Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME BY THE NUMBERS prior to the turn of the New Year. The victories came against No. 7 Duke (56-54), No. 12 Purdue (66-38) and No. 7 Kentucky (92-83). It is the first time in its history the No. 3 Lady Irish vanquished three foes in the Associated Press top dozen prior to Jan. 1. 3 4 Former Irish basketball great and U.S. Olym- pian Adrian Dantley, the 1976 national col- lege basketball player of the year and a member of the Naismith National Basketball Hall of Fame, will become the fourth inductee into the Notre Dame Basketball Ring of Honor on March 2, 2012. The ceremony will take place during half- time of the final regular-season home game, against Providence. Dantley will join Austin Carr, Luke Harangody and Ruth Riley as a member of Notre Dame's Ring of Honor. Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla., against Florida State. That ties Ohio for most on the team. Irish Sunshine State natives are junior offensive lineman Bruce Heggie (Sorrento), freshman of- fensive lineman Jordan Prestwood (Plant City), freshman defensive lineman Aaron Lynch (Cape 9 Notre Dame scholarship football players from Florida entering the Dec. 29 Champs Teams ranked in the top 12 that the Notre Dame women's basketball team defeated Coral), sophomore nose guard Louis Nix III (Jack- sonville), freshman linebacker Anthony Rabasa (Miami), junior safety Zeke Motta (Vero Beach), sophomore cornerback Lo Wood (Apopka), ju- nior punter Ben Turk (Davie) and junior long snapper Jordan Cowart (Plantation). nior wide receiver Michael Floyd the most recent. The others were quarterback Terry Han- ratty (1967-68), linebackers Greg Collins (1973-74 on defense) and Bob Crable (1980-81), running back Allen Pinkett (1983-85, the lone three-time winner), wide receiver Tim Brown (1986-87), quar- terback Tony Rice (1988-89), wide receiver Der- rick Mayes (1994-95), running back Autry Denson (1997-98) and quarterback Brady Quinn (2005-06). 10 29 Rating for Notre Dame's 2011 regular- season strength of schedule by the NCAA. Entering the bowl season, Irish oppo- nents finished with a 68-55 record (.553 winning percentage) against Football Bowl Subdivision competition. No. 1-ranked LSU also was No. 1 in strength of schedule with a 78-44 record (.639) by its opponents. No. 2 Alabama was ranked ninth, with its foes finishing 63-49 (.563). Notre Dame players who were named the football MVP in back-to-back years, with se- Notre Dame and Rice have agreed to meet in a TO 2014 SCHEDULE RICE ADDED one-game football deal during the 2014 season. Rice director of athletics Rick Greenspan made the announcement Dec. 19, and the date of the game at Notre Dame will be revealed later. "Notre Dame is a program that shares our core beliefs about college athletics," said Greenspan in a released statement. "We both believe that the pursuit of excellence in the classroom need not become secondary to the pursuit of championships in athletics. "We are excited to add this game to the schedule in order to give our student-athletes and our fans this tremendous opportunity to experience a game day in South Bend and renew this series with the Irish." There have been four previous meetings between the two programs, all Irish victories. The first was a 55-2 Notre Dame rout in 1915. Then in former Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian's last two seasons in 1973-74 there was a home-and-home series. En route to the 1973 national title, the Irish de- feated Rice 28-0 in Houston, where Rice head coach Al Conover had dozens of local Catholic priests on his sideline as guests in an attempt to steer some "advantage" his way. The next season, the Irish needed a 20-play, 80- yard drive in the fourth quarter to emerge with a 10-3 victory at home. Fullback Wayne "The Train" Bullock scored the winning TD with 3:08 left. The most recent meeting came on Nov. 5, 1988, at Notre Dame, another national title campaign. The Irish were supposed to play a different Texas school that season, at SMU, but the Mustangs were handed the NCAA "Death Penalty" for repeated recruiting violations. Notre Dame signed Rice as the replace- ment, with the game at home, thus marking the first time a Notre Dame team played seven games at home in one season. The Irish cruised to a 54-11 victory against the Owls. The 2014 schedule has not yet been released, but a cursory glance at Wikipedia reveals it to be as follows in September: Purdue (Sept. 13), Michigan (Sept. 20) and Syracuse (Sept. 27) at New Mead- owland Stadium. Rice would appear to be an ideal opener for Sept. 6. Tentatively, the 2014 schedule also is expected to include at Temple (Oct. 11), at Arizona State (Oct. 25), Pittsburgh (Nov. 8), Northwestern (Nov. 15) and at USC (Nov. 29). Dates against Stanford and Navy are still to be PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND www.BLUEANDGOLD.com determined, and one more addition is needed for a 12-game regular season. FEBRUARY 2012 9