Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 OCT. 9, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Lauren Beaudreau — Golf The junior from Lemont, Ill., helped Notre Dame move up the leaderboard at the Badger Invitational. She shot a final round 69 Sept. 21 to finish eighth in the in- dividual competition while Notre Dame finished second as a team. The Fighting Irish trailed winner SMU by just two strokes at the end of the competition. Beaudreau has the best stroke average (74.22) among Irish golfers who have played at least nine rounds this season. Sammi Fisher — Soccer For the first time in her career, the gradu- ate student midfielder from Simi Valley, Calif., earned a weekly ACC honor. She was named the ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week Sept. 27 after tallying three goals in Notre Dame's victories over Miami and Boston College. Fisher has 10 goals this season, which ranks fourth in the country and is No. 1 in the ACC. She has helped the Irish start 9-1-1 while climbing to a No. 20 national ranking. Jean-Marc Malkowski — Tennis Notre Dame's Eck Tennis Pavilion hosted 146 singles and doubles matches in the Bobby Bayliss Invitational from Sept. 24-26, and the sophomore from Jongny, Switzerland, nearly ended the event with an unde- feated record. He earned all-tournament team honors for posting a 3-1 singles record and a 2-0 doubles record. Eno Nto — Soccer The freshman forward from Derby, England, led Notre Dame with three goals in a 13-0 victory over Trine Sept. 28. It was the first hat trick of his career, and he took the overall team lead in goals as a result. Nto improved his season- long goal total to five in helping the Fighting Irish tie a program record for goals in a match. Notre Dame had not scored 13 goals since beating Valparaiso 13-1 in 1978. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Notre Dame will find itself in an unfamiliar situ- ation on Saturday night under the lights at Lane Stadium. It'll be just the fifth time the Fighting Irish have played in a sold-out environment in a true road game since they last trekked to Blacks- burg, Va., to take on the Hokies three years ago. This is only the second true road game Notre Dame has played in 2021. The Irish opened the season in a hostile atmosphere at Florida State, but Doak Campbell Stadium was only filled to roughly 86 percent capacity. There likely won't be a single vacant spot at Lane Stadium on Saturday since it is a sell-out. "Games under the lights in Lane Stadium are a one-of-a-kind experience," Virginia Tech senior associate athletic director Brad Wurthman said. "We cannot wait to see the Terror Dome come to life in support of our student-athletes. It is special to know that Hokie Nation will be there Saturday night in full force." Notre Dame has won three of its last five true road games at stadiums that were at full capacity, including a 45-23 victory over the No. 24 Hokies three ago. There aren't too many players on the current Irish roster who were contributors in that victory. This will be a new experience for many Irish players who dealt with smaller crowds last year because of COVID-19 capacity restrictions. At many of those games, players could hear themselves think. For as long as the Hokies can keep Saturday's game close, that won't be the case. Here's a look at Notre Dame's results in its last five full-capacity true road games: Date Opponent Attendance Result Oct. 6, 2018 No. 24 Virginia Tech 65,632 W, 45-23 Nov. 3, 2018 Northwestern 47,330 W, 31-21 Sept. 21, 2019 No. 3 Georgia 93,246 L, 23-17 Oct. 26, 2019 No. 19 Michigan 111,909 L, 45-14 Nov. 9, 2019 Duke 40,004 W, 38-7 Notre Dame has only played in four full-capacity true road games since beating Virginia Tech at sold-out Lane Stadium on Oct. 6, 2018. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA CHARTING THE IRISH ESPN: NOTRE DAME HAS SIX OF NATION'S TOP 300 PLAYERS It shouldn't come to anyone's surprise who had the most players ranked in ESPN's release of the top 300 players in col- lege football late last month: Alabama, of course. The Crimson Tide, winners of six of the last 12 national championships, had 20 players listed in the rankings — six more players than any other school. Georgia and Ohio State, two other perennial College Football Playoff contenders, tied for second with 14 apiece. Notre Dame had a total of six players checking in, which ranked tied for the ninth-most of any program nationally. The Fighting Irish's representatives were rated like so: No. 7, sophomore tight end Michael Mayer; No. 9, junior safety Kyle Hamilton; No. 51, junior running back Kyren Williams; No. 99, junior defensive end Isaiah Foskey; No. 267, senior wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr.; and No. 298, junior linebacker JD Bertrand. Mayer will likely be the top tight end prospect in his class when he's eligible for the NFL Draft in 2023. Hamilton is already considered by many to be the top safety prospect in the 2022 draft. Williams, Foskey and Austin will also have plenty of attention when draft time rolls around. Bertrand led Notre Dame in total tackles in each of the first four games of this season. Three of Notre Dame's 2021 opponents — Toledo, Navy and Georgia Tech — did not have any players make the list. The rest of the Irish's opponents had at least two players make the cut. Cincinnati had five; Stanford had four; North Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin had three; Florida State, Purdue and Virginia Tech had two. The highest-rated player Notre Dame will have faced by the end of the season is North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell, who nearly cracked the top five with his No. 6 overall ranking. USC wide receiver Drake London landed at No. 10 while Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder came closely behind at No. 15. Here's a look at the programs with the most players in ESPN's recent top 300 rankings. — Tyler Horka Rk. School ESPN Top 300 Players 1. Alabama 20 2. Georgia 14 Ohio State 14 4. Clemson 10 LSU 10 Oklahoma 10 Texas A&M 10 8. Florida 8 9. Arkansas 6 Iowa State 6 Kentucky 6 Notre Dame 6 Oregon 6 TCU 6