Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546555
22 SEPT. 19, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 242 touchdowns, both from the 1-yard line with the help of a physical Irish of- fensive line. Stats: Notre Dame ran just one more play than Rice but outgained the Owls 133-39. Items: Junior offensive lineman Styles Prescod replaced junior Guerby Lambert at right tackle … Lambert went into the locker room with a limp. THIRD QUARTER NOTRE DAME 52, RICE 0 Top Moment: The Notre Dame Stadium speakers echoed with the an- nouncement of a 56-yard play by Jerome Bettis Jr. The son of the former legend- ary Irish running back is a real option for Notre Dame at wide receiver. His 56-yard catch was the longest play of the game. Feature Performer: Carr was auto- matic all day. He completed 3 of 3 passes for 63 yards with a touchdown. For the game, Carr finished with as many touchdown passes as incompletions: 4. Stats: Rice had 1 yard after running 6 plays, compared to Notre Dame's 164 yards on 21 plays … The Irish had the ball for 11:09 after possessing the ball for only 12:18 in the first half. Items: Freshman quarterback Noah Grubbs replaced Carr as the Irish be- gan to empty the bench … Grubbs com- pleted 6 of 8 passes for 73 yards. FOURTH QUARTER NOTRE DAME 52, RICE 0 Top Moment: Fittingly, the Notre Dame defense forced another fumble. This time, senior linebacker Kahanu Kia punched it out, with freshman defensive lineman Rodney Dunham recovering it. Kia, who had a fumble recovery on kick coverage against Wisconsin, keeps mak- ing plays for the Irish when his number is called. Feature Performers: The Notre Dame safeties played an active role. Sophomore Ethan Long tallied 3 stops, while freshman Joey O'Brien added 2 tackles in his first extended game action. Stats: Rice ran for 458 yards last week against Houston Christian, but could only muster 64 yards on the ground against Notre Dame … Twenty-nine of those yards came in the final quarter. Items: Notre Dame freshman quar- terback Teddy Jarrard made his debut, replacing Grubbs with 5:54 left. ✦ Junior linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa tied for the team lead in tackles against Rice with 5 in his first game action since suffering a season-ending injury versus Syracuse on Nov. 22, 2025. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER NOTRE DAME 52, RICE 0 Sept. 12, 2026 ✦ Attendance: 77,622 Notre Dame Stadium ✦ South Bend, Ind. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Rice 0 0 0 0 0 Notre Dame 21 21 10 0 52 RICE ND FIRST QUARTER ND Traore 24-yard fumble return (Porath kick) 14:46 0 7 ND Faison 25-yard pass from Carr (Porath kick) 10:30 0 14 Drive: 3 plays, 38 yards, 1:06 ND Faison 11-yard pass from Carr (Porath kick) 3:51 0 21 Drive: 7 plays, 58 yards, 4:07 SECOND QUARTER ND James 1-yard run (Porath kick) 13:43 0 28 Drive: 8 plays, 64 yards, 2:55 ND James 1-yard run (Porath kick) 4:26 0 35 Drive: 2 plays, 6 yards, 0:29 ND Gilbert 39-yard pass from Carr (Porath kick) 1:17 0 42 Drive: 2 plays, 38 yards, 0:42 THIRD QUARTER ND Flanagan 2-yard pass from Carr (Porath kick) 11:41 0 49 Drive: 6 plays, 75 yards, 3:19 ND Porath 36-yard field goal 4:21 0 52 Drive: 10 plays, 49 yards, 5:01 RICE ND Total First Downs 7 24 Rushing 4 7 Passing 3 16 Penalty 0 1 Rushing Attempts 34 32 Yards Gained Rushing 89 124 Yards Lost Rushing 25 6 Net Yards Rushing 64 118 Net Yards Passing 64 360 Passes Attempted 12 33 Passes Completed 8 25 Had Intercepted 0 0 Percent Completion 66.7% 75.8% Yards Per Attempt 5.3 10.9 Yards Per Completion 8.0 14.4 Total Offensive Plays 46 65 Total Net Yards 128 478 Average Gain Per Play 2.8 7.4 Fumbles: No.-Lost 5-4 0-0 Penalties: No.-Yards 4-37 2-20 Punts: No.-Yards 6-275 1-46 Average Per Punt 45.8 46.0 Average Net Punt 34.7 46.0 Punt Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 5-47 Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 1-8 0-0 Interception Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 0-0 Fumble Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 1-24 Miscellaneous Yards 0 0 Possession Time 27:42 32:18 Third-Down Conversions 2-12 7-12 Percentage 16.7% 58.3% Fourth-Down Conversions 2-2 1-2 Percentage 100.0% 50.0% Sacks By: No.-Yards 0-0 1-6