Irish face three-week acid test
Games vs. Pittsburgh, Boston College and Navy to decide ND's bowl fate
Michael Conroy / APNotre Dame wide receiver Golden Tate (23) has the potential to make something big happen everytime he touches the ball, says Irish coach Charlie Weis.
Do the Irish still carry a high bowl cachet?
If Notre Dame finishes 9-3 or 8-4, the Irish could quite possibly have the Cotton Bowl and Gator Bowl doing a taffy-pull over them.
“Our history goes way back with Notre Dame,” Cotton Bowl president Rick Baker said. “Since this is our last year in the Cotton Bowl before we move to the new Cowboy Stadium, there’s sort of a nostalgic feel to this year’s game. To have Notre Dame at 9-3 or 8-4 sitting there would certainly cause us to take a look at them.”
“There is not a team that has the national appeal of Notre Dame,” Gator Bowl president Rick Catlett said. “I watched them in person against Stanford, and I think Jimmy Clausen is going to be a heck of a quarterback and their young freshmen and sophomores are only going to get better. If we get an opportunity to get them, I don’t know how you could pass on them.”
The less-likely scenarios: A 10-2 Irish team would likely meet the prerequisite of being in the top 14 in the BCS standings (boosted greatly by the hypothetical win on the road at USC) and thus end up in the one of the non-title-matchup BCS bowls.
A 7-5 or 6-6 ND squad lands in El Paso, Texas, for the Sun Bowl.
And it’s not just the Notre Dame name that has the bowl folks already stirring. It’s the rising stars. It’s a reborn offense. It’s the polarizing presence that Weis brings.
What tweaks did Weis make in the open week that might pay immediate dividends?
1. More Happy returns? Weis swapped out punt returners, putting shy-to-catch Armando Allen on the shelf and replacing him with Golden Tate.
“Other than when he likes to dance all over the place -- causing me a little heartache, every time he touches the ball, there’s the potential for something big to happen,” said Weis of Tate. “The one punt return where he got the ball on the right side (against Washington), he was one block away from taking it to the house. I don’t want to wear him out, but Golden has been so dynamic with the ball in his hands, I’m trying to find more ways to get it into his hands.”
2. More spread: The Irish offense can go from I-formation to five-wide and empty in a fraction of the time it takes NBC to get through a television timeout. The variety has had a nice side effect -- it has infused some life into the Irish running game.
Another lift from the running game has been junior James Aldridge’s re-emergence and an impressive cameo (61 yards, 9 carries) from freshman Jonas Gray in the late stage of the Washington game.
3. More stability at tight end: With some finality in situations involving juniors Will Yeatman (season-ending suspension) and Luke Schmidt (long-term injury), Weis went ahead and unredshirted freshman Joseph Fauria to team with classmate Kyle Rudolph.
“I thought with half the season to go through, trying to do that with one tight end was a little too much to ask,” Weis said.
4. More options on the defensive line: Potential difference-makers Ethan Johnson and Darius Walker continue to get more and more time. Both started against Washington. Another classmate, defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore, got a long look during the open week and garnered positive reviews. He could be an option in the stretch run, particularly if an injury dictates it.
5. More pressure: Notre Dame’s defense had strayed from its pressure principles, but got back to those against Washington with sparkling results. Now, the Huskies are one of the nation’s worst offenses to begin with, but the Irish first-teamers held Washington to 55 total yards in 38 plays and four first downs in three and a half quarters.
Even with a Husky 69-yard scoring drive late in the game against the Irish third-teamers, Notre Dame’s 124 yards yielded were a Weis Era best and the second-lowest logged by a Tyrone Willingham-coached team in 14 seasons at Stanford, Notre Dame and Washington.
Eric Hansen writes regularly for NBCSports.com's Notre Dame Central, and covers the Fighting Irish for the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune.
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