Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 MARCH 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME NOTRE DAME FINISHES 35TH IN FALL SPORTS DIRECTORS' CUP STANDINGS Notre Dame will have a lot of ground to make up this winter and spring to continue the recent success experienced in the Learfield Directors Cup Standings. At the end of the fall sports seasons Jan. 12, the Fighting Irish stood 35th with 155 points. Last year they had accumulated 275 points during the fall en route to finish- ing 17th overall after the winter and spring results also were tabulated. They finished No. 9 overall in 2013, a school- record No. 3 in 2014 and No. 10 in 2015. The 155-point breakdown this past fall was: • 66 points in women's cross country for an 11th-place finish. • 64 points in men's soccer for advancing to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. • 25 points in women's soccer for moving on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. • Women's volleyball did not receive any points because it did not receive an NCAA bid. However, second year head coach Jim McLaughlin already has done an ex- traordinary rebuilding job, going from 7-25 (2-18 in the ACC for 15th and last place) last season to 22-10 this year, including 13-7 in the ACC for sixth place. • With the 4-8 season, football received no points. Stanford, the annual winner of the Cup for more than two decades running, was in first place with 504.5 points, well ahead of No. 2 UCLA (348). Notre Dame ranked ninth among 15 ACC teams in fall sports, behind No. 3 North Carolina (345), No. 11 Virginia (244), No. 12 North Carolina State (241), No. 13 Clem- son (237, with 100 coming from the national title in football), No. 16 Florida State (210.5), No. 17 Syracuse (209), No. 21 Louisville (195) and No. 32 Wake Forest (165). Ivy League member Harvard was right behind Notre Dame at No. 36 with 153 points. BILL FISCHER: 1927-2017 Former two-time consensus Fighting Irish All-American, 1948 Outland Trophy winner and 1983 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Bill "Moose" Fischer passed away Jan. 20 at age 89 in Cape Coral, Fla. In 2012, when Notre Dame commemorated the 125th anniversary of Notre Dame football, Blue & Gold Illustrated assembled an all-time 25-man Fighting Irish team that included Fischer at left guard. Fischer attended Chicago's Lane Tech High School — the same as new director of football performance Matt Balis — before enrolling at Notre Dame in 1945. He started on teams that never lost a game his last three seasons from 1946-48 and were named consensus national champs the first two. Particularly amazing was cracking the starting lineup as a 19-year-old sopho- more in 1946 despite the return and presence of dozens of grizzled World War II veterans. For the 1947 national champs, Fischer tied for the team lead in minutes played with 300. As the 1948 senior captain, Fischer became college football's third recipient of the Outland Trophy. Former Notre Dame teammate George Connor was the first in 1946. Following his senior year, Fischer also was named captain of the East team in the East-West Shrine Game and selected the Most Valuable Player for his team in the 1949 College All-Star Game. The No. 10 pick in the 1949 NFL Draft, he played for the Chicago Cardinals through 1953, earning All-Pro notice in 1951 and 1952. After retiring as a player, Fischer served as an assistant coach at Notre Dame from 1954-58 under classmate/teammate Terry Brennan. The owner for many years of an automobile dealership in Ishpeming, Mich., Fischer also served as president of the Notre Dame Monogram Club in 1982. Sophomore Anna Rohrer and t h e w o m e n ' s c r o s s c o u n t r y team finished 11th at the NCAA Championships, which accounted for 66 of Notre Dame's 155 points accrued during the fall. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS Notre Dame Vs. 2017 Opponents In Early NFL Departures Although Notre Dame lost two-year starting quar- terback DeShone Kizer, many of Notre Dame's top foes in 2017 took bigger hits on offense and/or de- fense when it came to early entry to the NFL. The opponent that most benefitted by not losing early entrants to the NFL was Georgia (Sept. 9), which is slotted at No. 13 in ESPN's Way-Too-Early preseason poll for 2017. The Bulldogs did see top receiver/return man Isaiah McKenzie depart early, but the return of running backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel (1,970 combined rushing yards in 2016) and outside linebackers Davin Bellamy and Lorenzo Carter might make them the early favorite in the SEC East. Among the other 2017 Irish foes: • USC lost its two junior stars in wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and cornerback Adoree' Jackson, who scored three different ways in the 45-27 victory versus Notre Dame, plus guard Damien Mama. Still, the Tro- jans are a popular preseason top-five choice already. • Miami lost five, but the two on defense (line- backer Jermaine Grace and lineman Al-Quadin Mu- hammad) weren't with the 2016 team anyway. Also, running back Joseph Yearby played behind 1,000- yard rusher Mark Walton. However, losing quarterback Brad Kaaya (3,532 yards passing) and tight end David Njoku (43 catches for 698 yards and eight touchdowns) after their junior seasons won't be easy to replace. • North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky was a senior academically, but he had a fifth sea- son available after compil- ing more than 4,000 yards of total offense this past sea- s o n . F o r m e r N otre Dame commit Elijah Hood was the leading rusher as a junior (858 y a r d s ) a n d also caught 25 passes. • Stanford lost 2015 Heisman Trophy runner-up Christian Mc- Caffrey, but Bryce Love excelled this past season while filling in for the injured junior, including 23 carries for 129 yards and a score in the win at Notre Dame. More difficult might be replacing star defen- sive end Solomon Thomas, although nine starters return on a defense at a program that won at least 10 games for the sixth time in seven years. • Coming off a miserable 3-9 campaign, Michigan State lost two of its mainstays on defense in true ju- niors Malik McDowell up front plus safety Montae Nicholson. BILL FISCHER 2017 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent Sept. 2 Temple Sept. 9 Georgia Sept. 16 at Boston College Sept. 23 at Michigan State Sept. 30 Miami (Ohio) Oct. 7 at North Carolina Oct. 21 USC Oct. 28 North Carolina State Nov. 4 Wake Forest Nov. 11 at Miami Nov. 18 Navy Nov. 25 at Stanford