Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1162458
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 16, 2019 9 UNDER THE DOME 3 Players from the state of New Mexico, the Sept. 14 opponent, who have seen action on the Notre Dame football team in its history. The first from the "Land of Enchantment" was defensive back Rod Bone (Las Cruces), who enrolled in 1979 with Indiana's Dave Duerson as a dynamic tandem in the secondary, and started two games at corner that year. Bone started 10 games at free safety in 1981 and made 36 stops, but was debilitated by injuries in 1980 and 1982. Next was reserve walk-on running back Rick Lozano (Bayard), who appeared in action from 1990-92. Finally, there was senior center/guard Matt Hegarty (Aztec), who signed in 2011 and underwent heart surgery in 2012, but took over as the top center for an injured Nick Martin in the final three games of 2013. Hegarty also started all 13 games in 2014 (three at guard and 10 at center) before using his fifth season of eligibility as a graduate transfer at Oregon in 2015. 6 Former Notre Dame players represented on USA Today's survey of greatest NFL players ever to wear numbers 00 (Jim Otto) to 99 (J.J. Watt): 5 — Halfback Paul Hornung (1957-62, 1964-66) 16 — Quarterback Joe Montana (1979-94) 36 — Running back Jerome Bettis (1993-2005) 67 — Guard Bob Kuechenberg (1970-83) 88 — Defensive tackle Alan Page (1967-82) 97 — Defensive lineman Bryant Young (1994-2007) Also receiving runner-up notice was linebacker No. 71 George Connor (behind nine-time Pro Bowl pick Walter Jones) and the late linebacker No. 85 Nick Buoniconti (one of three behind Jack Youngblood). Surpris- ingly not even mentioned as runner-up was nine-time Pro Bowl pick and Hall of Fame receiver Tim Brown at No. 81 (behind seven-time Pro Bowl pick Dick "Night Train" Lane and three others) and eight-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle George Kunz at No. 75 ("Mean" Joe Greene, and several others). Brown tied Page for most Pro Bowl selections by a Notre Dame graduate, while Kunz joined Montana with eight apiece. 9 Times since 1913, when Jesse Harper took over as Notre Dame's first athletics director, that the Fighting Irish football team will have a regular season without back-to-back road games — with 2019 the most recent. The first occurred in 1971, when Notre Dame finished 8-2 and the players voted not to go to a bowl. The next was the most recent national title campaign in 1988 (12-0), followed by 1992 (10-1-1), 1994 (6-5-1), 2004 (6-6), 2006 (10-3), 2009 (6-6) and 2012 (12-1). 40 / 1 Odds per BetOnLine that Notre Dame's BRIAN KELLY would be the "first col- lege head coach let go" in 2019, a sur- prisingly high figure considering last year's run to the College Foot- ball Playoff. The other three who made the CFP last season were Alabama's Nick Saban (250/1), the lowest chance, Clemson's Dabo Swinney (200/1) and Oklahoma's Lincoln Riley (100/1). Georgia's Kirby Smart was the third lowest at 125/1. The highest chance to be let go first in 2019 was USC's Clay Helton at 11/2 after last year's 5-7 debacle, followed by Rutgers' Chris Ash (6/1), Illinois' Lovie Smith (9/1) and Auburn's Gus Malzahn (10/1). 643 Days between verbal commitments from a high school prospect for Notre Dame men's basketball, an unofficial record for the program. Current sophomore forward Chris Doherty gave his pledge and signed on Nov. 13, 2017, and the next one didn't occur until this Aug. 18 from current junior (class of 2021) wing JR Konieczny from nearby South Bend St. Joseph's High School. Stanford transfer guard Cormac Ryan also committed and signed earlier in the summer. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER