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Notre Dame-Texas: 10 To 1

Texas is bent of avenging last year's 38-3 humiliation at Notre Dame last season. (Photo By Bill Panzica)

10 Years since Notre Dame opened its season at the opponent’s on-campus site. That occurred on Sept. 2, 2006, when head coach Charlie Weis’ No. 2-ranked Fighting Irish led by senior quarterback Brady Quinn had to rally from a 10-0 deficit to eke out a 14-10 victory at unranked Georgia Tech. Since then, Notre Dame is 2-7 the past nine years in its first game at an off-campus site, including last year’s 34-27 win at Virginia on a long touchdown pass from DeShone Kizer to Will Fuller with 12 seconds left and trailing 27-26.

Texas also started a school record 10 different true freshmen last season. Three of them, linebacker Malik Jefferson and offensive linemen Connor Williams and Patrick Vahe, were named Freshman All-Americans.

9 Career catches by Notre Dame wide receivers and tight ends not named Torii Hunter Jr. (who has 35). That figure is led by senior tight end Durham Smythe with four (25 yards), while fellow tight end Nic Weishar has three (19 yards). Sophomore wideouts Equanimeous St. Brown and CJ Sanders caught one apiece last year.

8 Straight victories by Notre Dame in August/September games after going unbeaten those months in 2014-15. That is the third-longest streak for the Irish in pre-October games, behind the 15 from 1986 until 1991 and 10 consecutive from 1970 until 1974.

With a win tonight, No. 10-ranked Notre Dame (Associated Press poll) also could move up to No. 8 because No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 5 LSU each lost this weekend, while No. 9 Tennessee needed overtime to defeat Appalachian State. It would not be a surprise, though, if No. 15 Houston would leapfrog the Irish after its impressive victory versus the Sooners.

7 Last year Notre Dame running back Josh Adams became only the fourth freshman since 2000 from Power Five schools to average at least 7.0 yards per carry with a minimum of 100 attempts. The other three were Texas’s Jamal Charles in 2005 (7.4), Clemson’s C.J. Spiller in 2006 (7.3) and Georgia’s Nick Chubb in 2014 (7.1).

Adams’ first career college carry resulted in a 14-yard touchdown against the Longhorns, and he later added a 25-yard score.

6 Carries between “Smash Brothers” D’Onta Foreman and Chris Warren III for nine yards in last year’s 38-3 loss at Notre Dame. The 249-pound Foreman carried the ball three times for five yards, while the 252-pound Warren’s three attempts netted four yards. The remainder of the season their 159 carries between them averaged 7.1 yards.


5 Years ago, South Florida became the most recent team to defeat Notre Dame in an opener, 23-20. The head coach of the Bulls was Skip Holtz, son of 1986-96 Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz. At Texas this weekend, one of the backups — and the starting holder on placekicks — is Trey Holtz, son of Skip and grandson of Lou. This isn’t a time to have history repeat in an opener.

Texas’ five new assistant coach hirings this past winter also tied for fifth most in the country (USC had seven to lead the way).

4-0 Record of Notre Dame in Austin, starting in 1913 and most recently the 27-24 victory 20 years ago (1996) on freshman Jim Sanson’s field goal as time expired. State pride is at stake for the Longhorns, as Notre Dame improving to 5-0 all-time in Austin would match the equally impressive 5-0 ledger it has in Norman against the Oklahoma Sooners.

3 Consecutive years Notre Dame has not had a turnover in the opener. Furthermore, the Irish had zero turnovers in each of their first two games the past two years. Brian Kelly is 19-0 at Notre Dame in contests where the Irish had no turnovers.

2 Quarterbacks expected to be played by both Notre Dame (Kizer and Malik Zaire) and Texas (Shane Buechele and Tyrone Swoopes). The Irish are far more proven there, especially with Zaire finishing 19-of-22 for 313 yards passing in the 38-3 blowout of the Longhorns last year, prior to his season ending injury the next week. Buechele is a true freshman, but he was an early entrant who at least was able to practice last spring.

1 Texas is attempting to beat Notre Dame for the first time since Jan. 1, 1970, a 21-17 Cotton Bowl victory that won the AP national title for the Longhorns. The Irish have won the last five meetings against Texas, including Cotton Bowl victories in 1971 and 1978 over the No. 1-ranked team, the latter earning a national title.

A sixth consecutive victory would improve Notre Dame’s all-time series lead to 10-2 and tie Texas A&M (1984-89) and Oklahoma (1952-57) for longest winning streak by one team against the ‘Horns.

The last time Texas opened at home against an AP Top 10 opponent was 1980, when on Labor Day the Longhorns defeated Lou Holt'z No. 6 Arkansas team, 23-17.

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