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Notre Dame-Bye Week: 10 To 1 Countdown

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Only one more home game remains for the 7-0 Fighting Irish vying for a Playoff bid and national title.
Only one more home game remains for the 7-0 Fighting Irish vying for a Playoff bid and national title. (Wikipedia)
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10 Games in the Brian Kelly era that have been played after a bye during the regular season. The Irish are 9-1 with eight straight wins since last losing such a contest in 2011 to USC (31-17).


9 In his ninth season, Kelly appears destined to have a better finish in the Associated Press poll than his three immortal predecessors who also reached a ninth season and coached 11 apiece. Neither Frank Leahy in 1951 (7-2-1) and Lou Holtz in 1994 finished in the final polls, while Ara Parseghian in 1972 (8-3) had his lowest finish at No. 14 after a 40-6 Orange Bowl loss to Nebraska.


8 Do you realize that since the turn of the 20th century, years ending in 8 are the only ones in Notre Dame football annals not to experience a losing or .500 season? In fact, since the start of the AP poll in 1936, years that end in 8 have the most top 10 finishes with five, four of them in the top 5, highlighted by the 1988 national title. Years ending in 7 also have five, but a sixth this season would put 8 alone at the top.


7 The 7-0 start is only the 12th at Notre Dame since 1950. In 10 of the previous 11 (2002 the exception), the Irish either finished No. 1 (1966, 1973 and 1988), were No. 1 at some point, or had a chance to finish No. 1 in their final game of the season (1953, 1964, 1970, 1980, 1989, 1993 and 2012).


6 If the Fighting Irish win their sixth and final home game this year, versus Florida State on Nov. 10, it will extend their home winning streak to 11, which would be the second-longest at the school since 1950, behind only the 19 straight from 1987-90.


5 Regular season games remaining, with none of the foes currently ranked. A 12-0 regular season would be Kelly’s third in the past 10 years, including his final season at Cincinnati in 2009. Chris Petersen had three such 12-0 finishes in four years at Boise State from 2006 through 2009, as did Tom Osborne at Nebraska from 1994-97 (one of them 11-0 regular season before winning the bowl).


4 The most recent Playoff Predictor by ESPN Sports Analytics has four teams clearly in front of the field to make the four-team showdown:

• Clemson 82 percent, 46 percent to advance to the title game, 23 percent to win it all.

• Alabama 80 percent, 53 percent to advance to the title game, 33 percent to win it all.

• Ohio State 73 percent, 38 percent to advance to the title game, 19 percent to win it all.

• Notre Dame 65 percent, 22 percent to advance to the title game, eight percent to win it all.

A distant fifth is Georgia which is coming off a 36-16 loss at LSU . The Bulldogs are listed with only a 27 percent shot at advancing to the CFP (13 percent to get to the title game, and six percent to win it all).


3 Notre Dame defensemen at all three levels — lineman Jerry Tillery, linebacker Te’von Coney and cornerback Julian Love — who received Midseason All-American notice from at least one outlet. The Irish have not had three All-Americans at all three levels on defense at the end of the year since 1990 with linemen Chris Zorich, linebacker Michael Stonebreaker and cornerback Todd Lyght.


2 Years in a row Notre Dame is looking to win at least 10 games. That no longer seems a major accomplishment and even might be perceived a “done deal” — but the reality is it hasn’t happened for the Fighting Irish since the three-year run from 1991-93, when it was mainly 11-game regular seasons.


1 Quarterback Ian Book is tied for No. 1 nationally in completion percentage at 75.2 percent (103 of 137) after starting the past four games and completing no less than 71.4 percent in any of them. His 167.9 pass efficiency rating is No. 13, and on pace to set a new school standard.

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