Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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sports on their rosters. Up to 20 teams — 10 men's teams and 10 women's teams — can contribute to a college's total score. Stanford, which has won the title every year but one since it was first handed out in 1993, fields 36 varsity teams each year compared to Notre Dame's 19. Ohio State is typically the top finisher among midwestern and northern schools, and the Buckeyes have 37 teams to help tally points in the competition. The highest Notre Dame has ever finished is No. 6 in the 2005-06 school year. The Irish, however, held their own during the past academic year despite a slow start in the fall. The drop off from last year's national championship women's soccer team and a loss in the Champs Sports Bowl hurt Notre Dame's total, but strong performances from the swimmers and track team in the winter, along with a well-rounded spring season, helped carry the Irish to their best finish in the Directors' Cup standings since 2006. FALL SPORTS 106 points (▼ 113 points from 2010-11 year) CROSS COUNTRY 56 points (▲ 32) and women's cross country teams both finished in the top 25 in the country at the season-ending NCAA championship meet in Terre Haute, Ind. Their combined score more than doubled last year's tally in the Directors' Cup standings, going up 32 points from the 24 they posted a year earlier. The women's team finished 22nd at the For the first time since 2005, the men's national meet while running together in a tight group. Sophomore Kelly Curran fin- ished the six-kilometer race first in 21:09.8. She was closely followed by freshman Gabby Gonzalez and junior Jessica Ryd- berg, who finished first for the Irish in all six races prior to the NCAA Champion- ships. The men's side, led for the second straight year by junior Jeremy Rae, finished 24th overall. Rae was an all-regional selec- tion and finished the national race in 105th place. Sophomore Martin Grady crossed the line five spots behind him in 110th, and the three other Irish runners that counted toward the team score all finished in the top 200. FOOTBALL 25 points (▼ 20) coach Brian Kelly ended with the same 8-5 record as year one, only this time it didn't have the added optimism of a 4-0 finish with a bowl win. The Irish wrapped up their season with Notre Dame's second season under head an 18-14 loss to Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl in a matchup of two teams that underachieved in 2011. Notre Dame started the year with its eye on a BCS bowl berth, but that plan was pretty muchbusted by the second week of the season when the team fell to 0-2 after heartbreaking losses to South Florida and Michigan. The nation's worst turnover margin (-15) and a season-long quarterback controversy plagued the Irish, who at times looked like they were poised to salvage an ugly start. The resurgent running game led by junior Cierre Wood's 1,102 yards and senior Jonas Gray's 12 touchdowns was a bright spot for Kelly's team. AUGUST 2012 100