Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 15, 2022 9 UNDER THE DOME No. 1 Strength of schedule (9.87) in the FBS for Notre Dame through Week 5, per Sports Reference. Heading into Week 6, five Fighting Irish opponents appeared in the Associated Press Top 25: No. 3 Ohio State, No. 5 Clemson, No. 6 USC, No. 16 BYU and No. 22 Syracuse. The last time Notre Dame played five teams that were ranked at the time of the Irish matching up with them was 2017. Notre Dame played six ranked teams that year, including No. 16 LSU in the Citrus Bowl. The last time the Irish finished with a SOS rating as high as its current figure of 9.87 was in 1985 with a mark of 10.38. The current number will fluctuate depending on how the Irish's opponents fare week to week. The highest SOS during the Brian Kelly era (2010‑21) was 8.94 in 2017. The Irish went 10‑3 that year with losses to No. 15 Georgia, No. 7 Miami and No. 20 Stanford. Here is the top 10 in SOS per Sports Reference: Rk. Team SOS* Record 1. Notre Dame 9.87 2-2 2. Colorado 9.08 0‑5 3. Houston 8.77 2‑3 4. Texas 8.04 3‑2 5. Texas Tech 7.05 3‑2 6. Stanford 6.73 1‑3 7. Georgia Tech 6.49 2‑3 8. Mississippi State 5.53 4‑1 9. Auburn 5.27 3‑2 10. Louisiana‑Monroe 5.25 2‑3 * The strength of schedule rating is de- nominated in points above/below average, where zero is average. 12th To the Philadelphia Eagles was where Notre Dame senior Isa‑ iah Foskey was slotted in Pro Football Fo‑ cus' 2023 NFL mock draft after Week 5. He was the third edge player off the board behind Alabama's Will Anderson (No. 2 to Seattle) and Clemson's Myles Mur‑ phy (No. 7 to Carolina). In addition, Irish junior Michael Mayer was projected to be the first tight end off the board, No. 22 to the Cincinnati Bengals. Meanwhile, ESPN's Todd Mc‑ Shay had Mayer at No. 10 and Fos‑ key at No. 13 on his list of the top 32 players for the 2023 NFL Draft. 18th Member of the Notre Dame Ring of Honor will be Katryna Gaither, who will be inducted in a ceremony prior to the Fight‑ ing Irish's contest against Ball State Nov. 20. Gaither, a 6‑foot‑3 center, ranks fourth on Notre Dame's all‑time scoring list (2,126 points) and third on its all‑time rebounding list (986). She capped her career by help‑ ing lead the Fighting Irish to their first‑ever Final Four in 1997. 26 Home runs for former Irish first baseman Niko Kavadas in his first professional season in the Boston Red Sox farm system. In 120 combined games with the Single‑A Salem Red Sox, the High A Greenville Drive and the Double‑A Portland Sea Dogs in 2022, he batted .280 with 110 hits, 102 walks and 86 RBI. He finished with a .990 on‑ base plus slugging percentage, and his .547 slugging percentage led all Red Sox minor leaguers. As a result of his stellar season, Kavadas — the No. 21 prospect in Boston's farm system per MLB Pipeline — was named the organization's MiLB 2022 Offensive Player of the Year and drew high praise from those that worked with him. "If you look at his base, he's actually very similar to [St. Louis Car‑ dinals star and the latest member of the 700‑homer club] Albert Pujols," Sea Dogs development coach Katie Krall told FanGraphs in September. "It's really quiet. He's got a strong foundation. He's solid, he isn't fidgety, and that allows him to stay within himself. "That's probably where the comp ends — we're talking about a Hall of Famer — but if you watch him in the box, the way that he bends, the way that he holds himself, his posture, even his bat path. That's someone our hitting coaches and I have identified. If you close your eyes, and if Niko were a little bit bigger, you can see Albert hitting." 92.7 Offense grade from Pro Football Focus for Notre Dame sopho‑ more left tackle Joe Alt through Week 5 of the college football season. That ranked first among all offensive tackles in the FBS, just ahead of Wisconsin's Trey Wedig (89.4). "Joe Alt is an absolute road‑grader in the run game," PFF noted. "The true sophomore's 93.4 run‑blocking grade is the highest in the country among offensive tackles. His positively and negatively graded run‑blocking rate are both second‑best among Power Five tackles." 156 Players — including Notre Dame offensive lineman JOSH LUGG — were tabbed as semifinal‑ ists for the William V. Campbell Trophy, which is presented to a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility who keeps a grade point average above the 3.2 mark, displays outstanding football ability, and shows exemplary school and community leadership. Lugg, a starter at right guard on the offensive line in 2022, graduated with his undergraduate degree in the fall of 2020 and is studying for his masters of science in business analytics with a con‑ centration in sports analytics. He was a 2021 Co‑ SIDA Academic All‑District honoree, and he also was named to the 2020 ACC Academic Honor Roll. Among his charitable endeavors. Lugg and his brother, Jake, started a lawn‑mowing business that provides 75 per‑ cent of its profits to the food bank in their hometown of Pittsburgh. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER