Notre Dame Closes Regular Season With 49-20 Rout of Stanford

STANFORD, Calif. — Nov. 29, 2025 — Notre Dame capped off a remarkable turnaround season Saturday, throttling Stanford 49-20 to finish the regular season 10-0 following an 0-2 start, extending the Fighting Irish's winning streak to 10 straight games.

The win marked the fourth time in the last eight seasons Notre Dame has strung together a winning streak of 10 games or longer, and sent the Fighting Irish into their playoff waiting period with as much momentum as any team in the country.

Love Breaks Records Despite Injury Scare

Notre Dame scored touchdowns on each of its first four possessions, building a 28-3 halftime lead before coasting to the finish. Jeremiyah Love was shaken up in the first quarter and briefly left the game, but returned in the second half and finished with 66 yards and a touchdown — his 21st of the season, breaking Jerome Bettis' Notre Dame record for total touchdowns while tying Audrice Estime's single-season rushing touchdown record with 18.

CJ Carr threw for 205 yards and two touchdowns, connecting with Luke Talich for an 84-yard score, while Aneyas Williams added two rushing touchdowns and 83 yards on the ground. Jordan Faison also found the end zone as Notre Dame racked up 524 total yards against a Stanford defense that had no answers.

Freeman Makes His Case to the Committee

With Notre Dame's playoff resume now featuring 10 straight wins, all by double-digit margins, following the 0-2 start, Freeman used his postgame press conference to make a direct appeal to the College Football Playoff selection committee.

"You talk about a team that is probably playing as well as anyone right now, have won 10 straight games in a row, I think all of them by double-digit points maybe," Freeman said. "You want the 12 best teams now. I know you have the conference champions and the group of five highest-ranked team, but you talk about who are the best teams now — not Week 1, now — and it's hard to argue we aren't one of those teams."

Freeman also praised his team's ability to stay focused on the game in front of them despite mounting national attention on the playoff race.

"We try to get them to focus on the opportunity we have right now, right?" Freeman said. "And I know there's a lot of talk on what happens after this, but we couldn't focus on that. We got to focus on this opportunity we have right now, and they did. They came out and played really, really well."

On Love's continued dominance and record-breaking day, Freeman didn't shy away from putting his star back in rare company.

"We have improved as much as anybody in the country, been playing as well as anybody in the country, and we have, in my opinion, the best player in the country," Freeman said. "That's what you want."

What's Next

Notre Dame finished the regular season 10-0 after its 0-2 start, extending its winning streak to 10 games and awaiting the College Football Playoff selection show. Despite the historic turnaround, the Fighting Irish would ultimately finish as the first team left out of the 2025 playoff field, with Miami — Notre Dame's Week 1 opponent — earning the final at-large spot instead.

Lucky Lefty Top Play and Performers

Key Play: Jeremiyah Love's first-quarter touchdown run, which broke Jerome Bettis' Notre Dame record for career total touchdowns, came just before he briefly left the game with a rib injury — only to return in the second half and keep piling on.

Offensive Performer: Jeremiyah Love — finished with 66 yards and a touchdown despite the injury scare, closing the regular season by tying the school's single-season rushing touchdown record.

Defensive Performer: Notre Dame's defense forced a Stanford turnover and kept the Cardinal off balance all night, propelling the Irish to a 28-3 halftime lead.

Box Score

Notre Dame 49, Stanford 20 — Stanford Stadium, Stanford, Calif.

SCORING BY QUARTER 1 2 3 4 F Notre Dame 14 21 7 7 — 49 Stanford 0 3 3 14 — 20

SCORING PLAYS Q1 8:48 — J. Love 2-yd TD run (ND 6-0) Q1 8:43 — E. Schmidt PAT good (ND 7-0) Q1 1:58 — J. Price 1-yd TD run (ND 13-0) Q1 1:52 — E. Schmidt PAT good (ND 14-0) Q2 14:45 — J. Burnham 84-yd TD pass to L. Talich (ND 20-0) Q2 14:41 — E. Schmidt PAT good (ND 21-0) Q2 7:32 — A. Williams 2-yd TD run (ND 27-0) Q2 7:26 — E. Schmidt PAT good (ND 28-0) Q2 2:43 — E. Kenney 39-yd FG (ND 28-3) Q2 0:23 — C. Carr 12-yd TD pass to J. Price (ND 34-3) Q2 0:17 — E. Schmidt PAT good (ND 35-3) Q3 12:46 — C. Carr 6-yd TD pass to J. Faison (ND 41-3) Q3 12:43 — E. Schmidt PAT good (ND 42-3) Q3 2:13 — E. Kenney 44-yd FG (ND 42-6) Q4 12:20 — E. Brown 9-yd TD pass to B. Farrell (ND 42-12) Q4 12:15 — E. Kenney PAT good (ND 42-13) Q4 9:17 — A. Williams 51-yd TD run (ND 48-13) Q4 9:08 — E. Schmidt PAT good (ND 49-13) Q4 4:04 — C. Mirer 3-yd TD pass to M. Brown (ND 49-19) Q4 4:00 — E. Kenney PAT good (ND 49-20, Final)

TEAM STATS Notre Dame Stanford Total Yards 524 312 Passing Yards 337 226 Rushing Yards 187 86 First Downs 24 16 Penalties-Yards 3-35 3-23 Turnovers 0 1 Time of Possession 30:35 29:25

PASSING CJ Carr (ND) — 23/36, 337 yds, 3 TD, 0 INT Stanford (Burnham/Brown/Mirer combined) — 20/40, 226 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT

RUSHING Notre Dame — 38 att, 187 yds, 4.9 avg, 4 TD, long 51 Stanford — 30 att, 86 yds, 2.9 avg, 0 TD, long 30

RECEIVING Notre Dame — 23 rec (35 targets), 337 yds, 3 TD, long 84 Stanford — 20 rec (40 targets), 226 yds, 2 TD, long 32

KICKING Erik Schmidt (ND) — 0/0 FG attempted Emmet Kenney (STAN) — 2/2 FG, long 44

DEFENSE Notre Dame Stanford Total Tackles 56 71 Sacks 2.0 0.0 Interceptions 1 0 Forced Fumbles 0 0 QB Hits 3 0