Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2020 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 139 1. Season-Salvaging Session Versus Virginia Tech — Coming off the 45-14 debacle at Michigan, the 5-2 Irish trailed the Hokies 20-14 when they took possession at their 13- yard line with 3:22 left in the contest. A five-yard pass from Ian Book to Jafar Armstrong on fourth-and-three from their 20 kept the drive alive, and later Chase Claypool made a spectacular 13-yard grab along the sidelines. Then on fourth-and-10 from the Virginia Tech 33, Book patiently waited for Claypool to get open on a 26-yard completion. Two snaps later, Book rushed for a seven-yard touchdown, with Jonathan Doerer's extra point providing the winning point with 29 seconds left. Instead of back-to-back defeats, the season closed with six straight wins thanks to this 18-play, 87-yard march. 2. Isaiah Foskey's Block Party At Stanford — With his team staggering and trailing 17-7 in the second quarter at Stanford in the regular-season finale, the freshman defensive end broke through to block a Stanford punt that was recovered at the Cardinal 1-yard line. The game-altering play ignited 38 straight points by the Irish in the 45-24 win. 3. SACK ATTACK AGAINST VIRGINIA — Notre Dame trailed 17-14, and early in the third quarter the Cavaliers had a first down at the Irish 38-yard line. Two plays later, though, defensive end Jamir Jones' rush forced a fumble by quarterback Bryce Perkins that defensive tackle Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa caught and returned 48 yards to set up the go-ahead touchdown. Shortly thereafter, a sack by Julian Okwara resulted in another fumble and touchdown by fellow end Ade Ogundeji. The Fighting Irish finished the contest with eight sacks. 4. By The Book Drive Beats USC — Clinging to a 23-20 fourth-quarter lead, senior quar - terback Ian Book completed a nine-yard pass to tight end Cole Kmet on third-and-seven from his 28, scrambled for 17 yards on third-and-10, and shortly thereafter split between a pair of Trojans defenders for a pivotal touchdown in the 30-27 victory. 5. Record-Breaking Romp Versus Iowa State — The Cyclones began showing signs of life after falling behind 20-6 in the Camping World Bowl and had Notre Dame pinned back at its 16-yard line on the first Irish series in the second half. Senior running back Tony Jones Jr. then swept left, timed his cut perfectly and dashed for an 84-yard score — stiff-arming a would-be tackler the final 15 yards. It was the longest run in Notre Dame's 38-game bowl history, easily eclipsing the 50- yard score by C.J. Prosise in the 2014 Music City Bowl win over LSU. 6 Consecutive victories to end the 2019 season, the longest winning streak to close out a cam- paign since the seven in a row in 1992. In the 70 years since 1950, only three other teams had a longer winning streak to enter the following year: the 1973 (11), 1977 (10) and 1988 (12) national champions. 24 Notre Dame's biggest margin of victory in a bowl game (33-9 over Iowa State) under head coach Brian Kelly, and the biggest since the Irish topped Hawai'i by 28 in 2008 (the Irish also defeated No. 1 Texas by 28 in the Cotton Bowl following the 1977 season). 28 Turnovers forced by Notre Dame (19 intercep- tions and nine fumble recoveries), the most in Brian Kelly's 10 seasons. The total tied for fourth in the country, and was the most by any team that played only 13 games. The plus-1.31 per game turnover margin also ranked No. 4 among 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams. 1,273 Carries by Notre Dame running backs without losing a fumble, which dated back to Nov. 21, 2015, led the Football Bowl Subdivision and was easily a school record. That ended Nov. 1 when Jafar Armstrong's fumble right before halftime against Virginia Tech was returned for a 98-yard touchdown in what would be a 21-20 Fighting Irish triumph. 2016 Was the last cycle that Notre Dame had inked a Rivals five-star prospect (Daelin Hayes), be- fore the Irish signed five-star wideout Jordan Johnson in the 2020 class. 93,246 Was the announced attendance for the Notre Dame game at Georgia's Sanford Stadium in the 23-17 loss to the No. 3 Bulldogs on Sept. 21. The venue became the 10th different college stadium where the Irish were the opponent when the attendance mark was set. QUOTABLE "I honestly left the field believing that we beat ourselves and not that we got beat by another team. I think we take away those pen- alties (six false start penalties when the silent snap count did not function in a raucous atmosphere) and it's a different ball game." — Senior wide receiver Chase Claypool on the 23-17 loss at No. 3 Georgia in the third game in which 12 Irish penalties overall were a record in the Brian Kelly era "I've had to make other tough decisions. I made them a few years ago. I had to let go of guys that stood up in my wedding. … I'm going to make decisions that are in the best interests of Notre Dame's football program and give us the best chance to win a national championship." — Head coach Brian Kelly during December pre-bowl preparations on replacing productive third-year offensive coordinator Chip Long because of purported internal staff and player turmoil "I'm not concerned about a competitive advantage or disadvan- tage. I accepted long ago in this pandemic that's a natural conse- quence. I have told our coaches over and over again do not focus on that issue. Focus on health — your health, the staff's health ... most importantly our students. We'll go from there." — Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick this spring on COVID-19 Julian Okwara notched three of Notre Dame's eight sacks against Virginia, with one resulting in a fumble and touchdown return for the Fighting Irish that helped put the game away. PHOTO BY ANDRIS VISOCKIS By The Numbers TOP FIVE INDIVIDUAL PLAYS