When the Notre Dame football team starts its season next week, there is one statistic that the Fighting Irish badly need to find a way to repeat in 2026. This statistic isn’t about making sure that the Irish generate a running game as they did in 2025. It’s not about CJ Carr throwing another 24 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions. Instead, the statistic that Marcus Freeman’s squad needs to come as close to repeating as possible is how the team managed to keep Carr upright.
Granted, it’s going to be very hard to keep Carr’s jersey as clean as it was last season. The Notre Dame offensive line allowed just 12 sacks in 12 games. The 1 sack per game was even better considering he was sacked 3 times in the opener against Miami and 2 times in the following game against Texas A&M.
After those first two games (which Notre Dame lost), the Irish offensive line allowed multiple sacks in a game just one other time, when North Carolina State got to Carr twice. Quick math shows the o-line allowed just 5 sacks in their other 9 games.
The way that the line protected Carr was even more impressive when taking into account that only three members of Joe Rudolph’s Band of Brothers played in all 12 games. Tackles Anthonie Knapp and Aamil Wagner teamed up with right guard Guerby Lambert as season-ending knee injuries to center Ashton Craig and left guard Billy Schrauth struck in the sixth and seventh games of the campaign, respectively.
Joe Rudolph must find Notre Dame football’s best five before Wisconsin challenges CJ Carr
Despite two injuries that might cripple another school’s line, Joe Otting replaced Craig, and Sullivan Absher replaced Schrauth.
This year, the biggest question is how the group will align to protect Carr best. Despite five of the seven players who saw the most action in the unit for Notre Dame this fall, the group has already been shifted around a bit.
Lambert is expected to play tackle, and he’s quite excited about going to a position he feels more comfortable at. Knapp is Lambert's mirror image, moving from tackle to guard. The only other starting spot that seems to be locked down is Will Black at left tackle.
The rest of the group is still up in the air. Notre Dame is still mixing and matching, hoping Craig will be 100% healthy and ready to go a week from today. Even if he is healthy, there’s a chance he’ll play either center or guard.
The uncertainty and the potential shifting around to find the best group could undermine the chemistry of an offensive line. While Wisconsin isn’t Miami or Texas A&M level of talented, the Badgers defense was no slouch last year and will try everything under the sun to disrupt Carr’s rhythm.
If the Notre Dame offensive line can weather that storm, there’s a very good chance that the group could put up even better numbers and keep Carr’s jersey cleaner than it was in 2025.
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