Oct. 22, 2013
Game Notes
| ND-Air Force Gameweek Central
DATE
– Saturday, October 26, 2013
TIME
– 3:06 p.m. MT
SITE (CAPACITY)
– Falcon Stadium (46,692); USAFA, Colo.
Television
– CBS College Sports telecast with Andrew Catalon (play-by-play), Aaron Taylor (analysis), Lauren Gardner (sideline) and Scott Brandwein (producer).
RADIO
– IMG College Sports is the exclusive national rights-holder for Irish football radio broadcasts. IMG College manages, produces and syndicates the Irish national football radio network. Notre Dame games will be broadcast by Don Criqui (play-by-play), former Irish great Allen Pinkett (analysis) and Jeff Jeffers (sideline). This broadcast can be heard live on both SIRIUS and XM Satellite Radio (channel 129).
– All games can be heard in South Bend on News & Sports Radio 96.1 FM & 960 AM WSBT.
TICKETS
– Notre Dame has played in front of sellout crowds in 261 of its previous 304 games (.859) overall. Notre Dame has played before 632 sellouts in 905 total games (.698) since 1930. – Saturday’s game has yet to sell out.
Web Sites
– Notre Dame (UND.com), Air Force (GoAirForceFalcons.com)
POLLS
– Notre Dame is unranked in the Associated Press poll and USA Today Coaches’ poll, but is receiving votes in both polls. Air Force is not ranked in either poll.
Real-Time Stats
– Live in-game stats will be provided through CBS College Sports GameTracker via UND.com.
SERIES INFO
– Saturday’s game marks the 30th meeting between the Irish and Falcons, with Notre Dame holding a 23-6 series lead. The Irish own a 12-2 record against Air Force in Falcon Stadium. – Notre Dame has won 12 of its last 14 games against Air Force, including a 59-33 victory in 2011 at Notre Dame Stadium. Except for a four-game losing streak against the Falcons from 1982-85, the Irish have won 23 of the 25 series meetings. – Notre Dame has scored 30 or more points in 10 of its last 14 games against Air Force, averaging 36.6 points per game in those contests. – More on the series is available on pages 2-5.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
– Notre Dame has won 25 of its last 29 regular season games Â- good for a .862 winning percentage – since starting 0-2 in 2011. Only two FBS schools have a better regular season winning percentage over the same span: Oregon (28-2, .933) and Alabama (28-2, .933).
COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF
12 Notre Dame is 12-0 under Brian Kelly when it does not commit a turnover in the contest.
11 Notre Dame has played 20 games decided by a TD or less since the arrival of Brian Kelly in 2010. The Irish went 2-5 in the first seven games, but have since gone 12-1.
10 Senior QB Tommy Rees has 10 completions of at least 32 yards. Irish signal callers recorded 11 such passes in 2012.
9 Notre Dame has won 25 of its last 31 games. The Irish have the seventh-best overall FBS winning percentage since Sept. 17, 2011.
8 Notre Dame has won nine consecutive games under head coach Brian Kelly when the game was decided by a TD or less. He ranks third on the all-time Notre Dame list.
7 Notre Dame has allowed an average of 18.72 points/game over the last four seasons combined, which would rank as the seventh-best average from a BCS automatically-qualifying conference.
6 Junior TE Troy Niklas has five touchdown catches in 2013. He is one shy of equaling Ken MacAfee’s single-season tight end record of six. Only one tight end in the FBS has collected more.
5 Senior QB Tommy Rees ranks among the top five in school history in six career passing categories. He ranks third in 300-yard games (five), third in completion percentage (60.8), fourth in completions (522), fourth in TD passes (49), fourth in attempts (858) and fifth in passing yards (6,073).
4 Notre Dame’s defense limited USC to just four first downs in the second half of last week’s 14-10 victory.
3 Only three of USC’s eight second-half drives totaled more than five yards.
2 Senior QB Tommy Rees is the first signal caller to lead Notre Dame to multiple victories over USC since Rick Mirer in 1991 and 1992. He started as a freshman in 2010 when the Irish snapped the Trojans’ eight-game winning streak in the series. Rees helped Notre Dame snap USC’s six-game winning streak in the series when it shifted to Notre Dame Stadium.
1 Notre Dame has lost just one time in 29 games under Brian Kelly when the Irish hold their opponent to 20 or fewer points. In fact, Kelly’s teams have won 71 of its last 72 games when allowing 20 points or less.
0 Notre Dame did not allow USC a single third-down conversion over the Trojans final 11 attempts in the game.