Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/200019
Over The Top Irish ride the right arm of senior quarterback Tommy Rees to 45-10 victory at Air Force S By Andrew Owens enior quarterback Tommy Rees, showing no signs of the neck strain that knocked him out of the USC game the previous week, threw a career-high five touchdown passes to lead the Irish to a 45-10 drubbing of Air Force. Rees tied former Irish signal-caller Ron Powlus for third in school history in career touchdown passes (52) with his second-quarter connection to junior tight end Ben Koyack and passed Powlus with two more scoring throws later in the game. Freshmen wide receivers Corey Robinson and Will Fuller hauled in Rees' first two scoring passes, giving each of them their first career TD reception. Notre Dame (6-2) struck quickly on each of its three touchdown marches in the first half, with drives of 1:24, 2:18 and 1:09, respectively. Rees finished the half 14-of-19 passing for 224 yards with three touchdowns. In the third quarter, senior wide receiver TJ Jones reached the end zone for the fifth straight game, while sophomore wide receiver Chris Brown notched his first career touchdown catch. Rees' five touchdown passes — to five different Notre Dame receivers — rank second in Irish history for a single game. He finished 17-of-22 passing for 284 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. "When our doctors cleared him to play on Tuesday, that was enough for us. They're not going to clear him for contact unless they feel really good about him," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said of his quarterback's expected availability throughout the week. "We had no hesitation at all to use him through the game. "Certainly we didn't want to put him in harm's way, but we felt confident to get him out there and playing." Defensively, the Irish played without senior nose guard Louis Nix (knee) and sophomore safety Elijah Shumate (hamstring), but mostly held the Falcons' triple-option offense in check. Freshman quarterback Nate Romine started for Air Force, giving the academy four different starters under center this season — the most in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Falcons (1-7) accumulated 183 rushing yards in the first half, but mustered only 10 points. Trailing 2410 late in the second quarter, senior Anthony LaCoste fumbled in the red