Nov. 2, 2006
Notre Dame and North Carolina meet for the first time in 31 years this afternoon at Notre Dame Stadium. The two teams have met 16 times in the series with the Irish holding a 15-1 edge in the games played. The last time the two teams met was on Oct. 11, 1975 among the Carolina Pines at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C., with Notre Dame taking a 21-14 win on an 80-yard Joe Montana to Ted Burgmeier pass with 1:03 left in the game. The series began in 1949 at Yankee Stadium with the top-ranked Irish taking a 42-6 victory. The two teams would meet for 11 straight seasons with Notre Dame winning 10 straight before falling in 1960, 12-7 at Chapel Hill. The Irish are 10-0 at Notre Dame Stadium, 4-1-0 at Kenan Stadium and 1-0 in neutral site games versus the Tar Heels.
Today’s game against North Carolina is the second game of the year for Notre Dame against a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Irish opened the season with a 14-10 win at Georgia Tech. Notre Dame owns a 73-27-2 (.725). Georgia Tech is the team from the ACC that the Irish have faced most, going 27-5-1 in 33 meetings versus the Yellow Jackets. Notre Dame has faced Miami (FL) 23 times while playing North Carolina and Boston College 16 times for the top ACC opponents.
IRISH ITEMS (use Photo 8a. here)
The Irish have “gone for it” on fourth down 23 times this season and have converted on 17 of them for a 74.0% success rate. Notre Dame is 10th in the nation on fourth-down conversions in 2006.
When Brady Quinn hit sophomore receiver David Grimes for a 36-yard touchdown pass in the win over Navy, it marked the ninth play for the Irish this season to go over 30 yards. Four of those nine plays have gone for touchdowns. The touchdown pass to Grimes made him the sixth different receiver to be on the receiving end of a Quinn touchdown toss this season.
The 38-14 win over Navy last weekend marked the fifth time this season that the Irish have scored over 30 points in a game. They have now scored 30 or more points 15 times under head coach Charlie Weis. Notre Dame also has scored 30 or more points in 17 of the last 22 meetings with Navy.
Irish punter Geoff Price got the afternoon off last weekend against the Midshipmen, as Notre Dame was not forced to punt the entire game. That was the first time that the Irish did not punt in a game since Nov. 12, 2005 against Navy.
Notre Dame’s 20-17 win over UCLA on Oct. 21 marked the 10th time in Notre Dame history that the Irish have trailed with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game and still pulled out the win. Three of the wins came on touchdown drives and seven were decided with game-winning field goals. The last-minute win against UCLA marked the third time in Brady Quinn’s career that he engineered the winning points in the final minute. His previous last-second wins came against Navy in 2003 and last season versus Stanford.
PRESENTING THE FLAG Our national colors will be presented by the student body presidents from Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s college. Lizzi Shappell from Notre Dame is a senior from Mishawaka, Indiana, majoring in political science and peace studies. Susan McIlduff from Saint Mary’s is a senior from Leetonia, Ohio, majoring in business and communication studies.