Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 MAY 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME ✦ BY THE NUMBERS 0 College basketball teams have beaten UCLA, Duke and Kansas in the same season — whether in the NCAA Tournament or otherwise — since head coach Digger Phelps' Notre Dame squad did it in 1973-74. North Carolina nearly pulled that feat off this year in the NCAA Tournament, defeating the Blue Devils (twice, including in the Final Four) and the Bruins (in the Sweet 16) before falling to the Jayhawks in the national championship game. $1 Million will be paid to Tennessee State to play at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend on Sept. 2, 2023. That matchup will mark the first time ever the Fighting Irish will face an FCS program on the gridiron. It's also the first time they'll play a historically black college or university. The Irish are currently one of three FBS programs (USC and UCLA are the other two) that have never played a game against an FCS team since the 1978 Division I split. (UCLA will exit the ranks in 2022 with a matchup against Alabama State.) For Notre Dame, $1 million is on the lower end of recent paychecks it has given non-Power Five opponents to come play a game in South Bend. The Irish paid Toledo $1 million and Cin- cinnati $1.2 million for games in 2021. Ball State (2018) and Bowling Green (2019) each earned $1.1 million for playing at Notre Dame. Western Michi- gan was set to receive $1.175 million for a 2020 game that was canceled due to COVID-19. Looking ahead, Notre Dame will pay Marshall $1.25 million and UNLV $1.35 mil- lion for their respective trips to South Bend this fall. Northern Il- linois will pocket $1.4 million for its 2024 road game against the Irish. Here is what Notre Dame's 2023 schedule currently looks like: Date Opponent Aug. 26 vs. Navy* Sept. 2 Tennessee State Sept. 16 Central Michigan Sept. 23 Ohio State Oct. 14 USC Oct. 28 Wake Forest Nov. 4 at Clemson Nov. 25 at Stanford TBA at Duke TBA at Louisville TBA at NC State TBA Pittsburgh * Played at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland 5 Members of the Fighting Irish's 2021 squad were included in On3's list of the 300 players who made the most impact in college football — tight end Michael Mayer at No. 27, defensive end Isaiah Foskey at No. 56, running back Kyren Williams at No. 160, linebacker JD BERTRAND at No. 164 and safety Kyle Hamilton at No. 250. Among the returning players, Mayer was considered the second-best tight end, Foskey was the No. 6 edge and Bertrand was the No. 27 linebacker. 12 Strikeouts in 7 2 ⁄3 innings for graduate student left-hander John Michael Bertrand — a new career high — in Notre Dame's 2-0, 12-inning victory at Florida State April 1. Bertrand was tabbed as one of 45 players on the midseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, which goes to the nation's top college baseball player. In his first 10 starts, he was 6-0 with a 1.66 ERA. Through April 25, he led the ACC in ERA and innings pitched (65), and he ranked fourth in strikeouts (67) and sixth in opponent batting average (.213). Bertrand was one of just four pitchers in the country who have tallied 60 or more innings pitched and boast an ERA under 1.70 as of April 25. 15th Was where ESPN slotted Notre Dame in its Future Power Rank- ings for the nation's 25 best offenses over the next three sea- sons (2022, 2023 and 2024). All of the offenses were evaluated based on who is on the roster as of mid-April and the recruits committed to play for the teams. The Irish also were ranked No. 20 in ESPN's future QB rankings. "There's excitement around the program to see what coordinator Tommy Rees does with more play-calling autonomy and with a quarterback in Tyler Buchner who could elevate the entire unit," ESPN noted. 20 Notre Dame women's basketball players have been selected in the WNBA Draft all time, with Maya Dodson the latest to hear her named called April 11. The graduate student forward, who played one season with the Irish, was taken No. 26 overall in Round 3 by the Phoenix Mercury. Dodson is the first player drafted out of Notre Dame since the Fighting Irish had five players picked in 2019 fresh off back-to-back appearances in the national title game. 814 Points for Notre Dame athletics in the LEARFIELD Directors' Cup stand- ings after a dominant showing by its winter programs, which places it fourth behind only Michigan, Stanford and Ohio State. Seven of the Fighting Irish's 11 winter teams earned points, led by the national cham- pion fencing squad's 100. The Irish have never finished higher than third in the final rankings, doing so in 2013-14. Here is the top 10 in the fi- nal winter standings for the LEARFIELD Directors' Cup: Rk. School Conference Total Points 1. Michigan Big Ten 1,000.25 2. Stanford Pac-12 851.25 3. Ohio State Big Ten 828.00 4. Notre Dame ACC 814.00 5. North Carolina ACC 702.00 6. Texas Big 12 679.50 7. Wisconsin Big Ten 662.50 8. Kentucky SEC 662.25 9. NC State ACC 644.00 10. Arkansas SEC 634.25 PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER