Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 31, 2016 9 UNDER THE DOME 7-1 Record under seventh-year Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly after a bye weekend as it heads into the Oct. 29 meeting at home with Miami. The victo- ries occurred against No. 15 Utah in 2010 (28-3), Miami in 2012 (41-3), USC and BYU in 2013 (14-10 and 23-13, respectively), Syracuse and Navy in 2014 (31-15 and 49-39, respectively), and at Temple last year (24-20). The lone defeat was at home to USC in 2011 (31-17). 27 Consecutive games Notre Dame has lost when finishing with single-digit scoring (including shutouts), most recently the 10-3 loss at North Carolina State on Oct. 8. It has been 36 years since Notre Dame recorded a victory while scoring only in single digits — the 7-0 conquest at Alabama and head coach Bear Bryant on Nov. 15, 1980, to improve to 8-0-1 and move up to No. 2 in the country in head coach Dan Devine's final season with the Irish. The fewest points it has scored in a victory since then was a 10-6 win at USC on Nov. 24, 1990. 41 Passing yards by North Carolina State in its win versus Notre Dame in a hurricane. It was the fewest passing yards by a non- option Fighting Irish opponent since Vanderbilt's 41-0 loss in Notre Dame Stadium on Sept. 16, 1995. The Commodores passed for only 38 yards that day. The last team to defeat Notre Dame without completing a pass was Georgia Tech in 1976 (23-14). 54 Passing yards by junior DESHONE KIZER in the aforemen- tioned North Carolina State game, the lowest passing total by a Notre Dame quarterback in a game since Jimmy Clausen threw for only 41 in a 38-3 defeat at USC in 2008. Yet in the previous three games, Kizer threw for 1,196 yards in losses to Michigan State (344), Duke (381) and a win over Syracuse (471). Those were the second most passing yards ever at Notre Dame in any three-game stretch. 55 The age Brian Kelly will turn on Oct. 25, during the preparation for Miami. Only two other Notre Dame head coaches were older when they retired. Lou Holtz was 59 when he stepped down in 1996, while Dan Devine was 55 when he announced he would be departing after the 1980 season. 74-20 Score of the last two Notre Dame-Miami meetings since the discontinuation of the rivalry in 1990. The Fighting Irish cruised to a 33-17 victory over the Hurricanes in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 31, 2010, after building a 27-0 lead, and crushed them 41-3 in the 2012 Shamrock Series held in Chicago. With the exception of 1986, the two schools met annually in football every year from 1971-90 before it was discontinued for what was believed to be over-the-top animosity toward each other (to be featured in ESPN's Dec. 10 "Catholics vs. Convicts" documentary). 1984 The most recent season Miami has won in Notre Dame Stadium — and the only time, too. As the de- fending national champions, the 1984 Hurricanes won 31-13, but it is only 1-8 all time in Notre Dame Stadium. The two most recent meetings were the epic clash in 1988 when the 31-30 victory over the No. 1 Hurricanes helped propel the Irish to the national title, and the 29-20 victory in 1990 against No. 2 Miami. BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY RICK KIMBALL