Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 14, 2016 9 UNDER THE DOME 1 Preseason Associated Press ranking for the Notre Dame women's bas- ketball team. The Fighting Irish received 14 of the 33 first-place votes while compiling 793 points, barely edging out No. 2 Baylor, which had 789 points and 12 first-place ballots. Connecticut, the reigning four-time cham- pion that has won 75 straight games but graduated three superstars, is No. 3 and had six first-place votes. No. 4 South Carolina had the other first-place vote. The last time the Irish were ranked No. 1 was March 5, 2001, before going on to win the national title. 1.6 Overnight rating for the Oct. 29 Notre Dame- Miami game, down 45 percent from Notre Dame-USC in primetime last year (2.9 rating) and 30 percent under Notre Dame-North Carolina in the 2014 afternoon game (2.3). The 1.6 is tied as the lowest on NBC this season, matching the Irish home opener Sept. 10 versus Nevada. 3 Road trips in November Notre Dame's football team will make to the three most prominent states for recruit- ing: Florida (Jacksonville, Nov. 5 Navy game), Texas (San Antonio, Nov. 12 Army contest) and Califor- nia (Los Angeles, Nov. 26 USC out- ing). It is the first time Notre Dame has been in the "Big Three" states the same month. It will be Notre Dame's third trip to Texas in the eight-year history of the Shamrock Series, with the first in 2009, also at San Antonio's Alamodome (Washington State), and the second in 2013 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington (Arizona State). 7 Notre Dame men's basketball's predicted finish in the ACC's pre- season poll. No. 1 Duke received 85 of the 91 first-place votes while totaling 1,359 points, with No. 2 North Caro- lina (1,259) receiving the other six in the 15-team league. Also ranked ahead of the Irish — the lone team nationally to advance to the Elite Eight the past two years — are Virginia (1,125), Louisville (1,034), Syracuse (905) and North Carolina State (772). Behind the No. 7 Irish (716) are Florida State (705), Mi- ami (650), Virginia Tech (645), Clemson (623), Pitt (511), Wake Forest (309), Georgia Tech (199) and Boston College (129). 12 Tackles for loss by Notre Dame's defense in the 30-27 victory versus Miami Oct. 29 — the most since producing the same number in a 34-10 victory versus Syracuse in the home finale Nov. 19, 2005, head coach Charlie Weis' debut season. They had 10 the following week in a 38-31 win at Stanford to clinch a Bowl Championship Series bid. 16 Points tallied by Notre Dame hockey junior forward A N D E RS B J O R K in October, tying him for No. 1 nationally. That production earned Big East Hockey Player of The Month for the 2014 fifth-round pick of the Boston Bruins. In October, Bjork scored seven goals (fourth nationally) and assisted on nine others (tied for first in the country). He scored two game-winning goals and also added two assists in a 3-1 win over currently top- ranked Minnesota Duluth Oct. 15. 25.3 Seconds difference b e t w e e n N o t r e Dame sophomore cross country standout Anna Rohrer and the second-place overall finisher at the ACC Cross Country Cham- pionships Oct. 28 in Cary, N.C. Rohrer finished the 6,000-me- ter race in 19:26.4 and helped No. 19-ranked Notre Dame finish second to No. 3 North Carolina State. For the Irish, sophomore Annie Heffernan (20:05.0) and gradu- ate student Danielle Aragon (20-19:4) also earned All-ACC honors. 2096 Imagine being told this would be the next sea- son that Notre Dame would win a national title in football. That's how long Chicago Cubs fans had to wait between World Series titles from 1908 to 2016. BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS