:: Notre Dame Football ::
Notre Dame falls short to Connecticut in double-overtime; Irish offense rolls up 452 yards, Irish defense limits UConn to 13 points in regulation; special teams gives up touchdown that makes difference in game
Leprechaun Express: Notre Dame Football Intel Update, Nov. 23, 2009
For both Notre Dame and Connecticut, it had been a season of dramatic close finishes, with Notre Dame pulling out more wins. But it would be Connecticut outlasting Notre Dame in double-overtime, 33-30. Notre Dame, which outgained Connecticut, 452 yards to 372, but also gave up a 96-yard kickoff return for a second-half touchdown, fell to 6-5 on the year, while UConn rose to 5-5.
We will never know how much impact the mismanagement of the anti-Weis media frenzy by Notre Dame administrators has had on the outcomes of the games. Late last year, instead of giving Weis unequivocal support, the athletic director had acted as if Weis's job status had been in question before being reaffirmed. This tepid treatment of the matter, that did more to inflate an athletic administrator's mission creep than strengthen the football program, later prompted the Notre Dame star quarterback to talk about the subject of the coach being fired as an issue at hand, saying the quarterback would not be the reason for a firing. This season, after Notre Dame lost a close one to a good Navy team, one getting votes in the rankings, the administrators were obligated to quell, if not berate, what had been a baseless media frenzy questioning whether a sitting coach would be fired. Instead, the athletic director gave the media frenzy credence by suggesting he might or might not work to get the coach fired, announcing his criteria, and indicating an announcement about firing or non-firing just after the regular season.
To put it simply, the only responsible treatment of anti-Notre Dame media frenzy suggesting a coach might be fired is to discredit it as biased, irresponsible editorializing, give support to the coach and program, and move forward. Giving credence to a news media that spent two years trying to call Notre Dame racist, by acting as if their anti-Notre Dame frenzy was relevant and there was an issue at hand indicates a lack of savvy, and literally undermined the particular athletic program and its best chances for success.
For the team to focus as well as they could on playing a tough opponent against a backdrop of anti-Notre Dame bashing by the media, bolstered by the non-support from the administrators, was heroic. One captain was quoted as saying he found the media frenzy offensive, but the media frenzy was validated by the administrators. That the team showed solidarity with Coach Weis by walking with him out of the tunnel, so he could lead them onto the field, partially disabled legs and all, was deeply moving. But it also demonstrated the level of distraction, and the irresponsible nature of how a rookie Athletic Director hung his football coach out to dry and mismanaged a rogue news media.
Make no mistake about it, the administrator has undermined Notre Dame football, possibly contributed to losses, made it harder for the players and the coaches to do their best, and showed disloyalty to the university in the process. A local lawyer trying to develop into a national figure dealing with national media, the athletic adiminstrator also demonstrated a decided lack of savvy not sticking up for his coach. Instead of telling the media they had no story, he encouraged the anti-Notre Dame wave by suggesting the prospect of there being a story of a possible firing after all.
The Irish led 7-0 after the first quarter and 14-10 at the half. The game was tied 17-17 after the third quarter. The fourth quarter ended in a 20-20 tie after a Notre Dame running back uncharacteristically fumbled on what could have been a game-winning drive, followed by UConn missing what could have been a game-winning field goal in the closing moments of regulation. In overtime, both teams traded touchdowns, then Notre Dame settled for a field goal before Connecticut won on a short run around the left end.
While Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis would be concerned about a lack of touchdown production in the red zone, and the defense being out of position, the difference in the game was on special teams. In a game tied 20-20 at the end of regulation, one-third of Connecticut's points came from the long kick-off return for a second-half touchdown. After Notre Dame took a 17-10 lead in the third quarter, the runback made it 17-17, a killer momentum changer in a tight, relatively low-scoring game.
Ironically, walk-on kicker David Ruffer was a special teams star for the Irish, connecting on 3 of 3 fields goals.
Irish offense impressive, some of the best players in college football
In a losing effort, Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen continued to be the best quarterback among upper-tier teams, if not the entire FBS/Div.I-A. On the day Clausen was 30 of 45 (67%) for 329 yards and 2 touchdowns to no interceptions. Clausen also gave Notre Dame their only rushing touchdown, on a one-yard run.
Wide receiver Golden Tate, college football's best, had 9 catches for 123 yards and an 8-yard touchdown that led off all scoring, as well as 1 rush for 12 yards. Including punt returns, Tate had 155 total yards on 12 touches.
If the Heisman and Maxwell Awards were still given for individual performance, Clausen and Tate would be the front-runners, as both have superior seasons over the main contenders. Tate, for example, has more all-purpose yards per game than Alabama's running back, on roughly half as many touches, for twice the yards-per-touch.
Michael Floyd, the other half of the best wide-out tandem in college football, kept pace with Tate, with 8 catches for 104 yards and a 23-yard touchdown in overtime.
Overall, Notre Dame had 329 yards passing and 123 yards rushing, the latter at only 3.5 yards per carry. At the same time, Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis would point out at a press conference that in today's offensive world, a certain subset of Notre Dame's passes were actual run plays of a kind, in which the quarterback simply delivered the ball by a short pass rather than a hand-off. According to Weis, when one saw Floyd catch a short swing pass and take it nine yards, that was actually a kind of run play by nature.
Irish defense a mystery, only gave up 13 points in regulation
The Irish defense was maligned for giving up some big plays, with some observers, including Weis, indicating they felt the defense gave up losses in instances where players were in position and should have made plays.
However, despite some of the let-downs, including a UConn 43-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, the Notre Dame defense only gave up 13 points in regulation. By comparison, top-5 Cincinnati gave up 38 points to Connecticut a week earlier.
The difference in the game, overall and with respect to getting gashed for a big gain, ended up being on special teams, where Notre Dame kick-off unit, that had been so strong last year, gave up the 96-yard kick-off return.
While Notre Dame's run defense has been criticized, including by Weis, and Notre Dame did give up nearly 5 yards per carry, the 231 yards of rushing by UConn was on 48 carries, against only 25 passes. The Huskies, while they made some good pass plays by former Notre Dame reserve quarterback Zach Frazer, including an overtime touchdown, only threw for 141 yards.
So Notre Dame was left with a defense that made a number of good plays, did not necessarily give up a lot of points in regulation, but did give up some big plays, and had a few let-downs in overtime.
Conclusion
Notre Dame is a good team with a good, winning record, but has lost five games by a touchdown or less, all of the losses coming down to the final moments of the game. Overall the team is probably fairly productive a lot of the time, but has seen its run production decline a bit in late-season. And while the team is playing hard, the ferocity of making plays in the clutch, seen a bit earlier in the year, has seemed to taper off a bit since coming back from San Antonio.
Against Navy, Notre Dame had seemed a bit tired. Since then, they have been playing very hard, and even making a lot of good plays. But they have not quite been as over-the-top as they had been, and not as ferocious with making plays in the clutch as before. Keep in mind, earlier in the year Notre Dame actually was showing a spark of championship form at times and looking to turn the corner into elite status.
What is curious is that, coming from the NFL, Charlie Weis was acquainted with a much longer season. And in the NFL, while the best teams can give up a loss late in the year and not have it matter (as Weis did to the Dolphins before his final Super Bowl), at the same time NFL teams have to peak for the playoffs, and once in the playoffs, it is up or out each week.
As Weis has pointed out, Stanford is the one team that has never beaten Notre Dame during his tenure, and the Irish skilled players should enjoy going to warm weather for their regular season finale. If Notre Dame wins, and finishes 7-5 heading to a bowl game, that should prevent any rude clacking about firing a winning coach with years left on his contract, who has worked long and hard to restore what had been a failing program.
Keywords: Notre Dame Football, Connecticut Football, Jimmy Clausen, Eric Olsen, Charlie Weis, Weis job status, Michael Floyd, Golden Tate
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