In the early 1800’s fur traders founded a small town along the south bend of the St. Joseph’s River in northern Indiana. In 1842, Reverend Edward Sorin founded an all-male university just north of South Bend. That university…the University of Notre Dame. Today, The University of Notre Dame still sits just on the northern edge of South Bend, and has become the drawing point for this not-so-little town today.
Notre Dame is now home to just over 11,000 students today and since 1972 has been open to women, who now make up around 47 percent of the student population. All in all, you could say that this little Catholic University has become a big deal in the realm of Colleges and Universities throughout the Nation. That history has been aided by a storied football program that began 122 years ago and has become one of the elite programs in Division I FBS football.
The University of Michigan football team first introduced the sport to a group of Notre Dame Students in 1887; since that time the team has won 11 consensus National Championships (1924, 1929, 1930, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1966, 1973, 1977, and 1988). The story has taken football fans through coaches like Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy and Lou Holtz. The story includes George Gipp, The Four Horsemen, Joe Montana and Brady Quinn. It is a story of history and a story of pride…a story of the Fightin’ Irish.
The 2009 version is coached by Charlie Weis, and has been surrounded by questions of the future, questions of the past, and questions about expectations…all questions that could be answered when the season ends…but those questions were on the back burner when the University of Connecticut came to town to face the Irish on Saturday. For 4 hours on Saturday evening it was about playing football.
Saturday was the first meeting between the two schools, and the history of the UConn Huskies seems much smaller when lined up aside Notre Dame. UConn has only been a part of Division I FBS for 7 years and what has been done in those 7 years came full circle when they took to the turf of Notre Dame Stadium. The Huskies entered the contest with upset on their mind, wanting nothing more than to get the win, although the reasoning likely was not to ruin Senior Day for 33 Irish players. The reason was deeper than that.
The Huskies have struggled to follow up their great 2008 campaign due to the untimely death of RB Jasper Howard a few weeks back. Since the death of Howard, the Huskies entered the contest losing 3 straight, having not won since their 38-25 victory over Louisville on October 17. Husky Coach Randy Edsall has done a great job keeping his team together following the loss of Howard, and the team has become unified beyond measure.
The Irish won the toss and differed to the second half, and the Huskies took the opening kick to begin the contest. The Huskies would start from their own 24 yard line, and the Irish would hold them to 3 plays and 4 yards, forcing a UConn punt and giving the Irish their first possession on their own 31 yard line. Jimmy Clausen would then lead the Irish down the field on 9 plays, going 69 yards and capping the drive with an 8 yard pass to Golden Tate in the end zone to put the Irish up 7-0 just over 4 minutes into the contest.
The teams would then trade possessions, but the Irish would begin to drive as the quarter closed working their way to the UConn 1 yard line as the period came to a close. The Irish took only two plays in the 2nd quarter to extend the score to 14-0, capping the drive with a 1 yard QB sneak by Clausen.
The Huskies took the ensuing kick and start a drive on their own 25. On a crucial 3rd and 4 from their own 31, Husky QB Zach Frazer would fire a pass just out of the reach of intended receiver Michael Smith, but an unnecessary roughness call would give the Huskies new life on the drive, giving them 1st and 10 from their own 46. Five plays later the Huskies would capitalize as RB Jordan Todman would scurry in from 43 yards out to cut the Irish lead to 14-7.
The UConn defense would step up forcing the Irish to punt after just 4 plays and 15 yards. The Huskies would then charge 52 yards on 13 plays, capping the drive with a 39 yard David Teggart Field Goal to cut the lead to 14-10 with 3:42 remaining in the first half. The teams would trade possessions to end the half.
During the first half, Clausen was 17 of 24 for 179 yards and 2 TD (1 passing, 1 rushing). Golden Tate had 6 catches for 96 yards. Tate’s 5th grab of the day, a 39 yard reception, made him the single season Irish reception leader. The 39 yards also made him the single season yardage leader, passing Jeff Samardzija’s total of 78 catches in 2006 and 1,249 yards (2005).
As the second half opened the Irish took the opening kick, turning it into an 11 play, 77 yard drive that ended with an Irish field goal to extend the lead to 17-10. Todman would then take the ensuing kickoff and return it 96 yards to tie the contest at 17-17 with just over 9 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter. The Irish and the Huskies would trade possessions, before the Irish would then take the ball and drive the field with Clausen finding Michael Floyd at the UConn 17 to give the Irish a first down, but Robert McClain would reach in and strip Floyd at the 14 yard line, and the Huskies would recover the fumble to halt the Irish drive.
The 3rd quarter would come to a close with the game knotted at 17-17 and the Irish possessing the ball at the UConn 39 yard line. The Irish would drive the field and cap their opening drive of the final stanza with a 23 yard kick from David Ruffer to give the Irish a 20-17 margin with just under 11 minutes to play. The defenses would step up and neither team would mount a scoring drive until late in the game. The Huskies would drive the field, unable to drive deep against the Irish defense, but adding a field goal to tie the contest at 20-20 with just over a minute remaining in regulation.
The Irish would begin a drive with hopes of pulling out one of Clausen’s classic 4th quarter drives. The Irish began to drive, but the Husky defense had other plans for the Irish forcing a fumble at the Notre Dame 41 yard line and recovering to get the ball back with 49 seconds remaining. The Huskies would need just 10 yards to be in reasonable field goal range, but would get some great moves from RB Andre Dixon to move them to the Irish 20. The Huskies would bring out the kicking team, resting the game on the foot of Teggart from 37 yards. Teggart had hit from 39 earlier in the game, but this one would sail wide left to send the game into overtime.
In the first overtime period the Irish would choose defense and the Huskies would start riding the legs of Dixon as he moved them down the field setting up a pass from Frazer to Kashif Moore in the corner of the end zone giving UConn their first lead of the game at 27-20.
The Irish then took the ball and following two incomplete passes to Ragone and Tate, Clausen would find Floyd inside the Irish 10 giving them 1st and G from the 4 yard line. Clausen would then lay a lob pass up and Floyd would go up to make the grab and get the Irish back on the board, tying the game at 27-27 and sending it into a second OT period.
The Irish would be held to just six yards in the second OT being forced to kick the field goal to take a 30-27 lead with the Huskies taking over. The Husky run attack would be all they would need, putting the ball in the Hands of Todman and Dixon to move the ball down field and into the end zone to end the game 33-30.
“I’m just so proud of those kids over in the locker room and those assistant coaches,” stated Connecticut Head Coach Randy Edsall. “We persevered today, and ended up making just a couple of plays at the end that we hadn’t been able to make in some of our other games against what I think is an outstanding football team.
“We’re just thankful that we were able to finally put together a win, so now we can take a game ball and send it down to Joe, Angela and Henry and David, and the Howard family. Because I know one thing, that little number 6 was up there looking down on us today. Like I said, it’s just to come out here to Notre Dame, and to play in this stadium which I can remember our kids really don’t remember, but the history, the tradition that goes with this place and to be seven years at an FBS school, just a remarkable feat by those young men.”
“I really feel absolutely miserable for those 33 guys (the seniors),” stated Irish Head Coach Charlie Weis. “And as I’ve said the other day and I have never been a hypocrite before. I come in here and start talking about me I’m really barking up the wrong tree, because those guys are the guys I should feel for today. I’ll worry about me tomorrow. But I think today I should be worrying about them.
“They had really made one play on offense, and that was that stretch cut run that we were just talking about. They got a field goal to make it 14 10. Get the ball to start the second half and go right down the field again with change modes which we had practiced. This is what we’re going to do. Go from a multiple wide receiver package to a more condensed package to hammer at them. We didn’t know if that would show up in the second quarter, third quarter. But we did it to start off the third quarter. Went right down the field, had to settle for a field goal.
“So that’s the way our teams have been positioned. When you give up a kickoff return for a touchdown in a 17 10 game, it’s a big momentum swing as it is in any other game. Puts you in a position and put UCONN in a position where they had a legitimate chance to win in the game, which they did.”
Prior to the contest the team locked arms coming out of the tunnel to show unity and show that they were behind their coach 100 percent.
“It was an idea that myself and a couple of guys had,” said Irish QB Jimmy Clausen. “[It was] just about us being behind Coach Weis 110%. You know, he’s leading the program, and, you know, we just want to show him support. It was Senior Day, but Coach Weis has gone through a lot. And we’re behind him 110%, and that’s what we were trying to do today. You know, it was really special. He had tears coming down his face. You know, it’s just hard that we couldn’t get a victory for all those seniors and Coach Weis, too.”
“I’m pretty emotional,” quipped Weis. “I just try not letting you see it. You know, the fact here’s the only thing that got me was the fact that they wanted to do this and they wanted me up there; that meant a lot to me. You know, that’s all I can say, you know; I’m really proud of these kids. I’m really disappointed for them, especially those guys. Those guys up at the front of that list, I really, really truly feel bad for them.”
The Irish now sit at 6-5 on the season and a number of questions surround the team, but the Irish are looking ahead. Not looking to next season, but looking to next week when they will hit the road to finish their season at Stanford. Stanford is coming off a loss at the hands of California, 34-28. The Cardinal enters the game 7-4 on the season falling out of Pac 10 title contention last week with their loss to the Golden Bears. The Irish are on the heels of a 3 game losing streak (Navy, Pittsburgh, UConn). Game time on Saturday is set for 8:00 PM EST on ABC as part of ESPN Saturday Night Football.
The Avery Post Sports Blog 
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