Notre Dame-Duke: By The Numbers & More

By The Numbers

2 With another Notre Dame defeat that dropped its record to 1-3 while Michigan improved to 4-0, the Fighting Irish are now No. 2 again by the slightest margin to the Wolverines in all-time winning percentage. By our calculation, Michigan is now at .7307 while Notre Dame is at .7306. Rounded off, both technically are at .731, but right now one operation is on an upswing and the other is floundering.

4 Consecutive games Notre Dame has opened with a 7-0 or even 9-0 lead against the opposition, but it has only one win to show for it, that against Mountain West Conference foe Nevada. Can't blame the malaise for not starting well out of the gates.

6.7 Yards per play averaged by Duke against Notre Dame. It was their highest mark against a Football Bowl Subdivision team since Nov. 1, 2014 versus Pitt in a 51-48 victory. The Blue Devils averaged only 6.01 against FCS team North Carolina Central in this year’s opener.

14 True road victories (not including neutral sites) by Duke since the start of the 2013 season. Not only is that the most among Atlantic Coast Conference schools, but it is second nationally only to Ohio State’s 15. None of those 14 carry the prestige than the one at Notre Dame.

28 Points scored by Duke while taking a 28-21 lead at the intermission. That was more points than Duke scored in the two previous games combined (27) in losses to Wake Forest (24-14) and Northwestern (24-13).

96 Yards on Shaun Wilson’s kickoff return touchdown in the first quarter that helped cut Notre Dame’s lead to 14-7. It was the first kickoff return for a score against the Irish since LSU’s Leonard Fournette went 100 yards in the Tigers’ 31-28 loss in the 2014 Music City Bowl.

109 Yards in punt returns by sophomore C.J. Sanders after returning his lone attempt for 12 yards against Duke. After only four games, that already is the second most by a player in Brian Kelly’s seven seasons. Sanders had 182 as a freshman last year.

134 Points surrendered by 1-3 Notre Dame — a new school record for the first four games in any season. The previous dubious standard was 133 during the 3-9 season in 2007 when the Irish lost to Georgia Tech (33-3), Penn State (31-10), Michigan (38-0) and Michigan State (31-14) to begin the campaign.

201:44 Minutes and seconds played in regulation this year — not including two overtime periods at Texas — before Notre Dame registered its first sack of the season, courtesy of a blitz by junior linebacker Nyles Morgan with 8:16 left in the first half. The Irish were the last Football Bowl Subdivision team among 128 to record a sack this season.

381 Passing yards by Notre Dame junior quarterback DeShone Kizer, his second straight career high in as many weeks after accumulating 344 through the air versus Michigan State last week. Both resulted in defeat.

Turning Point

Everything was in line for 21-point favorite Notre Dame to have a blood-letting, blowout victory after taking a 14-0 lead with 8:57 still remaining in the first quarter. Duke even lost its best player, safety/return man Devon Edwards, for the season on the kickoff after the 7-0 Irish edge. Yet, Edwards’ replacement, Shaun Wilson, fielded the ensuing kickoff and, after powering through errant tackle attempts, he blazed for a 96-yard touchdown.

That explosive play galvanized the Blue Devils, whose defense then forced a three-and-out of the Irish on the next possession, followed by a 78-yard Duke touchdown drive. Duke scored 21 consecutive points and developed the confidence that it was going to compete for 60 minutes against what has become an extremely fragile Notre Dame team.

Stat Of The Game

Duke having a 3-1 turnover advantage — the same as Michigan State in its 36-28 victory at Notre Dame a week earlier — was significant, but not as much as the Blue Devils rushing for 208 yards on 42 attempts, or 5.0 yards per carry

Yes, the same Blue Devils who finished with 37 yards rushing (on 30 attempts) in a 24-14 loss at home to Wake Forest. The same Duke that totaled 117 yards rushing (34 attempts) in a 24-13 defeat at Northwestern last week. We’d like to believe the Notre Dame defense recruits better than the Demon Deacons and Wildcats. The Blue Devils’ ability to consistently run the ball, especially wide, all four quarters took much pressure of redshirt freshman quarterback Daniel Jones, who completed 24 passes for 290 yards.

Quoting Brian Kelly on the Notre Dame Team

"There's no passion. It looks like it's hard to play, like we're pulling teeth. You're playing football for Notre Dame. It looks like it's work. Last I checked they were getting a scholarship to play this game. There's no fun, there's no enjoyment, there's no energy ... I must be doing a poor job. I've got to do a better job of finding out what those things are that are putting our football team in that position."

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