Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/377020
1.4 Overnight rating on NBC for the Rice-Notre Dame game, the second lowest for a Notre Dame opener on NBC since 1997, edging only Nevada-Notre Dame in 2009 (1.3). It was down 13 percent from Temple-Notre Dame last year (1.6) and down a third from NBC's Purdue-Notre Dame opener in 2012 (2.1). Head to head, West Virginia-Alabama on ABC was at 4.1. However, Notre Dame's opener did finish ahead of the primetime Fresno State-USC game on FOX (0.9). 18 Ranking for Notre Dame in the latest U.S. News & World Report national university rankings. In 2014, Notre Dame faces four of the other nine Football Bowl Subdivision schools that rank in the top 25: No. 5 Stanford, No. 12 Northwestern, No. 18 Rice (tied with Notre Dame) and No. 23 USC, tied with several others. The other five schools in the FBS are No. 7 Duke, No. 17 Vanderbilt, and No. 23 Virginia, Wake Forest and UCLA (all tied with USC). The Irish play Virginia and Wake Forest next season, and Duke in 2016. 67 Games until this year's Rice's opener that Notre Dame did not return at least five punts in a game, and it had never oc- curred during head coach Brian Kelly's first four seasons. Against the Owls, Bryant returned three and fifth-year senior cornerback Cody Riggs brought back two for a total of five, the most since Golden Tate returned six against Navy in a 27-21 win on Nov. 15, 2008. 80 Yards in punt returns against Rice — 49 by Riggs and 31 by Bryant. That was the most in one game at Notre Dame since three for 100 yards in a 27-22 loss at Pitt on Nov. 14, 2009. Highlighting that effort was an 87-yard score by Golden Tate, the last time the Irish tallied on a punt return. UNDER THE DOME BY THE NUMBERS 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 $7.00 s&H in continental 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 s&H in continental U.s. NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL TICKETS 25 YEARS IN BUSINESS Call today for Special Discount 1-800-925-2500 www.NotreDameTickets.com