Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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26 OCT. 4, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 1. Marcus Freeman's Approach To Fixing The Notre Dame Defense Mattered Four days ahead of Notre Dame football's 56-13 dismantling of Arkansas on the road, Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock made an analogous reference to the Notre Dame offense as a Ferrari. That alluring metaphoric sports car found an- other gear in Fayetteville, Ark., in the first-ever football meeting between the Irish (2-2) and Ra- zorbacks (2-3). And it's something that's both com- pelling and pragmatic when it comes to how the Irish can get back to the 12-team College Football Playoff. What happened on the defensive side of the ball for Notre Dame is significant when it comes to the damage the Irish could do in the CFP if/when they get there. And head coach Marcus Freeman deserves credit for getting his team to lean into its culture when it could have easily been leaking more oil in this game. The way Arkansas' defense did. To call the Notre Dame defense a fixer-upper coming into the game was generous. In the context of having to face the nation's No. 8 team in total offense and the No. 1 individual in yards per game — Arkansas' 6-6, 235-pound dual-threat QB, Tay- len Green — figured to be a mismatch, or at least a long day for the scoreboard operator. Instead, the Irish went and held an offense that had not scored fewer than 28 points in any first half this season to 13 points for the game and shut the Razorbacks out in the second half. With Notre Dame's best defensive player, preseason All-American cornerback Leonard Moore, on the sideline nursing an ankle injury for the second week in a row. It was evolution over revolution. Collaboration over conflict. Accountability over anarchy after Freeman held a coaching staff meeting the previ- ous Sunday that was uncomfortable — and he wanted it to be uncomfortable. But not divisive. "It's easy to pass the blame," Freeman said in the postgame press conference. "That's the easy thing to do. That's the default thing to do. But they stuck together. "Leadership from [defensive coordinator Chris] Ash on down to the position coaches, on down to the leaders on the defense, on down to everybody, really, was to me, the thing that helped them get through a rough week and perform." 2. CJ Carr Is Ahead Of The Curve At The Line Of Scrimmage One reason why the redshirt freshman quar- terback is on a trajectory to obliterate the single- season school record for pass efficiency — set in 1949 by Bob Williams and matched in 2009 by Jimmy Clausen — is the way he's playing chess at the line of scrimmage. Training wheels be damned. Four starts into his Irish career, Carr is mastering checking Notre Dame out of a bad play pre-snap, based on how the defense is aligning, into a good play. And checking from a good play into a great play. How that translated to his numbers against Ar- kansas was 22-of-30 accuracy for 354 yards with 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, against statisti- cally the best pass efficiency defense (51st) the Irish will face the rest of the season, if trends hold. A third of the way through the season, Carr bumped his individual pass efficiency rating to 181.1, which should nudge him into the top 10 in the FBS nationally heading into the matchup with Boise State Oct. 4. 3. The Irish Offense Continues To Make Neces- sary Evolutions Around Carr The best Denbrock offenses over the years, at Notre Dame and elsewhere, have included a night- mare for opposing defenses at the field receiver position. Think Will Fuller in 2015 at Notre Dame. Then think about how not having one last season limited the Irish offense at times, when Jordan Faison was a sophomore and pushing through a chronic ankle injury for most of the season. The healthy junior version, though, is starting to look elite. Against Arkansas, Faison was the game's leader in both receptions (7) and receiving yards (89), with 52 of those yards after the catch. He even threw a pass to fellow wide receiver Malachi Fields for a 40-yard gain on a fake punt. But it wasn't just Faison. It was the slot receivers, Will Pauling and Jaden Greathouse, getting in- volved. It was Eli Raridon, at tight end, ascending. It was running back Jeremiyah Love flexing in the passing game, and the offensive line finally looking like the version that was expected coming out of training camp. 4. Notre Dame Looked Like A Playoff Team The best style points for aspiring playoff par- ticipants are teams that improve. Especially teams that have to overcome 0-2 starts. The more Notre Dame makes those first two games of the season, narrow losses to Miami and Texas A&M, look like outliers on their résumé, the less sweating Freeman will have to do on Selection Sunday in December if the Irish can get to 10-2. Getting to 10-2 is still an if and not an absolute, but in the meantime, the eye test matters. On this Saturday, the Irish aced it. 5. Notre Dame's Depth Is Building All Over The Field And not just in mop-up minutes. Rotational depth and replacement depth helped the Irish reach the CFP National Championship last season. Players like cornerback Mark Zackery IV, kicker Erik Schmidt, linebacker Madden Faraimo are ei- ther being pressed into high-leverage situations or pushing their way into those roles. And those developments are likely to pay off for Notre Dame someday, both when adversity hits or just giving the Irish more firepower on both sides of the ball and special teams when it doesn't. FIVE THOUGHTS BY ERIC HANSEN The Irish defense contained Arkansas quarter Taylen Green, holding him 100 yards below his average of 387.8 yards of total offense per game entering the matchup. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER