Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 OCT. 30, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Meghan Coleman — Tennis The sophomore from In- dianapolis recorded the first singles victory of her career in beating Ohio State's Mad- eline Atway 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 at the Wolverine Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich., at the be- ginning of October. Coleman kept the momentum going in the Wildcat Invite in Evanston, Ill., the following week. She re- corded a 5-1 record with three singles victories, two doubles wins and one doubles defeat. She won all of her singles matches in straight sets. Eva Gaetino — Soccer The sophomore from Dexter, Mich., scored the first goal of her career in overtime against Clem- son Oct. 10 to give the Fight- ing Irish their eighth straight victory. The ACC office took notice in naming her the con- ference's Defensive Player of the Week. Gaetino also helped the Irish shut out Louisville 3-0 in the game prior to the win over Clemson. It was the Irish's seventh shutout in a season that has become quite promising. Palmer Jackson — Golf The junior from Murrysville, Pa., was a model of consistency for the Fighting Irish at the Jack- son T. Stephens Cup in Ro- land, Ark. He shot a 2-under- par 70 in all three rounds to finish tied for first place. Jack- son finished the fall schedule with his fourth top-five in five events. He helped No. 17 Notre Dame win the overall Jackson T. Stephens Cup team competition by 20 strokes over second-place No. 3 Arkansas. Yu Zhang — Tennis In just his second career collegiate event, the freshman from Jiangxi, China, was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Vredevelt Invi- tational in Kalamazoo, Mich. He went 3-0 in the top flight of the singles bracket. Zhang knocked off Arjun Hon- nappa of Western Michigan in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, in a battle of players who brought undefeated records in the tournament into that match. Zhang also won a doubles match with teammate Brian Bilsey. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Two of the winningest active coaches in the FBS will be on opposite sidelines when North Carolina takes on Notre Dame Oct. 30. The Tar Heels' Mack Brown ranks second with 257 wins. The Fighting Irish's Brian Kelly ranks fifth with 160. Both Brown and Kelly have racked up their respective victories at three different schools. Brown has been at the helm at Tulane, UNC and Texas. Kelly has won games at Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame. Though Brown is in his second stint and 13th overall season with the Tar Heels, he'll likely long be remembered in burnt orange. Brown won 158 games at Texas. His 16-year run in Austin was highlighted by a national championship in 2005 and another appearance in the national title game in 2009. Kelly, meanwhile, has certainly established his legacy as a Notre Dame great. He recently passed Knute Rockne for the most victories by a head coach in program history. He's in his 13th season in South Bend. The biggest hole in Kelly's résumé is what Brown accomplished a decade and a half ago — winning it all. Kelly has taken Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff in two of the last three seasons, though, and the Irish currently have the second-best 2022 recruiting class in the country according to Rivals. Kelly appears poised for more success at Notre Dame for years to come. Brown, on the other hand, is in a later stage in his career. This is his third year back at UNC after taking five years off from coaching. The Tar Heels have had their moments since Brown's return but still only have a 19-13 overall record to show for them. Brown turned 70 in August. Kelly turned 60 on Oct. 25. It'll be intriguing to see where Kelly stands among the winningest coaches of all time if he stays in the game for the next decade, or at least a good portion of it. Brown ranks seventh all time with his 257 wins. For reference, former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz ranks 10th with 249. Most All-Time Wins By Active FBS Head Coaches Rk. Coach Wins* 1. Nick Saban 267 2. Mack Brown 257 3. Gary Patterson 181 4. Kirk Ferentz 174 5. Brian Kelly 160 * Through Week 7 of the 2021 season CHARTING THE IRISH NONE BETTER THAN NOTRE DAME AT BEATING THE BEST If you thought Purdue beating No. 2 Iowa two weeks ago was an anomaly, you thought wrong. The Boilermakers' 24-7 victory over the Hawkeyes was their 13th in program history against opponents ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the Associated Press poll. Only four other programs have recorded more wins in that category. And yes, Notre Dame is one of them. The Fighting Irish actually sit atop that list with 17 wins against top-two teams. Nine of those victories came against the No. 1 team in the country, which is also the best mark of any program in the nation. The first of them came in 1936 against Northwestern, and the latest of them came last year against Clemson. The win over the Tigers was Notre Dame's first over the nation's top team since it beat Florida State in 1993. It snapped a streak of three-straight losses to AP No. 1 teams. Notre Dame has also been on the wrong end of these statistics quite a few times. Six of Purdue's 13 wins over AP top-two teams came against the Irish. The first of those occurred in 1950, and the latest happened in 1974. Both games took place at Notre Dame Stadium. There have been opportunities for the Irish to bolster their record against the best teams in the country, too. For example, Notre Dame has played USC when the Trojans were the No. 1 team in the AP poll four times. USC won all four of those con- tests, most recently in the infamous "Bush Push" game at Notre Dame Stadium in 2005. Still, there has not been a program historically better at beat- ing big-time opponents than Notre Dame. The opportunities to build upon that pedigree have not manifested this season, but they might in future years with Ohio State and Clemson on the Irish's schedule. — Tyler Horka Only six FBS head coaches have won more games all time than North Carolina's Mack Brown, and only one of those six — Alabama's Nick Saban — is also still active. PHOTO COURTESY UNC ATHLETICS ALL-TIME WINS OVER AP NO. 1 OR NO. 2 Rk. School Wins 1. Notre Dame 17 2. Ohio State 16 USC 16 4. Oklahoma 14 5. Purdue 13 6. Texas 11 Miami 11 8. Alabama 10 Auburn 10