Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Joe Schmidt Sidelined Rest Of 2014 Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly confirmed the day after Notre Dame's 49-39 victory versus Navy Nov. 1 that senior Mike linebacker Joe Schmidt will miss the remainder of the 2014 season. Schmidt suffered a fracture and dislocation of his left ankle early in the second half versus the Midshipmen and underwent surgery Nov. 4. Through the first eight games, Schmidt led the 7-1 Irish in tackles (65) and solo stops (42), and was tied for the team lead in interceptions (two) and forced fumbles (two), in addition to defending or breaking up four other passes. What couldn't be measured with merely raw data was his leadership and knowledge that made him the defensive signal-caller and coach on the field. CHARTING THE IRISH OFFENSIVE OUTPUT Notre Dame lost its first five games under head coach Brian Kelly when accumulating 450-plus yards of total offense. Beginning with a 38-10 win at Purdue in 2011, the Irish have since recorded a 16-2 mark in such games through the 49-39 win over Navy Nov. 1. Early in Kelly's time at Notre Dame, such offensive outputs signaled that the Irish were engaged in a shootout (e.g. a 35-31 loss at Michigan in 2011 or the 34-31 overtime loss at Michigan State in 2010) or faced an early deficit and fell short in comeback attempts (28-24 loss to Michigan in 2010 or the 23-20 loss to South Florida in 2011). The two losses since mid-2011 when gaining 450-plus yards of total offense have come in the past two seasons. The Irish finished with 456 in a 28-21 loss at Pittsburgh last November, and totaled 470 in the controversial 31-27 loss at Florida State Oct. 18. In each of the seven losses under Kelly in such games, Notre Dame fell short in turnover margin. These days, the high offensive output typically signals an Irish blowout victory, although the past three occasions leading up to the tilt with Arizona State were all tight finishes. GAMES WHEN NOTRE DAME TOTALS 450-PLUS YARDS OF OFFENSE UNDER BRIAN KELLY 2010 Michigan, 535 L, 28-24 Michigan St., 461 L, 34-31 (OT) Tulsa, 458 L, 28-27 2011 South Florida, 508 L, 23-20 Michigan, 513 L, 35-31 Purdue, 551 W, 38-10 Air Force, 560 W, 59-33 Maryland 508 W, 45-21 2012 Navy, 490 W, 50-10 Miami, 587 W, 41-3 Pittsburgh, 522 W, 29-26 (3OT) Wake Forest, 584 W, 38-0 2013 Temple, 543 W, 28-6 Air Force, 466 W, 45-10 Navy, 506 W, 38-34 Pittsburgh, 456 L, 28-21 BYU, 470 W, 23-13 Rutgers, 494 W, 29-16 2014 Rice, 576 W, 48-17 Syracuse, 523 W, 31-15 North Carolina, 516 W, 50-43 Florida State, 470 L, 31-27 Navy, 533 W, 49-39