10 Iowa State is the 10th different school Notre Dame will have met for the first time ever on the football field in a bowl setting. The Irish are 5-4 in such outings.
Notre Dame defeated Stanford (1925 Rose), Alabama (1973 Sugar), Houston (1979 Cotton), West Virginia (1989 Fiesta) and Florida (1992 Sugar), with the victories against Stanford, Alabama and West Virginia clinching national titles.
It lost to Georgia (1981 Sugar), Texas A&M (1988 Cotton), Oregon State (2001 Fiesta) and North Carolina State (2003 Gator).
9 This will be head coach Brian Kelly’s ninth bowl appearance in 10 seasons at Notre Dame. He is 4-4 in the postseason but has never won a major.
Lou Holtz (1986-96) has the most bowl wins at Notre Dame (5-4), and all nine of his appearances were in majors, where the five teams that were defeated had a combined record of 54-2 entering the contest.
8 In the last eight games, Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book has been sacked just once on third down in 73 passing attempts, the best among the 65 Power 5 quarterbacks. The 76 yards in sack yardage the Irish have allowed this season also are the fewest among Power 5 teams.
7 Receptions needed by Fighting Irish tight ends, led by junior Cole Kmet, to set a new single season standard of 67 established in 2011 (with Tyler Eifert snaring 63 of them).
However, few schools utilize the tight end as well as Iowa State, led by AP second-team All-American Charlie Kolar. The top three ISU tight ends this year have combined for 72 catches for 949 yards (13.2 yards per catch) and 10 touchdowns.
6 Consecutive victories Notre Dame is seeking to end the 2019 season — which would be the longest to cap a campaign since the seven straight by the 1992 unit that finished No. 4 in the country.
5 National ranking of Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy in passing yards per game (313.3) — while Notre Dame also is No. 5 in pass efficiency defense (and No. 3 in fewest passing yards allowed per contest at 163.7).
Which is going to give more?
4 Games this year where Iowa State has scored 20 or more points in the fourth quarter — a first in the Football Bowl Subdivision since Tennessee achieved the feat in 2016.
Two of them were against current Top 10 teams. ISU trailed Baylor 20-0 in the fourth quarter but took a 21-20 lead before losing 23-21. Versus 2019 College Football Playoff team Oklahoma, the Cyclones trailed 42-21 before tallying 20 straight points and then missing the two-point conversion with 24 seconds left in the 42-41 defeat.
Play to the end.
3 FBS schools among 130 since 2017 who have not lost a game by more than 14 points: Iowa State, Oklahoma and Washington. The Cyclones’ five defeats this season were by 21 total points, with four by 11.
2 Among teams that have played only 12 games so far, Notre Dame is second nationally in most turnovers generated with 26 — including a national high 17 fumbles recovered. Overall the Irish are fourth in turnover margin (plus-1.25) while Iowa State is 73rd (minus-0.08).
Also, in a tale of two halves under esteemed and rising fourth-year head coach Matt Campbell, the Cyclones are 20-4 (.833) when leading at halftime and 6-20 (.300) when tied or trailing at the intermission.
1 Game under .500 (18-19) Notre Dame is all time in bowl games. It hasn’t been above .500 since 2004 (13-12). At the end of 1993, the Irish were 13-6 in bowls, the highest postseason winning percentage (.684) in college football among teams with at least 15 appearances.
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