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What they’re saying about Notre Dame’s 56-13 win against Arkansas

Singer headshotby: Mike Singer09/28/25MikeTSinger

Notre Dame had its best game of the season on both sides of the ball Saturday afternoon against Arkansas, blowing out the Razorbacks 56-13. Redshirt freshman CJ Carr was electric on the day, completing 22 of 30 passes for 354 yards and 4 touchdowns.

In this article, we’ll take a look around at what the media is saying about the Fighting Irish’s win against the Razorbacks, including Blue & Gold’s Mike Singer and Eric Hansen giving their instant reaction to the game in a YouTube live show. You can watch the replay of the show in the video player above.

Jack Soble, Blue & Gold: How Notre Dame defense delivered bounce-back performance in win over Arkansas

Arkansas’ fans boo’d their team off the field at halftime at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Notre Dame’s defenders were more than happy to fire them up.

Safeties Adon Shuler and Tae Johnson lingered between the hashes for a few extra moments, taking the crowd’s disapproval with their team’s 42-13 deficit in.

Shuler, Johnson and the rest of the Notre Dame defense had earned it after holding Arkansas to 13 points in the first half. That number did not change before the clock hit zero. It was a bounce-back performance for a unit that desperately needed it, coming three subpar outings to open the year.

Irish head coach Marcus Freeman challenged each defensive player to own their difficult start to the season and do what it takes to fix it, and they did.

“I knew the leaders on the defense wouldn’t point the finger,” Freeman said. “They were pointing it at themselves, and I was very confident that they would stay together.”

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Eric Hansen, Blue & Gold: Five Thoughts—Marcus Freeman’s approach to fixing the Notre Dame defense mattered

What was supposed to be a “stripe out” at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Saturday quickly turned into an “empty-seat out” in the first-ever football clash between host Arkansas and No. 22 Notre Dame.

The alternating color sections looked good while they lasted, but they didn’t have the staying power to match an Irish squad owning the field where Notre Dame coaching icon Lou Holtz once roamed the sidelines.

And Holtz was an honorary captain for Notre Dame in its 56-13 thrashing of the Razorbacks. 

Here are five thoughts from the game and where the Irish go from here:

1. Marcus Freeman’s approach to fixing the Notre Dame defense mattered

On Tuesday night, ahead of Notre Dame football’s dismantling of Arkansas on the road on Saturday, Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock made an analogous reference to the ND offense as a Ferrari.

That alluring metaphoric sports car found another gear in Fayetteville, Ark., in the first-ever football meeting between the Irish (2-2) and Razorbacks (2-3). And it’s something that’s both compelling and pragmatic when it comes to how the Irish can get back to the 12-team College Football Playoff.

What happened on the defensive side of the ball for Notre Dame is significant when it comes to the damage the Irish could do in the CFP if/when they get there.

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Ari Wasserman, On3: Ready for season-long debate about Notre Dame and the College Football Playoff?

Is everyone ready for the season-long debate we’re about to have about whether a 10-2 Notre Dame team deserves one of the 12 spots in the College Football Playoff? Ready or not, it’s happening. Buckle your seatbelts.

Notre Dame came into the season feeling it needed to go 1-1 in its first two games against Miami and Texas A&M to keep its CFP hopes alive. The Irish lost both games by a combined four points to start the year off 0-2, all while remaining ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. 

That irked people because, well, it’s Notre Dame. 

But the Irish may have just lost two hard-fought battles against really good teams. Both Miami and Texas A&M — dare I say it before the Aggies face Auburn on Saturday — look very good. It’s still very early in the season, but playing those two teams down to the final possessions may actually look quite favorable in November.

Some of you may resent that because it feels like people are working overtime to prop up Notre Dame. But facts are facts. The Irish have a young quarterback in CJ Carr, who threw for 354 yards and four touchdowns Saturday, and is looking better and better each week.

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Nick Shepkowski, Notre Dame on SI: Notre Dame Blasts Arkansas — What We Learned from the Irish Win

Notre Dame moved to 2-2 Saturday with a dominating win at Arkansas, routing the Razorbacks 56-13.

The win brings an eventful first month of the regular season to an end, as Notre Dame tries to claw its way back into the College Football Playoff picture after starting the season 0-2.

Notre Dame put on a show Saturday in Fayetteville, making its first trip to Arkansas a memorable one. Here are the initial takeaways from Saturday’s drubbing of the Razorbacks.

Notre Dame’s Elite Offense
Outside of Notre Dame’s first half at Miami, the Fighting Irish offense has been on a scoring rampage. That showed early and often for Notre Dame at Arkansas, as the Irish scored touchdowns on each of its six first-half possessions. Big plays were all over the place as Arkansas didn’t have an answer for Notre Dame. The Irish averaged under five yards per carry, which feels a bit shocking, but CJ Carr averaged over 11 yards per pass attempt and was given significant time almost all afternoon.

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Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman

Opening statement from postgame press conference:

“As I told the group, extremely proud of just the way they prepared. (They were) Was able to really kind of block out a lot of noise and go to work. And that’s both sides of the ball. Like, the ability to handle success is a challenge. And the ability to handle criticism is always a challenge.

“So, I’m proud of both sides of the ball really being able to do that — handle praise and handle criticism. Today was a really good three-phase effort, team win. I think I told them afterwards, ‘Enjoy it. This is what it’s about, but let’s get back to work and keep getting better.’”

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Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman

“Congratulations to Notre Dame. They’ve got a really good team, a good physical football team, and they came in here and whipped us. Obviously, we have a better team than what we showed today. We certainly have to go to work on figuring out why we’re not and why we played this way.”

Highlights

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