Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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26 OCT. 18, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED The Irish drew up a play for Fields, saw he would be double-covered and ran it anyway. Carr's throw was intercepted, leaving Notre Dame searching for answers in short yardage yet again. "That's a situation [where] you want CJ to just throw it up," Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said. "It's a 50/50 ball. We believe Malachi will make that play." Earlier, Notre Dame faced — you guessed it — fourth down inside 10. This time, it was fourth-and-inches. The Wolfpack had seen the Irish run a sprint-out to its slot receiver several times on film in that situation, and in response, they dropped their outside linebacker to the flat. With an underneath defender in the way, Carr had no viable options. He kept rolling out until he ran out of room. "We just gotta convert," Carr said. "Gotta make a better throw on fourth down. Can't run out of bounds there. And credit to them. They had two good calls on." Short yardage remains a problem for Notre Dame, who failed to convert third- or fourth-and-3 or fewer four times. Freeman will tell you that the bigger problem is not the fourth-down stops; it's the third-down run stops — junior running back Jeremiyah Love being stonewalled on third-and-1 and redshirt junior running back Jadarian Price being swarmed behind the line of scrimmage on third-and-2 — that came before them. Notre Dame's inability to pick up a yard has been staggering, given the strength of its offensive line and run- ning backs. Freeman also made sure to point out that the Irish have often found them- selves in fourth-down situations be- cause they commit penalties on first, second and third. "You can't put yourself behind the sticks," Freeman said. "So we have to eliminate that with urgency." As it's tried to fix its short-yardage issues, Notre Dame has often had to BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 1-10 ND42 Carr pass to Pauling for 32 yards to NCS26 • 2-9 ND32 Carr pass to Pauling for 42 yards to NCS26 • 1-10 NCS45 Carr pass to Raridon for 30 yards to NCS15 • 1-10 ND44 Carr pass to Smith for 31 yards to NCS25 • 1-10 NCS37 Carr pass to Raridon for 36 yards to NCS1 North Carolina State • 1-10 ND45 Bailey pass to Anderson for 45 yards and a touchdown • 3-9 NCS41 Bailey pass to Hoffmann for 26 yards to ND 33 Even with the presence of talented running backs such as red- shirt junior Jadarian Price, the Fighting Irish have struggled in short-yardage situations. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Notre Dame now leads the all-time series versus North Carolina State 3-2, and is 2-0 at home against the Wolfpack. The Irish also posted a 35-14 win over the Pack on Oct. 28, 2017. • The Irish are now 13-2 against ACC op- ponents under head coach Marcus Freeman, including 9-0 at home (excluding 2022 con- tests against Cal and Stanford and 2023 game against Stanford as both teams were active Pac-12 members). • The Irish are now 5-0 in games broadcast exclusively on Peacock. They defeated Toledo 32-29 in 2021, UNLV 44-21 in 2022, Central Michigan 41-17 in 2023, Louisville 31-24 in 2024 and North Carolina State 36-7 in 2025. • Notre Dame's defense scored its first safety since Dec. 29, 2023 in the Sun Bowl against Oregon State. • Redshirt senior safety Jalen Stroman regis- tered his first career sack in the win over the Wolfpack. Also, sophomore cornerback Karson Hobbs notched his first career interception. NOTRE DAME VS. NC STATE QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 8:20 6:04 8:17 8:32 14:24 16:49 31:13 Third-Down Conversions 2-3 0-4 1-3 3-4 2-7 4-7 6-14 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-1 0-1 1-1 0-0 0-2 1-1 1-3 Average Field Position ND-37 ND-24 ND-18 50 ND-28 ND-37 ND-33 NC State 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 6:40 8:56 6:43 6:28 15:36 13:11 28:47 Third-Down Conversions 2-5 2-5 0-3 1-3 4-10 1-6 5-16 Fourth-Down Conversions 1-1 0-0 0-1 0-1 1-1 0-2 1-3 Average Field Position NCS-20 NCS-25 NCS-27 NCS-17 NCS-22 NCS-22 NCS-22 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards ND NC Nega ve 6 6 0-5 41 35 6-9 4 10 10-19 11 5 20-29 4 2 30-39 4 0 40-49 1 1 50 or more 0 0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Notre Dame 8 4 1 3 NC State 0 0 0 0