Sept. 1, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. –
TIME, DATE AND PLACE
* 7:42 p.m. EDT; Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015 * Notre Dame Stadium (80,795); Notre Dame, Indiana
TELEVISION
* NBC national telecast with Dan Hicks (play-by-play), Doug Flutie (analysis), Kathryn Tappen (sideline), Rob Hyland (producer) and Pierre Moossa (director). * NBC Sports Network will also have live pre-game and post-game shows featuring Liam McHugh (host), Jonathan Vilma (analyst) and Hines Ward (analyst).
RADIO
* IMG College Sports is the exclusive national rights-holder for Irish football radio broadcasts. Notre Dame games will be broadcast to 117 affiliates by Don Criqui (play-by-play), Allen Pinkett (analysis) and Jeff Jeffers (sideline). This broadcast can be heard live on SiriusXM Satellite Radio (channel 129). * The broadcast will be preceded by a one hour pre-game show hosted by Tony Castricone with Criqui, Pinkett and interviews conducted by Jack Nolan. It will be followed by a national post-game show hosted by Castricone, Criqui and Pinkett. * All games can be heard in South Bend on WSBT 96.1 FM & 960 AM, and Sunny 101.5 FM.
TICKETS
* Saturday will be the 244th straight sellout at Notre Dame Stadium. Every Irish home game since the final two home games in 1964 has been a sellout except one ââ’¬” a 1973 Thanksgiving Day game vs. Air Force. Come Saturday, Notre Dame will have played in front of sellouts in 292 of its last 293 home games. * Notre Dame has played in front of sellout crowds in 274 of its previous 323 games (.848) overall. Notre Dame has played before 645 sellouts in 924 total games (.698) since 1930.
SERIES INFO
* Notre Dame leads the series with Texas, 8-2, including a 2-1 record at Notre Dame Stadium. * This is the first meeting between the Irish and Longhorns since a 27-24 Notre Dame victory on Sept. 21, 1996, in Austin, Texas.
THE COACHES
* Notre Dame: Brian Kelly, 45-20 at Notre Dame (6th year), 216-77-2 overall (25th year), 0-0 vs. Texas * Texas: Charlie Strong, 6-7 at Texas (2nd year), 43-23 overall (5th year), 0-0 vs. Notre Dame
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
* Saturday’s game is the season opener for the Irish. Notre Dame is 105-16-5 (.853) in its season openers, including a 75-11-3 (.860) record when the season opener is at home.
COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF
14 An experienced Notre Dame team has 10 players (five on each side of the ball) with at least 14 starts to their credit for the Irish (Page 10)
13 Notre Dame has won 11 of its last 13 games played in the month of September. (Page 10)
12 Notre Dame is 28-5-1 (.838) all-time against the Big 12’s current line up, its best winning percentage against any “Power 5” conference. (Page 9)
11 Only 11 night games have been played at Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish stand at 9-2 in those contests, including last year’s 31-0 win over Michigan. (Page 5)
10 Notre Dame returns 10 starters on defense from 2014. In all, 19 Irish defensive players have some starting experience, combining for 203 career starts. (Page 10)
9 Nine different Notre Dame players intercepted a pass in 2014, helping the team tie for 15th nationally in interceptions. (Page 15)
8 Notre Dame’s eight wins over Texas tie Vanderbilt for the most of any school which has never been in a conference with the Longhorns. (Page 9)
7 Notre Dame has seven players on the Lombardi Award’s watch list (DL Sheldon Day, OG Steve Elmer, DL Jarron Jones, C Nick Martin, LB Joe Schmidt, LB Jaylon Smith and OT Ronnie Stanley). (Page 12)
6 Head coach Brian Kelly begins his sixth year at Notre Dame. He won at least eight games in each of his first five seasons at the helm, the only Irish coach to accomplish that feat. (Page 6)
5 The Irish elected five captains for the 2015 season (Day, Matthias Farley, Martin, Schmidt and Smith), the team’s most since also having five in 2007. (Page 12)
4 Notre Dame has yielded just 46 rushing touchdowns since 2011, tying Florida State for the fourth-fewest in the nation. (Page 15)
3 Notre Dame’s running backs have lost three or fewer fumbles in each of the last five years. Irish running backs have lost just 12 fumbles since the start of 2010. (Page 13) )
2 Notre Dame ranks second all-time with 882 victories. Texas is in third place with 881 and can tie the Irish on Saturday. (Page 11)
1 Notre Dame and Texas faced off in the Cotton Bowl three times in the 1970s with a team ranked No. 1 and a national championship at stake. (Page 8)
0 The last meeting between Notre Dame and Texas saw a 27-24 Irish win in Austin on a 39-yard field goal by Jim Sanson with 0:00 left on the clock. (Page 8)