Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 OCT. 26, 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Moving? Let us know! Call 1-800-421-7751 Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom Yared Nuguse — Cross Country The junior from Louisville, Ky., led the way for the Fight- ing Irish at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational Oct. 4 in South Bend. He notched a sixth-place individual show- ing — topping his 12th-place effort in the same race a year ago — while setting a personal-best time of 24:11.1 on the five-mile course to help the Irish come in fifth out of 22 squads. Last year, Nuguse finished third at both the ACC Championships and the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. Mike O'Leary — Ice Hockey The senior forward from Halifax, Nova Sco- tia, scored a pair of goals and added one assist to help Notre Dame defeat the USA Under-18 team 4-2 in an exhibition contest Oct. 6 in Plymouth, Mich. He tied the game, then assisted on the go-ahead score before icing the game with his second goal. O'Leary re- ceived the team's Most Improved Player award after contributing a career-high 21 points (six goals and 15 assists) in 39 contests last year. Anna Rohrer — Cross Country The fifth-year senior from Mishawaka, Ind., made her season debut and competed in her final home cross coun- try meet, pacing the Irish with a sixth-place individual finish in the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational Oct. 4. She posted a time of 16:24.71 in the five-kilometer race to help the Irish finish eighth out of 24 teams. Rohrer is a three-time cross country All-American and was the 2016 ACC champion. Zach Yeadon — Swimming & Diving The sophomore from San Antonio started strong in Notre Dame's first dual meet of the season ver- sus Florida State Oct. 4 in South Bend. He placed first in both the 500 and 1,000 free- style races, breaking a pool record and recording the fast- est time in the NCAA to date with an 8:57.69 mark in the latter. Yeadon was tabbed as the team's Most Valuable Swimmer in his breakout debut in 2018-19. TOP OF THE CLASS ✦ GIMME FIVE The 52-0 shutout of Bowling Green Oct. 5 marked the third goose egg the defense pro- duced in head coach Brian Kelly's 10-year run, with the others coming against Michigan in 2014 (31-0) and Wake Forest in 2012 (38-0). He became the first Notre Dame head coach since Lou Holtz (1986-96) to record three shut- outs during his Fighting Irish career. Holtz pro- duced seven during his 11-year run, although in one of them — 41-0 versus Vanderbilt in 1995 — he wasn't on the sidelines while recov- ering from neck surgery. Prior to Kelly's first season in 2010, Notre Dame had a combined three shutouts in the 13 seasons from 1997-2009 under head coaches Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis, each of whom had one apiece. In today's football with prominent passing at- tacks and more liberal rules from decades ago to help aid scoring, shutouts are far less com- monplace. In Jesse Harper's five seasons from 1913-17, 25 of his 40 career games resulted in a Notre Dame shutout — and in two others the opponent scored only two points on a safety. Since the start of the Knute Rockne era in 1918, here were the Irish coaches who re- corded the most shutouts: Rk. Coach (Years) Shutouts 1. Knute Rockne (1918-30) 51 2. Ara Parseghian (1964-74) 30 3. Frank Leahy (1941-43, 1946-53) 28 4. Elmer Layden (1934-40) 20 5. Hunk Anderson (1931-33) 14 Terry Brennan (1954-58) and Dan Devine (1975-80) had 10 apiece CHARTING THE IRISH UNRIVALED RIVALRIES Many college football rivalries have lasted more than 100 years, including some of Notre Dame's biggest yearly games. BestColleges.com put out a list of the game's top ri- valries prior to the season and the Irish made the list twice. Coming in at No. 5 was their most historic rival, the USC Trojans. This is particularly impressive because the majority of the other matchups on the list are between two pro- grams in the same conference or state. The Notre Dame- USC rivalry has thrived for more than 90 years despite the two schools being located more than 2,000 miles apart. USC appears on the list of the best college football rival- ries two other times. At No. 10 is its yearly game versus Stanford —which also plays Notre Dame annually — and at No. 20 is the Trojans versus the UCLA Bruins. The other Notre Dame rivalry to make the list is the pro- gram's feud with Michigan, which no longer comes every year. The Wolverines' annual matchups with Ohio State (No. 2) and Michigan State (No. 25) also made the list. While it no longer has an impact on the national cham- pionship, Army versus Navy came in No. 1, but the Naval Academy's longtime standing date with Notre Dame did not make the cut. The other 2019 opponent that appears on the list is Georgia. The Bulldogs versus the Florida Gators is ranked No. 7 and their annual rivalry with in-state Georgia Tech is at No. 23. Getting To Know … JUNIOR OFFENSIVE TACKLE ROBERT HAINSEY Hometown: Pittsburgh High school: IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) Major: Finance Favorite food: "One of my most favorite foods is crab legs." Favorite movie: "My fa- vorite movie has to be 'Wolf of Wall Street.'" Favorite music: "I like two different styles of music. One would be country and the other would be classic rock." Favorite musician: "Tyler Childers has got to be one of my favorite artists." Favorite TV show: "One of my favorite TV shows is 'Game of Thrones.'" Greatest football memory: "My greatest football memory has got to be not only beat- ing USC at home 49-14 in 2017, but the state- ment we made while doing it." Who is your idol: "Without a doubt my idol has to be my dad." Favorite part about playing for Notre Dame: "There are so many great things about playing football at Notre Dame that it is hard to pick just one. I would have to say the tradition is the best part for me." Top College Football Rivalries, per BestColleges.com Ranking Rivalry No. 1 Army-Navy* No. 2 Ohio State-Michigan* No. 3 Alabama-Auburn No. 4 Texas-Oklahoma No. 5 Notre Dame-USC* No. 6 Florida State-Miami No. 7 *Georgia-Florida No. 8 Harvard-Yale No. 9 Clemson-South Carolina No. 10 USC*-Stanford No. 19 Notre Dame-Michigan* No. 20 USC*-UCLA No. 23 Georgia*-Georgia Tech No. 25 Michigan*-Michigan State * 2019 Notre Dame opponent