Notre Dame comes of age in win over Purdue
Armando Allen and Jimmy Clausen both have career days in 38-21 victory
Joe Raymond / ASSOCIATED PRESSArmando Allen had a career-day against Purdue, rushing for 134 yards and a touchdown.
OPINION
By John Walters
NBCSports.com
updated 10:37 p.m. ET Sept. 27, 2008
 | John Walters |
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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -
“There are three kinds of people in this world,” Notre Dame senior wide receiver David Grimes said as he addressed the audience at Friday night’s pep rally. “The first type are people who make things happen. The second type are people who watch things happen.
“And the third type are people who wonder what just happened.”
The Fighting Irish offense came out after halftime and, after seven inconsistent halves to begin this season, behaved like the first type. And because they did, those of us who are the second type are asking ourselves what just happened.
But if you are a parent, you know exactly what just happened. Notre Dame’s offensive unit took its first step. Spoke its first word (and that word was…Armando?). Rode the bike without training wheels.
In the span of 13:36 of the third quarter today versus Purdue, the Fighting Irish announced that the future is nearer than we thought. Tied 14-14 at the half, Notre Dame rolled up 21 points in the third quarter after having totaled 0 points in that period in the first three games of 2008. No gimmickry was required. The Irish, behind the precision-passing of Jimmy Clausen and Armando Allen’s 91 rushing yards in that quarter alone, scored on drives of 81, 78 and 54 yards.
In the end, the Irish won 38-21 and in the process served notice of just how much potential this team has. What happened? A group of college students who are still too young to attend a Career Day had themselves a career day.
Allen, a sophomore, finished with 134 yards rushing and 247 all-purpose yards. Fellow sophomore Jimmy Clausen had his best game yet, throwing for a career-high 275 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. Yet another classmate, Golden Tate, caught five passes, including an acrobatic 38-yarder on third-and-long in the fourth quarter as well as his third touchdown pass of the season.
The freshmen were equally golden. Wideout Michael Floyd finished with a team-high six catches for 100 yards. Tight end Kyle Rudolph caught his first touchdown pass. In the second quarter, cornerback Robert (R.J.) Blanton, intercepted a Curtis Painter pass at the Purdue 47 and made a fantastic open-field run for Notre Dame’s first touchdown.
“That was a huge play,” said Weis. “I’m going to have to hear about it probably for the rest of the week. You know (R.J) likes to talk.”
The kids are all right. Maybe a lot better than all right.
“We’re still a young team,” said Clausen, who after each home game runs over to the stands to give his mom a hug (and perhaps to mooch a few dollars for Dairy Queen?). “Mostly sophomores, freshmen and juniors. We’ve got a long ways to go.”
But not as far as they did just a week ago. For the first time since a certain dreamy No. 10 ran the offense in South Bend, the Irish offense demonstrated balance while finding a clean rhythm. They knocked out big swaths of yardage in the second half, with nine plays going for 15 or more yards. Besides Clausen, five different players (Allen, Tate, Rudolph, David Grimes and James Aldridge) were involved in those nine plays. No one, however, was as spectacular as Allen, who had four gains of 16 or more yards on Notre Dame’s first 11 plays of that half.
“In his career I don’t know if (Armando) had a 15-yard carry,” said Weis. “He had over five of them in the game today. I said to him, ‘Where you been?’”
“He said, ‘Where you been, Armando?’” the 5-10, 195-pound speedster said. “I just smiled.”
After Notre Dame lost 38-0 to USC last October and looked wretched doing so, Weis famously opened his post-game press conference by warning haters, “Laugh now. Enjoy it now.”
The following weekend the Irish lost to Navy — for the first time in 44 years — and it began to seem as if this toddler team’s teething period might drag on indefinitely. In fact, as recently as a week ago, the Irish still appeared in the midst of its terrible twos, failing to run the ball with any authority and committing mental errors and turnovers at the most inopportune moments.
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