ND @ Tennessee

[EnviedOne]

The Date and Time: Saturday, Nov. 6, 2004 at 3:34 p.m. EST.

The Site: Neyland Stadium (104,079/Natural Grass) in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Tickets: They're all sold -- with this being the 169th sellout in the last 194 Irish games and the 33rd in the last 35 games involving Notre Dame, dating back to the end of the 2001 season (only last year's game at Stanford and this year's Navy game were not sellouts).

The TV Plans: CBS national telecast with Verne Lundquist (play-by-play), Todd Blackledge (analysis), Tracy Wolfson (sideline) and Craig Silver (producer).

The Radio Plans: For the 37th consecutive season, all Notre Dame football games are broadcast on more than 300 stations in all 50 states by Westwood One with Tony Roberts (play-by-play), former Irish running back Allen Pinkett (analysis), Larry Michael (pregame/halftime) and Al Smith (producer). A live broadcast from the Notre Dame student station, WVFI, also is available via the Notre Dame athletics web site at www.und.com. All Notre Dame football games may be heard in South Bend on U93-FM (92.9) with pre- and post-game analysis featuring Sean Stires, Shawn Lewallen, Jack Nolan, Mirko Jurkovic, Reggie Brooks and Vince DeDario. All Irish games also are carried live in the Chicago market on ESPN Radio 1000.

Real-Time Stats: Live in-game statistics, courtesy of College Sports Online's GameTracker, will be made available for the Tennessee game, via the Notre Dame (www.und.com) and Tennessee (www.utsports.com) athletics web sites.

Web Sites: Notre Dame (www.und.com), Tennessee (www.utsports.com).

IRISH TRAVEL TO KNOXVILLE TO TAKE ON TENNESSEE AT NEYLAND STADIUM

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame (5-3) resume their 2004 season on Saturday, Nov. 6, when they travel to Knoxville, TN, to take on the No. 9/11 Tennessee Volunteers (7-1) at Neyland Stadium. The contest will be televised nationally by CBS, marking the 145th consecutive Irish football game to be broadcast across the country by one of four major networks (NBC, ABC, CBS or ESPN).

The Irish enter the road trip to Tennessee trying to regain some momentum after a heartbreaking 24- 23 loss to Boston College last Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish led for much of the game against the Eagles, building a 20-7 halftime edge before a BC comeback in the second half was capped by a 30-yard scoring pass from Paul Peterson to Tony Gonzalez with 54 seconds remaining. A lastsecond 55-yard field goal attempt by Notre Dame's D.J. Fitzpatrick was just short as time expired. Offensively, sophomore quarterback Brady Quinn passed for 231 yards and one touchdown while completing 20 of 33 attempts. The Irish gained 212 of their 335 total yards in the first half against the Eagles. Junior receiver Rhema McKnight led the team with five catches for 78 yards and senior receiver Matt Shelton hauled in a 33-yard touchdown pass.

The Irish defense held BC to 62 rushing yards and accumulated eight tackles for losses and caused two interceptions along with two quarterback sacks. Senior defensive end Justin Tuck tied the Notre Dame career sacks record of 22.5 against the Eagles. The defensive performance against the rush marked the fifth time this season that the Notre Dame defense has held an opposing team below 100 yards on the ground.

Tennessee (7-1) enters the game off a 43-29 win at Southeastern Conference rival South Carolina in a key SEC Eastern Division last Saturday. Tennessee's clash with the Irish is the Vols' final non-SEC test of the season. UT, which leads the SEC East, closes with conference clashes against Vanderbilt and Kentucky following the clash with the Irish.

NOTRE DAME-TENNESSEE SERIES HISTORY

• Notre Dame and Tennessee are meeting for the seventh time on the gridiron, and for the first time since 2001, with the Volunteers holding a 4-2 edge in the series. This will be the fourth time the two teams have played in Knoxville, with Tennessee holding a 2-1 edge at Neyland Stadium.

• Tennessee has won the last three games in the series, the longest winning streak in the rivalry.

• The series features a matchup of two of the nine winningest programs in college football history. Notre Dame ranks second all-time in victories with 801 while Tennessee is ninth with 742.

• Three of the last four series games have been decided by an average margin of 5.3 points per game.

• Tennessee has won four of the last five games in the series by an average margin of 14.3 points per game.

• At least one of the teams has been nationally ranked in all seven games of the series, entering this contest ranked 9th by AP and 11th by the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll after a win at South Carolina. Notre Dame is 2-3 against Tennessee when it is ranked heading into its matchup with the Vols. Conversely, Tennessee is 3-1 when it is ranked entering the Notre Dame game with all three wins coming in the last three series games.

IF NOTRE DAME WINS ...

• Notre Dame will improve its series record with Tennessee to 3-4 and earn its first victory over the Volunteers since a 34-29 victory on Nov. 10, 1990 in Knoxville.

• Notre Dame will break a three-game losing streak against Tennessee.

• Notre Dame will snap a three-game losing streak against the Volunteers and will have beaten a team from the Southeastern Conference for the first time since a 39-36 win over LSU in 1998.

• Notre Dame will pick up its first victory over a ranked opponent on the road since a 20-14 win at No. 15 Pittsburgh on Oct. 11, 2003.

• Notre Dame will pick up its sixth victory of the season, thereby becoming bowl eligible for 2004.

IF TENNESSEE WINS ...

• Tennessee will earn its fourth consecutive victory over Notre Dame, the longest winning streak by either team in the series, and its fifth victory in the last six meetings with the Irish.

• The Vols will improve to 5-2 all-time against the Irish and remain one of only five "major" schools to lead their series with the Irish (joining Nebraska, Florida State, Georgia and Michigan).

• The Volunteers will record their third win in a row over Notre Dame at Neyland Stadium.

• Notre Dame will fall to 1-3 all-time at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.

NOTRE DAME-TENNESSEE SERIES HISTORY

• Tennessee leads the series with Notre Dame, 4-2, including a 2-1 edge in games at Neyland Stadium.

• The series resumes this season after a two-year hiatus.

• Three of the last four games in the series have been decided by 10 points or less.

• In the last meeting between UT and Notre Dame, the Volunteers took a 28-18 victory at Notre Dame Stadium in 2001.

• This game will be Notre Dame's first appearance in Knoxville since a 38-14 loss in 1999.

• Notre Dame's last win over Tennessee came in Knoxville, a 34-29 victory by the top-ranked Irish over the ninth-ranked Volunteers.

• At least one of the two teams has been ranked in the top 15 all seven times the teams have met, but this will mark only the second time in seven meetings that Notre Dame has not been ranked when facing the Volunteers.

• Entering the 2004 season, both Notre Dame and Tennessee ranked in the top 10 on the NCAA Division IA all-time victories list - the Irish were second with 796 wins while the Volunteers checked in at No. 9 with 736 victories.

• Tennessee is one of only five current "major" schools to hold a series advantage over Notre Dame - the others are Nebraska (8-7-1), Florida State (4-2), Georgia (1-0) and Michigan (18-13-1). • The Tennessee-Notre Dame series has always been played in early November. All seven games (including 2004) have been played within an eight-day range (Nov. 3, twice on Nov. 6, Nov. 9, twice on Nov. 10 and Nov. 11).