Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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place middle linebacker Luke Kuechly, who was selected ninth overall in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers af- ter winning the Butkus Award (best college linebacker) and register- ing a national-best 191 tackles. The 6-3, 242-pounder passed on his final year of eligibility. Af t e r e i g h t GAME PREVIEW: BOSTON COLLEGE Junior outside line- backer Kevin Pierre- Louis (6-1, 215) has also been a bright spot, compiling 68 stops, four tackles for loss and two sacks for the Eagles, which rank 91st in scor- ing defense (31.3 points Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 1 vs. Navy* (CBS) Sept. 8 Purdue (NBC) 2012 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE W, 50-10 games, the Eagles were tied for last in the ACC in sacks (six), eighth in turnover margin (minus-one) and last in third-down defense (48 per- cent). But against the Ter rapins , Boston Col lege grabbed three in- terceptions and played solid enough to give ju- nior quarterback Chase Rettig and the offense a chanceto win the game on the final drive. Heading into Novem- ber, fifth-year senior inside linebacker Nick Clancy ranked third nationally with 11.63 tackles per game on a defense that has faced 83 plays per contest this year. Sept. 15 at Michigan State (ABC) W, 20-3 Sept. 22 Michigan (NBC) Oct. 6 Oct. 13 Stanford (NBC) vs. Miami^ (NBC) W, 20-17 W, 13-6 Oct. 20 Brigham Young (NBC) W, 17-14 Oct. 27 at Oklahoma (ABC) Nov. 3 Pittsburgh (NBC) W, 29-26 (3OT) Nov. 10 at Boston College (ABC) Nov. 17 Wake Forest (NBC) Nov. 24 at USC (ABC/ESPN) * at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland; ^ at Soldier Field in Chicago allowed per game), 111th in total defense (487.3 yards allowed per game), 118th in rushing defense (248.0 yards allowed per game) and 69th in pass defense (239.3 yards al- lowed per game). The offense hasn't W, 20-13 (OT) W, 30-13 8 p.m. W, 41-3 3:30 p.m. TBD mal 117th nationally in rushing (85.6 yards per outing). For the Eagles, moving the ball hinges on Rettig, who is averag- ing 275.5 passing yards per game (21st nation- ally) and has tallied 2,204 yards, 15 touchdowns and only five inter- ceptions. Five of those scoring passes have found the hands of possession receiver Alex Amidon, a 5-11, 186-pound ju- nior with enough speed to break away for big gains on occasion. "He's been a con- been much better, weigh- ing in at ninth in the con- ference in scoring (21.4 points per game), 10th in total offense (354.6 yards per game), and an abys- Amidon, who was aver- aging an ACC-best 117.9 yards per game through eight outings. "It's im- portant to him; he gives a hundred percent. He's just built on his freshman year, sophomore year. Usually your third year is when you start seeing kids blossom. "I'm happy for him. sistent player since we've been here in the aspects of he comes out to work," Spaziani said of It's a product of his hard work and consis- tency. … He's got good