Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 20, 2017 7 UNDER THE DOME 37.6 set by Ara Parseghian's 1968 team. Here are the top five at the school: 1. 1968 — 37.6: Led by quarter‑ backs Terry Hanratty and then Joe Theismann, after Hanratty was in‑ jured, the Irish scored more than 50 three times (versus Iowa, Illinois and Pitt), but also had only 22 and 17 in losses to Purdue and Michigan State. 2. 1992 — 37.2: This unit featured No. 2 NFL pick Rick Mirer at quarter‑ back, and the two backs, Jerome Bet‑ tis and Reggie Brooks, would rush for more than 1,000 yards as NFL rookies the next season. 3. 1996 — 37.0: Head coach Lou Holtz's final team that finished 8‑3 had 54‑point efforts in wins against Washington and Navy, and also crushed Boston College (48‑21), Pitt (60‑6) and Rutgers (62‑0) before los‑ ing at USC (27‑20) in the finale. 4. 2005 — 36.7: Charlie Weis' debut season as head coach saw a prolific passing attack under Brady Quinn score at least 31 points in a school‑ record nine straight games. 5. 1993 — 36.6: This 11‑1 team with unheralded senior quarterback Kevin McDougal at the throttle finished its last seven regular‑season games scor‑ ing at least 31 points in each contest, including a 31‑24 win versus No. 1 Florida State. It should be noted the 1966 cham‑ pions led the nation in scoring of‑ fense at 36.2 (and were No. 2 in scor‑ ing defense at 3.8, with two of the five touchdowns given up all year scored by the opposing defense or special teams). ✦ SAY HELLO TO THE NEW BRANDED SHOE NOTRE DAME BUY IT HERE bit.ly/NDbandit For The Record In the 48-37 victory against Wake Forest Nov. 4, Notre Dame saw its string of six consecutive wins by at least 20 points snapped, despite holding a 41-16 lead with 17 minutes and four seconds remaining. That was the second longest such stretch of dominance in the program's history, behind only the seven in a row by the 1966 national champs that ended with the 10-10 tie at No. 2 Michigan State. Nevertheless, in that same game two notable streaks or standards on offense remained or continued. The first was for the seventh consecutive contest the Fighting Irish surpassed the 30-point mark. That feat has been achieved by only three other Notre Dame units. • One was the 1966 national champions that went on to lead the nation in scoring (36.2 points per game). • The 11-1 team in 1993 that finished No. 2 went from games five through 11 with at least 31 points in each, highlighted by the 31-24 defeat of No. 1 Florida State to put the Irish at No. 1 for one week before losing the regular-season finale to Boston College, 41-39. The streak ended with the 24-21 Cot- ton Bowl victory versus No. 7 Texas A&M. • The 2005 edition under first-year head coach Charlie Weis holds the record of nine consecutive games with at least 30 points. After the 17-10 defeat of No. 3 Michigan in the second week, that of- fense led by quarterback Brady Quinn finished the remainder of the nine games of the regular season by tallying a minimum of 31 points, including losses to Michigan State (44-41) and No. 1 USC (34-31). Second, the 48 points against Wake Forest also marked the fifth time Notre Dame exceeded 40 points in a contest this season, and made it the 11th at the school to achieve it that many times. Only three have reached six 40-point games in a season: Lou Holtz's 1991 and 1992 teams, and the 2005 edition. — Lou Somogyi