Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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the win over Miami pro- vided the first real tan- gible signs of progress. The zone read and season-high 587 yards of offense the Irish had against the Hurricanes. Golson's ability to ex- ecute it can push Notre Dame's spread attack to a new level and per- haps post big numbers like the 41 points and the time of possession battle in all but one of its games so far this season. Saturday's win over Mi- to 5-0 for the first time since 2002, to 10-0-2 all time in games played at Soldier Field and to 61- 16-2 (.785) all time in games played following a bye week. The win also moved the Irish to 66- 36-2 (.644) all time in night games and 71-20-3 (.785) all time when playing in an NFL stadium. Notre Dame is now 377-92-8 (.799) all time in the month of October and 37-7-1 (.883) in October games on neutral fields. The Windy City win over the Hurricanes im- proved Notre Dame's record to 17-7-1 versus Miami. • Notre Dame, which is now allowing just 7.8 points per game, has not allowed a touchdown over its last 12 quarters. No school in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) has allowed fewer touch- downs than the Irish (three) this season. • Notre Dame's defense has allowed two offen- • The victory over Miami improved Notre Dame Notre Dame has won CLOCK CONTROL ami wasn't even close. The Irish were on of- fense for 39 minutes against the Hurricanes, falling just a few sec- onds shy of doubling up Miami's time. The wear and tear on the Hurri- canes' defense started to show clearly in the MISCELLANEOUS NOTES when they pile up at least 200 rushing yards. The last time the Irish lost a game when reaching that mark was in 2007 against Navy. In 36 of the team's last 38 games, a victory was the outcome when simply outrushing its opponent by any margin. In head coach Brian Kelly's career, his teams have a 153-23-1 record when winning the ground battle. • Senior tight end Tyler Eifert caught two passes for 31 yards versus Miami. He now has 100 career receptions, joining Ken MacAfee (128 from 1974- 77) and John Carlson (100 from 2004-07) as the only other Irish players at his position to hit the century mark. • Because sophomore quarterback Everett Gol- sive touchdowns or less in 17 of its last 22 games. On top of that, the defense has held opponents to one offensive touchdown or less in 10 of those outings. There have been no rushing touchdowns surrendered in 2012, making Notre Dame and TCU the only two FBS programs to boast such an accomplishment. • Having not given up a rushing touchdown in the final two games of the 2011 campaign, the Irish have now gone seven consecutive contests without allowing a score on the ground. • The Irish have rattled off 10 consecutive wins son was reprimanded for being late to a team meeting during the week prior to the game, ju- nior Tommy Rees got the start for Notre Dame. He lasted four plays before Golson came in, but it improved Rees' record to 13-4 as a starter in his Irish career. • Sophomore running back George Atkinson III earned his first career 100-yard rushing game. He finished with 123 yards on 10 carries, which included a 55-yard touchdown late in the third quarter. Two of Atkinson's three rushing touch- downs this season have been more than 50 yards, and his average of 12.3 yards per carry (minimum 10 rushes) against Miami is the best in a game by an Irish running back since Reggie Brooks (205 yards on 15 carries) averaged 13.7 against Purdue on Sept. 26, 1992.