Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME 14 JUNE/JULY 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Eric Dobson — Lacrosse The junior midfielder from Fleming Island, Fla., paced a group of 10 Irish goal scorers in No. 1 Notre Dame's 16-9 triumph over No. 14 North Carolina at Ar- lotta Stadium April 22. He led the Irish with 3 goals, marking his third straight hat trick. Through April 30, Dobson ranked second on the team with 24 goals and third with 32 points. Vinny Martinez — Baseball During a three-game home sweep of then- No. 8 Virginia April 22-23 at Frank Eck Stadium, the graduate student catcher from San Marcos, Calif., col- lected 7 hits in 10 at-bats, in- cluding 2 doubles and 1 home run. In 26 games played through April 23, Martinez was batting .272 with 7 home runs and 25 RBI. He led the Irish with a .605 slugging percentage, and was second in both home runs and RBI. Payton Tidd — Softball The graduate student pitcher, also from San Marcos, Calif., tossed her team-best 10th com- plete game of the season in a 6-3 win at Boston College April 22. The Irish ace's vic- tory improved her record to 15-7 and completed a double- header sweep of the Eagles. Through April 30, Tidd led Notre Dame in victories, starts (23), innings pitched (145) and strikeouts (102), and she was second on the team in ERA (3.09). Jackie Wolak — Lacrosse The senior attacker from Ridgewood, N.J., tallied 3 goals and 4 assists for a team-best 7 points to help Notre Dame cap its regular season with a 15-9 victory over Louisville April 20 at Arlotta Stadium. On her second assist of the game, she tallied her 200th career point for the Fighting Irish. Through 18 games, Wolak led Notre Dame with 89 points and 44 assists, and was third with 45 goals. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE In the eyes of Fighting Irish faithful, there is no doubt which college football program is the most historic. Notre Dame, of course. But in the numbers of an unweighted average ranking sys- tem devised by Winsipedia's college football database, Notre Dame is just the fifth-best program of all time. Alabama tops the chart at No. 1. The ranking factored in 13 data points: winning percentage, national championships, conference championships, bowl game appearances, total wins, bowl game records, All-Ameri- cans, Heisman Trophies, NFL Draft picks, first-round NFL Draft picks, weeks at No. 1 in the Associated Press poll and weeks appearing at any ranking in the poll. Notre Dame came in at No. 1 in the nation in three of those categories: All-Americans, Heisman Trophies and NFL Draft picks. The Irish were top-five in six others: winning percent- age (No. 4), national championships (No. 2), total wins (No. 4), first-round NFL Draft picks (No. 4), weeks at No. 1 in the AP poll (No. 4) and total weeks in the poll (No. 4). The Irish's low- est rankings were in bowl games (No. 24) and bowl game record (No. 49). Those numbers are hindered by the fact that Notre Dame did not regularly accept bowl game invi- tations until 1969. The 1924 Rose Bowl was the only bowl game Notre Dame played in until then. Alabama's consistency across the board earned the Crim- son Tide the No. 1 spot. The Tide did not fall lower than No. 11 in any of the 13 categories. Head coach Nick Saban has helped the program surge into the top spot all-time in national championships (18). Notre Dame has 11. — Tyler Horka CHARTING THE IRISH NOTRE DAME LANDS IN TOP 10 OF ESPN'S PRESEASON FPI ESPN released its 2023 preseason Football Power Index (FPI) in mid-April. As has generally been the case in recent offseasons, Notre Dame is a top-10 team according to the worldwide leader's metrics, checking in at No. 9. Preseason FPI rankings rely on past performance on offense and defense, returning and transfer production, and past recruiting data. Each team in the country is given a rating based on those focal points. Notre Dame received a rating of 18.4. Ohio State landed at No. 1 with a rating of 31.5. The Irish play three of the teams in the top 10 this upcoming season — No. 1 Ohio State, No. 7 USC (19.9) and No. 8 Clemson (19.4). Teams with ratings close to 0.0 are deemed to be among the most average in the country. Notre Dame plays three teams with negative ratings in 2023: Navy (-9.3), Central Michigan (-9.2) and Stan- ford (-2.6). The rest of the teams on the Irish schedule have a positive rating. Tennessee State did not factor into the rankings because the Tigers are not a FBS team. Notre Dame finished the 2022 season with a rating of 12.6. That slotted the Irish at No. 17 nationally. In Marcus Freeman's second season as head coach, his team has the ninth-best odds to win the national cham- pionship. ESPN gives the Irish a 2 percent chance. Ohio State also sits atop that list at 37 percent. The Buckeyes have an 82 percent chance to qualify for the College Football Playoff. ESPN gives Notre Dame a 16 percent chance to reach the CFP. One of the other quantitative measurements included in the FPI are projected win-loss records for every program down to the decimal. ESPN projects the Irish to have a record of 9.1-2.9, a slight improvement on last year's mark of 8-4. — Tyler Horka Notre Dame is unquestionably one of the best college football pro- grams of all time, but the Fighting Irish have slipped a bit after not winning a national championship since 1988. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS ESPN 2023 PRESEASON FOOTBALL POWER INDEX As of April 18 Rk. School FPI 1. Ohio State 31.5 2. Alabama 28.2 3. Georgia 27.4 4. LSU 22.1 5. Texas 21.9 6. Michigan 21.4 7. USC 19.9 8. Clemson 19.4 9. Notre Dame 18.4 10. Penn State 17.5 WINSIPEDIA'S TOP FIVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PROGRAMS OF ALL TIME Rk. School 1. Alabama 2. USC 3. Oklahoma 4. Ohio State 5. Notre Dame