Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 OCT. 22, 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Tommy Janton — Swimming The freshman from Kennett Square, Pa., was named to the U.S. National Junior Team ros- ter in the 100-meter backstroke in September. His best time is 54.90, which was achieved while swimming for the West- ern YMCA Wahoos at the 2022 YMCA National Long Course Championship in Greensboro, N.C. Prior to arriving at Notre Dame, Janton quali- fied for the 2021 Olympic Trials in both the 100 and 200 backstroke, and he was the 2022 YMCA national champion in those events as well. Ryder Rolston — Hockey During an 0-1-1 start for No. 11 Notre Dame, the junior for- ward from Traverse City, Mich., played well with 2 goals and 1 assist. In a 5-2 loss to No. 1 Denver Oct. 7, Rolston scored the first goal of the season for the Irish. A more impactful score for Rolston came against Air Force Oct. 8, when his game-tying goal at the 18:48 mark of the third period completed the Irish third-period comeback from down 4-1 to a 5-5 tie. Avery Ross — Volleyball The freshman outside hitter from Pendleton, Ind., enjoyed a coming-out party in consecu- tive Irish road wins and, at Syracuse Oct. 7 and at Boston College Oct. 9, leading the team with 19 kills. Through 15 games this season, Ross paced Notre Dame with 156 kills and 165 points. She is the daughter of Joe Ross, who alongside his twin brother John Ross, earned four monograms on the men's Irish basketball team from 1990-94. Olivia Wingate — Soccer The graduate student forward from Wilmington, Mass., added to her candidacy for ACC Player of the Year in a 4-0 win at No. 3 Florida State Sept. 9, scoring twice against the Seminoles in a game that kept the No. 17 Irish hunting for a regular-season title in the grueling ACC. Through 13 contests, Wingate led the Irish in goals (9), assists (5) and points (23). All three marks represent career highs. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE It's been tough sledding for Notre Dame in the turnover department. Through the Fighting Irish's first five games, they did not win the turnover battle once. They tied Ohio State in turnover margin, lost to Marshall in that regard (-3), lost to California (-1) and tied North Carolina and BYU. In five games, Notre Dame only forced 2 turnovers. That was tied for dead last in the FBS with Week 6 opponent Stanford. At that time, the Fighting Irish had five teams on the remaining schedule with a positive turnover differential; USC (14), Clemson (5), UNLV (5), Syracuse (5) and Navy (1). It's not coincidental that Notre Dame lost to Marshall after not turning the Thundering Herd over once while tossing 3 interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Fighting Irish are up against a contingent of teams that are stout at taking the ball away during the stretch run of the season. If Notre Dame can't generate turnovers of its own, it's going to be dif- ficult for the Irish to overcome negative margins against opponents of that caliber. Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Washington said Irish defensive players need to have more of a "finite focus" on the football. "You watch the high performers in the NFL, those guys locate the ball," Washington said. "The aver- age player, and I was probably guilty of it as well, you're content with a sack or a fumble. In the NFL, those guys, the really good ones, they're not content. They're going for the ball. "That finite focus on the football is something that takes reps. We harp on it every day. We drill it like a lot of teams in the country. You just have to be relentless about it. It's not good enough to just get a guy down. You had an opportunity for the ball. It's about the ball." It's possible to win in spite of turnover issues. Notre Dame went 3-2 with a minus-4 turnover margin. But it's a whole lot easier to win when it isn't an issue, especially against ranked foes. — Tyler Horka CHARTING THE IRISH NOTRE DAME STILL SEARCHING FOR BIG PLAYS IN 2022 Through Week 6, there were 10 teams in the FBS that had two plays of 40-plus yards from scrim- mage or less. Notre Dame was one of them. The Fighting Irish had only gained 40 or more yards on an offensive play twice in five games. The first of those was Notre Dame's first play from scrimmage of the season; a 54-yard catch-and-run from sophomore quarterback Tyler Buchner to sophomore wide receiver Lorenzo Styles. The second occurred late in the fifth game against BYU when sophomore running back Audric Estime went bar- reling down the sideline for a 46-yard gain. Notre Dame was middle of the pack in 40-plus yard plays in 2021, ranking tied for 54th nationally. The Irish had 15 in 13 games. Still, that's an average of at least one every Saturday. Right now, the Irish would be lucky to get one every other Saturday. What's the difference? No Kyren Williams, for one. Williams had three rushes of 40-plus yards and one catch for 40-plus yards last fall. He also had a 38-yard run against USC and a 39-yard catch against Purdue. He was a big-play machine. The Irish have another one of those, in theory, in speedy junior running back Chris Tyree, but they haven't been able to fully unlock his skill set in 2022 as the offense has adjusted from Buchner to junior signal-caller Drew Pyne. Notre Dame also suffers from a lack of proven playmakers in the passing game. Junior tight end Michael Mayer is arguably the best at his position in the country, but his bread and butter is in the intermediate range — not downfield. Styles has a ton of big-play potential but has not fully elicited it yet. Graduate student Braden Lenzy and sophomore wide receiver Jayden Thomas need to get in on the action. Thomas signaled he's getting close with his 30-yard touchdown catch against BYU, which matched Styles' longest TD catch (against North Carolina) of the season. — Tyler Horka FBS TEAMS WITH 2 OR FEWER PLAYS OF 40-PLUS YARDS THROUGH WEEK 6 Rk. Team 40-Plus Yard Plays T122. Bowling Green 2 Miami 2 Mississippi State 2 Nevada 2 NC State 2 Notre Dame 2 Utah State 2 T129. New Mexico 1 Utah 1 131. Ball State 0 NOTRE DAME'S REMAINING OPPONENTS WITH A POSITIVE TURNOVER MARGIN Through Week 6 Team Margin ND Game Date USC +14 Nov. 26 Clemson +5 Nov. 5 Syracuse +5 Oct. 29 UNLV +5 Oct. 22 Navy +1 Nov. 12