Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 4, 2025 21 a 1-yard touchdown run to cap a 10- play, 75-yard drive after Arkansas put itself ahead with a 39-yard field goal on its first drive. Love returned to the end zone three more times before the game ended. Love finished a 7-yard touchdown pass from Carr by spinning away from an Arkansas defender in the open field. Love's third touchdown of the day came via the air on a 34-yard screen pass from Carr. Love's fourth touchdown came on a 3-yard run with 35 seconds remaining in the first half. But that wasn't the last touchdown of the first half for Notre Dame. Redshirt sophomore safety Adon Shuler stripped Arkansas wide receiver Raylen Sharpe and senior cornerback DeVonta Smith recovered the fumble to give the offense the ball back at Arkansas' 45-yard line with 24 seconds left in the first half. Two plays later, the Irish returned to the end zone with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Carr to redshirt junior run- ning back Jadarian Price. Finishing the first half with a state- ment was important for the Irish given the inconsistent play before halftime in recent weeks. "It was a step in the right direction," Carr said. "We handled the end of that first half really well. Put two touch- downs back on the board. The next step is, OK, how can we come out of half and start faster than we did?" A rka n sa s f i n a l ly s to p p e d No t re Dame's offense on the first drive of the second half, but only after the Irish suc- cessfully executed a 40-yard fake punt on fourth-and-10 from their own 25- yard line. The Razorbacks later sacked Carr on a fourth-and-1 play that ended with an intentional grounding penalty. Love ended his day with 127 yards of offense on 14 carries for 57 yards and 2 touchdowns and 5 catches for 70 yards and 2 touchdowns. Price amassed 121 yards of offense with 13 carries for 86 yards and 1 touchdown and 1 catch for a 35-yard touchdown. Notre Dame's defense played far from lights out from the outset, but it was a much better overall performance for defensive coordinator Chris Ash's unit. The Irish limited Green to 6-of-15 passing for 85 yards in the first half. He finished 17-of-32 passing for 207 yards with 0 touchdowns and 1 interception. The Razorbacks were more success- ful on the ground with 30 carries for 158 yards and 1 touchdown. Green ac- counted for 81 yards on 10 carries. Se- nior running back Mike Washington rushed 15 times for 63 yards. The Irish defense forced a pair of three-and-outs in the first half and lim- ited Arkansas to field goals on two pos- sessions. Shuler created the game's first turnover with his forced fumble. Fellow safety Luke Talich, a junior, picked off Green in the fourth quarter. "They're a good offense all across the field," Freeman said. "To be able to hold that offense to field goals early in the game — I know the third series they got the touchdown — but then again, after that, the fifth series they got another field goal. Like those things — those are four-point swings. [It's] huge. Huge by our defense, the game plan but the ex- ecution of it." FIRST QUARTER NOTRE DAME 14, ARKANSAS 3 To p Mo m e n t : So m e h ow, No t re Dame junior running back Jeremi- yah Love caught a ball in the flat and spun away from an oncoming Arkan- sas defensive player who had a head of steam and walked into the end zone. He might be the only tailback in the country who could spin free in the same exact situation. It was a video game-like maneuver. Feature Performer: Love had 6 car- ries for 29 yards and a touchdown and 2 catches for 32 yards and another score in the first quarter. ND ARK FIRST QUARTER ARK Starzyk 39-yard field goal 12:55 0 3 Drive: 7 plays, 54 yards, 2:05 ND Love 1-yard run (Burnette kick) 8:16 7 3 Drive: 10 plays, 75 yards, 4:39 ND Love 7-yard pass from Carr (Burnette kick) 4:14 14 3 Drive: 6 plays, 73 yards, 3:14 SECOND QUARTER ARK McRoy 1-yard run (Starzyk kick) 11:19 14 10 Drive: 14 plays, 75 yards, 7:55 ND Pauling 23-yard pass from Carr (Burnette kick) 8:26 21 10 Drive: 6 plays, 75 yards, 2:53 ND Love 34-yard pass from Carr (Burnette kick) 6:04 28 10 Drive: 5 plays, 70 yards, 1:25 ARK Starzyk 49-yard field goal 3:48 28 13 Drive: 6 plays, 44 yards, 2:16 ND Love 3-yard run (Burnette kick) 0:35 35 13 Drive: 12 plays, 75 yards, 3:13 ND Price 35-yard pass from Carr (Burnette kick) 0:09 42 13 Drive: 2 plays, 45 yards, 0:15 THIRD QUARTER ND Price 16-yard run (Burnette kick) 1:01 49 13 Drive: 11 plays, 87 yards, 5:37 FOURTH QUARTER ND Williams 17-yard run (Schmidt kick) 8:54 56 13 Drive: 4 plays, 57 yards, 2:07 ND ARK Total First Downs 32 15 Rushing 11 9 Passing 20 6 Penalty 1 0 Rushing Attempts 40 30 Yards Gained Rushing 229 181 Yards Lost Rushing 19 23 Net Yards Rushing 210 158 Net Yards Passing 431 207 Passes Attempted 32 32 Passes Completed 24 17 Had Intercepted 0 1 Percent Completion 75.0% 53.1% Yards Per Attempt 13.5 6.5 Yards Per Completion 18.0 12.2 Total Offensive Plays 72 62 Total Net Yards 641 365 Average Gain Per Play 8.9 5.9 Fumbles: No.-Lost 0-0 1-1 Penalties: No.-Yards 5-42 6-60 Punts: No.-Yards 0-0 2-90 Average Per Punt 0.0 45.0 Average Net Punt 0.0 43.5 Punt Returns: No.-Yards 1-3 0-0 Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 0-0 Interception Returns: No.-Yards 1-0 0-0 Fumble Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 0-0 Miscellaneous Yards 0 0 Possession Time 32:47 27:13 Third-Down Conversions 6-10 7-15 Percentage 60.0% 46.7% Fourth-Down Conversions 2-3 1-3 Percentage 66.7% 33.3% Sacks By: No.-Yards 3-21 1-14 NOTRE DAME 56, ARKANSAS 13 Sept. 27, 2025 ✦ Attendance:75,111 Reynolds Razorback Stadium ✦ Fayetteville, Ark. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Notre Dame 14 28 7 7 56 Arkansas 3 10 0 0 13