Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1507821
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 23, 2023 11 UNDER THE DOME 2 Touchdowns on eight red zone possessions (25.0 percent) for Notre Dame's opponents in the first three games. A year ago, the Irish defense ranked last in the FBS after allowing 79.4 percent of opponents' red zone trips to end in touchdowns. 3 Notre Dame commits — Bodie Kahoun of Roanoke (Va.) Patrick Henry, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa of Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco and Bryce Young of Charlotte (N.C.) Christian — were named to the watch list for the 2024 Butkus Award, which is given to the top high school linebacker in the nation. Last year, current Irish linebacker Drayk Bowen won the award after his outstanding senior campaign at Merrillville (Ind.) Andrean. Three former Notre Dame linebackers also won the Butkus award during their prep careers: Prince Kollie (2020), Jaylon Smith (2012) and Manti Te'o (2008). 12 Touchdown passes for Notre Dame in the first three games of the sea- son — the first time that has happened in school history, per Notre Dame media relations. Graduate student quarterback SAM HART- MAN is responsible for 10 of those scoring passes, which are the most ever by an Irish signal-caller through the first three games of a season. The previous high was 9, set by Brady Quinn in 2005 and matched by Jimmy Clausen in 2009. 17 Current starting quarterbacks in the NFL were in college at the same time as Notre Dame's Sam Hartman, who is in his sixth-year of col- lege football due to one redshirt year plus an extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA for all players after the COVID-impacted season. The 17 quarterbacks are Joe Burrow (LSU/Cincinnati Bengals), Justin Fields (Ohio State/Chicago Bears), Justin Herbert (Oregon/ Los Angeles Chargers), Sam How- ell (North Carolina/Washington Commanders), Jalen Hurts (Okla- homa/Philadelphia Eagles), Daniel Jones (Duke/New York Giants), Mac Jones (Alabama/New England Patriots), Trevor Lawrence (Clemson/Jacksonville Jaguars), Jordan Love (Utah State/Green Bay Packers), Kenny Pickett (Pitt/Pittsburgh Steelers), Brock Purdy (Iowa State/San Francisco 49ers), Anthony Richardson (Florida/Indianapolis Colts), Des- mond Ridder (Cincinnati/Atlanta Falcons), CJ Stroud (Ohio State/Houston Texans), Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama/ Miami Dolphins), Kyler Murray (Oklahoma/Arizona Cardinals; currently injured) and Bryce Young (Ala- bama/Carolina Panthers). For the record, Hartman is 0-5 in games started against those quarterbacks. He went 0-2 against both Lawrence (63-3 in 2018 and 37-13 in 2020) and Howell (59-53 in 2020 and 58-55 in 2021) and 0-1 versus Pickett (45-21 in 2021). 40 Or more points scored per outing by Notre Dame over a four-game stretch, starting with the Gator Bowl win over South Carolina last December and continuing through the first three games this season. That has only happened three other times in the school history: Year Points Opponents 1900 245 55 vs. Goshen H.S., 68 vs. Englewood H.S., 64 vs. South Bend Howard Park, 58 vs. Cincinnati 1991 178 49 vs. Michigan State, 45 at Purdue, 42 at Stanford, 42 vs. Pittsburgh 1996 224 54 vs. Navy, 48 at Boston College, 60 vs. Pittsburgh, 62 vs. Rutgers 2022-23 188 45 vs. South Carolina (2022), 42 vs. Navy, 56 vs. Tennessee State, 45 at NC State 20.9 Miles per hour was the max speed reached by 227-pound Notre Dame junior running back Audric Estimé during his 80- yard touchdown run against NC State Sept. 9, per Reel Analytics. 143 Points scored by Notre Dame during its 3-0 start. That is the most points scored in the first three games of the season by an Irish team since 1944, when they tallied 58 at Pittsburgh, 26 against Tulane and 64 versus Dartmouth to start the year with 148 points. This year's squad produced the fourth-highest sea- son-opening three-game total in program history: Year Points Opponents 1900 187 55 vs. Goshen H.S., 68 vs. Englewood H.S., 64 vs. South Bend Howard Park 1932 177 73 vs. Haskell, 62 vs. Drake, 42 vs. Carnegie Tech 1944 149 59 at Pitt, 26 vs. Tulane, 64 vs. Dartmouth 2023 143 42 vs. Navy, 56 vs. Tennessee State, 45 at NC State 1943 131 41 at Pitt, 55 vs. Georgia Tech, 35 vs. Michigan 414 Points scored by Notre Dame in its last 10 games (through Week 2 of the 2023 campaign). The Irish went 9-1 in those 10 games, with the lone defeat coming at USC in last year's regular-season finale. Only USC (474) and Georgia (417) scored more points than the Irish during that 10-game stretch. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER