Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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28 NOV. 6, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED PASS DEFENSE THROWS NC STATE OFF ITS GAME NC State's aerial attack had carried the offense in its first seven games of the season. The Wolfpack ranked 23rd nationally in passing offense (290.0 yards per game) and 24th in pass efficiency (150.72). Redshirt ju- nior quarterback Ryan Finley ranked sixth in the land with a 69.4 comple- tion percentage. Against Notre Dame, though, the NC State pass game could not get anything going. Finley completed just 17 of 37 passes (45.9 percent) for 213 yards. The team's 97.82 pass-ef- ficiency rating was its worst perfor- mance of the season. Notre Dame sacked Finley just once in the game, but it was disrup- tive, breaking up seven passes and generating six hurries. "It's got to be one of our best per- formances in some time defensively against an outstanding quarterback," head coach Brian Kelly said follow- ing the win. "Even on the drive that they scored, he had to make three outstanding throws." Getting NC State behind schedule played a major role in Notre Dame's success against the pass offense. Fin- ley completed third-down passes of 18 yards and 15 yards on NC State's second-quarter touchdown drive. Following that possession, NC State was put into eight different third- downs with at least seven yards to go for a first down. Finley completed just 2 of 6 passes and was sacked once on those third- and-long downs following the touch- down. He was picked off on a third- and-10 play at the beginning of the third quarter, and the Irish returned that interception for a touchdown. "We leveraged them to so many third-down situations," Kelly said of his pass defense. "We could do a lot of things when we get into our dime and nickel situations. "We might have been in six to eight different coverage variations and different looks that [Finley] had to kind of work himself through each time." ✦ NOTRE DAME INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing Att. Gain Lost Net Avg. TD Long Adams 27 217 15 202 7.5 1 77 McIntosh 11 63 0 63 5.7 0 10 Williams 8 33 0 33 4.1 0 9 Wimbush 7 29 8 21 3.0 1 20 TEAM 1 0 1 -1 -1.0 0 0 Total 54 342 24 318 5.9 2 77 Passing Att. Comp. Pct. Int. Yards TD Long Wimbush 19 10 52.6 0 104 2 25 Total 19 10 52.6 0 104 2 25 Receiving Rec. Yards TD Long Smythe 3 52 1 25 Stepherson 2 24 1 13 Claypool 2 17 0 11 St. Brown 2 13 0 9 Adams 1 -2 0 0 Total 10 104 2 25 Punt Returns No. Yards TD Long Finke 3 11 0 15 Total 3 11 0 15 Kick Returns No. Yards TD Long Sanders 2 57 0 32 T. Jones Jr. 1 16 0 16 Total 3 73 0 32 Punting No. Avg. Long Blk. TB FC 50+ In 20 Newsome 6 40.3 47 1 1 2 0 1 TEAM 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 7 34.6 47 1 1 2 0 1 Field Goals Made Att. Long Blk. None Defense Solo Ast. Total TFL Sacks PD FF FR Coney 5 4 9 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 Tranquill 3 4 7 1-5 0.5-3 1 0 0 Morgan 2 4 6 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 D. Hayes 2 3 5 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 Tillery 1 3 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Coleman 2 0 2 1-8 0-0 1 0 0 Crawford 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Elliott 1 1 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Fertitta 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Kareem 1 1 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Love 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 3 0 0 Okwara 1 1 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Trumbetti 0 2 2 0.5-3 0.5-3 0 0 0 Watkins 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Holmes 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Jo. Jones 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 T. Jones Jr. 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Martini 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Pride Jr. 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Regan 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Tagovailoa-Amosa 0 1 1 0.5-1 0-0 0 0 0 Williams 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Int. Returns No. Yards TD Long Love 1 69 1 69 Total 1 69 1 69 NORTH CAROLINA STATE INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing Att. Gain Lost Net Avg. TD Long Gallaspy 11 47 0 47 4.3 0 14 Samuels 8 26 8 18 2.2 0 12 Hines 2 6 0 6 3.0 0 3 Finley 3 2 23 -21 -7.0 0 2 Total 24 81 31 50 2.1 0 14 Passing Att. Comp. Pct. Int. Yards TD Long Finley 37 17 45.9 1 213 1 42 Total 37 17 45.9 1 213 1 42 Receiving No Yds TD Long Harmon 7 97 1 24 Meyers 3 31 0 13 Gallaspy 3 8 0 5 Louis 2 56 0 42 Samuels 2 21 0 18 Total 17 213 1 42 Punt Returns No. Yards TD Long Smith-Williams 1 11 0 0 Hines 1 11 0 11 Pratt 0 0 1 0 Total 2 22 1 11 Kick Returns No. Yards TD Long Jaylen Samuels 4 116 0 58 Nyheim Hines 1 2 0 2 Total 5 118 0 58 Punting No. Avg. Long Blk. TB FC 50+ In 20 A.J. Cole 8 44.5 56 0 0 2 3 3 Total 8 44.5 56 0 0 2 3 3 Field Goals Made Att. Long Blk. None Defense Solo Ast. Total TFL Sacks PD FF FR Fernandez 7 6 13 1.5-5 0-0 0 0 0 Chubb 5 3 8 3-6 1-1 0 0 0 Pratt 4 4 8 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 Morehead 4 4 8 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Boone 2 4 6 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Kidd-Glass 1 4 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Moore 1 3 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Hill 2 2 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Alston 3 1 4 1.5-5 0-0 0 0 0 Stevens 3 1 4 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 McCloud 3 1 4 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Street 2 1 3 1-6 1-6 1 0 0 Frazier 1 2 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Stallings 0 2 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Bodine 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Roseboro 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Wright 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Jones 1 0 1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 Bambard 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Acceus 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Saunders 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Int. Returns No. Yards TD Long None Junior linebacker Te'von Coney was awarded the game ball after leading the Irish in tackles (nine) for the second straight game. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL