Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JAN. 1, 2021 9 UNDER THE DOME 3 Finalists selected on Dec. 22 for the 2020 Outland Trophy Award, among them Fighting Irish fifth-year senior left tackle Liam Eichenberg. The award was first presented in 1946 to the nation's outstanding interior line- man. Past Outland winners from Notre Dame are George Connor (1946), Bill Fischer (1948) and Ross Browner (1976). Eichenberg was honored as the recipient of the Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the top offensive lineman in the ACC. He and his cohorts join Alabama and Texas A&M as the three finalists for the Joe Moore Award, presented annually to the nation's top offensive line. 4 Notre Dame football players represented on The Athletic's 2020 All- Freshman first or second team. This includes redshirted freshman, which first-team running back Kyren Williams was in 2020. Joining Williams on the top unit was true freshman tight end Michael Mayer. On the second team were two other players who were in their first academic year at Notre Dame: cornerback Clarence Lewis and kick return man Chris Tyree, who also rushed for 480 yards while playing behind Williams. 12 All-ACC selections from Notre Dame on the first, second and third teams after the 10-1 season and prior to playing in the College Football Playoff. The first-team selections on offense were Eichenberg, senior left guard Aaron Banks and fifth-year senior right guard Tommy Kraemer, while senior rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (Defensive Player of the Year) and sopho- more safety Kyle Hamilton represented the defense. The second unit included Williams, senior right tackle Robert Hainsey and senior defensive tackle Myron Tagovailoa- Amosa. On the third group were fifth-year senior quar- terback Ian Book, Mayer, junior center Jarrett Patter- son and fifth-year senior cornerback Nick McCloud. Brian Kelly was named the ACC Coach of the Year. 22 Points the University of Kentucky men's basket- ball team trailed by at halftime against Notre Dame on Dec. 12 (48-26). In the illustrious history of Wildcats men's basketball, that was their largest deficit ever at half- time in a home game. Despite scoring only 16 second-half points while shooting 7 of 25 from the field (28.0 percent), including 1 of 10 from three-point range, the Fighting Irish went on to win 64-63. It was their first victory ever in Rupp Arena, where they had previously been 0-8. Junior forward NATE LASZEWSKI led the Fighting Irish with 21 points, 19 in the first half. 23 Ranking of Notre Dame in this December's CBS Sports' greatest college basketball men's basketball programs since the start of the NCAA Tournament in 1938-39. Thirteen different criteria were measured, from NCAA Tournament success, to wins over ranked opponents, to players drafted by the NBA, and how high. • In order, the "Final Four" were comprised of Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke and UCLA. • Among the 15 current ACC teams, the league in which Notre Dame partic- ipates, the ones ahead of the Fighting Irish were North Carolina (No. 2), Duke (No. 3), Louisville (No. 6), Syracuse (No. 11) and North Carolina State (No. 19). • Despite only one Final Four advance- ment (1978), the Irish have made seven Elite Eight appearances from 1952 through 2016. 4,802,000 Viewers in Total Audience Delivery (TAD) on average for Notre Dame's five home football games this season on NBC. It was the network's most-watched season in 15 years, according to data provided by Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. In 2005, head coach Charlie Weis' first season at Notre Dame, the figure was 5.168 million. This year's results were up 121 percent from 2019. Highlighting NBC's 30th season with Notre Dame was the 47-40 double-overtime vic- tory over then No. 1-ranked Clemson on Nov. 7, which delivered a TAD of 10.217 mil- lion viewers — making it the most-watched college football game of the 2020 season thus far. It also was the second-most watched Notre Dame on NBC game on record, behind only the 31-24 victory by the No. 2-ranked Fighting Irish over No. 1 Florida State on Nov. 13, 1993. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS