Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME BY THE NUMBERS — class of 2012 — are attempting to become the second. As freshmen they were in the Hawaii Bowl in 2008 (49-21 win versus Hawaii), did not play in a bowl as sophomores, and last year as juniors defeated Miami (33-17) in the Sun Bowl. The 1975 recruiting class didn't go to a bowl as freshmen in 1975, but won the Gator Bowl as sophomores (20-9 versus Penn State), the Cotton Bowl as juniors (38-10 versus Texas) and the Cotton Bowl again as seniors (35-34 versus Houston). 1 Dec. 29 Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla. The Irish won the first time they played in the Rose (1925), Sugar (1973), Gator (1976), Liberty (1983), Fiesta (1989), Hawaii (2008) and Sun (2010), with the Sugar and Fiesta resulting in national titles. Notre Dame lost the first time it competed in the Cotton, (1970), Orange (1973), Aloha (1984), Independence (1997) and Insight (2004). 7-5 13 Different bowl games Notre Dame will have played in after the Champs Sports Bowl, its 31st postseason game overall. The Irish have played in the Cotton Bowl seven times (5-2 record). The runner-up for the most bowl games they have played in is the Orange Bowl with five (2-3). Notre Dame also has played four times in the Sugar (2-2) and Fiesta (1-3), and three times in the Gator (1-2). 15-15 22 30 All-time bowl record for Notre Dame. At the end of the 1993 season, Notre Dame's 13-6 mark in bowls (.684) was the best winning percentage in college foot- ball for teams that had appeared in at least 15 postseason contests, but then the nine-game Irish losing streak in bowls from 1994-2006 was the longest in NCAA history. Years the Champs Sports Bowl has been in operation under various names — but the first time it will be sold out when Notre Dame and Florida State play on Dec. 29. Within days of the Dec. 4 announcement of the matchup between the two programs, the 70,000-seat Cit- rus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., had sold all its tickets. Consecutive years with a bowl game for Champs Sports Bowl opponent Florida State, the longest active streak in the nation, well ahead of No. 2 Florida (21) and No. 3 Virginia PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS Want to stay up-to-date with all the Irish news? Like Us On Facebook: www.facebook.com/blueandgoldillustrated Follow Us On Twitter: www.twitter.com/BGInews www.BLUEANDGOLD.com Record for Notre Dame when it makes its debut in a bowl, as it will in the Class in Notre Dame history that graduated with a 3-0-bowl record. This year's seniors Tech (19). The last time the Seminoles weren't in a bowl was after a 6-5 season in 1981. Notre Dame's longest streak of playing in a bowl game is the nine years under head coach Lou Holtz from 1987-95. 56 Academic All-Americans in Notre Dame football history after junior linebacker Manti Te'o was selected to the 2011 Capital One Academic All-America second team, as chosen by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Te'o has a 3.37 cumulative grade-point average as a design major. To be eligible, one must be a starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing, and be nominated by his sports infor- mation director. 185 First-team All-Americans in Notre Dame football history after junior tight end Tyler Eifert was selected to the Walter Camp Football Foundation top unit. Eifert is the sixth Notre Dame tight end since 1973 to earn first- team All-America accolades, joining Dave Casper (1973), Ken MacAfee (1975-77), Tony Hunter (1982), Mark Bavaro (1984) and Derek Brown (1991). Sporting News Honors South Bend As No. 1 College City To commemorate its 125 years of operation, Sporting News did a series for the Best Sports City of all time. New York finished No. 1, but a city was chosen as the best of all time for individual sports as well. For college football, South Bend, Ind., home of Notre Dame, was the top choice for three reasons. 1. There's nothing like the campus. "It's so much more than football," 1993 Notre Dame Lombardi Award winner Aaron Taylor said. "It's this liv- ing, breathing, daily life experience." It was also noted that no college campus has more annual visitors. 2. The history and tradition are un- matched. Among the data was the fact that the 49 Irish players in the College Football Hall of Fame are the most from any college. 3. The future is always bright. Despite a couple of lean decades of late, the school always is market- able, although Sporting News believes that a conference affiliation might be needed in the future. Irish Heading To China? Forget about playing in the Big East. Notre Dame might be playing in the Far East as soon as 2013. Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott spent four days in December trav- eling in Asia to explore options to expand his conference's brand across the Pacific Ocean, according to a re- port in the New York Times, and the Irish might be joining them. Scott, who is lauded for turning around the perception and profit- ability of his conference, toured sev- eral cities in China to see if any of them would be able to host a col- lege football game. According to the article, Notre Dame and Stanford have already discussed the possibil- ity of moving their 2013 game, the last game of the year on both team's schedules, from Stanford's Palo Alto campus to China. There is a precedent for Notre Dame playing in Asia. The 1979 sea- son finale between Notre Dame and Miami was played in Tokyo, Japan, and the Irish won 40-15. JANUARY 2012 9