Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 28, 2016 9 UNDER THE DOME 1.0 Overnight rating on NBC of the Notre Dame-Army Shamrock Series game Nov. 12. It was down 29 percent from the Notre Dame-Wake Forest game last year (1.4) at the same time of year, and down 50 percent from Notre Dame-Northwestern in 2014 (2.0). Most notably, it trailed last year's Notre Dame-Boston College Shamrock Series game — which aired on cable network NBCSN (1.3). Complete records are not available, but it is likely that the 1.0 overnight is the lowest in Notre Dame's 26-year history on NBC. 8 Teams from the Power Five conferences — Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern — that Notre Dame has yet to face in its football history. It has played everyone in the current ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12. It is missing four apiece from the Big 12 (Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech) and SEC (Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky and Mississippi State). A total of 64 teams comprise the Power Five, meaning Notre Dame has played 87.5 percent of its members, with Virginia Tech the newest addition. 22-19-4 USC's all-time series lead against Notre Dame when the games are played in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — with this year's meeting the 90th anniversary of the first encounter between the two on Dec. 4, 1926. It is the most defeats the Fight- ing Irish have incurred in one venue. No. 2 is Michigan State's Spartans Stadium (13), while Purdue's Ross-Ade Stadium is third (12). 91 Number of 2001-04 Notre Dame defen- sive end JUSTIN TUCK that was put into the New York Giants' Ring of Honor on Nov. 14 at halftime of a Mon- day Night Football Game. The third-round selection played nine years with the Giants (2005-13) before finish- ing his last two at Oakland (2014-15). The two-time Pro Bowl pick recorded 510 career tackles (363 solo), 66.5 sacks and forced 22 fumbles. Tuck was also part of two outstanding Super Bowl victories against quarterback Tom Brady's New England Patriots (2008 and 2012) in which he recorded two sacks apiece, and also forced a fumble in the former. Both times he was given serious consider- ation as the Super Bowl MVP, but it was awarded to quarterback Eli Manning. Tuck is one of 11 Notre Dame alumni to win multiple Super Bowls. 145 Different opponents Notre Dame has played since its first football game in 1887 versus Michigan, with Virginia Tech the most recent on Nov. 19. The Hokies were the lone member of the current Atlantic Coast Conference that the Fighting Irish had yet to play. Virginia Tech also became the 74th different visitor to Notre Dame Stadium since its dedica- tion in 1930 (last week's edition of Blue & Gold Illustrated had 73, mistakenly omitting the 2015 visit from UMass). 300 Consecutive games Notre Dame has ap- peared on national or regional television following the Nov. 19 game at home versus Virginia Tech on NBC. The last time Notre Dame didn't make such an appearance was on Oct. 31, 1992, a 38-7 victory versus Navy in Giants Stadium. 5,000/1,000 Entering the Nov. 19 contest against Vir- ginia Tech and then at USC this week, junior quarterback DeShone Kizer had a chance to become the first Notre Dame quarterback to eclipse both 5,000 pass- ing yards and 1,000 rushing yards dur- ing his Notre Dame career. The two closest prior to him were Jarious Jackson (1996-99) and Joe Theis- mann (1968-70). Including bowl games for both (as with Kizer), Jackson had 5,019 yards passing and 967 rushing. Theismann accumulated 1,091 yards rushing and 4,818 passing. BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO COURTESY NEW YORK GIANTS