Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/890623
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 30, 2017 9 UNDER THE DOME 1 For the fifth straight year, the Notre Dame's women's basketball program was selected to finish No. 1 in the ACC by both the 60-person Blue Ribbon panel and by the league's 15 head coaches. Notre Dame has won four straight ACC championships (regular season and tournament) while producing a remarkable 74-2 record against conference foes. Blue Ribbon had Notre with 35 of the 60 first-place votes for 858 points. Second was Louisville (809, five first-place votes), followed by Duke (799 points, 10 first place) and Florida State (752, 10 first place). The coaches had the Irish with 212 points and eight first-place ballots, followed by Louisville (205, one first place), Duke (200, three first place) and Florida State (188, three first place). Junior guards Arike Ogunbowale and Marina Mabrey were on both 10-woman ACC first teams, while graduate transfer point guard Lili Thompson was on the five-woman Newcomers of the Year list. 3 Fighting Irish captains selected to Sports Illustrated's Midseason All- America Team. Fifth-year senior left tackle Mike McGlinchey and senior left guard Quenton Nelson were on the first team, while junior running back Josh Adams was on the second unit, with Stanford's Bryce Love and Penn State's Saquon Barkley the two backs named to the first team. Nelson also was on Associated Press and ESPN first-team Midseason All-America units, while McGlinchey was on the AP second team. 4 Projected finish in 2017-18 of Notre Dame men's bas- ketball by SI.com in the 15-team Atlantic Coast Confer- ence. Duke is at No. 1 with a projected 14-4 conference mark, while Louisville — despite the axing of head coach Rick Pitino — and Miami are tied for second at 13-5 and the Fighting Irish fourth at 12-6. Reigning national champion North Carolina is fifth at 11-7. Notre Dame senior BONZIE COLSON is the site's pre- season ACC Player of the Year. He was the lone player in the league to average double-figure scoring and rebounding last season. 11 Career runs of at least 50 yards from the line of scrimmage by Notre Dame junior running back Josh Adams as he headed into last weekend's USC game. Ten of them were at least 59 yards, with six of them coming by the halfway mark of this season. Per our research that dated back to the Ara Parseghian era which began 1964, the most runs of 50 yards or more by a Notre Dame player was six by Reggie Brooks (1989-92), who finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy balloting as a senior and became a second-round draft pick. 15 Years since Notre Dame had recorded a safety prior to senior Jay Hayes and junior Jerry Tillery combining for one at North Carolina right before halftime to extend the Irish lead to 16-7 en route to a 33-10 victory. The previous one occurred on Sept. 14, 2002, when sophomore defensive end Justin Tuck forced an intentional grounding call in the end zone that resulted in a safety and the difference in a 25-23 win versus No. 7 Michigan. 20 Quarterfinalists selected this month for the 2017 Lott IMPACT Trophy, including Notre Dame senior captain/rover Drue Tranquill, an engineering major. The award represents the nation's best college defensive players who make the biggest IMPACT — Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity — both on and off the field. Named after College and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Ronnie Lott, the award was founded in 2004. It is the first and only college football award to equally recognize athletic performance and the personal character attributes of the player. Among the recipients was 2012 Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te'o. Semifinalists will be announced Nov. 8 and four finalists will be announced Nov. 28 prior to the Dec. 10 revelation of the winner. BY THE NUMBERS ✦ Sponsored by: NotreDameTickets.com PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND