Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 7, 2020 25 BY THE NUMBERS BY LOU SOMOGYI 2 Touchdowns allowed by the Notre Dame de- fense the past three games while defeating Louisville (12-7), Pitt (45-3) and now Georgia Tech (31-13), whose first score came on a fumble return by its defense. It won't be listed in the record books this way, but it is also the first time the Fighting Irish defense limited the opposing offense to single-digit points three straight games since 2012 while defeating Michigan State (20-3), Michigan (13-6) and Miami (41-3) — as well as Stanford (20-13 in overtime) when the lone Cardinal touchdown was by the defense. 10 Straight wins Notre Dame has over Atlan- tic Coast Conference foes after finishing 5-0 last year and going 5-0 so far this season. All but two victories have been by at least 14 points (21-20 versus Virginia Tech last Nov. 2 and Lou- isville this Oct. 17), with the average margin of victory 19.3 points. The Fighting Irish also went 5-0 against the ACC during the 2018 regular season with an average margin of victory of 23.6, but in the College Foot- ball Playoff they happened to meet ACC member Clemson and lost 30-3. 12 Consecutive victories by Notre Dame, which remains the longest in the nation as it pre- pares to take on top-ranked Clemson. Defeating the Tigers would tie it for the third-longest streak at Notre Dame since 1950, led by the school-record 23 in 1988-89, 17 in 1992-93 and 13 apiece in 1973-74 and 2017-18. 17-0 Record for Notre Dame when it plays on Halloween, beginning with a con- quest of Albion in 1896. The closest "scares" came in a 25-22 win versus Navy in 1959 thanks to a 32- yard field goal by Monty Stickles with 32 seconds left, and a 24-20 win at Temple in 2015 on a 17- yard touchdown pass from DeShone Kizer to Will Fuller with 2:09 remaining. 19:47 Minutes and seconds Notre Dame has trailed out of a pos- sible 360:00 this season. Boston College actually led No. 1 Clemson 44:21 earlier in the day before losing, 34-28. 30 Victories in a row recorded by Notre Dame over unranked teams, beginning with Temple to open the 2017 season and con- tinuing through each of the first six contests this season. The previous standard of 29 was achieved from 1990-94 under head coach Lou Holtz before falling 30-11 at Boston College. This is the second-longest active streak nation- ally, behind Alabama's NCAA-record 95 that dates back to head coach Nick Saban's debut season in 2007. The previous NCAA record had been 72 by both Miami (1984-95) and Florida (1989-2000). 93 Yards on Georgia Tech's second-quarter fumble return for a touchdown by corner- back Zamari Walton after safety Juanyeh Thomas stripped the ball from sophomore running back Kyren Williams. It is the fourth time in the Brian Kelly era that a Notre Dame fumble near the opponent's 5-yard line was returned for a score the other way, with Vir- ginia Tech's Divine Deablo's 98-yard return last year nearly leading an upset before the Irish prevailed 21-20. Long fumble returns for scores also propelled victories by USF (23-20) and USC (31-17) in 2011. 211.0 Yards of total offense averaged by Notre Dame's last three foes: Louisville (233), Pitt (162) and Georgia Tech (238). Seldom in today's college football will you see a defense limit a Power Five team's offense to less than 250 yards three consecutive weeks. 4 Different Notre Dame defenders com- bined to record a season-high five quar- terback sacks, eclipsing the previous 2020 standard of four versus Florida State on Oct. 10. Fifth-year senior defensive end Daelin Hayes led the charge with his first two of this season, both resulting in fumbles. Fifth-year se- nior defensive end ADE OGUNDEJI registered his third of the 2020 campaign, sophomore vyper Isaiah Foskey upped his team high to 3.5 sacks, and sixth-year senior safety Shaun Crawford rounded it out with his first. Coming into the contest, the Yellow Jackets had allowed only 10 sacks in six games (1.67 per contest). PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS