Statistically speaking | by Pat
Plenty of interesting numbers to crunch now that the season is over. Here are some interesting facts and figures.
• Record-Breaking. The 2005 Notre Dame Fighting Irish broke 47 team and individual records this year. I'd have to imagine that is a record itself, so let's call it an unoffical 48. Here's the breakdown.
11 team recordsFor the complete listing of every broken record, und.com onces again does a superb job. Check them all out here.
9 individual career marks
14 individual season marks
7 individual single game marks
6 miscellanous records
• As you can imagine, Quinn's name shows up on many of the new marks set this season. All told, he now holds 30 different offensive records at Notre Dame. One of the last remaining significant records that he doesn't yet own is the single game passing mark: 526 yards against Southern Cal in 1970, by Joe Theisman.
• Maurice Stovall will leave Notre Dame not as a record-setter a la Brady, but his stellar senior year propelled him into some lofty company. Stovall is now 2nd all-time in career touchdowns with 19. The career leader is Derrick Mayes with 21. Stovall is now 4th all-time in career receptions (130), nudging Derrick Mayes out of 4th place by two receptions. Tom Gatewood holds the career record with 157. Finally, Stovall is 4th all-time in career receiving yards. Here are the Top 5. (The Top 5 are the only ND receivers with over 2000 career receiving yards.)
1. Derrick Mayes - 2,512 ('92-'95)• Darius Walker finished the season with 43 receptions, good for 4th on the team. Not only did that break the Notre Dame record for pass receptions by a tailback (37, Bob Gladieux, 1968), but it was one more reception than ND's leading receiver (Rhema McKnight) had in 2004. To put that into perspective, if he repeats this performance in his junior and senior year, he will be second only to Tom Gatewood on ND's career receptions list.
2. Tim Brown - 2,493 ('84-'87)
3. Tom Gatewood - 2,283 ('69-'71)
4. Maurice Stovall - 2,195 ('02-'05)
5. Jim Seymour - 2,113 ('66-'68)
• While we're speaking of receptions and future performance, we might as note that if Rhema McKnight's 2006 performance can mirror Maurice Stovall's 2005 performance, Rhema will leave ND as the University's all time receptions and receiving yardage leader.
• Now the bad news. The 617 yards of offense that the Notre Dame defense allowed against Ohio State was a program high, besting the 610 yards of offense accumulated by Southern Cal in 2002. 269 yards (44%) of the Buckeye offense came on four plays. All four plays were Buckeye touchdowns.
• By only scoring 20 points, Notre Dame's scoring average dropped to 36.7 points per game, and just missed setting the program record, which remains 37.6 ppg (the 1968 squad).
• Taking a look at linebacker production, specifically behind the opponent's line of scrimmage, shows that the 2005 linebacking corps were actually a fairly accomplished unit. The starting trio of Brandon Hoyte, Corey Mays, and Maurice Crum combined for 32.5 tackles for loss (TFL) and 11.0 sacks. Going back 10 years, both of these numbers are the second highest for a starting Notre Dame linebacking group. The high water mark for TFL since 1995 was 35.0, set in 2001 by Tyreo Harrison, Courtney Watson, and Rocky Boiman. The top mark in sacks was 15.0, set in 1996 and largely due to Bert Berry's 10 solo takedowns.
• Notre Dame's 9th place ranking in the final 2005 AP Poll gives the Fighting Irish their first Top 10 finish since finishing 2nd after the 1993 season. Since the AP poll began in 1936, it is the 35th time that ND has finished the season in the Top 10.
Season Long Running Averages
First six games breakdown here. Last five games breakdown here.
For now we'll just present the stats without much explanation...we've got an entire off-season to dissect the numbers. Quickly though, it's easy to see that the offense took a huge leap forward in production while the defense stayed mainly the same and actually regressed in a number of categories. Considering that the offense returned all starters and the defense featured many new faces these results aren't exactly shocking, but they are still disappointing. As for special teams, it is interesting to note that the punt game definitely improved while the kickoff return/coverage squads performed largely the same.
| Category | Fiesta Bowl | 2005 | 2004 |
| Yards per rush | 2.2 | 3.6 | 3.32 |
| Avg yards per PA | 6.4 | 8.7 | 7.2 |
| Avg yards per PC | 9.9 | 13.5 | 13.4 |
| Pass completion % | 64% | 65% | 54% |
| 3rd downs conv. | 9/17 (53%) | 90/184 (49%) | 68/183 (37%) |
| Rushing yd avg | 62.0 | 147.08 (55th) | 127.4 (85th) |
| Passing yd avg | 286.0 | 330.25 (4th) | 218.1 (54th) |
| Passing Eff. (Quinn) | 117.8 | 158.40 (7th) | 125.87 (55th) |
| Total Offense | 348.0 | 477.33 (10th) | 345.5 (81st) |
| Scoring Offense | 20.0 | 36.67 (8th) | 24.1 (72nd) |
| Time of Possession | 29:16 | 32:51 | 30:50 |
| Red Zone TDs | 3/4 (75%) | 38/55 (69%) | 25/36 (69%) |
Defense
| Category | Fiesta Bowl | 2005 | 2004 |
| Yards per rush given up | 7.6 | 3.9 | 2.7 |
| Avg yards per PA | 12.2 | 7.7 | 7.9 |
| Avg yards per PC | 18.0 | 14.6 | 13.6 |
| Pass completion % | 68% | 53% | 58% |
| Quarterback sacks | 1 | 31 | 30 |
| Rushing yd against | 275.0 | 132.33 (34th) | 88.2 (4th) |
| Passing yd against | 342.0 | 264.6 (103rd) | 281.2 (116th) |
| Passing Eff. def. | 194.0 | 121.41 (53rd) | 138.34 (98th) |
| Total yd against | 617.0 | 396.92 (75th) | 369.4 (54th) |
| Scoring Defense | 34.0 | 24.5 (53rd) | 24.08 (46th) |
| Red Zone Defense | 1/3 (33%) | 31/41 (76%) | 33/38 (87%) |
| Red Zone TD Def. | 0/1 (0%) | 23/41 (56%) | 19/38 (50%) |
Turnovers
| Category | Fiesta Bowl | 2005 | 2004 |
| Interceptions by ND | 0 | 13 | 9 |
| Fumbles Forced / Recovered | 2/2 | 20/11 | 27/12 |
| Turnovers gained | 2 | 24 | 21 |
| Had Intercepted | 0 | 8 | 10 |
| Fumbles / Lost | 1/0 | 17/6 | 15/6 |
| Turnovers lost | 0 | 14 | 16 |
| Turnover Margin | +2 | +10 | +5 |
Special Teams
| Category | Fiesta Bowl | 2005 | 2004 |
| Kickoff return average | 11.5 | 19.0 | 18.7 |
| Kickoff return average allowed | 17.0 | 21.2 | 19.9 |
| Punt return average | 0.0 | 14.1 | 10.8 |
| Punt return average allowed | 10.0 | 6.4 | 8.2 |
Fun Fact O' the Day: Notre Dame's 2005 regular season opponents went a combined 61-65 (48.4% winning percentage) this season. Notre Dame's 2006 regular season opponents finished off the 2005 season with a combined record of 83-56 (59.7%). One thing to keep in mind though about looking a year ahead. In 2004, Notre Dame's 2005 regular season opponents went 78-53 (59.5%). So what looks like a hard schedule for the coming year could very well turn into a relatively easy one.
