#9 Notre Dame Hosts Southern Cal In Storied Rivalry

	GAME DAY INFORMATION
Date	Saturday, October 12, 2019
Time	7:36 p.m. ET
Site:	Notre Dame Stadium • Notre Dame, IN • Capacity 77,622 (FieldTurf)
TV:	TV: NBC (national) | NBC Sports app Mike Tirico (play-by-play) Doug Flutie (analysis) Kathryn Tappen (sideline) Chris Simms (sideline analyst)
Radio:	Notre Dame Radio Network
Tickets:	Notre Dame Ticket Exchange powered by VividSeats.com

Notre Dame Notes | Southern Cal Notes

	IRISH VS. TROJANS - BY THE NUMBERS
3	Brian Kelly is the first Irish coach to post three or more shutouts in his Notre Dame career since Lou Holtz. The last Irish shutout took place in 2014 vs. Michigan (31-0), and Kelly’s first shutout as the Notre Dame head coach came vs. Wake Forest in 2012 (38-0).ˆ
3	Only two Irish coaches have totaled more wins vs. USC than Brian Kelly’s six victories: Lou Holtz (nine) and Frank Leahy (eight).
4	Brady Quinn, Tommy Rees, Jimmy Clausen, Ron Powlus and Ian Book are the only quarterbacks in Notre Dame history to record four or more touchdown passes in three games in their career. Book joined the group after recording five passing touchdowns vs. Bowling Green.
4	QB Ian Book threw just four incomplete passes vs. Bowling Green, a total which was one fewer than his passing touchdowns total. Phil Jurkovec> completed five of seven passes and added a touchdown, which put the Irish at equal amounts of touchdowns thrown to incomplete passes.
5	QB Ian Book threw five touchdown passes in the first half vs. Bowling Green, matching his career high in a game (vs. New Mexico, 2019) and marking the first time in program history an Irish QB recorded five touchdown passes in a half.
6	S Jalen Elliott notched an interception to end the first half vs. Bowling Green, totaling six interceptions since the beginning of 2018. Only two players in the FBS have recorded more (Andre Cisco, Syracuse - 9 and Jevon Holland, Oregon - 8).
10	Brian Kelly continues his 10th season as the head coach at the University of Notre Dame, becoming just the fifth Irish coach to spend a decade or more at the school (Knute Rockne, 13; Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Lou Holtz 11).
14	Notre Dame has won 14 consecutive games at Notre Dame Stadium, including a 6-0 clean slate last season. It is the third-longest winning streak at home for the Irish since Notre Dame Stadium opened in 1930.
20	Last week, Irish quarterbacks totaled nine completions for 20 or more yards, which ties for the FBS lead (Texas Tech and Miami, Fla.).
20	Notre Dame remains perfect in redzone-scoring percentage, converting on 20-of-20 visits inside the 20. 17 of those scores were touchdowns (10 rushing, seven passing). Just three other teams boast perfection in the redzone (Tulane, Iowa and LSU), and of those teams, only LSU (26) has totaled more redzone touchdowns than the Irish.
30	Notre Dame has held its opponents to 30 points or less in 19 consecutive games, a streak only topped by Washington (20) for the FBS lead in that category. The streak spans defensive coordinator Clark Lea’s entire tenure with the Irish.
51.6	Notre Dame’s defense leads the FBS in opponent passing attempts per touchdown, holding squads to 51.6 attempts per touchdown. This averages nearly 10 more attempts per touchdown than any other FBS team. The Irish are most closely trailed in this category by Mississippi State (41.9).
52	With 52 total points vs. Bowling Green, it marked the second time this season the Irish recorded at least 50 points. The last time Notre Dame reached that plateau in multiple games in a season was in 2011, when the Irish did it twice (vs. Air Force and vs. Navy). It is Notre Dame’s largest shutout margin since 1996, when Lou Holtz’s Irish beat Rutgers, 62-0.
270	The Notre Dame Stadium sell-out streak stands at 270 consecutive games, the second-longest in NCAA history.
351^	Games coached by Brian Kelly in his career, second among active coaches in the NCAA to Mack Brown (North Carolina).
1,211	Notre Dame running backs have gone 1,211 carries without losing a fumble – dating back to Nov. 21, 2015. It is the longest active streak in the FBS, trailed by Northwestern’s 1,152-carry streak.

THE COACHES
	Head Coach	At School	Overall	vs. Opponent
Notre Dame	Brian Kelly	84-36 (10th year)ˆ	255-93-2 (29th year)ˆ	1-1
Southern Cal	Clay Helton	32-15 (4th year)	32-15 (4th year)	1-2

ˆ Includes 20 regular-season wins and two postseason appearances vacated under discretionary NCAA penalty.

LAST TIME: SOUTHERN CAL

• November 24, 2018 – In the final game of Notre Dame’s regular season, the Irish traveled to the L.A. Memorial Coliseum and defeated the Trojans 24-17.
• Notre Dame overcame its largest deficit of the season (10 points) in a win that saw WR Chris Finke and RB Tony Jones Jr. catch touchdown passes from QB Ian Book, while RB Dexter Williams rushed for another. CB Julian Love totaled a career-high 12 tackles, while S Alohi Gilman added 10 and CB Troy Pride Jr. and LB Drue Tranquill each added nine.
• Completing an undefeated season, the Irish punched their ticket to the College Football playoff as a No. 3 seed and played No. 2 Clemson in the Cotton Bowl.
• A full history of the Notre Dame – Southern Cal series can be found here.

HOME FIELD WIN STREAK

• Notre Dame completed an undefeated season at Notre Dame Stadium in 2018 for the second time in four seasons (2015, 6-0) after finishing 6-0 following a 42-13 win over Florida State. From 1990-2011, only the 1998 campaign (6-0) saw a perfect Notre Dame home slate.
• Notre Dame has won 14 straight games at home dating back to Sept. 30, 2017, starting with a victory over Miami (Ohio). It is the third-longest home winning streak for the Irish since Notre Dame Stadium opened in 1930 (28 straight from 1942-50; 19 straight from 1987-90).

 

ENTERING GAME 6

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

• For the first time in Notre Dame history, an Irish team recorded six touchdown passes in two games during the same season (vs. New Mexico and vs. Bowling Green). The six touchdown passes match the Irish team record for passing touchdowns in a game.
• With 52 total points vs. Bowling Green, it marked the second time this season the Irish recorded at least 50 points. The last time Notre Dame reached that plateau in multiple games in a season was in 2011 when the Irish did it twice (vs. Air Force and vs. Navy).
• Against Bowling Green, Notre Dame’s 35-0 halftime lead was the largest since opening a 35-0 halftime margin over Rutgers in 1996.
• The Irish notched a top-10 ranking for the 22nd-consecutive week – the fourth-longest active streak in college football (behind Alabama, Clemson and Georgia). This is the most consecutive weeks within the top 10 for Notre Dame since 1991 (50).
• Notre Dame has been ranked in the top 25 for 35-consecutive weeks, the longest such streak for the Irish since the 1997 season.
• The contest vs. Virginia marked the second-consecutive week Notre Dame appeared in the week’s highest-ranked matchup (lowest total of both squads’ rankings). From 2015-2018 among all FBS teams, it has only happened three times: Alabama (Weeks 7-8, 2016; Weeks 10-11, 2018) and Penn State (Weeks 8-9, 2017). As the current AP rankings stand, the only other team with scheduled  back-to-back top-ranked matchups in 2019 is Florida in Weeks 6-7.

IAN BOOK NOTABLES

• Junior quarterback Ian Book leads all FBS quarterbacks in fourth-quarter passer rating (178.1) over the last 12 games. The average rating stands at 124.5.
• Book opened the game vs. Bowling Green with nine consecutive completions and recorded nine passes of 15 yards or more in the first half. That week, Irish quarterbacks totaled nine completions for 20 or more yards, which ties for the FBS lead (Texas Tech and Miami, Fla.). Book accounted for seven passes of 20 or more yards.
• In Notre Dame’s matchup against New Mexico, Book’s 406 yards of total offense was just the 11th time an Irish quarterback has compiled over 400 yards of total offense since 1996. It was the most since Book posted 399 at Northwestern last season, while DeShone Kizer’s 472 yards against Syracuse in 2016 marked the most recent game with a QB reaching over 400 yards of total offense. Six of the top 12 single-game yardage performances from a quarterback since 1996 have occurred during the Brian Kelly era.

HEADED FOR THE RECORD BOOKS

• Book threw five touchdown passes in the first half vs. Bowling Green, matching his career high (vs. New Mexico, 2019) and marking the first time in program history an Irish QB recorded five touchdown passes in a half.
• Brady Quinn, Tommy Rees, Jimmy Clausen, Ron Powlus and Ian Book are the only quarterbacks in Notre Dame history to record four or more touchdown passes in three games in their career.
• Book’s 36 career touchdown passes move him into eighth place in Irish history (passed Jarious Jackson, 34).
• Book received the game ball for his performance vs. Bowling Green, the first game ball of his Notre Dame career, and was selected to the Davey O’Brien Award Great 8 list for Week 6.

BOOK SOLID LATE

• Book boasts a 76.9 percent completion rate in close and late situations since the start of 2018, which leads the FBS.

NOTEWORTHY DEFENSIVE NOTABLES

• Notre Dame’s defense leads the FBS in opponent passing attempts per touchdown, holding squads to 51.6 attempts per touchdown. This averages nearly 10 more attempts per touchdown than any other FBS team.  The Irish are most closely trailed in this category by Mississippi State (41.9).
• The Irish forced a shutout vs. Bowling Green for the first time since 2014 (vs. Michigan, 31-0), scoring 35 points in the first half. Notre Dame’s 35-0 halftime lead was the largest since opening a 35-0 halftime margin over Rutgers in 1996. It is Notre Dame’s largest shutout margin since that game, when Lou Holtz’s Irish won, 62-0.
• Notre Dame’s defense held Bowling Green to just four drives that ended in Notre Dame territory (out of 11 total), the farthest point reached by the Falcons being the Notre Dame 23-yard line.
• Only two FBS teams have gained more turnovers than than the Irish, who have recorded eight fumble recoveries and six interceptions on the season.

THEY SAID IT – ON THE DEFENSE’S SHUTOUT VS. BOWLING GREEN

• “We come out here everyday to work our best and work our hardest to be the best defense in the country. We come out here and have that mindset everyday. We were confident in everything in the game plan, and we had one of the best week’s of practice coming into it. We were locked in and we knew we had to go out there and play our hardest.” -DL Julian Okwara
• “I think our defense played well enough to get a shutout. We were superior in terms of players today. We are not going to run around the ‘Gug’ all weekend about the shutout. We’ve got it in perspective. We did some good things. There’s no doubt. It’s hard to get shutouts in college football, but we’ll enjoy it for 24 hours, and as I mentioned already, we’ll get back to USC.” -Head Coach Brian Kelly

FOLLOW HIS LEA-D

• Notre Dame has held 19 consecutive opponents to 30 points or below, a streak only topped by Washington (20) for the FBS lead in that category. The streak spans Clark Lea’s entire 18-game tenure as defensive coordinator with the Irish, and includes ranked opponents LSU, Michigan, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Clemson, Georgia and Virginia.

BORN TO (STOP THE) RUN

• The Irish defense held Virginia to just four total rushing yards, marking the fourth-lowest total by an opposing team of Notre Dame since 1996, and the fewest in the Brian Kelly era. Notre Dame produced tackles for loss on 44.8 percent of Virginia’s rushing attempts, a rate which led the FBS. The four yards was also the lowest total against a ranked team since Nov. 26, 1966 (Southern Cal, 51-0 win, -12 rushing yards).
• In the first half, Notre Dame held Virginia to -2 rushing yards. In their previous four games, the Cavaliers had rushed for an average of 55.75 yards in the first half.
• Notre Dame’s defense held Georgia to just 34 total yards of offense in the first quarter two weeks ago. The Bulldogs gained at least 150 yards in the first quarter during each of their first three games this season.

NOTEWORTHY OFFENSIVE NOTABLES

• Notre Dame remains perfect in redzone-scoring percentage, converting on 20-of-20 visits inside the 20. Seventeen of those scores were touchdowns (10 rushing, seven passing). Just three other teams boast perfection in the redzone (Tulane, Iowa and LSU), and of those teams, only LSU (26) has totaled more redzone touchdowns than the Irish.
• With help coming from both sides of the ball, the Irish stand at a turnover margin of +10, averaging +2.00 per game. Both marks rank second in the FBS in their categories.
• Notre Dame running backs have gone 1,211 carries without losing a fumble – dating back to Nov. 21, 2015. It is the longest active streak in the FBS, trailed by Northwestern’s 1,152-carry streak.
• The Irish totaled 573 yards of total offense vs. Bowling Green, having a 100-yard receiver (Javon McKinley) and 100-yard rusher (Tony Jones Jr.) for the first time since 2018 at Virginia Tech (WR Miles Boykin and RB Dexter Williams).
• In the first half vs. Bowling Green, Notre Dame recorded 339 yards of total offense, 255 in the air. The Irish averaged 10.6 yards per play and scored five touchdowns. The five touchdown passes in the first half are the most by an Irish team in a single half.

THEY SAID IT – ON QB IAN BOOK’S FIVE-TD PERFORMANCE

• “Other than [the incompletion downfield to Michael Young], I thought [Book] did a really nice job of seeing the field, putting the ball in a position where we could make some contested catches. So, I liked the things he did today. Who wouldn’t? But again, the competition is going to step up. USC will be a bigger challenge. Two weeks later, Michigan will be another big challenge. But, good things to work on that we saw today from Ian that we can show him on film, that he got a chance to feel today, which is even bigger, and we’ll build off of that.” -Head Coach Brian Kelly
• “My job is to get the ball out there on the perimeter. We’ve got some really skilled guys out there. It’s my job to get the ball to them, and I was definitely happy with the way the O-line protected today. They did a great job. I had a lot of time. I was able to push the ball downfield, and Coach Long talks about it all the time: great players make big plays, and that’s what we needed. We had a few of those tonight. We’re going to need it for the rest of the season..” -QB Ian Book on the chunk plays vs. Bowling Green

 

NOTEWORTHY INDIVIDUAL NOTABLES

• WR Javon McKinley posted the first 100-yard receiving performance of his career vs. Bowling Green, catching five passes for 104 yards and a touchdown. McKinley also made the first start of his career vs. Virginia.
• RB Tony Jones Jr. recorded his third 100-yard rushing game of the season (vs. Virginia, at Louisville), notching seven carries for 102 yards and a touchdown, including a 36-yard long, vs. Bowling Green.
• S Jalen Elliott notched an interception to end the first half vs. Bowling Green, totaling six interceptions since the beginning of 2018. Only two players in the FBS have recorded more (Andre Cisco, Syracuse – 9 and Jevon Holland, Oregon – 8).
• DL Julian Okwara posted a sack and blocked a Bowling Green field goal attempt on Saturday, the first Irish player to block a field goal since Isaac Rochell in the 2014 Music City Bowl vs. LSU.
• Okwara recorded three sacks against Virginia, tying for sixth-most in single game program history with 10 other players. Two of Okwara’s sacks resulted in fumbles, one of which was returned 23 yards for a touchdown by DL Ade Ogundeji. Okwara earned Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week honors for his performance vs. Virginia, and was awarded a game ball along with DL Khalid Kareem. Okwara was also named to Pro Football Focus’ Eckrich National Team of the Week.
• S Alohi Gilman and S Kyle Hamilton both recorded interceptions in the fourth quarter, solidifying the Irish win over the Cavaliers. Hamilton was named to Pro Football Focus’ Eckrich National Team of the Week. The snags marked Hamilton’s second of his career and Gilman’s third.
• Chase Claypool caught two touchdown passes vs. Bowling Green, totaling 61 yards on three total receptions. Claypool surpassed the 100-career receptions mark on his first catch vs. Virginia, and on his 108 career receptions, Claypool has recorded 1,469 yards (13.6 average) and 10 touchdowns in four seasons. He joins a group of just 14 other Irish players who have reached the 100-career receptions mark since 1996. The most recent receivers to reach the benchmark were Chris Brown and Will Fuller V.
• Lending voice to the importance of veteran players making their mark on special teams, in the first quarter at Georgia, Claypool recovered a Georgia muffed punt return at the Bulldog eight-yard line to set up a Notre Dame touchdown drive (QB Ian Book one-yard pass to TE Cole Kmet). It was Claypool’s first-career fumble recovery. He also added 6 catches for 66 yards and a touchdown at Georgia.
• Cole Kmet recorded his second touchdown of the season vs. Bowling Green, and posted four catches for 65 yards vs. Virginia, totaling 13 receptions over two games (vs. Virginia and at Georgia. Just two Irish tight ends have totaled more receptions over a two-game span (most was 16 by Kyle Rudolph in 2010 vs. Michigan and Michigan State) since 1996.
• Kmet totaled a career-high nine catches at Georgia, which tied the program mark for receptions in a single game by a tight end. He tallied 108 receiving yards and a touchdown (seven receptions for 68 yards and a touchdown coming in the first half), and was named the John Mackey Award’s Tight End of the Week in Week 4
• RB C’Bo Flemister notched Notre Dame’s only rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter vs. Bowling Green. It was Flemister’s second career touchdown. TE Tommy Tremble scored the first Irish touchdown of the day vs. Bowling Green on a 21-yard Ian Book pass, Tremble’s second of his career.