Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1055468
22 DECEMBER 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Top Performer: Notre Dame's de- fense limited USC to 83 yards on four possessions, with the first three resulting in punts before the fourth picked up a first down prior to the quarter ending. Stats: Through three quarters, USC had 372 yards of offense on 57 plays (277 rushing and 95 rushing), while Notre Dame's 53 plays totaled 351 yards (263 passing and 88 rushing). Items: Fifth-year senior punter Ty- ler Newsome's 59-yard punt to USC's 10-yard line following the opening possession of the second half helped flip the field … After the Irish took the lead, USC drove to Notre Dame's 29-yard line, but a holding call and no gain on the next two plays forced a punt … Senior kicker Justin Yoon extended Notre Dame's lead to 17-10 on a 46-yard field goal at 1:07 to end a 31-yard drive. FOURTH QUARTER: NOTRE DAME 24, USC 17 Top Moment: Leading 17-10 and facing third-and-five from his 49, Book, facing an all-out blitz, flipped a short wheel route to senior running back Tony Jones Jr. and he raced untouched into the end zone to give Notre Dame a 24-10 cushion with 3:09 remaining. Top Performer: On the touchdown drive, Book on third-and-12 rushed for 16 yards off a draw, his second back-breaking running conversion on third-and-long. Stats: Notre Dame finished with 473 total yards (352 passing and 121 rushing), and USC had 445 (349 pass- ing and 94 rushing). Items: Notre Dame drove to the USC 20-yard line while leading 17-10, but on third-and-12 a scrambling Book forced a pass into coverage in the end zone that was intercepted by freshman walk-on safety Jordan McMillan with 7:54 left … Following the turnover, though, junior defen- sive end Julian Okwara and senior defensive tackle Jerry Tillery both re- corded sacks in a span of three plays to force a punt … With 48 seconds left, Daniels found redshirt sopho- more wide receiver Tyler Vaughns for a 20-yard touchdown on third- and-10 … Boykin then recovered the onside kick to clinch the victory. ✦ After a slow start, fifth-year senior linebacker and captain Drue Tranquill and the Notre Dame defense slowed down the productive USC passing attack led by freshman quarterback JT Daniels. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA NOTRE DAME 24, USC 17 Nov. 24, 2018 ✦ Attendance: 59,821 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum ✦ Los Angeles Quarter 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Notre Dame 0 7 10 7 24 USC 7 3 0 7 17 ND USC FIRST QUARTER USC Malepeai 14-yard run (Brown kick) 11:26 0 7 Drive: 8 plays, 78 yards, 3:34 SECOND QUARTER USC Brown 30-yard field goal 11:51 0 10 Drive: 13 plays, 50 yards, 5:56 ND Finke 24-yard pass from Book (Yoon kick) 2:20 7 10 Drive: 11 plays, 64 yards, 4:41 THIRD QUARTER ND Williams 52-yard run (Yoon kick) 10:55 14 10 Drive: 2 plays, 67 yards, 0:33 ND Yoon 46-yard field goal 1:07 17 10 Drive: 8 plays, 31 yards, 2:45 FOURTH QUARTER ND T. Jones 51-yard pass from Book (Yoon kick) 3:09 24 10 Drive: 6 plays, 70 yards, 2:44 USC Vaughns 20-yard pass from Daniels (Brown kick) 0:48 24 17 Drive: 9 plays, 60 yards, 2:19 ND USC Total First Downs 23 24 Rushing 6 7 Passing 16 16 Penalty 1 1 Rushing Attempts 31 24 Yards Gained Rushing 148 112 Yards Lost Rushing 27 18 Net Yards Rushing 121 94 Net Yards Passing 352 349 Passes Attempted 39 51 Passes Completed 22 37 Had Intercepted 1 0 Percent Completion 56.4% 72.5% Yards Per Attempt 9.0 6.8 Yards Per Completion 16.0 9.4 Total Offensive Plays 70 75 Total Net Yards 473 443 Average Gain Per Play 6.8 5.9 Fumbles: No.-Lost 0-0 2-2 Penalties: No.-Yards 3-38 8-71 Punts: No.-Yards 4-189 6-231 Average Per Punt 47.2 38.5 Average Net Punt 36.8 34.0 Punt Returns: No.-Yards 1-7 1-22 Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 3-57 Interception Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 1-0 Fumble Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 0-0 Miscellaneous Yards 0 0 Possession Time 25:49 34:11 Third-Down Conversions 6-15 7-15 Percentage 40.0% 46.7% Fourth-Down Conversions 1-2 1-1 Percentage 50.0% 100.0% Sacks By: No.-Yards 2-18 3-11