Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 15, 2022 23 1st Interception of the season for the Fight- ing Irish was snagged by graduate stu- dent cornerback TARIQ BRACY on the first play from scrimmage. It marked his second career intercep- tion and helped set the Irish up for an early 3-0 lead. 4 Consecutive victories for Notre Dame against BYU. The Fight- ing Irish notched a 49-23 conquest in 2005, a 17-14 triumph in 2012 and a 23-13 victory in 2013, prior to this year's 28-20 win. Notre Dame now leads the all-time series between the two schools 7-2, with their last setback against the Cougars being a 20-17 loss at Provo, Utah, in 2004. 11-0 Record for Notre Dame in Shamrock Series games. Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas marks the eighth different venue in which the Irish have played a Shamrock Series game. The other seven are the Alamodome in San Antonio (2009 and 2016); Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, N.Y. (2010 and 2018); FedEx Field in Landover, Md. (2011); Soldier Field in Chicago (2012 and 2021); AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (2013); Lucas Oil Sta- dium in Indianapolis (2014); and Fenway Park (2015). 40:55 Time of possession for Notre Dame against BYU. The Irish ran 73 offensive plays compared to BYU's 46, and they outgained the Cougars 496 to 276 in total yards. The last time the Irish logged 40 or more minutes of possession time was a 45-3 win at Pittsburgh (40:59) on Oct. 24, 2020. 120 Passing yards for BYU quarterback Jaren Hall, signifi- cantly below his season average of 287.6 — which ranked 20th in the country — entering the game. He had thrown for 250 yards or more in nine straight games, and 11 of 12, dating back to last season. Nearly half of his aerial yards came on one play, his 53-yard TD toss to wide receiver Kody Epps in the third quarter. Hall was just 8-of-16 passing for 67 yards the rest of the game. 146 Career receptions for junior Michael Mayer — the most ever by a Notre Dame tight end — after he hauled in 11 for 118 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Cougars. He surpassed former record holder Tyler Eifert (141 from 2009-12) with a 24-yard scoring grab that put the Irish up 10-6 in the second quarter. In addition, his 11 receptions were the most in a game by an FBS tight end so far this season (three players had logged 9-catch performances). That total also set a single-game school record for receptions by a tight end, breaking his previous mark of 9 ac- complished twice (against Florida State and Stanford in 2021) and shared by two others. 234-156 Advantage in yards rushing for the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame has now eclipsed the 200-yard mark on the ground in back-to-back games — it had 287 at North Carolina Sept. 24 — for the first time this season. The last time Irish had at 200 yards rushing in consecutive games was last November vs. Virginia and Georgia Tech. 536.0 Yards of total offense per game for Notre Dame over the last two games, a 78.5 percent increase from the 300.3 yards per game they averaged over their first three games. 62,742 Was the attendance for the BYU-Notre Dame matchup at Allegiant Stadium, making it the largest crowd for a college athletic event in Nevada history. The previous mark was 56,511 for the 2021 Pac-12 Championship Game. BY THE NUMBERS BY STEVE DOWNEY PHOTO BY DAVID BECKER