Notre Dame has a 30-9 lead as it turns for home in the Camping World Bowl and couldn’t have begun the third quarter any better than it did. The defense forced a three-and-out from Iowa State. Then, Tony Jones Jr. took advantage of some great blocking and showed off his stiff-arming skills while running 84 yards for a touchdown on the offense’s first play from scrimmage in the second half. I mean, just look at this thing and tell me you don’t want to watch this over and over:
.@TonnJoness' 84-yard run for @NDFootball is the longest in bowl history. Previous record was 80 yards (Johnny Jefferson, UNC vs Baylor, 2015). #CampingWorldBowl pic.twitter.com/1S2xaByu7Q
— Camping World Bowl (@CWBowl) December 28, 2019
Not only is that a Camping World Bowl record for longest rush, but no Notre Dame player ever has had a rush bigger than that in any bowl game. You can bet Jones will be replaying this in his mind for the rest of his life. It might have been the back-breaker that will carry the Irish to victory.
There’s not much else to say about this quarter other than the Irish defense continues to step up when it absolutely needs to. Brock Purdy started a Cyclones drive at his own 20-yard line and eventually had a first-and-10 at the Notre Dame 19. He remained there on third down when Adetokunbo Ogundeji sacked him, forcing Iowa State to settle for a field goal yet again.
OK, so that’s not all that happened in the quarter. Ian Book led a drive highlighted by two completed passes of 20-plus yards and got to the Cyclones 1. Notre Dame couldn’t finish the drive and had to settle for a chip-shot field goal from Jonathan Doerer, but is that really worrisome right now? The Irish just have to keep it going for 15 more minutes, and they’re victorious.