Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Taking A Closer Look What Worked • The Irish pass rush. Although Notre Dame was missing its top defensive lineman and potential first-round NFL Draft pick Louis Nix III, the Irish front was able to get plenty of pressure on BYU quarterback Taysom Hill. The Irish sacked the Cougars signal-caller twice for a loss of 13 yards, had a total of eight quarterback hurries and gave him very little time to go through his progressions. Junior defensive end Stephon Tuitt led the way with three quarterback hurries and a sack, while fifth-year senior linebacker Dan Fox had the other QB takedown. In comparison, BYU didn't sack Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees once and only had one quarterback hurry. • Notre Dame's balanced offensive attack. The Irish threw for 235 yards and ran for 235 yards. The offensive balance kept the Cougars on their heels and forced them to respect both aspects of the game plan. Rees completed 15 of 28 passes with one touchdown and one interception. Wide receivers DaVaris Daniels and TJ Jones led the way with 107 and 95 yards receiving, respectively, and Daniels found the end zone with 61-yard score in the first quarter. On the ground, junior running back Cam Mc- Daniel led the way with 117 yards on 24 carries. In addition, freshman running back Tarean Folston finished with 78 yards on 13 carries and scored the lone rushing touchdown. What Didn't Work • Stopping the run. BYU's rushing attack gave Notre Dame's defense fits throughout the night. Hill, the Cougars dual-threat quarterback, ran the ball 24 times for 101 yards and constantly extended drives with his legs. The Irish defense had success slowing down BYU's starting running back Jamaal Williams, limiting him to 43 yards on 18 carries. However, backup tailback Paul Lasike ran four times for 101 yards, including a 46-yarder. As a unit, BYU ran 47 times for 247 yards and averaged 5.3 yards per carry. • Third-down defense. As a whole, this was one of Notre Dame's better defensive efforts of the season. However, the Irish struggled stopping the Cougars on third down. BYU converted 11 of 20 (55.0 percent) third-down attempts, extending several drives. The Irish, though, held BYU to two field goals and just one touchdown in four red-zone trips. — Tom Loy by the numbers 2-0 Record by Notre Dame this year against starting quarterbacks from Idaho. On Oct. 5, the Irish defeated Arizona State, whose starting quarterback Taylor Kelly is from Eagle, Idaho, and now Brigham Young's Taysom Hill, who is from Pocatello, Idaho. 3 Different Irish running backs to reach 100 yards rushing in a game this year: junior George Atkinson III, 148 against Oklahoma; freshman Tarean Folston, 140 versus Navy; and junior Cam McDaniel, 117 against BYU. By lou somogyi 4 Straight victories on Senior Day by head coach Brian Kelly. He is the first Irish head coach to win his first four season finales at home since Dan Devine from 1975-78. Kelly also joins Devine as the lone Irish coaches to win a minimum of eight games each of their first four seasons — a stat to keep in perspective because of mostly nine-game schedules until 1951 and 10-game regular-season slates until 1974. 12-13 Junior kicker Kyle Brindza has converted 12 of 13 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter during his career, with the