Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/542018
Controversial Call At Florida State After a 6-0 start to the season, the No. 5 Fighting Irish headed to Tallahas- see, Fla., for a showdown versus No. 2 Florida State and defending Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston Oct. 18. Notre Dame led for much of the con- test, including 17-10 at halftime, 24-17 at one point of the third quarter and 27-24 early in the fourth quarter. But a 10-play, 75-yard drive by the Seminoles was capped with a one-yard Karlos Williams rushing touchdown, Irish Finish 10th In Directors' Cup For the third consecutive year, the Irish finished in the top 10 of the Learfield Directors' Cup stand- ings — a program that recognizes schools achieving athletic success in all sports. Notre Dame placed 10th in this year's final stand- ings with 1,010.25 points, after finishing third in 2014 and ninth in 2013. Stanford led this year's pack again with 1,448 points and has now won the Cup 21 consecutive years, after placing second behind North Carolina in 1994. The ACC (North Carolina, Virginia and Notre Dame) was one of two conferences to place three schools in the top 10, joining the Pac-12 (Stanford, UCLA and USC). It's also the sixth time in the last eight years the conference has placed two programs in the top 10. "Our member institutions have once again shown their strength in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup rankings," ACC commissioner John Swofford said. "With five teams and 16 individual NCAA champion- ships earned by ACC schools, 2014-15 was another excellent year for our league." Five national champion teams emerged out of the ACC this year, including Duke in men's basketball, Virginia in men's soccer, men's tennis and baseball, and Florida State in women's soccer. Notre Dame finished in the top five nationally in four sports this year when it comes to the Cup's scor- ing system, including women's basketball (national runners-up, awarded 90 points for second place); fencing (awarded 85 points for third place); men's lacrosse (fell in the Final Four, awarded 83 points for third place); and men's basketball (fell in the Elite Eight, awarded 73 points for fifth place). Women's soccer, men's soccer and women's lacrosse also finished in the top 10 of their respective sports. — Jordan Wells 2015 NACDA DIRECTORS' CUP STANDINGS Rk. School Conference Total Points 1. Stanford Pac-12 1,448.0 2. UCLA Pac-12 1,236.0 3. USC Pac-12 1,209.0 4. Florida SEC 1,188.5 5. North Carolina ACC 1,152.0 6. Virginia ACC 1,129.5 7. Ohio State Big Ten 1,087.0 8. Penn State Big Ten 1,060.75 9. Texas Big 12 1,057.5 10. Notre Dame ACC 1,010.25 NOTRE DAME IN THE DIRECTORS' CUP Year Total Points Place 2006 905.5 6 2007 783.5 22 2008 760.5 21 2009 775.13 21 2010 711.0 27 2011 833.0 18 2012 843.5 17 2013 1,015.5 9 2014 1,128.25 3 2015 1,010.25 10