best 5 saves for the game in Notre Dame's 2-1 win at North Carolina State Sept. 11. Kasica has been terrific so far this season for the 7-0-1 and No. 6-ranked Fighting Irish, allowing only 6 goals while making 21 saves and posting 3 shutouts in her first eight outings. Calen Sanderson — Golf The senior from Newtown, Pa., led the Fighting Irish and tied for second overall in the Folds of Honor Collegiate Tourna- ment Sept. 8-10 at American Dunes Golf Course in Grand Haven, Mich. Sanderson paced the sec- ond-place Irish team with a 3-under-par score of 210, one shot behind the tournament champion. He carded a 3-under- par 68 in Round 2, to go along with even-par rounds of 71 in the first and final rounds. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Notre Dame is 0-2 for the fifth time since Lou Holtz's first season in 1986 — and the second time in the Marcus Freeman era. Freeman actually began his tenure as head coach of the Fighting Irish 0-3, including his de- feat in the Fiesta Bowl after Brian Kelly left for LSU. That loss and Notre Dame's season-opening road loss to No. 2 Ohio State were excusable. Being upset by Marshall a week later was not. Before Freeman, Notre Dame's last 0-2 start came in 2011, Kelly's second season. The other two Irish head coaches who oversaw 0-2 starts in the 21st century were Charlie Weis (2007) and Bob Davie (2001). As Kelly and Freeman both found out, it's not easy to run the table after starting 0-2. They both fell twice down the stretch, cutting through sizable win streaks. Ironically, they both lost to the same two teams: Stanford and Southern Cal. It's also always possible that an 0-2 start isn't a mirage and the team is actually bad, as Notre Dame was in 2007 and 2001. But that is extremely unlikely for the 2025 edition, for multiple reasons. First, the Irish lost to two College Football Play- off contenders that are now ranked in the top 10, and they did it by a combined four points. And second, Notre Dame is the first 0-2 team still ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 since 1988. Voters around the country think the Irish can still turn it around. —Jack Soble CHARTING THE IRISH ROCK BOTTOM It can't get much worse for the Notre Dame defense, and the numbers back that up. After losing to Miami and Texas A&M, the Irish are either outside or just inside the top 100 nationally in 10 key defensive statistics, including two in which they're nearly dead last. Those would be tackles per loss and sacks per game, in which Notre Dame entered Week 4 tied for 134th and 133rd with 2 and 0.5, respectively. The defensive front was well below the standard throughout Notre Dame's 0-2 start, but so was the secondary. The Irish ranked 132nd in opponent expected points added (EPA) per play at 0.311 and 120th in Pro Football Focus coverage grade at 56.4. For reference, Notre Dame's PFF coverage grade was third in the nation at 90.8 in 2024. Speaking of areas in which the Irish excelled in 2024 but not 2025, former defensive coordinator Al Golden's units led the country in pass efficiency de- fense in his final two seasons in South Bend. New defensive coordinator Chris Ash's group was 103rd after allowing 41 points in the loss to Texas A&M. There are other damning num- bers, but the bottom line is this: Notre Dame's defensive performance through two games was not accept- able. — Jack Soble Notre Dame has started a season 0-2 five times since 1986, including twice under head coach Marcus Freeman. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER NOTRE DAME'S LAST FIVE 0-2 STARTS Year Opponents Final Record 2025 No. 10 Miami and No. 16 Texas A&M ? 2022 No. 2 Ohio State and Marshall 9-4 2011 South Florida and Michigan 8-5 2007 Georgia Tech and No. 14 Penn State 3-9 2001 No. 5 Nebraska and Michigan State 5-6 NOTABLE NOTRE DAME DEFENSIVE STATS Through Week 3 Category Stat Rank* Tackles for loss per game 2.00 T-134 Sacks per game: 0.50 T-133 Opp. EPA/pass play 0.311 132 PFF coverage grade 56.4 120 Takeaways 1 T-119 Points per game 34.0 T-118 Yards allowed per pass attempt 8.4 T-114 First downs allowed per game 22.0 T-107 Pass efficiency defense 142.78 103 PFF pass rush grade 65.4 97 * Out of 136 FBS teams