Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 26, 2026 9 UNDER THE DOME ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER 0 Runs of 20 or more yards for the Fighting Irish in its first two games of the 2026 season. That made Notre Dame one of just six Football Bowl Subdivision teams without one. The Irish have just six 10-yard runs despite controlling the entire game against Rice and most of the second half against Wisconsin. Two of those 10-yard runs were by freshman Jonaz Walton during the fourth quarter ver- sus Rice when the Irish were just trying to end the game. 2 Times over the past 30 seasons, the Fighting Irish have held each of their first two opponents to less than 300 yards of total offense — both under head coach Marcus Freeman, first in 2023 (Navy 169, Tennessee State 156) and in 2026 (Wisconsin 284, Rice 120). Before Freeman, the last time was 1996 under Lou Holtz (Vanderbilt 126, Purdue 203). Notre Dame has held opponents to less than 300 total yards 28 times in 57 Free- man-era games (49.1%). The Irish are 27-1 in those games. 3 Of head coach Marcus Freeman's four full seasons have seen Notre Dame finish among the top 10 nation- ally in defensive touchdowns. With a defensive score in each of their first two games against Wisconsin and Rice to open 2026, the Irish passed Pittsburgh for the most in the FBS since 2022: Rk. School Defensive TD 1. Notre Dame 17 2. Pittsburgh 16 3. SMU 12 Tennessee 12 Oklahoma 12 Washington State 12 7. Ohio State 11 Troy 11 BYU 11 Louisiana Tech 11 5 Players in Notre Dame football history have recorded at least 1 receiv- ing touchdown, 1 interception return touchdown and 1 punt return touchdown during their Fighting Irish careers: Frank Carideo (1928-30, 1 receiving, 2 interception and 1 punt); John Petitbon (1949-51, 1 receiving, 1 interception and 1 punt); John Lattner (1951-53, 2 receiving, 1 interception and 1 punt); Nick Rassas (1963-65, 1 receiving, 1 interception and 3 punt); and Luke Talich (2023-present), who has 1 of each over the past two seasons. Talich brought back an interception 79 yards for a touchdown against Florida State in 2024, and then brought back a blocked punt 22 yards for a touchdown against Syracuse and notched an 84-yard receiving touchdown pass off a fake punt at Stanford last year. 30.9% Chance for Notre Dame to win out following its 2-0 start, per ESPN's analytics. That is the best percentage in the country. 36-18-2 Record for Notre Dame against the spread — the best in the country during that time span — since Marcus Freeman's first full season as head coach in 2022, per BetIQ.com. The Irish started 2-0 against the spread in 2026, including covering a 45-point spread against Rice Sept. 12. Ohio State was a close second with a 35-20-3 mark. The top five among Power Four teams was rounded out by Texas Tech (33-21-1), Missouri (32-21-1) and Duke (32-21-2). $41-$48 Million was Notre Dame's estimated col- lege football roster budget per a Sept. 16 report from The Athletic. That placed the Fighting Irish seventh among all Power Four programs: Rk. School Estimated Budget 1. Ohio State $49-54M 2. Oregon $48-54M 3. Texas $45-55M 4. LSU $47-50M 5. Texas A&M $45-50M 6. Miami $44-50M 7. Notre Dame $41-48M 8. Ole Miss $30-45M 9. Tennessee $41-43M 10. Alabama $38-42M Only two Associated Press top-10 teams, as of Sept. 16, did not make the top 10 in roster spending: No. 2 Georgia (19th, $31-34 million) and No. 4 Indiana (13th, $36-40 million). 47 Receiving yards against Rice on Sept. 12 for Irish junior wide re- ceiver MICAH GILBERT, which included a leaping grab of a 39-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback CJ Carr. $85-$98 Million i s the combined total of the estimated roster bud- gets, according to reporting from The Athletic, for Miami and Notre Dame for that matchup Nov. 7 in South Bend. It was included on a list of The Athletic's list of the six most expensive game this season and likely in college football history. The other "most expensive" matchups listed by The Athletic were Ohio State at Texas ($94109 million) Sept. 12, LSU at Ole Miss ($86-95 million) Sept. 19, Texas A&M at LSU ($92-100 million) Sept. 26, Texas at LSU ($92-105 million) Nov. 14 and Texas at Texas A&M ($90-105 million) Nov. 27. "It's the only non-SEC/Big Ten matchup on the list, but Notre Dame and Miami are both near the top," The Athletic's David Ubben noted. "They're both getting dividends from their investment, too. Notre Dame reached the national title game two seasons ago, and Miami won three playoff games to reach it last year. Miami spent big again this offsea- son to land Duke transfer Darian Mensah at quarterback. The Hurricanes are spending well above the rest of the ACC. "The old 1980s rivals revisited their hatred a season ago when Miami beat the Irish in the season opener, but trailed the Irish in every CFP ranking all year … except for the last one after a week in which neither team played. That'll be as hot a topic as the money when these two face off in South Bend for the first time since 2016.