Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547079
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 17, 2026 27 "Yeah, they challenged themselves, man," Freeman said. "They didn't have a great, probably, feeling after the last game, and they're competitors. There's high standards around here, and they've risen. "We got a dang good defense, and they didn't play to that standard last week. I really liked how they practiced this week and prepared." Stanford went 2 of 11 on third down, as opposed to North Carolina's 5-of-10 mark in the previous game. The Irish allowed 9 total first downs in Week 6, compared to 18 in Week 5. Traore's strip sack was Notre Dame's only tackle for loss, but aside from a coverage bust in the third quarter, the Irish gave the Car- dinal no room to breathe downfield. "Just knowing we didn't perform the way that we wanted to, we felt like we were way better," sophomore corner- back Jayden Sanders said. "Just putting our head down this week and showing everybody that we are a great defense and we can do what we need to do." The Irish did that without arguably — and the only counterargument is Traore — their two best defensive play- ers: Junior cornerback Leonard Moore (concussion) and junior linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (thumb). Ju- nior safety Brauntae Johnson (foot) and sixth-year defensive tackle Jason Onye (ankle) have been out since Week 1. Moore's replacement, Sanders, broke up 2 passes. Johnson's replacement, se- nior safety Luke Talich, leads the team in interceptions and is third in tackles for loss. Even Viliamu-Asa had to be replaced as an edge rusher on passing downs, and senior linebacker Drayk Bowen bull-rushed a Stanford offensive tackle into the ground. "I'm very pleased with our depth," Freeman said. "I'm pleased with the way they play when they get the op- portunity." — Jack Soble NOTRE DAME INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing Att. Gain Lost Net Avg. TD Long Walton 13 187 6 181 13.9 2 97 James 10 73 0 73 7.3 2 31 Carr 5 41 0 41 8.2 0 14 Osborne 6 31 0 31 5.2 1 13 Williams 7 29 1 28 4.0 0 9 Young 3 13 0 13 4.3 0 6 Team 3 0 6 -6 -2.0 0 0 Total 47 374 13 361 7.7 5 97 Passing Com. Att. Pct. Int. Yards TD Long Carr 14 20 70.0 0 181 3 70 Grubbs 5 7 71.4 0 56 0 16 Total 19 27 70.4 0 237 3 70 Receiving Rec. Yards TD Long Greathouse 3 30 1 16 Faison 3 16 0 11 Walton 2 28 0 16 Larsen 2 21 0 14 Graham 2 5 0 4 Williams 1 70 1 70 Burress 1 30 1 30 Premer 1 14 0 14 Gilbert 1 10 0 10 Bettis 1 5 0 5 Fitzgerald 1 5 0 5 Flanigan 1 3 0 3 Total 19 237 3 70 Punt Returns No. Yards TD Long Faison 2 47 0 37 Total 2 47 0 37 Kick Returns No. Yards TD Long None Punting No. Avg. Long Blk. TB FC 50+ In 20 Scaife 2 38.0 44 0 0 1 0 2 Total 2 38.0 44 0 0 1 0 2 Field Goals Made Att. Long Blk. Porath 1 1 33 0 Total 1 1 33 0 Defense Solo Ast. Total TFL Sacks PD FF FR Bowen 5 1 6 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Talich 5 0 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Thomas 3 1 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Clapper 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 McKinney 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Traore 2 0 2 1-2 1-2 1 1 0 Dunham 1 1 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Keeley 1 1 2 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Brewu 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Ewetade 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Long 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Mukam 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Rezac 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Sanders 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 Shuler 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Sneed 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 T. Gray 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Young 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Ausberry 0 0 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 Int. Returns No. Yards TD Long Traore 1 18 0 18 Zackery 1 0 0 0 Total 2 18 0 18 STANFORD INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing Att. Gain Lost Net Avg. TD Long Ford 13 48 0 48 3.7 0 11 Mirer 1 7 0 7 7.0 0 7 Davis 2 6 0 6 3.0 0 4 Irvin 1 2 0 2 2.0 0 2 Warren 2 4 2 2 1.0 0 4 Hampton 1 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 Team 1 0 7 -7 -7.0 0 0 Total 21 67 9 58 2.8 0 11 Passing Com. Att. Pct. Int. Yards TD Long Warren 12 22 54.5 1 144 1 52 Mirer 0 1 0.0 1 0 0 0 Total 12 23 52.2 2 144 1 52 Receiving Rec. Yards TD Long High 3 64 0 52 Blackburn 3 27 1 12 Brown 2 16 0 13 Onovughe 2 15 0 10 Hall 1 21 0 21 Ford 1 1 0 1 Total 12 144 1 52 Punt Returns No. Yards TD Long None Kick Returns No. Yards TD Long Davis 4 81 0 27 Total 4 81 0 27 Punting No. Avg. Long Blk. TB FC 50+ In 20 Flintoft 8 47.5 53 0 0 3 3 3 Total 8 47.5 53 0 0 3 3 3 Field Goals Made Att. Long Blk. None Defense Solo Ast. Total TFL Sacks PD FF FR Mattingly 8 3 11 1-1 0-0 1 0 0 Galvan 5 3 8 1-4 0-0 0 0 0 Green 5 2 7 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Kaminski 4 1 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 McAllister 4 0 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Bryant 3 1 4 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Pollard 3 0 3 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Marceau-Olayinka 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Tafiti 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Briehler 1 1 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Cooper 1 1 2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 Eckhardt 0 2 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Bachhuber 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Davis 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Edwards 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 High 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Howard 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Kuo 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 McComber 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Rowell 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Staples 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Tate 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Johnson 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Sumlin 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Int. Returns No. Yards TD Long None MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Notre Dame improved to 26-14 all time against Stanford and is now 4-1 against the Cardinal under head coach Marcus Freeman. • The two teams play for the Legends Tro- phy, which is a combination of Irish crystal and California redwood. The Notre Dame Club of San Francisco first presented the trophy in 1989. • Notre Dame improved to 8-1 in Irish Wear Green contests since 2018 and 4-1 when wear- ing green jerseys in Irish Wear Green games. • Junior quarterback CJ Carr threw for 3 touchdowns in fewer than three quarters of action, marking his third consecutive game with at least 3 passing touchdowns and his fourth such performance this season. Carr has now thrown 16 touchdown passes against just 1 interception and entered the contest ranked among the FBS top 10 in passing touchdowns. • Carr's three scoring strikes brought his career total to 40, tying Rick Mirer for eighth in Notre Dame program history.