Blue and Gold Illustrated

BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 1, 2025 7 UNDER THE DOME BY TYLER JAMES M arcus Freeman would prefer to oper- ate with a confident perspective as the head coach of Notre Dame football. That's often reflected in his aggressive- ness in keeping his offense on the field to attempt fourth-down conversions. How- ever, the Irish's first-team offense hasn't given Freeman a lot of reasons to be con- fident on fourth downs this season. The Irish starters are just 3 of 10 (30.0 percent) on fourth-down conversions. "Going for it on fourth down is some- thing that I have conviction in doing in certain situations," Freeman said. "Some we'll determine based off our kicker, some is based off the analytics. "We've got to continue to gain con- viction in me from our offense. And that's why we spend some time talking about our short-yardage plan and goal-line situations, be- cause we have to continue — I don't want to lose confidence in going for it on fourth down. That's something I believe in, in the right situations. I don't want to pull back there. I want to say let's enhance our plan so that we have a better percentage of converting." As a team, Notre Dame was ranked in a tie for No. 119 in the FBS in fourth- down conversion rate at 35.7 percent through Week 7. The Irish were 5 of 14 on fourth-down conversions, which in- cluded a pair of successful conversions on fake punts and a pair of failures by the second-team offense. Last season, the Irish ranked eighth in the country with a 73.3 percent (22 of 30) fourth-down conversion rate. Only 21 teams attempted more fourth-down conversions than Notre Dame. And only one team, Army, attempted more fourth-down conversions (40) with a better conversion percentage (77.5). Notre Dame's first-team offense did receive some help in raising its fourth- down conversion percentage last season from its special teams units and back- ups, but the first-team offense was still impressive with a 70.8 percent conver- sion rate (17 of 24). All but two of Notre Dame's fourth- down attempts in the first half of this season were within three yards of a first down. The Irish clearly need to be better in short-yardage situations on fourth downs and third downs, too. Finding the solution remains a work in progress. Freeman wasn't convinced that trying to have redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr take snaps from under center rather than a shotgun formation would lead to better success in short-yardage situations. "If we thought going under center in short-yardage situations was the an- swer, we would do it," Freeman said. "If we said that's the reason why we're not converting, then you're insane not to work on it and practice it. We don't believe that's the reason why we're not having success as much as we want in those short-yardage situations." The three successful fourth-down con- versions for Notre Dame's first-team of- fense came on a pair of runs by junior run- ning back Jeremiyah Love and an 8-yard completion by Carr to redshirt senior wide receiver Will Pauling. Six fourth-down failures came on a pair of runs by Love and four dropbacks by Carr. Carr was sacked twice, threw 1 incomplete pass and 1 in- terception on those designed pass plays. Using backup running back Jadarian Price, a redshirt junior, might not be the best option on fourth downs or short- yardage plays given his two fumbles this season on goal-to-go handoffs. The Irish used redshirt junior running back Gi'Bran Payne (2023) and sophomore running back Aneyas Williams (2024) as short-yardage options in previous seasons. "It's not a shot against Gi'Bran or Aneyas. Those guys are fully capable of go- ing in there in short-yard- age situations and execut- ing what they're coached to do," Freeman said. "But Jeremiyah Love and JD Price are fully capable of executing what their coach asked them to do. It's not that. It's, 'OK, we got to have a better plan. We got to have a better plan offensively in those short- yardage situations.' And we will." Notre Dame's fourth-down plays against North Carolina State Oct. 11 were well covered. One ended with a sack on a fourth-and-1 attempt, while the other resulted in a pass that was intercepted in the end zone on fourth-and-3. "They probably had a better call defensively than we had offensively," Freeman said. " … We've got to make it work. That's the next challenge. We're going to do everything in our power to scheme things that can help us have success, but at some point, you got to make the plays work. That's what we gotta continue to focus on." ✦ UNDER THE DOME SEARCHING FOR CONFIDENCE Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman doesn't want to pull back from fourth-down aggression Junior running back Jeremiyah Love accounted for two of the first three fourth-down conversions for the Irish this season. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER

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