Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 7, 2019 9 UNDER THE DOME 3 Consecutive years that Notre Dame will play only three games in the month of October: Bowling Green (Oct. 5), USC (Oct. 12) and at Michi- gan (Oct. 26). This used to be rare. Since head coach Knute Rockne's second year in 1919 through 2002 (84 seasons), the Fighting Irish had three games in October only five times: 1946, 1957, 1985, 1986 and 1996 — the last when they had only two because of a trip to Ireland to play Navy. However, in the 17 years since 2003, this year will be the 10th time: 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018. A primary reason has been prioritizing a bye week into the middle of October usually to coincide with fall break after mid-term exams. Next year will have four games in Octo- ber again, but the break will come later (Oct. 24). 8 Notre Dame players on the 2019 roster who are from Ohio, where Oct. 5 first-time opponent Bowling Green is based, about 20 miles southwest of Toledo. Alphabetically the Buckeye State natives include freshman cen- ter Zeke Correll (Cincinnati), fifth-year senior cornerback Shaun Crawford (Lakewood), sophomore guard John Dirksen (Maria Stein), senior offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg (Cleveland), fifth-year senior receiver/captain Chris Finke (Dayton), senior guard Tommy Kraemer (Cincinnati), walk-on sopho- more receiver Greg Mailey (Hudson) and walk-on junior safety Patrick Pelini (Youngstown). That is the third-highest representation by one state on this year's roster, behind the 12 apiece from California and Illinois. More on California next week. 9.287 Million viewers — per John Ourand of Sports Busi- ness Journal — for the Sept. 21 showdown between Notre Dame and Georgia at Athens, Ga., telecast in prime time by CBS. This almost doubled any other game from that day, with Michigan-Wisconsin (FOX) next at 4.733 million, and the first game of the CBS doubleheader with Auburn-Texas A&M third (4.659 million). The other top figures from the day were Texas-Oklahoma State (ABC) at 3.637 million and Florida-Tennessee (ESPN) at 2.461 million. In addition, the showdown between the Fighting Irish and Bulldogs re- ceived the highest ratings on CBS since Sept. 14, 2013, when Alabama at Texas A&M with Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel drew 13.6 million. 10 College football stadiums that hold the record for highest attendance with Notre Dame in the game — the most among any of the 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, most recently this Sept. 21 at Georgia. It also occurred at Louisville in this year's opener, and it's not out of the ques- tion it could happen again at Michigan this Oct. 26. Per Fighting Irish Media at the University of Notre Dame, here is the breakdown, from highest total to lowest. 115,109 — Michigan Stadium (Michigan) on Sept. 7, 2013 105,236 — Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (USC) on Dec. 6, 1947 93,246 — Sanford Stadium (Georgia) on Sept. 21, 2019 80,401 — Spartan Stadium (Michigan State) on Sept. 22, 1990 80,120 — Hard Rock Stadium (Miami) vs. Alabama in 2013 BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 7, 2013 66,247 — LaVell Edwards Stadium (BYU) on Oct. 16, 1993 58,187 — Cardinal Stadium (Louisville) on Sept. 2, 2019 56,409 — Falcon Stadium (Air Force) on Oct. 9, 2002 55,752 — Ryan Field (Northwestern) on Oct. 27, 1962 54,021 — Sun Bowl (UTEP) vs. Miami on Dec. 31, 2010 Notre Dame also holds the attendance record for a college football game at six different NFL or international venues: 120,000 — Soldier Field (USC) — Nov. 26, 1927 (although paid attendance was officially listed at 99,573) 76,802 — Lincoln Financial Field (Temple) on Oct. 31, 2015 76,802 — MetLife Stadium (Syracuse) on Sept. 27, 2014 54,251 — Yankee Stadium (Army) on Nov. 20, 2010 48,820 — Avivia Stadium (Navy, in Ireland) on Sept. 1, 2012 38,686 — Fenway Park (Boston College) on Nov. 21, 2015 ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY WARD PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP