Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/89043
UNDER THE DOME time since 1981 a Notre Dame defense had gone more than 10 quarters without surrendering a touchdown. Under first- year head coach Gerry Faust in 1981, it had an 11-quarter streak. The modern-day school record — defined as starting with the 1946 season, or after World War II — for most con- secutive quarters with- out permitting a touch- down is 23, set by head coach Dan Devine's final team in 1980 that was spearheaded by All- Americans Bob Crable and Scott Zettek at line- backer and end, respec- tively, and safety Dave Duerson in the second- ary. However, here is the ambiguity: the peer- less defense of the 1966 national championship team went 25 straight quarters (six full games and one quarter) with- out allowing a point, never mind a touch- down. So why isn't that fea- streak, Navy blocked an Irish punt that it re- turned for a touchdown during a 31-7 defeat. Even though it wasn't the Notre Dame de- fense's fault, it's a "team stat." Consequently, the record books at Notre Dame will show that the 2012 team went "only" 13 straight quar- ters without permitting a touchdown — even though it wasn't the de- fense's fault that Stan- ford recovered an Irish fumble in the end zone. In the last 40 years, led the nation entering the Oct. 20 clash versus BYU in fewest touch- downs allowed with four (including Stan- ford's defensive score). Alabama was second with six (including a 98- yard kickoff return by Missouri Oct. 13). When asked if the 6-0 team, Rutgers at 11.5. However, Notre Dame Notre Dame has finished in the top 10 in NCAA scoring defense only four times: third during the 1973 national title season (6.6 points al- lowed per game), fifth in the aforementioned 1980 campaign (10.1), third again during the 1988 national title cam- paign (12.3) and ninth in 2002 (16.7). Through the first half tured as the "Notre Dame record" for most quarters not yielding a touchdown? The answer is because in the middle of that of the 2012 season, the only two teams in the country that were in single digits in scor- ing defense were No. 1 Alabama (7.5 points per game) and Notre Dame (8.67). No. 3 is another Irish defense is keep- ing track of its achieve- ments, senior All-Amer- ican linebacker Manti Te'o remained typically even-keeled. "We still have half a season to play," Te'o warned three days prior to the Brigham Young game. "So from that perspective, we haven't done anything yet. After the 12th game, you can ask me that question and I can tell you how much pride we have in that. "We're going to con- tinue to work hard and correct the mistakes we've made. We haven't given up a touchdown in a month, true. But we've also made a lot of mis- takes, and mistakes that can be corrected — and mistakes that we will correct and hopefully continue to dominate."