Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 8, 2018 25 3 Teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) — Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame — who are undefeated after week five that have exclusively played FBS competition. The Irish and Buckeyes are the only two to defeat four from the Power Five conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC). 4 Quarterback sacks recorded by senior defen- sive tackle Jerry Tillery. The last time an Irish player recorded four sacks in a contest also was versus the Cardinal, by Victor Abiamiri in a 38-31 win at Stanford in 2005. Justin Tuck had four versus the Cardinal in 2003 and Pitt in 2002. 5 Rivalry games Notre Dame has with a tro- phy — and for the first time since the 12-0 regular season in 2012, the Fighting Irish are in possession of all five after picking up the Legends Trophy versus Stanford following a three-year ab- sence. The other four are: Purdue (Shillelagh Tro- phy), Michigan State (Megaphone), Boston College (Frank Leahy Memorial Bowl) and USC (Jeweled Shillelagh). 9 Consecutive wins at home by Notre Dame since the 20-19 defeat to national runner-up Georgia last September. That winning streak in Notre Dame Stadium is the second longest in the nine-year Brian Kelly era. The 2011-13 Irish won 10 in a row, a figure that could be eclipsed this year, first versus Pitt (Oct. 13) and then Florida State (Nov. 10). That would then make it the longest since the 19 from 1987-90. 21 Rushing attempts by senior Dexter Wil- liams, which easily dwarfed his career high of eight that was achieved twice as a sopho- more (2016) and twice as a junior. His 161-yard rushing total also surpassed his career high of 124 (six carries) in the 2017 opener versus Temple, the only other game he reached the 100-yard rushing mark. 23-11-1 Record Notre Dame has at home when both the Fight- ing Irish and their opponent are ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll at the time of the game. The poll began in 1936, and the breakdown for each coach is Elmer Layden (0-1), Frank Leahy (7-1), Terry Brennan (2-2), Ara Parseghian (5-3), Dan Devine (0-1), Lou Holtz (8-2-1), Charlie Weis (0-1) and Brian Kelly (1-0). Overall, Notre Dame is 49-37-5 when both teams are in the top 10. 25 Years since Notre Dame recorded a victory at home when both teams were ranked in the AP top 25. It had last occurred Nov. 13, 1993, when the No. 2-ranked Irish defeated No. 1 Florida State to temporarily move to the top slot. Since then, the only other such top 10 versus top 10 opportunity at home was the loss to No. 1 USC in 2005 (34-31). Notre Dame also broke a five-game losing streak to top-10 teams since its 30-13 vic- tory at No. 8 Oklahoma in October 2012. Those five defeats were to No. 2 Alabama (42-13) in the BCS National Championship Game that season, at No. 8 Stanford (27-20) in 2013, at No. 2 Florida State (31-27) in 2014, versus No. 7 Ohio State (44-28) in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl and at No. 7 Miami (41-8) last November. 144 Receiving yards by senior wideout Miles Boykin, a career high, on 11 catches. Dating back to last year's Citrus Bowl, it was the third time in six games Boykin has reached the century mark. The 11 catches were the most by an Irish player since Michael Floyd had 12 (for 136 yards) in a 38-10 win at Purdue on Oct. 1, 2011. The yardage total, however, did not eclipse the 180 Chase Claypool had versus Wake Forest last year (nine catches). 1925 Last season that Notre Dame and Stanford met when both were un- beaten entering the game — which happened to be in the Rose Bowl for the national title, won by the Fighting Irish (27-10). That also was the first time the two schools met, while this year's was the 33rd encounter between the two. BY THE NUMBERS BY LOU SOMOGYI 33 Career passes broken up by junior cornerback JULIAN LOVE after recording his first of the game in the third quarter. That put him No. 1 on the all-time Notre Dame chart, eclipsing the 32 by All-American and first-round pick Clarence Ellis from 1969-71. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA