It was a special season for the Notre Dame offense. They currently rank No. 5 in the country in points per game (42.0), No. 3 in the country in yards per play (7.3), No. 2 in the country in rushing touchdowns (38) and No. 4 in the country in yards per pass attempt (9.5). After starting the season 0-2, the Irish rattled off 10 straight wins and outscored their opponents 436 to 143. In order to have that level of dominance, you need some of your athletes to be standouts, and that's exactly what happened for the Fighting Irish offense.
Notre Dame is a little over 24 hours away from finding out their fate for the 2025-2026 College Football Playoffs. In the mean time, we wanted to highlight some of the offensive standouts for the offense. Four players have been named finalists for various awards around college football and it's been impressive to watch them throughout the season, especially their star Heisman candidate running back.
Junior Jeremiyah Love, on top of being a favorite to be invited to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony, has also been named a finalist for three other prestigious awards in college football. Love has been named a finalist for the Maxwell Award which is awarded to the most outstanding player in the country, the Doak Walker Award which is given to the nation's top running back and he was also named a finalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award which is awarded by and voted upon by NCAA Division I coaches across the country.
Love has racked up 1,372 rushing yards, 18 rushing touchdowns, 280 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns in just 12 games, and that was with a spotty performance in the season opener and sustaining an injury in the final game of the regular season against Stanford. The 6-0, 214-pound running back has shown why he's one of, if not the best, player in the country week in and week out. He's more than deserving of being named a finalist for all of these prestigious awards.
The St. Louis native, however, isn't the only running back from South Bend that is up for a handful of awards. Redshirt junior Jadarian Price has been named the finalist for two other awards. Price's two kick returns for touchdowns this season has earned him a name amongst the finalists for the Jet Award which is given to the top return specialist in college football. The Texas native was also named a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award which is given to the most versatile player in college football.
After watching them this season, it's no surprise both running backs are up for multiple awards this year. Notre Dame's redshirt freshman quarterback has also been named a finalist for two awards from his performance in the regular season. CJ Carr has been named a finalist for the Manning Award which honors the top quarterback in college football. Carr was also named a finalist for the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award given annually to the nation's top freshman player in the country.
Not all awards, however, are given due to on the field performance. On top of not allowing a sack since week one of the regular season, right tackle and offensive captain Aamil Wagner has been named a finalist for the Freddie Solomon Community Spirit Award which honors athletes for their character, leadership and commitment to community service. If you know anything about Wagner, this won't come as much of a surprise.
All in all, this has been a special year for the Notre Dame offense. This was the first season since 1966 that the Irish won 10 regular season games while beating every opponent by double digits. It was a historic regular season for Mike Denbrock's group and hopefully we can continue watching Carr, Love, Price and Wagner thrive on and off the field throughout the post season.
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