Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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TOP PLAYERS OF THE GAME BY LOU SOMOGYI the first man off of the football and has nearly perfected timing up the opponent's snap count. Add his quick hands and power to the equa- tion, and he makes for quite the matchup when manning the middle of the defense. He fin- ished with three tackles, a tackle for loss, and Notre Dame's only pass broken up in the game. Senior running back Theo Riddick was an offensive catalyst for the Irish, rushing for 146 yards on 20 carries, catching three passes for 33 yards and scoring Notre Dame's lone touchdown on a nine-yard run. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA Notre Dame player that was playing as if the na- tional title was on the line, the name that would keep popping up is Rid- dick. The senior running back fought from the opening kick until the fi- nal second ticked off of the clock, running with a great forward lean, showing elusiveness in space, gaining yards after contact and fighting for every last yard. He was a game changer for the Irish and led the If you had to pick one THEO RIDDICK OFFENSE: pack out of the backfield, ending the day with 20 carries for 146 yards and a nine-yard touchdown run. He also caught three passes for 33 yards. DEFENSE: LOUIS NIX III The junior nose guard may not have topped the stat sheet — sopho- more safety Matthias Farley led the team with nine tackles by filling the lanes — but there's no denying how big of an impact he had in the game. Despite being more than 325 pounds, Nix is played better as a unit in general, but the star of the show was the sopho- more kicker. He booted the first two kickoffs of the game deep into the end zone to limit USC speedster Marquise Lee's impact in the re- turn game. He also con- nected on 5 of 6 field goal attempts to account for more than half of the of- fense's scoring produc- tion. Despite missing a 34- The special forces SPECIAL TEAMS: KYLE BRINDZA yard attempt in the sec- ond half, Brindza split the uprights on kicks of 27, 29, 52 (the second- longest field goal in Notre Dame history), 33 and 19 yards.