Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME endurance and mental toughness in the Irish during his first two seasons, which is why the 119 points his team sur- rendered during the fourth quarter last year looks like a major red flag. No Notre Dame team since at least 1964 — as far back as we checked — has allowed more points in the final quarter, At first glance, the fourth quarter was a mess for Notre Dame last season. Brian Kelly has preached about restoring CHARTING THE IRISH according to research done by senior editor Lou Somogyi. Those 119 points represent 44.2 percent of the 269 total points the Irish gave up last season, which is the highest fourth-quarter percentage in more than two decades. Those numbers are puzzling when compared to the third-quarter defense, which allowed only 16 points (5.9 percent of the total) all year. A closer look reveals that the discrepancy might not be as glaring as the numbers make it out to be. Thirty-three of those 119 points came from drives that started in the third quar- ter — 16 were scored on the very first play of the quarter. Another large chunk (42 points) were garbage points scored late in the game when the Irish held on to at least a 30-point lead. leads, 24-7 against Michigan and 14-3 against Florida State. While those are certainly cause for concern, the fourth-quarter flop in 2011 was heavily bloated by the luck of the draw. — Dan Murphy Notre Dame blew two sizable fourth-quarter POINTS ALLOWED BY QUARTER 119 (44.2 %) Fourth: 53 (19.7%) Third: 16 (6.0 %) First: Second: 81 (30.1%) Total: 119 First Drive of Quarter: 33 Garbage Points: 42 Other: 44 BREAKDOWN OF 4TH QUARTER POINTS ALLOWED AUGUST 2012 31