My apologies for the lateness of this blog. I was indisposed this weekend and was just able to see the game film now.
Things always look better after a win. Fans were really questioning the direction of the program after the Pitt loss. But now things are looking a lot better. The team is now 8-3 and not mathematically eliminated from the BCS. Although they do need a lot of help to make it there. But let's not go there just yet.
On Saturday, the Fighting Irish finally played the kind of game they should have been playing all year. That is a physical running game and play action passes off of it. The first drive was symbolic of that as emerging freshman Tearean Folston ran effectively for the whole drive until Tommy Rees hit a wide open DaVaris Daniels for a 61 yard touchdown.
That was the theme all day as Folston along with Cam McDaniel just ran it down BYU's throat. McDaniel gained 117 yards on 24 carries and Folston had 78 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown. George Atkinson also pitched in with 42 yards on 6 carries. The USC kid never saw the field.
There was enough balance in the passing game as Rees finished with a respectable 235 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Daniels finished with 6 catches for 107 yards and a touchdown while TJ Jones had another solid day with 5 catches for 95 yards.
The defense had a nice effort. They did give up yards but managed to keep everything in front. Dual threat quarterback Taysom Hill had 168 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception along with 101 yards rushing. The defense really did a nice job of stopping Jamaal Williams as he only had 43 yards.
Defensive standouts were Jaylon Smith who keeps getting better and better and Jarron Jones who filled in nicely for Louis Nix. I am excited for the careers these young men could have. Jones had a huge field goal block late in the game that would have pulled the Cougars to within a touchdown.
Great win for the Irish and it is now time to prepare for our annual year end trip to California to play Stanford. This year the game may not mean much on paper, but it is another big rivalry for Notre Dame.
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