Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Irish On Social Media $1.13 Billion 2025 valuation for the Notre Dame athletics program per CNBC. That put Notre Dame at No. 6 on CNBC's list of the 75 most valuable athletics programs. That is the same spot Irish had in the 2024 valuation. The Notre Dame athletics program brought in $235 million worth of revenue in 2024, helping usher in a 17% year-over-year value change. Here is CNBC's college athletics valuations top 10 for 2025: 2025 YOY 2024 YOY 2024 Rk. School (Conference) Valuation Change Revenue Change Rank 1. Texas (SEC) $1.48B 16% $332M 23% 2 2. Ohio State (Big Ten) $1.35B 2% $255M -9% 1 3. Texas A&M (SEC) $1.32B 5% $266M -5% 3 4. Georgia (SEC) $1.16B 22% $242M 15% 7 5. Michigan (Big Ten) $1.16B 9% $239M 4% 4 6. Notre Dame (ACC*) $1.13B 17% $235M 5% 6 7. Tennessee (SEC) $1.12B 19% $234M 16% 9 8. Southern Cal (Big Ten) $1.10B 19% $242M 14% 12 9. Alabama (SEC) $1.09B 11% $235M 18% 5 10. Nebraska (Big Ten) $1.06B 12% $221M 8% 8 * Independent in football, Big Ten in hockey and ACC in all other sports Ultimately, Notre Dame failed to control its own destiny. Its penchant for slow season starts under Marcus Freeman was fatal this time, opening with losses to Miami and Texas A&M by a total of four points. It's amazing to consider that close losses to playoff teams were more costly than the humiliating September home loss to Northern Illinois last year, which Notre Dame over- came to make the field. A play as simple as an extra point looms over the entire season, after a botched hold on the Irish's final touchdown against A&M be- came the margin of defeat." — Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated 2 Of the "10 college football chaos mo- ments" during the 2025 season listed by The Athletic as having an impact on the season and CFP field included Notre Dame. The first was Duke's successful two-point conversion Nov. 1, which gave the Blue Devils a 46-45 triumph over Clemson. It was their first victory in Death Valley in 45 years, and ultimately helped doom Notre Dame. "What if the play had failed? A Duke loss would have knocked the Blue Devils out of what became a five-way tie for second in the ACC's standings," Matt Baker of The Athletic noted. "They would not have made the ACC championship game, let alone won it. Instead, the ACC's Pitt/SMU/Miami/ Georgia Tech jumble would have gone to the next tiebreaker, the highest team rating score in an advanced metric. Unless that metric was an out- lier, the Hurricanes would have held the edge and faced Virginia for the ACC title. "Either ACC champion (Miami or Virginia) would have outranked James Madison, keeping the Dukes out of the CFP. A Hurricanes win would have put Miami into the bracket as a conference champion and opened up a spot for the next at-large team. Notre Dame." The second was Notre Dame's botched extra point against Texas A&M Sept. 13. Junior running back Jeremiyah Love's touchdown run put the Irish ahead 40-34 with 2:53 left, but holder Tyler Buchner dropped the snap on the point-after try, meaning a touchdown and extra point would beat them. The Aggies made them pay with a fourth- and-goal touchdown in the final seconds of the game for a 41-40 victory. "Reverse the extra-point outcomes, and the Playoff situation is reversed, too." Baker noted. "The 11-1 Irish would have easily been in, and the 10-2 Aggies might have landed below the cut line thanks to a résumé without a single win over a team that finished ranked by the CFP." 168.1 Notre Dame's new single-season pass efficiency record, set in 2025 by red- shirt freshman CJ CARR. The old mark of 161.4 was established 76 years ago, in 1949, by Bob Williams, and matched in 2009 by Jimmy Clausen. Carr also holds the career mark with his effort, knocking Kevin McDougal (156.7) out of the top spot. Carr completed 195 of 293 throws for 2,741 yards with 24 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in his first season as a starter. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM FEBRUARY 2025 13