Notre Dame-Miami: Numbers, Turning Point & More
By The Numbers
1-9 Record by Miami in Notre Dame Stadium, with the first visit by the Hurricanes coming back in 1972. Their lone victory occurred in 1984 (31-13), the season after winning their first of five national titles from 1983-2001.
3 Field goals in as many attempts versus Miami by Fighting Irish sophomore Justin Yoon, highlighted by the game winner from 23 yards with 30 seconds remaining. That matched his career high set in last year’s 38-36 loss at Stanford. His 12 total points against the Hurricanes also matched his career high achieved against the Cardinal in 2015 and matched against Syracuse this season.
4 Straight victories by the Fighting Irish against Miami, dating back to 1990, and thereby extending their advantage in the series to 18-7-1.
With the win, Notre Dame also avoided a four-game losing streak at home this year, which would have put him in the same company as the 2-8 team in 1960 and the 3-9 outfit in 2007.
6 Consecutive wins Notre Dame needs to close out the 2016 campaign with an 8-5 record and extend head coach Brian Kelly’s streak with the Irish to seven straight seasons with at least eight wins. Since Kelly’s debut season in 2010, only nine other teams have posted a minimum of eight victories each of the last six years. Alphabetically, they are: Alabama, Boise State, Florida State, LSU, Northern Illinois, Oklahoma, Oregon, Stanford and Wisconsin.
8-1 Record for Kelly at Notre Dame the week after a regular season bye, including seven in a row since 2012. Two of them have been against Miami, the first in 2012 (41-3). Overall, Kelly is 19-2 in his coaching career the week after a bye.
12 Tackles for loss by the Notre Dame defense, six of them by fifth-year senior nose guard Jarron Jones. The NCAA record (since 2000) is eight by one individual in a game, and the most we vaguely recall seeing listed in a Notre Dame game was eight by Walt Patulski during a 3-0 win over LSU in 1970. Miami entered the game No. 1 in the nation in most tackles for loss per game (10), but finished with only four against the Irish.
Five of Notre Dame’s tackles for loss were quarterback sacks. Notre Dame had recorded only six QB sacks during its 2-5 start.
182 Carries by Notre Dame running backs this year through eight games — without losing a single fumble. The Irish have lost eight fumbles this season, including two on special teams versus Miami (the second resulting in a direct touchdown), but none have come from running back coach Autry Denson’s crew.
1991 Had Notre Dame lost, the 20-point lead it built in the first half (20-0) it would have been the largest advantage squandered in a game since the infamous 35-34 loss to Tennessee at home 25 years ago. Notre Dame was ahead by 24 (31-7) right before halftime before losing to the Volunteers.
Turning Point
During Notre Dame’s 2-5 start, Kelly has repeatedly pointed out that the Irish had an opportunity to either tie the game or take the lead in the fourth quarter in the five losses, but couldn’t finish the job in any of them.
After Notre Dame fell behind 27-20 versus Miami because of a fumbled punt with 6:49 remaining in the game, it had yet another opportunity to rally — only this time it answered with a five-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by sophomore running backs Josh Adams’ 41-yard breakaway for a touchdown. Just when it looked like another day of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, that march might prove crucial not only to a 2016 turnaround but maybe even a carryover to 2017.
Stat Of The Game
Individually, you can’t top fifth-year senior nose guard Jarron Jones’ six tackles for loss, which were two short of the NCAA record that has been “officially” kept since 2000. Because of the domination up front by Jones and his cohorts, the Fighting Irish limited Miami to a paltry 18 yards on the ground and didn’t allow them to complement quarterback Brad Kaaya’s passing skills with any downhill rushing attack. The 18-yard total was the lowest by an Irish opponent since the 30-13 victory at No. 8 Oklahoma in 2012, when the Sooners produced only 15 yards on the ground.
Brian Kelly’s Take
On the importance of finally winning a close game after losing five straight decided by seven points or less. “
“It just meant that we're not going to have to go through this again. We were all going to have to listen to, ‘Okay, the locker room is falling apart’ — a bunch of baloney, and we'd have to go through all this again. It wasn't going to change anything.
“We were still going to do the same thing. The attitude would have been great. Their preparation would have been great. But they were going to have to figure out how to win a football game late, and that meant they had to execute better, they had to play all phases better at the end, and they did.
“Now they know how to do that. So we'll go back to work with the same underpinnings, the same things that we've worked on over the last 10, 12 weeks — but now there's a lot more confidence in that room that they believe that they can do it. And if they just pay attention to the little things and are more decisive ... they can win every game they play because they lost five games by one possession. So they know that.”