Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 7, 2023 29 pened because with the game on the line, he had more juice than the man across from him. "Howard Cross played relentless," Notre Dame head coach Marcus Free- man said. "And what I challenge those guys, like, if you're going to be in there, we got to have relentless effort. … How- ard had a really good game." It wasn't just the game-sealer; Cross saved a touchdown earlier in the game. Late in the second quarter, with Duke facing third-and-5 from the Notre Dame 6-yard line, Leonard saw the secondary part like the red sea, so he started to take off and run up the middle. One problem: Cross drove Monk 5 yards into the backfield. Before Duke's signal-caller gained much ground, he reached to his right and punched the ball out. Without a doubt, Leonard would have scored if Cross didn't make the play. As they left the field, Notre Dame graduate student defensive end Nana Osafo-Mensah walked next to Cross and made a declaration. He pointed to Cross and shouted, "Howard Cross III! That's his name!" If the Duke crowd didn't know who Cross is yet, they do now. With perfor- mances like that, college football fans around the country will know Cross' name, too. ✦ NOTRE DAME INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing Att. Gain Lost Net Avg. TD Long Estimé 18 83 2 81 4.5 2 30 Love 5 44 0 44 8.8 0 34 Hartman 6 30 7 23 3.8 0 17 Payne 3 11 0 11 3.7 0 8 Total 32 168 9 159 5.0 2 34 Passing Att. Com. Pct. Int. Yards TD Long Hartman 15 30 50.0 0 222 0 36 TEAM 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 Total 15 31 48.4 0 222 0 36 Receiving Rec. Yards TD Long Evans 6 134 0 36 Estimé 3 16 0 13 Flores 2 28 0 24 Tyree 2 28 0 22 Brown 1 9 0 9 Love 1 7 0 7 Total 15 222 0 36 Punt Returns No. Yards TD Long Tyree 2 4 0 7 Total 2 4 0 7 Kick Returns No. Yards TD Long Love 2 42 0 21 D. Ford 1 13 0 13 Total 3 55 0 21 Punting No. Avg. Long Blk. TB FC 50+ In 20 McFerson 6 38.8 57 0 1 3 1 2 Total 6 38.8 57 0 1 3 1 2 Field Goals Made Att. Long Blk. Shrader 2 3 45 0 Total 2 3 45 0 Defense Solo Ast. Total TFL Sacks PD FF FR Cross 3 10 13 3.5-7 1-4 0 2 0 Bertrand 3 8 11 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Watts 2 6 8 0.5-1 0-0 0 0 0 Brown 5 2 7 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Mills 0 7 7 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Liufau 3 3 6 0.5-6 0.5-6 0 0 1 Harper 3 2 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Botelho 0 4 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Morrison 2 1 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Jean-Baptiste 0 3 3 0.5-6 0.5-6 1 0 0 Kiser 1 1 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Burnham 0 2 2 0.5-1 0-0 0 0 0 Osafo-Mensah 0 2 2 0.5-1 0-0 0 0 0 Rubio 0 2 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Ford 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Mickey 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Tuihalamaka 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Int. Returns No. Yards TD Long Watts 1 12 0 12 Total 1 12 0 12 DUKE INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing Att. Gain Lost Net Avg. TD Long Leonard 18 105 17 88 4.9 0 33 Ja. Moore 7 52 1 51 7.3 0 34 Waters 13 49 4 45 3.5 1 13 Calhoun 1 3 0 3 3.0 0 3 Jones 1 2 0 2 2.0 0 2 Total 40 211 22 189 4.7 1 34 Passing Att. Com. Pct. Int. Yards TD Long Leonard 12 27 44.4 1 134 1 27 Total 12 27 44.4 1 134 1 27 Receiving Rec. Yards TD Long Jo. Moore 4 67 1 27 Calhoun 3 41 0 21 Hagans 3 24 0 12 Moore 1 5 0 5 Bowen-Sims 1 -3 0 0 Total 12 134 1 27 Punt Returns No. Yards TD Long Stinson 1 7 0 7 Total 1 7 0 7 Kick Returns No. Yards TD Long Moore 2 44 0 26 Total 2 44 0 26 Punting No. Avg. Long Blk. TB FC 50+ In 20 Wilson 5 39.8 53 0 0 2 2 1 Leonard 1 28.0 28 0 0 0 0 1 Total 6 37.8 53 0 0 2 2 2 Field Goals Made Att. Long Blk. Pelino 0 2 0 0 Total 0 2 0 0 Defense Solo Ast. Total TFL Sacks PD FF FR Freeman 5 8 13 1-3 0.5-2 0 0 0 Lewis 3 7 10 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Mausi 0 7 7 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Franklin 1 5 6 1-3 1-3 0 0 0 Stinson 1 4 5 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Williams 0 5 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Dillon 0 4 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Peebles 0 4 4 0.5-2 0.5-2 0 0 0 Rivers 3 0 3 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Johnson 1 2 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Carter 0 3 3 0.5-1 0-0 0 0 0 Anthony 1 1 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Hall 0 2 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Hopson 0 2 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 T. Moore 0 2 2 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Bergeron 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Blades 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Calhoun 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Pickett 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Hasley 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Morris 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Int. Returns No. Yards TD Long None PARTICIPATION CHART OFFENSE QB: SAM HARTMAN RB: AUDRIC ESTIMÉ, Gi'Bran Payne, Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price, Devyn Ford WR: RICO FLORES JR., TOBIAS MERRIWEATHER, CHRIS TYREE TE: MITCHELL EVANS, Holden Staes, Davis Sherwood, Cooper Flanagan LT: JOE ALT LG: PAT COOGAN C: ZEKE CORRELL RG: ROCCO SPINDLER RT: BLAKE FISHER DEFENSE Vyper: JORDAN BOTELHO, Joshua Burnham, Junior Tuihalamaka DT: RYLIE MILLS, Jason Onye NT: HOWARD CROSS III, Gabriel Rubio SDE: JAVONTAE JEAN-BAPTISTE, Nana Osafo- Mensah Mike: JD BERTRAND Will: MARIST LIUFAU, Jaylen Sneed Rover: Jack Kiser FS: DJ BROWN, Ramon Henderson SS: XAVIER WATTS, Antonio Carter II BCB: CAM HART, Jaden Mickey FCB: BENJAMIN MORRISON, Christian Gray Nickel: THOMAS HARPER, Clarence Lewis SPECIAL TEAMS Kick return: Jaden Mickey, Cooper Flanagan, Joshua Burnham, Davis Sherwood, Cam Hart, Xavier Watts, Chase Ketterer, Christian Gray, Drayk Bowen Kickoff coverage: Xavier Watts, Jaylen Sneed, Junior Tuihalamaka, Drayk Bowen, Joshua Burnham, Jack Kiser, Clarence Lewis, Jaden Mickey, Ramon Henderson, Luke Talich, DJ Brown Punt return: Benjamin Morrison, Cam Hart, Jack Kiser, Junior Tuihalamaka, Ramon Hen- derson, Chance Tucker, Jaylen Sneed, Marty Auer, Joshua Burnham, Luke Talich Punt coverage: Marist Liufau, JD Bertrand, Jer- emiyah Love, Devyn Ford, Davis Sherwood, Jason Onye, Jack Kiser, Cam Hart, DJ Brown Long snapper: Michael Vinson Holder: Bryce McFerson Kick returner: Gi'Bran Payne, Devyn Ford Punt returner: Chris Tyree Kickoff: Spencer Shrader Punter: Bryce McFerson