Blue and Gold Illustrated

45-4 Oct. 4, 2025 Arkansas

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 4, 2025 23 NOTRE DAME PASSING OFFENSE A+ Even sitting out the final quarter-plus of No. 22 Notre Dame's 56-13 victory at Arkansas, Irish red- shirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr had the most prolific pass performance since the first game of the Marcus Freeman coaching era at the tail end of the 2021 season. It wasn't just the sheer volume Carr produced in his fourth collegiate start and second on the road. It was his command while doing so. And that showed up in a pass efficiency rating of more than 200 for the second week in a row (294.1 versus Purdue and 216.5 against Arkansas). No Irish quarterback had done that against power conference opponents in back-to-back games in this century — until Carr. Carr completed 22 of 30 passes for a career-high 354 yards and 4 touchdowns. That's the highest passing output by a Notre Dame quarterback since Jack Coan threw for 509 yards — on 68 attempts — in a 37-35 Fiesta Bowl loss to Oklahoma State in the first game after head coach Brian Kelly left for LSU and Freeman was promoted to replace him. Carr connected with seven different receivers, led by junior Jordan Faison (7 for 89 yards). Backup quarterback Kenny Minchey added an eighth tar- get into the mix, with a 37-yard strike to redshirt freshman Matt Jeffery — like Faison, a lacrosse star in the spring. NOTRE DAME RUSHING OFFENSE A+ For the second straight game Notre Dame breached the 200-yard rushing mark. And for the first time with first-year running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider presiding over the Notre Dame running back room, all five healthy backs got into the act. Jadarian Price led the Irish attack with 86 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. The Irish collec- tively piled up 210 rushing yards with 4 scores on 40 carries. Jeremiyah Love, who scored 2 touch- downs in the passing game, had 2 in the run game as well — and all 4 came before halftime. Sophomore Aneyas Williams scored the fourth Notre Dame rushing touchdown. NOTRE DAME PASSING DEFENSE A This grade is not a typo. Consider the 53-percent completion rate and season-low 101.1 pass ef- ficiency mark the Irish held the nation's leader in total offense to — without preseason All-America cornerback Leonard Moore — and maybe the grade is actually too low? What had been the nation's No. 103 team in pass efficiency defense actually fashioned a number against Razorback quarterback Taylen Green that was better than the figure the Irish led the nation with for the 2024 season (104.4). Green completed 17-of-32 passes for 207 yards with an interception. He was held without a touch- down pass for the first time this season. A really encouraging sign regarding the pass defense came from the pressure the Irish were able to generate up front. Notre Dame collected 3 sacks, coaxed multiple holding penalties on pass plays, and forced a couple of turnovers. NOTRE DAME RUSHING DEFENSE C Given that Arkansas was statistically the best rushing offense the Irish have faced this season (20th), the up-and-down performance against the Razorbacks' run game can still be counted as incre- mental progress. Green gashed the Irish for a 54-yard planned QB run on the perimeter, and the Razorbacks averaged an impressive 5.3 yards per carry in amassing 158 yards on the ground. Their only rushing touchdown — actually only TD of any kind — though, came from 6-foot-8, 344-pound redshirt freshman offen- sive lineman Shaq McRoy, a transfer from Oregon, who lined up in the backfield on a goal-line play. Defensive tackle Gabe Rubio continues to emerge as a force against the run, with freshman linebacker Madden Faraimo and junior defensive tackle Elijah Hughes each stringing together an encore from last week's performances. NOTRE DAME SPECIAL TEAMS B Will James Rendell ever punt again? Were it not for freshman Erik Schmidt's strong kickoffs for the second week in a row and a fake punt that netted 40 yards and a first down, the Irish might have received a grade of incomplete. Neither team returned a kickoff. Faison had the only punt return in the game — 3 yards — as Ar- kansas only punted twice. Faison figured prominently into Notre Dame's fake punt in the only time Rendell has trotted out onto the playing field in the past two games. On an end-around Faison found a wide-open Malachi Fields and lofted a pass for the long gain for a first down. Irish No. 1 placekicker Noah Burnette was re- moved in the second half, per Freeman, for pre- cautionary reasons. He missed the Purdue game Sept. 20 with a hip injury and only kicked extra points versus Arkansas. Schmidt took over in that role late in the game. NOTRE DAME COACHING A++ It's one thing to talk about culture and leadership at a press conference. It's next level when you can show it on the field to the college football world. All eyes were on Freeman this week on how he'd handle embattled first-year defensive coordinator Chris Ash and how Freeman would inject himself into the equation of fixing a defense that ranked 104th in total defense and 117th in scoring de- fense heading into this road test. Ash deserves credit, too. Holding an offense that hadn't been below 500 total yards in a game this season to less than 400 had his fingerprints on it too. And Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock? He had another field day. REPORT CARD BY ERIC HANSEN Redshirt freshman CJ Carr achieved a pass efficiency rating of more than 200 for the second week in a row (294.1 versus Purdue and 216.5 against Arkansas), the first Irish quarterback to do that against power conference opponents in back-to-back games in this century. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER

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