Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 30, 2024 9 UNDER THE DOME 2nd Is where CBS Sports ranked the Players Era Festival — in which Notre Dame is taking part Nov. 26-30 in Las Vegas — among the top eight in-season men's college basketball tournaments in November. The first-round matchups include San Diego State vs. No. 15 Creighton, No. 13 Texas A&M vs. Oregon, No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 4 Houston and Notre Dame vs. No. 25 Rutgers. 3 Fighting Irish players were projected to be selected in the first round of The Athletic's 2025 WNBA mock draft: graduate student guard OLIVIA MILES at No. 2 to the Los Angeles Sparks, senior guard Sonia Citron at No. 6 to the Washington Mystics and graduate student forward Maddy Westbeld at No. 7 to the New York Liberty. Notre Dame was the only school with multiple players projected to go in the 12-pick first round. "Although she missed her junior season with a torn ACL (and can technically return to Notre Dame for one more year), Miles has looked spry through the Irish's first four games, gliding up and down the court and showing off her trademark passing vision," The Athletic's Sabreena Merchant noted. "Miles is always look- ing to generate offense in transition, and she creates windows in the half court with her accurate ball delivery. She keeps defenses honest with her drives to the hoop and seems to have used the year off to refine her shooting stroke, as she's making 47 percent of her threes and 83 percent of her free throws. The Irish have generally relied on perimeter talent during Miles' tenure, but she should have minimal difficulty transitioning into a post-heavy offense with her IQ. Miles is also a strong defender with good size for her position." ESPN had just two Irish players in its mock draft: Miles at No. 4 to the Mystics and Citron at No. 12 to the Phoenix Mercury. 9 Notre Dame football recruits cracked the top 300 in On3's updated class of 2025 rankings Nov. 18. That is good for 14th among teams in the current recruiting cycle. Offensive tackle Will Black (No. 2), safety JaDon Blair (No. 55), tight end James Flanigan (No. 107), cornerbacks Mark Zackery (No. 111) and Dallas Golden (No. 132), edge Christopher Burgess Jr. (No. 173), offensive lineman Cameron Herron (No. 205), edge Dominik Hulak (No. 278) and wide receiver Antavious Richardson (No. 286) all claimed spots in the On300. Black is Notre Dame's lone five-star prospect (which On3 considers a potential first-round draft pick), while Herron was the biggest riser, climb- ing 68 overall spots in the update. Herron, who flipped to the Notre Dame Oct. 14, was committed to Iowa during the last rankings update. 25 Takeaways for Notre Dame through 10 games this season marks the ninth time in the past 25 seasons that the Fighting Irish have forced at least that many turnovers. They also had 25 in 2021, 28 in 2019, 25 in 2010, 25 in 2008, 25 in 2007, 28 in 2003, 33 in 2002 and 26 in 2001. Through Week 12, the Irish led all power conference teams in turnovers forced and were tied for first in the FBS with James Madison. The Dukes were No. 1 in turnover margin (25-6, +1.90 per game) while the Irish were No. 2 (25-10, +1.50). This year's +15 turnover margin is Notre Dame's best since its 2019 squad was +17 (28-11). Graduate student safety Xavier Watts has had a hand in a team-high 20 percent of Notre Dame's takeaways with 4 interceptions and a fumble recovery. 99 Rating for Notre Dame in Graduation Success Rate (GSR) from 2014-15 to 2017-18 — first among all Football Bowl Subdivision institutions — per the NCAA. Columbia, Harvard, Santa Clara and Yale were the only other schools to compile a 99 GSR rating, while Boston College, Northwestern and Stanford posted 98 ratings. Notre Dame has been among the nation's top three in GSR among FBS institutions for 18 consecutive years and has led the nation in 16 of those 18 instances. Eighteen of Notre Dame's 22 men's and women's sports rated by the NCAA earned perfect 100 scores. Programs that earned a 100 rating from 2014-17 in- clude baseball, men's basketball, men's cross country/ track and field, men's fencing, men's golf, men's lacrosse, men's soccer, men's swimming and diving, men's tennis, softball, volleyball, women's basketball, women's row- ing, women's golf, women's lacrosse, women's soccer, women's swimming and diving and women's tennis. 252 Was the point differential (+32.3 per game) for Notre Dame during its eight-game winning streak heading into its matchup with Army Nov. 23. It was the best score differential in the Football Bowl Subdivi- sion during that stretch. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS