:: Notre Dame Football ::
What tho' the odds, Notre Dame guts it out over Purdue 24-21
Clausen drives Irish in closing moments for dramatic comeback win ...
Lou Holtz reportedly once said, "God doesn't care who wins football games ... but His Mother does."
Playing hurt, looking gimpy and off at times, a gutsy Jimmy Clausen showed championship form leading the Irish on one final drive against the odds to pull out a last-minute victory on the road before a rabid crowd.
The Irish improve to 3-1.
Trailing 21-17, with fourth and goal from the two and less than 26 seconds to go, Clausen saw tight end Kyle Rudolph being tightly covered in the end zone, a Purdue defender nearly draped all over him from the right, and Clausen rifled it smoothly to the left of Rudolph. That way, as the tight end dove for it, even as the defender was draped all over him, the tight end's body would be between the defender and the ball. Perfect pass from the best quarterback in America, injured and rusty but willing it through on this play ... a sure-handed grab by the best tight end in America ... touch-down Notre Dame ... ball-game.
On the final drive, Clausen went 6 of 9 for 69 yards and a touchdown in less than two minutes of play.
Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis says the team has changed, that in the past it might have gotten frazzled, but now they've grown and are not getting frazzled.
The Irish showed a lot of competitive fire on the winning drive, man-by-man.
In the process, the Irish served notice to the college football world that Notre Dame isn't going anywhere.
Because it also appears that Notre Dame is back.
Despite the fact Notre Dame already is having a top-15 year, and might be on their way to a top-10 year, if not higher, the major media might wait to say Notre Dame is back when Notre Dame is actually #1 -- which, for all anybody knows, the way this season is going for everybody across the country, might happen come January.
But in many ways, the old Notre Dame is back already. For the first time in a decade and a half, Notre Dame has a program fully rebuilt across four class years, with some good fifth-year players as well. And Notre Dame is reviving the drama of past Fighting Irish echoes, pulling out tough wins against good opponents even when the chips are down.
Notre Dame was without the top wide receiver in college football, Michael Floyd, and top-15 running back Armando Allen, also their previous Wildcat formation snap-taker, and saw the top quarterback in college football, Clausen, playing hurt and off his game due the injury.
The Irish still won.
Notre Dame Offense
That Irish offense, depleted and banged up at the skill positions, racked up 383 yards of offense on 79 plays, averaging almost 5 yards per play, 216 yards through the air and 167 yards on the ground.
ESPN analyst, Hall of Fame Coach, and former national championship Notre Dame Head Coach Lou Holtz praised Notre Dame's offensive line, saying they played exceptionally well in the first half, and are playing exceptionally well overall this year.
Such words are high praise coming from Holtz, who had one of the strongest rushing attacks in football when he was at Notre Dame, probably one of the best power-running attacks in school history. He also had an offensive line coach, Joe Moore, who was the top assistant coach in all of college football at the time, as measured by his offensive linemen going to the NFL.
Notre Dame played two quarterbacks, although big sophomore quarterback Dayne Crist mainly was in for running plays, including some runs of his own.
The Irish also showed a lot of Wildcat offense in the first half, with a lightning quick Golden Tate taking to the Wildcat quarterback slot with a pizzaz that, at times, was absolutely deadly for the Purdue defense. At one point, Tate actually hurdled a Purdue defender. At other times, assisted in part by outstanding blocking, former running back Tate displayed quick agility and fluid speed that might surpass many of the players in the country.
Weis said after the game that Clausen's injury was stiffening at half-time, and that he didn't want to use him in the second half, and did not intend to, that the situation warranted it. In addition to affecting his footing and overall passing technique, Clausen's injury apparently impacted his efforts to get away from pressure, resulting in taking some sacks. There also was at least one play, with Clausen in, where the Irish ordinarily might have tried a quarterback sneak, but instead had Clausen handing off deep in the backfield to a different runner. Clausen, in fact, lined up in the shotgun more, to cut down on the footwork he needed to undergo, according to Weis.
Weis indicated he put in a lot of extra work putting in multiple packages for Clausen and Crist. One interesting question in coming days or weeks will be how much time Weis spends with each quarterback. In addition to the matter of the number of reps each quarterback gets with the starters, Weis, in the past, apparently has spent an enormous amount of time grooming the starter, while also spending a smaller amount of time with the back-ups.
Weis also has indicated, in the past, that he would sit down one-on-one with Clausen and go over every single pass Clausen threw in a game, and every single pass Clausen threw in practice, to analyze and provide wise counsel on improvement.
Clausen was 15 of 26 for 171 yards and the game-winning touchdown, with one interception coming towards the end of the first half, Clausen's only interception on the year to 10 touchdowns. Dayne Crist was 5 of 10 for 45 yards, but also rushed 4 times for 16 yards, including a long first-down romp on his first play.
Overall, Notre Dame had 200 net yards rushing on 43 carries, for about 4 yards per carry (recall that in college football sacks are counted into rushing yardage).
With starting halfback Armando Allen out with an injury, one of the top-15 rushers in the country, and starting fullback James Aldridge also still out with an injury, Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis turned to several runners.
In one of the more interesting and exciting twists to the game, Weis used speedster wide receiver Golden Tate as a running back, who had played running back in high school. Recall that in Tate's freshman season, when he was making adjustments to playing as a wide receiver, one of his biggest boosters public was Rocket Ismail. Like Ismail, Tate now looks right to burst forth as a multiple threat. In addition to having 5 catches for 57 yards, Tate had 9 rushes for 55 yards and a 14-yard touchdown, at 6.1 yards per carry, finishing with 128 all-purpose yards on the day with some punt return yardage tacked on.
But the leading rusher was big former halfback Robert Hughes, who had been filling in at fullback, who got 15 big rumbling carries for 68 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown, with a long of 20 yards.
The Irish showed a lot of competitive fire in the winning drive, including Hughes. On one of the final plays, when Hughes powered the ball to the two, it appeared to several Purdue defenders to bring him down, as Hughes kept churning back forward a couple of time it had appeared he was stopped.
Also intriguing was seeing the fastest player on the team, according to Weis, kick-off returner Theo Riddick, get a carry, which he burned up for a 19-yard gain.
Back-up halfback Jonas Gray, who looked good at times, was turned to mostly early, and ended up picking up 18 yards on 9 carries.
So even without Allen, it looks there are some healthy running-back by committee options for Notre Dame. Even if Allen and Aldridge come back, Weis has some real weapons with Tate and Riddick emerging, and with Hughes showing the willingness, drive, and rumbling flash, to reprise his past success as a halfback. Truthfully, though, Hughes looks better at halfback than in the past, as does Allen, a tribute to Weis's development of runners as well as new Running Game Coordinator Frank Verducci and new running back Tony Alford.
One issue, however, was the night-and-day changes in the success of the running game against Purdue. At times, especially in the first half, when Weis took out Clausen and put in Crist, as well as, at times, when Notre Dame used the Wildcat, Notre Dame was almost running at well down the throat (or rather, around the edge) of the Purdue defense. Later in the game, however, Purdue was able to adjust and clamp down a bit on the run. On the other, Purdue is actually a fairly good team, who hung with a now-strong Oregon team, but has run hot and cold a bit during its season thus far.
Despite the varied game plan with respect to passing, with Clausen injured and Crist being brought along carefully, Notre Dame still had eight receivers make catches.
Tate had 5 catches for 57 yards and Rudolph had 4 catches for 52 yards and the game-winning touch-down.
Wide receiver Duval Kamara, Hughes, and Gray all had multiple catches, with Gray picking up 42 yards total. Wide receiver Robbie Parris, freshman speedster Shaquelle Evans, and tight end/fullback Bobby Burger also had one catch each. Parris's catch was a key grab on the winning drive, a 15-yard gain for a first-down.
While missing Michael Floyd, essentially the nation's best receiver prior to his injury, one of the untold stories about Notre Dame's passing game heading into the year was that the Irish actually have a pretty good stable of receivers deep into, and off of the depth chart. Kumara and Parris both have good size, speed, and true receiving skills, with respect to their hands, and routes, and so forth. Evans has great speed that Weis wanted to see on the field with Tate even before all the injuries. And there are more in the waiting.
Notre Dame Defense
Notre Dame's defense largely shut down Purdue running back Ralph Bolden, who previously had been the #2 rusher in the country averaging 140 yards per game. Notre Dame allowed Bolden only 67 yards on 17 carries. In fact, the Boilermakers only gained 74 yards on 29 carries, only 2.8 yards per rush.
The Irish ended up giving up 363 yards of total offense to Purdue, including 289 passing yards. Purdue's Joey Elliott was 23 of 38 passing, including three touchdowns and an interception.
Darren Walls, highly talented, absent last year but back in the mix now, made a diving interception to kill a Purdue drive at the Notre Dame 22, mid-way through the fourth quarter to help keep Notre Dame ahead at that point 17-14.
Weis indicated Notre Dame played a lot more cover-2 on defense, meaning the two safeties play deep coverage, dividing the field in half, while cornerbacks and linebackers might have man-to-man responsibility or running-stopping duties.
The Notre Dame defense apparently blitzed less than usual, but also stopped the gouging runs up the middle that had occurred at times in some of the previous games.
However, despite what was, overall, a respectable performance by the defense, on one fateful play with 2:15 to go in the game, and the Irish still up 17-14, the defense was completely out of position to pick up a running back-turned receiver coming out of the backfield, who ended up hauling in a 38-yard touchdown catch to give Purdue a 21-17 with a little more than two minutes to go.
Prior to giving up 363 yards to Purdue, prior to this game the Irish defense was giving up about 399 yards per game, ranked 96th out of 120 teans in the FBS (Div. I-A). To be fair, that ranking was misleading, because a lot teams pad their schedules with easier opponents, especially early on. Florida, for example, played Charleston Southern, which is not even within Div. I-A. In any event, Notre Dame's defense gave up less than their prior average, largely shut down the #2 rusher in college football, and seem to be improving in some respects, even if they completely blew the play on what was for Purdue a go-ahead touchdown with two minutes to go and Notre Dame trying to avoid playing its injured NFL-caliber quarterback.
Twenty-one Irish players had tackles, including on special teams, with safety Kyle McCarthy leading all tacklers with 10.
Freshman linebacker Manti T'eo had a sack, for a 12-yard loss, and linebacker Darius Fleming had a sack, for 6-yard loss. Cornerback Robert Blanton had 8 tackles, and cornerback Sergio Brown had five. Thankfully, the defensive linemen are turning up increased productivity with tackling, with defensive end Kapron Lewis-More, and linebacker-turned defensive end Kerry Neal each having four tackles. Linebacker Brian Smith also had four.
How the Game Unfolded
After Notre Dame won the toss and deferred, Purdue scored on its opening drive, going 80 yards on 8 plays in a little more than three minutes, with the Irish falling behind 7-0 on a 33-yard Purdue touchdown pass.
Despite getting a good kick return to start at mid-field, Notre Dame ended up giving up the ball on downs at the Purdue 22 after going for it on 4th and 2.
The Notre Dame defense did toughen up and stop Purdue, and on Notre Dame's second possession Clausen drove the Irish 60 yards, and Notre Dame got on the board with a 34-yard field goal by freshman kicker Nicholas Tausch to make it 7-3 with about four minutes to go in the quarter.
But as the Irish defense continued to hold Purdue in check, so that the Boilermakers did not have a single drive go longer than 27 yards the remainder of the first half.
Meanwhile, near the start of the second quarter, Weis replaced Clausen with Crist, and also put in the Wildcat at times, and Notre Dame seemed to run the ball at will, especially with runs by Tate and Hughes, and added two touchdowns, to build a 17-7 lead.
With 10:43 to go in the half, Hughes scored on a run from 2 yards out, part of a 73-yard drive that featured 8 rushes and one incomplete pass. Leading off the drive was a 16-yard run by Crist.
With 4:43 to go in the first half, Tate had a 14-yard touchdown run, capping off a 62-yard drive consisting of seven running plays, including a 24-yard-run by Riddick.
It was on the final drive of the half, however, that Clausen went back in to run the two-minute drill, and ended up throwing an interception into the end zone. The pass was probably a little bit off due to his injury, but had the receiver been Floyd instead of a freshman back-up, there might have been more of an instinctive mid-air scrum for the ball, and it conceivably could have come down as a Notre Dame touchdown regardless. So perhaps in future games, with Clausen healthier, and more experience under the belts of the younger back-ups, one might see a different kind of result.
In any event, the play was the second time in the first half when Notre Dame could have tacked on a field goal and missed the chance to.
Now, after the game, Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis indicated that at half-time Clausen's injury was stiffening up, and the decision was made that Weis did not want to play Clausen in the second half.
Both teams then had a scoreless third quarter. Notre Dame actually put a couple of drives together, including a 42-yard drive that went down to the Purdue 34. But once again Notre Dame went for it on fourth down, and Crist got sacked.
Now, several things were interesting what was happening. First off, on this drive, Purdue was finally stopping the Notre Dame rushing attack. This fact was somewhat paradoxical, given that Crist was completing some passes, which should have made Notre Dame less one-dimensional.
But down at the Purdue 34, after Crist threw an incomplete pass on 2d and 10, to make it 3d and 10, Notre Dame ran the ball, implying the Irish wanted to play it close to the vest and not try asking Crist to convert a big 3d and 10. Perhaps the defense anticipated this possibility, because, having finally starting to clamp down on the Irish rushing attack, Purdue stopped Notre Dame for no gain.
But then Notre Dame did ask Crist to try to convert the 4th and 10, and he got sacked.
Another interesting twist is that it would have been a 51-yard field goal attempt. Tausch probably has the leg for it, and then some, and has been reasonably accurate. On the other hand, Tausch missed an extra point at home at one point, and is still a freshman. At the same time, Notre Dame was up 17-7 at the time, so Tausch would not have realized that a kick at that point could have ended up altering the whole dynamic of the game later.
It was late in third quarter, and the fourth quarter that Purdue turned it on, necessitating the final Clausen-led heroics. In the middle of a Purdue drive that started late in the third quarter, the stadium saw a rather bizarre spectacle, of questionable sportsmanship, involving former Purdue head coach Joe Tiller addressing the crowd through the PA system, apparently them to be loud. The NCAA and Big Ten/11 probably should address this kind of behavior, especially given the effort to place special emphasis on good sportsmanship during the current season.
With Notre Dame leading 17-7, Purdue continued the drive into the fourth quarter, going 59 yards in 10 plays, mixing it up but making most of the gains on passes, including a 3-yard touchdown pass to make it 17-14.
After Notre Dame had a three-and-out, Purdue, helped by a Notre Dame penalty on the punt, got decent field position and started driving, only for Walls to make a diving interception to kill the drive at the Notre Dame 22.
So, Notre Dame had the ball again half-way through the fourth quarter, up 17-14, but had yet another three-and-out. Notre Dame was not having success running the ball at this point, not really trying to run the Wildcat, and not really asking Crist to air it out.
Purdue got the ball back with about six minutes to go, and started driving, on the ground and through the air, the crowd electrified. When they got to the Notre Dame 38, Notre Dame had the blown coverage, and the Purdue receiver had half the field to himself. Purdue took the lead 21-17 with a little more than two minutes to go
The scene was set for Notre Dame's Clausen-led heroics culminating in the winning score with less than 26 seconds to go, and Notre Dame's final 24-21 lead.
Following the touchdown and ensuing kick-off, Notre Dame dialed up a ferocious blitz that produced a sack. On Purdue's final play, Purdue tried to do a running play, but one that would turn into a series of laterals. When the final Purdue runner tried to throw the ball to the closest player, that player turned out to be a Notre Dame player, and Notre Dame got the ball back within scoring position. The Irish sent Clausen back out one last time to take a knee to run the clock.
It was Notre Dame's first road win against a Big Ten/11 opponent since 2006.
Banged up, missing some of the best skilled players in the country, against the odds, on the road, before a raucous crowd, having to fight back, having to call upon new players, and having to call upon old players to show new talents, Notre Dame still won.
Incidentally, that is one of the requirements of championship football. The Irish are starting to show the old championship form.
The ESPN booth announcers, interestingly enough, showed good taste by wearing Notre Dame colors, one sporting a blue tie, and the other a gold tie. Actually, the blue was sort of a deep Madonna blue, reportedly Notre Dame's actual original shade of blue, and the other tie was not yellow but a shiny, almost burnished gold, like the Notre Dame gold.
Go Irish.
Up next, the Southern Cal Trojan-beating Washington Huskies ... followed by a bye week ... and then a show-down with Southern Cal themselves.
:: VIDEO: click here for highlights of Notre Dame vs. Purdue, from und.com
:: VIDEO: final drive, Notre Dame vs. Purdue
[please note: both links open in a new window, require the MS Silverlight viewer, a free download, and also require free registration at und.com]
Keywords: Notre Dame Football, Jimmy Clausen, Dayne Crist, Charlie Weis, Kyle Rudolph, Golden Tate, Robert Hughes, Duval Kamara, Robbier Parris, Shaquelle Evans, Armando Allen, Purdue Football, Lou Holtz, College Football
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