Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 17, 2026 7 UNDER THE DOME Notre Dame Needs A Balanced Offensive Attack By Kyle Kelly When the Irish made it to the national championship game following the 2024 season, they did so with quarterback Riley Leonard's dynamic rushing ability and then-sophomore wide receiver Jaden Greathouse's breakout. Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price were special during their Notre Dame ca- reers, but they weren't the same during the 2024 post- season as they were during the regular season. Aside from Love's 98-yard touchdown run against Indiana, Price and Love combined for 173 yards and 1 touch- down on 59 carries, averaging just 2.9 yards per carry. The Irish passing offense wasn't explosive either, rank- ing 101st nationally in passing yards per game. Ulti- mately, Mike Denbrock's unit did not have enough fuel in the tank to deliver Notre Dame a national championship. Denbrock has a championship-caliber quarterback in junior CJ Carr, who is directing the nation's No. 38 passing offense (266.8 passing yards per game). However, the tight ends have been nonexistent at times (11 catches for 79 yards and 3 touchdowns), and Greathouse had almost as many yards in the Orange Bowl versus Penn State in January 2025 (105) as he's had during the first five games of his senior season (108). The run game is finally starting to hit its stride, but there isn't a running back who instills fear in opposing defenses the way Price and Love did. Fresh- man Jonaz Walton could become that, but he's not there yet. Like 2024, the Irish have an elite defensive unit. Now they need Denbrock's offense to reach that same level in the season's second half. The Offensive Line Needs To Be Consistently Dominant By Tyler James Notre Dame will have a hard time reaching its full potential if the offensive line doesn't continue to take steps forward toward its own peak power. Notre Dame's 37-26 win at North Carolina may have become a turning point for the Irish offensive line, because the Irish showed they can rely on that unit to take over a game against a solid de- fensive front even when the opponent knew what was coming. Notre Dame made it pretty clear that it wanted to run the football in rainy conditions against North Carolina, and it didn't care that the Tar Heels prob- ably knew what was coming. Notre Dame's offensive line play allowed the Irish to stick with that plan and dictate how the game finished after Notre Dame's seven-point halftime lead shrank to one point. The Irish have already been elite in pass protection to start the season by allowing just 2 sacks through five games. Notre Dame aced its pass rush test against a North Carolina team that averaged 3.33 sacks per game before playing the Irish. Notre Dame surrendered 0 sacks of quarterback CJ Carr by the Tar Heels. The biggest tests of the regular season for Notre Dame's offensive line should come against BYU and Miami in the coming month. Those will be measuring-stick games to evaluate how close the Irish offensive line is to reaching its goal. A sustained run in the College Football Playoff will require the offensive line to answer the bell in every subsequent round. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHAT DOES NOTRE DAME NEED TO PROVE IN THE SEASON'S SECOND HALF TO MAKE ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP RUN? Jordan Faison established how consis- tent he could be as Notre Dame's leading receiver during his junior season in 2025. That consistency has continued this fall, with Faison still the favorite target of start- ing quarterback CJ Carr. Faison caught 25 passes for 371 yards and 4 touchdowns in Notre Dame's first five games of the 2026 season. That put him on track to have an even more pro- lific output than last season (49 catches for 640 yards and 4 touchdowns). His in- creased touchdown production should pay dividends for the Irish down the stretch. Defenses have yet to identify a consis- tent game plan to neutralize the chemis- try Faison and Carr have developed. The emerging threat of junior wide receiver Micah Gilbert on the other side of the field has made Notre Dame's passing of- fense difficult to keep in check. As Faison approaches the second half of what could be his final season at Notre Dame, Blue & Gold Illustrated caught up with him to discuss his growth as a player, his health, how defenses try to cover him and more. BGI: How far has your game come since your freshman season at Notre Dame? Faison: "I came really far. I came to campus from a Wing-T offense playing quarterback. Now changing to receiver, it was a really big change for me. "I didn't know much about receiver my fresh- man year. Seeing the change now and how far I've come is really huge. From the little things like footwork and techniques to understanding defenses and understanding our offense. Look- ing back, seeing how far I've come is pretty cool." BGI: Do you feel better prepared for the grind of this season because you didn't play lacrosse in the offseason? Faison: "I've felt better prepared ever since going through the spring and then ultimately fall camp. I could kinda tell there was a difference in the little break I gave my body. Ultimately now, I'm feeling great too. But that's also a testament to our support staff and training staff who take care of us and us taking care of our own bodies as well." BGI: Can you think of a moment when you haven't been on the same page with quarterback CJ Carr? Faison: "Probably not. Shoot, we just put so much work in throughout the off- season and throughout practices. It's very rare — there's not a time I can remember that we were off the same page." BGI: Why do you think teams don't press you in coverage more often? Faison: "I don't know. Whatever the defense is looking to do. Sometimes I've gotten stuffed on a press. Sometimes I haven't. So, I don't know what they see or what not. I'm up for any challenge." BGI: Does it surprise you that on third-and-6 they're 7 or 8 yards back? Faison: "Whatever they give us, we're going to run routes against it." — Tyler James Five Questions With …Senior Wide Receiver Jordan Faison Faison caught 4 touchdown passes in Notre Dame's first five games this season. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER DENBROCK RUDOLPH