Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/89043
GAME PREVIEW: OKLAHOMA rious at Oklahoma, either the Irish defense or special teams (if not both) must score a touchdown — or set up short drives for the offense — to aid an offense that scored 20 or fewer points in four of its first six games. If Notre Dame is to emerge victo- If Rees doesn't have to make an ap- pearance in this outing, that would be a promising sign for Notre Dame. Oklahoma also has been function- sistently this season with either sopho- more Everett Golson or junior Tommy Rees at quarterback, but was efficient enough to remain unbeaten through seven games. In Norman, Rees' experi- ence might be called on again in a hos- tile atmosphere — although Golson comported himself well in his first true road test at Michigan State Sept. 15. DOUBLING UP AT QUARTERBACK Notre Dame has functioned incon- ing with two quarterbacks in separate roles. Fifth-year senior Landry Jones has become one of the more prolific passers in NCAA history with 13,732 yards and 102 touchdown tosses enter- ing the Oct. 20 Kansas game. However, 6-6, 254-pound sopho- more Blake Bell has taken on a Tim Tebow-like role as Oklahoma's short- yardage specialist in the red zone. Of Bell's 28 carries in the first five games, seven resulted in touchdowns. The good news is not many of Notre Dame's opponents have penetrated into the Irish red zone this season. ✦ Earlier this year, Blue & Gold Illustrated drew on some of the eerie parallels between the 2002 Notre Dame team and the 2012 edition. • Both began the year unranked, moved to No. 20 after the second game and vaulted all the way to No. 11 after vanquishing a top-10 ranked team in the third game. • Both the 2002 and 2012 teams were tied 17-17 with Purdue in the fourth quarter before winning 24-17 and 20-17, respectively. • The 2002 team swept the Big Ten trio of Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue for the first time in 10 YEARS AFTER defense and an offense trying to find itself. • Notre Dame trailed Stanford 7-3 at halftime in 2002 and it trailed the Cardinal 10-3 this year, before winning both times. Now comes the interesting part. On Oct. 26 of that year, a 7-0 and top-five Notre Dame team entered the cauldron at Florida State's nine years, while the 2012 unit did it for the first time in 10 seasons. • Both were on the cover of Sports Illustrated after a 4-0 start, and both were heralded for a staunch Doak Campbell Stadium, where the Seminoles were 84-5 (.944) in their last 89 games. The Irish were finally expected to "get theirs" and be exposed — but instead played their best game of the year, jumping ahead 34-10 in their 34-24 win. On Oct. 27 this year, a 7-0 and top-five ranked Notre Dame team will play at Oklahoma's Memorial Stadium, where the Sooners are 79-4 (.952) in their last 83 games. The Irish might be underdogs again … but will history repeat? — Lou Somogyi