Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541560
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 29, 2025 11 UNDER THE DOME "When I do my next Big Board update, Notre Dame's Malachi Fields will be on the top 10 wide receivers. He's having a really good season, giving him- self a chance to go on Day 2 in April. Fields is averaging 18.6 yards per catch, and he has five TDs for the third straight season. At 6-foot-4 and 222 pounds, he can beat defensive backs with his big frame, length, physi- cality and sure hands. I love the way he high-points the ball." — ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. "Was it right to drop Alabama behind Notre Dame? I think that that's a fair question. And if you're going by résumé, then what the committee did is the wrong answer. Because the résumé for Alabama is much stronger than Notre Dame. … The best win being in Athens at Georgia takes the cake, and it should. The best win that Notre Dame has is USC. Nothing to scoff at, but remember, that game happened in South Bend. And that's a USC team that, up to that point, had not shown they could play very well on the road. … But in a résumé com- parison, it's not a comparison, and Bama should have been No. 9." — FOX Sports' Joel Klatt "Notre Dame is in position to make the College Football Playoff. It shouldn't be — not yet, anyway — but it is. Those shiny gold helmets must have blinded the selection committee members to real- ity." — Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated "The way things stand, because of where the high- est ACC team is ranked and the highest group of five team is ranked, the lowest ranked at-large is going to be No. 10. You cannot drop below No. 10. They are No. 9, so yes, there is danger." — On3's Andy Staples on Notre Dame's No. 9 CFP ranking Nov. 18 "Notre Dame has some of the best losses in the country. At the same time, a College Football Playoff case built on impressive losses probably won't make anyone feel settled. The analytic systems love how consistent Notre Dame has been, and rightfully so. Since the 0-2 start, they've won every game by mul- tiple scores. They've clearly improved in the defen- sive secondary, the unit that doomed them to their 0-2 start. If these two teams played today, sure, Notre Dame would probably be favored. I'd even pick them to win. But, that's not really the point. The Fighting Irish are getting a lot of credit for what they've almost done. And that's not really in the spirit of sports. … "Notre Dame has recovered from 0-2 to put together a playoff-worthy season. But even if the Irish earn their way into the field — as Miami stays home with the same record — the double standard is hard to ignore." — Shehan Jeyarajah of CBS Sports on the Notre Dame-Miami debate "My own opinion, having watched both of these teams over the course of the season, is that Notre Dame has rounded into a team capable of getting back to the national championship game. Quarter- back CJ Carr is the nation's third-rated passer, trailing only Ohio State's Julian Sayin and Indiana's Fernando Mendoza. Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price form a lethal backfield tandem. And the Irish defense has gotten much better over the last two months. "Jekyll and Hyde Miami seems more like a tal- ented but underachieving college basketball team that squeezes its way into the NCAA Tournament and loses in the first round. Mostly because I don't trust Carson Beck to be consistent and avoid turn- overs." — Stewart Mandel of The Athletic on the Notre Dame-Miami debate "We're a good team and we were right there in a close game against a good team. We're angry right now, but we've got to build off the good things and get better at the bad things and come out and win the next close game. We gotta close it out and prove we're a different team." — Notre Dame junior guard Braeden Shrewsberry after the Irish's 64-63 loss at Ohio State Nov. 16 — Tyler Horka Irish On Social Media THEY SAID IT THEY SAID IT "It's near impossible to capture just how astonishing Love's running style is, on par with some of the world's greatest artists, such as Mikhail Barysh- nikov, Fred Astaire or the Tas- manian Devil." — E SPN's David Hale on Notre Dame junior running back JEREMIYAH LOVE PHOTO BY FRANK HYATT