Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 12, 2026 9 UNDER THE DOME ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER 3 First-rounders and 11 overall selections are what ESPN projected for Notre Dame to produce for the 2027 NFL Draft heading into the 2026 season. That put the Irish in Tier 1 of ESPN's list of 12 colleges stacked with draft talent, along with Texas, Oregon and Miami. The Longhorns are pro- jected to have four first-rounders and 13 overall picks, with the Ducks (three and 11) and Hurricanes (three and 10) right behind them along with the Irish. "The most recent draft saw Notre Dame have two first-round picks (RBs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price) for the first time since 2018," ESPN's Jordan Reid noted. "It could exceed that number and get three for the first time since 1994." 4 Notre Dame players — the most by any college, matched only by Alabama — were named to The Athletic senior writer Bruce Feldman's college football "Freaks List" for 2026: junior defensive tackle Francis Brewu at No. 25, junior defensive end Bryce Young at No. 51, junior offensive guard Anthonie Knapp at No. 64 and senior defensive tackle Elijah Hughes at No. 73. "Brewu is up to 294 pounds and is now benching 500 pounds, the testing number he is most proud of," Feldman noted. "The Irish have some freaky players on their defense; another who merited consideration is Jaylen Sneed, a 225-pound linebacker who vertical-jumped 38½ inches and broad-jumped 10-3 this summer." No. 5 Quarterback/receiver duo in college football, per On3's J.D. PicKell, is Notre Dame's CJ Carr and Mylan Graham. Ohio State's Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith, Miami's Darian Mensah and Malachi Toney, Texas' Arch Manning and Cam Coleman and Oregon's Dante Moore and Dakorien Moore occupied the top four spots on PicKell's list. "Although Graham has hauled in just 6 career catches for 93 yards, the former four-star recruit is bound to blossom in South Bend under the guidance of head coach Mar- cus Freeman." On3 noted. "Graham seems poised to be the next Ohio State transfer to blossom with a different team, joining the likes of Joe Burrow and Jameson Williams." 6 Fighting Irish players were included on The Athletic's list of the top 100 players in college football heading into the 2026 season: junior cor- nerback Leonard Moore at No. 2, junior quar- terback C J Carr at No. 9, junior linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa at No. 50, junior offensive guard Anthonie Knapp at No. 55, senior edge Boubacar Traore at No. 74 and junior safety Brauntae John- son at No. 86. Notre Dame was one of six schools with at least six players on the list. Oregon led the way with seven, followed by Notre Dame, Texas, Miami, LSU and Indiana all with six. 7-1 Odds, per DraftKings Sports as of Sept. 2, for Notre Dame junior quarterback CJ Carr to win the Heisman Trophy heading into the 2026 season, just ahead of Texas quarterback Arch Manning (15-2). Carr's odds are the longest for a Heisman Trophy fa- vorite entering any of the last 20 seasons, according to ESPN Research, and six other players follow — five quar- terbacks and a receiver — with odds of 15-1 or better. 10 Consecutive victories by Notre Dame to close the 2025 regular sea- son, all by margins of 10 or more points. It is only the second time in program history — and the first in 103 years — that the Irish have won 10 straight all by double digits. The Irish won 12 straight by double-digits from Oct. 29, 1921 to Nov. 4 1922. The Irish also are one of just two college football programs (Indiana is the other) to have put together at least a 10-game winning streak in each of the past two seasons. Notre Dame also won 13 straight in 2024. 28th and 29th Players to be elected a Notre Dame team captain twice are senior linebacker Drayk Bowen and senior safety ADON SHULER. The last time two captains were re-elected from the year prior was in 2022 when Jarrett Patterson and Avery Davis became two-time Notre Dame captains. Junior quarterback CJ Carr and senior wide receiver Jordan Faison joined Bowen and Shuler as elected team captains for 2026. Faison is believed to be the program's fifth captain since 2000 who began his career as a walk-on. The others are Shane Walton (2002), Joe Schmidt (2015), Austin Webster (2017) and Chris Finke (2019). +286 Scoring margin for Notre Dame in "middle eight" (the last four minutes of the second quarter and the first four minutes of the third quarter) in head coach Marcus Freeman's first four seasons. The Fighting Irish have outscored opponents 403-117 during that crucial eight-minute stretch, a margin of +5.30 points per contest. They have averaged 7.46 middle-eight points scored per game and allowed just 2.17 with Freeman at the helm. 2006 Was the last year in which the Fight- ing Irish entered a season with na- tional championship odds shorter than 10-1, until Notre Dame and Ohio State were listed 6-1 co- favorites, per DraftKings as of Sept. 3, to win it all this season. Twenty years ago, the Irish opened as the national title favorite with 4.5-1 odds, per SportsOddsHistory.com. Per ESPN Research, only one preseason betting favorite has gone on to win the national championship in the College Football Playoff era (Alabama in 2017). In addi- tion, the Irish and Buckeyes have the longest odds of a preseason favorite in 20 years, match- ing Alabama in 2016. — Steve Downey