Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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1-46 Record by Temple against teams ranked in the Associated Press top 10, with the lone victory coming against No. 10 Holy Cross in 1945. The Owls nearly pulled off their second in the last 80 years after taking a 20-17 lead versus No. 9 Notre Dame with 4:45 left in the contest. This marked only the 10th week in Temple's football history that it was ranked in the AP poll (No. 21), which began in 1936. By contrast, Notre Dame is expected to be in the top 10 for the 418th time the first week this November. BY THE NUMBERS BY LOU SOMOGYI What Worked • Making Clutch Plays. Notre Dame suffered through bouts of sloppy play in all phases of the game, which allowed Temple to stay in the contest much longer than it should have been. Notre Dame still came out on top, thanks in large part to several of its top players making key plays in crucial situations. Junior wide receiver Will Fuller's poor catching technique resulted in a second-quar- ter interception, but he responded by hauling in the game-winning score from 17 yards out with just 2:09 left in the contest. Sophomore quarterback DeShone Kizer was sloppy and inconsistent, but he ripped off a 79-yard touchdown run and made huge throws on Notre Dame's first and final drives of the game. Defensively, senior tackle Sheldon Day and ju- nior linebacker Jaylon Smith were all over the field. Smith gave up a long pass reception in the second quarter and was knocked back on a third-and-short in the fourth quarter, but he made several open- field tackles down the stretch that stalled Temple drives. Day singlehandedly ended two Temple drives with his pressures and disruptions up the middle. Senior cornerback KeiVarae Russell was beaten by Temple throughout the night, but with the game on the line he made his second fourth quarter intercep- tion in as many games. • Offensive Adjustments. Temple utilized two defensive schemes to shut down Notre Dame se- nior running back C.J. Prosise, who finished with a season-low 25 yards on 14 carries. The Owls' interior linemen attacked the middle of the Irish line and its edge players ran at Prosise every time Notre Dame ran the power read concept. With Prosise being taken out of the game, the Irish needed to find answers. The first came in the screen game. Notre Dame hit a number of perimeter screens outside of Temple's edge pressures, the biggest being a 40-yard catch and run by junior wideout Torii Hunter Jr., who turned a quick bubble screen into a huge gain. That play set up freshman Justin Yoon's 23-yard field goal. Notre Dame also utilized the quarterback run game, which allowed Kizer to attack up the middle and grind out yards against the aggressive Temple defense. Kizer made one of the game's biggest plays in the second quarter, pulling the ball on a zone read and taking off around the right end for a 79-yard touchdown run. What Didn't Work • Struggles In Coverage. Notre Dame's defense had issues in coverage throughout the game, which allowed Temple to average 14.5 yards per recep- tion. Notre Dame's linebackers and cornerbacks were picked on by the Owls throughout the game. Temple's coaching staff did an excellent job using specific formations and motions to isolate certain Notre Dame defenders. Smith got beat by redshirt freshman wide receiver Ventrell Bryant for a 26-yard gain on a crossing route, and fifth-year senior linebacker Joe Schmidt was beaten several times, including a 12-yard sec- ond-quarter touchdown by senior wideout Brandon Shippen. — Bryan Driskell TAKING A CLOSER LOOK