Blue and Gold Illustrated

December 2017

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

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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com DECEMBER 2017 25 5 Consecutive wins at home by Stanford against the Irish. Only Miami has a longer current streak versus Notre Dame, extending it to six earlier this month. Overall, Stanford has won 17 straight games at home against non-conference foes, with head coach David Shaw owning a 13-0 mark (4-0 versus the Irish). Stanford's last defeat at home to a non-league member came on Nov. 24, 2007 — against a 2-9 Notre Dame team (21-14). 8-1 Turnover disadvantage Notre Dame had in the final three games this season af- ter having a 19-7 advantage during the 8-1 start that ranked the Fighting Irish among the top 10 nationally in turnover margin. It concluded with the 3-0 deficit in turnovers in the loss at Stanford. In the final five games overall, Notre Dame gener- ated only three turnovers. 9 Straight years Stanford has won the final reg- ular-season game of the year, beginning with the 45-38 victory versus Notre Dame in 2009. It also defeated the Irish at home in 2011 (28-14), 2013 (27-20) and 2015 (38-36) and now this sea- son (38-20). Head coach David Shaw is 7-0 in regu- lar-season finales. Conversely, Notre Dame lost its fifth straight regular-season finale for the first time in school history. 23-12 Record of Shaw against opponents ranked in the top 25 of the Associ- ated Press poll at the time of the game, including the 38-20 win versus Notre Dame. That .6571 win- ning percentage puts him third nationally among current coaches, trailing only Ohio State's Urban Meyer at 37-15 (.712) and just behind Alabama's Nick Saban at 75-39 (.6578). Notre Dame's Brian Kelly is 23-21 (.535), but only 13-17 with the Irish. 33.2 Points per game yielded by Notre Dame in its four November games. In its eight games the first two months of the season, the Irish allowed only 16.1 points per contest and were the last team in the 129-team Football Bowl Subdivision to not allow more than 20 points in a contest. 83 Yards on junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush's first-quarter scoring pass to sophomore Kevin Stepherson, the longest pass completion for the Irish since Dayne Crist's 95-yard scoring toss to tight end Kyle Rudolph during a 28-24 loss to Michigan on Sept. 11, 2010. 142 Rushing yards averaged by Notre Dame at 3.83 yards per carry over the final three games of this season. During the 8-1 start, the Irish averaged 324.8 rushing yards and 7.0 yards per carry. Despite the dramatic drop-off in the final quar- ter of the regular season, Notre Dame's yards per carry of 6.37 yards is still on pace to easily shatter the school's modern-day mark of 5.63 set in 2015 — and the overall standard of 6.2 set back in 1921. 1,386 Rushing yards by junior running back Josh Adams this season, which left him 52 yards short of eclipsing what is technically listed as the school-record 1,437 by Vagas Ferguson during an 11-game season in 1979. If bowl games had also been included in the past, Allen Pinkett would have the record of 1,505 set in 1983. After rushing for 1,169 yards, 8.9 yards per carry and 146.2 yards per game during Notre Dame's 7-1 start in September and October, Adams was limited to 217 rushing yards, 3.7 yards per carry and 54.3 yards per game during the 2-2 November. BY THE NUMBERS BY LOU SOMOGYI 17 Passes broken up this season by soph- omore cornerback JULIAN LOVE after adding three more against Stanford. The previ- ous standard had been 13 set by sophomore Clarence Ellis during the 10-game regular season in 1969. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA

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