Notre Dame Defenses Are Allowed to Score, Too (or Six)

by John WaltersFiled under: Notre DameOf all the numbers that have haunted Notre Dame the past three-plus seasons, this one may be the most obscure: 1,594. That figure represents the number of snaps the Irish defense has been on the field for since it last scored a touchdown. On September 27, 2008, then-freshman cornerback Robert Blanton intercepted a Purdue pass and raced 47 yards to the north end zone of Notre Dame Stadium for a touchdown. The Irish won that afternoon, 38-21. Since that day, 24 games -- and that dizzying number of 1,594 snaps -- have transpired without the Irish defense celebrating a score. Not surprisingly, the Irish have gone unranked during this period. Notre Dame has scored 74 touchdowns since Blanton's pick-six, but only three of them have come via special teams: Toryan Smith's 48-yard return of a blocked punt in 2008 at Navy, Armando Allen's 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the 2008 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, and Golden Tate's 87-yard ...