Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Close Encounters Projected Again If Notre Dame is playing, chances are it's going to be a nail-biter to the end, no matter what the record. During its 6-6 campaign in 2010, seven or fewer points decided 10 of the outcomes. When it was 8-4 during the 2013 regular season, seven or fewer points decided seven games, plus the 23-13 victory versus BYU and the 41-30 loss to Michigan were both tight. When it was 12-0 during the 2012 regular season, two of the first five home games went into overtime and the other three were slugfest wins over Purdue (20-17), Michigan (13-6) and BYU (17-14). So it comes as no surprise that beyond the opener against Rice this year in which Notre Dame was a 24-point favorite (down to 21), Las Vegas' Golden Nugget had most of the remaining Irish games as close encounters. The exceptions were the road games at Florida State (Oct. 18) and USC (Nov. 29), where Notre Dame was installed as 24- and 10-point underdogs, respectively. The only other game that was not expected to be close was the Shamrock Series contest versus Purdue Sept. 13. Yet even last year the 1-11 Boilermakers played Notre Dame to the wire in a 31-24 defeat, and the previous year the Irish needed a Kyle Brindza field goal with seven seconds left to pull out a 20-17 win. From a preseason perspective, Notre Dame will be the underdog in four games this season, per the Golden Nugget: Notre Dame -3 vs. Michigan Notre Dame -21 vs. Purdue (Indianapolis) Notre Dame -5½ at Syracuse (Meadowlands) Stanford -6 at Notre Dame Notre Dame -2½ vs. North Carolina Florida State -24 vs. Notre Dame Notre Dame -3 vs. Navy (Landover, Md.) Arizona State -4½ vs. Notre Dame Notre Dame -8 vs. Northwestern Notre Dame -8 vs. Louisville USC -10 vs. Notre Dame 2015 NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL CALENDARS *Please add sales tax in IN, MI, and NC Call for best shipping rates on multiple items! BLUE AND GOLD ILLUSTRATED P.O. BOX 2331 • DURHAM, NC 27702 800-421-7751 www.BlueGoldOnline.com ITEM #6451 2015 Notre Dame Vintage Calendar Calendar measures 11" X 14" Each month's image is a frame-eady reproduction of a classic game day program cover. $21.95* plus $5.00 shipping in cont. U.S. Item #6452 Vintage Desktop 7"x7" size also available for just $12.95 + $5 S&H ITEM #6450 2015 Notre Dame Action Calendar Calendar measures 12" X 12" $15.99* plus $5.00 shipping in cont. U.S.