Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/181992
Irish accumulated a season-high 220 rushing yards, paced by junior George Atkinson III's career-best 148 that in‑ cluded an 80-yard touchdown dash early in the third quarter. "I think he showed he has big-play ability, and he has speed where if he gets out in open field he can run by a lot of people," Rees said. "I think he showed that today, and he'll continue to be a good asset on offense." Still, a rejuvenated rushing perfor‑ mance went for naught in the pro‑ gram's first loss in 16 games when to‑ taling 200 yards on the ground due to the costly turnovers. With the Irish (3-2) a mere 24 yards from tying the game midway through the second quarter, Rees tossed his third interception of the game. "We don't want to put this whole thing on Tommy," Kelly said. "It's everybody. We always go back to the quarterback around here. But this is about 11 players. We don't execute on the offensive line and the first intercep‑ tion. We don't run the right route. We just have to do a better job of taking care of the football." Following Rees' third turnover — Saturday marked the first time an Irish signal-caller tossed three interceptions in one half since Brady Quinn's debut at Purdue in 2003 — the Sooners es‑ sentially melted the rest of the clock away in the half with a 10-play, 88-yard drive that culminated in a 26-yard pass from quarterback Blake Bell to wide receiver LaColton Bester. Bell's 12-yard scramble extended the drive near mid‑ field with the Irish on the verge of forc‑ ing a punt. "Blake can make those kinds of plays," Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops said. "I don't want to say he's like [Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben] Roethlisberger, but you're not go‑ ing to drag him down if you just have his shirt. He can get away from some things and make some positive yards off of some scrambles. "I love that he bought time to find LaColtan Bester in the end zone. He was going to run, and then saw it break open and threw it to him late in the play." After Atkinson's 80-yard scamper narrowed the deficit to 21-14 early in the second half, Oklahoma responded with consecutive field goal drives to increase its advantage to 27-14, even with the temporary loss of Bell due to cramps. Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Rees found junior tight end Troy Niklas wide open on the sideline and connected for a 30-yard touchdown, pulling the Irish within six, 27-21. Bell re-entered the game on the next drive and helped put the finishing touches on the road victory by find‑ ing sophomore wide receiver Sterling Shepard on a crossing pattern on thirdand-three. Shepard broke away from the Irish defense for a 54-yard touch‑ down. Shepard's diving catch on the two-point conversion gave the Sooners a 35-21 lead. "I'm really proud of the way they competed in the second half," Kelly said. "Our defense was salty when they needed to be. I thought we gave up one play that we'd love to have back: the quick slant where we let Shepard inside. That's just something that shouldn't happen.