Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/890623
22 OCT. 30, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED on 12 plays, capped by Darnold's five-yard touchdown toss to Steven Mitchell Jr. on third-and-goal at the 10:00 mark. Notre Dame answered right back with a 65-yard drive that culminated with a seven-yard Wimbush score. He also had a 24-yard scramble on the drive and completed a 13-yard pass to sophomore wideout Chase Claypool on third-and-10. USC cut its deficit to 35-14 on a 75-yard drive that saw Darnold find wide receiver Deontay Burnett for a 16-yard touchdown with 3:26 to go. FOURTH QUARTER: NOTRE DAME 49, USC 14 Top Moment: The quarter began with a USC pass failing on fourth- and-seven at the Notre Dame 48. Five plays later, Adams scored on a 14- yard touchdown run on third-and- seven to make it 49-14 with 13:17 left. Top Performer: Sophomore Irish defensive end Khalid Kareem re- corded his second sack of the game when he dropped backup quarter- back Matt Fink on a third-and-three from the Irish 48 for an eight-yard loss. Coney finished with a game- high 11 tackles, two stops for loss, a sack, a hurry, and the forced fumble and recovery. Stats: Notre Dame's 377 rushing yards easily topped its 308.0 average entering the game. Items: The 35-point difference is the second highest by the Fighting Irish versus USC in the 89-game his- tory of the series, surpassed only by the 51-0 win in 1966 to clinch the na- tional title that season. "We want to be unique," Kelly said of looking at what the future holds for the Irish. "Unique means that this is not the crown jewel for us. … We want more. "We're excited about the win, beat- ing a very good USC team. But our guys want to be unique. So there's more out there for them." ✦ Senior rover Drue Tranquill's recovery of a fumbled punt was one of three turnovers the Irish forced in the first half and subsequently turned into 21 points. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA NOTRE DAME 49, USC 14 Oct. 21, 2017 ✦ Attendance: 77,622 Notre Dame Stadium ✦ Notre Dame, Ind. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total USC 0 0 14 0 14 Notre Dame 14 14 14 7 49 USC ND FIRST QUARTER ND St. Brown 26-yard pass from Wimbush (Yoon kick) 12:45 0 7 Drive: 3 plays, 51 yards, 1:04 ND Stepherson 23-yard pass from Wimbush (Yoon kick) 6:59 0 14 Drive: 10 plays, 79 yards, 3:19 SECOND QUARTER ND Adams 3-yard run (Yoon kick) 7:43 0 21 Drive: 3 plays, 9 yards, 0:36 ND Wimbush 4-yard run (Yoon kick) 3:54 0 28 Drive: 7 plays, 59 yards, 3:08 THIRD QUARTER USC Mitchell 5-yard pass from Darnold (McGrath kick) 10:00 7 28 Drive: 12 plays, 77 yards, 5:00 ND Wimbush 7-yard run (Yoon kick) 6:06 7 35 Drive: 8 plays, 65 yards, 3:54 USC Burnett 16-yard pass from Darnold (McGrath kick) 3:26 14 35 Drive: 6 plays, 73 yards, 2:40 ND Adams 84-yard run (Yoon kick) 3:07 14 42 Drive: 1 play, 84 yards, 0:19 FOURTH QUARTER ND Adams 14-yard run (Yoon kick) 13:17 14 49 Drive: 5 plays, 52 yards, 1:37 USC ND Total First Downs 18 23 Rushing 5 17 Passing 13 6 Penalty 0 0 Rushing Attempts 31 47 Yards Gained Rushing 111 394 Yards Lost Rushing 35 17 Net Yards Rushing 76 377 Net Yards Passing 260 120 Passes Attempted 36 22 Passes Completed 25 9 Had Intercepted 1 0 Percent Completion 69.4% 40.9% Yards Per Attempt 7.2 5.5 Yards Per Completion 10.4 13.3 Total Offensive Plays 67 69 Total Net Yards 336 497 Average Gain Per Play 5.0 7.2 Fumbles: No.-Lost 2-2 0-0 Penalties: No.-Yards 7-40 7-51 Punts: No.-Yards 6-258 6-250 Average Per Punt 43.0 41.7 Average Net Punt 34.0 33.7 Punt Returns: No.-Yards 4-48 3-34 Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 6-144 3-53 Interception Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 1-14 Fumble Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 0-0 Miscellaneous Yards 0 0 Possession Time 31:36 28:24 Third-Down Conversions 4-13 7-13 Percentage 30.8% 53.8% Fourth-Down Conversions 1-2 0-0 Percentage 50.0% 0.0% Sacks By: No.-Yards 1-10 5-28