Blue and Gold Illustrated

February 2013

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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The Top 12 Of 2012 A dozen of Notre Dame's best players and the roles they played during an undefeated regular season N By Dan Murphy otre Dame's coaches and players point to their team chemistry and a top-to-bottom effort to explain the unbeaten regular season that blindsided the college football world. That may be so, but in any fairytale season, heroes emerge. The Irish had no shortage of players reach beyond expectations this fall, elevating their own games and those of the teammates around them in order to pull Notre Dame back to its first national championship game in 24 years. With a 12-0 regular season record in 2012, we thought it fitting to stretch our list of the top performers of the year to an even dozen. 1. LB Manti Te'o There is no obstacle in modern sports like hype. Hype has a tendency to drown anyone in its path. To meet the hype is as exciting as watching a man tread water. Only once in a while does an athlete exceed hype, and that hap- Senior linebacker Manti Te'o was as productive as any defender in the nation this past season, making 103 tackles and intercepting seven passes while providing inspirational leadership. photo by bill panzica

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