Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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36 SEPT. 16, 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Three starters return from that sec- ondary, which Pro Football Focus ranked as the third best in the country. Notre Dame also brings back one of the best groups of edge rushers in the country, with the Irish having the lone team in the country to return three line- men who ranked among the top 30 in pass rush success rate last fall according to PFF. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. NEW MEXICO RUN DEFENSE Notre Dame had an adequate run game last season, averaging 182.6 yards per game to rank 51st in the nation. After a rough start to the season — one in which the Irish racked up just 249 yards on the ground in wins over Michigan and Ball State — the offense started to catch fire. In wins over Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and Stanford, the ground game went for an average of 252.7 yards per contest and, not coincidentally, the unit aver- aged 38.7 points per game during that stretch. Just when the ground game was hitting its stride, left guard Alex Bars — the team's best lineman — went down with a season-ending knee injury dur- ing the 38-17 win over Stanford Sept. 29. The Irish averaged a more modest 170.9 rushing yards per outing in the eight games without Bars. Notre Dame, however, is expected to make a jump with its ground attack thanks to the return of four starting linemen. The New Mexico defense had an odd 2018 sea- son when it came to defending the run. The Lobos ranked 110th in yards allowed per game (217.0) and 99th in yards allowed per rush attempt (4.9). In the first two games of the season, New Mexico permitted its opponents to average 330.5 rushing yards per contest, which included 417 by Wiscon- sin. In the final three games, the Lobos yielded 357.0 yards per game, including 478 to Air Force and 366 to Wyoming. During the seven games in between, the Lobos allowed just 107.6 yards per game, holding UNLV to 43 and Liberty to 96 . Opponents averaged only 3.1 yards per carry during that stretch. For context, a season-long average of 3.1 yards allowed would have ranked the defense eighth in the country. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. NEW MEXICO PASS DEFENSE Notre Dame's passing stats from last season are a bit misleading. It ranked 37th in the country at 257.5 passing yards per game, 31st in yards per attempt (8.0) and 58th in yards per completion (12.5). That's because the Irish averaged just 200.7 passing yards per game in the first three contests Senior cornerback De'John Rogers is the lone member of the Lobos' secondary with starting experience. PHOTO COURTESY UNM COMMUNICATIONS GAME PREVIEW: NEW MEXICO Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. WR 83 Chase Claypool 6-4½ 229 Sr. 88 Javon McKinley 6-2 220 Sr. LT 74 Liam Eichenberg 6-6 305 Sr. 75 Joshua Lugg 6-7 307 Jr. LG 69 Aaron Banks 6-6 325 Jr. 57 Trevor Ruhland 6-3½ 292 5th-Sr. C 55 Jarrett Patterson 6-5 300 So. 61 Colin Grunhard 6-0½ 289 Jr. RG 78 Tommy Kraemer 6-6 319 Sr. 56 John Dirksen 6-5½ 309 So. RT 72 Robert Hainsey 6-4½ 295 Jr. 73 Andrew Kristofic 6-5 280 Fr. TE 89 Brock Wright 6-4½ 246 Jr. 24 Tommy Tremble 6-3½ 235 So. WR 10 Chris Finke 5-9½ 184 5th-Sr. 25 Braden Lenzy 5-11½ 180 So. WR 13 Lawrence Keys III 5-10½ 172 So. 18 Joe Wilkins 6-1½ 194 So. QB 12 Ian Book 6-0 212 Sr. 15 Phil Jurkovec 6-4½ 227 So. RB 8 Jafar Armstrong 6-1 220 Jr. 6 Tony Jones Jr. 5-11 224 Sr. Defense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. SDE 53 Khalid Kareem 6-4 265 Sr. 91 Ade Ogundeji 6-4½ 253 Sr. NT 41 Kurt Hinish 6-2 295 Jr. 54 Jacob Lacey 6-2 293 Fr. DT 95 M. Tagovailoa-Amosa 6-2½ 286 Jr. 57 Jayson Ademilola 6-3 279 So. Drop 42 Julian Okwara 6-4½ 248 Sr. 9 Daelin Hayes 6-4 266 Sr. Mike 40 Drew White 6-0 230 Jr. 33 Shayne Simon 6-3 232 So. Buck 22 Asmar Bilal 6-2 225 5th-Sr. 31 Jack Lamb 6-4 233 So. Rover 6 J. Owusu-Koramoah 6-1½ 216 Jr. 13 Paul Moala 5-11½ 216 So. CB 20 Shaun Crawford 5-9 180 5th-Sr. 28 TaRiq Bracy 5-10 170 So. S 11 Alohi Gilman 5-10½ 201 Sr. 14 Kyle Hamilton 6-4 210 Fr. S 21 Jalen Elliott 6-0½ 210 Sr. 12 DJ Brown 6-0½ 198 So. CB 5 Troy Pride Jr. 5-11½ 194 Sr. 3 Houston Griffith 6-0 198 So. NOTRE DAME DEPTH CHART Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. K 39 Jonathan Doerer 6-3 203 Jr. 98 Harrison Leonard 5-10 203 Fr. KO 39 Jonathan Doerer 6-3 23 Jr. 98 Harrison Leonard 5-10 203 Fr. P 19 Jay Bramblett 6-1 188 Fr. 30 Jake Rittman 6-3 210 So. H 19 Jay Bramblett 6-1 188 Fr. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. LS 54 John Shannon 6-2 225 Sr. 65 Michael Vinson 6-2 224 So. KR 8 Jafar Armstrong 6-1 220 Jr. 23 Kyren Williams 5-9 205 Fr. PR 10 Chris Finke 5-9½ 184 5th-Sr. 13 Lawrence Keys III 5-10½ 173 So. Special Teams