Sept. 22, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. –
Game Notes 
| Game Week Central
TIME, DATE AND PLACE
3:40 p.m. EDT; Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015
Notre Dame Stadium (80,795); Notre Dame, Indiana
TELEVISION
NBC national telecast with Tom Hammond (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 Paul Burmeister (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).
Due to coverage of Pope Francis’ visit to the United States, this week’s game will air on SiriusXM 81 instead of its usual satellite home.
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 246th straight sellout at Notre Dame Stadium. Every Irish home game since the final two home games in 1964 has been a sellout except one — a 1973 Thanksgiving Day game vs. Air Force.
Come Saturday, Notre Dame will have played in front of sellouts in 294 of its last 295 home games.
Notre Dame has played in front of sellout crowds in 277 of its previous 325 games (.852) overall. Notre Dame has played before 648 sellouts in 927 total games (.699) since 1930.
SERIES INFO
This is the first meeting between Notre Dame and Massachusetts.
THE COACHES
Notre Dame: Brian Kelly, 48-20 at Notre Dame (6th year), 219-77-2 overall (25th year), 0-0 vs. UM
Massachusetts: Mark Whipple, 52-37 at UMass (8th year), 124-70 overall (18th year), 0-0 vs. ND
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
The Irish are in search of a 4-0 start to the season as they play host to UMass. It would be the third 4-0 start in the last four years for Notre Dame.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
14 Notre Dame is 14-2 under head coach Brian Kelly when ranked in the AP top 10.
13 Notre Dame is 13-6 under Brian Kelly when it produces a 100-yard rusher, including a 2-0 mark so far in 2015.
12 The 198 rushing yards by RB C.J. Prosise last week against Georgia Tech marked the best individual rushing performance for Notre Dame since 2003 – 12 years ago.
11 Prosise ranks 11th in the nation with his 7.64 yards per carry average. His 451 rushing yards stand fifth in the country.
10 Notre Dame quarterbacks are now 10-2 since 1985 when playing at home while making their first career start after DeShone Kizer helped guide the Irish to a win over No. 14 Georgia Tech on Saturday.
9 Notre Dame’s defense kept Georgia Tech at bay on each of its first nine third-down conversion attempts last week. The Yellow Jackets, last year’s NCAA leader at 57.9%, converted just three times in 15 tries against the Irish.
8 UMass is the eighth first-time Notre Dame opponent since 2010.
7 The Irish defense forced seven Georgia Tech punts last week, the most by the Yellow Jackets since Sept. 3, 2012, at Virginia Tech.
6 With last week’s win over No. 14 Georgia Tech, Brian Kelly moved up to sixth among his contract bowl eligible peers with a .606 winning percentage (20-13) against AP top 25 teams in his career.
5 WR Will Fuller ranks tied for first in the nation with five touchdown catches so far in 2015. He also ranks fifth with 397 receiving yards.
4 Notre Dame has rushed for at least 200 yards in each of its first three games, a feat last accomplished in 1996. The Irish have eclipsed 200 yards rushing in four straight games overall dating back to last year.
3 Notre Dame is the first team since 2012 to open its season with three straight wins over teams from power conferences.
2 In each of the first two drives of every game this year, Notre Dame’s defense has forced a three-and-out.
1 Of the teams in this week’s Associated Press top 10, Notre Dame has the best academic progress rate and the best graduation success rate.
0 Notre Dame has not allowed any first quarter points this year, holding a 33-0 edge on the scoreboard. Helping this is a 420-91 edge in first quarter total offense.