Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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IRISH FIND PUNT RETURN GAME Knowing his time with the Irish program will be short, Florida trans- fer Cody Riggs has looked for every chance to make an impact the season. As the "reminders" of recent punt re- turn struggles piled up, the fifth-year senior cornerback saw a way he could help. "It's a chance to make something happen and put the offense in good field position," Riggs said. "That's points on the board. I try to contribute as much as I can." Riggs' game-high 25-yard punt re- turn did not quite reach last season's high of 27 yards, but he paced the Irish to 80 yards on five punt returns, greatly bettering Notre Dame's average field position. Thanks to winning the field position battle, Notre Dame had three RICE GAME NOTES NOTRE DAME VS. RICE QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 10:08 3:20 8:13 8:28 13:28 16:41 30:09 Third-Down Conversions 1-3 1-3 4-5 0-2 2-6 4-7 6-13 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Average Field Position ND-34 ND-37 ND-47 ND-32 ND-35 ND-38 ND-36 Rice 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 4:52 11:40 6:47 6:32 16:32 13:19 29:51 Third-Down Conversions 1-4 2-4 1-3 2-4 3-8 3-7 6-15 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-1 Average Field Position RICE-26 RICE-23 RICE-25 RICE-28 RICE-24 RICE-26 RICE-25 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Notre Dame 6 4 2 0 Rice 2 1 1 0 Sophomore running back Greg Bryant helped spark the Irish special teams with three punt returns for 31 yards. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA BY ANDREW OWENS AND DOUGLAS FARMER