Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 12, 2019 9 UNDER THE DOME 2 Straight weeks a Notre Dame player received national honors for his per- formance from the prior game. Senior drop end JULIAN OKWARA was named the Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week following his game-changing performance in the 35-20 victory versus 4-0 Virginia Sept. 28. Okwara recorded three sacks, two of which resulted in fumbles, one that he recovered in Irish territory and another that resulted in a 23-yard touchdown return by senior end Ade Ogundeji. A week earlier, junior tight end Cole Kmet was honored as the John Mackey Tight End of the Week with his nine catches for 108 yards and a touchdown in the 23-17 loss at No. 3 Georgia. 9 Preseason national ranking by USCHO for Notre Dame hockey, which will be vying for its third consecutive Big Ten crown in as many seasons. Head coach Jeff Jackson's Fighting Irish were ranked the highest among Big Ten hockey members in the USCHO, but the Big Ten preseason coaches' poll Sept. 30 had them ranked No. 2 in the league, behind Penn State. Ranked from three through seven were Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota, Michigan and Michigan State. Irish senior goaltender Cale Morris was named a unanimous preseason All-Big Ten first-team selection, while senior forward Cal Burke received honorable mention notice. The Irish open the season versus Air Force at the Compton Family Ice Arena Oct. 11. 12 Notre Dame players on the 2019 roster who hail from California while preparing to host the USC Trojans Oct. 12. That is tied with Illinois for most representation this year from one state. Alphabetically they are: junior guard Aaron Banks (Alameda), senior quarterback/captain Ian Book (El Dorado Hills), sophomore cornerback TaRiq Bracy (Milpitas), walk-on sophomore quarterback Cole Capen (Yorba Linda), walk-on junior quarterback J.D. Carney (San Diego) — son of 1984-86 Fighting Irish kicker John Carney — freshman defensive end Isaiah Foskey (Antioch), junior linebacker Jordan Genmark Heath (San Diego), sophomore linebacker Jack Lamb (Temecula), senior wide receiver Javon McKinley (Corona), sophomore center Jarrett Patterson (Laguna Hills), freshman cornerback Isaiah Rutherford (Sacramento) and sophomore walk-on wide receiver Matt Salerno (Valencia). 253 Points returning from last year's national runner-up women's basketball team as they began practice last week for the season opener at Fordham Nov. 5. Collectively it had tallied 3,454, meaning that only 7.3 percent of the scoring is back in 2019-20. The breakdown is as follows: ju- nior center Mikayla Vaughn (125 points), sophomore guard Abby Prohaska (58), sophomore forward Danielle Cosgrove (37), sophomore guard Katlyn Gilbert (25) and junior walk-on guard Nicole Benz (eight). 1963 The only other year the 90-game Notre Dame-USC series was played as early as this season (Oct. 12). It was on Oct. 12, 1963 that the 0-2 Fighting Irish under interim coach Hugh De- vore upset the reigning national champion and No. 7 Trojans in Notre Dame Stadium. From the start of the series until 1960, the rivalry typically was played as the last game of the season on either team's field. When John McKay took over as the USC coach in 1960, he insisted the games at Notre Dame be played around mid-October with more seasonable conditions than in late November or even early December. Beginning in 1961, all the games at Notre Dame would be played in Oc- tober, while the games at USC would remain the regular-season finale for both teams. The latest October game at Notre Dame versus the Trojans was Oct. 27, 1973, a 23-14 Irish victory that snapped USC's 23-game unbeaten streak and helped propel head coach Ara Parseghian's team to the national title. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER