Notre Dame vs. BYU: Theo Riddick's career day paces Fighting Irish

Eric Murtaugh at One Foot Down was impressed by Theo Riddick's performance on Saturday against BYU. The senior running back led the Fighting Irish with 143 yards on just 15 carries. His longest carry was an improbable 55-yard run in which he was almost knocked to the ground at the line of scrimmage. After the game Murtaugh wrote,

Theo showed great burst and ran through a lot of tackles on the day. It was awesome to see him excel as a straight up running back with the ball out of the backfield.

Riddick is fun to root for in part because of his size. At just 5-11, he's the smallest member of the Notre Dame running corps. Teammate Cierre Wood generated 114 rushing yards of his own on 18 carries. George Atkinson added 11 yards and a touchdown.

All in all, the Irish rushed for 270 yards and got 12 of their 16 first downs on rushing plays. It was not a pretty victory, but Notre Dame used its rushing attack to remain undefeated.