Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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10 OCT. 1, 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME 1.7 Overnight rating of NBC's Notre Dame-Vanderbilt game Sept. 15, which did not eclipse by much the 1.6 the previous week versus Ball State. The game finished well behind the other prominent Sept. 15 televised games that were led by the prime-time showdown between Ohio State-TCU (ABC) 4.9, followed by LSU-Auburn (CBS) 3.7, Oklahoma-Iowa State (ABC) 2.6, Texas-USC (FOX) 2.3, Alabama-Ole Miss (ESPN) 2.2 and BYU-Wisconsin (ABC) 2.1. The data is from SportsMediaWatch.com, Statistics.com and The Athletic. 6 Times in Notre Dame football history, including the 2018 season, the Fighting Irish will have played five games before the month of October. They had never gone unbeaten in the previous five: 3-2 in 1995, 4-1 in 2006, 0-5 in 2007, 3-2 in 2013 and 4-1 in 2017. This will be only the second time in 33 meetings Notre Dame plays Stanford in September. The first was a 37-14 loss on Sept. 25, 2010. 10 Teams out of 129 in the Football Bowl Subdivision did not permit a run of at least 20 yards in the first three games of the season. Notre Dame was one of them despite a total of 107 rushing attempts combined by Michigan (33), Ball State (47) and Vander- bilt (27). The longest was an 18-yard scamper by Vanderbilt's Ke'Shawn Vaughn, but none of the 106 other carries gained more than 14 yards. 11 Notre Dame players on the 2018 roster who hail from the state of California, as the Stanford Cardinal prepare to invade Notre Dame Stadium Sept. 29. That is tied with Florida for the second most, behind only the 16 from Illinois. The 11 from the Golden State this year are, alphabetically, sophomore offensive tackle Aaron Banks (Alameda), junior quarterback Ian Book (El Dorado Hills), freshman cornerback TaRiq Bracy (Milpitas), freshman walk-on tight end/quarterback Cole Capen (Yorba Linda), sophomore walk-on quarterback J.D. Carney (San Diego), sophomore Buck linebacker Jordan Genmark Heath (San Diego), freshman linebacker Jack Lamb (Temecula), ju- nior wide receiver Javon McKinley (Corona), junior rover D.J. Morgan (Norwalk), freshman offensive tackle Jarrett Patterson (Laguna Hills) and freshman walk-on wide receiver Matt Salerno (Valencia). 15.5 Points per game averaged by WNBA All-Star and 2012-15 Notre Dame guard Jewell Loyd this season, helping her team win the league title over Washington Sept. 12. The former No. 1 overall pick, who surprisingly left the Irish after her junior year, was the second-leading scorer on her team, behind fellow No. 1 selection, league MVP and former UConn star Breanna Stewart. Loyd also was second on the team in assists (3.7 per game) and third in rebounds (4.6 per contest). 27 Players from Notre Dame represented on 53-man NFL rosters in 2018 after rookie free agent running back JOSH ADAMS was elevated from the practice squad. The active roster does not include members on the practice squad or players on the injured reserve list. The 27 ties Stanford, Tennessee and UCLA for 11th most by one school in the NFL. The top 10 are Alabama (44), LSU (40), Florida (38), Miami (36), Ohio State (36), Florida State (33), USC (32), Clemson (29), Auburn (29) and Georgia (28). 117 Ranking of Note Dame in the FBS for going three-and-out on offense 28.9 percent of the time after the first three games, per Sports Source Analyt- ics. It had three three-and-outs against Michigan and four apiece versus Ball State and Vanderbilt, not including two turnovers on the second play of a drive. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL