Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BY THE NUMBERS ahead of him are three-time All-American Bob Crable (1978-81) with 521 and two-time All-American Bob Golic (1975-78) with 479. 2004 the Associated Press top 10 at the time of the game. The last season until now when Notre Dame defeated two teams ranked in homa started off its first offen- sive series running the fastest no-huddle offense the Irish had seen all season. Notre Dame's front line was barely getting into a three-point stance by the time the ball was snapped. It began to look like what could be a long day for the defense. Then Okla- homa had a poorly executed center-quarterback exchange with no one back to catch the shotgun snap. The defense was able to end OU's opening drive with an early stop and gain a sense of confidence. • Forcing a one-dimensional What Worked • Adjusting to tempo. Okla- attack. Notre Dame may have allowed its first rushing touch- down of the season when "The Belldozer," redshirt sophomore quarterback Blake Bell, crossed the goal line on a one-yard run, but its usual strong efforts in controlling the ground game limited the Sooners to just 15 yards rushing in the contest. The Sooners were forced to put the ball in the air 52 times because they could not get anything go- BY LOU SOMOGYI That year it came against No. 8 Michigan at home (28-20) and No. 9 Tennessee (17-13) on the road. This year both have come on the road, versus No. 10 Michigan State Sept. 15 (20-3) and the 30-13 triumph at No. 8 Oklahoma — both by 17 points. Notre Dame hadn't defeated an AP top-10 ranked team by more than 17 since beating No. 5 USC 38-10 in 1995. TAKING A CLOSER LOOK are typically given the praise on Saturdays, but head coach Brian Kelly deserves some kudos for his effective offensive play call- ing. Notre Dame used a steady pace that showed multiple for- mations. Sophomore quarter- back Everett Golson extended the plays with his legs and ef- fective short throws, adding to the rushing duo of seniors Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood. ing on the ground — their lon- gest run was only seven yards. • Multiple looks. The players Dame had its fair share of rush- ing yards with Riddick and Wood both picking up 74 yards and Gol- son having 64 yards of his own, but besides the one cutback at the second level by Wood against an over pursuing defense that led to a 62-yard TD romp — there weren't many creases formed for the inside runs. The power and second effort of Riddick allowed him to pick up five-yard carries when needed, but the blocking was stronger from the outside What Didn't Work • Creating inside lanes. Notre defensive game plan was to use a soft coverage that al- lowed shorter passes to be completed in an effort to not give up any big plays deep, but the strategy wouldn't be effec- tive without getting a push in the trenches. Notre Dame did not apply much pressure early in the contest. However, it incor- porated a stronger blitz package in addition to junior nose guard Louis Nix III getting push up the middle as the game wore on, making it much more difficult for fifth-year senior Landry Jones to comfortably sit in the pocket. • Return game. Notre Dame in and the goal is for a balance across the front. • early pass rush. The Irish may have been down its best re- turner when speedy sophomore George Atkinson III remained home due to an illness, but there still looks to be a lack of any return lanes being created. While there may have not been many opportunities to return a punt, there was one chance that was missed. — Jason Sapp