Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/83107
By The Numbers .00432 All-time winning percentage difference in NCAA major college football history between No. 1 Michigan (.73570) and No. 2 Notre Dame (.73138) entering the 2012 season. Had the Irish been able to hold on to victory in the final seconds against Michigan each of the last three seasons — and everything else remained the same for both programs during that time — they would have held the edge over Michigan by .00062 going into this season. 3 Quarterbacks in history who have started in three consecutive victories against Notre Dame: Purdue’s Mike Phipps (1967-69), USC’s Matt Leinart (2003-05) and Stanford’s Andrew Luck (2009-11). Michigan senior Denard Robinson will attempt to become the fourth on Sept. 22. 11 ACC members and future members who ranked among the top 58 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2012 annual report of the nation’s top universities. It was the most among the six Bowl Championship Series conferences: Duke (eighth), Notre Dame (17th), Virginia (24th), Wake Forest (27th), North Carolina (30th), Boston College (31st), Miami (44th), and Syracuse, Maryland and Pitt (all tied for 58th). 18 Former Notre Dame football players or others connected with the program who died in the past year and were remembered during the pre-game flag presentation in the Sept. 8 home opener: Burnett Bauer (1937), Bob Bill (tackle, 1959-61), Joe Bush (tackle 1951-53), Al Ecuyer (guard, 1956-58), Herman Hooten (defensive tackle, 1970-71), Blair Kiel (quarterback, 1980-83), Mark Limont (end, 1944), Bob McBride (guard, 1941‑42, 1946), Bob McGoldrick (manager), Thomas Morrison (manager), Xavier Murphy (manager), Bob O’Neil (end, 1951-52), John Panelli (fullback, 1945‑48), Victor Paternostro (center, 1966), Ray Rutkowski (halfback, 1958‑60), Bill Walsh (center, 1945-48), Marty Wendell (guard, 1944-48) and Ernie Zalejski (1946-49). 22 Seasons since Notre Dame last recorded a home victory at night — 28-24 against No. 4 Michigan in the 1990 opener. The Irish didn’t play at night again until hosting USC last season, a 31‑17 defeat. Notre Dame is 3-0 against Michigan at home in night games. 57 Games in the 125-year history of Notre Dame’s program (1,197 games entering the Michigan State contest last weekend) where the winning points for the Irish have occurred in overtime or the game’s final minute of regulation. There were 45 of them in the first 120 seasons — and 12 in the last five, most recently the 20-17 victory against Purdue on sophomore Kyle Brindza’s 27-yard field goal with seven seconds left. 81-32-2 Notre Dame’s all-time record against the 12 current Atlantic Coast Conference schools in football. That does not include Pitt (46-20-1) and Syracuse (3-3), who will join the ACC in 2013, prior to Notre Dame beginning its five-games-per-season agreement with the league in 2014. The ACC program Notre Dame has played the most is Georgia Tech while posting a 27-6-1 advantage. However, Georgia Tech didn’t become a member of the ACC until 1978, and the Irish have played the Ramblin’ Wreck eight times since then. From the time the league was formed in 1953 until Georgia Tech joined in 1978, the Irish football team played the ACC teams only 16 times (12 versus North Carolina).