History and Tradition

When Notre Dame and Oklahoma take the field Saturday night in Norman it will truly be a game between college football royalty.  These are two of the most successful and storied programs in history.

First Season: Notre Dame 1887 (125^th season) / Oklahoma 1895 (118^th season)

All Time Record: Notre Dame 861-300-42 / Oklahoma 826-308-53

All Time Winning Percentage: Notre Dame .733 / Oklahoma .718

Claimed National Titles: Notre Dame 11 / Oklahoma 16

Heisman Trophy Winners: Notre Dame 7 / Oklahoma 5

Consensus All Americans: Notre Dame 96 / Oklahoma 75

Coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame: Notre Dame 6 / Oklahoma 5

First round NFL draft picks: Notre Dame 63 / Oklahoma 42

College Football Hall of Fame: Notre Dame 44 / Oklahoma 19

Understanding Kelly

I guess it wouldn’t be a Notre Dame game day without Brian Kelly making a decision that leaves me scratching my head.  This week’s head scratching moment happened before the game even started.  I thought for a moment that I knew what he was doing, why he was doing it and how he was going to do it.  The reports out of practice during the week were positive for Rees but also spoke about Hendrix getting 40% of the reps.  So when I heard Rees was getting the start, I felt it was more about getting Hendrix into the game in a backup role, as that made more sense than having Hendrix come in behind Golson.  I figured against BYU, the Irish would go up by two or three scores in the fourth quarter and get Hendrix in the game.  Why, you ask?  This type of move would have accomplished a couple of things heading into a major showdown in Norman, Oklahoma against the Sooners.  First, it gives Golson an extra week to fully recover from his concussion.  Second, it gives Hendrix important game reps which, in addition to giving the junior quarterback confidence and more game experience, also makes Oklahoma have to prepare for the real possibility of the Irish playing three different quarterbacks with three different skill sets running three different styles of offense.  Hendrix did see the field, but it was earlier than I thought, and for a lot less snaps than I thought, although he did look good in his very limited appearance.   Of course, in the process of all this, Kelly needed to come out of this game with a win.

As we have said many times before and most likely will in the future, it does not matter how much you win by; at the end of the day, a win is a win.  Coming to South Bend, BYU was probably better than their 4-3 record but they were in no way a national power.  A three point win does not instill a lot of confidence heading to Norman, but it does send them there undefeated. 

BYU beyond the numbers

3              Notre Dame put points on the board three out of the four quarters (1^st, 3^rd & 4^th), compared to BYU only scoring in one quarter (14 points in the 2^nd).  Spreading the points throughout the game keeps momentum moving.

270         The Irish out-rushed the Cougars 270 yards to 66, and 43 attempts to 25.  With no fumbles, that is very solid ball control. 

2              The Notre Dame defense had not surrendered an offensive touchdown since playing Purdue in their second game of the season on September 8^th.  The Irish gave up two passing touchdowns Saturday against BYU.

61/60 and 29:19/30:41    Number of offensive plays and times of possession for BYU and Notre Dame, respectively.  These numbers really show how close this game was.

2/6         Kyle Brindza missed two field goals, which represented six points left on the field for the Irish.

2/4         With two interceptions and four sacks how much longer can the defense carry this team to wins?

2/100+  Two running backs (Wood and Riddick) each ran for over 100 yards each (Wood 114 and Riddick 143).

4/73/1   Tyler Eifert’s numbers getting him back into the offensive fold with four catches for 73 yards and a touchdown.

5              Is there any player on any team in the country more valuable as a leader to their success than Notre Dame’s #5 Manti Te’o?  Manti finished Saturday with 10 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss and an interception. The Irish need to control themselves though, as two very stupid personal fouls (Farley and Niklas) could have and cost Notre Dame a win.