Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1017623
12 PRESEASON 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME 8 Consecutive quarters the University of Michigan football team has failed to score a touchdown in Notre Dame Stadium. The Wolverines were shut out (31‑0) in 2014, ending their NCAA‑record 365‑game streak of not getting goose‑egged. In the trip to Notre Dame before that, in 2012, Michigan man‑ aged only two field goals in a 13‑6 defeat. 8.3 Percent chance given to Notre Dame by the ESPN Football Power Index (FPI) to "win out" the 2018 regular season — the fourth‑highest percentage in the country. Clemson is tops at 20.7 per‑ cent, while Georgia (10.1) and Alabama (10.0) are next. Washington at 7.3 is in fifth, a full percentage point behind the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame also is given a 42 percent chance of making the four‑team Col‑ lege Football Playoff, also fourth best. The FPI is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team's perfor‑ mance, and projected results are based on 10,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date and the remaining schedule. It is updated daily during the season. 20 Years since Notre Dame had begun a new football season versus Michigan. The Fighting Irish romped to a 36‑20 vic‑ tory that afternoon in 1998 when quarterback Tom Brady made his starting debut for the Wolverines. Since the renewal of the modern series in 1978, Notre Dame is 6‑2 against Michigan when the game is the opener (4‑1 at home and 2‑1 at Ann Arbor), and has won four straight since 1987. 32 Times in its football history Notre Dame has played both Michigan and USC in the same season, with the first occurring in 1942. Among those 32, there have been only six seasons where the Fighting Irish defeated both — four consecutive from 1987‑90, 1993 and 2012. Since 1994, Notre Dame has faced the Wolverines and Trojans 17 times in the same season and vanquished both only once. Not coincidentally, it occurred in 2012 when it advanced to the BCS National Championship Game versus Alabama. 170 Career starts returning among Notre Dame's defensive players, led by two‑time captain and fifth‑year senior Buck linebacker DRUE TRANQUILL'S team‑high 29. Eight have at least 12 career starts, not including junior safety Alohi Gilman's 12 at Navy in 2016. The Irish offense has 104 starts, with only three players totaling a minimum of 12 career starts. 107-17-5 Record posted by Notre Dame in season openers, an .849 winning percentage. After losing back‑to‑back openers in 1985‑86 to Michigan, the Fighting Irish are 25‑6 in season debuts, but have lost two under head coach Brian Kelly (2011 to South Florida and 2016 at Texas). No Notre Dame coach has ever lost three. 12,551 Round‑trip miles Notre Dame's football team is projected to log in 2018 with its six regular‑season games away from home, per research by SBNation. This is highlighted by the more than 4,000‑mile round trips to California — the Oct. 27 Navy game in San Diego (4,305) and Nov. 24 at USC (4,211) — and will also encompass 14 times zones, something no other preseason top‑25 team comes close to matching. In the same research, perennial national title contender Alabama totaled 3,878 round‑trip miles, while state rival Auburn was only at 1,995. NFL studies through the decades have shown decreased athletic performance via such travel, especially to the West Coast. The Naval Academy, however, easily boasts the heaviest travel log, including a trip to Hawai'i, with 26,456 round‑trip miles and 24 time zones. Other schools with higher round‑trip miles than Notre Dame include Miami (13,320), South Florida (13,306) and Boise State (13,234). ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL