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The Middies dent rival) and Stanford (academic rival) in November. R oll out the red carpet. It's time for the second annual Middies Award Show, our own spin on the halfway home superlatives for Notre Dame football. The Irish have provided a healthy list of memorable moments, good and bad, during a 4-2 start to season. We'll keep our focus there and skip over the MVP trophies and most improved ribbons you are sure to find elsewhere. We still have six more Saturdays to figure those out after all. murphy's Law dan murphy Play Of The First Half Tied with Purdue (1-5) in the fourth quarter, Notre Dame's offense mitigated disaster with its longest scoring play in three years. A good blitz pick-up and a well-thrown pass sprung junior wide receiver DaVaris Daniels for the 82-yard touchdown. Daniels did his part, tight-roping the sideline before crumpling one of the Big Ten's better cornerbacks with a stiff arm. It was the second touchdown in as many snaps for Daniels, who tied the game with a catch in the end zone on the previous drive. The play beats out other nominees like junior safety Matthias Farley's Michigan State interception and junior running back George Atkinson's long run against Oklahoma because without it the Purdue game could have gone down to the wire and Notre Dame's season could have derailed early. Best Atmosphere If athletics director Jack Swarbrick is still finalizing plans for the future of Notre Dame Stadium, perhaps he should scrap them and just steal the blueprints from Jerry Jones. AT&T Stadium outside of Dallas felt like a football Mecca. Despite being less than 80 percent full for the matchup between Notre Dame and Arizona State Oct. 5, AT&T Stadium was louder than a typical Irish home game. photo by Bill Panzica The $1.3 billion edifice didn't feel opulent or stuffy. Despite being less than 80 percent full, the stadium was louder than an Irish home game. The gargantuan video board was a welcome touch, and we'll admit the halftime nacho bar in the press box may have swayed the judges a bit, too. Best Celebration Notre Dame's trip to the Cowboys' stadium ended with a fitting grand finale. Fifth-year linebacker Dan Fox capped his first career interception by diving into the end zone. It sealed a win over Arizona State in the final 90 seconds of the game and made him the envy of the defense. The key to Fox's sly celebration was its subtlety. He managed to disguise his leap enough to slip by undetected by the referees. "He doesn't have much of a vertical," cornerback Bennett Jackson said. Worst Word This submission comes at the behest of Irish head coach Brian Kelly, who petitioned Merriam-Webster in September to remove "rivalry" from its next edition of the dictionary. Kelly unintentionally brewed a bit of controversy when he referred to Michigan as a nice regional foe rather than a full-blown rival. He spent the next two weeks answering questions about how much natural animosity his team had toward rivals Purdue and Michigan State. Kelly changed course on his affinity for the "R-word" while preparing for USC, but that won't last after playing Navy (longtime opponent rival), BYU (indepen✦ Page 20 Best Addition To The Playbook Defensive pass interference. When Irish quarterback Tommy Rees took to the air against rival Michigan State, an actual reception seemed like an unnecessary bonus at times. The Spartans were flagged five times in the secondary for a total of 70 yards in penalties. Both Notre Dame touchdown drives in the 17-13 win were spurred on by pass interference calls. The first crucial call came on a fourth-and-one passing play that extended a drive that eventually ended in a score less than a minute before halftime. The Irish gained 37 yards on their second touchdown drive, and 30 of them came from pass interference penalties. Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio said he's never seen an offense execute the pass interference play as well in his three-plus decades of coaching. "Never," he said. "I guess what's why we should stop talking about it right there." Fair enough, moving on. Best Impression Of A Super Hero Stephon Tuitt becomes our first repeat winner of the Middies thanks to his Superman-dive interception in the end zone against Michigan. A year ago, he won the "Best Run" category with his 77-yard fumble return against Navy. Tuitt might not have the gas in the tank to make that same run this season, but he didn't need it. The junior got most of his 322 pounds parallel to the turf for a pick-six that brought the Irish to within a touchdown of the Wolverines in the fourth quarter. Alas, Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner proved to be kryptonite for Tuitt and Notre Dame's national championship hopes. ✦ E-mail Dan at dmurphy@blueandgold.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @BGI_DanMurphy.