Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BY THE NUMBERS 13 against Michigan. The only other Irish team since 1957 to not eclipse 20 points at least once in their first four home games was the 2007 edition that fin- ished 3-9 and totaled only 31 points in their first four home games (7.8 points per game). Still, the Irish are 4-0 at home this year. 38 permitted a rushing touchdown. It is the lone team in the 120-team Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) not Quarters over a span of nine games, dat- ing back to 2011, that Notre Dame has not head coach Brian Kelly made a decision to start junior signal- caller Tommy "The Closer" Rees instead of sophomore Everett Golson. The idea would've been met with much more crowd re- sistance had it occurred early in the season, but Rees has contin- ued to prove that he can lead the Irish to victories. • pressure zone. In a steady What Worked • Change at the helm. Irish four-man front that included bringing sophomore Ishaq Wil- liams in on the nickel package to blitz from the second level in the inside gaps, Notre Dame was able to record four sacks and seven quarterback hurries (all three starting defensive line- man notching at least one in the six-man rotation), which helped cause a pair of interceptions and passes broken up. • Controlling the run game. Points of emphasis in becoming a championship team are 1) run- session against Stanford —before Notre Dame's de- fense allowed a touchdown. The 17-quarter streak ended with a six-yard touchdown pass from Riley Nelson to Cody Hoffman with 8:25 left in the sec- ond quarter to help knot the game at 7-7. It took only 2:18 for BYU to score its next TD to make it 14-7. 263:47 TAKING A CLOSER LOOK ning the ball and 2) stopping the run. While there may not always be a necessity to have success in both departments in each game, the Irish had full control of those situations by not only holding BYU to 66 yards rushing, but also racking up 270 yards on the ground against a team that was the No. 3 rush defense nationally. spite all the pre-game concern about the BYU matchup fall- ing between the Stanford and Oklahoma contests and being a "trap game," the Irish started off extremely flat compared to the previous outings and were behind at halftime, 14-7, for the second straight week (Stanford led 10-3 at the break). The Irish used a halftime of adjustments for its wake-up call and out- scored the visitors 10-0 over the final 30 minutes to get the win. What Didn't Work • Falling into a trap. De- wounds. For the second straight week, Notre Dame was plagued by unnecessary penalties, in- cluding a late swing to a BYU player's helmet, throwing a ball carrier down to the ground out of bounds, defensive holding, offsides and a key facemask call. The Irish committed five penal- ties for 51 yards in the game, and all either impeded the of- fense or gave BYU a new set of downs. • Special forces. Notre Dame's • Limiting self-inflicted 2012 defense is reflective of the 2000 team that eventu- ally earned a bid in a BCS bowl game, but in order to attain the level of play required to reach that point again there will need to be an improvement in spe- cial teams. The kicking areas, which included two missed field goals and subpar return results against BYU, are going to have to improve. BY LOU SOMOGYI to permit a rushing score so far in 2012. Minutes and seconds played — not including an overtime — Jason Sapp