Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 9, 2017 11 UNDER THE DOME 3 Football games Notre Dame will play in October, which has become the norm with the bye week now usually strategically placed to coincide with mid-term fall break (Oct. 14). From 1958-2002, Notre Dame played a minimum of four games each October in all but two years (1985 and 1996). However, in the 15 seasons since 2003, this will be the eighth time the Fighting Irish play only three times in October: at North Carolina Oct. 7, and then USC Oct. 21 and North Carolina State Oct. 28 at home. 8 The national preseason ranking of the Notre Dame hockey team by both USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine, which were released Sept. 25. The regular season opens against Alabama Huntsville Oct. 6-7. Reigning national champ Denver, which defeated Notre Dame in the Frozen Four last April, is the preseason No. 1 Making their maiden voyage in Big Ten hockey this year, head coach Jeff Jackson's Fighting Irish are one of five conference teams ranked in the preseason polls, joining Minnesota (No. 4/3), Penn State (No. 10/10), Wisconsin (No. 12/T11) and Ohio State (No. 19/—). 11 Receptions by junior tight end ALIZÉ MACK for 116 yards after the first four games of 2017. Those figures already surpassed the team-high total at tight end last season by current fifth-year senior Durham Smythe, who had nine grabs for 112 yards in 2016. As a group, the tight ends after four games this season totaled 18 catches for 224 yards and a touchdown. Last year during the 12-game campaign the group to- taled 12 receptions for 159 yards. The return of Mack from academic ineligibility and the influence of new offensive coordinator Chip Long, who also is the tight ends coach, has been evident. 19 National ranking of Notre Dame men's basketball for the 2017-18 season by Blue Ribbon, often labeled the bible of college basketball. Furthermore, Irish senior forward Bonzie Colson was named the outlet's Preseason College Basketball Player of the Year. The lone Notre Dame men's hoopster to win the honor after the season was Austin Carr in 1971. The preseason top 25 has Arizona at No. 1 and is also represented by six Atlantic Coast Conference mem- bers: Duke (No. 3), Louisville (No. 6), reigning national champ North Carolina (No. 10), Miami (No. 16), Notre Dame (No. 19) and Virginia Tech (No. 25). No other conference had more than four teams in the rankings. 20-7 Record of Brian Kelly at Notre Dame in the month of October, which makes it his best month in terms of winning percent- age (.741) when playing a minimum of 10 games in the period. In his eight seasons with the Irish he also is 2-0 in August, 21-11 in September (.656), 17-11 in November (.607), 3-1 in December (.750) and 0-2 in January. 61 Consecutive regular season and Big Ten title games Michi- gan State's football program played without leading at some point of the game — until the 38-18 loss to Notre Dame this Sept. 23 in which the Fighting Irish jumped to a 14-0 advantage in the first 4:27 and never looked back. This streak did not include bowl games or the College Football Playoff, where the Spartans lost 38-0 to Alabama in 2015. The last time Michigan State had played a regular season or Big Ten title game in which it never took a lead was Sept. 15, 2012 — which also happened to be Notre Dame, a 20-3 defeat in which the Irish went up 7-0 less than five minutes into the contest. BY THE NUMBERS ✦ Sponsored by: NotreDameTickets.com PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA