Irish hold off ASU
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Arlington, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Notre Dame's stingy defense stifled the red-hot Taylor Kelly and the high-powered Arizona State offense just enough.
It was a performance the Irish had been waiting for all season.
Prince Shembo tallied three of Notre Dame's four sacks as the Irish topped No. 22 Arizona State, 37-34, in the 2013 Shamrock Series.
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The game was tied 27-27 midway through the fourth before Tommy Rees engineered a 10-play, 56-yard drive that was capped on Kyle Brindza's go-ahead 25-yard field goal with 3:03 to go.
Mathias Farley intercepted Kelly on a 4th-and-13 on the Sun Devils' ensuing series, and after Arizona State forced a three-and-out, Dan Fox intercepted Kelly on the first play of ASU's next sequence and returned it 14 yards for the game-clinching score with 1:16 left.
After its defense keyed Notre Dame's run to the BCS title game a year ago, the Irish came in with just four sacks and were among the nation's worst with 110 first downs allowed.
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The Sun Devils came in 11th in the FBS in scoring (44.3 ppg) and racked up 612 yards against a USC defense last Saturday that had not allowed more than 285 yards.
Rees was 17-of-38 for 279 yards with three touchdowns and an interception for Notre Dame (4-2), which lost to Oklahoma last Saturday.
"It's a big win for us, to get right back on the right track in the bye week and the halfway point of the season," Rees said. "It was kind of a game we understood the importance of and we were really ready to go and had a great week of preparation."
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T.J. Jones caught eight passes for 135 yards and a touchdown and Cam McDaniel registered 82 yards on the ground on 15 carries in the triumph.
Kelly finished 33-of-47 for 362 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions for the Sun Devils (3-2), who pounded the Trojans 62-41 last week.
"You know, I've got to be better," Kelly remarked. "I've got to focus more when it comes time towards the end of the game."
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Jaelen Strong had eight receptions for 136 yards and a score in defeat.
Zane Gonzalez nailed field goals of 40 and 27 yards, respectively, to open the scoring in the second and give ASU a 6-0 edge.
Rees hit Ben Koyack for a 19-yard score on Notre Dame's ensuing touch, but Kelly fired a strike to Strong for a 36-yard touchdown on the Sun Devils' next series.
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Notre Dame regained possession with 1:30 on the first-half clock and Rees led the Irish 71 yards in eight plays before concluding the march with an 8-yard TD strike to Jones for a 14-13 Notre Dame spread heading into the locker room.
The Irish scored 10 points in the third to head into the fourth with a 24-13 margin.
Brindza nailed a 53-yard field goal on Notre Dame's first drive of the third and Rees flipped a 21-yard score to Troy Niklas later in the stanza.
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Osahon Irabor intercepted a Rees pass and returned it 37 yards for a score on the first play of the fourth before Brindza split the uprights from 33 yards out to make it 27-20 in favor of the Irish with 10:38 remaining.
Kelly tossed a 21-yard TD pass to De'Marieya Nelson on ASU's next touch to tie it.
Game Notes
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The Sun Devils have yielded 863 yards rushing over the past four weeks ... Arizona State had a chance to become the first team in NCAA history to beat USC and Notre Dame in back-to-back weeks ... Notre Dame was 4-of-15 on third down, while ASU finished 4-of-13 in those situations.