Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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24 OCT. 18, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 1. Boubacar Traore Is A Force On The Edge Redshirt sophomore defensive end Boubacar Traore gave NC State quarterback CJ Bailey an unfriendly greeting to Notre Dame Stadium. On the second play from scrimmage in Notre Dame's 36-7 win over the Wolfpack, Traore sacked Bailey for a loss of 9 yards. Traore received some help from redshirt senior defensive tackle Jason Onye, and junior linebacker Drayk Bowen provided pressure up the middle, which led to Bailey trying to escape to his right and running into a Traore bear hug. That wasn't the last Bailey saw of Traore. They reunited late in the third quarter when Traore overpowered right tackle Teague Anderson for another sack. Traore has settled into the role of Notre Dame's premier pass rusher this season. His 2 sacks against the Wolfpack pushed his season total to 5.5. That puts him on pace to be the first Notre Dame player to reach double digits in sacks in a season since defensive end Isaiah Foskey in 2022. Traore has had a hand in more than one-third of Notre Dame's 15 sacks to date this season. No other Irish player has more than 2 sacks. "It feels good to be playing together, playing violent," Traore said after the game. "As far as this game, it's over, so we got to look forward to doing the same thing week after week." 2. Marcus Freeman Might Be Too Aggressive On Fourth Down The numbers are starting to stack up against Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman's insis- tence on being aggressive on fourth downs with the Irish's offense. It failed on two more fourth- down attempts against NC State — a fourth-and-1 from the NC State 7-yard line and the other on fourth-and-3 at the 8. Notre Dame called passing plays on both occa- sions, but neither had much of a chance of work- ing against NC State. The Wolfpack anticipated redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr looking for redshirt senior receiver Will Pauling in the flat as his primary option out of the slot on the fourth- and-goal play. NC State's secondary covered red- shirt senior wide receiver Malachi Fields as the only route on the fourth-and-3. Freeman tried to shift the attention to other plays on those drives that led to Notre Dame being in fourth-down situations, but that didn't address the recurring fourth-down struggles. The first-team of- fense dropped to 3 of 10 on fourth-down attempts this season. Notre Dame's disguised punt units have converted nearly as many fourth downs (2). 3. Notre Dame's Special Teams Lived Up To Reputation Notre Dame snuck redshirt senior quarterback Tyler Buchner onto the field in a punt formation twice, which the Irish then shifted into a shotgun formation. NC State used a timeout on the first instance in the second quarter. But Buchner still caught the Wolfpack off guard in the third quarter with a 3-yard run on fourth-and-2. But that wasn't the only positive outcome for Notre Dame's special teams units. Redshirt senior kicker Noah Burnette, who's been in-and-out of the lineup with right hip injury, nailed his two field goal attempts from 48 and 34 yards. Even junior Jordan Faison returned a punt for 23 yards for a second consecutive game. 4. Kudos To Backup Center Joe Otting Notre Dame's starting center Ashton Craig, a redshirt junior, left the game with an undisclosed injury late in the third quarter. That forced redshirt sophomore Joe Otting into the game for the most important snaps of his Notre Dame career to date. He finished the game without any major issues. Otting played just 114 offensive snaps between last season and this season prior to playing against NC State. Per Pro Football Focus, he logged 20 snaps against the Wolfpack, which matched his total in the lopsided victory over Purdue earlier this season. An injury update on Craig was not provided im- mediately after the game. The Irish would cer- tainly like to have Craig's 12 career starts back in the lineup next against Southern Cal Oct. 18, but Otting gave his teammates and coaches more reasons to be confident that he can handle an expanded workload at the position. 5. The Biggest Test Awaits For Notre Dame's Defense Notre Dame's defensive improvement the past three games shouldn't be downplayed. The Irish have been mostly lights out defensively against productive offenses from Arkansas, Boise State and NC State. But those improvements will cer- tainly be put to the test next weekend against Southern Cal. The Trojans will come into Notre Dame Stadium with one of the best offenses in college football. They hung 31 points on Michigan Oct. 11 after en- tering the week ranked in the top five in the FBS in offensive yards per game, passing yards per game and points per game. The 31 points for Southern Cal against Michigan were actually a season low for a team averaging 45.5 points. The Trojans racked up 557 yards and 35 points against Notre Dame last November in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Can defensive coordinator Chris Ash put together a better performance than that against quarterback Jayden Maiava's offense? FIVE THOUGHTS BY TYLER JAMES Redshirt sophomore defensive end Boubacar Traore sacked North Carolina State quarterback CJ Bailey twice in the Irish's 36-7 win. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER