Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2019 Notre Dame Football Preview
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1133608
12 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2019 FOOTBALL PREVIEW UNDER THE DOME BY THE NUMBERS 16-15-1 Record Notre Dame has on the field versus the University of Michigan since the series became a regular feature of the schedule starting in 1978. The Wolverines will attempt to deadlock it when the two programs meet in Ann Arbor Oct. 26 — and there might not be another regular season meeting between the two for a while. The series has been so even that the score between the two teams in those 32 games is an average of 22.9 to 21.4 in favor of Michi- gan. The longest winning streak in that time is four by Notre Dame (1987-90), while the Wolverines won three straight from 2009-11. The Fighting Irish will also by vying for a third consecutive con- quest in the series this season. The home team has won all eight games at night — 6-0 (1982, 1988, 1990, 2012, 2014 and 2018) by Notre Dame and 2-0 by Michigan (2011 and 2013). For only the second time in school history, the Notre Dame football team is slated to play against one of its former head coaches, this time Sept. 14 versus New Mexico's Bob Davie, who will turn 65 later that month. Davie was the Fighting Irish head coach from 1997-2001 and compiled a 35-25 record, highlighted by 9-3 finishes in 1998 and 2000. The only other time Notre Dame faced a former head coach was on Sept. 24, 2005, a 36-17 victory at Washington against first-year boss Tyrone Willingham, who held the same position with the Fighting Irish in the three years prior from 2002-04. 8,000 Tickets allotted to Notre Dame for the showdown at Georgia's SANFORD STADIUM Sept. 21. The total is the same number that the Fighting Irish athletics department distributed to Georgia in 2017, but it was "guesstimated" that at least 25,000 red-clad Bulldogs faithful were in Notre Dame Stadium during their 20-19 victory in 2017. It's less likely there will be a similar amount of Fighting Irish par- tisans this year. Sanford Stadium's capacity is 92,746, the fifth largest on-campus edifice in the country. 2 PHOTO COURTESY UGA SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS PHOTO COURTESY NEW MEXICO