Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 8, 2018 9 UNDER THE DOME 3 Notre Dame players on the 2018 football roster who are from Virginia, as the Irish prepare to travel there for the meeting versus Virginia Tech Oct. 6. Junior safety Jalen Elliott (Richmond) has started every game the past two seasons. Sopho- more guard Darnell Ewell (Norfolk) shifted to offense after redshirting last season as a defensive lineman. Sophomore rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (Hampton) also redshirted in 2017, but is sitting out this season after undergoing surgery for a broken foot suffered in a September practice. 6 Schools in history that won their first two football games played against Notre Dame. Virginia Tech will attempt to become the seventh when it hosts the Fighting Irish Oct. 6. The first meeting between the two schools came on Nov. 19, 2016, when the Hokies rallied from 17-0 and 24-7 deficits at Notre Dame Stadium to post a 34-31 victory. In chronological order, the other six were Michigan (eight straight from 1887-1908), the University of Chicago (four in a row from 1893-1899, with the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg as head coach), Iowa (three straight from 1921-40), Oregon State (the 2000 Fiesta Bowl and 2005 Insight.com Bowl), North Carolina State (2003 Gator Bowl and 2016), and Georgia (1981 Sugar Bowl and 2017). 7 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams out of 129 that remained unbeaten through the first four games of the season while playing exclusively FBS competition. In addition, Notre Dame, Alabama and Ohio State were the only three to start 4-0 while winning three games apiece against Power Five teams (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC). Notre Dame, USC and UCLA remain the lone three schools in the FBS who have yet to ever play a team from the Football Championship Subdivision. 13.0 Yards per his 25 completions that sophomore Ian Book averaged during the win at Wake Forest. It was the highest figure by a Notre Dame quarterback who had at least 25 completions in a game since Jimmy Clausen's 13.44 in the 38-34 loss at Michigan in 2009. The school record for most yards per completion with a minimum of 25 remains 16.0 by Joe Theismann in the 38-28 loss at USC in 1970, when his 33 completions totaled 526 yards, still the most in one game by an Irish quarterback. 18 Ranking of Notre Dame in U.S. News & World Report's annual "Best Colleges" survey. The 15-team ACC's 54.7 aggregate ranking was the best among the FBS leagues for the 12th consecutive year, led by Duke at No. 8, followed by Notre Dame and Virginia at No. 25. Three Notre Dame football opponents were listed ahead of the Irish: Stanford (No. 7), Northwestern (No. 10) and Vanderbilt (No. 14), with USC at No. 22 not far behind and Michigan at No. 27. 64 FBS players, including Notre Dame fifth-year senior line- backer Drue Tranquill, announced by The National Football Foundation (NFF) as semifinalists for the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy, which honors the "absolute best football scholar-athlete" in the country. Twelve to 14 finalists will be announced Oct. 31, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the 60th NFF National Scholar- Athlete Class. 159 Combined rushing yards by three different Notre Dame running backs who posted career highs in that category during the 56-27 win at Wake Forest Sept. 22. Seldom is such a feat achieved by three in one game, but it was by sophomore run- ning backs JAFAR ARMSTRONG (98 rushing yards) and Avery Davis (45), and freshman Jahmir Smith (16). ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA