Brigham Young Cougars vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish Match Player Stats On Oct 20, 2012

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Oct 20, 2012

No. 5 Notre Dame 17, Brigham Young 14: Cierre Wood and Theo Riddick each rushed for over 100 yards and the host Fighting Irish rallied from a halftime deficit to remain unbeaten.

Trailing 14-7 at the half, Notre Dame (7-0) drew closer on Kyle Brindza’s 24-yard field goal in the third quarter and pulled ahead when George Atkinson III rushed for a 2-yard touchdown with 12:52 left in the game. The Fighting Irish outgained BYU 270-66 on the ground, with Riddick rushing for a career-high 143 yards on 15 carries. Wood added 114 yards on 18 carries.

Tommy Rees put Notre Dame ahead early on a first-quarter 4-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Eifert before BYU became the first team this season to score touchdowns on consecutive possessions against Notre Dame when Riley Nelson threw two touchdown passes in the second quarter.

Nelson was 23-of-36 for 177 yards, but the Cougars were held without a score in the second half against the dominant Fighting Irish defense, which limited its opponent to fewer than 300 total yards for the sixth straight game.

BYU (4-4) went on a 13-play, 50-yard drive after Atkinson’s touchdown but came up empty when they were forced to punt with 6:42 remaining. The Cougars’ final possession ended on a Nelson interception deep in their own territory with 22 seconds left.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Notre Dame QB Everett Golson sat out after suffering a concussion last week against Stanford. … BYU has outscored opponents 78-6 in the second quarter this season. ... Notre Dame improved to 7-1 in its last seven games decided by a touchdown or less.