Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME BY THE NUMBERS Pro Football Hall of Fame class: running back Jerome Bettis and wide receiver/return man Tim Brown. The list of modern-era players will be reduced to 15 in early January and the inductees will be announced the day before the Super Bowl. 2 the Dec. 31, 1973, national title showdown with Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Popular opinion has the Irish heading to the Dec. 29 Champs Sports Bowl versus the No. 3 ACC team. The Irish con- tractually are able to play in the Champs once during the four-year cycle from 2010-13. 4-3 6 soccer program during a 10-8-3 finish. That was more defeats than the last three years combined, when the Irish were 68-7-3 while winning the national title in 2010, reaching the Final Four in 2009 and finishing as national runner-up in 2008. 8 year senior safety Harrison Smith and junior inside linebacker Manti Te'o joining the club after 9 Players in Notre Dame history who re- corded at least 300 tackles prior to fifth- Schools in the country that through 11 games this year already had a 1,000-yard rusher and a 1,000-yard receiver, with Notre Dame represented by Cierre Wood and Michael Floyd. The other five Football Bowl Subdivision schools were Cal, Iowa, North Carolina, Okla- homa State and Texas A&M. Losses this season by head coach Randy Wal- drum's powerhouse Notre Dame women's Record for Notre Dame in secondary December bowl games — excluding Notre Dame alumni who are among the 26 semifinalists named Nov. 22 for the 2012 entering the Stanford game with 299 apiece. The nine are linebackers Bob Crable (521 from 1978-81), Bob Golic (479 from 1975-78), Steve Heimkreiter (398 from 1975-78), Bob Olson (369 from 1967-69), Tony Furjanic (361 from 1982-85) and Mike Kovaleski (353 from 1983-86), end Ross Browner (340 from 1973-77), linebacker Maurice Crum Jr. (306 from 2006-09) and safety Tom Zbikowski (300 from 2004-07). 12 13 Rushing touchdowns by senior running back Jonas Gray this year before his college career was prematurely ended with a knee injury Nov. 19 against Boston College. The total represented the most by an Irish player since all-time leading rusher Autry Denson tallied 15 touchdowns in 1998. Entering this season, Gray did not score a touchdown his first three years with the Irish. Points allowed by Notre Dame in the third quarter during its 8-3 start. That marks the fewest points permitted in any quarter by an Irish team over an 11-game regular sea- son — which was the norm from 1974 through 2001 — since 13 by the 1982 defense in the first quarter. in 1980 (154) and 1981 (167) to represent the last time an Irish linebacker had back-to-back seasons with more than 100 stops, until now. Current junior Manti te'o had 133 in 2010 and then 103 after this year's Nov. 19 victory against Boston College. 321 Tackles recorded by Notre Dame middle linebacker Bob Crable Gray, who earned four starts in his senior campaign, is sidelined for the remainder of the year following a season-ending knee injury against Boston College. PHOTO BY AARON SUOZZI Jonas Gray On Six-Month Rehab For Torn ACL Senior running back Jonas Gray's MVP-quality season, and college career, came to a screech- ing halt during the third quarter of the 16-14 victory over Boston College on Nov. 19. Gray suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament after getting popped in the knee along Notre Dame's sideline. He spent the rest of the game sit- ting on the sideline as teammates came up to offer condolences. Irish head coach Brian Kelly offi- cially announced three days later that Gray would need surgery for the ACL injury and some "collat- eral damage" that occurred when it tore. Gray finished his breakout se- nior season with 791 rushing yards, 6.9 yards per carry and 12 touchdowns, and with a scoring streak that covered his last eight games. Kelly said that type of in- jury normally requires a standard six-month rehab procedure, which would give him no opportunity to perform at the NFL combine. "He's a great young man," Kelly said immediately following the Boston College game. "There are a lot of emotions in that locker room." PHOTO BY AARON SUOZZI www.BLUEANDGOLD.com — Dan Murphy DECEMBER 2011 9