Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 24, 2022 11 UNDER THE DOME 4 Losses for Notre Dame at home when it was favored by at least 20.5 points since 1995. The four worst defeats — by the odds — for the Irish in Notre Dame Stadium during that time span are: Rk. Opponent, Date ND Rank Spread Final Score 1. Northwestern, Sept. 2, 1995 No. 9 +28 L, 17-15 2. Air Force, Oct. 19, 1996 No. 8 +21 L, 20-17 (OT) 3. Duke, Sept. 24, 2016 — +20.5 L, 38-35 Marshall, Sept. 10, 2022 No. 8 +20.5 L, 26-21 7.0 Was the line for Notre Dame's win total, set by Caesar's Sportsbook, following the Fighting Irish's 0-2 start and the loss of starting quarterback Tyler Bu- chner to a season-ending shoulder injury. Most preseason win totals for Notre Dame had the program in the 8.5- to 9-win range in head coach Mar- cus Freeman's first full season. 9 Times in the pro- g r a m 's 1 3 2 - y e a r history Notre Dame has started the season 0-2. The first eight times it hap- pened, just three of those teams rebounded to post a winning record. The 2011 squad — which was the last team to go winless in their first two games — finished the year 8-5, the 1978 team ended up with a 9-3 mark and the 1896 squad posted a 4-3 ledger. The 2011 team, which was coached by Brian Kelly and quarterbacked by current Irish offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, won eight of its next nine games follow- ing its 0-2 start with the lone loss coming to USC (31-17) at home. It then lost its final two contests at Stanford (28-14) and against Florida State (18-14) in the Champs Sports Bowl. The 1978 squad, which was coached by Dan Devine and quarterbacked by Joe Montana, dug itself out of its 0-2 hole with eight straight wins — five of which came by at least 17 points — before falling 27-25 at USC in the regular-season finale. That Irish team then rallied from a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat Houston 35-34 in the Cotton Bowl. The 1896 Irish won four of their last five contests to finish 4-3. The other five teams that opened 0-2 were unable to finish above .500. The 2007 squad ended up 3-9, the 2001 team closed with a 5-6 mark, the 1986 group finished 5-6, the 1963 edition concluded with a 2-7 ledger and the 1888 Irish — which lost a pair of games to Michigan in April —played only one more game, a 20-0 win over Harvard Prep School of Chicago in December. Of those five, two subsequently made coaching changes —Hugh Devore was replaced by Ara Parseghian following the 1963 campaign, and Bob Davie was replaced by Ty Willingham after the 2001 season. (The 1888 squad did not have a head coach.) 18th Was where Notre Dame ranked — tied with the University of California, Berkeley — in the U.S News & World Report "Best Colleges" rankings released Sept. 12. Among ACC schools, only Duke (No. 10) was ranked higher than Notre Dame. For the 16th straight year, the ACC led all FBS conferences in average rank of its member institutions. This year, the 15 ACC schools had an average ranking of 54.5, and boasted a national-best five schools among the top 30, seven among the top 50 and 12 among the top 70. 25 Of the 39 carries logged by Fighting Irish running backs in the first two games of the season resulted in hits on the ball carriers at or behind the line of scrimmage. That 64.1 percent rate is alarmingly higher than the 43.4 percent posted in 2021, when Notre Dame featured a shaky offensive line early in the season before it stabilized. 35 Percent chance for the Fighting Irish to come back and defeat Marshall, when they trailed 19-15 with just under 5 minutes remaining and had third-and-3 at their own 32-yard line. On the ensuing play, though, sophomore quarterback Tyler Buchner threw an interception that was returned 37 yards for a pick-six touchdown by Thundering Herd cornerback Steven Gilmore to seal the game. Gilmore saw 4 targets for the game and allowed just 1 catch for 6 yards, and earned a 90.0 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus — the highest of his career, which includes more than 40 game appearances. 67.7 Percent of Notre Dame's receptions (21 of 31) and 64.8 percent of its receiv- ing yards (258 of 398) through two games were accounted for by just two players — junior tight end Michael Mayer (13 catches for 135 yards and the team's only receiving touchdown) and sophomore wide re- ceiver LORENZO STYLES (8 grabs for 123 yards). 2015 Was the last season that a Notre Dame starting quarterback went down with a season-ending injury after just two games, prior to 2022 starter Tyler Buchner going down with a Grade 5 shoul- der injury against Marshall Sept. 10. Seven years ago, ju- nior Malik Zaire started against Texas and Virginia before suffering a season-ending broken ankle against the Cava- liers and being replaced by sophomore DeShone Kizer. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER