Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JANUARY 2022 9 UNDER THE DOME 1 Win in five trips to the Fiesta Bowl for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish made their first appearance in the Arizona-based bowl game following the 1988 season, when they defeated No. 3 and 11-0 West Virginia 34-21 to clinch the national championship. Since then, Notre Dame has lost four straight by an average score of 40-20. The Irish fell to Colorado (41-24) following the 1994 campaign, Oregon State (41-9) after the 2000 season, Ohio State (34-20) after the 2005 season and the Buckeyes again (44-28) after the 2015 campaign. 3 Notre Dame men's basketball players during the Mike Brey era (2000-21) have come off the bench to score 20 or more points in a game for the Fighting Irish at least twice. David Graves did it in 2001 and 2002, Chris Quinn did it in 2003 and 2004, and freshman Blake Wesley achieved the feat in two of his first eight games in a Fighting Irish uniform this year. Wesley tallied 20 in his career debut against Cal State North- ridge Nov. 13 and then scored a career-high 24 at Illinois Nov. 29. Through Dec. 14, Wesley ranked second on the team with a 13.0 scoring average. That figure was also second- best among ACC and seventh-best among major conference true freshmen. 7 Different Fighting Irish women's basketball play- ers have now recorded a total of nine triple- doubles in program history, following freshman point guard Olivia Miles' 11-point, 13-rebound, 13-assist effort in a 73-56 win at Valparaiso Dec. 8. She became only the second Irish freshman to achieve that feat, joining Marina Mabrey. Through Dec. 14, Miles ranked first in the nation with an average of 7.5 assists per game. She was also averaging 11.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, making her one of just two players in the country — Iowa's Caitlin Clark was the other — who were averaging at least 10.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists per contest. 28 Years since Notre Dame claimed a vic- tory in a premier bowl game. The last such victory was a 24-21 triumph over Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1994. Since then, the Irish have lost nine straight major bowl games by an average score of 37- 17: Fiesta vs. Colorado (41-24) on Jan. 2, 1995; Orange vs. Florida State (31-26) on Jan. 1, 1996; Fiesta vs. Oregon State (41-9) on Jan. 1, 2001; Fiesta vs. Ohio State (34-20) on Jan. 2, 2006; Sugar vs. LSU (41-14) on Jan. 3, 2007; BCS National Championship Game vs. Alabama (42- 14) on Jan. 7, 2013; Fiesta vs. Ohio State (44-28) on Jan. 1, 2016; Cotton (CFP semifinal) vs. Clemson (30-3) on Dec. 29, 2018; and Rose (CFP semifinal) vs. Alabama (31-14) on Jan. 1, 2021. 29 Points off the bench for freshman guard Sonia Cit- ron in a 76-71 win at Michigan State Dec. 2 — the most ever by an Irish player in program history, per Notre Dame media relations. Despite starting just one of Notre Dame's first 11 games, she ranked second on the team in scoring with an average of 12.1 points per game. 34.8 Was Notre Dame's average margin of victory in its four Novem- ber victories — 34-6 vs. Navy Nov. 6, 28-3 vs. Virginia Nov. 13, 55-0 vs. Georgia Tech Nov. 20 and 45-14 vs. Stanford Nov. 27. The previous best for a Brian Kelly-coached team was 29.3 in 2019. According to NBCSports.com, the two most comparable years of November dominance by the Irish came in 1973 and 1921. The 1973 squad coached by Dan Devine posted an average margin of victory of 33.8 points en route to winning the national championship. Knute Rockne's 1921 team defeated its five November foes by an average of 34.6 points. 79.5 Offensive grade for Notre Dame freshman JOE ALT from Pro Football Focus, a rating that was tied for 45th overall in the FBS and tied 24th among Power Five offensive tackles. His strong play down the stretch earned him the left tackle spot on PFF's Freshman All-America team. "Alt was thrust into the starting left tackle spot in Week 6 and held his own right from the get-go," PFF noted. "From Week 6 on, Alt finished as one of the 15 highest-graded tackles in the Power Five (plus Notre Dame, of course). The offensive ad- justments made by offensive coor- dinator Tommy Rees following the Irish's Week 7 bye helped, as it tasked the line with fewer true pass sets. "At the end of the day, though, the true freshman performed better than most seniors in that scenario." 47,700 Viewers per ga m e wa s the average minute audience for Notre Dame football games on Peacock during the 2021 season, per Sports Business Journal. That represents a record streaming audi- ence for the Fighting Irish. On the flip side, Sports Business Journal also reported that NBC's viewership of Notre Dame football games dropped 48 percent, going from an average of 4.8 million viewers in 2020 to 2.5 million in 2021. No Irish game this season drew more than 4.0 million viewers. NBC's best game was 3.8 million for the Irish's lone loss against Cincinnati Oct. 2. "Don't expect NBC execs to sound alarm bells over this season's ratings downturn," SBJ noted. "That is because viewership for the school's games this season are up from NBC's record low in '19 (2.1 million viewers). Another reason why these numbers are not causing angst at NBC HQ in Stamford: Notre Dame's 2020 slate produced the most viewers since '05." ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER