Irish drop second straight game as comeback falls short at Pittsburgh

Monday, September 19, 2005 o bserverTHE

Michigan State 44 , Notre Dame 41

player of the game

Dion LewisPittsburgh running back

Lewis piled up 152 yards and scoredthe 50-yard touchdown to put the

Panthers up by 18.

quote of the game

“It felt like we were moving the balland we let it slip away.”

Jimmy ClausenIrish quarterback

stat of the game

3

The number of first half points forNotre Dame in the past two games

as the Irish have struggled tomove the ball.

play of the game

Jimmy Clausen’s fourth-quarter fumble

The controversial turnover endedany hope of another late comeback

for Clausen and the Irish.

Monday, November 16, 2009 o bserverTHE

IRISH INSIDERPittsburgh 27, Notre Dame 22

PITTSBURGH — Golden Tatenearly brought the Irish back,but he couldn’t quite do italone.Neither could Dion Lewis, but

he did enough.Lewis rushed for 152 yards

and a touchdown and No. 8Pittsburgh beat Notre Dame27-22 Saturday. “It was a great win for the

program, a great win for thekids, particularly those whowere around here five yearsago when we had a bad experi-ence here,” said Pantherscoach Dave Wannstedt, refer-ring to Notre Dame’s 42-21 winover Pittsburgh in 2005 in bothhis and Irish coach CharlieWeis’ debuts.The loss dropped the Irish to

6-4, while the Panthers movedto 9-1, 5-0 in Big East play.“It’s dismal,” junior l ine-

backer Brian Smith said of themood in Notre Dame’s lockerroom.Pittsburgh quarterback Bill

Stull completed 15-of-27 passesfor 236 yards and a touchdown. Irish quarterback Jimmy

Clausen threw for 283 yards,most of them in the secondhalf, and a touchdown and aninterception.Tate wouldn’t let the Irish

lose. Down 27-16, he caught apunt, dodged a tackler andburst through the coverageteam for an 87-yard returntouchdown to make the score27-22 with 7:16 left in thefourth quarter. On the two-point conversion attempt,Clausen’s shovel pass to tightend Mike Ragone fell incom-plete and thescore stayedthe same.Tate also

had ninecatches for113 yards anda touchdown.“We got

Golden outthere becausehe’s the oneguy with theball in hishands who hasa chance ofmaking a big play,” Weis said.As good as he played, though,

Tate wanted more.“I didn’t get open enough,” he

said. “Put it on me. I need tomake more plays.”Notre Dame forced a punt

and got the ball back near theend of the game, but Clausenwas hit as he threw on third

down and the pass fell incom-plete. The play was reviewedand ruled a fumble, andPittsburgh ran out the clock.Clausen said he couldn’t tellduring the play whether or nothe fumbled or the ball wasknocked out when his arm was

moving forward.The Irish

started to movethe ball in thefourth quarter.Clausen com-pleted 6-of-8passes on an11-play, 71-yarddrive that endedwith an 18-yardtouchdown passto Tate. Thatmade the score27-16 with 9:10r e m a i n i n g .

Clausen completed 9-of-12passes for 95 yards and atouchdown in the fourth quar-ter.Before that, however, the

offense stalled. “It was kind of weird looking

back on it, I know we weremoving the ball and then some-thing happened to set us back,”

Clausen said.Pittsburgh gained 193 yards

on the ground while NotreDame had only 66. Runningback Armando Allen playedwell in the first half, but wasused sparingly in the second.He finished with 14 carries for77 yards. Punter Eric Maust struggled

again for the Irish. He puntedfive times for an average of24.8 yards per punt and threepunts traveled less than 20yards.Notre Dame’s defense picked

up for the offense in the firsthalf. The Irish defense stoppedPittsburgh on the Notre Dame43-yard line and forced a punt,but Irish linebacker DariusFleming was called for a per-sonal foul when he ran intopunter Dan Hutchins, extend-ing the Panthers’ drive.Pittsburgh got into the redzone, but stalled, and Hutchinskicked a 34-yard field goal tomake the score 3-0 with 9:40left in the first quarter.Junior kicker David Ruffer,

filling in for freshman NickTausch because he was hurtduring warm-ups and could

not play, made a 42-yard fieldgoal in the first quarter to tiethe score at three.In the second quarter,

Clausen heaved the ball up toreceiver Michael Floyd in dou-ble coverage. Safety JarredHolley came down with theball, which flew long of Floyd,for Clausen’s fourth intercep-tion of the season.Stull connected with receiver

Jonathan Baldwin for twoimportant passes on the ensu-ing drive, one a 21-yard thirddown conversion to the NotreDame 36-yard l ine and thenext a 36-yard touchdown. Thescore gave Pittsburgh a 10-3lead with 2:31 left in the firsthalf.“He [Baldwin]’s awesome,”

Stull said. “You have to havefaith and know who you’rethrowing to and I knew who Iwas throwing to with him.”Early in the second half, Stull

and Baldwin again connectedfor a long gain. Stull threw theball up to Baldwin, who hasfive inches on cornerbackDarrin Walls, and he camedown with it for a 51-yardcompletion. Walls had good

position but couldn’t get highenough to make a play on theball. That play set up a 38-yardfield goal from Hutchins tomake the score 13-3 with 9:15left in the third quarter.Freshman running back Ray

Graham finally broke throughNotre Dame’s run defense witha 52-yard run down the side-line, thanks in part to a blockfrom Stull. Graham scored onthe next play from two yardsout to make the score 20-3with 6:36 left in the third quar-ter.Two penalties almost

derailed Notre Dame’s driveafter Graham’s touchdown, butClausen scored on a quarter-back sneak. Panthers defensiveend Greg Romeus blocked theextra point, however, so thescore remained 20-9 with14:56 left in the fourth quarter. After waiting all game, Lewis

finally broke free. He broke a50-yard touchdown run rightup the middle of Notre Dame’sdefense to make the score 27-9with 12:44 left in the game.

Contact Bill Brink atwbrink@nd.edu

By BILL BRINKSports Writer

IAN GAVLICK/The Observer

Pittsburgh running back Ray Graham spins out of Irish safety Sergio Brown’s tackle during a 53-yard run in the second half of thePanthers 27-22 win over Notre Dame Saturday. The loss dropped the Irish’s record to 6-4 on the season.

Comeback canceled

“You have to have faithand know who you’rethrowing to and I knewwho I was throwing to

with [Baldwin].”

Bill StullPittsburgh quarterback

C+

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERpage 2 Monday, November 16, 2009

Irish need to get aggressivePITTSBURGH — Ever watch Golden

Tate get up after a tackle? He stands there for a second, some-

times staring down the guy whocaught him, thinking.“I’m only on

the 37-yard lineright now,” hethinks, frustrat-ed. “Why am Inot in the endzone?”He’s got a pas-

sion that leadshim to believeevery play he’s apart of shouldresult in a touch-down. He’s fiery,he’s talented andhe’s aggressive. Aggressive.

Interesting idea. Going out therethrowing everything you’ve got intowinning the football game. Notre Dame played too conservative

against Pittsburgh, biding its timenear the ropes while dodging Pitt’spunches. “It was how we called the game,”

Weis said. “We were playing the gamerelatively conservatively. When you’replaying on the road, raucous crowd,you don’t play the same way at homeas you do on the road.”Weis has somewhat of a point. You

don’t want to be overaggressive whenyou step into the ring againstPittsburgh, especially since the ring isin Pittsburgh’s backyard. Don’t gothrowing haymakers or the Pantherswill duck and retaliate. So yeah, don’theave it up to Tate or run doublereverses every play, because they’d beswinging at air and Pitt would eventu-ally pop them in the jaw. But don’t stay conservative and

dance around Pittsburgh either. Don’t

let them come to you, because they’llwear you down with body blow afterbody blow so eventually you’re suck-ing wind and will be unable to protectthe quarterback in the final minutes.Wait for your chance and time your

punches. Here’s the thing: that aggressive-

ness isn’t dormant, or hiding, orimpossible to use against Pittsburghfor whatever reason. It’s there, inplain sight.Take the fourth-and-one play fake

to Floyd against Pittsburgh. EasilyCharlie Weis’ best call of the yearaside from the fake field goal. Floyd iswide open, but Clausen had to throwoff his back foot because he had aman in his face. If he hits Floyd instride it’s a touchdown. Either way,the Irish land a big hook that has Pittreeling.Same thing with the Wildcat plays

with the Irish backed up on their owngoal line. What’s the vanilla callthere? Run the ball, avoid a turnoverthat would give the Panthers the ballin plus territory. But no, the Irish tooka chance at getting something started.Weis called the plays “drive starters,”and they were great play calls,because they gave the Irish a chanceto rip off a 25-yard first down and getsome momentum. The execution is adifferent story, but the idea was there. But that was it. Why? Clausen, Floyd and Tate are

the same players at home or on theroad, and the Irish had ArmandoAllen healthy in this game. Cominginto the game 6-3 off of a home loss toNavy, Notre Dame should havethrown the whole playbook atPittsburgh. The Wildcat failed twice, but the

Irish never revisited the formation atany point during the rest of the game.Who knows what happens? We all

saw Tate’s playmaking ability. Get himthe ball enough, in any formation,and good things happen. Allen ranwell out of traditional backfields,racking up 77 yards on 14 carries. Hecould spark something as well. Instead, Allen’s main role in the sec-

ond half was the depository forClausen’s short dump-off passes. In short, the Irish needed to

approach this game the way Tate did:every play presents the opportunity toknock Pittsburgh senseless. Tate tooka short pass from Clausen and pow-ered his way into the end zone, thenzipped by the entire Panther puntcoverage unit for an 87-yard returntouchdown two minutes later. A quickjab followed by an uppercut to thechin. He wanted this.On the road, against a top-10 team

at night, is not the time for conserva-tive playcalling. The Irish had dancedaround so much that by the time theyhad to land a knockout blow, late inthe fourth quarter, they had norhythm and instead took a right crossthat dropped them to the canvas. The Irish offense is stacked with

playmakers and can hang points onanyone in the country. But those play-makers have to be utilized for this tooccur. If they’re not, the offense is nobetter than average. Average won’t win football games.

With Notre Dame’s season slowlycareening out of control, now is notthe time for the coaches to ease offthe accelerator and pump the brakes.They need to floor it.They can land the punches. But

they’ve got to throw them first.

The views expressed in this col-umn are those of the author and notnecessarily those of The Observer.Contact Bill Brink at

wbrink@nd.edu

B-quarterbacks: Jimmy Clausen was con-stantly under pressure and had an aver-age game. The deep interception lookingfor Floyd was a poor decision, but theending fumble can’t be held against him.

report card

Bill Brink

ManagingEditor

Brunning backs:Armando Allen ran for 5.5yards per carry in his return, but againthe Irish fell behind early and abandonedthe run game in the second half.

B+receivers:Golden Tate had another incredibleperformance, but couldn’t win the game onhis own. Michael Floyd had 100 yards for thesecond straight game, but again had a cou-ple of drops.

D+offensive line: The Irish faced a very tal-ented Pittsburgh front four, and strug-gled all night trying to give Clausen timeto throw. The Panthers did not have tobring blitzers to pressure Clausen.

Cdefensive line: Pittsburgh running backDion Lewis ran for 152 yards, and theIrish did not record a sack againstPittsburgh quarterback Bill Stull.

Clinebackers:Harrison Smith led the Irish intackles and Brian Smith had a couple ofnice defensive plays. Manti Te’o was sur-prisingly quiet in this game.

C+defensive backs:Darrin Walls had a nicegame in his return to Pittsburgh, but justgave up two big plays against a phenom-enal receiver in Jonathan Baldwin.Tackling needs improvement.

special teams:David Ruffer filled in nicelyfor Nick Tausch in the game but had anextra point blocked. Tate’s punt returnwas critical, but Eric Maust’s struggleskilled the field position game.

Dcoaching: The offensive gameplan wasextremely tentative in a game where anearly momentum swing could have gonea long way. The Irish never seem to startgames well or seem fired up early.

2.22overall:A close loss to a verygood Pittsburgh team, but anall-around frustrating perform-ance.

IAN GAVLICK/The Observer

Sophomore wide receiver Michael Floyd leaps for a catch on 4th-and-1 late in Notre Dame’s 27-22 loss toPitt. Floyd caught seven passes for 107 yards in the loss.

adding up the numbers

48Straight starts made by senior offensive tackleSam Young, tying the Notre Dame record set byMaurice Crum Jr. and Tom Zbikowski

7 100-yard receiving games for Golden Tate thisseason, the most of any player in FBS.

2Jimmy Clausen’s rank in school history in passingtouchdowns after notching one against thePanthers.

2 Field goals missed by Nick Tausch after the fresh-man kicker had converted a school record 14straight.

24.9Average yards per punt for Eric Maust onhis five attempts, with a long of 35 yards.

3 Times Tate and Michael Floyd have each had100 receiving yards in a game this season.The Irish have lost all three games.

.583The winning percentages at Notre Dameof coaches Charlie Weis, TyroneWillingham and Bob Davie.

1 Wins for Charlie Weis against ranked opponents inhis five seasons. Weis’ record at Notre Dame isnow 35-25.

Tune in to the Irish Insider podcast at ndsmcobserver.com/podcast

IAN GAVLICK/The Observer

Junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen looks over the Pittsburgh defense Saturday in Notre Dame’s 27-22 loss to the Panthers.Clausen was sacked twice and hurried throughout the game by the Panthers defensive line.

Even though Dion Lewisand Ray Graham are theones that will show up onthe highl ight reels ,Pittsburgh’s offensive anddefensive lines were just ascrucial in thevictory overNotre DameS a t u r d a ynight.“ P i t t ’ s

d e f e n s i v eends gave usa lot of pres-sure whichforced JimmyClausen tostep up,” Irishcoach CharlieWeis said. “Hewas under heat all gamelong.”Even though the Panthers,

sacked Clausen just twice onthe night, the second result-ed in a game-ending fumble,and the junior quarterbackhad defenders in his facethroughout the game.Pittsburgh junior defen-

sive end Jabaal Sheard saidafter the game that thePanther line worked as aunit during the week tobring the heat Saturdaynight.“I think in the past, I was

gett ing a l i t t le bi t pre-dictable on my moves,”Sheard said. “This week I

really stud-ied my oppo-nents andwith the helpof [ juniord e f e n s i v el i n e m a n ]G r e g[ R o m e u s ]gett ing agood push, Iwas able toget somegood pres-sure.”

The Irish are 69th in thecountry in sacks allowed,having given up a total of 21so far this season.An offensive line that was

supposed to be muchimproved coming into theseason also cost the Irishwhen senior guard DanWenger was whistled for a

15-yard personal foul penal-ty for a chop block on NotreDame’s f inal drive of thegame. The penalty pushedthe Irish back from 2nd-and-1 to 2nd-and-16.“Just when we had

momentum on that lastdrive, all of a sudden we’reup by the [40-yard line] andnow there’s a chop block,”Weis said.While the Irish pass block-

ing struggled, Notre Dame’srushing attack appeared tobe effective early, and juniorrunning back ArmandoAllen finished with 77 yardson just 14 carries. Once theIrish fell behind, though,they were forced to all butabandon the run in an effortto play catch-up.On the other side of the

ball, the Pittsburgh offen-sive line was just as effec-tive, allowing no sacks onsenior quarterback Bi l lStull. The Irish only hurriedStul l four t imes on thenight.The Panther offensive line

also dominated in the run-ning game, as freshmencombined for 209 yards on

the ground. Each also had arun of over 50 yards.“We let up too many big

plays,” Ir ish junior l ine-backer Brian Smith said.“We lost.”Notre Dame’s run defense

appeared to have improvedin games againstWashington, USC andBoston Col lege. In eachgame, the Irish were able tolimit the yards of usuallyexplosive running backs.Last week against Navy,

though, the defenseappeared to take a stepback, allowing 348 yards onthe ground to theMidshipmen’s triple optionoffense.The Irish now rank 72nd

national ly in rushingdefense, allowing an aver-age of 153.2 yards pergame.Notre Dame also notched

only two tackles for loss,while Pittsburgh racked upa dominating eight tacklesbehind the line of scrim-mage.

Pittsburgh 3, Notre Dame 3David Ruffer 42-yd field goal with 5:40 remaining.Drive: 9 plays, 43 yards, 4:21 elapsed.

Pittsburgh 10, Notre Dame 3Jonathan Baldwin 36-yd pass from Bill Stull(Hutchins kick) with 2:31 remaining.Drive: 6 plays, 80 yards, 3:09 elapsed.

The Irish loss to the PanthersSaturday marks the eighthgame Notre Dame has playedin decided by seven points orless this season — a schoolrecord. The 1990 team playedin seven such close games,including the Orange Bowl.

u Junior quarterback JimmyClausen became the secondIrish quarterback to achieveover 3,000 passing yards inboth multiple and consecutiveseasons in Notre Dame history(2008 and 2009). He joinsBrady Quinn (2005 and 2008)in holding that title. Clausen’sone touchdown pass (to juniorwide receiver Golden Tate at

9:10 in the fourth) grants himsole possession of second placeon the career passing touch-down list. Saturday’s game washis 11th-straight with at leastone touchdown pass.

u Tate registered NotreDame’s first punt return for atouchdown since TomZbikowski against NorthCarolina in 2006. His 87-yardrun was the seventh-longestpunt return in school historyand the longest since 1989.

u Tate and sophomore widereceiver Michael Floyd bothrecorded more than 100receiving yards at the game,with 113 and 107 yardsrespectively. For the first timein school history, two playershave had over 100 receiving

yards in two straight weeks.Last week against Navy, Tatehad 132 yards and Floyd had141 yards. The 100-yardreceiving game is Tate’s sev-enth of the season and the 13thof his career. He now is tiedwith Tom Gatewood (1969-71)for the Notre Dame record for100-yard receiving games.

u Tate’s 113 receiving yardsbring his season total to 1,172this season, placing him behindonly Jeff Samardzija (1,249 inthe 2005 season) for best insingle-season school history.Tate has 2,383 career receivingyards, which ranks fourth bestin Notre Dame career history.

u Senior right tackle SamYoung registered his 48th con-secutive start against

Pittsburgh, tying the schoolrecord held by Tom Zbikowski(2004-07) and Maurice Crum(2005-08). He is the only NotreDame offensive lineman tostart every game of his career.

u Junior kicker David Rufferstarted in Saturday’s gameafter freshman Nick Tauschsuffered an injury in pregamewarm-ups. The former kickerfor Siegfried’s interhall footballteam recorded his first careerpoint with his 42-yard fieldgoal at 4:21 in the secondquarter. He later made one oftwo point after attempts. Rufferjoined the team in the 2008season before the game atWashington.

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERMonday, November 16, 2009 page 3

Panthers control line of scrimmage

By SAM WERNERAssociate Sports Editor

Notes: Record number of close games

Contact Jenn Metz atjmetz@nd.edu

By JENN METZSports Writer

1stPittsburghNotre Dame

30

2nd73

3rd100

4th719

Second quarter

Pittsburgh 3, Notre Dame 0Dan Hutchins 34-yd field goal with 9:40remaining.Drive: 13 plays, 62 yards, 5:20 elapsed.

Third quarter

Pittsburgh 13, Notre Dame 3Hutchins 38-yd field goal with 9:15 remaining.Drive: 5 plays, 59 yards, 2:32 elapsed.

Pittsburgh 20, Notre Dame 3Ray Graham 2-yd run (Hutchins kick) with 6:36remaining.Drive: 2 plays, 55 yards, 0:47 elapsed.

Total

2722

scoringsummary

First quarter

statisticstotal yards

rushing yards

passing yards

time of possession

Contact Sam Werner at swerner@nd.edu

Fourth quarter

Pittsburgh 20, Notre Dame 9Jimmy Clausen 1-yd run (Ruffer kick blocked)with 14:56 remaining.Drive: 11 plays, 80 yards, 6:40 elapsed.

Pittsburgh 27, Notre Dame 9Dion Lewis 50-yd run with 12:44 remaining.Drive: 5 plays, 80 yards, 2:12 elapsed.

Pittsburgh 27, Notre Dame 16Golden Tate 18-yd pass from Clausen (Rufferkick) with 9:10 remaining.Drive: 11 plays, 71 yards, 3:34 elapsed.

Pittsburgh 27, Notre Dame 22Tate 87-yd punt return (Clausen pass failed)with 7:16 remaining.

15-27-236

21-1523-572-1

5-1424-462-172-111-121-8

27-42-283

14-772-52-0

9-1137-1078-332-251-5

Clausen

AllenTateRiddick

TateFloydAllenKamaraRiddick

Stull

LewisGrahamHynoski

BaldwinDickersonByhamMcGeeTurnerLewis

receiving

rushing

passing

“Pitt’s defensive endsgave us a lot of

pressure which forcedJimmy Clausen to

step up.”

Charlie WeisIrish head coach

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERpage 4 Monday, November 16, 2009

For the second straight game, the Irish struggled to score in the first

half. Throughout the game, Pittsburgh’s defense put pressure from the

edges on Jimmy Clausen and contained the wide receivers from deep

passes. Fortunately, the Notre Dame defense held strong for most of the

first two quarters, heading into halftime trailing 10-3. Sophomore wide

receiver Jonathan Baldwin made several spectacular catches for the

Panthers, who built up a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter. Freshman

running back Dion Lewis broke free for a 50-yard run, and it looked like

the game was over. But a Golden Tate punt return brought the Irish

within a score of Pittsburgh, and a key defensive stop gave Jimmy

Clausen and Notre Dame a chance at yet another late comeback.

Pittsburgh’s pressure proved too much, however, and what was

originally ruled an incomplete pass was reviewed and deemed

a game-ending fumble.

For more photos, check out the photo gallery at ndsmcobserver.com

Pressurebuilds

Clockwise from top: Golden Tate breaks free on a punt return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter; Tate leaps for a catch over two Pittsburgh defenders; tight end Mike Ragoneleaves the field with his teammates following the game; Jimmy Clausen slides after scrambling out of the pocket; defensive tackle Ian Williams tries to bat down a pass.

IAN GAVLICK/The Observer

TOM LA/The Observer

IAN GAVLICK/The Observer TOM LA/The Observer

IAN GAVLICK/The Observer