Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541560
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 29, 2025 9 UNDER THE DOME ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER 3 Wins of 20 or more points — LIU Brooklyn (89-67), Detroit Mercy (102-70) and Eastern Illinois (78-58) — for the Notre Dame men's basketball team to open the 2025-26 campaign. It's the first time the Fighting Irish started a season with three straight wins by 20 or more points since 2016-17. That year, the Bonzie Colson-led Irish finished 26-10 overall and 12-6 in the ACC, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. -3.5 Is the betting line that Notre Dame would be favored by on the road at Oklahoma in the first round of the College Football Playoff, per FanDuel, as of immediately follow- ing the Nov. 18 CFP rankings release which had the Sooners at No. 8 and the Fighting Irish at No. 9. 5th Is Notre Dame's ranking in many ESPN advanced analytical metrics — SP+, FPI (football power index), EFF (efficiency rating) and GC (game control) — as of games played through Week 12. The knock on the Irish is that they're overrated, but by many mod- els — Sagarin Ratings (4), Fremeau Efficiency Index (6) and Massey Index (6) included — they might actually be underrated. 9 Touchdowns allowed by the Notre Dame defense in their seven games from Sept. 27 to Nov. 15, after allowing 11 in their first three contests. That includes a garbage-time touchdown Pitt took a timeout to score with six seconds left in what was a 37-9 game. Through Week 12, Notre Dame ranked 17th nationally in scoring defense (18.4 points allowed per game). 10 Contested catches for Notre Dame red- shirt senior wide receiver MALACHI FIELDS through 10 games this season, per Pro Foot- ball Focus. That figure was tied for ninth among Power Four wide receivers. "He's a freak," Irish senior tight end Eli Raridon said of his team- mate Fields. "He makes plays every Saturday and it's incredible to see. I see it right in front of my eyes; I'm the closest person to it most of the time and the catches he makes, I really haven't seen other receivers do in my time here. He's a truly special player." 17 Total touchdowns for Notre Dame junior running back Jeremiyah Love through 10 games. That's tied for sixth in a single season in Irish history. The overall record is held by Jerome Bettis with 20 in 1991. 89.6 Pro Football Focus coverage grade for Notre Dame cor- nerback Leonard Moore as of games played through Week 12. That was the fifth-best mark of any qualifying FBS corner and third-best among Power Four corners. 92.0 Percent (46 of 50) of Notre Dame's extra point attempts had been con- verted through Week 12. Only five teams in the country had a worse percentage: Ohio, New Mexico State, South Alabama, UMass and Louisiana-Monroe. Those teams had a combined record of 16-36. The Fighting Irish also ranked 129th nationally in field goal percentage (55.6, 5 of 9), tied with Colorado State, Wisconsin and Ohio. 96 Percent odds for Notre Dame to make the College Football Playoff af- ter its 37-15 win at Pittsburgh Nov. 15, per The Athletic's projections model. That was tied for the sixth-best odds, along with Ole Miss. Fellow bubble teams Oregon (82 percent), Alabama (60 percent) and Oklahoma (52 percent) trailed the Irish. For the record, Miami's CFP chances were just 11 percent (21st among all teams). The Athletic's projections also gave the Irish a 5 percent chance to earn a bye and a 10 percent chance to win the national championship. 122nd Was Notre Dame's national ranking in red zone scoring percentage through Week 12. The Irish got points on only 74.47 percent of red zone trips in their first 10 games. 140.9 Yards from scrimmage per game for Love through Week 12, which placed him No. 3 in the country. That mark would be good for the second-best single-season figure in that category in Notre Dame history behind Allen Pinkett's 159.9 in 1983. 299 Points scored by the Notre Dame women's basketball in its first three games — Fair- leigh Dickinson (98-52), Chicago State (116-58) and Akron (85-58) — of the 2025-26 season, tied for the most through the opening three games in program history (2024-25). The 116 points tallied against Chicago State is the sixth most in a single game in program history. The Fighting Irish lead the ACC with a scoring average of 77.1 points per game over the last six years (the duration of head coach Niele Ivey's tenure). +1100 Odds for Notre Dame to win the national championship as of Nov. 19, per BetMGM. The only teams with better odds than the Irish at that time were Ohio State (+185), Indiana (+500), Texas A&M (+700) and Georgia (+1000). — Tyler Horka