Nov. 15, 2016
Notre Dame Notes | Virginia Tech Notes | Coach Kelly Tuesday Transcript | Wednesday Players Transcript
TIME, DATE AND PLACE
- 3:40 p.m. ET; Saturday, Nov. 19; Notre Dame Stadium (80,795); Notre Dame, Ind.
TELEVISION
- NBC national telecast with Dan Hicks (play-by-play), Doug Flutie (analysis), Katrhyn Tappen (sideline), Jeff Simon (director) and Josh Freedenberg (producer).
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) and Allen Pinkett (analysis). 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 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 255th consecutive sellout at Notre Dame Stadium. Every Irish home game since the final two home dates in 1964 have been sold out except one – a 1973 Thanksgiving Day game vs. Air Force.
- Notre Dame has played in front of sellout crowds in 293 of its previous 345 games (.849) overall. Notre Dame has played before 664 sellouts in 945 total games (.703) since 1930.
- With the exception of neutral site games against Syracuse (MetLife Stadium), Navy (EverBank Field), and Army (Alamodome) every Notre Dame game since the 2014 game at USC has attracted a sellout crowd, including a Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium record of 102,315 on Sept. 4.
SERIES INFO
- Saturday is the first meeting on the gridiron between Notre Dame and Virginia Tech.
THE COACHES
- Notre Dame: Brian Kelly, 59-29 at ND (7th year), 230-86-2 overall (26th year), 0-1 vs. VT
- Virginia Tech: Justin Fuente, 7-3 at Virginia Tech (1st year), 33-26 overall (5th year), 0-0 vs. ND
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
- Virginia Tech becomes the 145th opponent in Irish football history on Senior Day at Notre Dame Stadium.
COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF
- 55 Fifty-five of the 61 players on the Irish depth chart have eligibility remaining following the 2016 season.
- 43 Forty-three of the 61 players on the Irish depth have at least two years of eligibility remaining following the 2016 season.
- 42 Notre Dame has played 42 games decided by eight points or less since the arrival of Brian Kelly. The Irish went 2-5 in the first seven such games under Kelly, but have since gone 21-14.
- 29 Notre Dame’s six losses in 2016 have come by a total of 29 points. No other team in the Football Bowl Subdivision has more than four losses by eight points or less.
- 21 Notre Dame has used 21 players in their first year of eligibility this season, including 14 true freshmen (most in the Brian Kelly era).
- 18 18 of Notre Dame’s 22 starters vs. Army have made 14 or fewer career starts.
- 17 Notre Dame has seen 17 different players, including five true freshmen, earn their first career starts in 2016.
- 14 Notre Dame has scored points on 14 of its last 17 drives, dating back to the final two series in the Miami game.
- 10 QB DeShone Kizer completed 10 consecutive passes at one point vs. Navy.
- 7 Notre Dame returned only seven starters from 2015, the fewest in program history since freshman eligibility was restored in 1972.
- 6 Graduate DL Jarron Jones recorded six tackles for loss in the win over Miami, the most by an Irish player since at least 1997.
- 5 Notre Dame scored five TDs of 50+ yards vs. Syracuse. Last season, the Irish set a school record with 15 such scoring plays.
- 4 After returning the opening kick versus Army 92 yards for a touchdown, C.J. Sanders became one of four players in FBS with multiple kickoff returns for a score this season.
- 3 Equanimeous St. Brown leads Notre Dame with eight TD catches in 2016. He ranks tied for 21st in the FBS and only three other sophomores have more TD catches this season.
- 2 Against Navy, Notre Dame lost for just the second time under Brian Kelly when not committing a turnover.
- 1 Rushing TD allowed by Notre Dame versus Miami, as the Irish held the Hurricanes to 18 net rushing yards on 35 attempts.
- 0 Notre Dame has not had an empty seat for a home game since 1973. The sellout streak is the second-longest in NCAA history.