Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 11, 2025 11 UNDER THE DOME 0 Punts by Notre Dame in back-to-back games for the first time since at least 1973, per Notre Dame media relations. The Irish have had 17 games when they didn't punt a single time since the start of the 1973 season. Nine of those 17 came against service academies, and four have happened during head coach Marcus Freeman's tenure. 0.60 Fremeau Efficiency Index offense rating for Notre Dame through Week 5. The Irish were behind only Oregon, Southern Cal, Ohio State and Alabama in the opponent-adjusted possession efficiency rating. Oregon, at No. 1, had a rating of 0.90. 1st Nationally is where Notre Dame's CJ Carr ranked among all freshmen passers through Week 5 in yards per attempt at 10.49 (which also was fifth overall among all FBS players), yards per completion (15.37, sixth), passing efficiency (181.1, 10th) and passing yards per game (272.8, 20th). 7th Is where ESPN's Bill Connelly ranked Notre Dame redshirt fresh- man CJ Carr among the 68 Power Four starting quarterbacks heading into Week 6. Southern Cal's Jayden Maiava was No. 1 on the list, followed by Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia, Ole Miss' Trinidad Cham- bliss, Indiana's Fernando Mendoza, Oregon's Dante Moore, Cincinnati's Brendan Sorsby and Carr. 8 Touchdowns scored apiece by Notre Dame running backs Jeremiyah Love and JADARIAN PRICE. Only four FBS players scored more total touchdowns through Week 5: Washington running back Jonah Coleman (10), Rutgers running back Antwan Raymond (9), University of Texas San Antonio run- ning back Robert Henry Jr. (9) and Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy (9). The second-most touchdowns scored by teammates across the country was 14 from Washington running back Jonah Coleman (10) and wide receiver Denzel Boston (4). 9 Defensive backs who started at least one game in the first four games of the season for Notre Dame: junior cornerback Christian Gray (4), redshirt sophomore safety Adon Shuler (3), redshirt senior safety Jalen Stroman (3), sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore (2), redshirt fresh- man safety Tae Johnson (2), redshirt senior nickel back DeVonta Smith (2), freshman cornerback Mark Zackery IV (2), freshman nickel back Dallas Golden (1) and sophomore nickel back Karson Hobbs (1). 21 Scrimmage plays of 20-plus yards allowed by Notre Dame's defense in its first four games. Only 37 FBS teams allowed more through Week 5. Only nine of those teams had also played just four games: Florida Atlan- tic (22), Louisiana- Monroe (22), UTSA (22), Air Force (23), Delaware (23), UNLV (24), Georgia State (25), SMU (27) and Kent State (32). 24 Pass completions of 20 or more yards for Notre Dame through four games this season. The average of 6.0 per game nearly tripled the Irish's per game average from last year. If CJ Carr and Co. maintain this pace, it would be the sixth-highest average in college football in the past five years. 30 Scrimmage plays of 20-plus yards for Notre Dame's offense in its first four games. That total was tied for 11th among FBS teams through Week 5, but only two teams ahead of the Irish had also played just four games: Boise State (32) and Texas Tech (32). 58 College football teams had fewer touchdowns than the 16 Notre Dame running backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price combined for through Week 5. 61 Points allowed by Notre Dame in second quarters through four games this season. Each opponent scored at least 10 points in the second quarter. Notre Dame only allowed 10 points com- bined in the first four third quarters of the season. The Irish also gave up 17 points in first quarters and 23 points in fourth quarters. 1,091 Passing yards for Notre Dame redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr through four games this season. It took Riley Leonard seven games to reach the 1,000-yard milestone as Notre Dame's starting quarter- back last season. +2500 Odds for Notre Dame to win the national championship after its 2-2 start through Week 5, per BetMGM. That was tied for 10th in the country, behind Ohio State (+500), Oregon (+600), Texas (+800), Penn S tate ( + 8 0 0 ) , A l a b a m a (+850), Georgia (+1000), Miami (+1200), Ole Miss (+2000) and Oklahoma (+2000), and tied with Texas A&M (+2500) and LSU (+2500). The Fighting Irish were the only one among those 12 teams that had two losses. The next highest teams in the odds with mul- tiple losses through five weeks were Florida (1-3) at +20000 and South Carolina (3-2) at +30000. — Tyler James ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER