Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 12, 2016 9 UNDER THE DOME 4 Freshman running backs since 2000 from Power Five schools have averaged at least 7.0 yards per carry with a minimum of 100 attempts — with Notre Dame's JOSH ADAMS the fourth in 2015. Adams' 117 carries averaged 7.1 yards. The other three were Texas' Jamaal Charles in 2005 (7.4), Clemson's C.J. Spiller in 2006 (7.3) and Georgia's Nick Chubb in 2014 (7.1). 5 Football Bowl Subdivision schools in 2016 that have two quarter- backs on the roster that started in victories the previous year against Power Five conference competition. In addition to Notre Dame's DeShone Kizer and Malik Zaire, the other four are Auburn, Louisville, Miami and Texas. Only the Irish, though, finished the sea- son ranked in the Associated Press poll (No. 11) last year. 7 Notre Dame players from the state of Nevada — the Sept. 10 opponent — who have played for the Fighting Irish during the football team's history. The most famous was offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley, who was a first-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. The 2015 season also saw two Nevada natives appear in action for the first time as freshmen: tight end Alizé Jones (academically ineligible this year, but still practicing with the team) and safety Nicco Fertitta. All three hail from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman High, one of the preeminent pow- ers in high school athletics. 10 Teams in the FBS have won a minimum of eight games each of the last six seasons, with Notre Dame among them while posting a 55-23 record, all under head coach Brian Kelly. Alphabetically, the other nine are: Alabama (72-10), Boise State (64-15), Florida State (68-14), LSU (61-17), Northern Illinois (65-19), Oklahoma (62-17), Oregon (69-12), Stanford (66-15) and Wisconsin (60-21). The Irish are the only one of the 10 not to total at least 60 victories cumulatively during that time, mainly because three of the final records were 8-5. 15.5 & 11.3 Points and rebounds per game aver- aged by Notre Dame junior center Martinas Geben during a four-game tour through northern Italy with the East Coast Basketball All-Stars in mid-August. The team went 3-1 during their time in Milan and Bellagio. Junior point guard Matt Farrell also was on the tour, and he averaged 11.5 points and 4.3 assists per game. The two will attempt to fill the massive void left by the departures of current NBA players Demetrius Jackson (Boston) at point guard and Zach Auguste (Los Angeles Lakers) in the post. "I don't think we could have got more out of the experience for both of them," said 17th-year Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey. 1915 Was the last time Notre Dame's football team played twice in the state of Texas, until this season versus the Longhorns (Sept. 4) in Austin and then Army at San Antonio for the Nov. 12 Shamrock Series. In 1915, it was two games in three days, with head coach Jesse Harper's team defeating Texas (36-7) in Austin on Thanksgiv- ing Day (Nov. 25) and then two days later crushing Rice (55-2) in Houston. 2,058 Carries by Notre Dame's running backs (not including quarterbacks) during Brian Kelly's first six seasons from 2010-15. They lost a fumble during that time only 15 times, or a .0073 percentage. In none of those years did the Fighting Irish running backs col- lectively total more than three lost fumbles. BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA