Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 20, 2021 9 UNDER THE DOME 2nd Appearance in the ACC championship game for Notre Dame men's soccer, after it knocked off top-seeded and No. 5-ranked Pitt 2-0 Nov. 10, snapping a 19-match home win- ning streak for the Panthers. The Fighting Irish also played in the ACC title match in 2015 but fell 1-0 to Syracuse. 3 Top-100 recruits in Rivals rankings — point guard J.J. Starling (No. 40) of La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere, power forward Ven-Allen Lubin (No. 63) of Orlando (Fla.) Christian Prep and power forward Dom Campbell (No. 96) of Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H. — signed by Notre Dame men's basketball on Nov. 10. The Irish's three- man class was ranked No. 18 nationally by Rivals, their highest ranking since its five-man 2018 class was rated No. 9 in the country The last time head coach Mike Brey snagged three top-100 players in one recruiting hail was that 2018 group, with forward Nate Laszewski (No. 56), and guards Robby Carmody (No. 91) and Prentiss Hubb (No. 99). Prior to that, you have to go back to 2005. That year, Notre Dame's four- man, No. 18-ranked haul included guards Kyle McAlarney (No. 66) and Randy Ayers (No. 70), and forward Luke Zellar (No. 79). 7 Degrees will be earned by Fighting Irish men's basketball players in the spring of 2022 — the most in the country among Divi- sion I schools. Carmody, Hubb, Laszewski, Dane Goodwin, Cormac Ryan and Trey Wertz are all on track for undergraduate degrees, and Paul Atkinson Jr. will receive a graduate degree. 16 Forced missed tackles by junior run- ning back Kyren Williams in Notre Dame's wins over North Carolina Oct. 30 and Navy Nov. 6, per Pro Football Focus, which was tied for first nationally over those two weeks. PFF also noted that he ranked sec- ond with 235 yards after contact and third with nine runs of 10-plus yards during that two-game stretch. In those two contests, Williams had 39 car- ries for 294 yards (7.5 yards per rush) and three touchdowns. That means 79.9 percent of his rushing yards came after contact. 27 NCAA Tournament appearances in 29 years for the Notre Dame women's soc- cer program. This year, the Fighting Irish were tabbed as a No. 3 national seed and were set to host Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Nov. 14. The Irish have compiled an impressive record of 69-22-3, made 12 appearances in the College Cup and captured three NCAA champion- ships (1995, 2004, 2010). 28 Percent chance for Notre Dame to make the College Football Playoff after Week 10, per PFF. That put the Irish sixth, behind Geor- gia (97 percent), Oklahoma (70), Alabama (64), Ohio State (62) and Cincinnati (45). Oklahoma State (15) was seventh. 63 Percent success rate on gap concept runs for Notre Dame during its victories over USC, North Carolina and Navy Oct. 23-Nov. 6, per Pro Football Focus. That has resulted in +0.33 Expected Points Added (EPA) per rush and 7.8 yards per carry. Since their bye week, PFF noted that the Fighting Irish have increased their usage of gap concepts and were not running nearly as much zone. Their zone usage — which produced just -0.12 EPA per rush, a 33 percent success rate and 4.0 yards per carry from Weeks 8-10 — "tanked nearly 30 percentage points down to 36% since their Week 7 bye" per PFF. 72 Consecutive wins for Mount Notre Dame High School in Cincinnati, which is led by Fighting Irish signee KK Bransford. The 5-foot-11 combo guard, the lone member of the Notre Dame women's basketball 2022 class, is ranked as the No. 7 guard and No. 29 overall player in the country by ESPN HoopGurlz. Bransford has helped Mount Notre Dame to an 85-2 record and two state championships in her first three seasons there. They could have had a third title, but the COVID-19 pandemic stopped her 28-0 2020 squad. Last year, she averaged 21.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 3.0 steals per game en route to being named the MaxPreps Ohio Player of the Year and Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year. 92 The ranking of Notre Dame junior guard PRENTISS HUBB on CBSS- ports.com's list of "the top 100 and 1 best college basketball players entering the 2021-22 season." He was 10th out of the 14 ACC players who made the list. "Hubb averaged career-highs in points (14.8), assists (5.8), rebounds (3.2), field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage and minutes played per game last season for Notre Dame," the site noted. "His progression into an All-ACC caliber player makes him one of the more underrated players in our rankings." 982 D ay s s i n c e t h e Notre Dame wom- en's basketball team eclipsed the 100-point mark in a game, until the Fighting Irish opened the 2021-22 season with a 105-69 victory over Ohio at Purcell Pavilion Nov. 9. The last time the Irish reached triple digits was a 103-66 victory over Virginia on March 3, 2018. That was actually the seventh time during the 2017-18 season Notre Dame achieved that. The eventual national runner-up squad averaged 85.1 points per game that season. Last year, the Irish averaged only 70.0 points per game. 5,294 Career points returning for the Fighting Irish men's basketball program — the most ever during head coach Mike Brey's tenure in South Bend, per Notre Dame media relations. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO COURTESY ACC MEDIA