Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541560
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 29, 2025 23 .867 Winning percentage for Marcus Freeman (13-2) in November games as the Fighting Irish's head coach. That's second all time at Notre Dame in post-October regular- season wins to Jesse Harper (.905, 19-2). Counting the last 17 November games of the Brian Kelly era, the Irish are 30-2 post-October in the regular season in their last 32 such games. 3 Losses by Syracuse in its football history by wider margins than the 63-point defeat (70-7) at Notre Dame Stadium. All three came in the 1800s — (75) Nov. 11, 1891 at Union, 75-0; (68) Oct. 9, 1891 at Cornell, 68-0; (66) Nov. 11, 1893 at Union, 66-0. 3 FBS players since 1996 have rushed for 170 yards or more in a game with 3 touchdowns on 8 carries or fewer. Those players are LSU's Clyde Edwards-Helaire (Nov. 23, 2019 versus Arkansas); Cincinnati's Desmond Ridder (Oct. 24, 2020 versus SMU); and Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love (Nov. 22, 2025 versus Syracuse) with 171 yards. It's the sixth game of the season that Love has had 100 or more rushing yards in a game. 4 Syracuse offensive possessions took place before the Notre Dame offense touched the ball for the first time in its 70-7 victory. That translated to 14 plays and 7:52 off the clock. 4 Special teams touchdowns for Notre Dame this season, after junior safety Luke Talich returned a blocked punt 22 yards for a score early in the first quarter. That is the most by any team in the Football Bowl Subdivision, per NBC Sports. The Irish also returned a blocked punt for a touchdown versus Texas A&M Sept. 13, and red- shirt junior running back Jadarian Price has a pair of kickoff return touchdowns (versus Purdue Sept. 20 and against Southern Cal Oct. 18). 9 Games in program history in which the Irish have returned 2 interceptions for touch- downs in the same game after redshirt senior safety Jalen Stroman (44-yard return) and sopho- more cornerback Leonard Moore (46-yard return) each had first-quarter pick sixes against Syracuse. The last time the Irish achieved that feat was against Southern Cal on Nov. 30, 2024. Notre Dame is just the sixth FBS team to have two interception returns for touchdowns in a game this season and join Missouri (vs. Missis- sippi State) and Oregon (vs. Oklahoma State) in having two interception return touchdowns against a Power Four team. It's also the first time since the 2022 season that Notre Dame has had a pick six in consecutive games. 23 Years ago — against Purdue on Sept. 7, 2002 — was the last season in which the first three touchdowns of the game for Notre Dame were not scored by the offense, prior this year's bludgeoning of Syracuse. The Irish did it against the Orange a little more than five minutes into the game, with the pick sixes by Stroman and Moore plus Talich's blocked punt return. Nearly a quarter century ago, the Irish got fumble recovery touchdown returns from Gerome Sapp (54 yards) and Lionel Bolen (4 yards) plus an interception return by Vontez Duff (33 yards) to post a 24-17 victory over the Boilermakers. 35 Points in the first quarter for Notre Dame were the most in the opening quarter in program history — surpassing the previous high of 28, done four times but most recently in the 52-17 win over Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 30, 2017. 49 Points scored in the first half by the Irish, which is the most by a Notre Dame team since at least 1943. 78 Players — who didn't play exclusively on special teams — saw action for the Fighting Irish in their 63-point victory. That's 35 on offense and 43 on defense. 132 Yards is what junior running back Jer- emiyah Love needs to break Vagas Fer- guson's Notre Dame single-season rushing record of 1,437 yards set back in 1979. 329 Yards rushing for Notre Dame on just 24 carries. Per OptaStats, that is the fewest rushes in a game while having 300+ rushing yards by any FBS team over the last 30 seasons. 1932 Was the last season that Notre Dame broke the 70-point mark in a game. The Irish defeated Haskell 73-0 in that season's opener before a Notre Dame Stadium crowd of 8,369. Haskell would drop football six years later, but brought it back twice only to drop it for good in 2015. BY THE NUMBERS BY ERIC HANSEN 3 Rushing touchdowns of 45 yards or more for Notre Dame: 45 and 68 yards by junior Jer- emiyah Love, and 58 yards by redshirt junior JADARIAN PRICE. The last time the Irish got a hat trick of long rushing scores was on Sept. 26, 2015, when Josh Adams (70), Brandon Wimbush (58) and CJ Prosise (57) did it in a 62-27 win over UMass. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER