Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 DECEMBER 2016 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME UNDER THE DOME Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom Lindsay Allen — Basketball The senior guard from Mitchellville, Md., wa s n a m e d to t h e a l l - tournament team for the Preseason WNIT after the No. 1 Irish took home the championship with a 71-60 win over No. 17 Washington Nov. 20. Against the Huskies, she played all 40 minutes, scored 13 points, pulled down five rebounds and dished out four assists. In the four Preseason WNIT games, Allen averaged 34.0 minutes, 11.8 points, 6.3 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 2.5 steals per contest. Matt Farrell — Basketball In Notre Dame's 89-83 victory over Colo- rado Nov. 21 in the Legends Classic, the junior guard from Bridgewater, N.J., scored a career-high 20 points, dished out six assists and made three steals. During Notre Dame's 5-0 start, the 6-1, 178-pound Farrell posted averages of 28.0 minutes, 12.6 points, 5.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.8 rebounds per game. Annie Heffernan — Cross Country The sophomore from Cincinnati closed out a solid 2016 season with a 41st-place finish at the NCAA Championships Nov. 19 in Terre Haute, Ind. Her ef- fort helped the Irish notch an 11th-place showing as a team. Heffernan also finished second at the ACC Championships Oct. 28 in Cary, N.C., and placed 10th at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Nov. 11 in Madison, Wis. Lee Kiefer — Fencing In her first collegiate action since winning the 2015 NCAA women's foil championship, the senior from Versailles, Ky., took gold in the Penn State open on Nov. 19 at University Park, Pa. She posted a 15-1 mark in pool play, and won three of her four elimination- round matches by more than 10 points. The top-seeded Kiefer's only loss in the tour- nament was to Ohio State's Eleanor Harvey, which she avenged in the gold medal match. TOP OF THE CLASS ✦ GIMME FIVE The 2016 preseason Associated Press poll had Notre Dame ranked No. 10, yet the Fighting Irish entered this year's finale at USC with a 4-7 record. Did this season mark the worst ever at Notre Dame in terms of going from a preseason top 10 in the AP to finishing under .500? Blue & Gold Illustrated found two other sea- sons where the drop-off was even more precipi- tous. In 1956 and 1981, Notre Dame was ranked No. 3 in the preseason, but ended up finishing 2-8 and 5-6, respectively. The 1956 team under third-year head coach Terry Brennan was 17-3 his first two seasons, but a miniscule senior class and recruiting restrictions under the new administration of president Rev. Theodore Hesburgh caught up with the program. In 1981, new head coach Gerry Faust inher- ited a veteran roster from a team that lost to national champion Georgia in the Sugar Bowl the year prior, but the transition for the Cincin- nati Moeller High School coach from 1963-80 proved immense. Here are the top five drop- offs for sub-.500 Irish teams: Preseason AP Rank Record 1t. 1956 (No. 3) 2-8 1t. 1981 (No. 3) 5-6 3. 2016 (No. 10) 4-7* 4t. 1999 (No. 18) 5-7 4t. 2001 (No. 18) 5-6 * Nov. 26 game at USC not yet included Getting To Know … JUNIOR LINEBACKER NYLES MORGAN Hometown: Crete, Ill. High school: Crete-Monee. Major: "Psychology." Favorite food: "Bacon cheeseburger." Favorite movie: "'Incep- tion.'" Favorite music: "Hip-hop." Favorite musician: "I've got a lot of those. I like Travis Scott." Favorite TV show: "'The Walking Dead.'" Favorite part about playing for Notre Dame: "The games. You just can't beat walking out of that tunnel at Notre Dame Stadium." Who's the best player you've ever lined up across from?: "I'd probably say [running back] Leonard Fournette my freshman year against LSU." CHARTING THE IRISH SECOND-HALF STRUGGLES A major reason for Notre Dame's struggles in the second half of its 34-31 loss to Virginia Tech Nov. 19 was the passing game. Though head coach Brian Kelly said that in hindsight he should've called more passing plays for junior quarterback DeShone Kizer, the fourth-quarter comeback by the Hok- ies was sparked by four three-and-out drives by the Notre Dame offense. Kizer was just 3-of-15 passing in the second half, a miserable stat line that came on the heels of a 13-of-18 performance in the first half. Notre Dame was plagued by poor blitz pickups and drops by the receivers, but Kizer was off-target on his share of throws. In fact, Kizer has not found much success in the second half of games this year. In the opening half of Notre Dame's first 11 games, he completed 65.2 percent of his 184 attempts with 16 touchdowns and three interceptions. In the second half, he connected on just 51.7 percent of his 143 attempts with seven scores and five picks. The fourth quarter has been the worst, hitting on just 49.4 percent of his 77 passes with three touchdowns and one interception. In 2015, his first sea- son as the starter, Kizer completed 65.9 percent of his fourth-quarter throws with seven touchdowns and one interception. DESHONE KIZER'S STATS BY QUARTER IN 2016 Attempts Completions Pct. Yards TD INT First Quarter 80 57 71.3 879 8 0 Second Quarter 104 63 60.6 864 8 3 Third Quarter 66 36 54.5 492 4 4 Fourth Quarter 77 38 49.4 445 3 1 Overtime 2 1 50.0 25 1 0 MOVING? Let our customer service department know your new address! Call 1-800-421-7751