Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/904117
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 27, 2017 25 4 The Irish achieved their fourth "revenge" victory in as many attempts this season with the 24‑17 triumph against Navy. They had already defeated Michigan State (38‑18), USC (49‑14) and North Carolina State (35‑14) after falling to them in 2016. A conquest of Stanford this Saturday would complete the 5‑0 mark — and sweep all the Notre Dame "trophy games" this season versus Boston College (Leahy Bowl), the Spartans (Megaphone) and the Trojans (Jeweled Shillelagh). Currently the Cardinal owns the Legends Trophy, which is on the line versus Stanford. In addition, Notre Dame owns the Shillelagh versus Purdue, who it most recently played and defeated in 2014. 6 Games in the last eight in which Notre Dame did not commit a turnover on offense. The lone such miscue against Navy occurred on a fum‑ bled punt. The Irish have had only seven turnovers the past eight games, with four of them coming in the 41‑8 loss at Miami Nov. 11. 7 The 2017 season marked the seventh time the Irish played seven games in Notre Dame Stadium, and the 6‑1 record is tied for the second‑ best mark in such years: 1988 (7‑0) 1999 (5‑2), 2006 (6‑1), 2007 (1‑6), 2009 (4‑3) and 2010 (4‑3). 9 Victories recorded so far this season (9‑2) by the Fighting Irish with the win against the Midshipmen. Since 1974 — when Notre Dame began playing at least 11 regular season games on a yearly basis — this is the 18th time in the past 44 seasons it reached nine victories by the 11th game. The others were 1974, 1977, 1980, 1988‑93, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2005‑06, 2012 and 2015. 14 Rushing touchdowns this season by junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush after tal‑ lying from two yards out on the final Notre Dame play from scrimmage in the first half with eight sec‑ onds left. His 14 rushing touchdowns are tied for the seventh most in a season at Notre Dame with Bob Gladieux (1968). The single‑season Irish record for touchdowns is 20 (16 rushing and four receiv‑ ing) by Jerome Bettis as a sophomore in 1991. That's not including the three more he scored in a 39‑28 Sugar Bowl win versus No. 3 Florida. 15 Yards Navy had to cover on the fourth play of the second half when it faced third‑ and‑15. It converted it on a basic fullback dive play when Anthony Gargiulo romped 19 yards that kept alive the touchdown drive. Opponents had been 0 of 9 against Notre Dame on third‑and‑15 or longer this season prior to that play. 16-0-2 Notre Dame's all‑time record on games played Nov. 18, a rare achievement on any specific day. The most famous was the controversial 17‑15 defeat of No. 10 Syra‑ cuse in 1961 when Joe Perkowski booted a 41‑yard field goal as time expired. 72 Running plays by Navy. The record against Notre Dame was 76 by Nebraska when it defeated the Irish 14‑6 on Nov. 30, 1922, one of the first games together for the Four Horsemen, who were sophomores that season. 1,337 Rushing yards this season by ju‑ nior running back Josh Adams af‑ ter amassing 106 versus Navy. That moved him into fourth place on Notre Dame's single‑season rushing list, where he trails only Vagas Ferguson (1,437, 1979), Allen Pinkett (1,394, 1983) and Reggie Brooks (1,343, 1992). Had bowl games been included, Pinkett would be at 1,505 and Brooks at 1,458. 3,105 Career rushing yards by Adams following the victory versus Navy. He became the sixth Notre Dame player to surpass the 3,000‑yard barrier and in the process moved ahead of Julius Jones, who had 3,018 from 1999‑ 2003, for fifth on the all‑time Irish chart. The only four ahead of Adams now are his position coach Autry Denson (4,318 from 1995‑98), Allen Pinkett (4,131 from 1982‑85), Vagas Ferguson (3,472 from 1976‑79) and Darius Walker (3,249 from 2004‑06). Bowl stats are not included for the top three. BY THE NUMBERS BY LOU SOMOGYI 704 Rushing yards by Wimbush this season after adding 41 against the Midshipmen. Officially in the Notre Dame record books, that is the second most in a season by an Irish quarterback, behind only the 884 by Tony Rice in 1989 (not including 50 more yards in the Orange Bowl for 934). Rice had 700 rushing yards during the 1988 national title season, but that total did not include his 75 in the Fiesta Bowl. Back then, bowl games were not included in individual stats as they are now. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA