Merely looking at the statistics, Jaylon Smith is unquestionably the defensive star of Saturday’s game against Boston College. The junior linebacker recorded 11 tackles (9 solo, 2 assists), including a tackle for loss.
Yet it was senior Matthias Farley who likely made the biggest impact on the game. Farley sniffed out the Eagles’ fake punt try late in the first quarter with the Irish up just 3. That gave the ball to the offense at their opponent’s 40 yard line – and the resulting drive ended in a touchdown. In the second quarter, Farley hustled down the field to stop Tyler Newsome’s 55 yard punt at the BC 6-yard-line. And finally, Farley recovered an onside kick with 58 seconds left to seal a 19-16 victory.
Coach Brian Kelly gave his fifth-year defensive back the game ball for his three outstanding special teams plays, although Smith and junior safety Max Redfield also had very good games. Redfield had nine tackles, including his first career sack, which resulted in a loss of 10 yards.
Here’s a look at the team statistics from Saturday’s game. As with last week, the defense limited their opponent to 13 first downs, and the Eagles went 2-for-13 on third downs. The rush per yard average was skewed by the defense’s biggest mistake of the evening, an 80-yard run by Eagles QB Jeff Smith.
1st Downs | 22 | 13 |
3rd down efficiency | 4-15 | 2-13 |
4th down efficiency | 0-0 | 0-1 |
Total Yards | 447 | 302 |
Passing | 320 | 88 |
Comp-Att | 20-38 | 12-22 |
Yards per pass | 8.4 | 4.0 |
Rushing | 127 | 214 |
Rushing Attempts | 34 | 36 |
Yards per rush | 3.7 | 5.9 |
Penalties | 4-31 | 9-75 |
Turnovers | 5 | 1 |
Fumbles lost | 2 | 1 |
Interceptions thrown | 3 | 0 |
Possession | 31:08 | 28:52 |
The Eagles’ Smith and his offensive line ran the read option to perfection on the play, selling the halfback sweep and drawing most of the Irish line – and linebacker Jaylon Smith – to the left. Jeff Smith runs up the gut – and Max Redfield, who has deep contain, misreads the play as well. By time Redfield recognizes that Smith has the ball he’s already run a few paces in the wrong direction. Jeff Smith hits the turbo button and it was six points in a matter of seconds.
Here’s a breakdown of all the individual statistics. No surprise here that Smith, the team’s leading tackler, again lead the way. Sheldon Day has just two tackles, but one was a sack that resulted in a loss of 5 yards.
As with last week, the Irish defense sustained another injury that they could not afford. KeiVarae Russell fractured his tibia in the fourth quarter of the game and had to be helped off the field. With a six to eight week recovery period, Russell’s season is likely over. It’s expected that defensive tackle Daniel Cage, who missed the last two games while recovering from a concussion, will be available to play Saturday against Stanford.
## | Notre Dame | Solo | Ast | Total | TFL/Yds | FF | FR-Yds | Int-Yds | BrUp | Blkd | Sack/Yds | QBH |
9 | SMITH, Jaylon | 9 | 2 | 11 | 1.0/1 | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | . |
10 | REDFIELD, Max | 8 | 1 | 9 | 1.0/10 | . | . | . | . | . | 1.0/10 | . |
90 | ROCHELL, Isaac | 4 | . | 4 | 1.0/1 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
22 | SHUMATE, Elijah | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0.5/3 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
45 | OKWARA, Romeo | 2 | 2 | 4 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
98 | TRUMBETTI, Andrew | 3 | . | 3 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
36 | LUKE, Cole | 3 | . | 3 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
48 | MARTINI, Greer | 2 | 1 | 3 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
38 | SCHMIDT, Joe | 1 | 2 | 3 | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | . |
99 | TILLERY, Jerry | 2 | . | 2 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
91 | DAY, Sheldon | 2 | . | 2 | 1.0/5 | . | . | . | . | . | 1.0/5 | . |
6 | RUSSELL, KeiVarae | 2 | . | 2 | 1.0/5 | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | . |
59 | GRACE, Jarrett | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.5/3 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
41 | FARLEY, Matthias | 1 | . | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
5 | MORGAN, Nyles | . | 1 | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
4 | CONEY, Te’von | . | 1 | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
61 | DALY, Scott | . | . | . | . | . | 1-0 | . | . | . | . | . |
Post-game quotes:
Q. Brian, any up to dates on the statuses of C.J. and KeiVarae?
Yes, KeiVarae has a tibia fracture, so he was casted after the game. Tonight they will have surgery and put a rod in there. So that is a six to eight week process for him. Certainly, you know, very disappointing.
But he was in a lot of pain last night obviously on the way home. But he’s just one of those kids that you hate to lose. He’s meant so much to the program.
But we’ll have to regroup and, you know, we’ll have three guys there that we’ll give work there at the corner back position. So we’ll move on from there.
C.J. has a high ankle sprain. He would be doubtful for this weekend. But no fracture, no major damage to the ligaments, so very, very encouraging on that note relative to the ankle. We’ve got an MRI to follow up the x-ray and given the circumstances it looked to be good. But I would say that right now he’d be doubtful for this weekend.
Q. Is KeiVarae’s injury at all similar to the one that Jarret Grace suffered in 2013 or is that one more serious?
That one, Jarret’s, was much more serious. Yeah, that required immediate surgery and follow-up surgery. This should be very clean with a very, very good six to eight week hard, you know, time table for his return.
Q. Changing gears, with Matthias yesterday with the three specialty points that he made, in a game that was only decided by three points, how important were those three plays in the game?
Well, he was given the game ball, because we recognized how important they were. He’s been that kind of player for us all year, the off side pick, stopping the fake punt, downing the ball inside at the ten yard line. He packs the game wherever he calls. That’s why he’s a captain. That’s why he’s really the guy on special teams that makes big plays for us, and a valuable member of our football team.
Q. Brian, what are the chances you’ll get Daniel Cage or James Onwualu or both back this week?
I think we’ll get Daniel Cage, optimistic there.
We will not — I don’t think we’ll get James back this way. I think he’s probably another couple of weeks away. But I think we’ll get Daniel Cage back this week.
Q. You said KeiVarae is six to eight weeks. Would that mean have any chance of getting him back if you make it toy a playoff or National Championship game?
I think it would have to be closer to the National Championship game, more so. That’s a pretty hard number, the six to eight because of the bone growth situation there. We’re going to obviously do whatever we can. But I would think that it’s probably more towards the Championship game than it is for a playoff game.
Q. And then who’s likely to get his spot?
Well, it will probably be, you know, just looking at our guys, I think you’re going to get three of them, Adam Butler, Nick Watkins, and Nick Coleman, I think all three of those guys will be playing over there. I don’t know that we’re going to lean on just one guy. I think all three of those guys are going to get an opportunity to compete in that position.
Q. I know you hate these questions, but I want to be sure, is it left leg for KeiVarae?
KeiVarae is his right tibia had been fractured.
Q. Could you talk a little bit I guess your level of confidence in Devin Butler and Nick Coleman?
Well, they all have some strengths. And certainly each one of them, Devin has had a lot of game experience, he started games for us. Nick Watkins is a bigger corner, he’s got very good size, hasn’t played a lot of football for us. We’d like to see his compete level pick up.
And Nick Coleman is a guy who plays the ball very well down the field, but he’s raw. And so if you can take a little bit of each one of them I think that’s kind of my point is that you’d like all three of those skill sets in one and you’ve got super corners.
I don’t know that we want to put the pressure on one guy to say hey, you’re the guy that’s got to out there in the biggest game of the year and put it all on one guy. That’s why I think we want all three of those guys to be what we do with the corner back position.
Q. The domino effect of getting Cage back, how much do you think that will help your defensive line, Isaac maybe will be back outside, and sort of getting back to where we were a month ago?
What concerns us the most obviously has been as pass rushing situation and the quarterback scramble. Other than the last drive, which is very disappointing in the two minute drive, you know, Boston College had nothing going, obviously, offensively, and again with the sudden change stops I think our defense did a great job.
But it makes a difference getting Cage back. It allows us to get back into the rotation that we want. So it definitely impacts us and helps that rotation that we have on the defensive line.
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