Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 OCT. 17, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Daelen Ackley — Cross Country The fifth-year from El Dorado Springs, Mo., took top individual honors and helped the Irish to their fifth straight team championship at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite Oct. 2. Ackley covered the 8K course at Burke Golf Course on campus in 22:54.7 — four seconds ahead of junior team- mate and race runner-up Cameron Todd — for a Notre Dame team that placed four runners in the top 10 of the 18-team meet. Mary Bonner Dalton — Cross Country The junior from Charlotte, N.C., helped Notre Dame to a second-place finish at the 20-team Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite Oct. 2. She led the Irish and finished 11th individually after covering the 5K course at Burke Golf Course on campus in 16:09.88. Dalton, who's expected to compete for top- five individual honors at the ACC Champion- ships Oct. 30, also finished third at the 2026 National Catholic Invitational Sept. 18. Danny Nelson — Hockey The senior forward from Maple Grove, Minn., was named preseason first-team All-Big Ten Sept. 23. Last year, he was second on the team with 13 goals (a team-best 7 on the power play) and fourth with a career-high 29 points. Nelson, a team captain for the second con- secutive season, has appeared in 102 games for the Irish in his career and has amassed 78 points off 35 goals and 43 assists. Bridget Wilkie — Women's Golf The junior from Toronto, Ontario, tied for ninth indi- vidually with a 2-under-par 214 at the Ron Moore Invi- tational Oct. 2-4 in Highlands Ranch, Colo., while helping Notre Dame to a fifth-place tie in the 15-team event. Wilkie shot the low score of the tournament for Notre Dame in Round 1 when she carded a 3-under-par 69 — with four birdies— in the second-to-last event of the fall season for the Irish. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE When Boubacar Traore entered arrived at Notre Dame in 2023, head coach Marcus Freeman recalled, he was "skinny and tall." But the Irish, he explained, felt like he had the frame and the tools to grow into the player he is. And what a player Traore has become. He's actually on pace for fewer sacks than the 6.5 he had last season, but don't let that fool you. Traore is tied for fifth in the Power Four in quarterback pressures with 19, putting him on pace for about 46 over a 12-game season. In 2025, he had 31. "I know that sometimes, some plays don't end up on the stat sheet, but film is film at the end of the day," Traore said. "I feel like just always putting good film out there is, obviously, whatever helps the team if it hits the stat sheet or not. I'm not playing for myself. I'm playing for the guys on the field." It's also worth noting that unlike many of his peers, Traore had to face a triple-option team in Week 2, which provided him with only 4 pass rush snaps and 0 pressures. Against everyone else, the 6-foot-5 senior has been a dominant defensive end. The biggest difference between the 2025 and 2026 versions of Traore, according to Freeman, is the way he practices — and it's translating to Saturdays. "I mean, it's tough to block him in practice, no matter who's trying to block him, and he enjoys that," Freeman said. "Like, there's a competition in practice, especially with the scout team of, 'Put anybody across from me, nobody's going to be able to block me, and I love that challenge.'" — Jack Soble CHARTING THE IRISH THE 200-POINT CLUB If Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr keeps up his current pace, the junior will blow past the number of points he was responsible for in his debut season as a starter in 2025. As a sophomore, Carr accounted for 164 points with 24 touchdown passes, 3 touchdown runs and a 2-point conversion pass. Through the first five games of Notre Dame's 2026 season, Carr accounted for 96 points to his credit with 13 touchdown passes and 3 rushing touchdowns. Those 96 points put Carr in a tie for seventh in the FBS in points responsible for through Week 5. Because Southern Cal quarterback Jayden Maiava played in six games through Week 5, Carr was actu- ally tied for sixth in points responsible for per game (19.2). Carr's pace through five games would equate to about 230 points in the regular season. With the Irish likely to make a run into the College Football Playoff, that means Carr could find himself at the top of Notre Dame's record book in the points responsible for category. Quarter- back Brady Quinn holds the Irish program record with 234 points from 37 passing touchdowns and 2 rushing touchdowns during the 2006 season. Only five players in program history — all quarterbacks — have accounted for more than 200 points in a season: Quinn, Riley Leonard (230 in 2024), Ian Book (228 in 2019), Everett Golson (226 in 2014) and DeShone Kizer (204 in 2016). Carr needs to account for 18 more touchdowns (or fewer with more 2-point conversions) this season to surpass 200 points. — Tyler James FBS LEADERS IN POINTS RESPONSIBLE FOR Through Oct. 3, 2026 Rk. Player, School Points 1. QB Braden Atkinson, Oregon State 116 2. QB Kamario Taylor, Mississippi State 114 3. QB Michael Hawkins Jr., West Virginia 108 4. QB Jayden Maiava, Southern Cal 104 5. QB Darian Mensah, Miami 102 QB Conner Weigman, Houston 102 7. QB CJ Carr, Notre Dame 96 QB Noah Fifita, Arizona 96 QB Josh Hoover, Indiana 96 QB Kevin Jennings, SMU 96 POWER FOUR QB PRESSURES LEADERS Through Week 5 Rk. Player, School Pressures 1. Sebastian Cheeks, Wisconsin 27 2. Daeden Hopkins, Missouri 23 3. Will Heldt, Clemson 20 Damon Wilson II, Miami 20 5. Boubacar Traore, Notre Dame 19 Aycen Stevens, Virginia Tech 19 Source: Pro Football Focus Boubacar Traore is tied for fifth in the Power Four in quarterback pres- sures with 19, putting him on pace for about 46 over a 12-game season. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP