Notre Dame football is coming off a dominant 56 to 13 victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday. Head coach Marcus Freeman had his Fighting Irish squad ready to go, and put together its best performance of the season down in Fayetteville. As you can imagine judging by the score, there were a lot of winners from this contest.

While it feels controversial to call someone a “loser” during this type of outing, there are always improvements that can be made. For the sake of stability, those fixes need to happen for the long-term outlook for this Notre Dame team. Here are those winners and losers to know from the blowout win.

Winners

QB CJ Carr

Carr’s tremendous performance against the Purdue Boilermakers last week translated to this week against Arkansas. He finished the game completing 22 of 30 passes for 354 yards and four touchdowns. That is an average of 11.8 yards per pass attempt, which is an outstanding rate. Kenny Minchey and Jordan Faison both also completed long passes, combining for 431 yards passing as a team. Great things happened when the Fighting Irish put the football in the air down in Fayetteville.

Offensive weapons

Whether you are talking about the four touchdowns from Jeremiyah Love, explosive running from Jadarian Price, or big plays in the passing game from Jordan Faison, Malachi Fields, Will Pauling, or Jaden Greathouse, everyone was making plays on the offense. Carr had a lot of weapons to work with, and each made the most of opportunities. The Arkansas secondary had a long, long day.

Offensive line

This was one of, if not the best outing, that we have seen from Joe Rudolph’s group during his tenure. Left tackle Anthonie Knapp handled Quincy Rhodes, who was leading the SEC in quarterback pressures coming into the game. Arkansas has a quality defensive line from a talent perspective, and nobody would have known it while watching during the game. It was a dominant showing.

Defensive playmakers

While there will continue to be questions about Chris Ash’s defensive scheme, some of those concerns could be mitigated with their best players making some huge plays. We saw that on Saturday from the likes of Adon Shuler and Boubacar Traore, each having their best games. We also saw players like Tae Johnson make an impact. It was refreshing to see.

Losers

Linebackers

It was a frustrating game for the Notre Dame linebackers. The Razorbacks had a ton of early momentum on the ground, and a big reason for it was inconsistent run fits from the second level. Drayk Bowen especially had a rough outing, but Jaiden Ausberry wasn’t much better. We also didn’t see a ton of sophomore Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, which was a bit frustrating. The Irish defense is going to need to figure out its best combination of linebackers to create a more impactful rotation.

Pass rush

Outside of Traore, the pass rush for Notre Dame was very underwhelming against Arkansas. Jordan Botelho had some impact in that department, but for the most part, quarterback Taylen Green had all day to throw in the pocket. If this defense is going to turn the quarter, they will need to figure out how to get to the quarterback more consistently. Let’s hope someone like Bryce Young can become a breakout player.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish News

Notre Dame defender makes his presence known in victory over Arkansas, and it could be the most crucial breakout of the season

Notre Dame football kept their momentum during a 56 to 13 victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks. That includes a breakout Fighting Irish defender.

Ryan Roberts