90 Years: The Longest Gap for Notre Dame?

When Western Michigan University runs out of the tunnel into Notre Dame Stadium this Saturday -- it will mark the first time Notre Dame has played Western Michigan in 90 football seasons.   They last played each other on October 9, 1920 -- when a senior halfback named George Gipp scored two TD's leading the Irish to a 42-0 victory (see link below).  Please note:  We're still researching to see if this is the longest period of time between two opponents playing in college football history.  What we do know -- thanks to the Notre Dame's Media Relations team -- is that it's not the longest gap in between playing an opponent in Notre Dame history.  That distinction belongs to Notre Dame Baseball and their opponent Mount St. Mary’s.  Their baseball game in 2008 marked 96 seasons since they had last played each other in 1912.  (May 13, 1912 to March 1, 2008)

LINK:  NOTRE DAME vs. WESTERN MICHIGAN - 1920

Notre Dame Lacrosse -- Coaching Videos

Coming off its most successful season ever in Men's Lacrosse -- NCAA National Championship Runner-up -- the Notre Dame coaching staff has published six coaching/training videos on various aspects of the game.  The great news -- it's free and available to all lacrosse coaches and players.  Here's a link to the Lax Power website -- where the videos reside.  When you get to the web page -- the Notre Dame videos are on the right hand side:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME LACROSSE TRAINING VIDEOS

Latest NCAA FBS Stats for Notre Dame Football

It's Wednesday -- which means it's time for our weekly look at where Notre Dame Football ranks in certain statistical categories amongst the 120 teams in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision -- AT THE HALF WAY POINT OF THE 2010 SEASON.  In this analysis you'll see how Notre Dame currently stands -- as compared to their final ranking for 2009:

DEFENSIVE TEAM STATISTICS

Quarterback Sacks:  2010 Rank - #19 with 15 QB sacks -- in 2009 we had 19 QB sacks for the season, ranking us #92 -- Florida State leads the country with 26 QB sacks.

Interceptions:  2010 Rank - #14 with 8 interceptions -- in 2009 we had 12 interceptions for the season, ranking us #50 -- Florida leads the country with 13 interceptions.

Passes Deflected:  2010 Rank - #23 with 21 pass deflections -- in 2009 we had 28 pass deflections for the season, ranking us #99 -- Oregon leads the country with 37 pass deflections.

Third Down Conversion Rate:  2010 Rank - #30 allowing only 34% conversion rate on third down -- in 2009 we allowed a 39.5% conversion rate, ranking us #67 -- TCU leads the country allowing only a 22.67%  conversion rate.

Turnovers Gained:  2010 Rank - #47 with 10 turnovers gained -- in 2009 we gained 19 turnovers for the season, ranking us #80 -- Oregon leads the country with 22 turnovers gained this season.

Total Yards:  2010 Rank - #83 giving up 398 yards per game -- in 2009 we gave up an average of 397 yards per game, ranking us #86 -- TCU leads the country giving up 240 yards per game.

Points Allowed Per Game:  2010 Rank - #60 giving up 23.5 points per game -- in 2009 we gave up 25.3 points per game, ranking us #63 -- Iowa leads the country giving up 10.2 points per game.

OFFENSIVE TEAM STATISTICS

Total First Downs:  2010 Rank - #23 with 129 first downs -- in 2009 we had 293 first downs for the season, ranking us #13 -- Nevada leads the country with 165 first downs.

Third Down Conversions:  2010 Rank - #80 with a 35.4% conversion rate -- in 2009 we had a 39.1% conversion rate for the season, ranking us #48 -- Nevada leads the country converting 62.2% of their third downs.

Passing Yardage:  2010 Rank - #8 with 1,707 passing yards (284 yards per game)  -- in 2009 we passed for 3,882 yards (323 yards per game) for the season, ranking us #7 -- Hawaii leads the country with 2,530 passing yards (421 yards per game).

Rushing Yardage:  2010 Rank - #89 with 642 rushing yards (107 yards per game) -- in 2009 we rushed for 1,539 yards (127 yards per game) for the season, ranking us #88 -- Air Force leads the country with 2,116 rushing yards ( 352 yards per game).

Fewest QB Sacks Given Up:  2010 Rank -- #86 giving up 12 QB sacks -- in 2009 we gave up 25 QB sacks for the season, ranking us #66 -- Utah leads the country having only given up 1 QB sack.

Turnovers Lost:  2010 Rank - #92 with 12 turnovers lost -- in 2009 we had 14 turnovers for the season, ranking us #7 -- Oregon State leads the country with 1 turnover lost for the season.

Total Offense:  2010 Rank -- #56 with 2,349 yards (391 per game)  of offense -- in 2009 we had 5,421 yards (451 yards per game) of offense for the season, ranking us #8 -- Oregon leads the country with 3,402 yards (567 per game) of offense.

Points Per Game:  2010 Rank -- #82 with 24.3 points per game -- in 2009 we averaged 30.1 points per game for the season, ranking us #32 -- Oregon leads the country scoring 54.3 points per game.
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TEAM STATISTICS

Fewest Penalties:  2010 Rank - #20 with 27 penalties -- in 2009 we had 75 penalties for the season, ranking us #50 -- Indiana leads the country in the fewest penalties with 17.

Fewest Penalty Yards:  2010 Rank -- #37 with 260 total yards in penalties -- in 2009 we had 666 yards in penalties, ranking us #60 -- Penn State leads the country in fewest penalty yards with 131.

Net Punting Yards:  2010 Rank -- #82 with an average net of 36.0 yards per punt -- in 2009 we averaged 32.1 yards per punt, ranking us #112 -- Illinois leads the country in net yards per punt with 46.9