Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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16 SEPT. 11, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME UNDER THE DOME Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom Felicien Dumas — Soccer T h e j u n i o r m i d f i e l d e r earned Co-Most Outstanding Defensive Player honors after helping No. 8-ranked Notre Dame capture the Mike Ber- ticelli Memorial Tournament with wins over San Diego (2-0) Aug. 25 and Cal Poly (2-1 in double overtime) Aug. 27. Dumas — who was born in Paris, France, and raised in Tokyo, Japan — tallied his first career goal, a game-winning penalty kick against San Diego, and two assists. He also played a vital role in a back line that surrendered only seven shots on goal in nearly 200 minutes of action. Sabrina Flores — Soccer The junior defender/mid- fielder from Livingston, N.J., scored her first goal since the 2015 season in a 2-0 win at Iowa Aug. 27. She took an assist from fifth-year senior Sandra Yu and put the Irish up 1-0 in the 12th minute. Flores sat out the 2016 Irish campaign while competing on the United States' Under-20 Women's National Team. Martinas Geben — Basketball The senior forward from Vilnius, Lithuania, helped his homeland's student na- tional team take home the gold medal at the World Uni- versity Games in Taipei, Tai- wan. In the gold medal game against Purdue (the United States' representative), he notched 12 points and seven rebounds to help Lithuania to an 85-74 victory Aug. 29. Geben's best performance came in a 112-71 win over Russia Aug. 26, when he had 20 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Jemma Yeadon — Volleyball The sophomore from Mercer Island, Wash., led Notre Dame to victories over Valparaiso (3-1), Rhode Island (3-0) and New Mexico State (3-0) in the season-opening Golden Dome Invitational Aug. 25-26. In the win versus New Mexico State, Yeadon recorded a career-best 20 kills to go along with 10 digs. Along with teammates Ryann Dejarld and Rebecca Nunge, she was named to the all-tournament team. TOP OF THE CLASS ✦ GIMME FIVE When Notre Dame hosts Georgia this Satur- day, it will mark the 40th time since becoming a head coach at the Football Bowl Subdivision level in 2004 that Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly will face a ranked team. Entering the contest, he is 21-18: 0-1 at Cen- tral Michigan from 2004-06 (the loss coming to Michigan in 2006), an impressive 10-3 at Cincinnati from 2007-09, and 11-14 at Notre Dame the past seven years. The .538 winning percentage overall against ranked foes is No. 6 among current coaches who have played a minimum of 10 such games, just behind UCLA's Jim Mora, who is No. 5 at .542 (13-11). It should be noted that first-year Texas head coach Tom Herman is 6-0, with all the wins coming the past two seasons at Houston. First- year Baylor head coach Matt Rhule also was 3-2 at Temple. Here are the top five coaches in winning per- centage with at least 10 games against teams that were in the Associated Press poll at the time of the game: Rk. Coach Record Pct. 1. Urban Meyer 35-14 .714 2. David Shaw 20-10 .667 3. Nick Saban 72-38 .655 4. Jimbo Fisher 17-10 .630 5. Jim Mora 13-11 .542 Getting To Know … SOPHOMORE DEFENSIVE END JULIAN OKWARA Hometown: "Charlotte, N.C." High School: "Ardrey-Kell." Major: "Business management." Favorite Food: "Seafood." Favorite Place To Eat In South Bend: "Chick Fil-A." Favorite Music: "Hip hop." Fav o r i te M u s i - cian: "I like all differ- ent types of music. I don't really have one favorite." Favorite Movie: "'Point Break.'" Favorite TV Show: "'Prison Break.'" Favorite Part About Playing For Notre Dame: "Just being able to strap on the hel- met. Being in this room and thinking about who's been in here, and all the banners and championships that have been won at Notre Dame Stadium is just amazing." Who's The Best Player You've Ever Lined Up Across From?: "I would definitely say our of- fensive line. They're definitely a tough group. It's really hard to get by them. They're just a great group of guys." CHARTING THE IRISH EXPERIENCE MATTERS Against Temple, the Irish faced one of the least experienced teams in the nation, according to college football expert Phil Steele. The Owls ranked 111th nationally heading into the 2017 season in experience under a metric Steele uses in his annual college football preview magazine. The measurement factors in returning starters, returning letter winners, percentage of yards and tackles returning, and career starts on the offensive line. The Owls returned just 46.8 percent of their total yards and 49.0 percent of their total tackles from a 2016 team that finished 10-4 and won the American Athletic Conference. The script will flip this week for the Irish when they host Georgia. The Bulldogs return 17 starters and rank 13th nationally in experience, per Steele. UGA returns seven starters on offense and 87.1 percent of its 2016 total offensive yards (passing, rushing and receiving), but its 45 career starts along the offensive line is just 97th nationally. The defense features 10 returning starters and 86.6 percent of its 2016 tackles total. Here is how the Irish stack up against all of their 2017 opponents: PHIL STEELE'S COLLEGE FOOTBALL RANKINGS BASED ON EXPERIENCE MOVING? Let us know! Call 1-800-421-7751 Team National Rank Miami (Ohio) 3 North Carolina State 8 Georgia 13 Wake Forest 32 Boston College 46 Stanford 49 USC 72 Team National Rank Miami (Fla.) 73 Notre Dame 84 Navy 102 Temple 111 North Carolina 112 Michigan State 129