Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547512
12 NOV. 14, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Daelen Ackley — Cross Country The fifth-year from El Do- rado Springs, Mo., led all Notre Dame runners and earned All-ACC honors with a sixth-place individual finish at the 2026 ACC Cross Coun- try Championships Oct. 30 in Blacksburg, Va. Ackley, who earned all-conference honors for the first time in his Irish career, covered the 8K course in 22:57.7 to help the Fighting Irish to a fourth-place finish in the 17-team event. Mary Bonner Dalton — Cross Country The junior from Charlotte, N.C., led all Fight- ing Irish runners and earned All-ACC honors with a 10th- place individual finish at the 2026 ACC Cross Country Championships Oct. 30 in Blacksburg, Va. Bonner Dalton covered the 6K course in 19:24.1 to help the Irish to a sixth-place finish in the 18-team event. It marked her second all-conference selection after she finished second individually in this race last season. Sydney Helmers — Volleyball The senior outside hitter from Hebron, Ky., tallied a career-high 24 kills and added 9 digs and 3 blocks in a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Clemson Nov. 1 at Purcell Pavilion. It marked the third time this season she has recorded at least 20 kills, helping her Irish break a nine-match losing streak. Through Nov. 1, Helmers led Notre Dame with 241 kills and was third on the team with 124 digs. Blake Kelly — Soccer The junior goalkeeper from Holt, Mich., re- corded 3 saves while helping Notre Dame to a dominant 3-0 home win against Duke at Alumni Stadium Oct. 30. The shutout victory was the fourth clean sheet of the season for the Irish and the 10th of his career as a three- year starter. Through the 2026 regular season, Kelly led the ACC with 63 overall saves and 4.20 saves per game. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE On the heels of CJ Carr and Darian Mensah's battle for quarterback supremacy, we thought we'd take a look at their big-time throw rate. This number is of note because they entered the game dead even in the statistic. Post-BYU, Carr's raw numbers took a hit after he passed for 5.3 yards per attempt on 49 throws. He was at 8.3 yards per attempt through eight games, which is very good, but a tick below the upper echelon of college football. However, some of the underlying metrics indicate Carr's season has been better than his conventional statistics suggest. Take big-time throw rate. Pro Football Focus defines a big-time throw as "a pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window." It is a subjective metric, because there can obviously be some debate over what does and does not qualify. But in general, it indicates whether a quarterback is hitting throws that help the team win because of the quarterback, not just with the quarterback along for the ride. Entering the Miami game, Carr's big-time throw rate was 6.9 percent, which tied him for fifth in the Power Four alongside Mensah. It speaks to Carr's ability to hit NFL-level throws, which is something scouts took a close look at during his battle with Mensah and the Hurricanes. That's one of two stats that Carr truly excels in, the other being pressure-to-sack rate (the percentage of pressured dropbacks that result in sacks). His 4.1 percent rate is the second lowest among [qualifying group], behind only Duke's Walker Eget. P2S% is considered a stable metric — meaning it translates across multiple levels — and one of the most important and telling stats for a QB. — Jack Soble CHARTING THE IRISH DRAYK BOWEN'S STARTING STREAK COMES TO AN END Notre Dame senior linebacker Drayk Bowen started 36 consecutive games for the Irish. That streak, which began at the start of the 2024 season, came to an end when Notre Dame hosted No. 1 Miami Nov. 7. The Irish had to play their first game without Bowen in the starting lineup since the 2023 Sun Bowl because he sustained a right ankle injury in Notre Dame's 35-13 victory over Navy Oct. 31. The two-time captain was leading the Irish in tackles through eight games with 45. Only three linebackers in Notre Dame program history started more consecutive games for the Irish than Bowen: Manti Te'o (48 in 2009-12), Maurice Crum (42 in 2005-08) and Jaylon Smith (39 in 2013-15). The record set by Te'o began in the fifth game of his career as a true freshman and ended when he exhausted his eligibility as a senior. Smith is the only one of those top three linebackers who started every game of his career, but he left the program for the NFL following his junior season. With Bowen's streak coming to an end, the Irish had a four-way tie for the longest streak of consecutive starts on the current roster. The Miami game marked the 21st consecutive start for senior wide receiver Jordan Faison, junior quarterback CJ Carr, and junior offensive line- men Anthonie Knapp and Guerby Lambert. If Knapp hadn't missed the College Football Play- off national championship game at the end of the 2024 season, his starting streak would have been 16 games longer. — Tyler James CONSECUTIVE LINEBACKER STARTS AT NOTRE DAME Rk. Player Games Seasons 1. Manti Te'o 48 2009-12 2. Maurice Crum 42 2005-08 3. Jaylon Smith 39 2013-15 4. Drayk Bowen 36 2024-26 5. Kory Minor 35 1995-98 6. Drew White 28 2018-21 7. Lyron Cobbins 26 1993-96 8. Marist Liufau 25 2022-23 Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah 25 2018-20 Morrice Richardson 25 2005-06 TOP FIVE POWER FOUR QUARTERBACKS IN BIG-TIME THROW RATE Rk. Player, School BTT% 1. Isaiah Marshall, Kansas 9.0 2. Devon Dampier, Utah 7.5 3. Jared Curtis, Vanderbilt 7.2 Lincoln Kienholz, Louisville 7.2 5. CJ Carr, Notre Dame 6.9 Darian Mensah, Miami 6.9 Through Nov. 1, min. 200 dropbacks, per PFF Junior quarterback CJ Carr was tied for fifth in the country in big-time throw rate (6.9 percent) entering the Miami game. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER