Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM DECEMBER 2025 21 NOTRE DAME PASSING OFFENSE: B Some of redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr's most impressive work continues to be sliding pro- tections and revising play calls pre-snap at the line of scrimmage. And his work post-snap was inter- mittently impressive in ninth-ranked Notre Dame's 49-20 victory over Stanford at half-filled Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, Calif. Carr completed 17 of 27 passes for 205 yards with 2 touchdowns with 0 interceptions before turning the keys to the offense over to redshirt sophomore Kenny Minchey early in the fourth quarter. Minchey proceeded to connect on 5 of 8 throws for 48 yards against the nation's 107th-best pass efficiency defense. Notre Dame's most impressive pass play actually came from a starting defensive end, Josh Burnham, connecting on an 84-yard touchdown to junior safety Luke Talich on a fake punt. And that's not as crazy as it sounds, given Burnham's background as a high school quarterback who reached a state title game in Michigan, and Talich's personal best of 10.72 seconds in the 100-meter dash in high school. Talich won Class 4A Wyoming state titles in the 100, 200 and long jump as a senior in 2023. Talich was one of 12 Irish players who caught one pass or more against the Cardinal. Jordan Faison (3 receptions for 68 yards and 1 touchdown) was the standout. Freshman Elijah Burress caught the first 3 passes for his career, good for 21 yards. NOTRE DAME RUSHING OFFENSE: B Rushing defense is the one aspect of Stanford's statistical profile worth bragging about, coming into the game ranked 25th. Despite a rib injury that limited Heisman Trophy candidate Jeremiyah Love's touches, Notre Dame still managed a re- spectable 187 rushing yards and 4.9 yards a carry, but both numbers are slightly below its season averages. Love played just 27 snaps and got 15 touches with 14 of them rushes for 66 yards and a touchdown. That score separated the 6-foot, 214-pound ju- nior from Jerome Bettis Sr., and gave Love the sin- gle-season touchdown record with his 21st score. Third option Aneyas Williams made the most of Love's absence with 83 yards and 2 touchdowns on 10 carries. Jadarian Price also had a rushing touchdown among his 6 carries. NOTRE DAME PASSING DEFENSE: A Limiting Stanford starting quarterback Elijah Brown to a pass efficiency rating of less than 100 and a completion percentage less than 50 is even more impressive when you consider that Notre Dame's pass rush was rather tepid against a team that's been one of the worst this season in the FBS in protecting its quarterbacks. Freshman linebacker Madden Faraimo had 1 of Notre Dame's 2 sacks, and 1 of the 6 QB hurries. Cornerback Leonard Moore led the way in cover- age with 3 pass breakups and his fifth interception of the season. The Irish came into the game with 21 as a team to lead the nation. Where the Irish missed injured sophomore line- backer Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa was matching up with Stanford's tight ends, particularly Sam Roush, who had 4 catches for 73 yards. NOTRE DAME RUSHING DEFENSE: B- Given Stanford's standing as the 131st-best rush- ing offense among the 134 FBS teams and the fact the Cardinal was missing injured leading rusher Micah Ford, giving up 86 yards on 30 carries (2.9 yards per carry) didn't feel like progress. Not the way the Irish had been surging against the run this month. Junior linebacker Drayk Bowen, redshirt senior defensive tackle Jason Onye and redshirt senior defensive end Jordan Botelho earned the highest run defense grades from Pro Football Focus. NOTRE DAME SPECIAL TEAMS: A The only nitpick here was that Notre Dame didn't try a field goal for the second straight week and third time in four games. But the Irish made up for it with a spectacular fake punt that gave them a 21-0 second-quarter lead, and were more than solid on the three real ones that James Rendell unleashed three for a 44.3 average. That included two that were fielded inside the 20-yard line. The Irish also handled Stanford's clever kickoff shenanigans with defensive tackle Cole Mullins returning two of them. NOTRE DAME COACHING: B There was plenty to like about head coach Mar- cus Freeman's decision-making and yet it was a weird game for the optics. Giving up 20 points to Stanford, the nation's 122nd-ranked team in total offense and scoring offense, isn't much of a College Football Playoff résumé-booster, but neither is leav- ing your starters in too deep in a lopsided game. The ESPN broadcast crew of Dave Flemming and Brock Osweiler seemed miffed when backup quarterback Kenny Minchey did anything but hand off. And yet they kept emphasizing the need for Freeman to have his team keep its foot on the gas. Bottom line, Notre Dame took care of its busi- ness against a team that was much better at home this season (4-2) than on the road (0-6). ✦ REPORT CARD BY ERIC HANSEN Junior wide receiver Jordan Faison reeled in 3 receptions for 68 yards and 1 touchdown to lead the way for a balanced Fighting Irish passing attack. PHOTO BY CHUCK ARAGON