Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME ✦ GIMME FIVE Notre Dame surrendered 29.15 points per game in 2014, the most in any single season by the Fighting Irish. That was part of the reason why they finished a disappointing 8-5 and not in the Associated Press top 25 (ranked No. 26). Before last year, the most points Notre Dame ever yielded per game in a season without finishing at .500 or less was 2005, when under first-year head coach Charlie Weis it finished 9-3 and No. 10 in the final AP poll despite giving up 24.5 points per game. The best scoring defense turnaround in one season by the Irish was an im- provement of 15.3 points, going from 28.9 during the 2-8 campaign in 1956 to 13.6 in 1957 when Notre Dame fin- ished No. 10, highlighted by ending Oklahoma's NCAA-record 47-game winning streak. These were the top five worst scoring defenses at Notre Dame: Rk. Year (Record) PPG 1. 2014 (8-5) 29.15 2. 1956 (2-8) 28.9 3. 2007 (3-9) 28.75 4. 1999 (5-7) 27.6 5. 2004 (6-6) 26.2 NBC ANNOUNCES BROADCAST TEAM; BC TO BE ON NBCSN The Silver Anniversary of the Notre Dame-NBC Tele- vision alliance that began with the 1991 season will feature a few changes from last season. Doug Flutie, last year 's p r e g a m e a n d h a l f t i m e analyst, has replaced Mike Mayock as the lead ana- lyst in the booth — a move that began to take root last November. Dan Hicks will remain the play-by-play an- nouncer, while Kathryn Tappen returns for a second season as the sideline reporter. Mayock, who had been working the Notre Dame games on NBC since 2010, had received some criticism from former NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol about being too technical in his analysis while also focusing on NFL Draft status, which isn't a surprise because he is the lead draft guru for The NFL Network. Mayock told Bleacher Report: "I had one year left on my contract. I think NBC went in a direction where they felt like Doug Flutie up in the booth and me on the sideline was a better presentation for them. I dis- agreed. And I think going forward, I have total respect for NBC. They've been really, really good to me. "But I think for my career and what I need to do, I needed to go one way. They felt strongly about going another way. I think both parties parted with a great deal of respect for each other." Former University of Miami (2000-03) and NFL line- backer Jonathan Vilma, the No. 12 pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, replaces Flutie as a pregame and halftime analyst, joining Liam McHugh (host) and Hines Ward (analyst). In other NBC-related news, the Nov. 21 Shamrock Se- ries "home" game at Fenway Park versus Boston College will be aired on the cable channel NBC Sports Network, not NBC, similar to the spring's Blue-Gold Game. MOVING? Let our customer service department know your new address! CALL US 1-800-421-7751