Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541184
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 15, 2025 9 UNDER THE DOME ✦ BY THE NUMBERS 3rd Is where Notre Dame junior point guard Hannah Hidalgo was ranked on ESPN's preseason list of the top 25 players in women's college basketball. "She burst onto the scene as an electrifying freshman in 2023-24," ESPN's Michael Voepel noted. "Then she followed it up last season as the ACC's Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year for the Irish, who lost in the Sweet 16. With fellow guard Olivia Miles transferring to TCU, expect Hidalgo to return to a similar assist average (5.5) as she had her first season, when Miles was out with an injury. Hidalgo is well-known for her defense, having averaged 4.2 steals in her previous two seasons. In the AmeriCup tournament this summer, she averaged 12.4 points, 4.6 assists and 3.1 steals." 6 Straight wins for Notre Dame through Week 10 of the season. That made the Fighting Irish the first FBS team to win six straight games fol- lowing an 0-2 start since Iowa in 2020. 10th Was where Notre Dame was slotted in the first College Foot- ball Playoff rankings of the 2025 season Nov. 4. The Irish were ranked among the top 25 teams in the first edition of the annual CFP rankings for the ninth time in 11 years. The Irish have been ranked among the top 10 teams in the first rankings on seven occasions. Notre Dame's highest position in the initial CFP rankings came in 2020 at No. 2. The Irish didn't make the initial rankings in 2016 and 2022. Notre Dame was ranked No. 15 in the first CFP rankings of the 2024 season be- fore eventually being ranked No. 5 and seeded No. 7 in the first 12-team playoff. 16 Interceptions for Notre Dame's defense entering Week 11, the most in the country. Notre Dame averaged 2 interceptions per game through its first eight games of the season. The Irish, who tallied 19 interceptions last season, intercepted one out of every 18.4 passes thrown by opponents this season through the Boston College game. Notre Dame intercepted 4 passes in the first 4 games combined. The Irish snagged at least 2 interceptions in each of the next 4 games. 19 Rebounds for Notre Dame men's basketball forward Carson Towt in his debut with the Irish. The graduate transfer from Northern Arizona tied his career high with 19 boards in the Irish's 89-67 sea- son-opening win over Long Island University Nov. 3. Bob Whitmore holds the Notre Dame record for rebounds in a single game with 30 against St. Norbert in 1967. Towt, who led the country last season with 12.4 rebounds per game, recorded 19 re- bounds on three different occasions in his final two seasons at NAU. Towt started for Notre Dame in his first game and added 2 points, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. 48 Pass attempts of 20-plus yards for Notre Dame football quarterback CJ CARR, per Pro Football Focus. The redshirt freshman was tied for 10th in the FBS in total attempts of 20-plus yards entering Week 11. Carr completed 21 of those attempts for 733 yards and 6 touchdowns with no interceptions. Among quarterbacks with at least 48 of those deep pass attempts, only SMU's Kevin Jennings (45.8 percent) had a better completion rate than Carr's 43.8 percent. Riley Leonard attempted only 43 such passes in 16 games as Notre Dame's quarterback last season and completed 20 of them (46.5 percent) for 658 yards and 7 touchdowns with 4 interceptions. 50 Percent of passes thrown against Notre Dame football's defense through eight games have come with the Irish in some sort of man coverage, per Sports Info Solutions. Notre Dame faced 294 total pass at- tempts in those games. SIS recognized the Irish playing man coverage via Cover 0, Cover 1 or Man Cover 2 on 147 of those pass attempts. Opposing offenses completed 69 passes for 1,041 yards with 10 touch- downs and 11 interceptions against Notre Dame's basic man coverage looks. Per SIS, the Irish were in man coverage against 54.7 percent of the pass at- tempts they faced in the 2024 season. 51 Was the average ranking for Notre Dame junior point guard Markus Burton on the preseason top-100 lists produced by ESPN and CBS Sports prior to the start of the 2025-26 campaign. ESPN slotted him at No. 46, while CBS Sports had him at No. 56. "The only reason Burton isn't ranked higher is because his team hasn't won enough," ESPN's Myron Medcalf noted. "He was a second-team All-ACC se- lection last season after averaging 21.3 points and connecting on 38 percent of his three-pointers, but Notre Dame has amassed a 28-38 record during his two seasons with the Fighting Irish. You can't put that solely on him, but it's possible that Burton could again have a great season that goes largely unnoticed if his team's struggles continue." "Is there any player on this list with better production and less recognition than Burton? You'd be hard-pressed to find one," Kyle Boone of CBS Sports noted. "He led scoring in the ACC during league play averaging 23.5 points per game and his 21.3 points per game on the year was fifth nationally. He also capped his season averaging 31.5 points per game over his final four regular-season games. Burton's a bucket in every sense of the word. The only other major conference play- ers the last three years to average at least 21.0 points and 3.0 assists per game in a single-season are PJ Hag- gerty and Mark Sears — both of whom were All-Amer- icans. The accolades are on their way for Burton." 192 Pressures generated by Notre Dame foot- ball defenders through eight games this season, per PFF. Three players were credited with at least 20 pressures in the first eight games: redshirt sophomore defensive end Boubacar Traore (23), redshirt junior de- fensive tackle Donovan Hinish (22) and sophomore defensive end Bryce Young (20). PFF tabbed Notre Dame defenders with 272 pressures across 16 games last season for an average of 17 pressures per game. The Irish averaged 24 pressures per game through the first two-thirds of the 2025 regular season. 402 Rushing yards for Notre Dame football running back Jeremiyah Love on designed rushes of more than 15 yards, per PFF. That ranked Love ninth among FBS running backs entering Week 11. With 894 rushing yards through eight games, 45.0 percent of Love's rushing yards have come on what PFF considers break- away runs. Of the 1,125 rush- ing yards Love totaled in the 2024 season, 590 of them (52.5 percent) came on breakaway runs. — Tyler James PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER