Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 19, 2026 9 UNDER THE DOME ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER 3 Notre Dame players, all juniors, were tabbed as first-round selec- tions in ESPN's first 2027 NFL mock draft prior to the start of the college football season: quarterback CJ CARR to the New York Jets at No. 3 overall, cornerback Leonard Moore to the Carolina Panthers at No. 7 overall and safety Brauntae Johnson to the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 14 overall. Fellow quarterbacks Dante Moore of Oregon (projected No. 1 overall to the Cleveland Browns, via a projected trade with Miami) and Arch Manning of Texas (No. 2 overall to the Arizona Cardinals) were the only two players listed ahead of Carr. "Carr's sample size is small (12 career starts), but he thrived last season in his first year as a starter," ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid noted. "He's a capable passer who can distribute the ball and does a great job of syncing his feet, eyes and throwing motion. Notre Dame is a prime national title contender in 2026, and if Carr excels on that quest, it's easy to see him rise to this spot of the draft." In a separate piece, ESPN draft analyst Jor- dan Reid listed Carr and Leonard Moore among 16 players who could become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. He gave Carr a 10% chance and Leonard Moore a 1% chance of rising to No. 1. Dante Moore and Manning were each listed at 15%, followed by South Carolina edge Dylan Stewart at 13% and Texas edge Colin Simmons at 12%. 5 College football teams opened the 2026 season with wins of at least 20 points against power-conference opponents: Virginia defeated North Carolina State 34-8 in Week 0, then in Week 1 Miami crushed Stanford 45-6, UCLA topped Cal 45-24, LSU hammered Clemson 51-10, and Notre Dame routed Wisconsin 41-13. 6th Was where Notre Dame was slotted on ESPN's list of the 10 greatest supervillains in college football history. "The first full program on the ESPN list of villains, Notre Dame doesn't need a ton of explanation for most fans," ESPN's Ryan McGee noted. "On top of being wildly successful historically, the program's treatment when it comes to television contracts is extremely unique, leading to a whole lot of agita. "Many argue there's an inherent bias when it comes to the Fighting Irish and that they play by a separate set of rules. Whatever the case, fans have found reasons to hate on the 'Golden Domers' for years." Here is the full top 10: 10. QB Caleb Williams, Southern Cal 9. CB Deion Sanders, Florida State 8. QB Tim Tebow, Florida 7. ESPN 6. Notre Dame 5. 1990 Miami Hurricanes 4. LB Brian Bosworth, Oklahoma 3. QB Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M 2. Coach Lane Kiffin, Multiple 1. Coach Steve Spurrier, Multiple 8.1 Million Total viewers for the Notre Dame-Wisconsin game Sept. 6 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., per Sports Media Watch. That made it the most-watched game in Week 1. The Nielsen-measured linear audience on NBC produced 7.42 mil- lion viewers, while the streaming viewership tracked by Adobe Analytics was 683,000. What's most impressive about the Notre Dame-Wisconsin audience sur- passing 8 million viewers is that it came despite a top-25 matchup between No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 24 Louisville airing simultaneously on ABC. That game was the fifth-most-watched of the week, drawing 4.7 million viewers. According to NBC Sports, the matchup between the Irish and Badgers is the third-most-watched Notre Dame football game since 2005. The only two to draw a larger audience were Notre Dame-Ohio State in 2023 (10.6 million) and Notre Dame-Clemson in 2020 (10.4 million). 16 Of the 57 college football experts on a list that On3 put together "from around the internet and the television space" picked Notre Dame to win the national championship this season. That was the most of any school, with Oregon a close second at 14. The rest of the list was comprised of Ohio State (8), Texas (6), Indiana (5), Miami (4), Georgia (3) and LSU (1). Here are the national experts that tabbed the Fighting Irish as their national champion pick: David Cone, On3 (over Texas); Joel Klatt, FOX Sports (over Oregon); Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN (over Indiana); Brad Craw- ford, CBS Sports (over Oregon); Booger McFarland, ESPN (over Texas); Bruce Feldman, The Athletic and FOX Sports (over Oregon); Andrea Adelson, ESPN; Bill Connelly, ESPN; David Hale, ESPN; Adam Ritten- berg, ESPN; Rece Davis, ESPN; Stanford Steve, ESPN; Will Compton, Bussin' With The Boys; Pat Forde, Sports Illustrated; Nicole Auerbach, NBC Sports; and Brady Quinn, FOX Sports. 53rd Is where ESPN ranked Notre Dame's Brady Quinn among the top 100 quarter- backs of the 2000s. Quinn threw for 11,762 yards with 95 touchdowns and 39 interceptions during his four years (2003-06) with the Irish and added 6 rushing scores. "We all thought Charlie Weis was a ge- nius when he showed up in South Bend and Notre Dame immediately charged to its first top-10 finish in 12 years," ESPN noted. "Weis' reputation fell apart pretty quickly, however, when Quinn ran out of eligibility." 97 Overall rating for Notre Dame junior cor- nerback Leonard Moore in EA Sports Col- lege Football 2027 video game. Only Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith has a higher rating (99). Moore was also No. 2 behind Smith on On3 reporter Pete Nakos' preseason list of the most impactful non-quarterbacks in college football.