Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/87622
GAME PREVIEW: BYU tree. Playmaking outside linebacker Van Noy was named to Phil Steele's second-team mid-season All-Amer- ica team while pacing the Cougars in tackles for loss (10.5), sacks (6.5) and forced fumbles (three), and also plac- ing second in passes broken up (five). Hadley is right behind in tackles for loss (seven) and sacks (3.5). Kaveinga is a transfer from USC, while Ogle- tree, a candidate for the Lott IMPACT Award (top senior defender on and off the field) with Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, was the top tackler with 49, in- cluding six for lost yardage to go with four passes broken up. The last time Notre Dame hosted BYU, in 2005, quarterback Brady Quinn tossed a school-record six touchdown passes — four to wide- out Maurice Stovall, who set another single-game Irish record — in a 49-23 Irish victory. Such an offensive output is less likely to occur this time. Nelson has had a Tommy Rees-like career at Brigham Young. Like Rees supplanting five-star Fifth-year senior quarterback Riley LIFE OF RILEY quarterback Dayne Crist at Notre Dame, the less heralded Nelson leap- frogged five-star recruit Jake Heaps at BYU while providing a spark to the offense. Interestingly, both Crist and Heaps are now at the University of Kansas, playing for former Irish head coach Charlie Weis. Like Rees, the 6-0, 199-pound Nelson doesn't strike an imposing figure but True freshman quarterback Taysom Hill was the Cougars' leading rusher through six games (55 carries for 336 yards and four touchdowns), but will miss the rest of the season due to a knee injury he suffered Oct. 5. PHOTO COURTESY BYU has been admired by teammates for his moxie and game management. A back injury to Riley against We- ber State on Sept. 8 sidelined him for two games and led to the insertion of Taysom Hill, the team's leading rusher through six games. But a season-end- ing knee injury to Hill in the closing seconds of a miscommunicated "vic- tory formation" against Utah State Oct. 5 has put Nelson back into the spotlight. ✦