Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 11, 2021 9 UNDER THE DOME 2 Fighting Irish players were ranked among Dane Brugler's top 50 NFL Draft prospects for 2022. The Athletic writer had junior safety Kyle Hamilton at No. 3 and junior defensive end Isaiah Foskey at No. 39. Notre Dame was one of 12 schools that placed multiple players on the list. Alabama and Ohio State led the way with five and four, respectively. 3 Members of the Fighting Irish's staff received mention on Yahoo! Sports writer Pete Thamel's list of "20 college football assistants next in line for head coaching jobs." Both of Notre Dame's coordinators made the list, with de - fensive boss Marcus Freeman checking in at No. 6 and offensive leader Tommy Rees ranked No. 20. In addition, Irish running backs coach Lance Taylor was in- cluded as the Independents' representative for "other assistants, [Group of Five conference] coordinators who could factor in head coach job market." 11th Was where NFL.com ranked former Irish and current Cowboys of- fensive lineman Zack Martin on its list of the NFL's 30 best players over 30 entering the 2021 season. "Martin's streak of consecutive Pro Bowls to start his career ended at six in 2020, after a calf injury limited the Cowboys lineman to just 10 games," the web - site noted. "Had he not ended up on season-ending IR, however, the 30-year-old very well could've extended his run to seven straight. Martin graded out as the second-best offensive lineman in the NFL, per PFF, allowing just one sack and two QB hits en route to a 98.2 efficiency score. "He was the lone bright spot on an O-line decimated by injuries and an offense reeling without Dak Prescott. Depth became such an is - sue in Dallas that Martin, channeling his Notre Dame days, slid out to tackle for 117 snaps over four games. One hit, one pressure, zero sacks. Like riding a bike." 33 / 1 Odds for Notre Dame junior running back KYREN WILLIAMS to win the Heisman Trophy in 2021, per BetOnline as of Sept. 2. That was tied for the 14th-best odds in the country. The Irish will face three of the players that are listed ahead of Williams this season: North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell (12/1), USC quarterback Kedon Slovis (20/1) and Wisconsin quarterback Gra - ham Mertz (28/1). In addition, Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder and Florida State quarterback McKenzie Milton are tied with Williams at 33/1. 66 / 1 Odds for Notre Dame to win the NCAA football championship this season, per BetOnline as of Sept. 2, down from 28/1 the last time they were released. Alabama (13/5), Clemson (21/4), Georgia (13/2), Oklahoma (13/2) and Ohio State (7/1) led the way. 78.6 Percent (22 of 28) of teams ranked Nos. 1-7 in the preseason As- sociated Press Top 25 earned College Football Playoff bids from 2014-20, per Andy Wittry of NCAA.com. Last year's CFP teams were ranked No. 1 (Clemson), No. 2 (Ohio State) and No. 3 (Alabama) and No. 10 (Notre Dame) in the preseason. This year, the Fighting Irish opened the season at No. 9. The last seven teams ranked in that spot at the beginning of the season finished the year with an aver - age ranking of 22.4 (teams that finished outside the final CFP top 25 were given a rank value of 30), with high finish of No. 6. Three of those preseason No. 9 teams finished unranked, while none earned a CFP bid. Wittry also pointed out that, on average, one team from outside the top 10 of the preseason AP poll will make the CFP roughly three out of four years. Notre Dame was that team in the 2018 campaign, having been ranked No. 12 in the preseason. Clem - son (No. 12 in 2015), Washington (No. 14 in 2016), Georgia (No. 15 in 2017) and Oklahoma (No. 19 in 2015) have also proven it's possible to climb into national title contention from a lower ranking in the pre - season poll. +700 Were the odds listed by Bet- MGM for Notre Dame to be one of the four teams to be part of the College Football Playoff at the end of the 2021 season, and as of Aug. 25 — three days before the start of the season — nearly 25 percent of playoff wagers were on the Irish to make the semifinals again. That made the Irish "far and away the most-bet team" according to Yahoo! Sports. Georgia (+160) was second with 13.5 percent of tickets, while Iowa State (+450) was third at 12.3 percent of wagers. Yahoo! Sports also noted that Notre Dame ranked second with 27.2 percent of the handle (the total money wagered). Only Michigan, which had +2000 odds, was higher with 32.6 percent of the total handle despite being on just 6.1 percent of the tickets. Outside of Notre Dame and Michigan, there aren't any other teams who had more than 7.3 percent of the handle at BetMGM. Cincinnati was the fourth-most bet team at 8.2 percent, but those wagers made up just 3.7 percent of the handle. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER