Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2017 11 UNDER THE DOME 4 Ranking of Notre Dame offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Chip Long by USA Today for top new assistant coach hires in college foot- ball. The top three were LSU offensive coordinator Matt Canada (from Pitt), former Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson joining Ohio State as co-offensive coordinator and Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando (from Houston). The publication noted that Long's hiring "signals a shift in Notre Dame's coaching philosophy. It won't be Brian Kelly calling plays on Saturdays; it'll be Long, in an abrupt change." Also, 2010-13 Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco was ranked No. 6 after taking the same position at Ne- braska. Diaco had been the head coach at UConn from 2014-16 before getting fired with an 11-26 record. 10 Straight losses to Virginia by Notre Dame men's basketball since their initial meeting on Feb. 22, 1981, when Orlando Woolridge made a jumper at the horn to upset the No. 1 Cavaliers 57-56. Virginia's most recent win was 71-54 at Notre Dame Jan. 24, and its 10 consecutive victories in the series since Jan. 6, 1982 are one short of the record 11-game winning streak Duke had from 1988-2002. Notre Dame is 0-5 against Virginia since join- ing the ACC in 2013, and the Cavs are the lone foe among the 14 in the league the Irish haven't defeated. Notre Dame has averaged only 55.6 points in those contests and lost by an average of 14 points. Tony Bennett is 6-0 against Mike Brey, who has won five of the last seven versus Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. 24 Notre Dame's ranking in Athlon's "way too early" 2017 top 25, despite the 4-8 record in 2016. Also ranked are 4-8 Oregon at No. 21 and 5-7 Texas at No. 20. Among the 2017 Fighting Irish opponents are USC (No. 5), Georgia (No. 13), Stanford (No. 19) and Miami (No. 25). 30.04 Scoring average of the 128 Foot- ball Bowl Subdivision teams at the conclusion of the 2016 season, a new NCAA record. Fifty-seven teams averaged at least that many points, including Notre Dame at 30.92. Western Ken- tucky led the country in scoring (45.5 points per game). In- terestingly, Notre Dame's lowest scoring average in head coach Brian Kelly's seven seasons — 25.77 in 2012 — re- sulted in his best finish (12-1 and No. 4 in the country). 60-1 Odds given to Notre Dame from the West- gate Las Vegas SuperBook to win the 2017 football national title. That is tied with Miami, West Virginia and Wisconsin for the 21st-best odds. Alabama was on top at 3-1, followed by Florida State (which opens the season in Atlanta Sept. 2 versus the Crimson Tide) at 7-1, and Ohio State, Oklahoma and USC all at 8-1. 157 Consecutive games won by the Notre Dame women's basketball team when leading at half- time — until falling 71-69 at Tennessee Jan. 16. The Irish held a 44-31 advantage at halftime and upped the lead to as much as 15 in the second half, but were outscored 19-7 in the fourth quarter. The last such defeat occurred Feb. 12, 2012, when Notre Dame held a 33-30 edge at halftime before losing 65-63 to West Virginia. 1978 The last season Notre Dame football hired a younger on- the-field staff member than new quarterbacks coach TOM REES, who will turn 25 on May 22. That year head coach Dan Devine hired as his junior varsity coach 23-year-old Gene Smith, who graduated from Notre Dame in 1977 and was a graduate assistant for the national champs. Smith is now the athletics director at Ohio State. The closest to Rees' age since then was the 26-year-old Skip Holtz, who in 1990 was hired as the receivers coach by father Lou. BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA