Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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away from posting another big gainer. "CJ did a great job on kickoff returns and gave us really good field position," Kelly noted. Freshman kicker Justin Yoon was per- fect on the night, making all five of his point after tries and drilling a pair of 32-yard field goals. Sophomore punter Tyler Newsome entered the game ranked 25th nation- ally with a 44.3-yard average. While the Carrollton, Ga., native averaged just 36.3 yards per punt against USC, his kicks were effective. USC brought a lot of pressure against the Irish punt team, and Notre Dame adjusted by having Newsome run to his right to separate himself from the rush- ers before executing a rugby kick. This allowed the coverage units to get down- field and prevented Jackson from get- ting his hands on the ball. Newsome's final punt was impactful. The Irish were up 41-31, but had to punt with less than four minutes left in the game. Newsome and the coverage unit were able to pin USC at its own 1-yard line. "The big downing of the punts re- ally changed field position," Kelly ex- plained. "We made some good plays. They are a very difficult team, obviously, with their skilled return man." START FAST, FINISH STRONG To put Notre Dame's 41-31 victory over USC into boxing terms, the Irish won the early rounds and the late rounds, while the Trojans captured the middle rounds. It was a game of runs, with the Irish jumping out to a 24-10 lead in the second quarter before the Trojans re- sponded with 21 unanswered points in just more than 10 minutes of play. Notre Dame responded by scoring the game's final 17 points. Notre Dame had struggled out of the gate in recent games and USC became the third straight opponent to score on its first possession of the game. How- BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 1-10 ND25 Kizer pass complete to Fuller for 75 yards and a touchdown • 1-10 ND25 Prosise rush for 31 yards to the USC44 • 1-5 USC25 Prosise rush for 25 yards and a touchdown • 2-9 USC29 Adams rush for 26 yards to the USC3 • 1-10 ND26 Prosise rush for 25 yards to the USC49 • 2-8 USC47 Hunter Jr. pass complete to Jones for 35 yards to the USC12 • 1-10 ND33 Kizer pass complete to Fuller for 45 yards to the USC22 USC • 3-8 ND43 Kessler pass complete to Smith-Schuster for 37 yards to the ND6 • 2-15 USC32 Davis rush for 32 yards to the ND36 • 1-10 USC25 Greene pass complete to Smith-Schuster for 75 yards and a touchdown • 2-9 USC17 Kessler pass complete to Jackson for 83 yards and a touchdown • 3-2 USC28 Jones rush for 65 yards to the ND7 • 1-10 USC34 Kessler pass complete to Burnett for 28 yards to the ND38