Clausen, Weis, Irish get head start on 2009
Posted: Thursday, December 25, 2008 12:19 PM
HONOLULU -- With South Bend temperatures in the teens, Charlie Weis and his Fighting Irish warmly welcomed the tropical climates here, but the holiday visit to Hawaii could have sent the Notre Dame football program into a deep freeze if they didn’t do what they needed to do.
After registering a resounding 49-21 victory over the Hawaii Warriors, Weis said: “Our players came here on a mission to mix business with pleasure.” So did we and with that, here’s some “Extra Points.”
UNLESS WE ONLY COUNT MAINLAND BOWLS: In victory, the Fighting Irish put a couple embarrassing notes to bed. The NCAA-record nine-game bowl losing streak came to an end as Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate and Maurice Crum triumphantly lifted the Hawaii Bowl trophy at midfield. That type of scene hadn’t been played out for Notre Dame since a Cotton Bowl victory over Texas A&M following the 1993 season. In turn, the long list of teams that won a bowl game during the Irish’s postseason drought gets capped at 89.
“That feels so great,” said Irish senior offensive tackle Mike Turkovich, after going over to touch the trophy featuring a pineapple. “You come to Notre Dame to win and to hear all that stuff all the time on ESPN sucks. It feels so good to get that off our backs and set the stage for the underclassmen to go on and take this program where it needs to go.”
The Irish also avoided what would have been only their third instance of back-to-back losing seasons in 120 years of fielding a football team … and only second if you choose not to count the 1887 (0-1) and 1888 (1-2) campaigns. That keeps Gerry Faust (5-6 in 1985) and Lou Holtz (5-6 in 1986) on the hook.
FURTHER WEST IS BEST: After closing the regular season with a disgraceful 38-3 loss at Southern California, the Irish quickly regained their fight out in the middle of the Pacific. In the first quarter alone, Notre Dame had twice as many first downs (eight) as it had in its entire game against USC (four). The Irish also gained more yards (128) in just 18 first-quarter plays versus the Warriors than they had all night at the Coliseum (91). Then, midway through the second quarter, Clausen connected with Tate for a 69-yard touchdown catch and run, which was a far cry from the outing Clausen had against the Trojans that included only 41 passing yards and a pair of interceptions. The 69-yarder also was the longest play of the season for Notre Dame.
“Coming off the loss to USC, we just got to work and kept practicing,” Clausen said.
Practice certainly paid off.
“Clausen was accurate as I’ve ever seen,” said Hawaii head coach Greg McMackin, who spent 2007 observing Colt Brennan and is a veteran of several seasons in the NFL. “He could have beaten a lot of people today. He’s going to be a Heisman Trophy guy.”
OVERMATCHED ON THE OUTSIDE: Hawaii defensive backs spent Christmas Eve getting abused by Notre Dame’s receiving corps. If it wasn’t David Grimes making a Warrior cornerback seems uninterested in covering him in the end zone, it was tight end Kyle Rudolph toying with another bewildered Hawaii defender on a 29-yard jump ball on a gutsy fourth-and-one play from the Hawaii 34-yard line.
“We just didn’t do what we had to do,” Warrior linebacker Solomon Elimimian said. “The coaches put us in good position. We just didn’t execute like we should have.”
Just about the only thing that went wrong for the Irish was the Leprechaun having his flagpole snapped in two after celebrating Tate’s second touchdown, a 18-yarder with just a second remaining before halftime. That connect finished off a dream first half for Clausen, who was 18-of-21 for 300 yards and three scores.
The third quarter wasn’t even finished and Notre Dame had already set several all-time school records for a bowl game, including new marks for points (42 … on the way to 49), passing yards (401), passing touchdowns (five), receiving yards by a single player (Tate, 177) and receiving touchdowns by a single player (Tate, three).
CHANNELING ARA: Rekindling a bowl tradition from the Ara Parseghian era, the Irish took the field wearing jerseys that featured their last names on the back. It was a nice Christmas present for the players, who are allowed to keep their bowl game jerseys.
“It was a total surprise … we had no idea until we saw them hanging in our lockers,” said Turkovich. “It was really exciting to be able to represent my family and play for the name on the back of my jersey as well.”
CHUCK IN THE BOX: Aside from taking a couple shots that alleviated the pain in his knees, but caused severe discomfort in his calves that prevented him from walking, Weis seemed like he was on vacation for most of the afternoon. After an arduous journey up to the Aloha Stadium press box on crutches, the embattled Notre Dame head coach took a comfy seat in the coaches booth. Everything he called seemed to work against Hawaii’s hapless defense. During the intermission, as his squad took a 28-7 lead into the locker room, he remained in his perch and enjoyed a halftime show that featured hula and fire dancers.
“It’s 10 times easier,” said Weis, referring to calling the plays from the press box. “As far as seeing he field, it’s not even close. Calling a game from up there was pretty sweet.”
In the third quarter when Armando Allen took a kickoff back 96 yards for a score that put Notre Dame up 49-14, Weis yucked it up through a pane of glass with Irish radio analyst Allen Pinkett, who was in the neighboring booth.
Twenty-four years ago, Pinkett rushed for 136 yards for Notre Dame in Aloha Stadium, but in a losing cause as the Irish fell short against SMU, 27-20, in the Aloha Bowl. That type of ground game was the only thing missing from the Notre Dame attack, which managed just 65 rushing yards on 34 carries versus the Warriors.
Later, when questioned if he’d consider calling plays from the press box permanently, Weis smiled and said: “It’s Christmas right? That’s the furthest thing from my mind. I just want to enjoy this with my wife and kid and get back to sunny South Bend.”
