Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ON PAPER REVISITED offense that had been dormant (see "Stat of The Game" on page 32). Against Michigan State and Michigan, the Irish ground attack didn't really materialize until the fourth quarter. This time, the rhythm became es- tablished much sooner, and the Irish rode its wave while attempting only three passes the entire second half. Wood ran as effectively between the tackles as he did to the outside, and tight ends Tyler Eifert and Troy Niklas were especially effective at sealing blocks on the edge. Advantage: Notre Dame tom in the major defensive categories, but the Irish still had to execute with precision while protecting the football. It didn't mean they had "arrived" as an offense, but at least consistency flowed while not committing any turnovers. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. MIAMI PASS DEFENSE This was Golson's finest all-around game to date — passing, running and overall command of the game plan. He was effective rolling out or with a moving pocket, yet also drilled a perfect fade pass to Eifert for 24 yards and stood in the pocket patiently amidst a safety blitz to find sophomore DaVararis Daniels on a timing pattern over the middle for 24 more yards. Junior TJ Jones has quietly been blossoming into a more consistent, reliable option while gaining better separation from coverage this year. Miami entered the contest ranked near the bot- BY LOU SOMOGYI Hurricanes to start from their own 25 (instead of 40) and 9-yard line. Advantage: Notre Dame previous two games, the Irish were a much better 5 of 11 (45.5 percent) against Miami. Notre Dame didn't have to even convert a third down on its first touchdown drive, and on its next two scoring drives, it had to convert two third-and-one situations and one third-and-two. Conversely, Miami in the first half alone missed on THIRD-DOWN CONVERSIONS After going 4 of 23 (17.4 percent) in their last third-and-nine, third-and-17, third-and-six and third- and-10 — a testament to Notre Dame's defense win- ning the first- and second-down battles. Advantage: Notre Dame one when a ball he was carrying a little loosely rolled out of bounds. A Tommy Rees pass on Notre Dame's first series also bounced out of Miami safety A.J. Highsmith's arms. That's when you start to get a sense that maybe TURNOVERS Neither team had one, although Golson did dodge this is becoming one of those special years you've been dreaming about for a long time. Advantage: Even partment, and even Kyle Brindza missed his first field goal attempt in his last nine tries. However, Miami did worse damage to itself — most notably with its running into the punter call from the Irish 16 that gave Notre Dame a fresh new set of downs that resulted in a touchdown drive and a 7-0 lead. During the first half, Miami also was called for two illegal blocks on Notre Dame kickoffs that forced the SPECIAL TEAMS Notre Dame didn't do anything special in this de- ship-caliber defense. The game against Stanford could be the tipping point to determine if this will be a BCS team. on offense and defense, Notre Dame settled down and asserted control on both sides of the line of scrimmage while getting back up to the speed of the game after a bye week. The Irish offense has demonstrated it can run at will against the smaller or weaker defenses of Navy and Miami. Can it maintain a consistent rushing attack against Stanford, BYU and Oklahoma? What has remained a constant is the champion- ANALYSIS After dodging several bullets in its initial series