Blue and Gold Illustrated

Nov. 13, 2017

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/897211

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 8 of 55

www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 13, 2017 9 UNDER THE DOME 1 Team in the 129-team Football Bowl Subdivision — Notre Dame — that did not allow an opponent to score more than 20 points entering the month of November. In the previous 50 seasons from 1967-2016, the only other Fighting Irish teams to achieve that through the first eight games of the season were in 1970, 1973, 1982 and 2012. During the 7-1 start this year, the Notre Dame scoring defense ranked 10th nationally with an average of 16.1 points allowed per game. 3 Notre Dame linebacker recruits among the 16 semifinalists for the 2017 High School Butkus Award, which is presented to the best prep linebacker in the nation: Matthew Bauer from Cathedral Prep School in Erie, Pa; Ovie Oghoufo, from Harrison High in Farmington Hills, Mich.; and Shayne Smith, from St. Pe- ter's Prep in Jersey City, N.J., the same school that produced current junior Irish quarterback Brandon Wimbush. The fourth Fighting Irish verbal at linebacker for the 2018 signing class, Jack Lamb from Great Oaks High in T e m e c u l a , C a l i f. , i s t h e highest ranked I r i s h r e c r u i t in the current class (No. 65 na- tionally) by Rivals, but sat out the first six weeks because of a knee injury (he re- turned to action in mid- October). Notre Dame is also vying to land Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei star line- backer Solomon Tuliaupupu, the No. 85 overall prospect in the country. He took an official visit to the Notre Dame-USC game Oct. 21 and is also on the 16-man Butkus Award list. 4 Consecutive games in which Notre Dame junior run- ning back Josh Adams had a touchdown run that cov- ered at least 70 yards: 73 versus Miami (Ohio) Sept. 30, 73 yards at North Carolina Oct. 7, 84 yards against USC Oct. 21, the week after a bye, and 77 yards versus North Carolina State Oct. 28. Those four straight such contests make Adams the first such Football Bowl Subdivision player to achieve the feat since the STATS database was formed in 1996. Three had 70-yard touchdown runs in three straight games: Texas Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams (1997), Northern Illinois' Garrett Wolfe (2006) and Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate (2017). Adams also led the nation in yards gained per carry after contact with 5.6. His 736 yards after contact through the first eight games would have ranked 31st nation- ally in itself. 8 Players in Notre Dame history who returned two interceptions for touchdowns during a season — with sophomore cornerback JULIAN LOVE joining that list Oct. 28 after his 69-yard score versus North Carolina State. Earlier in the season he tallied on a 59-yard return at Michi- gan State. Chronologically, the other seven were: safety Tom Schoen (1966), safety Randy Harrison (1974), linebacker Bobby Leopold (1977), cornerback Dave Waymer (1979), cornerback Allen Rossum (1995), cornerback Shane Walton (2002) and safety Tom Zbikowski (2005). 35.2 Percent chance Notre Dame was given by the ESPN Football Power Index (FPI) of winning all four of its regular season games in November to finish 11-1. The FPI had the Irish with a 91 percent chance of defeating Wake Forest, 66 percent of winning at Miami Nov. 11, 96 percent versus Navy Nov. 18, and 60 percent at Stanford Nov. 25, but just 35.2 percent cumulatively. 100 The Nov. 11 contest at Miami will be the 100th game coached by Brian Kelly at Notre Dame, making him the fifth to achieve that milestone. The most games coached at the school belongs to Lou Holtz with 132 (100-30-2, .764 percentage) from 1986-96. Next were Knute Rockne with 122 (105-12-5, .881) from 1918-30, Ara Parseghian with 116 (95-17-4, .836) from 1964-74, and Frank Leahy with 107 (87-11-9, .855) from 1941-43 and 1946-53. Kelly entered the Miami game with a career record of 67-32 (.677) from 2010 through the present. BY THE NUMBERS ✦ Sponsored by: NotreDameTickets.com PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Blue and Gold Illustrated - Nov. 13, 2017