Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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24 DECEMBER 2016 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED touchdown to make it 31-14. After Stepherson's score made it 31-21 with 1:01 left in the third, Jackson took the kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown, hur- dling Notre Dame kickoff specialist John Chereson in the process to ex- tend the lead to 38-21. "I knew right when the kick was going off," Jackson said of his final score. "I was thinking I was overdue for a kick return. I was thinking I needed to get something — I just got scored on [on defense] so I had to make up for it." Adams was one of Notre Dame's bright spots offensively, finishing with 180 yards on 17 carries. Soph- omore wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown was the top receiver for the Irish, catching seven passes for 94 yards and a late fourth-quarter touchdown from senior backup quar- terback Malik Zaire. Finke (four catches for 53 yards), ju- nior wide receiver Corey Holmes (four grabs for 29 yards), Stepherson (two receptions for 34 yards) and Adams (two catches for 30 yards) also had multiple receptions on a rainy day. "I liked a lot of the things we did today — the toughness that I was really looking for," Kelly said. "Josh Adams ran with a great toughness — 180 yards rushing against a very tough defense to run the ball against. I like the way Chris Finke played today, went out and made some big catches for us. I liked the way our of- fensive line was able to at times exert their will in tough third-down-and- short and fourth-down situations." The second-half between the Irish and Trojans became chippy. Notre Dame sophomore safety Nicco Fer- titta was ejected for targeting in the fourth quarter, with the controver- sial rule once again going against the Irish. The penalty overturned a forced fumble. Notre Dame sophomore defensive lineman Jerry Tillery was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after he appeared to intentionally step on a USC offensive lineman after a Trojans touchdown. "Accountability is built within any program, and Jerry has to be ac- countable for his actions every single day," said Kelly, who had yet to see a replay of the Tillery penalty when he spoke to the media after the game. "Jerry's a good kid. If he made a mis- take we'll hold him accountable for that mistake." ✦ USC 45, NOTRE DAME 27 Nov. 26, 2016 ✦ Attendance: 72,402 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum ✦ Los Angeles 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total Notre Dame 7 0 14 6 27 USC 10 14 14 7 45 ND USC FIRST QUARTER USC Boermeester 37-yard field goal 10:22 0 3 Drive: 11 plays, 61 yards, 4:38 ND Kizer 1-yard run (Yoon kick) 9:51 7 3 Drive: 2 plays, 75 yards, 0:31 USC Jones 51-yard run (Boermeester kick) 7:08 7 10 Drive: 7 plays, 75 yards, 2:36 SECOND QUARTER USC Jackson 55-yard punt return (Boermeester kick) 1:24 7 17 USC Harris 33-yard interception return (Boermeester kick) 1:07 7 24 THIRD QUARTER ND Finke 14-yard pass from Kizer (Yoon kick) 10:08 14 24 Drive: 10 plays, 40 yards, 3:30 USC Jackson 52-yard pass from Darnold (Boermeester kick) 7:41 14 31 Drive: 5 plays, 79 yards, 2:22 ND Stepherson 29-yard pass from Kizer (Yoon kick) 1:01 21 31 Drive: 6 plays, 83 yards, 1:44 USC Jackson 97-yard kickoff return (Boermeester kick) 0:47 21 38 FOURTH QUARTER USC Smith-Schuster 2-yard pass from Darnold (Boermeester kick) 9:40 21 45 Drive: 8 plays, 70 yards, 3:49 ND St. Brown 15-yard pass from Zaire (Williams rush fail) 1:02 27 45 Drive: 5 plays, 60 yards, 0:33 ND USC Total First Downs 23 23 Rushing 7 12 Passing 13 9 Penalty 3 2 Rushing Attempts 37 38 Yards Gained Rushing 215 227 Yards Lost Rushing 61 20 Net Yards Rushing 154 207 Net Yards Passing 254 205 Passes Attempted 39 30 Passes Completed 21 19 Had Intercepted 1 0 Percent Completion 53.8% 63.3% Yards Per Attempt 6.5 6.8 Yards Per Completion 12.1 10.8 Total Offensive Plays 76 68 Total Net Yards 408 412 Average Gain Per Play 5.4 6.1 Fumbles: No.-Lost 1-1 1-1 Penalties: No.-Yards 6-54 7-65 Punts: No.-Yards 8-390 6-231 Average Per Punt 48.8 38.5 Average Net Punt 35.5 36.2 Punt Returns: No.-Yards 3-14 3-66 Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 4-74 5-163 Interception Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 1-33 Fumble Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 0-0 Miscellaneous Yards 0 0 Possession Time 28:57 31:03 Third-Down Conversions 5-17 5-12 Percentage 29.4% 41.7% Fourth-Down Conversions 2-2 0-0 Percentage 100.0% 0.0% Sacks By: No.-Yards 0-0 6-45 Sophomore wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown concluded a strong individual season with seven catches for 94 yards and a touchdown in the loss to the Trojans. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA