Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1416392
22 OCT. 9, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Buchner's interception was the first of his career … Notre Dame got the ball with 40 seconds left in the half, but was forced to punt after one short comple- tion and two incomplete passes. THIRD QUARTER CINCINNATI 17, NOTRE DAME 7 Top Moment: Williams went leap- ing into the end zone for Notre Dame's first points of the game with 1:19 left in the frame. The three-yard rushing score came after an 11-yard rush from Pyne to put the ball on the Cincinnati 3-yard line. Feature Performer: Pyne con- nected on 3 of 6 throws for 48 yards in the quarter. His 16-yard pass to Mayer and 11-yard scramble allowed Williams to be in position to punch the ball into the end zone. Stats: Cincinnati outgained Notre Dame 98-88. Seventy-eight of the Bearcats' yards came on the ground, and they possessed the ball for 9:02. Items: Cincinnati missed a 30-yard field goal on its first drive of the quarter … Pyne and senior wide receiver Braden Lenzy miscommunicated on fourth- and-five from the Cincinnati 30 to stall an otherwise promising first drive for Pyne … Notre Dame junior defensive end Isaiah Foskey forced a fumble that the Irish recovered to set up the home side's first score of the day. FOURTH QUARTER CINCINNATI 24, NOTRE DAME 13 Top Moment: Pyne lofted a pass in the right corner of the end zone for Lenzy, who readjusted and came down with the fourth touchdown of his career. The score pulled Notre Dame to within 17-13 with 8:20 left. Feature Performer: Cincinnati run- ning back Jerome Ford rushed for 39 yards in the quarter to help put the game away for the Bearcats. Stats: Cincinnati registered 138 yards to Notre Dame's 109. Notre Dame went 3 of 6 on third down and 1 of 2 on fourth down, but it wasn't enough. Items: Smith missed another field goal early in the quarter … Notre Dame graduate student kicker Jonathan Do- erer missed the second extra point of his career … Immediately after cutting the deficit to four points, Notre Dame allowed a six-play, 75-yard drive … A 36-yard pass from Ridder to tight end Leonard Taylor was the backbreaker for Notre Dame's defense … Ridder scored the final touchdown of the game two plays later. ✦ CINCINNATI 24, NOTRE DAME 13 Oct. 2, 2021 ✦ Attendance: 77,622 Notre Dame Stadium ✦ South Bend Quarter 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Cincinnati 0 17 0 7 24 Notre Dame 0 0 7 6 13 UC ND SECOND QUARTER UC Taylor 1-yard pass from Ridder (Smith kick) 12:09 7 0 Drive: 3 plays, 8 yards, 1:12 UC Smith 23-yard field goal 10:32 10 0 Drive: 5 plays, 12 yards, 1:32 UC Tucker 27-yard pass from Ridder (Smith kick) 0:40 17 0 Drive: 5 plays, 80 yards, 1:08 THIRD QUARTER ND Williams 3-yard run (Doerer kick) 1:19 17 7 Drive: 4 plays, 38 yards, 2:01 FOURTH QUARTER ND Lenzy 32-yard pass from Pyne 8:20 17 13 Drive: 8 plays, 80 yards, 3:08 UC Ridder 6-yard run (Smith kick) 5:08 24 13 Drive: 6 plays, 75 yards, 3:12 UC ND Total First Downs 16 19 Rushing 7 3 Passing 9 15 Penalty 0 1 Rushing Attempts 30 28 Yards Gained Rushing 108 103 Yards Lost Rushing 19 19 Net Yards Rushing 89 84 Net Yards Passing 297 257 Passes Attempted 32 46 Passes Completed 19 23 Had Intercepted 0 2 Percent Completion 59.4% 50.0% Yards Per Attempt 9.3 5.6 Yards Per Completion 15.6 11.2 Total Offensive Plays 62 74 Total Net Yards 386 341 Average Gain Per Play 6.2 4.6 Fumbles: No.-Lost 2-2 1-1 Penalties: No.-Yards 5-25 7-51 Punts: No.-Yards 5-219 6-278 Average Per Punt 43.8 46.3 Average Net Punt 37.2 40.2 Punt Returns: No.-Yards 2-17 2-13 Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 4-87 Interception Returns: No.-Yards 2-31 0-0 Fumble Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 1-28 Miscellaneous Yards 0 0 Possession Time 28:10 31:24 Third-Down Conversions 2-11 6-17 Percentage 18.2% 35.3% Fourth-Down Conversions 1-1 2-4 Percentage 100.0% 50.0% Sacks By: No.-Yards 2-15 1-10 Quarterback Desmond Ridder accounted for 323 yards of total offense and all three Cincinnati touchdowns (two passing and one rushing). PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER