Eric Hansen

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Golden Tate swallowed hard, flashed a look that fell somewhere between panic and nausea, and proceeded to tell the secret he hoped would never have to be exhumed

“This past summer, (Irish free safety) David Bruton and I ran a race against each other,” he said. “It was a 40-yard dash. And the deal was that if I lost and if I was ever asked about it by the media, I would have to tell the truth and say that he won.”

That didn’t stop Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis from branding Tate, his rising sophomore wide receiver, the fastest player on the Irish team. When Weis was corrected about that earlier this week, he laughed in disbelief.

“David is going back to his days when he was 180 pounds when he got here, when he was a track guy playing football,” Weis said of his now 212-pounder and the top NFL prospect by far among Irish seniors. “When you see David this week, you tell him he's now a football player that used to run track.”

When informed about the race and that it happened just four months ago, Weis remained steadfast.

“I can just tell you when you go on the field, if Golden is running, he's running by David,” Weis said. “Just so you know that.”

And Notre Dame’s speed players will be a factor in Saturday night’s meeting in Chestnut Hill, Mass., between the school with the longest bowl winning streak (8) in the FBS -- Boston College (5-3) and the school with the longest bowl losing streak (9) -- Notre Dame (5-3). The winner, fittingly enough, becomes bowl-eligible.

The most intriguing players to watch in this game, though, could turn out to be the guys whose 40-yard dash times are the least relevant -- place-kickers Brandon Walker of Notre Dame and Steve Aponavicius of Boston College.

Aponavicius never played organized football before joining the Eagles as a walk-on in 2005 after being discovered by a graduate assistant coach who saw the Easton, Pa., product kicking field goals for fun with a borrowed football and a $10 tee he had bought.

In 2006, he got his chance in a nationally televised game against Virginia Tech, going 2-for-2 on field goals and 2-for-2 on PATs in a 22-3 Eagles victory. The next morning when Aponavicius went to class, he received a standing ovation

He finished the season 8-of-11 on field goals, and went 12-of-18 in 2007. But this season, he’s a modest 7-of-12, with a 30-yard miss in BC’s 19-16 loss to Georgia Tech and an 0-for-2 showing last Saturday in a 27-21 setback to Clemson.

Walker knows the feeling. He started the season 1-for-7 and twice had to win kicking competitions in practice against junior Ryan Burkhart before being challenged by sophomore David Ruffer. Ruffer was an interhall wide receiver/kicker whose unlikely midseason addition to the Irish roster parallels Aponavicius’ right down to the fact that neither played high school football.

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But Walker gathered himself and put together a streak of seven makes in a row, before missing a 38-yarder last Saturday in the fourth overtime of ND’s 36-33 loss to Pittsburgh. For Aponavicius the biggest issue is length. For Walker, the issue is never length, but confidence.

"He was already better by Sunday," Weis said of Walker. "Psychologically he was already better. He had already gone through it. We had the conversation on the field, had the conversation in the locker room.

"As a matter of fact, I only called one player on Saturday night when I went home. The one player I called when I went home Saturday night was him, to tell you the truth. I'm not in the big habit on Saturday night after a loss to call up everyone and ask them how they're doing. But he was the one person I did. But I think Brandon will be fine."

Maybe the odds-makers in Vegas have a sense of humor. Maybe they have more confidence in Aponavicius, but the betting line favors Boston College -- by a field goal.