Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1540095
30 OCT. 11, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH MARCUS FREEMAN … On the circumstances of the win: "Hard-fought victory. We knew that was going to be a tough team. They just have shown it. They're not the second- winningest program since 2000 for no reason. That was a fundamentally sound, aggressive football team, and we knew they were going to be tough to beat." On redshirt senior kicker Noah Burnette not being available and how it affected how he coached: "He wanted to go try in pregame, and it was a no-go. Yes, it factors into the fourth- down decisions. We've got to continue to build confidence. I have to make sure I have confidence to kick it from certain distances instead of telling our offense to go for it. "I've got a lot of confidence in our offense. We've got to keep building that confidence in me and in those guys. That played a factor into it." On redshirt freshman safety Tae Johnson: "He's been starting the past two weeks, two games. That shows you the confidence we have in him. He's earned it through the way he's prac- ticed. He's been close the last couple of games in getting some of those picks, and it was good to see him get one today. "He's a good football player. He's an improving football player, he's a freak athlete, but improving in terms of how he's playing the game. He's got a high ceiling, and I'm excited for his future." NOTRE DAME REDSHIRT FRESHMAN QUARTERBACK CJ CARR … On his touchdown pass to redshirt senior wide receiver Will Pauling: "It was man coverage. We had a run called that wasn't good for the box look that we were getting. So, we had a big box. We called a slot fade to Will. [Jaden Greathouse]'s kind of gotten — that's his route. "But we trust Will to go out there and make a play just like he did. You've got to put it high outside where he can get it and the DB can't. Will made a freaking heck of a play." On overcoming a slow start on of- fense: "I don't know if it was necessar- ily that hard. I think we didn't execute to the level that we know we can. There's just plays all over the field that I think offensively we could have made. "I thought we kind of let those guys off the hook. And that has nothing to do with the Boise defense. I just think when we're playing Notre Dame of- fense, it's hard to stop us. We just didn't do it to the level that we know we can." On the difference running backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price make: "There's a bunch of plays where Jeremiyah and JD —maybe the play isn't blocked perfectly well or we don't have the perfect call against the defense. "A normal day, that's going to be a 3-yard gain, and you go back and you try and fix it. But with those guys, they're going to make three guys miss, and it's going to be a 7-yard gain or JD's gonna break the last one for 90. It's great." NOTRE DAME REDSHIRT JUNIOR RUNNING BACK JADARIAN PRICE … On the tackles he broke on his 49- yard touchdown: "In the running back room, we're all about yards after con- tact. Sometimes we joke around, hey, let's go and touch a guy so we can get that yards after contact. "Last year, I led the nation in yards after contact. That's a challenge to my- self this year as well. It's just a credit to what we did in the offseason working on contact balance to help making you break tackles and things like that." On his positive plays in the pass- blocking game: "It was good for con- fidence and good to get on film. Jeremi- yah had a lot of good blocks as well. So, I knew if they were attacking him, they were going to attack me when I got in the game too. "I haven't had many live reps. But it was good to get it on film and correct myself — whatever I need to do from that." On having two more games at Notre Dame Stadium before the next bye week: "There's only so many guaranteed opportunities in Notre Dame Stadium, so we're going to take advantage of all of them. And then when we have to go on the road, we have to take care of business on the road as well." FROM THE LOCKER ROOM Redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr connected with redshirt senior wide receiver Will Pauling (above) for a beautiful 19-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. "Will made a freaking heck of a play," Carr noted. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER