Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Taking A Closer Look What Worked • Stopping the run. Heading into the game with Notre Dame, the Sun Devils were averaging 3.9 yards per carry on the ground. The Irish limited Arizona State to 65 net yards on 25 carries for an average of just 2.6 yards per carry. That was by far the lowest production in the ground game for the Sun Devils this season, and explosive starting running back Marion Grice could never get started. Grice finished with only 51 yards on 12 carries and didn't find the end zone for a rushing score for the first time this season. • Third-down defense. Arizona State has been strong this season on third down, posting a 43 percent conversion rate prior to the matchup with Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish held the Sun Devils to just 4 of 13 (30.8 percent) on third-down opportunities. • Making the big throw. Senior quarterback Tommy Rees may not have had his best night, but he made several impressive throws. Whether it was hitting Jones deep right before halftime, continuing a drive with a crossing route to junior receiver DaVaris Daniels, or eluding pressure and waiting for junior tight end Troy Niklas to shield off a safety in the end zone on a 21-yard touchdown, Rees made some big plays with his arm. What Didn't Work • Throwing the ball accurately. Rees made many quality throws and found open receivers at key times, but he didn't do it on a steady basis. He completed just 17 of 38 passes (44.7 percent) for 279 yards with three touchdowns and one interception on the night. • Hitting the holes hard. A week after running for 148 yards on 14 carries against Oklahoma, junior running back George Atkinson III struggled against Arizona State. He finished with just 54 yards on 18 carries, and he didn't run with the power and drive that earned him praise from Brian Kelly the week before. On multiple occasions against the Sun Devils, he bounced his runs to the outside, going horizontal rather than vertical. • Slowing down Jaelen Strong. The Notre Dame secondary has done well this season at containing its opponent's top individual receivers, but that wasn't the case with Arizona State and redshirt sophomore Jaelen Strong. The star wideout caught eight passes for 136 yards and one touchdown in the loss, which marked his fourth straight game with at least 100 yards. He caught everything thrown his way, looked physically dominant and continued his impressive season. — Tom Loy by the numbers 2 Turnovers gained by fifth-year senior linebacker Dan Fox — his first career fumble recovery and first career interception. The fumble recovery in the third quarter set up a Tommy Rees to Troy Niklas touchdown pass two plays later for a 24-13 lead. Fox's interception was returned for a touchdown with 1:08 left to give Notre Dame a 37-27 lead. Like senior Manti Te'o last year in the opener versus Navy, Fox made his first career fumble recovery and first career interception in the same game. 3 Coaches to defeat Notre Dame at two different schools — an addendum from the Oct. 7 By lou somogyi edition of Blue & Gold Illustrated. Last year Nick Saban (Alabama 2012 and Michigan State 199799) joined Howard Jones (Iowa 1921 and USC six times from 1928-39) and Johnny Majors (1975-76 Pitt and 1979 and 1991 at Tennessee). Arizona State's Todd Graham missed becoming the fourth after having defeated the Irish while at Tulsa in 2010. 3-4 Notre Dame's all-time record in domed stadiums, because AT&T Stadium in Arlington closed the roof due to the threat of rain. Two of those victories are in the Shamrock Series,