Blue and Gold Illustrated

Oct 15, 2018

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 15, 2018 25 2 Weeks in a row Notre Dame snapped a dubi- ous three-game losing streak. Last week it was with a 38-17 thumping of Stanford after the Cardinal had won three straight from 2015-17. At Virginia Tech, the Irish ended a three-game los- ing streak versus ranked ACC competition on the road since joining the league as a partial member in football back in 2014. All three were at night: at No. 2 Florida State in 2014 (31-27), at No. 11 Clemson in 2015 (24-22) and at No. 7 Miami last November (41-8). Notre Dame is now 4-10 under head coach Brian Kelly in non-neutral site road games versus opponents ranked in the Associated Press top 25. Two of the wins occurred during the 12-0 regular season in 2012 (versus No. 10 Michi- gan State and at No. 8 Oklahoma). 46.3 Scoring average for Notre Dame the past three games since junior quar- terback Ian Book took over as the starter. The 139 points in the past three games matches the most in Kelly's nine seasons at Notre Dame over any three contests. The Irish also tallied 139 last year in con- secutive wins over Boston College (49), Michigan State (38) and Miami (Ohio) (52). One has to go back to head coach Lou Holtz's last season in 1996 for a higher output over any three games, when it scored 170 in wins over Boston College (48-21), Pitt (60-6) and Rutgers (62-0). 60 Percent chance of Notre Dame making the four-team College Football Playoff, per the ESPN algorithms, after improving to 6-0 with the win at Virginia Tech. It jumped from the 47 percent after last week's win against Stanford. 97 Yards on senior Dexter Williams' third- quarter touchdown run — the second- longest run from scrimmage in school history. Three years ago, freshman Josh Adams set the standard with a 98-yard scoring gallop in the 28-7 win at home versus Wake Forest. Prior to that, the longest Irish run from scrimmage was 92 yards in 1947 by Bob Livingstone in a 38-7 win at USC to clinch the national title. Williams' run was the fifth in school history over 90 yards, and three of them have been under head coach Brian Kelly the past four seasons. C.J. Prosise had a 91-yard tally versus Georgia Tech in 2015. 99.38 Percent of the season Notre Dame has not trailed during its 6-0 start this season. Out of the 360 minutes played on the field, the only time it was behind was an early 2:13 stretch at Wake Forest Sept. 22 when the Demon Deacons took a 3-0 first-quarter lead before Notre Dame quickly answered with a touchdown. 117 Receiving yards by senior Miles Boykin, highlighted by a career-high two touchdown catches in a game. The yardage didn't eclipse his single-game standard of 144 yards from the previous week against Stanford, but it marked the fourth time in the past seven games, beginning with last year's Citrus Bowl, that he went past the century mark. His 28 catches for 428 yards and three scores this year already are more than the 18 for 334 yards (with three touchdowns) he had his first three seasons at Notre Dame. 322 Career points scored by senior kicker Justin Yoon after producing nine more (a field goal and six extra points) in the victory at Virginia Tech. That put him atop the all-time chart at Notre Dame, surpassing 1982-85 running back Allen Pinkett, who tallied 320 points on 53 touch- downs and a two-point conversion. BY THE NUMBERS BY LOU SOMOGYI 73.3 Pass completion percent- age (77 of 105) for junior quarterback IAN BOOK this season — which actually dropped after the Virginia Tech game when he finished "only" 25 of 35 (71.4). The single-season Notre Dame record is 68.0 by Jimmy Clausen his junior year in 2009 when the Irish finished 6-6. Current Irish quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees is second at 65.5 percent in 2011, while Brady Quinn's 64.9 percent success rate in 2005 is third. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA

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