Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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10 DECEMBER 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Mary Bonner Dalton — Cross Country T h e s o p h o m o re f ro m Charlotte, N.C., earned All- America honors with a 10th- place finish at the 2025 NCAA Championships Nov. 22 in Columbia, Mo. Bonner Dalton — who finished runner-up in the ACC Championships Oct. 31 — covered the 6K course at the national championship race in a personal-record time of 18:58.0 to lead the Irish to a seventh-place team finish in the final meet of the season. Morgan Gaerte — Volleyball The sophomore outside hitter from Angola, Ind., re- corded 33 kills and a stellar .314 hitting percentage in a 3-2 road win over Clemson Nov. 21. Her kill total was one short of her career-high and program-record 34 that she set against Illinois Sept. 5. Gaerte — who ranked third in the ACC with 4.45 kills per game as of Nov. 25 — is one of only two Irish players in program history to have 30 or more kills multiple times in the same season. Blake Kelly — Soccer T h e s o p h o m o re g o a l - keeper from Holt, Mich., made 8 saves in a 1-0 road win over Michigan in the first round of the NCAA Tour- nament Nov. 20. It marked the sixth shutout victory for Kelly this season. Led by Kelly, the Irish finished the year with an impressive average of 1.25 goals allowed per game and a .740 save percentage (25 goals allowed on 96 shots) in 20 games. Daniel Knapp — Diving The senior from Mesa, Ariz., finished second in both the 1- and 3-meter springboard diving events at the highly competitive SMU Diving Invitational Nov. 20-22 in Dallas. He scored a 373.5 in the 1-meter run- ner-up finish and 377.9 in the 3-meter competition. As a team, Notre Dame finished seventh in the 16-school event. Knapp also won the 1-meter springboard event in a dual meet with Louisville Nov. 7. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE It took a 70-point outburst versus Syracuse, but they don't ask how. They ask who. And by who, we mean, who is averaging at least 40 points per game in college football through Week 13? Just five Power Four teams; Indiana, Texas Tech, Tennessee, Utah and ... Notre Dame. With those 70 points against the Orange, the Fighting Irish vaulted into seventh nationally in FBS scoring offense with 41.4 points per game. That was the cutoff for teams averaging north of 40 points per game. Fellow College Football Playoff con- tender Oregon sat in eighth place with 39.3 points per game. The other two teams ahead of Notre Dame are Group of Five schools, North Texas and South Florida. The Mean Green paced the country in scoring with 46.3 points per game through 11 outings, three full points per game ahead of the nation's No. 2 highest scoring team, Indiana, at 43.3 points per game. All in all, it's good company for Notre Dame. North Texas and South Florida have been in the mix for a CFP spot all year. They're two of the best Group of Five teams going. And among the other four Power Four teams averaging at least 40 points per game, two of them are near locks for the CFP in Indiana and Texas Tech. Credit is definitely due to Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, who in his sec- ond season of his third stint back in South Bend has turned the Irish offense into a national juggernaut with a redshirt freshman, first-year starting quarterback at the controls of the operation. Here's the thing with that, though; CJ Carr is gifted and darn good in his own right, and he's on an offense with a wealth of riches at every position — including a Heisman Trophy candidate running back in Jeremiyah Love. It is worth noting, though, that seven of the Notre Dame's 63 touchdowns through 11 games came on defense or special teams. But in that case, they don't ask how. They just ask how many. — Tyler Horka CHARTING THE IRISH NOTRE DAME GETS AFTER OPPOSING QUARTERBACKS WITH THE BEST OF THEM Notre Dame and Miami just can't seem to get away from each other. For weeks now, the prevailing conversation in college football has been, why the heck is Notre Dame ranked ahead of Miami if the Fighting Irish lost to the Hurricanes head-to-head in the season opener? There are answers and arguments from both sides that make a lot of sense. Also making a lot of sense — the two teams are only in the middle of such a debate because they've got the metrics and track record to support a College Football Playoff case. Take, for instance, the way both have been able to affect the quarterback this season. Entering Week 14, Notre Dame and Miami were tied for fifth in the FBS in quarterback pressures with 173 apiece, according to Sports Info Solutions. Ironically, one of the major reasons why Miami did beat Notre Dame 27-24 Aug. 31 was the Hurri- canes' formidable pass rush dominating an Irish offensive line that had very clearly not come into form by Week 1. That's changed, even amid some key injuries that have shaken up the interior. What's also changed — Notre Dame's defensive line is doing to other teams what Miami's front did to the Irish two months ago. Coordinator Chris Ash's unit has become one that feasts on opposing offensive lines and makes games incredibly uncom- fortable for the quarterback. Notre Dame had 10 quarterback hurries at Pitt Nov. 15, for instance, which were the most in any single game for the Irish defense since hitting that same number against Florida State in 2018. "The way we're playing right now, it's a lot of fun," Ash said. "I love watching it. We love game-planning with what we're doing. I think the players have really bought into it. I'm having a lot of fun with it right now, too." — Tyler Horka MOST QB PRESSURES THROUGH WEEK 13 Per Sports Info Solutions Rk. Team Pressures 1. Miami (Ohio) 187 South Florida 187 3. Texas Tech 182 4. Michigan 175 5. Miami (Fla.) 173 Notre Dame 173 7. Virginia 165 Wake Forest 165 Vanderbilt 165 UNLV 165 HIGHEST SCORING POWER FOUR TEAMS THROUGH WEEK 13 Rk. Team Points Per Game 1. Indiana 43.3 2. Texas Tech 42.6 3. Tennessee 42.3 4. Utah 42.0 5. Notre Dame 41.4 Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock transformed the Irish offense into one of the best in the country in 2025, averaging 41.4 points per game through 11 contests. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER