Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1189016
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com DECEMBER 2019 9 UNDER THE DOME 4 Notre Dame football seniors who have accepted invitations to play in the annual Reese's Senior Bowl, which will be held Jan. 25 at Mobile, Ala.: wide receiver Chase Claypool, defen- sive end Khalid Kareem, cornerback Troy Pride Jr. and safety Jalen Elliott. 6 Consecutive games to open her college career that Notre Dame freshman forward SAM BRUNELLE scored in double figures — the first player to do so in the program's history that dates back to 1977-78. During the 4-2 start and prior to the Cancun Challenge Nov. 28-30 with three games in three days over Thanksgiving weekend, Brunelle and sopho- more guard Katlyn Gilbert paced the Irish in scoring with 15.3 points per contest. In back-to-back fourth-quarter comeback wins versus Toledo (54-51) Nov. 20 and at No. 21 Michigan (76-72) Nov. 23, Brunelle thrived in the closing minutes, finishing with 19 points and 13 rebounds versus the Rockets, and then scoring nine of her 12 points in the final minutes versus the Wolverines. 29 Games in a row Notre Dame won against unranked opposition from Oct. 13, 1990, until losing 30-11 at Boston College on Oct. 8, 1994. That is the longest such streak by the Fighting Irish since the advent of the Associated Press poll in 1936. Moving into second place with 22 after defeating Boston College Nov. 23 was this year's Notre Dame team that has not fallen to an unranked team since the 34-31 loss to Virginia Tech at home on Nov. 19, 2016. Head coach Frank Leahy's 1946-48 units had 21 straight before a tie at USC in the 1948 season finale. Head coach Ara Parseghian had two Notre Dame teams put together 17- and 16-game win- ning streaks from 1968-70 and 1966-68, respectively. 35 Victories by former Notre Dame head coach Bob Davie at New Mexico in his eight seasons from 2012-19 before coming to a mutual decision with the school to resign after a health scare earlier this season prevented him from making the trip to South Bend for the Sept. 14 game with the Irish. The 35 victories matched his 35 at Notre Dame from 1997-2001, but he was 35-63 with the Lobos prior to his finale versus Utah State Nov. 30. Davie led the moribund program to a 9-4 finish in 2016, but was unable to sustain that success with 3-9, 3-9 and 2-9 records the past three seasons, including a 2-21 mark in the Mountain West Conference. No Notre Dame coach ever posted a winning career mark at another university after getting fired or resigning his post with the Fighting Irish, although in fairness most took over programs that were significantly down: • Hunk Anderson — 11-17-1 at North Carolina State (1934-36) • Gerry Faust — 43-53-3 at Akron (1986-94) • Lou Holtz — 33-37 at South Carolina (1999-2004) • Bob Davie — 35-63 at New Mexico (2012-19, with one game left) • Ty Willingham — 11-37 at Washington (2005-08) • Charlie Weis — 6-22 at Kansas (2012-14) 800 Career games coached by 20th-year Notre Dame men's basketball coach Mike Brey when his Fighting Irish host UCLA Dec. 14. This includes his five-year stint at the University of Delaware from 1995-2000 (99-52) prior to accepting the Notre Dame posi- tion. Santa Clara's Herb Sendek is scheduled to reach the 800-game mark on the same day as Brey, and they will become the 24th and 25th active coaches to reach 800 career games. 71,827 Officially listed attendance for this year's home finale versus Boston College Nov. 23, or 2,253 less than the game versus Navy a week earlier when Notre Dame "officially" did not sell out a home game for the first time since the Thanksgiving Day game versus Air Force in 1973, a span of 273 contests. The total against the Eagles was the lowest in the now official capacity of 77,622 since the expansion of the stadium in 1997. From 1974-96, the familiar figure of 59,075 was the official sellout number. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER