Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com DECEMBER 2016 9 UNDER THE DOME BY THE NUMBERS 2 Notre Dame seniors who have been selected as class of 2017 Rhodes Scholars: Christa Grace Watkins (Milroy, Ind.) and Alexis Doyle (Los Altos, Calif.). They were among 32 Americans announced Nov. 20 as winners of the scholarships, selected from a pool of 882 candidates endorsed by 311 different colleges and universities. This marks the first time Notre Dame has had Rhodes Scholars in three consecutive years and the third time the univer- sity has had two in a single year. Former Fighting Irish receiver (2013-15) and current student assistant Corey Robinson, this year's student body president, also was a finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship. 3 First-time visitors Notre Dame Stadium will host in football during the 2017 season: Georgia (Sept. 9); Miami (Ohio) (Sept. 30), which is coached by former 2010-13 Fighting Irish assistant Chuck Martin; and North Carolina State (Oct. 28), which is 2-0 versus Notre Dame after defeating it in the 2003 Gator Bowl and this Oct. 8 in Raleigh. As noted last week, the Irish have had an alarming proclivity in recent years of losing to first-time visitors: Connecticut (2009), Tulsa (2010), South Florida (2011), Louisville (2014) and Virginia Tech (2016). 47-4-1 Combined record posted by the five previous Notre Dame head coaches in year seven on the job with the Fight- ing Irish: Knute Rockne (10-0 in 1924), Elmer Layden (7-2 in 1940), Frank Leahy (10-0 in 1949), Ara Parseghian (10-1 in 1970) and Lou Holtz (10-1-1 in 1992). Brian Kelly became the sixth to reach seven years among the 15 non-interim hires since 1913, but his 4-7 mark heading into the Nov. 26 finale at USC was one game short of doubling the four-loss total among the other five. Layden departed after his seventh season to become the NFL commissioner. 55-14 Scoring advantage Notre Dame had after the first quar- ter in its six home games this season, including building leads of 7-0 versus both Michigan State and Stanford, 14-0 against Duke and 10-0 versus Virginia Tech — all of which resulted in losses on its own turf. This does not even include the 20-0 first-half lead on Miami Oct. 29 before falling behind and then pulling out a 30-27 victory. Nevada and Notre Dame were tied 0-0 after the first quarter, but the Irish lead 25-0 at halftime on the way to a 39-10 win. In those six home games, the Irish then barely managed to win the second quarter (52-50) — and then lost both the third quarter (50-35) and fourth quarter (48-31). 84.8 Percent of his field goals attempts converted by Notre Dame sophomore kicker JUSTIN YOON — 28 of 33 — during his career, enter- ing the Nov. 26 contest at USC. The Fighting Irish career mark for at least 40 attempts is 82.5 percent by David Ruffer, who made 33 of 40 from 2009-11. The record for a minimum of 50 attempts is 73.9 percent by John Carney, who was 51 of 69 from 1984-86 prior to playing in the NFL for more than two decades and scoring 2,044 points. 108-14-6 With the conclusion of the 128th season of Notre Dame football in 2016, the Fighting Irish now have had 108 winning seasons, 14 losing years (including this one) and six where they finished .500 in terms of wins and losses (4-4-1 in 1950, 5-5 in 1959, 1961 and 1962, and 6-6 in 2004 and 2009). The first two losing seasons were the initial two years in the program's history: 0-1 in 1887 and 1-2 in 1888. Of the 12 other losing seasons since then, eight have occurred in the past 35 years: 1981, '85, '86, '99, 2001, '03, '07 and '16. Each of the last six head coaches from Gerry Faust through Kelly now have had at least one season under .500. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA