Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 NOV. 16, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Siona Chisholm — Cross Country The senior from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, helped Notre Dame to its first-ever ACC championship Nov. 1, with a team-best sixth-place individ- ual finish at the conference meet in Cary, N.C. The team win for Notre Dame broke an eight-year stranglehold title run for North Carolina State and gave Chisholm All-ACC honors for a third straight season. She covered the 6,000-meter course in 19:42.3 in securing her best-ever finish in the race. Jameson Corsillo — Tennis The senior from Boca Ra- ton, Fla., won all four of his singles matches at the Fight- ing Irish Mini Duals on cam- pus from Nov. 1-3, helping Notre Dame to an impres- sive 6-2 overall record in the three-day event. Corsillo didn't lose a single set in the event, and the Irish picked up 22 singles and six doubles victories as they move through the fall portion of the season. Izzy Engle — Soccer The freshman phenom from Edina, Minn., continued her terrific season during a 3-2 win over Pitt Oct. 31, scoring 2 goals — in- cluding the game-winner — in a victory that secured the Irish a place in the six-team ACC Championship. Engle broke a 2-2 tie in the 49th minute on a straight-on blast. Heading into the NCAA Championship, she had 16 goals, which led the ACC and was tied for fourth nationally. Cole Knuble — Hockey The sophomore forward from Grand Rapids, Mich., continued the torrid start to his season when he recorded his third game-win- ning goal of the year in a 3-2 overtime win at home over Wisconsin in the Irish Big Ten opener Nov. 1. Knuble scored on a power play in the third minute of the extra session to complete the Irish comeback win. The goal was his sixth of the season, which led Notre Dame through eight games. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE It has been nearly a decade since Notre Dame lost on Senior Day. Rarely do the Irish play close games on the last home date of the season, either. Notre Dame's last loss on Senior Day came on Nov. 19, 2016, against Virginia Tech, when the Irish fell 34-31 at the tail end of their lone below-.500 season since Charlie Weis was head coach. They last won by one score the year after that, when a Notre Dame team that would finish 10-3 scraped by Navy, 24-17. In the past five years, the Irish are 5-0 on Senior Day. They have won by an average of 38.8 points. Since Marcus Freeman took over as defensive co- ordinator and later head coach, Notre Dame has allowed seven points in three Senior Day matchups combined. In short, Nov. 16 might be a long day for Virginia. Freeman's first Senior Day as head coach, on a snow-covered afternoon in South Bend, Notre Dame dispatched Boston College 44-0. Then-fresh- man cornerback Benjamin Morrison intercepted 3 passes and the Irish rushed for 281 yards and 4 touchdowns as they smothered the Eagles for their fifth straight win. In Freeman's most recent Senior Day, coming off a backbreaking loss to Clemson, quarterback Sam Hartman and the Irish took out their anger on Hartman's former team, Wake Forest. Hartman completed 21 of 29 passes for 277 yards with 4 touchdowns. — Jack Soble CHARTING THE IRISH DEFENSIVE TACKLES ARE DRIVING NOTRE DAME'S SUCCESS During his weekly press conference Nov. 4, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was asked a compelling question: Essentially, how have the Irish gotten better at rushing the passer despite losing two of their best pass rushers in graduate student Jordan Botelho and sophomore Boubacar Traore to season-ending knee injuries? There are a few reasons, Freeman explained. But the roots of Notre Dame's success wear No. 99 and No. 56. "It starts with those two big guys in the middle," Freeman said. "Rylie [Mills] and Howard [Cross III], they create some disruptions for the offensive line where maybe other people get the credit for the pressure." That says a great deal, because the two graduate student defensive tackles have gotten credit for many pressures as of late. From Weeks 5-9 — among teams who have played four games during that time frame — Cross and Mills have generated the fourth- most pressures of any defensive tackle duo with 26. Mills had 14 and Cross had 12. Freeman went on to give credit to Notre Dame's depth edge rushers. None of them can repli- cate Traore and Botelho, but as a group, they've mimicked their production. But still, he said, none of it happens without Mills and Cross. "Those two guys, Howard and Rylie, are true difference makers in the run and pass game," Freeman said. "Stats don't always tell the story, but we know. And the people that really evaluate the game truly understand the difference they make." — Jack Soble DEFENSIVE TACKLE DUOS WITH MOST QUARTERBACK PRESSURES Among teams who played four games from Weeks 5-9 Rk. School Defensive Tackles Pressures 1. Virginia Tech Wilfried Pene, Aeneas Peebles 31 2. Ole Miss Walter Nolen, JJ Pegues 28 2. Michigan Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant 28 4. Notre Dame Rylie Mills, Howard Cross III 26 5. Miami Simeon Barrow Jr., Akheem Mesidor 25 LAST FIVE NOTRE DAME SENIOR DAY RESULTS Year Opponent Result 2023 Wake Forest W, 45-7 2022 Boston College W, 44-0 2021 Georgia Tech W, 55-0 2020 Syracuse W, 45-21 2019 Boston College W, 40-7 Following last year's 45-7 victory over Wake Forest, the Fighting Irish had won their last five Senior Day games by an average margin of 38.8 points. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER