Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 11, 2017 27 2 Quarterback sacks recorded by Notre Dame's defensive line, with sophomore drop ends DAELIN HAYES and Julian Okwara each notching one. That is now just one short of the three total the Fighting Irish D-line had in 12 games last year to rank last among the 65 Power Five teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision. 3 Players for Notre Dame — junior running backs Josh Adams and Dexter Williams, plus junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush — who rushed for more than 100 yards apiece and 391 total during the 49-16 victory against Temple. That is believed to be a first in school history. Research found two efforts that came the close to match- ing the "triple play." One was the 34-23 victory at Penn State in 1989 when the Irish accumulated 425 rushing yards, the most ever against the Nit- tany Lions, with quarterback Tony Rice at 141, running back Ricky Watters 128 and flanker Raghib "Rocket" Ismail 84 (353 among them). The other was in 2015 during the 62-27 win over UMass when C.J. Prosise gained 149 rushing yards, and the then-freshmen Adams and Wimbush totaled 133 and 92, respectively (374 among the trio). 7 Wimbush became the seventh straight differ- ent starter at quarterback for an opener at Notre Dame, all coming during head coach Brian Kelly's tenure: Dayne Crist (2011), Everett Golson (2012), Tom Rees (2013) — the current Irish QBs coach — Golson again (2014), Malik Zaire (2015) and DeShone Kizer (2016) — which is believed to be a Notre Dame record since the advent of the T-formation in 1942. The previous mark was six from 1976-81 with Rick Slager (1976), Rusty Lisch (1977), Joe Montana (1978), Lisch again (1979), Mike Courey (1980) and Blair Kiel (1981). Wimbush was the 24th different starting quarterback at Notre Dame since 1985. The Irish are 18-6 (.750) in those games, but has won six straight — all under head coach Brian Kelly. 9.6 Yards per carry averaged by Notre Dame while garnering 422 on the ground. That is the most in one game in the "modern era" since the 10.0 average (250 yards on 25 carries) in the 1942 season finale versus Great Lakes Naval Sta- tion, a 13-13 tie. 10 Career touchdowns rushing by Adams after tallying twice against Temple, high- lighted by his 37-yard jaunt to open the scoring in the first minute of the game. Six of his 10 rushing scores have covered at least 35 yards, with his 98- yard score against Wake Forest in 2015 the longest run in school history. 25-6 Record by Notre Dame in its last 31 season openers after losing a school- record three in a row from 1984-86. The Irish are now also 70-16-2 (.806) in home openers at Notre Dame Stadium, which opened in 1930 (Knute Rockne's final season as head coach). 33 Seconds it took for Notre Dame to score on a 37-yard touchdown run by Adams. It was the fastest score by Notre Dame to open a new season since 1993, when linebacker Pete Bercich returned an interception against North- western for a 21-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage while only eight seconds elapsed. 49 Points tallied by the Fighting Irish, the most in a home opener since scoring the same amount in a 49-27 victory versus Indiana in 1991. Notre Dame defeated Navy 50-10 in the 2012 opener, but that was in Ireland, not on its home field. Since 1945, the only three openers overall in which Notre Dame tallied more points were 1971 versus Northwestern (50-7), 1983 at Purdue (52-6) and the aforementioned Navy game in 2012. 290 Total yards offense by Wimbush in his first start — 184 passing and 106 rushing. He is the first Notre Dame quarterback to eclipse the century mark in both passing and rushing in a game since DeShone Kizer achieved it against Stanford in a 38-36 road loss in the 2015 regular-season finale. Kizer passed for 234 yards and rushed for 128 in that contest. 77,622 The new official Notre Dame Stadium capacity, which was announced against Temple as the 256th consecu- tive sellout since the start of the 1974 season. Last year, the seating capacity was 80,795, or 3,173 more than after the completion Campus Cross- roads Project. The last official non-sellout was the Thanksgiving Day game versus Air Force on Nov. 22, 1973, when the Notre Dame Stadium ca- pacity was 59,075. There were officially 57,236 in that game in the midst of a national title campaign. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA BY THE NUMBERS BY LOU SOMOGYI