Aug. 30, 2014

Recap | Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery

TEAM NOTES

• The Irish scored 48 points in the contest, which is the most in a home opener since 1999 when Notre Dame defeated Kansas by a score of 48-13.
• Notre Dame collected 80 yards on punt returns against the Rice Owls. The Irish gained just 46 and 48 yards on punt returns in the 2012 and 2011 seasons, respectively.
• Notre Dame ran the ball 42 times today and won the game. The Irish have won each of their last 21 games when rushing the ball at least 30 times, dating back to the 2011 Champs Sports Bowl when Notre Dame ran the ball 35 times but lost.
• Notre Dame has now won each of its last 16 season openers when scoring first, a streak that began following a 1986 loss to Michigan.
• The Irish recorded 281 yards rushing on the afternoon. Notre Dame is now 30-2 since the start of the 2002 season when it gains 200 or more yards rushing.
• Today marked the 100th victory for the Irish in home openers. Notre Dame is now 100-20-5 (.820) in home openers including a 67-16-2 (.800) mark at Notre Dame Stadium. Notre Dame improves to 105-16-5 (.853) all-time in season openers.
• In the previous 104 seasons in which Notre Dame has won its season opener, the Irish went on to record a winning record 95 times (91.3 percent).
• Notre Dame remains perfect all-time in August, improving to 5-0 overall and 3-0 at Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish have outscored their August opponents by a combined score of 134-49 for an average margin of victory of 17 points.
• Today’s win is the 30th for Notre Dame in its last 38 games, dating back to Sept. 17, 2011. Entering today, only eight other teams had at least 30 wins since that date (Alabama, Oregon, Northern Illinois, Florida State, South Carolina, Stanford, LSU and Clemson).
• The Irish improve to 5-0 all-time against Rice.
• All-time, Notre Dame is now 875-305-42 for a winning percentage of .733, the best in NCAA history.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Everett Golson tied a Notre Dame record by a quarterback with three rushing touchdowns. It had been accomplished twice before, first by Paul Hornung against North Carolina Nov. 17, 1956 and again by Jarious Jackson against Stanford Oct. 3, 1998. Regardless of position, no Irish player had ran for three touchdowns in a game since Jonas Gray scored three times on the ground against Navy Oct. 29, 2011.
• The 75-yard touchdown pass from Golson to Will Fuller with 2:01 left in the first quarter is the longest of each player’s careers. It is the longest touchdown pass at Notre Dame Stadium since Dayne Crist hit Michael Floyd for an 80-yard touchdown against Western Michigan Oct. 16, 2010.
• Golson also threw the second-longest touchdown of his career today, a 53-yard strike to CJ Prosise with five seconds remaining in the first half.
• Greg Bryant registered his first career touchdown on a 17-yard rush late in the fourth quarter.
• Golson threw two touchdown passes for the fourth time in his career against Rice.
• Prosise’s 53-yard touchdown catch marked both his first career touchdown catch and the longest grab of his career.
• Matthias Farley made his fourth career interception with 21 seconds left in the first half.
• Kyle Brindza’s third quarter field goal gave him 202 career points. He is the sixth kicker to cross the 200-point plateau in school history. He finished the game with 12 points, giving him 207 in his career. With his performance he passed D.J. Fitzpatrick (2002-05) for fifth in school history.
• Ronnie Stanley started at left tackle today. He is the first Notre Dame player other than Zack Martin to start at left tackle since Matt Romine started against Western Michigan Oct. 16, 2010.
• Cole Luke, James Onwaulu, Cody Riggs, Isaac Rochell and Joe Schmidt all made their first career starts for the Irish today. Riggs started in 26 games for Florida before transferring this summer for graduate school
• Nicky Baratti recovered a fumble late in the fourth quarter for his first career fumble recovery. Devin Butler forced the fumble on the play, which was the first forced fumble in his career.
• On Malik Zaire’s first career snap, he recorded a 56-yard rush. It was the longest rush by a Notre Dame quarterback since Oct. 8, 2011 when Andrew Hendrix had a 78-yard rush against Air Force.