#11 Irish Set for Battle with North Carolina

Notre Dame Game Notes

IRISH CONQUER TROJANS

• Notre Dame retained the Jeweled Shillelagh Trophy with its fourth-straight win against the Trojans after the 31-16 win on Oct. 23.
• The four-straight wins over Southern Cal is the longest-win streak for the Irish against the Trojans since 1983-93 when they won 11-straight games.
• With the win, the Irish continue to hold all five of their traveling rivalry trophies, a feat they have held since the 2018 season.
• Head coach Brian Kelly improved to 8-3 all-time against Southern Cal. He tied Frank Leahy for the second-most wins all-time against the Trojans.
• With the win, Notre Dame extended its winning streak to 37 over unranked opponents, a mark that is the longest active streak in the FBS.
• The Irish scored 31 points in the win, their 38th-straight win when they have scored 30 points or more. Notre Dame is 71-9 under head coach Brian Kelly when they score 30 points or more.
• Notre Dame also extended its win-streak to 32 games when allowing fewer than 20 points.
• The 16 points marked the fewest points Southern Cal has scored in a game since Sept. 28, 2019, when they were limited to 14 points against Washington.
• It was the ninth-straight home night win for the Irish, a streak that dates back to the 2017 season.
• Notre Dame had five drives of 70 yards or more in the win. The last time they had five 70-yard drives or more in a game was Oct. 10, 2020, in a win over Florida State
• The Irish improved to 10-2 all-time under Kelly coming off the bye week.

FREAKY FOSKEY

• Isaiah Foskey has been the most consistent member of the Irish defensive line this season as he leads the team in sacks and tackles-for-loss.
• He has 8.0 sacks on the year, a number that ranks third in the country.
• His 8.0 sacks are the most by an Irish player since Julian Okwara and Jerry Tillery had 8.0 during the 2018 season.
• The mark ranks tied for seventh all-time at Notre Dame for most sacks in a single season:

• Foskey also ranks in the top-five in the country in forced fumbles and fumbles recovered. He is tied for fourth with two fumble recoveries and tied for fifth with three forced fumbles.
• He has contributed on a team-high five turnovers this season (three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries).
• In the win over Southern Cal, Foskey set a career-high with two forced fumbles and tied a career high with 2.0 sacks.
• Foskey forced his first-career fumble against Cincinnati after recording his first-career fumble recovery in the win over Wisconsin.
• Foskey began the season with a career-high eight tackles, 2.0 tackles-for-loss and 2.0 sacks in the road win over Florida State.

CAN’T CONTAIN KYREN

• Running back Kyren Williams broke out with season-best numbers across the board in the win over Southern Cal.
• He had a season-best 138 yards on the ground, which was the most by an Irish player this season.
• It was the most rushing yards in a game for Williams since he had 140 in a home win over Clemson last season.
• Williams finished the game with two rushing touchdowns for the first time this season and the sixth time in his career.
• His 180 all-purpose yards (138 rushing, 42 receiving) against the Trojans was also a season-high by an Irish player this year. It was his most all-purpose yards in a game since he had 196 in a home win over Florida State last season.
• The 180 all-purpose yards were the 10th most in the FBS during week 8 and he was just one of three players in the top-10 this week who faced a power 5 opponent.
• Williams leads the team with 805 all-purpose yards and  508 rushing yards and he is second on team in receptions with 25.

BE LIKE MIKE

• Tight end Michael Mayer is one of the best tight ends in the country, as he ranks in the top-five among tight ends in receptions and receiving yards per game.
• Mayer ranks third in receptions with 37 and fifth in receiving yards per game with 69.0.
• For the season, 22 of his 37 receptions have resulted in a first down for the Irish.
• He notched five receptions for 54 yards in the home win over Southern Cal. He has had at least five receptions in five of his six games this season.
• The performance against Southern Cal moved him into 10th all-time in program history for most receptions by a tight end in a single season (37).
• He led the Irish against Cincinnati with eight receptions and 93 yards on the afternoon.
• Mayer has led the team in receptions four times this season and it was the fourth time this year he has hauled in seven or more passes.
• Mayer had seven catches for 61 yards in the win over Wisconsin at Soldier Field.
• In the win over Toledo, Mayer finished the game with team-high marks in receptions with seven, yards with 81 and touchdowns with two.
• It was the first time in Mayer’s career that he tallied a multi-touchdown game.
• Dating back to last season, Mayer collected seven or more receptions in three-straight games (Alabama, Florida State and Toledo). The last Irish receiver to have three-consecutive games with seven or more receptions was Michael Floyd in 2011 (Maryland – 8;  Boston College – 10 and Stanford – 8).
• In just his second collegiate season, Mayer is already climbing the ranks in the Notre Dame Record Book:

CREATING HAVOC

• Under new defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, the Irish defense has been one of the nation’s best at creating havoc plays this season, as Notre Dame has totaled 16 takeaways this season. The 16 takeaways are tied for eighth nationally.
• Of those 16 takeaways, the Irish have recorded 11 interceptions from eight different players.
• The eight players with an interception is the most since 2014 when they had nine different players for the whole season.
• The 11 interceptions is currently tied for fifth in the NCAA. It is the most interceptions since 2018 when the Irish had 12 for the entire season.
• The Irish are also stout defensively on third down, as they are 23rd in the country with a 33 percent (35-104) conversion rate.
• Kyle Hamilton leads the team with three interceptions, a mark that is tied for seventh nationally.
• Hamilton and Cam Hart both had two interceptions in a game this season, the first time since 2018 that the Irish have had two players with two interceptions in a game in the same season (Jalen Elliott and Alohi Gilman).
• The Irish have 19 sacks this season and rank 31st in the country with 2.71 sacks per game. Eight different players have a sack so far this season.
• The depth of the defense has been on full display as 14 different players have recorded a tackle for loss this season.
• The defense has also been able to find the endzone this season with two defensive scores. The two touchdowns are tied for ninth nationally.

SUPER SPECIALISTS

• The Irish entered the 2021 season with the same kicker and punter for the third straight season with the return of kicker Jonathan Doerer and punter Jay Bramblett.
• Doerer returns for his fifth season with the Irish thanks to the extra year of eligibility and is working his way up the Irish record book:

• Doerer is currently tied for 36th nationally in field goals per game with 1.29.
• Bramblett has played in every game (32) for the Irish since he came to campus prior to the 2019 season.
• He sits eighth all-time in Notre Dame history with 142 punts in his career.
• He is ranked fourth all-time in Notre Dame history with a 41.9 career punting average.
• Bramblett launched a career-long 72-yard punt in the win over Wisconsin this season. It was the longest punt by an Irish player since Hunter Smith had a 79-yard punt against Arizona State in 1998.

BALLIN’ BERTRAND

• Linebacker JD Bertrand continues his streak of leading the Irish in tackles with a team-high seven in the win over Southern Cal.
• He has led or tied for the lead in tackles in each of the seven games this season for the Irish.
• Bertrand has 41 solo tackles on the season and is tied for ninth in the nation with 5.9 solo tackles per game.
• He has 65 tackles on the year and his 9.3 tackles per game ranks 20th in the country.
• He has totaled double digit tackles in four of the seven games this season after having 10 in the win over Virginia Tech.
• Bertrand tied a career high with 12 tackles in the win over Purdue after he tallied 11 against Toledo and also had 12 in the season-opener against Florida State.
• The sophomore from Marietta, Georgia was the first Irish player to begin a season with three-straight double-digit tackles games since Courtney Watson back in 2001.
• He is also the first Irish player to have three-consecutive games with double-digit tackles since Alohi Gilman in 2018-19. Gilman had 10 tackles against Southern Cal and then 18 against Clemson in the College Football Playoff Semifinal in 2018 and followed it up with 10 tackles in the 2019 season opener against Louisville.
• In the win over Toledo, Bertrand set a career high in sacks (1.0) and recovered his first career fumble to seal the game late in the fourth quarter.
• Bertrand got his first career start in the opener against Florida State and his 12 tackles were the most by an Irish linebacker since Te’von Coney had 16 on Dec. 28, 2018 against Clemson.

AMONG THE NATIONS BEST

• Since the start of 2018, Notre Dame is 39-6 (.867). That rate ranks fifth among all teams who have made an appearance in the College Football Playoff since its inception in 2014.
• Among those teams, Notre Dame is one of just five teams that have totaled six or fewer losses since the beginning of 2018.
• The Irish are one of five teams who have made playoff appearances in multiple seasons.

IRISH IN THE POLLS

• The Irish checked in this week at No. 11 in the AP and Coaches poll.
• Notre Dame has been ranked in the AP Top 25 for 71-consecutive weeks, the longest such streak for the Irish since the 1994 season (124 weeks).

• The 71-week run currently ranks third among all FBS active streaks, which do not include teams who were not listed in the initial AP polls at the beginning of the 2020 season (Big Ten and Pac-12).

—ND—