Published Oct 8, 2016
Notre Dame-NC State: 10 To 1
Lou Somogyi  •  InsideNDSports
Senior Editor

10 This one bears repeating each week until achieved: There are 128 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision that have won a minimum of eight games each of the past six seasons (2010-15), or during the Brian Kelly era at Notre Dame: In addition to the Irish they are, alphabetically, Alabama, Boise State, Florida State, LSU, Northern Illinois, Oklahoma, Oregon, Stanford and Wisconsin.

The Irish need to go at least 6-2 the rest of this season to keep that streak alive.

9 Under Kelly, Notre Dame has played nine games in the rain — with today’s contest expected to be No. 10 — and has a 6-3 record. The wins occurred in 2010 (Utah and USC), 2011 (Boston College), 2012 (Stanford and Pitt, both in overtime or beyond) and 2014 (Stanford again). The defeats were in 2010 (at Michigan State in overtime), 2011 (South Florida) and 2015 (at Clemson).

8 Tackles for loss per game that North Carolina State averages to rank 20th nationally. Notre Dame averages 4.8, which is tied for 104th.

7 In its last seven games, Notre Dame is allowing 35.6 points per contest, with six of them the opposition tallying a minimum of 33. If North Carolina State reaches at least 30 points, it would mark only the third time the Irish surrendered a minimum of that amount seven times in eight games, with the others occurring in 2006 (last two games) and 2007 (first five games), and then the final seven regular season games in 2014.

6 Kelly is 6-0 in sixth games with the Fighting Irish — the lone contest he has never lost during his tenure. In game 6 his teams have defeated Pitt (2010), Air Force (2011), Stanford (2012), Arizona State (2013), North Carolina (2014) and Navy (2015).


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5 Straight games to open this season where Notre Dame jumped to a 7-0 or even 9-0 lead (the latter versus Nevada), including after the first play from scrimmage last week versus Syracuse. Meanwhile, NC State has scored a touchdown on its first series in each of its three home games this season to take a quick 7-0 lead.

4 Quarterback hurries by senior defensive lineman Isaac Rochell during last week’s 50-33 victory versus Syracuse, with the Irish defense accumulating 11 overall. Both doubled their overall totals, as Rochell had four QB hurries and the team 11 hurries in the first four games. Rochell now has eight QB hurries, while no one else has more than two. Linebacker Nyles Morgan has two quarterback sacks, and James Onwualu one.

Keeping with the four theme, Wolfpack QB Ryan Finley is fourth nationally in completion percentage (.724) and has not thrown an interception in 116 attempts.

3 True road games Notre Dame plays this year, meaning an on-campus site of the opponent. This trip to Raleigh is the second, with the first a 50-47 double-overtime loss in the opener at Texas. The last will be the season finale at USC on Nov. 26. The Irish are 3-8 in their last 11 true road games.

2 This is only the second meeting between Notre Dame and North Carolina State, with the Wolfpack winning the Jan. 1, 2003 Gator Bowl, 28-6. The only other team that has a 2-0 series lead on Notre Dame is Oregon State

1 Junior quarterback DeShone Kizer’s current 175.4 pass efficiency ranking (No. 9 nationally) would easily be No. 1 all time in a season at Notre Dame. The record is 161.42 by Jimmy Clausen in 2009 after the late Bob Williams (161.37) held it for 60 years.

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