Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 30, 2023 9 UNDER THE DOME 1 Notre Dame football team has opened a season by scoring at least 40 points in each of its first four games against college competition — head coach Marcus Freeman's 2023 squad. The 1900 Irish team scored at least 55 points each of its first four games, but only one of them came against another college (58 vs. Cincinnati). Two of them were against high schools (55 vs. Goshen and 58 vs. Englewood), and another was a local club team (64 vs. South Bend Howard Park). The 184 points through four games this year ranks fourth in Irish history, behind the 1913 (204), 1908 (197) and 1914 (191) squads. In each of those other three seasons, though, Notre Dame had a game in which it scored 28 or fewer points. In 1913, the Irish had a low of 28 vs. South Dakota balanced by a high of 87 vs. Ohio Northern. In 1908, Notre Dame tallied only 6 at Michigan but racked up 88 vs. Chicago Physicians & Surgeons. In 1914, the Irish were shut out at Yale but exploded for 102 vs. Rose Poly. 11 Times ESPN's College GameDay has paid a visit to Notre Dame's campus, following its most recent appearance for the matchup with Ohio State Sept. 23. The program first appeared "on the road" 30 years ago for the Notre Dame-Florida State game on Nov. 13, 1993. All told, the GameDay crew has appeared at the site of a Fighting Irish football game 35 times. 12 Touchdowns scored from outside the red zone (20 yards or more) for Notre Dame's offense during its 4-0 start, per research done by CBS Sports. Here are the top-10 teams in the nation through games played Sept. 16: Rk. School TD 1. Notre Dame 12 2. USC 11 3. Oregon 10 Ohio State 10 UCLA 10 Ole Miss 10 7. Oklahoma 9 New Mexico State 9 Louisiana Tech 9 Georgia State 9 Nine different Irish players scored a touchdown of 20 yards or greater during the first four contests: freshman wide receiver Jaden Greathouse (35- and 20-yard receptions), senior slot receiver Chris Tyree (24- and 76-yard receptions) and sophomore tight end Holden Staes (40- and 35-yard recep- tions) with two each, plus junior running back Audric Estimé (80-yard run), junior wide receiver Deion Colzie (25-yard reception), freshman running back Jeremiyah Love (36-yard run), sophomore running backs Jadarian Price (40-yard reception) and Gi'Bran Payne (42-yard reception), and sophomore wide receiver Tobias Merriweather (75-yard reception) each have one. 21.4 Miles per hour was the top speed reached by Notre Dame sophomore wide receiver TOBIAS MERRIWEATHER on his 75-yard touchdown catch versus Central Michigan Sept. 16 — the fifth-fastest speed in college football in Week 3 per Reel Analytics. 38.2 Completion percentage combined for by former Notre Dame quarterbacks during their Week 3 games. Phil Jurkovec, now with Pitt, completed only 8 of 20 passes for 81 yards with no touchdowns and 3 interceptions in a 17-6 loss to West Virginia; Drew Pyne, now with Arizona State, was 5-of-13 passing for 52 yards with no scores and 2 picks in a 29-0 loss to Fresno State; and Tyler Buchner, now with Alabama, went 5 of 14 for 34 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions in a 17-3 win over South Florida. Together that trio went 18-of-47 passing for 156 yards with 0 touchdowns and 5 intercep- tions, while Notre Dame's Sam Hartman connected on 16 of 26 throws for 330 yards with 3 scores and 0 picks. Through Week 3, that trio was a combined 48- of-107 passing (44.9 percent) for 587 yards with 4 touchdowns and 5 interceptions in six games, while Hartman was 64 of 90 (71.1 percent) for 1,061 yards with 13 scores and 0 picks in his first four games with the Irish. 91.5 Offense g r a d e from Pro Football Focus for Notre Dame junior running back Au- dric Estimé against Cen- tral Michigan Sept. 16. That earned him a spot on PFF's Team of the Week and Offensive Player of the Week honors. "Estimé had a huge game on the ground for Notre Dame, racking up 176 yards from 20 carries," PFF's Gordon Mc- Guinness noted. "He forced 6 missed tackles as a rusher, taking him to 28 through four games this season." ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER