Notre Dame survived a very tough game and kept its record a perfect 7-0 after the Irish beat BYU 17-14. There was a lot of talk this past week about the possibility of Notre Dame falling in this "trap" game. It certainly looked that way for most of the game as the offense sputtered, and made a lot of mental errors,and Kyle Brindza missed two field goals while the defense allowed two touchdowns in the second quarter- which were the first touchdowns allowed by this defense since Purdue.
In the end, none of it really mattered. The defense stepped up and delivered two shutout quarters in the second half, and the offense imposed its will on BYU. That "will" was a ground attack similar to what Notre Dame did to Miami in the second half of that game. Notre Dame ended up 270 yards on the ground, thanks mainly to Theo Riddick's 143 yards and Cierre Wood's 114 yards.
While this game will get exactly zero style points, it still shows that Notre Dame has become that mentally and physically tough football team that Brian Kelly has tried to shape it in to since he was hired. Close games happen to highly ranked team every year. The better teams find ways to win those games most of the time. Notre Dame is certainly one of those teams, and now we march towards a collision in Norman against Oklahoma.
CELEBRATE Y'ALL! 7-0!!!!
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