Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 JANUARY 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED fewest passing yards per game (163.7) in the na- tion, trailing only College Football Playoff partici- pants Ohio State and Clemson. Interestingly, as good as the Irish pass defense has been this season at keeping opposing quar- terbacks under wraps, it still ranked only 70th nationally with nine interceptions and 38th with 2.50 sacks per game. Advantage: Even NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. IOWA STATE RUN DEFENSE This is the area where the Irish never consis- tently found firm footing during the regular sea- son. Notre Dame ranks No. 46 in the country with 176.6 yards per game. Perhaps some time off before the bowl game will help finally get the entire stable of running backs healthy at the same time for the first time. Head coach Brian Kelly insisted that when his team needed to run the ball in critical fourth quar- ter situations to put a game away, it was successful in doing so. GAME PREVIEW: IOWA STATE Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. WR 83 Chase Claypool 6-4½ 229 Sr. 80 Micah Jones 6-4½ 219 So. WR 10 Chris Finke 5-9½ 184 5th-Sr. 13 Lawrence Keys III 5-10½ 173 So. LT 74 Liam Eichenberg 6-6 305 Sr. 73 Andrew Kristofic 6-5 280 Fr. LG 69 Aaron Banks 6-6 325 Jr. 76 Dillan Gibbons 6-4 305 Jr. C 55 Jarrett Patterson 6-5 300 So. 61 Colin Grunhard 6-0½ 289 Jr. RG 57 Trevor Ruhland 6-3½ 292 5th-Sr. 56 John Dirksen 6-5½ 309 So. RT 75 Joshua Lugg 6-7 307 Jr. 60 Cole Mabry 6-5 286 So. TE 84 Cole Kmet 6-5½ 250 Jr. 89 Brock Wright 6-4½ 246 Jr. or 24 Tommy Tremble 6-3½ 235 So. WR 25 Braden Lenzy 5-11½ 180 So. 18 Joe Wilkins 6-1½ 194 So. QB 12 Ian Book 6-0 212 Sr. 15 Phil Jurkovec 6-4½ 227 So. RB 6 Tony Jones Jr. 5-11 224 Sr. or 8 Jafar Armstrong 6-0½ 220 Jr. Defense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. DE 44 Jamir Jones 6-3 255 Sr. 29 Ovie Oghoufo 6-3 230 So. or 94 Isaiah Foskey 6-5 250 Fr. DT 95 M. Tagovailoa-Amosa 6-2½ 286 Jr. 57 Jayson Ademilola 6-3 279 So. NG 41 Kurt Hinish 6-2 295 Jr. 54 Jacob Lacey 6-2 293 Fr. DE 53 Khalid Kareem 6-4 265 Sr. 91 Ade Ogundeji 6-4½ 253 Sr. Buck 22 Asmar Bilal 6-2 225 5th-Sr. 2 J. Genmark Heath 6-1 228 Jr. Mike 40 Drew White 6-0 230 Jr. 52 Bo Bauer 6-3 230 So. Rover 6 J. Owusu-Koramoah 6-1½ 216 Jr. 13 Paul Moala 5-11½ 216 So. CB 5 Troy Pride Jr. 5-11½ 194 Sr. 20 Shaun Crawford 5-9 180 5th-Sr. S 11 Alohi Gilman 5-10½ 201 Sr. 14 Kyle Hamilton 6-4 210 Fr. S 21 Jalen Elliott 6-0½ 210 Sr. 3 Houston Griffith 6-0 198 So. CB 8 Donte Vaughn 6-3 212 Sr. or 28 TaRiq Bracy 5-10 170 So. NOTRE DAME DEPTH CHART Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. KO 39 Jonathan Doerer 6-3 23 Jr. 98 Harrison Leonard 5-10 203 Fr. PK 39 Jonathan Doerer 6-3 203 Jr. 98 Harrison Leonard 5-10 203 Fr. P 19 Jay Bramblett 6-1 188 Fr. 98 Harrison Leonard 5-10 203 Fr. LS 54 John Shannon 6-2 225 Sr. 65 Michael Vinson 6-2 224 So. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. H 19 Jay Bramblett 6-1 188 Fr. 17 Nolan Henry 6-0 193 5th-Sr. PR 10 Chris Finke 5-9½ 184 5th-Sr. 11 Alohi Gilman 5-10½ 201 Sr. KR 13 Lawrence Keys III 5-10½ 173 So. 18 Joe Wilkins 6-1½ 194 So. Special Teams Fifth-year senior linebacker Marcel Spears Jr. spearheaded the Cyclones defense this season with a team-high 85 tackles. Iowa State ranks No. 34 in the country with an average of 133.8 rushing yards allowed per game. PHOTO COURTESY IOWA STATE ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS