Notre Dame-Nevada: 10 To 1
10 The Texas opener last week was the 10th time under seventh-year head coach Brian Kelly that Notre Dame lost a game where it had taken the lead in the fourth quarter or was at least tied, and the second in the last three. It's notable because in his last 43 games at Cincinnati (2007-09) and Central Michigan (2004-06), Kelly was 42-1 when his teams had a lead in the fourth quarter.
9 The most wins Notre Dame ever finished a season with among the 14 since 1900 in which it lost the opening game: 9-3 in 1976, 1978 and 1995. With 12-game regular seasons now, plus a bowl, that could conceivably be eclipsed in 2016.
8 Games in a row won by Notre Dame in August/September until the loss at Texas last week prevented the Irish from possibly entering the month of October without a blemish for the third straight year. Since 1972, the only other time the Irish achieved going unbeaten into October without a loss three consecutive seasons was the four straight from 1987-90 under Lou Holtz.
7 First-time starters for Notre Dame last week at Texas, which showed most in the secondary. Four were on offense with sophomore receivers Equanimeous St. Brown and CJ Sanders, who combined for eight catches for 130 yards and three touchdowns, junior center Sam Mustipher and senior right guard Colin McGovern. The defense had three with sixth-year Cal graduate transfer Avery Sebastian, sophomore nickel Shaun Crawford (who moved to corner), and sophomore corner Nick Coleman, who was replaced by Crawford, which then saw freshman Julian Love shift to nickel.
This week Notre Dame might see two more first-time starters because of head injuries suffered by Sebastian and senior receiver Torii Hunter Jr. at Texas: freshman free safety Devin Studstill and junior receiver Corey Holmes. Studstill played 44 snaps at Texas and has been knocking on the door as a starter since the spring when he was an early entrant.
6 Years since Nevada has defeated a ranked opponent, a 34-31 overtime win versus No. 3 Boise State in 2010, en route to a 13-1 finish that year. The Wolf Pack is 4-21 all time against ranked foes. The Irish are No. 18 in this week’s AP poll.
5 Touchdown passes thrown by junior quarterback DeShone Kizer last week at Texas, tying the school road record he set last year in a victory at Pitt. Kizer also ran for another score at Austin, just like he did at Pitt last year to account for all six TDs. The school record for TD passes in a game is six by Brady Quinn versus BYU in 2005.
4 Notre Dame has won four straight home openers since 2012, but it also has lost four of them since the turn of the century: 2001 and 2005 to Michigan State, 2007 to Georgia Tech and 2011 to South Florida. It shouldn’t to nearly a four-touchdown underdog such as Nevada,
3 This is the third straight game for Notre Dame where the opposing head coach was a former assistant for the Fighting Irish. Nevada’s Brian Polian, 19-20 with the Wolf Pack, coached Notre Dame’s special teams under Charlie Weis from 2005-09, and did the same for Jim Harbaugh at Stanford when the Cardinal won at Notre Dame in 2010. Last week the Irish lost to Texas’ Charlie Strong, the defensive line coach for the Irish from 1995-98. In the Fiesta Bowl last January it lost to Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, the receivers coach at Notre Dame from 1996-2000.
2 This will be only Notre Dame’s second meeting ever against Nevada. The first was the 2009 opener in which Irish defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta’s defense shut out (35-0) a Wolf Pack team led by current San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
1 The 132 points surrendered by Notre Dame's defense the last three games is unofficially the most in any three-game period for the Irish. It did yield 137 in a three-game stretch in 2014 by beating Navy 49-39 before losing 55-31 to Arizona State and 43-40 in overtime to Northwestern. But, in fairness, two of those touchdowns were interception returns by ASU.
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