Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 14, 2023 9 UNDER THE DOME .091 Winning percentage for Notre Dame in their last 11 games against ranked USC teams, dating back to 2002. Since defeat- ing a No. 5-ranked Trojans team 38-10 in 1995, the Fighting Irish's lone victory is the 49-14 beatdown over a No. 11-ranked USC squad in 2017. 1 School in the country featured two different tight ends that posted a 100-yard receiving game through Week 5 this season: Notre Dame. Sophomore Hunter Staes racked up 115 yards on 4 catches in Notre Dame's 45-24 win at North Carolina State Sept. 9, and junior MITCHELL EVANS posted a career-best 134 yards — which is also the third-best single-game total for an Irish tight end in school history — on 6 receptions in a 21-14 win at Duke Sept. 30. 5.5 Million viewers tuned in for the Notre Dame-Duke game Sept. 30 per ABC/ESPN — the most for ABC's Saturday Night Football through Week 5 of the 2023 season. Only USC-Colorado (7.2 million on FOX) and Georgia-Auburn (6.4 million on CBS) were watched by more people in Week 5, per Sports Media Watch. The Fighting Irish have already played three games this season that have drawn at least 3.5 million viewers (Ohio State at 10.5 and Navy at 3.81, both per NBC) after hitting that number just twice during the 2022 season (against USC and Clemson). 23 Years since Notre Dame football last faced ranked opponents in four consecutive games. That will occur this season when the Fighting Irish take on USC at home Oct. 14 (the Trojans were ranked No. 9 in the na- tion heading into Week 6 and are likely to remain in the top 25 regardless of the outcome of their Oct. 7 game), after facing No. 6 Ohio State Sept. 23, No. 17 Duke Sept. 30 and No. 25 Louisville Oct. 7. This will mark the sixth time in the program's 136-year history that has happened. It also occurred in 2000, 1992, 1990, 1957 and 1943. The 1943 Irish won all four on their way to a final mark of 9-1 and a national cham- pionship. The 1957 team was 1-3 and finished 7-3, the 1990 squad was 2-2 and finished 9-3, the 1992 crew won all four and finished 10-1-1, and the 2000 group went 2-2 and had a final mark of 9-3. Year Date Opponent Result 1943 Oct. 30 vs. No. 3 Navy W, 33-6 Nov. 6 vs. No. 3 Army W, 26-0 Nov. 13 at No. 8 Northwestern W, 25-6 Nov. 20 No. 2 Iowa Pre-Flight W, 14-13 1957 Nov. 2 No. 16 Navy L, 20-6 Nov. 9 at No. 4 Michigan State L, 34-6 Nov. 16 at No. 2 Oklahoma W, 7-0 Nov. 23 No. 8 Iowa L, 21-13 1990 Nov. 10 at No. 9 Tennessee W, 34-29 Nov. 17 No. 18 Penn State L, 24-21 Nov. 24 at No. 18 USC W, 10-6 Jan. 1, 1991 vs. No. 1 Colorado L, 10-9 1992 Nov. 7 No. 9 Boston College W, 57-7 Nov. 14 No. 22 Penn State W, 17-16 Nov. 28 at No. 19 USC W, 31-23 Jan. 1, 1993 vs. No. 4 Texas A&M W, 28-3 2000 Sept. 2 No. 25 Texas A&M W, 24-10 Sept. 9 No. 1 Nebraska L, 27-24 (OT) Sept. 16 No. 13 Purdue W, 23-21 Sept. 23 at No. 23 Michigan State L, 27-21 2023 Sept. 23 No. 6 Ohio State L, 17-14 Sept. 30 at No. 17 Duke W, 21-14 Oct. 7 at No. 25 Louisville Oct. 14 No. 9* USC * Ranking heading into Week 6 40 Plays of 20 or more yards for Notre Dame's offense through six games this season, which ranked third in the FBS. Last year, the Irish offense produced 66 plays of 20 or more yards in 13 games, which ranked 43rd in the FBS. 13.0 Points allowed per game by Notre Dame through Week 5, a figure that ranked 14th in the country. The Irish held their first six opponents to an average of 18.1 points below the average scoring output of all their other games this season. Opponent vs. ND All Other Games Ppg. Difference Navy 3 24.0 -21.0 Tennessee State 3 25.5 -22.5 NC State 24 31.0 -7.0 Central Michigan 17 28.6 -11.6 Ohio State 17 40.3 -23.3 Duke 14 37.3 -23.3 95 Yards on Notre Dame's drive for go-ahead score in its 21-14 triumph at No. 17 Duke Sept. 30 is the longest game-clinching drive to be completed in the final three minutes of a game by an Irish team since at least 1970, per Notre Dame media relations. The school listed six that have occurred over the past 50 years: Year Opponent Final Plays Yards Time Winning Score 2023 at Duke 21-14 10 95 0:31 30-yard run 2019 Virginia Tech 21-20 18 87 0:29 7-yard run 2015 at Virginia 34-27 8 80 0:12 39-yard pass 2006 UCLA 20-17 3 80 0:27 45-yard pass 2005 at Stanford 38-31 6 80 0:55 6-yard run 1974 at North Carolina 21-14 1 80 1:03 80-yard pass 670 Points scored by the Fighting Irish in their first 20 games under Marcus Freeman — the second most of all time for a Notre Dame head coach. Only Charlie Weis, whose teams tallied 680 through 20 contests in 2005-06, scored more in the same span. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP