Blue and Gold Illustrated

Oct. 17, 2016

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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14 OCT. 17, 2016 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME UNDER THE DOME Moving? Let us know! Call 1-800-421-7751 Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom Brooke Broda — Tennis The junior from West Chester, Ohio, picked up victories in all three of her singles matches at the sea- son-opening Northwestern Invitational Sept. 30-Oct. 2 in Evanston, Ill., extending her winning streak to 14 dating back to last season. Broda, who began the sea- son ranked No. 112 nationally after posting a 28-2 singles mark last year, will put her streak on the line Oct. 20-25 at the ITA Midwest Re- gional Championships. Sam Fry — Volleyball The junior from Cincinnati helped the Irish to their best-ever start (4-0) in ACC play with a pair of 3-1 victories against Duke Sept. 30 and Wake Forest Oct. 2. Against the Blue Devils, Fry produced a career-high 12 blocks and added 10 kills. Then she had the match- sealing kill against the Demon Deacons, and led the Irish with 15 kills while adding six blocks and three digs. Anna Rohrer — Cross Country On Oct. 3, the sophomore from Mishawaka, Ind., received a pair of honors. She was cho- sen by a local committee to participate in the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay Oct. 8, and also was named the USTFCCCA Cross Country National Athlete of the Week for the first time in her col- lege career. Rohrer finished first individually in the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational Sept. 30, post- ing a time of 16:11.7 in the 5,000-meter race. Blake Townes — Soccer The junior midfielder/defender from Canton, Mich., assisted on both goals in No. 2 Notre Dame's 2-0 home win over Pittsburgh Sept. 30. Townes started each of the team's first nine contests this season, compiling 602 min- utes with one goal, three as- sists and five points overall. He was tied for the team lead in assists with junior Jon Gallagher and fifth-year senior Evan Panken. TOP OF THE CLASS ✦ GIMME FIVE Most of Notre Dame's single-game, season or career passing marks have been shattered over the past decade, but at least one that still remains is quarterback Joe Theismann's 526 passing yards in the 38-28 loss at USC in 1970. That is bound to fall one of these days, too, and it looked like it would during the 50-33 victory versus Syracuse Oct. 1. Junior quarter- back DeShone Kizer passed for 356 yards in the first half and was easily on pace to eclipse Theismann's standard before finishing with 471 yards, the most ever by an Irish quarterback in victory. The 356 yards by Kizer in the first two quar- ters, though, is a Notre Dame record for one half. Here are the top five: Rk. Quarterback Opponent (Year) Yards (Half) 1. DeShone Kizer Syracuse (2016) 356 (1st) 2. Jimmy Clausen Navy (2009) 339 (2nd) 3. Joe Theismann USC (1970) 307 (2nd) 4. Jimmy Clausen Hawai'i (2008) 300 (1st) 5. Joe Montana USC (1978) 296 (2nd) Getting To Know … SENIOR TIGHT END DURHAM SMYTHE Major: "Sociology." Favorite food: "I'm a big steak guy. A nice steak is my favorite meal." Favorite movie: "I'd have to go with 'Old School.'" Favorite TV show: "Prob- ably 'Friday Night Lights.'" Favorite music: "I love alternative, early 2000s. I really like the Foo Fighters." Best player you've faced: "My redshirt freshman year, blocking [Florida State defen- sive back] Jalen Ramsey was pretty tough. I had to block him on the edge and that was pretty tough." Favorite part about playing for Notre Dame: "The people. That's what drew me here in the first place. The friends that I've established in the in last four years, on and off the field, and the relationships I've had with the coaches, that's been my favorite part." Favorite professional sports team: "Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Eagles." CHARTING THE IRISH FINISH DRIVES College football statistics guru Bill Connelly of SB Nation has a formula he calls "S&P+ Ratings," a system derived from the play-by-play and drive data of all 800-plus of a season's Football Bowl Sub- division games. According to Connelly, the S&P+ reflects opponent-adjusted components of four of what Connelly has deemed the five factors of college football: efficiency, explosiveness, field position, finishing drives and turnovers. Through five games, Notre Dame's highest ranking among those five factors was finishing drives, calculated as points per trip inside the 40-yard line (unadjusted) and red zone S&P+ (adjusted). By definition, finishing drives is a look not at how frequently a team creates scoring opportunities, but how teams finish the ones they have. For purposes of this stat, the "red zone" starts at the 40, not the 20. During its 2-3 start, Notre Dame was averaging 6.03 points per trip inside the 40, which ranked tied for eighth in FBS with Pittsburgh and South Florida. The Irish had scored touchdowns on 17 of their 23 attempts once inside the 20, a touchdown percentage of 73.9 percent. The national average for scoring from inside the 40 is 4.72 points. Notre Dame's maligned defense is allowing 4.91 points per trip, which ranked 76th in the country. A major factor in that success is the dual-threat abilities of junior quarterback DeShone Kizer. He was responsible for 20 of Notre Dame's 26 touchdowns in the first five games and remains the team's best short-yardage runner near the goal line. Notre Dame could be even better: sophomore kicker Justin Yoon had missed three field goals on his seven at- tempts through five games. TOP 10 TEAMS IN AVERAGE POINTS PER DRIVE AFTER CROSSING THE 40-YARD LINE Through Oct. 1 1. Ohio State 6.71 2. Marshall 6.46 3. Western Michigan 6.22 4. UNLV 6.21 5. Alabama 6.11 T6. Miami 6.06 T6. Oregon 6.06 T8. Notre Dame 6.03 T8. Pittsburgh 6.03 T8. South Florida 6.03

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