#13/#14 Irish Travel for Road Clash With Virginia Tech

Notre Dame Games Notes (PDF)

ˆ Includes 21 wins vacated under discretionary NCAA penalty.

BALLIN’ BERTRAND

• Linebacker JD Bertrand continues to be a force for the Irish on defense as he led the Irish in tackles against Cincinnati. He had six tackles for the game and it was his fifth-straight game to lead the Irish in tackles.
• Bertrand has totaled 48 tackles through five games which is the most to begin a season since Manti Te’o totaled 64 over the first five games of the 2010 season.
• The 48 tackles are tied for 15th nationally and he is 10th in the nation in solo tackles with 31 for the season.
• 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.

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 12 takeaways this season.
• The 12 takeaways are tied for eighth nationally.
• Of those 12 takeaways, the Irish have recorded nine interceptions from six different players.
• The nine interceptions is currently tied for the third in the NCAA. It is also the most interceptions through the first five games of the season since 2014 when the Irish also had nine interceptions to start the year.
• The Irish are also stout defensively on third down, as they are 10th in the country with a 28 percent (21-75) conversion rate.
• Over the past two games, the Irish have limited opponents to 3-for-25 (10.7%) on third down.
• Kyle Hamilton leads the team with three interceptions, a mark that ranks fourth in the country.
• Cam Hart is tied for 16th nationally with two interceptions on the season.
• Hamilton and Hart have 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 15 sacks this season and they are the most to begin a season since the 2003 campaign when the Irish had 16 sacks through the first five games.
• The 15 sacks is tied for 21st in the country and eight different players have recorded a sack this season.
• Defensive lineman Isaiah Foskey leads the team with 5.0 sacks so far this season. The number is tied for ninth nationally and Foskey as recorded a sack in four of the five games this year.
• The depth of the defense has been on full display as 10 different players have recorded a tackle for loss so far this season.
• The defense has also been able to find the endzone this season with two defensive scores. The two touchdowns are tied for fifth nationally.

BE LIKE MIKE

• Tight end Michael Mayer continued his strong start to the season after leading the Irish in receptions and yards against Cincinnati with eight catches for 93 yards.
• It is the fourth time this season Mayer has led the team in receptions and 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).
• Through the first five games this season, Mayer totaled 32 receptions for 360 yards and three touchdowns.
• Among tight ends, Mayer ranks second nationally in receptions, third in receiving yards and tied for sixth in receiving touchdowns.

AMONG THE NATIONS BEST

• Since the start of 2018, Notre Dame is 37-6 (.881). 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 check in this week at No. 13 in the Coaches poll and No. 14 in the AP poll.
• Notre Dame has been ranked in the AP Top 25 for 68-consecutive weeks, the longest such streak for the Irish since the 1994 season (124 weeks).

• The 68-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).

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