Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME 46-304 Carries and rushing yards by Auburn running back Tre Mason during this year's SEC title game victory against Missouri Dec. 7. A Notre Dame running back didn't reach 46 carries this season until the fifth game, when junior Cam McDaniel had 48 after the loss to Oklahoma. An Irish running back didn't reach 304 yards rushing until game six, the halfway point of the season, when junior George Atkinson III upped his total to 323. 1988 The last year a male-only sport at Notre Dame had won a national title (football) — until this year's soccer team. Fencing has been a combined men's and women's sport the past 23 years, so that is not male-only. Four other Irish men's team since 1988 finished as runner-up: tennis (1992, lost to Stanford), hockey (2008, lost to Boston College), lacrosse (2010, lost to Duke) and football (2012, lost to Alabama). 6 PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA Times since 1966 Michigan State has won outright or shared the Big Ten football title, most recently this season. In each of those years the Spartans did not defeat Notre Dame, starting with the famous 10-10 tie in '66 that helped the Irish to a national title. The Big Ten's outright champs also lost at Notre Dame in 1987 (31-8) and 2013 (17-13) — their lone regular-season setback — and as cochamps of the Big Ten in 1978 (29-25), 1990 (20-19) and 2009 (33-30). Until this year, the last time Notre Dame defeated the outright Big Ten champion was Michigan in 1989 (24-19).