ming up with positive possession stats while starting

Nashville, TN (SportsNetwork.com) - After suffering four straight losses to end the regular season, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will meet the 22nd- ranked LSU Tigers in the 17th annual Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl at LP Field. Notre Dame finished up the regular season with a 7-5 overall record, but that did include a 3-0 mark when playing on a neutral field. The Irish were highly ranked early in the season thanks to a 6-0 start, but the team fell toward the end of the campaign with five losses in its last six games. Its Notre Dames first trip to the Music City Bowl, though the team has appeared in bowl games in nine of its last 11 seasons. LSU, which ended the regular season at 8-4 with the No. 22 ranking in the nation, dropped two of its last three games played. But the Tigers are at least coming into this matchup on a high note after defeating Texas A&M, 23-17, to end the regular season. LSU is making its first trip to the Music City Bowl as well, but the Tigers are 23-21-1 all-time in bowl games, with 15 consecutive trips to the postseason under their belt. This clash between Notre Dame and LSU will be the 11th all-time in their program histories. The series is all knotted up at five games apiece, with the most recent meeting between them coming in the 2007 Sugar Bowl - a 41-14 LSU runaway victory. Notre Dames offense was highlighted in the regular season by quarterback Everett Golson, who took the reins as the starter from the get-go and performed exceptionally well, leading his team to a 33.0 ppg mark this season. Golson passed for 3,3355 yards and 29 touchdowns in 2014 against 14 interceptions, connecting for an average of 279.6 passing ypg. He added eight rushing touchdowns as well to his resume. Golson was the teams leader during the regular season in rushing scores, but tailback Tarean Folston handled the majority of the workload out of the backfield. The running back gained 816 yards on 154 carries, rushing to the end zone five times over the course of the year. Greg Bryant added 287 yards and three touchdowns rushing on the season. Will Fuller was unquestionably Golsons favorite target during the regular season, as the two hooked up through the air 71 times for 1,037 yards and 14 touchdowns. His 86.4 receiving ypg was the best on Notre Dame this season, which as a unit gained 444.6 total offensive ypg. Corey Robinson added five touchdown receptions this season for the Irish. Defensively, Notre Dame really fell apart toward the end of the campaign, especially in the teams final four losses. The Irish surrendered 29.2 ppg to opponents this season, including 401.5 offensive ypg. In the teams last four losses, Notre Dame gave up at least 43 points to three opponents, and at least 31 points to all four, including 55 in a defeat against Arizona State. Jaylon Smith led Notre Dame with 103 tackles on the year, adding in 8.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and six quarterback hurries. Both Matthias Farley and Cole Luke registered four interceptions during the regular season, which means theyll be in charge of shutting down an LSU passing game that threw nine combined interceptions. Up front, a Notre Dame defense that registered 70 tackles for loss and 24 sacks will need to be ready for a strong Tigers run game. Were thrilled with the opportunity to face LSU -- one of the preeminent programs in all of college football, said UND head coach Brian Kelly. When we worked with the ACC to fashion our agreement, part of the attraction for Notre Dame was the ability to provide our program with this type of matchup. In that vein were excited to come to Nashville, to play in a bowl in which the university never before has participated and to play in a top-notch NFL venue. Even after the loss of Jeremy Hill to the NFL in the offseason, LSU has continued to pride itself offensively in the run game. Averaging 219.5 rushing ypg with 23 rushing scores this season, the Tigers are led on the ground by Leonard Fournette and his 891 yards and eight touchdowns. Fournette was an all-purpose monster for the Tigers, as was Terrence Magee, who rushed for 545 yards and three touchdowns this season. Anthony Jennings saw the majority of reps under center at the head of the LSU offense, Jennings passed for 1,460 yards and 10 touchdowns to lead the team, but also tossed seven interceptions. He was the main signal caller to lead the LSU offense to 27.6 ppg. Whether it was Jennings or Brandon Harris (452 passing yards, six touchdowns) under center, Travin Dural was still the main target through the air for the Tigers. Dural caught 37 passes this season for 758 yards and seven touchdowns to lead the team in each category. Malachi Dupre hauled in five receiving scores to finish second on the squad. But it was LSUs defense that did the majority of the damage this season, limiting opponents to just 16.4 ppg and 305.8 total offensive ypg. The Tigers were especially strong in defending the pass, holding opponent aerial attacks to 162.3 passing ypg and just nine touchdowns all season long. That doesnt appear to be a good thing for Golson and the Irish, who rely heavily on taking down opponents through the air. Only two players recorded more than one interceptions this season for the Tigers, who as a unit notched 10 interceptions during the campaign. But turnovers were secondary compared to LSUs 56 pass breakups. Kwon Alexander finished the regular season atop the teams tackles chart, tallying 79 stops to pace the team. Danielle Hunter led the team with 12 tackles for loss, and Jermauria Rasco registered four sacks during the season to top the Tigers, who will have to be careful against a potentially potent Notre Dame offense. We are very excited to bring our football program and the great LSU fan base to Nashville to play Notre Dame in the Music City Bowl, LSU coach Les Miles said. Notre Dame is a traditional football power and we are looking forward to renewing what has been a tremendous rivalry between the two programs through the years. Adidas NMD R1 Cheap . Each day, TSN.ca provides the latest rumours, reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. Defensive Depth TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun is reporting the Toronto Maple Leafs have considerable interest in unrestricted free-agent defenceman Dan Boyle. Adidas NMD Discount .Y. -- It was as if Matt Moulson never left the New York Islanders. http://www.cheapnmdonline.com/wholesale-adidas-nmd-human-race-china.html . -- Kyrie Irvings last-minute 3-pointer helped seal another victory for Cleveland -- and the Cavaliers longest winning streak since LeBron James left. Adidas NMD Womens Clearance . -- Pelicans coach Monty Williams does not expect guard Eric Gordon to play in any of New Orleans final five games this season. Adidas NMD Womens Sale . "Youre not really spending time to sit back and analyze what your competitions doing and things like that," Anthopoulos said. "Youre so focused on what were trying to get done." Ultimately, while the landscape around them changed with trades both major and minor, the Blue Jays did nothing before Thursdays non-waiver deadline.The Montreal Canadiens received a spectacular goaltender effort from Carey Price in Game One at Boston. Scott Cullen has notes on Price, Tuukka Rask, P.K. Subban, Rene Bourque and more. HABS STEAL GAME ONE Despite being soundly outplayed by the hometown Boston Bruins, the Montreal Canadiens emerged from Game One with a 4-3 double-overtime win, thanks to G Carey Price, who stopped 48 of the 51 shots that he faced. Price had a career-best .927 save percentage this season, but he had a .904 save percentage in the first round sweep over Tampa Bay, so its not like this game was standard fare. During the regular season, Price had a dozen games during which he recorded at least 35 saves, ranking fifth in the league. What is important for the Canadiens, though, is that Price is capable of stealing games like this because thats likely what is going to be required if Montreal is going to upset a superior puck possession team. At the other end, Vezina Trophy favourite Tuukka Rask stopped 29 of 33 shots and he was critical of his own performance. Maybe a little hard on himself, as goalies can be, but it could also reflect some frustration. For as great as Rask has been to this point in his career -- he has the best save percentage in the league since 2009-2010 -- but has had his problems with Montreal, including a .908 save percentage in 17 regular-season games against the Habs and has yet to beat the Canadiens in Boston, now 0-9 after Game One. Montreal got a pair of goals -- their first and last -- from D P.K. Subban, who played a game-high 33:49 in Game One and now has seven points in five playoff games this season. Likely the most pleasant surprise of this postseason for the Habs has been LW Rene Bourque, who scored three goals against Tampa Bay in the first round and came up with a goal and an assist against Boston. The Bruins controlled play so thoroughly that LW Daniel Paille hhad their worst possession numbers, and he was still on for 51.dddddddddddd9% of 5-on-5 shot attempts. Defencemen Dougie Hamilton and Zdeno Chara as well as C Patrice Bergeron and RW Reilly Smith were all on for better than 70% of shot attempts. There was an interesting allocation at the bottom of the Habs puck possession chart for this game. LW Travis Moen (17.4%) was at the very bottom, but the next four, all under 26%, were the shortest Habs -- RW Brendan Gallagher, C David Desharnais, C Daniel Briere and D Mike Weaver. The only two Canadiens over 50% in shot attempts were Bourque and Lars Eller. Its just one game, so this could mean nothing at all, but it might be worth watching to see if the Canadiens smaller players continue to have possession problems as the series progresses. Credit to Eller, by the way, for coming up with positive possession stats while starting with one offensive zone face-off compared to 17 in the defensive zone (5.6%) in Game One. One of the subplots of the game, from Montreals perspective, is that head coach Michel Therrien demoted RW Thomas Vanek from the first line to the fourth line from a point early in the second period until midway through the third period. Vanek finished the game with 18:58 of ice time, which ranked ninth among Montreal forwards. Certainly getting a Game One win on the road is favourable under any circumstances, but getting it in a game in which they were so thoroughly dominated is especially good for the Canadiens, who had to lean so heavily on their goaltending to even have a chance. Now, can they close the possession gap and try to take Game Two in Boston without requiring Price to deliver another out-of-this-world performance? Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '