Notre Dame-Miami: 10 To 1 Countdown
10 Miami quarterback Malik Rosier is looking to improve to 10-0 as the starter for the Hurricanes. His first start was a 30-27 win at Duke last season, and so far No. 7 Miami is 8-0 this season.
Second-year Miami head coach Mark Richt also is gunning for his 10th 10-win season in his career, a feat among current Football Bowl Subdivision coaches matched only by Nick Saban, Urban Meyer and Gary Patterson.
9 Miami is averaging basically nine tackles for loss per game (8.8 to be exact) — making it the second team in a row the Irish will face that ranks No. 1 in the nation in that category. Last week Wake Forest was No. 1 with a 9.3 average for 35 yards, but had only four for 12 yards in the 48-37 loss at Notre Dame.
8 Notre Dame and Miami have had eight previous meetings in their 26-game history, dating back to 1955, in which both teams are ranked, and the first since 1990. The Irish are 5-3 in such contests.
Notre Dame also has won eight consecutive games on 11/11, dating all the way back to 1950. However, prior to that its largest margin of defeat also occurred on Nov. 11 (59-0 versus No. 1 Army).
7 This will mark Notre Dame’s seventh straight College GameDay appearance on the road, with the most recent one occurring Oct. 31, 2015, a 24-20 win at Temple. Overall:
• Notre Dame is 12-15 on GameDay since the format debuted on Nov. 13, 1993 at Notre Dame when the No. 2 Irish defeated No. 1 Florida State, 31-24.
• Notre Dame is 8-10 on the road on GameDay, and 4-5 at home, with the most recent home game a 20-13 overtime win versus Stanford on Oct. 13, 2012.
• The Irish are 3-5 when Lee Corso picks Notre Dame to win, and 5-9 when Corso picks against the Irish.
6 Miami is seeking its sixth straight win over Notre Dame on its home field, with all five defeats coming from 1981-89 at the now torn down Orange Bowl. It’s been five seasons since Notre Dame last played in Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, a 42-14 loss to Alabama in the BCS Championship.
5 With Brandon Wimbush as the starting quarterback, Notre Dame has recorded an amazing five straight games without committing a turnover. The Irish also are tied for No. 5 nationally in fewest turnovers with seven (Alabama is No. 1 with five) and is tied at No. 5 in turnover margin per game (plus-1.33).
Meanwhile, Miami is fourth in turnover margin at plus-1.38, forcing 20 while committing only nine.
The Irish have outscored their opposition 108-10 this year off turnovers.
4 Notre Dame has won four straight in this series, dating back to 1990. It defeated the No. 2-ranked Hurricanes that season (29-20), followed by wins in the 2010 Sun Bowl (33-17), 2012 in Chicago for the Shamrock Series (41-3) and last season at Notre Dame (30-27) when kicker Justin Yoon converted a 23-yard field goal with 30 seconds left.
3 In its history, Notre Dame has won three times in November against an unbeaten team — all coming on the road: 1957 at No. 2 Oklahoma (7-0) to end the NCAA record 47-game winning streak, in 1982 at No. 1 Pitt (31-16), and in 1988 at No. 2 USC (27-10), the latter en route to the national title.
This is the 15th time since the AP poll began in 1936 the Irish have faced an unbeaten opponent in November. They also had three ties: at Army in 1946, at Michigan State in 1966 and at USC in 1968.
Notre Dame has faced Miami once in such a situation, a 24-0 loss in 1987. The last time it faced an unbeaten team in November was 2004, a 41-10 loss at USC.
2 Teams Notre Dame has defeated since the 1971 season that had a longer winning streak than Miami’s current 13 in a row, which currently leads the Football Bowl Subdivision. Those two each had won 16 consecutive games — No. 1 Miami in 1988 (31-30) and No. 1 Florida State in 1993 (31-24).
The last time the Hurricanes lost was 30-27 at Notre Dame last Oct. 29.
1 Notre Dame ranks No. 1 nationally in average yards per carry with a 7.04 mark. It also is No. 5 in rushing yards per game with 324.8, behind Army, Navy, Georgia Tech — all triple-option teams — and No. 4 Arizona at 327.0.
The Irish have rushed for a minimum of 300 yards in seven out of nine games this season.
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