Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541687
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM DECEMBER 2025 11 UNDER THE DOME THEY SAID IT THEY SAID IT "You know what Chad would have loved? You know what that kid would have appreciated more than anyone? He would've loved me picking Notre Dame. "I never really gave it much thought at the time, but I do think that one big thing Chad taught us all was about doing the unexpected, and not being predictable, and trying new things. He always had the courage to not just go along with the plan. And while I wasn't thinking about that when I chose Notre Dame — I just loved the school and the program — when you look at the totality of his life, he's a good representation of not being afraid to go against the grain. So maybe he kind of took some of that light and put it into Tommy and me, to where we can do something different, or don't have to always do what our parents or our parents' parents did. Who knows, right? But maybe. "Regardless, Chad would crack up about me going to Notre Dame, for sure. Like: Don't let anyone tell you what to do. Do what you want! I can almost hear him laughing about it in my mind. And that makes me smile." — Notre Dame redshirt freshman quarterback CJ CARR in The Players' Tribune "It seems very clear to me: He's the best player in college football. He should win the Heisman. And he's been sharing carries. That's another thing that's interesting when you look at what his workload's like. He didn't play in the second half this past week. So there's times when he's sharing carries through- out the course of the game, where on other teams, his stats would be even that much more. "I look at it and think it's probably going to go to a quarterback, because that's the way we've dealt with that award. Fernando Mendoza's the betting favorite. Julian Sayin's up there too. But there's not a better player in college football than Jeremiyah Love."— Former Notre Dame quarterback and cur- rent FOX Sports analyst Brady Quinn "Those people in that room think Notre Dame is better than Miami. Period." — Heather Dinich of ESPN on the CFP selection committee "Here's the problem with the [Notre Dame vs. Miami] debate. It only focuses on the head-to- head result between the two, but the CFP isn't ranking teams based on one result. They're ranking teams based on the entirety of their season, and guess what? Notre Dame has had a better season overall than Miami, even if we include the three- point loss at Miami in the first game of the season. "This isn't the committee valuing Notre Dame's brand or trying to rig it for television ratings. If we were still using the BCS system, Notre Dame would be five spots ahead of Miami right now, too. If we look at power ratings, like mine and everybody else's, you'll find Notre Dame ahead of Miami." — Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports "Does Notre Dame really deserve the benefit of the doubt? In short: Heck yeah. "The Irish have five wins against bowl-eligible opponents — more than Georgia, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt or Texas Tech. Both of Notre Dame's losses were one-possession affairs against top-12 opponents. The loss to Texas A&M came down to a fluke occurrence, as the Irish flubbed a point after try. Notre Dame's game control — about as good an estimation as we have for the eye test — puts the Irish ahead of everyone but Ohio State, Indi- ana, Texas Tech and Oregon. In four games since Nov. 1, Notre Dame has beaten its opposition by a combined score of 181-42, lambasting Syracuse so badly in Week 13 that Fran Brown might not shower for a month. "Look at any of the underlying metrics — explo- sive play rates, defensive stop rates, Jeremiyah Love being awesome rates — and Notre Dame is as good as anyone in the country." — David Hale of ESPN "They [Notre Dame and Miami] were compared this week but they're compared in the same pod as Alabama and a one-loss BYU. And the committee still feels that Notre Dame is a complete team, has been consistent throughout the season and de- serves to be ranked where they are at No. 9 ahead of Alabama, a really good two-loss team with some great wins and then a one-loss BYU team. And then Miami falls in accordingly." — CFP Selection Com- mittee chair Hunter Yurachek "So when Freeman's name shows up as a can- didate for the Florida and LSU jobs, even the New York Giants job in the NFL, or the narrative sur- rounding his football team becomes what it hasn't accomplished as opposed to what it has accom- plished, Freeman has a very simple reply: Why let somebody else's noise get in the way of what you're trying to achieve?" — Chris Low of On3 — Jack Soble PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Irish On Social Media