Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1530074
26 DECEMBER 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Offensively, Notre Dame won the game in the trenches. Freshman left tackle Anthonie Knapp, junior left guard Billy Schrauth, senior center Pat Coogan, graduate student right guard Rocco Spindler and junior right tackle Aamil Wagner peaked at the right time. "Before the game, the challenge was, 'We have to win this game at the line of scrimmage,'" Freeman said. "We have to win this game up front and recog- nize some of the different pressures that they bring defensively. And I thought our offensive line did a great job at rec- ognizing and really communicating and executing." Exhibit A: Price's touchdown scam- per, which went for 36 yards. USC lined up in a double-mug front, with both linebackers showing blitz in either A gap. The Irish were running inside zone to the right. Each blocker took out the man to their right-hand gap, with Knapp occupying and push- ing back his man just enough for Price to sneak through. If you break past the first wave against a double-mug front, you don't need to climb to the second level because there is no second level. And when Price hits the open field, Notre Dame fans know by now what happens next. Earlier this season, the Irish may have struggled against the complex looks USC threw at them in Los Angeles. Per- haps they would have misdiagnosed a stunt or failed to finish in the run game. Not this time. "That's a confident group that played extremely well today," Freeman said. Part of Notre Dame's confidence comes from continuity. Knapp, Schrauth, Coogan, Spindler and Wagner started their fifth consecutive game together, USC VS. NOTRE DAME QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON USC 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 7:19 5:05 8:02 9:18 12:24 17:20 29:44 Third-Down Conversions 0-2 1-2 2-4 2-4 1-4 4-8 5-12 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-1 0-0 0-1 1-1 0-1 1-2 1-3 Average Field Position USC-17 USC-35 USC-32 USC-30 USC-27 USC-31 USC-30 Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 7:41 9:55 6:58 5:42 17:36 12:40 30:16 Third-Down Conversions 2-2 0-4 1-1 0-2 2-6 1-3 3-9 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 3-3 0-0 0-0 3-3 0-0 3-3 Average Field Position ND-21 ND-28 ND-27 ND-20 ND-25 ND-24 ND-24 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards USC ND Nega ve 4 4 0-5 37 30 6-9 11 12 10-19 15 8 20-29 7 4 30-39 3 2 40-49 0 0 50 or more 0 0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score USC 6 6 0 0 Notre Dame 4 3 0 1 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 2-6 USC36 Price rush for 36 yards and a touchdown • 2-6 ND42 Price rush for 35 yards to USC23 USC • 2-10 USC37 Maiava pass to Branch for 26 yards to ND37 • 1-10 USC38 Maiava pass to Lemon for 35 yards to ND27 • 2-10 USC23 Maiava pass to Robinson for 30 yards to ND47 • 3-10 USC28 Maiava pass to Ford for 29 yards to ND43 • 1-10 USC25 Maiava pass to Lemon for 34 yards to ND41 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Notre Dame improved to 52-38-5 all time against USC and is now 21-24-4 versus the Trojans in Los Angeles. • The Fighting Irish now have an all-time re- cord of 8-7-2 in games played on Nov. 30 and are 3-3-1 against USC on that date. • Notre Dame snapped a three-game los- ing streak when playing as the nation's No. 5-ranked team in the Associated Press poll and is now 38-18-0 all time in games played with that ranking. • Graduate student linebacker Jack Kiser extended his school-record games played total to 66 games. • Senior quarterback Riley Leonard's 2-yard touchdown run to put the Irish up 28-21 in the third quarter was the 33rd of his career, which is second on the list for active FBS quarter- backs. Army's Bryson Daily is first with 34 and Oregon's Dillon Gabriel ranks third with 32. • Graduate student safety Xavier Watts (9), graduate student defensive back Jordan Clark (7) and sophomore cornerback Christian Gray (7) all set career highs for tackles in the win over the Trojans. Notre Dame's offensive line paved the way for 269 yards and 3 touchdowns on 35 carries (not including the end-of-game kneel down and 2 sacks) for an impressive average of 7.7 yards per carry. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER