Notre Dame: Troy Pride was Unsung Hero vs. Iowa State
By Carlee North
Troy Pride had some big plays for Notre Dame.
Saturday was a fun one for Irish fans after a dominant win against the Cyclones 33-9. It wasn’t the bowl anyone wanted to be in after finishing 10-2 in the regular season. Some were even worried that Notre Dame might not be up for the game and end the season on a disappointing note.
That absolutely never happened for this team on Saturday. From the very start, Iowa State never belonged on the same field as Notre Dame.
Once again, the defense was outstanding and the offense was solid all game, with Tommy Rees getting his first shot as a play caller.
But back to the defense — goodness, Clark Lea is a terrific coach and the players just proved that even more. One player that came into this season with a ton of hype but never really took that next step was senior cornerback Troy Pride Jr. On Saturday, I think that was his best game of the season, playing physical, making some plays and having a ton of confidence.
That’s why the season finale Unsung hero is Troy Pride Jr.
Coming into the year, he was supposed to be one of the leaders of this team — someone who you could really rely on. That wasn’t really the case this season for Pride, who was up and down in coverage and didn’t really show much when it came to making pivotal plays.
Saturday, he had 3 solo tackles along with a nice pass breakup and one other that unfortunately was called as a pass inference — which was really just a bad call on some nice physical coverage from the speedster. He was stride for stride throughout the game and didn’t seem out of position all game either, which was something that was a problem throughout the year.
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Pride most certainly wanted to go out on a high note to get some positive feedback heading into the NFL Draft. He did just that. A really nice career for Pride ended with a dominant win and a good outing from the senior. Best of luck in the NFL, where I expect plenty of teams to give him a hard look, just on his speed alone.