Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM DECEMBER 2024 23 2 Interception return touchdowns — of 99 and 100 yards — for Notre Dame in the fourth quarter of its win over USC. Per OptaSTATS, only one other Football Bowl Subdivision school has had multiple pick sixes of 99 or more yards in a sin- gle season in the last 25 years: UTEP in 2007 (one in a game in September and one in November). 6 Rivalry trophies currently owned by Notre Dame after it defended four of them in 2024: Jeweled Shillelagh vs. USC (won 49-35 in 2024); Rip Miller Trophy vs. Navy (won 51-14 in 2024); Legends Trophy vs. Stanford (won 49-7 in 2024); Shillelagh vs. Purdue (won 66-7 in 2024); Leahy Memorial Bowl vs. Boston College (won 44-0 in 2022); and Megaphone Trophy vs. Michigan State (won 38-18 in 2017). 7th Career game with 2 rushing and 2 pass- ing touchdowns for Notre Dame senior quarterback Riley Leonard. He has now accom- plished that feat four times this season. 11-1 Record for Notre Dame — the first 11-win campaign for the Irish under head coach Marcus Freeman and their fourth sea- son with at least 11 wins in the last eight years. 28 Or more points scored by Notre Dame in 10 consecutive games. Per CBS Sports, that marks the first time the Irish have ever achieved that feat. 84 Combined points by the Fighting Irish (49) and Trojans (35) are the most in the 95-game series between the two archrivals. The previous mark of 79 was set 50 years ago to the day in USC's 55-24 win over Notre Dame in Los Angeles on Nov. 30, 1974. 111 Rushing yards — a new career high — and 1 touchdown on 12 carries (9.3 yards per rush) for junior running back Jadarian Price. It marked his second career 100-yard rushing game, with the other being a 13-carry, 106-yard, 1-TD effort in Notre Dame's 40-8 win over Oregon State in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 29, 2023. 199 Yards worth of interception returns in just 2:21 of game time for Notre Dame to seal the victory. First, with USC just 21 yards away from the tying score, sophomore cor- nerback Christian Gray picked off Trojans quarter- back Jayden Maiava and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown to put the Irish up 42-28 at the 3:39 mark. Then, with the Trojans on the Irish 13-yard line, graduate student Xavier Watts intercepted a Maiava throw at the goal line and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown to put the Irish up 49-28 with 1:18 remaining in the game. Per Notre Dame media relations, it marked the first time the Irish notched a pair of interception return touchdowns in the same game since a 41-13 win over Wiscon- sin at Chicago's Soldier Field on Sept. 25, 2021. Watts' 100-yard pick six matched the school record set by Jack Elder 95 years ago to the day in the Irish's epic 7-0 win over Army at Yankee Stadium on Nov. 30, 1929. Gray's 99-yard pick six matched Luther Bradley's 99-yard return in a 17-0 win over Purdue on Sept. 20, 1975, for the second-longest in school history. It marked the first career interception return for a touchdown for both Gray and Watts. 258 Rushing yards by Notre Dame are the most for the program against Southern Cal since it racked up 308 in a 30-27 win in South Bend on Oct. 12, 2019. The effort was also the Irish's most versus the Trojans in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum since they compiled 260 in a 27-20 overtime loss on Nov. 30, 1996. This was the fifth game in a row the Irish have rushed for more than 200 yards, which ties their longest streak as a program over the past 20 years. 360 Passing yards allowed by Notre Dame against USC, which nearly equaled their total allowed (374) in its previous four games against Army, Virginia, Florida State and Navy. 478 Points scored by Notre Dame during its 12-game regular season, after its 49-point performance against USC. That is tied for second on the school's single-season list with the 2019 team (478 in 13 games), behind only the 2023 squad (509 points in 13 games). The Irish's current scoring average of 39.8 points per game also ranks second in school history, behind only the 48.6 averaged by the 6-0-2 1912 team. BY THE NUMBERS BY STEVE DOWNEY 12 Straight games with a rushing touchdown for sophomore run- ning back J E R E M I YA H LOV E, surpassing the previous school record of 11 held by Wayne Bullock (1973-74). Love's 1-yard plunge also extended his program record for consecutive games with a rushing score to open a season to 12 and gave him a team-high 15 for the season. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER