Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 OCT. 4, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Daelen Ackley — Cross Country The senior from El Dorado Springs, Mo., took first place individually in the National Catholic Invitational Sept. 19 in South Bend. He covered the 8,000-meter course in 23:48.4 to edge out sopho- more teammate Cameron Todd for the first-place Fight- ing Irish. This was Ackley's first race of this season. Last year, he placed 10th in the 8,000-me- ter Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational with a personal-record time of 22:51.7. Annabelle Chukwu — Soccer The sophomore forward f r o m O t t a w a , O n t a r i o, scored the third goal — which turned out to be the game winner — and assisted on another in a 3-2 win for No. 6 Notre Dame over No. 3 Duke Sept. 18 in South Bend. The goal was the seventh of the season for Chukwu through 10 games. She ranked second on the Irish and tied for second in the ACC. She was also tied for the team lead with 3 game- winning goals. Blake Kelly — Soccer T h e s o p h o m o re g o a l - keeper from Holt, Mich., made 6 saves — 4 in the second half — in a 3-0 ACC victory over No. 12 Louisville Sept. 19 in South Bend. It marked the fourth clean slate of the season for Kelly, who was allowing only 0.63 goals a game and had given up just 5 goals with 26 saves through Notre Dame's first eight matches. Arianne Olson — Cross Country The junior from Holland, Mich., finished first individu- ally at the National Catholic Invitational in a dominating performance for the first- place Irish Sept. 19 at South Bend. O l s o n c o m p l e t e d t h e 5,000-meter race in 16:35.8 to lead a pack of Fighting Irish runners that swept the top five finishing spots to score a perfect 15. In all, Irish runners impressively claimed the top 13 places in the race. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Jadarian Price pulled off a hat trick plus one in the touchdown department versus Purdue in Week 4. It got us thinking, who in Notre Dame history has ever scored 5 touchdowns in one game? It's been done five times. Art Smith has the all-time Notre Dame record for touchdowns in one game. He scored 7 against Loyola Chicago in 1911. Six years prior against DePauw, Bill Downs got into the end zone a half-dozen times. He sits in second place behind Smith. A trio of former Fighting Irish players scored exactly 5 times in one game: Alvin Berger against St. Viator in 1912, Willie Maher against Kalamazoo in 1923 and Bill Wolski against Pittsburgh in 1965. Price became the ninth player in Notre Dame history to hit 4 touchdowns in one game. The others are Audric Estimé (Stan- ford, 2023), Chase Claypool (Navy, 2019), Brandon Wimbush (Boston College, 2017), Maurice Stovall (BYU, 2005), Emmett Mosley (Navy, 1994), Allen Pinkett (Penn State, 1984; Penn State, 1983), Larry Conjar (Southern Cal, 1965) and Frank Lo- nergan (Chicago Physicians & Surgeons, 1903; DePauw, 1903). It's a Who's Who kind of list for Price to be joining, but the most impressive part is it's only happened five times now since the turn of the century, including his own performance. And maybe even more impres- sively than that? Price and running back teammate Jeremiyah Love called their shot. They combined for 4 touchdowns in Week 3 against Texas A&M. They were shooting for 6 against Purdue, and they got the job done. " That was just our challenge we had within the running back room; we want to score six this game," Price said. "[We're] challenging ourselves to be explosive every game and do the little things to help the team win." — Tyler Horka CHARTING THE IRISH CJ CARR ON RECORD-SETTING PACE THROUGH THREE GAMES It's early. Oh, so early. But dreamers can be dreamers, right? And, through three games, this particular dream isn't so far-fetched. Redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr could actually end up with the best single-season pass efficiency rating of any quarterback in Fighting Irish history. Through those three games, he was well within reach. The overall top spot belongs to Jimmy Clausen and Bob Williams with their mark of 161.4 in 2009 and 1949, respectively. In the first three starts of his Notre Dame career, Carr put down a rating of 166.8. Obviously, that would blast the rest of the competition away. Also obviously, he still had so much time between then and the actual end of the season to even think he was on some sort of record-setting pace. But one-fourth of a regular season isn't an insignificant sample size. If anything, it's a precursor for what the rest of the year might entail. And if that's the case for Carr, it's plenty of good things. "He's blessed with talent, but the competitive spirit that he has and the work that he puts into it, I see him preparing — he goes to class, after class, he's spending time studying film," head coach Marcus Freeman said. "I see the guy getting bet- ter. He has a high ceiling and is, right now, play- ing high, and he's got way more to go." "You go into the first game, and you suspect things," offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said. "But what real evidence do you have? … You think he's unflappable, you believe he's unflappable. He's shown you that he's trustworthy, but he's got to live in that environment before you really truly know. "And what he's done, through the way he's kind of played the game and run the offense, has proven us right — that he's willing and ready to kind of take on as much as we're willing to give him." — Tyler Horka NOTRE DAME SINGLE-SEASON PASS EFFICIENCY RATING (Min. 100 Completions) Rk. Player Year Rating 1. Jimmy Clausen 2009 161.4 Bob Williams 1949 161.4 3. Sam Hartman 2023 159.5 4. Brady Quinn 2005 158.4 5. Drew Pyne 2022 155.3 6. John Huarte 1964 155.1 7. Ian Book 2018 154.0 8. Jack Coan 2021 151.8 9. Matt LoVecchio 2000 151.7 10. DeShone Kizer 2015 150.0 MOST SINGLE-GAME TOUCHDOWNS IN NOTRE DAME HISTORY Rk. Player Opponent, Year Touchdowns 1. Art Smith Loyola Chicago, 1911 7 2. Bill Downs DePauw, 1905 6 3. Bill Wolski Pittsburgh, 1965 5 Willie Maher Kalamazoo, 1923 5 Alvin Berger St. Viator, 1912 5 Redshirt junior running back Jadarian Price's 4 touchdowns against Purdue Sept. 20 is tied for sixth-most all- time in program history. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER