Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1246464
12 JUNE/JULY 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME CHARTING THE IRISH NOTRE DAME 2020 OPPONENT RANKINGS ACCORDING TO ESPN'S FPI At the start of May, ESPN released an updated version of its Football Power Index for the 2020 season. Based on this metric, Notre Dame has a daunting fall schedule assuming the season occurs as planned. In 2019, two of Notre Dame's opponents — Bowling Green and New Mexico — were ranked amongst the 10 worst teams in college football according to the FPI. In 2020, Western Michigan is considered the weakest opponent, ranked No. 93. With the exception of Georgia Tech, Wake For- est and Arkansas, every opponent is expected to finish the regular season at least .500. The schedule is even more over- whelming at the top, with Clemson considered the best team in the na- tion and Wisconsin No. 4. Fortu- nately, neither is a true road game. Not too far behind those two and still ahead of the Notre Dame is USC at No. 13. Rounding out the top 20 is Louisville. After winning just four games in 2019, Stanford is expected to bounce back, ranking No. 31 and the FPI projecting a seven-win season. Georgia Tech, Navy, Pittsburgh, Arkansas, Duke and Wake Forest all fall somewhere between No. 50 and No. 65. UNDER THE DOME ✦ GIMME FIVE When Muffet McGraw announced her re- tirement April 22, her 936 career victories — including an 88-41 mark at Lehigh from 1982-87— ranked sixth all time among Divi- sion I coaches. In addition, she is one of only five NCAA Divi- sion I men's and women's basketball coaches with at least 930 wins, nine Final Fours and multiple titles. The others are Tennessee's Pat Summitt, Stanford's Tara VanDerveer and Con- necticut's Geno Auriemma in the women's game, plus Duke men's coach Mike Krzyzewski. At Notre Dame, her 848 victories, at an im- pressive .772 winning percentage, are the most at the school. Earlier this year, longtime softball coach Deanna Gumpf also joined the 750-win club. Here are the five coaches with the most victo- ries at Notre Dame. Rk. Coach (Years) Sport Record 1. Muffet McGraw (1987-2020) Basketball 848-252 2. Deanna Gumpf (2002-) Softball 752-321-1 3. Mike DeCicco (1962-95) Fencing 680-45 4. Tom Fallon (1957-87) Tennis 579-268-4* 5. Jake Kline (1934-75) Baseball 558-449-5 * Fallon was 514-194 for the men's tennis team, but also founded the wrestling program in 1952 and had a 65-74-4 record as the coach in that sport. Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom Andie Aldave —Lacrosse The junior from Baltimore was named a first- team All-American by Inside Lacrosse for the second straight year and was one of four Notre Dame play- ers to earn national honors in the shortened season. Aldave finished second on the team with 17 goals and tied for second with 23 points. She had five straight multi-goal games to end the season. Notre Dame was 7-0 and ranked No. 2 nationally before the remain- ing games were canceled. Richard Ciamarra — Tennis The junior from Southington, Conn., was named an Intercollegiate Ten- nis Association All-American after the shortened season, one of 20 singles players in the country to earn the honor. Ciamarra ended the season as the No. 8 player in the coun- try and posted a 20-8 record, with 12 wins over ranked opponents. He reached No. 5 in the rankings earlier in the year. Stefani Deschner — Fencing The junior from Versailles, Ky., was named the ACC Women's Fencing Scholar-Athlete of the Year in April after posting a 36-13 regular-season record this season. Her year ended there when postseason ac- tivities were canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. With Deschner 's award, Notre Dame has had at least one Scholar-Athlete of the Year winner in each of the last three seasons between the men's and women's fencing teams. Five of her teammates were named to the ACC All-Academic Team. John Mooney — Basketball The senior forward from Orlando, Fla., added one more honor to his standout season when he was named Notre Dame's 2019-20 MVP as part of the vir- tual Evening With Notre Dame Basketball event in early April. Mooney was a first-team All- ACC selection and averaged a double-double for the second straight year, with 16.2 points and 12.7 rebounds per game. He had a school- record 12 straight double-doubles. TOP OF THE CLASS ESPN'S 2020 FOOTBALL POWER INDEX RANKINGS As of May 12 Rk. Team Projected W-L 1 Clemson 12.4-0.5 4 Wisconsin 10.8-2.1 13 USC 8.9-3.7 16 Notre Dame 8.0-4.0 20 Louisville 8.4-3.7 31 Stanford 7.0-5.1 50 Georgia Tech 5.0-7.0 52 Navy 7.1-5.1 56 Pittsburgh 6.0-6.0 59 Arkansas 5.0-7.0 60 Duke 6.2-5.8 65 Wake Forest 5.3-6.7 93 Western Michigan 6.6-5.7 With 848 career wins at Notre Dame and 936 overall, Muffet McGraw ranks atop the leader board at Notre Dame. She also is among elite company in NCAA annals after nearly 40 years as a head coach. PHOTO COURTESY FIGHTING IRISH MEDIA