Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 MARCH 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Julia Andreach — Tennis The junior from Rochester, N.Y., helped the Irish to a perfect 4-0 record Jan. 21-22, in a five-team event at the Eck Tennis Pavil- ion on campus. Competing in six matches on the day — three at No. 2 singles, two at No. 3 doubles, one at No. 1 doubles — she finished the weekend a perfect 6-0. Andreach won each of her doubles and singles matches against Michigan State, Xavier and Illi- nois-Chicago. Sebastian Dominko — Tennis The freshman from Maribor, Slovenia, was clutch in a 4-3 victory over Western Michigan Jan. 20 at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. He paired with senior Connor Fu for a 6-4 win at No. 1 doubles. Dominko later tied the match at 3-3 with a 6-3, 7-6 win at No. 1 singles, setting up a match-winning effort from sophomore Yu Zhang in the narrow triumph. Kate Markgraf — Soccer On consecutive days Dec. 5-6, this legendary Notre Dame alumna ('98) and Bloomfield Hills, Mich., native was honored with the prestigious Silver An- niversary Award and named as a 2023 inductee to the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame. Markgraf, the Notre Dame Monogram Club president, was a member of the 1995 Fighting Irish national championship team, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a member of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup championship team. Noah Silvers — Fencing The freshman from Chicago enjoyed a memo- rable start to his career with a terrific epee per- formance at the Philadelphia Invitational on the campus of Penn University Jan. 22. In 15 duels for the day — three each in five dual matches — Silvers went 3-0 in three of those and 2-1 in the other two. His effort helped Notre Dame open its 2023 season with a perfect 5-0 record in the competition, and a great start toward a third straight national title. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE The 2023 Notre Dame football schedule was released on Jan. 18. With it came speculation that the ACC teams on the Irish's slate, most notably Clemson, will strategically place a bye week right before they play Notre Dame. While those thoughts were entirely warranted, it turns out the Fighting Irish will not have to face an opponent coming off a bye week in 2023. It will be a welcome change. No college football program since 2015 has played more games after an opponent's bye week than Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have played 30 games against opponents coming off a bye week since 2015 according to TeamRankings.com. The next closest Power Five team in the same span is Duke with 21 such matchups. For reference, most SEC teams have not even played half as many games after an op- ponent's bye week as Notre Dame has in the last eight seasons. South Carolina leads the way in the SEC with 16. American Athletic Conference member Navy is No. 2 overall with 29 games after an opponent's bye since 2015. Despite such a dense proportion of games played after an opponent's bye week, Notre Dame has still been one of the most successful teams in that scenario nationwide. The only teams in the country with a better winning percentage in that specific area are Alabama (13-0, 1.000 winning percentage) and Ohio State (10-1, .909). Notre Dame is 26-4 (.867). That's tied with Iowa, Washington State and Clemson, who are all 13-2. In 2022, Notre Dame faced two teams (North Carolina and Clemson) coming off a bye week. The Irish beat the Tar Heels 45-32 in Chapel Hill Sept. 24 and Clemson 35-14 in South Bend Nov. 5. In 2021, it hap- pened six times (Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Virginia Tech, USC, North Carolina and Virginia). Notre Dame went 5-1 in those games with the only loss coming to eventual College Football Playoff qualifier Cincinnati. — Tyler Horka CHARTING THE IRISH SAM HARTMAN AMONG EARLY 2023 HEISMAN TROPHY BETTING FAVORITES Notre Dame put the college football community on notice when it secured a commitment from the player many regarded as the best transfer portal commodity of this offseason cycle, former Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman. Las Vegas oddsmakers are most certainly included in the blanket cast by "many." BetOnline released a list of early 2023 Heisman Trophy favorites in mid-January. Hartman's name was close to the top of the chart at 20-to-1 odds. North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye, who threw 5 touch- down passes against the Fighting Irish in a 45-32 Notre Dame victory last September, headlined the list as a 5-to-1 favorite. Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams of USC was right on his heels at 6 to 1. Notre Dame is tied with Ohio State, Okla- homa and USC for the most Heisman Trophy winners of any school all time. Those pro- grams have all had seven winners. However, Notre Dame has not had an Irish player get his hands on the trophy since wide receiver Tim Brown claimed the coveted hardware in 1987. Six of the last seven winners have been quarterbacks. This past December, there were four finalists. They were all QBs: Wil- liams, TCU's Max Duggan, Ohio State's C.J. Stroud and Georgia's Stetson Bennett IV. With that in mind, it's no wonder Hartman has the best odds of any Notre Dame player to get to New York for the ceremony at the end of the 2023 season. If Hartman limits interceptions — he's thrown 26 in the last two seasons — he has the potential to put up Heisman-like numbers. He threw for 4,228 yards and 39 touchdowns with 11 more scores on the ground in 2021. Coupled with a double-digit win season for the Irish, those statistics would plant the graduate student firmly in the mix to take home college football's top individual prize. — Tyler Horka 2023 HEISMAN TROPHY FAVORITES PER BETONLINE As of Jan. 23 Rk. Player, School Odds 1. Drake Maye, North Carolina 5/1 2. Caleb Williams, USC 6/1 3. Jordan Travis, Florida State 10/1 4. Bo Nix, Oregon 12/1 Michael Penix Jr., Washington 12/1 Sam Hartman, Notre Dame 12/1 7. Jayden Daniels, LSU 20/1 Joe Milton, Tennessee 20/1 Kyle McCord, Ohio State 20/1 MOST GAMES PLAYED AFTER OPPONENT'S BYE WEEK SINCE 2015 Rk. Team Games Record 1. Notre Dame 30 26-4 2. Navy 29 13-16 3. Louisiana 28 17-11 4. Hawaii 27 13-14 5. Air Force 26 16-10