Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 JANUARY 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Sebastian Dominko — Tennis The senior from Maribor, Slovenia, joined an elite fraternity and became only the third Fighting Irish ten- nis player — and the first in 25 years — to qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship in all four years of college competition. Dominko also ended his collegiate career as the only Notre Dame player to ever qualify for the NCAA Championships seven times (singles and doubles). He lost in the first round Nov. 18 in Lake Nona, Fla. Morgan Gaerte — Volleyball The sophomore outside hitter from Angola, Ind., capped her terrific season by becoming the first Irish player to earn first-team All- ACC honors since 2020. Gaerte started in all 28 matches this season and tal- lied 497 kills — the third-most ever for a Notre Dame player in a single season and the third- most in the conference this season. Her 4.64 kills per set this season also set a school record. Cole Knuble — Hockey The junior forward from Grand Rapids, Mich., re- corded 1 goal and 3 assists in the third period to help Notre Dame to a 5-4 come- back road win at Merrimack Nov. 26. He scored one of the four third-period goals to pull the Irish within one score and assisted on the other three for his first career 4-point game. Through 14 games, Knuble was third on the team with 12 points. Hollie Widdows — Swimming The sophomore from Ta- vistock, England, set a school record in the 100 freestyle and helped the Irish to a team title at the Miami Fall Invitational Nov. 20-22 in Ox- ford, Ohio. She posted a time of 48:24 in winning the 100 freestyle, and in doing so punched her ticket in the event for the 2025 NCAA Championships. Widdows also won the 200 free (1:47.04) and the 100 fly (52.98), and finished second in the 50 free (22.45) at the Miami meet. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Mike Denbrock accomplished something that has not been done at Notre Dame since 1912. Knute Rockne hadn't even coached a game for the Fighting Irish then. Heck, neither had Jesse Harper, Rockne's predecessor. In the last 100-plus years of Notre Dame football, 11 national championship seasons and so many other close calls included, the Irish had never averaged at least 40 points per game in a single season. They produced at a clip of 42.0 points per game during the 2025 season. That's second to only the No. 1 Notre Dame season of all time in this category; the 1912 Irish averaged a staggering 55.6 points per game. Denbrock's offense is the result of the marriage of players settling in nicely in the second season of his teachings — he came back to Notre Dame for a third time ahead of the 2024 season — and those play- ers themselves making up one of the most collectively talented groups the Irish have had on offense in quite a while. From a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate in Jeremiyah Love to a fellow record setter in redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr, and so many others at so many other vital positions, Notre Dame really does have one of the best offenses in the country from a personnel perspective. It always comes down to a coach putting the players in positions to succeed, though, and Denbrock was acknowledged for his ability to do so by being named one of 15 Broyles Award semifinalists in early December. That honor is bestowed upon the best assistant coach in college football. Even if Denbrock doesn't win it, he's put to- gether one of the best offenses in Notre Dame history. That isn't anything to scoff at. — Tyler Horka CHARTING THE IRISH MARCUS FREEMAN IS ON THE SHORT LIST OF ACTIVE HEAD COACHES WITH A PLAYOFF WIN This time of year, you want a head coach that's been in playoff battles to be at the helm of your team. Preferably, you want a head coach who's won playoff battles to be at the helm of your team. Currently in college football, there are only eight of those. That includes everyone who's coached since the inception of the four-team College Football Playoff in the 2014 season through the first year of the 12-team format last season. Only eight head coaches who are currently in the sport have won so many as one CFP game. Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman is one of them, and he's won three. Only three active coaches — Dabo Swinney, Kirby Smart and Ryan Day — have won more. All three of them have won at least one national championship, too. Put simply, Freeman has earned his money in the first four years of his Notre Dame tenure. Sure, the first two seasons were rocky — 9-4 and 10-3. But he followed those underachieving seasons up with back-to- back years of double-digit wins in the regular season, which always should be the Fighting Irish standard. Freeman's success has come at a time in which notable adversaries haven't found any in the postsea- son. Brian Kelly, for instance, never made the playoff in three and a half seasons at LSU after making it twice at Notre Dame. Lincoln Riley has never qualified for it in four tries at Southern Cal after doing it three times at Oklahoma. Since 2014, those two schools are a combined 0-5 in playoff games. It took Freeman one playoff appearance to post a record of 3-1. Some coaches are cut out for playoff success. Some aren't. Last winter, Freeman put himself in the former category. He hopes to keep himself there in postseasons to come. — Tyler Horka HIGHEST SCORING NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL SEASONS OF THE LAST 100 YEARS Rk. Season Points Per Game Record 1. 2025 42.0 10-2 2. 2023 39.2 10-3 3. 1968 37.6 7-2-1 4. 1992 37.2 9-1-1 5. 1996 37.0 8-3 ACTIVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL HEAD COACH CFP RECORDS Head Coach (Current Team) Record Last Year With A Win Dabo Swinney (Clemson) 6-5 2019 Kirby Smart (Georgia) 5-2 2022 Ryan Day (Ohio State) 5-3 2024 Marcus Freeman (Notre Dame) 3-1 2024 James Franklin (Virginia Tech) 2-1* 2024 Steve Sarkisian (Texas) 2-2 2024 Kalen DeBoer (Alabama) 1-1^ 2023 Sonny Dykes (TCU) 1-1 2022 * All three games happened while he was at Penn State in 2024 ^ Both games took place when he was at Washington in 2023