Inside Notre Dame's Fighting Irish

Date: Nov. 26, 2011
Site: Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto, Calif. (85,500)
Kickoff: 8 p.m. ET
Television: ABC
Coaches: Notre Dame — Brian Kelly (16-8, second season),
Stanford — David Shaw (10-1, first season).
Spread Stanford -6.5

Notre Dame’s offense was a mess last week against Boston College, and if it weren’t for David Ruffer’s three field goals, and a defense that finally found its footing, the Irish may have not been able to hold off a late Boston College rally for a 16-14 victory.

This “Holy War” rivalry may not have quite the same buzz it’s had in other years......Boston College is just 3-7 and struggling through its worst season in 13 years, but the game is still an important one for the Irish (7-3). They’ve climbed back into the Top 25 with three straight wins, and could equal last year’s victory total by beating Boston College.

The Fighting Irish are likely to miss a BCS bowl for a fifth straight year, the Irish would match their best record of the last decade if they beat Boston College and Stanford and win their Bowl game.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have made 30 Bowl appearances in it’s 123 years of footballing history, winning 15 and losing 15.

It has played in the Rose Bowl (1 win), the Cotton Bowl Classic (5 wins, 2 losses), the Orange Bowl (2 wins, 3 losses), the Sugar Bowl (2 wins, 2 losses), the Gator Bowl (1 win, 2 losses), the Liberty Bowl (1 win), the Aloha Bowl (1 loss), the Fiesta Bowl (1 win, 3 losses), the Independence Bowl (1 loss),the Insight Bowl (1 loss), Hawaii Bowl (1 win) and the Sun Bowl (1 win).

Senior Fighting Irish running back Jonas Gray rushed for 136 yards on 21 carries and a brace of 1 yard touchdowns to lead the Fighting Irish to a 45-21 victory in front of 70,521 spectators in Fed-Ex field, Maryland, on Saturday night.

It was the seventh consecutive game that Gray has scored a touchdown for the Irish and his 11th overall this season. It also marked the fifth time this season in which Notre Dame amassed over 500 yards in a game, with 508.

DATE: Saturday, November 5, 2011
TIME: 8:00 p.m. ET
SITE: (CAPACITY) BB&T Field (31,500); Winston-Salem, N.C.
TV: ABC national telecast with Mark Jones (play-by-play), Ed Cunningham (analysis), Kim Belton (producer) and Jimmy Platt (director). In those areas of the country in which the game is not available on ABC, it will be available on ESPN2.

SERIES INFO

Notre Dame and Wake Forest will meet on the gridiron for the first time in the history of Irish football. The Demon Deacons are the 141st different opponent in Notre Dame football history. The Irish own an all-time record of 117-20-3 (.846) when facing an opponent for the first time.

T’is that time of year again people. With Santa just around the corner, shopping has already commenced for the festive season - of course, that is, if it has not already finished. And there is one other interesting point that Irish fans are suddenly pointing to.........

Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach, Brian Kelly, has posted some very successful numbers from a statistical stand-point in his career. One of the most noteworthy is that of his overall coaching record in the later months of the footballing calendar. Kelly has achieved an impressive 51-13 career record in November, and you have to go back to a 2007 game against a 5th ranked West Virginia for his last loss in November or December.