2007 Notre Dame Football Post-Game Notes Notre Dame vs. Duke November 17, 2007 TEAM The Irish scored a pair of offensive touchdowns in the final 1:17 of the Duke won the toss and elected to defer. The Blue Devils defended the first half. The 1:13 between a pair of Irish touchdowns (offensive) is the north endzone in the first half. shortest between two scores this season and shortest since Nov. 5, 2005, The game officially was sold out ,making it the 199th consecutive sell- when the Irish recorded a pair of scores in 1:00 against Tennessee. out at Notre Dame Stadium. Since 1966, every Notre Dame home football Notre Dame registered a season-high nine third-down conversions game has been a sellout except one – a 1973 Thanksgiving Day game vs. this afternoon. The previous season-high was nine set against Navy on Air Force. The Irish have now have played in front of sellouts in 247 of Nov. 3. That was the most third-down conversions for the Irish since they their past 248 home games. converted 10 against USC on Oct. 15, 2005. The following Notre Dame players extended streaks for consecutive Notre Dame, which entered the game ranked fifth in the NCAA in starts: senior ILB Maurice Crum, Jr. (36), senior DE Trevor Laws (36), pass defense, limited Duke sophomore quarterback Thaddeus Lewis to sophomore OT Sam Young (23), senior CB Terrail Lambert (20) and sen- 121 yards in the air and a 48.5% completion percentage (16-of-33). ior SS Tom Zbikowski (17). Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan (32-of-49 for 291 yards) is the With freshman NT Ian Williams earning his first career start for Notre only opposing quarterback to complete 60% of his passes (minimum of Dame, 27 different Irish players (12 on defense, 15 on offense) have reg- 20 attempts) against the Irish this season. He also is the only opposing istered their first career starts this season. signalcaller to surpass 255 yards in the air. Excluding Ryan, the Irish passing defense has limited opposing quarterbacks to a combined com- Sr., OLB, Anthony Vernaglia Jr., FS, David Bruton pletion percentage of 51.5% (134-of-260). Here is a look at the quarter- Jr., NT, Pat Kuntz Jr., OT, Paul Duncan backs that have failed to complete 60% of their passes against Notre Jr., OG, Michael Turkovich Jr., OG, Dan Wenger Dame. So., QB, Demetrius Jones So., WR, George West So., OLB, John Ryan Fr., QB, Jimmy Clausen Name, School Comp.-Att. Comp. % INT Fr., HB, Armando Allen So., ILB, Toryan Smith Taylor Bennett, Georgia Tech 11-of-23 .478 0 Sr., DE, Dwight Stephenson So., WR Robby Parris Anthony Morelli, Penn State 12-of-22 .545 1 So., RG, Matt Carufel Jr., DT, Derrell Hand Ryan Mallett, Michigan 7-of-15 .467 0 So., HB, James Aldridge Fr., OLB Kerry Neal Brian Hoyer, Michigan State 11-of-24 .458 1 So., DB Raeshon McNeil Fr., WR Golden Tate Curtis Painter, Purdue 22-of-37 .594 2 So., TE, Will Yeatman So., OG, Eric Olsen Ben Olsen, UCLA 4-of-10 .400 0 Fr., WR, Duval Kamara Jr., QB, Evan Sharpley McLeod Bethel-Thompson, UCLA 12-of-28 .429 4 Jr., FS, Kyle McCarthy Fr., OLB, Brian Smith Mark Sanchez, USC 21-of-38 .553 0 Fr., NT, Ian Williams Thaddeus Lewis, Duke 16-of-33 .483 0 Freshman NT Ian Williams became the seventh Notre Dame fresh- Notre Dame has completed passes to a total of 16 different receivers in man to start this year, joining QB Jimmy Clausen, HB Armando Allen, 2007. That is tied for sixth across the country. Freshman HB Robert WR Golden Tate, WR Duval Kamara, OLB Kerry Neal and OLB Brian Hughes picked up his first reception of the season in today’s game. Smith. Different Receivers with Receptions Freshman Starters (NCAA Bowl Subdivision) 1. Nebraska 20 1. Temple 11 2. Troy 19 2. Buffalo 9 3. TCU 18 Marshall 9 Colorado 18 4. North Carolina 8 5. USC 17 Georgia 8 6. Notre Dame 16 6. Notre Dame 7 Boise State 16 7. Florida 6 Baylor 16 Iowa 6 Texas Tech 16 Middle Tennessee State 6 Georgia 16 USC 6 Rice 16 UL Lafayette 16 Notre Dame started six freshmen this afternoon (NT Ian Williams, QB LSU 16 Jimmy Clausen, HB Armando Allen, WR Duval Kamara, OLB Kerry Neal and OLB Brian Smith), including four on defense. Notre Dame nearly recorded its first shutout since Nov. 23, 2002, when Irish freshmen accounted for 164 of the team’s 220 rushing yards, 49 of the Irish blanked Rutgers, 42-0. Duke averted the shutout by scoring a 194 receiving yards, 11 of 65 total tackles and two of the four touchdowns touchdown with 1:12 left to play. in today’s game. Notre Dame’s starting offensive line today consisted of three sopho- mores (OT Sam Young, C Dan Wenger, OG Eric Olsen) and two juniors (OT Paul Duncan and OG Mike Turkovich). Young is the only member of the group who had started a game prior to this season. (notes continued on next page) The Irish have been victimized by points off turnovers all season. Notre Dame had been outscored, 82-47, off of turnovers entering today’s game, but the Irish turned a pair of Duke turnovers into 14 points over the final two minutes of the first half. Notre Dame rolled up 238 total yards (including 169 passing yards) in the first half. The 238 total yards and 169 passing yards are the most by the Irish in a first half this season. In fact, Notre Dame failed to reach 238 total yards in seven games this year. 2007 Notre Dame Football Post-Game Notes Notre Dame vs. Duke November 17, 2007 TODAY’S WIN ... The touchdown reception was Kamara’s fourth of the season. Two of Was the second straight victory over Duke. his four touchdown catches have gone for over 20 yards. Improves Notre Dame to 3-1 (.750) in the all-time series with the Blue Kamara’s four touchdown receptions are the most ever by a Notre Devils. Dame freshman (dating back to 1972, when freshmen became eligible). Improves the Irish to 3-0 (1.000) in the all-time series with Duke in Senior SS Tom Zbikowski registered five tackles this afternoon. The South Bend. five tackles move him into a tie for 11th place with Steve Niehaus (290, Improves Weis' Notre Dame record to 21-15 overall, 1-0 against Duke 1972-75) on the all-time Notre Dame tackle list. Zbikowski, who already and 3-2 against the ACC. owns the school record for tackles by an Irish defensive back, now is Improves Weis' Notre Dame home record to 11-9 (.550). only four tackles shy of Courtney Watson (294, 2000-03) for 10th place. Improves Weis' Notre Dame record to 9-3 (.750) in November games. Improves Weis' Notre Dame record to 6-9 (.429) following a defeat. Career Tackles Improves an unranked Notre Dame squad to 1-1 (.500) all-time against 1. Bob Crable (LB) 521 (1978-81) Duke. 2. Bob Golic (LB) 479 (1975-78) Improves an unranked Notre Dame squad to 1-0 (1.000) all-time 3. Steve Heimkreiter (LB) 398 (1975-78) against the Blue Devils in South Bend. 4. Bob Olson (LB) 369 (1967-69) Improves Notre Dame to 3-1 (.750) all-time against an unranked Duke 5. Tony Furjanic (LB) 361 (1982-85) squad. 6. Mike Kovaleski (LB) 353 (1983-86) Improves Weis' record to 15-12 (.556) in afternoon games. 7. Ross Browner (DE) 340 (1973, 1975-77) Improves Notre Dame's all-time record to 823-278-42 (.738). 8. Brandon Hoyte (LB) 297 (2002-05) Improves the Irish all-time home record to 298-96-5 (.753). 9. Greg Collins (LB) 295 (1972-74) Improves Notre Dame's all-time record against the ACC to 75-29-2 10. Courtney Watson (LB) 294 (2000-03) (.717). 11. Steve Niehaus (DT) 290 (1972-75) Improves Notre Dame's all-time home record against the Atlantic Tom Zbikowski (SS) 290 (2004-07) Coast Conference to 43-11 (.796). Improves Notre Dame's all-time record on Senior Day (final home Senior TE John Carlson recorded a season-long 41-yard reception on game of season) to 91-22-4 (.795). today’s opening drive. The 41-yard grab was the second-longest passing play of the season (the longest play of season is a 43-yard reception by INDIVIDUAL Golden Tate against Purdue). It was Carlson’s second-longest catch of Senior OC John Sullivan missed today’s game with an injury, ending his career (he registered a 62-yard TD grab at Michigan State in 2006). his streak of 31 consecutive starts. The previous game that Sullivan Carlson’s 97 career receptions are second-most ever by a Notre Dame failed to start was at Washington on Sept. 24, 2005. tight end (passing teammate Anthony Fasano this afternoon) while his Junior FS David Bruton picked up his first career fumble recovery late 1,064 career receiving yards rank third, ahead of Dean Masztak’s 924 in the second quarter. and now only 38 behind Fasano. Freshman HB Robert Hughes had the longest rush of the season on Notre Dame’s touchdown drive in the second quarter. Hughes galloped Receptions – Career (Tight End) 24 yards on the play preceeding freshman QB Jimmy Clausen’s 25-yard 1. Ken MacAfee . 128 (1974-77) scoring strike to junior WR David Grimes.