Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com DECEMBER 2022 25 -114 Differential in rushing yardage (90-204) for Notre Dame against Southern Cal. It marked just the fourth time this season the Fighting Irish were outrushed by their opponent, and they were 1-3 in those games. Navy racked up 189 more rushing yards then the Irish (255-66) Nov. 12, but Notre Dame managed to hang on and win that game. The -114 versus the Trojans was the biggest negative differential in a defeat this season. The Irish were also -96 against Ohio State (76-172) Sept. 3 and -89 versus Marshall (130-219) Sept. 10. -2 Turnover margin for Notre Dame against Southern Cal. The Irish lost a fumble and had one pass intercepted, and failed to come away with any takeaways of their own. The Irish will enter their bowl game with a -2 turnover margin (13-15) for the season. The last time Notre Dame ended a season with a negative turnover margin was its disastrous 4-8 campaign in 2016, when they were -4 (14-18). The Irish were +9 in (25-16) in 2021, +6 (17-11) in 2020, +17 (28-11) in 2019, +4 in 2018 (21-17) and +3 (20-17) in 2017. 3rd Time in the history of the Notre Dame- Southern Cal series two first-year head coaches competed against each other. Lincoln Ri- ley became the first Trojans coach to win in that scenario, with his team getting the best of Marcus Freeman's squad in this year's matchup. Terry Brennan defeated Jess Hill 23-17 in Notre Dame Stadium as one of the signature victories of his first season with the Irish in 1954, and Brian Kelly's first Notre Dame team defeated Lane Kiffin's Trojans 20-16 in the Los Angeles Coliseum in 2010. 3 Rushing touchdowns for Southern Cal quarter- back Caleb Williams, making him the first player to do that in a game against the Irish since Texas signal-caller Tyrone Swoopes did it in the Longhorn's 50-47 double-overtime win over Notre Dame on Sept. 4, 2016. Williams is the first Trojans QB to run for 3 scores in a game in the last 25 years, per ESPN. Williams also threw for a score against the Irish, giving him 34 touchdown passes and 10 rushing touchdowns this season. He is just the second player in Pac-12 history to compile at least 30 scores through the air and 10 on the ground in a single season. The other was Marcus Mariota in 2014, when he won the Heisman Trophy. 15 Consecutive completions for junior quar- terback Drew Pyne to start the game — the most in school history. His first incompletion came at the 13:43 mark of the fourth quarter. The school record for most consecutive completions is 25, set by Everett Golson in a 31-15 win over Syracuse on Sept. 27, 2014. Pyne finished the game 23-of-26 passing for an 88.5 completion percentage, which is second on Notre Dame's single-game list behind only Steve Buerlein's 90.9 (10 of 11) in a 55-14 win over Colo- rado on Sept. 22, 1984. 19 -Game winning streak in November for the Fighting Irish was snapped with their 38-27 loss to Southern Cal. Notre Dame's last November defeat was a 38-20 setback at the hands of Stan- ford on Nov. 25, 2017 in Palo Alto, Calif. 43 Starts and 89 career games were miss- ing from Notre Dame's secondary against Southern Cal, with graduate student TaRiq Bracy (hamstring) and Cam Hart (shoulder) sidelined by injury. 436 Yards of total offense and 38 points al- lowed by Notre Dame against Southern Cal, both of which represented new season highs. It marked the first time all season an opponent eclipsed the 400-yard mark against the Irish. The previous high was 395 by Ohio State Sept. 3. The previous high points total was 32, achieved by both North Carolina Sept. 24 and Navy Nov. 12 (both of which were Irish wins). BY THE NUMBERS BY STEVE DOWNEY 1st Career touchdown reception for sophomore wide receiver D E I O N CO L Z I E, a 23-yard connection with junior quarterback Drew Pyne in the third quarter. PHOTO BY MEG OLIPHANT