Looking at Rutgers by the numbers.

Rutgers 2013 OVERALL FBS RANKINGS; PASSING YARDS 242.3 52nd Overall, RUSHING YARDS 133.7 97th Overall, POINTS FOR 27.473^rd Overall, POINTS AGAINST 29.883rd Overall.

Rutgers 2013 Team Leaders; PASSING, Gary Nova 165 completions, 303 attempts, 2159 yards & 18 touchdowns.  Chas Dodd 63 completions, 105 attempts, 712 yards & 2 touchdowns. 

RUSHING, Paul James 146 carries, 833 yards, 5.7 yards per carry & 9 touchdowns.  Justin Goodwin 108 carries, 518 yards, 4.8 yards per carry & 5 touchdowns. 

RECEIVING, Tyler Kroft 40 receptions, 530 yards, 13.3 yards per catch & 4 touchdowns.  Quron Pratt 31 receptions, 493 yards, 15.9 yards per catch & 0 touchdowns. 

KICKING, Kyle Federico 33 extra points made, 34 extra points attempted, 97.1 extra point percentage, 9 field goals made & 15 field goals attempted.  Nick Borgese 6 extra points attempted, 6 extra points made, 100 extra point percentage & no field goals attempted.

Rutgers Pinstripe Bowl Game Notes.

History

The teams first met at the Polo Grounds on Nov. 8, 1921 with the Irish claiming a 48-0 victory.

Notre Dame leads the series against Rutgers 4-0.

The Irish have recorded shutouts in three of the four meetings with the Scarlet Knights while scoring at least 42 points themselves in all four contests.

The New Era Pinstripe Bowl marks the 26^th time that the Irish have played at Yankee Stadium.  Notre Dame is 16-6-3 (.700) all-time at Yankee Stadium, including a 1-0 mark in the new stadium and a 15-6-3 (.688) record in the original facility.

On Nov. 10, 1928 at Yankee Stadium, head coach Knute Rockne delivered perhaps the most famous halftime speech in sports history. With Army leading the Irish at intermission, Rockne told his team about Notre Dame's first All-American, George Gipp, whose death bed wish was that someday when the Irish were down that Rockne implore the team to "win one for the Gipper." Notre Dame scored two second half touchdowns after the speech to defeat Army, 12-6.

Notable Head-to-Head Statistical Matchups

Notre Dame Fighting Irish		Stanford Cardinal
National Rank 78th, Rushing Offense (157.1 yards per game)	vs.		Rushing Defense, National Rank 3rd (89.5 yards allowed per game)
National Rank 116th, Kickoff Return Defense (25.17 yards allowed per kickoff)	vs.		Kickoff Returns, National Rank 1st (27.21 yards gained per kickoff)
National Rank 103rd, Sacks (1.36 sacks game)	vs.		Sacks Allowed , National Rank 10th (0.91 sacks allowed per game)
National Rank 107th, Red Zone Offense (75%)	vs.		Red Zone Defense, National Rank 21st (75.8%)
National Rank 40th, Passing Offense (254.1 yards per game)	vs.		Passing Defense, National Rank 101st (259 yards allowed per game)

 

Top Notre Dame Performances vs. Rutgers

Rushing Yards: Tony Fisher, 27 carries, 135yards, 1 TD

Passing Yards: Carlyle Holiday, 13 attemps, 25 completions, 270yards, 4 TD’s

 

Receiving: Arnaz Battle, 3 receptions, 108yards, 2 TD’s

 

 

NOTRE DAME – RUTGERS CONNECTIONS

 

The Irish boast five student-athletes from the state of New Jersey in Carlo Calabrese (Verona/Verona H.S.), Bennett Jackson (Hazlet/Raritan H.S.), Rashad Kinlaw (Galloway/Absegami H.S.), Elijah Shumate (East Orange/Don Bosco Prep) and Tyler Stockton (Linwood/The Hun School).

Notre Dame’s Elijah Shumate, DB & Rutgers Leonte Carroo, WR, Darius Hamilton, DL, Aidan Murray, P and Gary Nova, QB all attended Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.)

Notre Dame’s James Onwualu, WR and Rutgers Andre Hunt, RB both played for Cretin-Derham Hall H.S. (St. Paul, Minn.)

Notre Dame’s Greg Bryant, RB and Michael Deeb, LB along with Rutgers Bryant-Gross Armiento, DB all attended American Heritage H.S. (Plantation, Fla.)

A VICTORY OVER RUTGERS

Improves Notre Dame’s record to 9-4 on the season.

Improves Notre Dame’s all-time record to 5-0 (1.000) against Rutgers.

Improves Brian Kelly’s all-time record at Notre Dame to 37-15 (.712).

Improves Brian Kelly’s record in bowl games to 2-2 (.500) as Notre Dame head coach.

Irish Milestones Within Reach

George Atkinson III needs 57 rushing yards to reach 1,000 for his career.

TJ Jones needs 131 receiving yards to move into 5th all-time in school history and 150 for 4^th all-time.

TJ Jones needs 4 receptions to move into 2nd all-time in school history.

TJ Jones needs 3 TD receptions to move into 4th all-time in school history.

TJ Jones needs 3 receptions to move into 8th in single-season school history and 5 for 7^th.

TJ Jones needs 39 receiving yards to move into 7th in single-season school history, 73 for 6^th, 82 for 5^th, 106 for 4^th, and 108 for 3^rd.

TJ Jones needs 1 TD reception to move into 8th in single-season school history and 2 for 6^th.

TJ Jones needs 1 100-yd game to move into 3rd in single-season school history and into 7th all-time in school history.

Tommy Rees needs 252 pass yards to move into 3rd all-time in school history.

Tommy Rees needs 2 TD passes to move into 3rd in single-season history.

Tommy Rees needs 42 passing yards to reach 3,000 for the season (third QB in ND history).

Tommy Rees needs to be responsible for 19 points to move into 2nd all-time in school history.

Troy Niklas needs 1 TD reception to move into 1st in single-season TE history.

Stephon Tuitt needs 1.0 sacks to move into tie for 4th all-time in school history, 2 for 3^rd and 3 for 2^nd.

Prince Shembo needs 1.0 sacks to move into tie for 6th all-time in school history and 2 for 5^th.

Kyle Brindza needs 2 field goals to move into 3rd in career history.

*1 more start will extend Zack Martin’s record of most starts and consecutive starts to 52.

Notable “The Last Time” Notre Dame against Rutgers

The Defense Recorded nine or more sacks vs. Rutgers, 1996

The Irish Among the National Leaders

Category Rank Stat	National Category Rank	Category Rank Stat
Passing Yards Allowed	17th	201.7
4th Down Conversion % Defense	5th	0.278
Passing TDs	17th	Tommy Rees – 27
Passing Yards/Completion	8th	Tommy Rees – 14.91

 

Bowl Storylines

As the weekend approaches and the match up against the Scarlet Knights nears in the Pinstripe Bowl there are a few things that will play out at the season comes to an official end Saturday afternoon.

Swan Song for Tommy Rees.  For four years Irish fans have cheered and jeered number 12.  When Rees appeared as a freshman he may not have been looked upon as a physically dominant signal caller however he seemed to have enough excitement to have the Notre Dame faithful saying things like “hey he’s only a freshman he could…”  However whether you feel he got a fair shake or not he has bailed out the Irish as much as he has blew it for them.  Statistically he will rank as one of the top Notre Dame Quarterbacks of all time.  Love him or hate him The Pinstripe Bowl will be the last time he takes the field for Her Loyal Sons.  I predict he will end his career with a win.

Possibly the last game in an Irish uniform for Stephon Tuitt.  My gut says that Tuitt has already made up his mind on whether he will stay or go.  I would suspect one way or another good or bad the past two years of the Louis Nix era has influenced him.  Stay; get your degree, re-elevate your NFL stock, comeback for another championship run.  Leave; make millions now, don’t risk injury in college, don’t risk your NFL stock dropping.  It could go either way but if I had to bet I would bet Saturday will be his last game for the Irish.

A look ahead to Notre Dame’s future Offensive Line.  Out; Chris Watt, Nick Martin and Christian Lombard.  In; True freshman Steve Elmer, Redshirt freshman Mark Harrell and Redshirt Sophomore Conor Hanratty.  Yes down the line Elmer will be joined along the offensive line by fellow classmates Hunter Biven, Mike McGlinchey, Colin McGovern and John Montelus but for now we will get a bit of a sneak peek into next season.

A tryout for Cooks and Denbrock.  With the departures of Chuck Martin and Bob Diaco Kelly has moved, at least for the interim two of his other coaches into coordinator positions.  There has been and will be speculations as to what Brian Kelly will do to fill both his Offensive and Defensive Coordinator positions, stay in house or look outside the family.  Kelly has a history of promoting from within so bother Kerry Cooks and Mike Denbrock could have the inside track.