Notre Dame Dominates Arkansas 56-13 in Statement Road Win

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Sept. 27, 2025 — No. 22 Notre Dame delivered its most complete performance of the season Saturday, throttling Arkansas 56-13 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium behind a career day from quarterback CJ Carr and a suddenly opportunistic defense.

The Fighting Irish improved to 2-2 with the win, bouncing back from a rocky 0-2 start with back-to-back blowout victories.

Carr and the Offense Put on a Clinic

Notre Dame scored touchdowns on six of its first six possessions, racking up 420 yards of offense in the first half alone en route to 641 total yards for the game. Carr was nearly perfect, finishing 24-of-32 passing for 431 yards and four touchdowns, connecting with Jeremiyah Love three times through the air in addition to Love's rushing production. Jadarian Price added a 16-yard touchdown run, and Aneyas Williams capped the scoring with a 17-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

The Irish defense also turned in its best performance of the year, intercepting Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green once and holding the Razorbacks to just 365 total yards. Notre Dame committed zero turnovers on the day, a sharp turnaround after giving the ball away in each of the team's first three games.

The one hiccup came in the third quarter, when Notre Dame attempted a fake punt with a big lead, drawing criticism afterward despite the lopsided final score.

Freeman: "The Ability to Handle Success Is a Challenge"

Head coach Marcus Freeman opened his postgame press conference by praising his team's response to a difficult start to the season, framing the win as proof of the program's growth on both sides of the ball.

"As I told the group, I'm extremely proud of just the way they prepared," Freeman said. "They were able to really kind of block out a lot of noise and go to work, and that's both sides of the ball, right? The ability to handle success is a challenge, and the ability to handle criticism is always a challenge. And so I'm proud of both sides of the ball really being able to do that — handle praise and handle criticism — and today was a really good three-phase effort, team win."

Freeman also credited the defense for cutting down on the explosive plays that had haunted Notre Dame in its first three games.

"I think it's the ability of them to not give up so many explosive plays," Freeman said. "There was a couple of explosive plays that Arkansas converted. They're a good offense — they're coming into this game in the top five in the country — but I think it was a step in the right direction."

Asked about the controversial third-quarter fake punt that drew criticism despite the blowout score, Freeman defended the aggressive call.

"In terms of the fake punt, I didn't want to relax," Freeman explained. "We had to come out of that locker room with an aggression no different than the first half."

Freeman closed his opening statement with a simple directive for his team moving forward. "I told them after, enjoy it. This is what it's about, but let's get back to work and keep getting better."

What's Next

Notre Dame carried its two-game winning streak into a home matchup with Boise State the following week, looking to build consistency after erasing an 0-2 start.

Box Score

Notre Dame 56, Arkansas 13 — Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville, Ark.

SCORING BY QUARTER 1 2 3 4 F Arkansas 3 10 0 0 — 13 Notre Dame 14 28 7 7 — 56

SCORING PLAYS Q1 12:59 — S. Starzyk 39-yd FG (ND 3-0) Q1 8:23 — J. Love 1-yd TD run (ND 3-6) Q1 8:16 — N. Burnette PAT good (ND 3-7) Q1 4:21 — C. Carr 7-yd TD pass to J. Love (ND 3-13) Q1 4:14 — N. Burnette PAT good (ND 3-14) Q2 11:27 — S. McRoy 1-yd TD run (ND 9-14) Q2 11:19 — S. Starzyk PAT good (ND 10-14) Q2 8:36 — C. Carr 23-yd TD pass to W. Pauling (ND 10-20) Q2 8:26 — N. Burnette PAT good (ND 10-21) Q2 6:16 — C. Carr 34-yd TD pass to J. Love (ND 10-27) Q2 6:04 — N. Burnette PAT good (ND 10-28) Q2 3:53 — S. Starzyk 49-yd FG (ND 13-28) Q2 0:40 — J. Love 3-yd TD run (ND 13-34) Q2 0:35 — N. Burnette PAT good (ND 13-35) Q2 0:18 — C. Carr 35-yd TD pass to J. Price (ND 13-41) Q2 0:09 — N. Burnette PAT good (ND 13-42) Q3 1:05 — J. Price 16-yd TD run (ND 13-48) Q3 1:01 — E. Schmidt PAT good (ND 13-49) Q4 9:19 — A. Williams 17-yd TD run (ND 13-55) Q4 8:54 — E. Schmidt PAT good (ND 13-56, Final)

TEAM STATS Arkansas Notre Dame Total Yards 365 641 Passing Yards 207 431 Rushing Yards 158 210 First Downs 15 32 Penalties-Yards 6-60 5-42 Turnovers 2 0 Time of Possession 27:13 32:47

PASSING Taylen Green (ARK) — 17/32, 207 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT CJ Carr (ND) — 24/32, 431 yds, 4 TD, 0 INT

RUSHING Arkansas — 30 att, 158 yds, 5.3 avg, 1 TD, long 54 Notre Dame — 40 att, 210 yds, 5.3 avg, 4 TD, long 24

RECEIVING Arkansas — 17 rec (32 targets), 207 yds, 0 TD, long 33 Notre Dame — 24 rec (32 targets), 431 yds, 4 TD, long 40

KICKING Sam Starzyk (ARK) — 2/2 FG, long 49 Notre Dame — 0/0 FG attempted

DEFENSE Arkansas Notre Dame Total Tackles 80 54 Sacks 1.0 3.0 Interceptions 0 1 Forced Fumbles 0 1 QB Hits 1 3