Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 NOV. 13, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Max Ellis — Hockey Notre Dame went out of the gates with an up-and- down 4-3 start to the season, but Ellis has been hot. The junior from Canton, Mich., tallied at least one point in each of the first three games of the season. He had eight points through the first seven games. He's been a force offensively, and his 31 shots through seven games were nine more than the next clos- est player on the roster in that statistic. Dylan Jacobs — Cross Country The senior from Orland Park, Ill., finished as the run- ner-up at the ACC Champi- onships Oct. 29 with a time of 23:23.0 in the 8K race. He led the way for a Fighting Irish squad that captured its second straight ACC title and third in four years. Jacobs was one of three Irish runners to finish in the top five along with senior Danny Kilrea and graduate student Yared Nuguse. Ashley Naylor — Soccer Notre Dame finished the regular season with a 2-1 victory over Wake Forest, and Naylor was a huge rea- son why. The sophomore goalkeeper from Manhat- tan Beach, Calif., recorded a career-high 10 saves in the match. Naylor only allowed 13 goals against in her first 13 appearances of the season. She notched 35 total saves and registered a win-loss record of 9-4 for a Fighting Irish team that went 13-4-1 in the regular season. Chloe Schiavone — Golf T h e s o p h o m o re f ro m Jacksonville, Fla., finished with a career-best eighth- place individual finish at the Olde-Stone Intercollegiate in Simpsonville, Ky. She was the only Fighting Irish golfer to shoot 75 or better in all three rounds of the tournament with scores of 74, 75, and 75 (8-over-par 224). Schiavone's performance helped Notre Dame close out the fall season with a fourth-place team finish at the tournament. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Kyren Williams' 91-yard touchdown run against North Carolina will be replayed countless times on screens as large as the Jumbotron inside Notre Dame Stadium and as small as personal iPhones owned by Notre Dame fans far and wide for many years to come. The rush was phenomenal for a plethora of reasons. Brian Kelly and Jack Coan both said Williams should have been swallowed up for no gain. When two of the most intelligent figures in the program — as the head coach and starting quarterback should be — say the same thing and something entirely different occurs, that's when you know something special happened. The collective gasps by Notre Dame fans inside the stadium when Williams stiff-armed a would-be North Carolina tackler and the roar when he took off down the sideline made the moment all the more magical. Notre Dame running backs coach Lance Taylor told Williams, "That's all heart right there. That's all heart" when he got back to the sideline after the play. Kelly, recognizing Williams' importance to the team moving forward, asked, "Your knee's OK?" referencing the injury Williams went to the tent for just a few minutes prior. Williams responded, "Heck yeah, coach. What'd it look like, coach? I don't ever stop." And if you're the kind of person who needs numbers — not just comments from coaches, teammates and fans — to contextualize just how special the run was, those also exist. Williams' run is now tied for the fifth-longest rushing play in Notre Dame history. The Fighting Irish have had a longstanding tradition of producing ex- cellent rushers. Williams, a junior who has only started for 20 games now, continues to etch his name alongside the very best. There have now been seven rushing plays of 91 or more yards in program history, and four of them have occurred during Kelly's 12-year tenure. — Tyler Horka CHARTING THE IRISH NOTRE DAME EXTENDS IMPRESSIVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF RANKINGS STREAK There aren't many programs in the country better at cracking the College Football Playoff rankings than Notre Dame. The first CFP rankings of the 2021 season came out Nov. 2. To no one's surprise, Notre Dame checked in at No. 10. Maybe some will argue the Fighting Irish deserved a better spot. Some others might have said that was a fair position for head coach Brian Kelly's team. Either way, Notre Dame was firmly in the poll for the 24th straight time. Only four programs — Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Georgia — have longer such streaks. Before the rankings were released, ESPN's playoff predictor gave Notre Dame a 17 percent chance of making the CFP. Only six teams — Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Cincinnati, Ohio State and Michigan — had a higher chance of making it according to ESPN at the time those numbers were released (Oct. 31). After the CFP rankings came out, FiveThirtyEight.com did not give Notre Dame as good of a chance to reach the playoff as ESPN did prior to the release. FiveThirtyEight gave Notre Dame a 12 percent chance of making the CFP. Ten teams — Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Oregon, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Michigan and Wake Forest — had better percentages. Meanwhile, FiveThirtyEight gave Notre Dame the fifth- best chance to win out of any team in the country. The metrics said Notre Dame had a 39 percent chance of winning its final four regular-season games. Florida (48 percent), Georgia (48), BYU (47) and Cincinnati (46) were the only teams given a higher chance of winning out. Winning out might not be enough for Notre Dame to slide into the top four at the end of the year, though. Notre Dame does not have any ranked opponents left on its schedule. The only ranked teams Notre Dame has played this season were Cincinnati and Wisconsin. The Irish lost to the former and beat the latter. By early December, it could be that the only thing that prevented Notre Dame from making the CFP for the third time in four years was a home loss to the Bearcats. — Tyler Horka CURRENT CONSECUTIVE WEEKS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF RANKINGS Rk. School Weeks 1. Alabama 43 Ohio State 43 3. Oklahoma 36 4. Georgia 24 Notre Dame 24 6. Cincinnati 12 Iowa 12 Oklahoma State 12 LONGEST RUNS IN IRISH HISTORY Rk. Player Yards Opponent, Year 1. Josh Adams 98 Wake Forest, 2015 2. Dexter Williams 97 Virginia Tech, 2018 3. Chris Tyree 94 Syracuse, 2020 4. Bob Livingstone 92 USC, 1947 5. Kyren Williams 91 North Carolina, 2021 C.J. Prosise 91 Georgia Tech, 2015 Larry Couture 91 Navy, 1949