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Five things we learned: Notre Dame vs. Purdue

Sep 26, 2009, 11:42 PM EDT

49 Comments

In the end, it was the Irish marching down the field, attempting to steal away a football game that had already slipped out of their grasp. With Jimmy Clausen clearly hobbled and nowhere near 100 percent, he gimped his way back onto the field, intent on settling some unfinished business.

With a 4th and goal, and the season on the line, Clausen found Kyle Rudolph on a special out in the left-side of the endzone with just 24 seconds left. The very same pattern and corner of the endzone that Tate Forcier found Greg Matthews to break the Irish’s hearts in Ann Arbor.

But the Irish escape with a win on a wild day of college football. On a day where highly ranked teams took missteps across the board, the Irish walked into a hostile environment with their best running back, wide receiver, and quarterback out or incredibly gimpy and found a way to win. Here’s what we learned today:

1) The Irish can find ways to win.

For the first time this season, Notre Dame willed its way to victory. Content to play against the clock as the second half started, head coach Charlie Weis made the decision to play to win the game. (Ask Herm Edwards if you don’t get my drift.) He went ultra-conservative on offense, content to run the ball and the clock either out of the Wildcat with Golden Tate, or hand the ball off with backup quarterback Dayne Crist. The plan worked, until defensive deficiencies saw Purdue force the Irish to respond. And the most promising part of the victory tonight was that the Irish did. Whether it was punter Eric Maust stepping up, Golden Tate running and catching the ball, or the improved coverage of the secondary, the Irish found a way to win the football game. It may not be the signature win people wanted, but it’s a victory that Charlie Weis and the team should savor.

2) Notre Dame finally has depth

With the Irish looking at 3rd down and 14 from the Purdue 36 and needing a touchdown, Clausen fired a laser to wide receiver Robby Parris, who converted with a 15-yard gain. A huge catch by Notre Dame’s fourth wide receiver. That’s the type of depth Weis is building, and that’s why he’s one of the best recruiters in the country. Eight different players caught passes, including former walk-on tight end Bobby Burger. The secondary rolled guys in, with great plays being made by Gary Gray, Darrin Walls, and Sergio Brown. And the running game barely lost a beat with Robert Hughes running hard, along with Jonas Gray, Theo Riddick, and quarterback Dayne Crist.

3) Jimmy Clausen is really good.

Many Irish fans are taking for granted #7. While he hasn’t delivered back-to-back national championships, or turned those high school championship rings into BCS appearances, Jimmy Clausen is the unquestioned leader of this offense, and one of the best quarterbacks in the country. His final drive should stand the test of time and be praised for what it was: a tremendously gutsy performance by one of the best quarterbacks to play for Notre Dame. While his 15 of 26 for 171 yards won’t have him moving up anyone’s Heisman ballots, the difference between Clausen, who couldn’t even take a snap under center, and Crist, who looks like a wild stallion still needed to be broken, is night and day.

4) Sam Young’s needs to get it together.

Too often we heard Sam Young’s name tonight. Procedure penalties, a holding call on a screen pass, and blown blocking assignments is befuddling. Notre Dame’s best offensive lineman needs to start playing like it. Most were hoping last week was an aberration, but Young did nothing to show that he understands what he means to this offensive front. The hulking tackle’s talent is clear to everybody, but the lack of recognition between the ear-pads is what’s troubling.

5) The defense still needs to get back to the basics.

Once again, the Irish make an average quarterback look very good. Joey Elliott threw for 289 easy yards and 3 TDs. Too often Elliott rolled out to find a wide-open receiver sitting at 8-to-10 yards. The Irish made Keith Smith look like a star, missing tackles on him and running back Ralph Bolden with regularity. And while most of us will only remember Clausen’s late game heroics, the defensive’s mental breakdown on Purdue’s last offensive play, where Jaycen Taylor ran 38 yards without anyone coming within five yards of him, is yet another communication breakdown for Jon Tenuta’s defense. While ND did a better job at stuffing the run, there is still plenty of work to be done.

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  1. Dayton - Sep 27, 2009 at 1:07 AM

    I do agree that the defense desperately needs to improve, I saw some positive things tonight, which I hadn’t seen since the Nevada game. In all fairness, the Irish offense is first rate, but they couldn’t perform up to their standards tonight because of injuries. Because of this, the defense did what it could to keep Purdue’s scoring down…reasonably. I know that 14 points in one quarter is more than any team wishes to give up, but I am encouraged by what I saw tonight, believe it or not. I think that the Irish defense will continue to make positive strides in the weeks to come. Call me an optimist.

  2. robertg - Sep 27, 2009 at 2:42 AM

    we congratulate coach weis and his staff and every notre dame student athlete who also plays football on a fine win at purdue.
    with so many injuries to key notre dame players and playing the game in an extremely hostile environment, notre dame could not have won a game like this unless qb crist had been able to run the offense so well when jimmy could not and had to save what jimmy had for the last drive that won the game and quite a few others took the places of allen and floyd.
    as for individual players who could play better, we are certain that charlie and his staff and every notre dame student athlete knows what needs improvement much better than we do and have been, and will continue to, work every day to get better.
    based on the names of the refs and the honest manner in which this game was officiated, we are certain that the officiating crew was a big east crew which refused to take payoffs.
    in the meantime, at the big house, michigan needed and got the assistance of another crooked big 10 ref crew to beat indiana on paper.
    next week comes washington with a pac 10 ref crew. pac 10 ref crews are notoriously crooked, as are dave cutaia and jim muldoon, the pac 10 conference officials in charge of football ref quality control.
    however, the pac 10 has an honest new commissioner who can be contacted at the address listed at the pac 10 conference website or, for those who want to spend a few bucks on intelius. com, at his home, along with cutaia and muldoon at their homes well before the game and in plenty of time to make certain that an honest ref crew officiates the notre dame/washington game.
    in the meantime, eric hansen and his associates at the sbt and elsewhere must be crying about notre dame’s big win.
    GO IRISH!!!

  3. dan ergas - Sep 27, 2009 at 6:45 AM

    while i agree with most of your 5 points, you leave out the fact that charlie schould have punted on fourth and ten. he played conservative on that drive and ate up 7 plus min. a punt could have pinned purdue deep in their own dide of the feild. instead they sack dayne and take over at midfeild with momentum.
    notre dame won this game because they have a “gamer” in jimmie clausen. i cant say the same for its head coach. this purdue team was just waiting to be stepped on and weis allowed perdue to hand around

  4. Toof - Sep 27, 2009 at 10:18 AM

    Its hard to watch this team with that defense and if we were playing a little better team ND would have got beat buy 2 TD’s I still say its gooing to be hard to when 9-10 games and that might be good cause as long as coach Weiss is there were still going to or beon the brink of getting out coached 2-4 games a year that we should win,tell mme what you think.

  5. Kristen - Sep 27, 2009 at 10:19 AM

    I agree with #4! Sam Young does something wrong every game Notre Dame plays! If it’s not moving on the line, it’s a personal foul or holding or anything else. He needs to get his act together. A senior lineman should not be making the mistakes that this idiot makes!

  6. Richard Irish - Sep 27, 2009 at 10:30 AM

    I knew the game was going to be close but not as close as it actually was. ND had a comfortable lead at halftime but sitting on a 10 point lead almost proved fatal in the 2nd half. There is no doubt that ND’s thrilling win over Purdue last night showed everyone that the Irish don’t give up. Yes, their defensive play had deficiencies and some breakdowns but they are getting better with each game. Tenuta needs to further fine tune his defense to stop both the run and pass.

  7. Brian C. - Sep 27, 2009 at 11:46 AM

    Great COLUMN ARNOLD! Coach Weis did an EXCELLENT job of game planning and I LOVED the fact he went for it on 4th down early and w/ Crist in there. Crist reminds me of a future Tom Brady w/ legs and there’s huge potential there…With a battered team w/out practically 3 of its biggest stars for most/all of the game, the IRISH PLAYED and WON LIKE A NCHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER SHOULD! Defense did a much better job and had several straight stops during the game as well. Now if they can put everything together on O and D to put U-W away…GO IREEEESSH!

  8. LJ - Sep 27, 2009 at 11:50 AM

    I am a Notre Dame fan – whether they are 11-0 or 0-11. I will watch them on TV, follow them on the internet and in the papers whether they are bad, good or great on the field.
    It is not clear to see how the ND defense as a unit is maturing. It appears the defense gets beat in the same ways (and some new ones) every week. For a team with this level of individual talent and good coaching, I find the results puzzling. For a BCS level team, the 2009 ND defensive unit at this time is average to fair. It appears they will allow 20+ points every game for the rest of the year.
    The offense is doing average to good and appears to be improving. The offense appears to be on a trend to score 20+ points every game for the rest of the year.
    I think the practical effect is the ND 2010 team will be one of the elite teams in the country.
    The 2009 ND team is on target for 7-9 wins for the year. The offense will score a dependable 20-28 points per game no matter who the opposing team is. The defense will allow/hold the opposing team to 20-24 points per game. In the close games, the difference is which team is mentally tougher/stronger and ND has matured in that way a great deal since the Michigan game.
    My vote is ND most likely wins 8 games and with a little luck, 9 games this year.

  9. richard - Sep 27, 2009 at 1:46 PM

    I don’t get the 4th and ten go for it. That changed the tempo of the game and almost caused the loss. the odd of making it with the present personal was slim and none

  10. Don Hinchey - Sep 27, 2009 at 2:13 PM

    Two thoughts: 1) The Irish need to get the younger receivers into the game plan (and over the middle more!) — relying on Tate and Rudolph is tempting but limiting; 2) 8 wins is not enough: The Irish need to win 9+ or Coach Weis should resign. The last two wins were a bonus for him. Now he needs to out-coach somebody.

  11. Art Vandelay - Sep 27, 2009 at 2:38 PM

    Keith:
    They say that you know an offensive lineman is playing good if you never hear his name. Simply means he is doing what he is supposed to do. I have been hearing Sam Young’s name a lot this season and tried to point this out to you a week or two ago that he’s overrated. I think you responded that “It must be raining where Art is” or some other inane remark. This week, his inadequate performance is #3 of the 5 things you’ve learned. You’re not a real quick study, are you?

  12. Ted - Sep 27, 2009 at 3:41 PM

    Richard Irish, the two of us must not have been watching the same Notre Dame game last night. ND did not sit on their lead the second half. Dane Crist had played very little time as the QB, and as others have correctly pointed out the Irish were missing three of the best players at their positions in college football. Get a life, and take a deep breath. You must be one of the Weis haters who cannot bring themselves to ever acknowledge he does something right.

  13. Ted - Sep 27, 2009 at 3:44 PM

    If the Irish have 8 or 9 wins, I will consider it a very good season taking into account the injuries they have had.

  14. robertg - Sep 27, 2009 at 4:50 PM

    1.charlie and his staff and every notre dame student athlete are much more aware of what they should be doing better and are working harder on doing so than any notre dame fan could ever imagine.
    2.if anyone thinks that sam young and kyle and the others who could play better are not their own worst critics, along with charlie and his staff, then any such person does not know notre dame’s student athletes and charlie and his staff.
    3.last night, they rightly enjoyed their great win, which, looking back, was the equivalent in 2005 and 2006 of playing and winning a game with the shark and darius unable to play and brady seriuosly injured.
    4.today, and on every day leading up to the washington game and every other game this season, charlie and his staff and every notre dame student athlete will be working harder than we can imagine on getting much better, in addition to recruiting.
    5.winning out is not far fetched at all.
    6.getting the result of the michigan game, in which the win was stolen from notre dame by a crooked big 10 crew is not something that charlie and his staff, any notre dame student athletes, or anyone at notre dame can do this season.
    7.however, we can and will do that in the civil courts. anyone who wants to know where the assets of big 10 commissoner delany and the other guilty parties are located just needs to check intelius.com.
    8.having exposed and taken down crooked judges in the courts( something which is much more difficult than taking down delany and the other participants in crooked college sports enterprises in the civil courts, since court judges are immune from being sued in the civil courts while they are sitting on the bench) and having spent quite a lot of time since 2006 gathering documents and evidence on the crooked refs and those like delany and parry who protect them, we see no reason not to hit them in the civil courts right now.
    9. no individual or entity inthe enron and mci worldcom and many other much more sophisticated con operations was able to escape us.
    10.since we have no skills in coaching or recruiting or playing football ourselves, we will contribute what we do extremely well-hitting crooked individuals and entities with severe economic violence in the civil courts from so many directions at the same time that they will be forced to surrender.
    11.after all, each of us owns shares in the companies which pay the bloated salaries and expense acoounts of these con artists.
    12.in the meantime, in charlie and his staff and notre dame’s student athletes(do not forget that the real core of this 2009 team, except for the oline and jimmy and golden and kyle and a few others, are true sophomores), we have complete trust and faith.
    GO IRISH!!!

  15. John - Sep 27, 2009 at 5:30 PM

    Sam young is a straight up idiot and he has proven this time and time again. Paul Duncan was getting beat off the edge time and time again as well. Weis needs to stop giving allegiance to his tackles and let other people start in front of them like Matt Romine who is much more athletic than both Duncan and Young.

  16. valpodoc - Sep 27, 2009 at 7:09 PM

    What I saw last night is not even a top twenty-five team. Mistakes, poor effort, lack of discipline and poor coaching. This is not a return to glory, movement in the right direction or cause for enthusiasm. Get ready for another 4 or five loss season. Frustration rules the day!

  17. TLNDMA - Sep 27, 2009 at 8:35 PM

    Did any of you people watch the last 2 minutes of the game? Do you know what you saw? Did you watch the poise that offense played with? Did you watch our injured QB time and again make clutch throws on the game winning drive? On the winning play did you know our future All-American tight end told his QB “throw it to me and we’ll win”? This team is almost there, they believe in themselves, they believe in each other. It’s too bad so many of you can’t find any joy in watching this team grow. Are they perfect? No…Can it be frustrating to watch at time? Yes… But they are getting better, and if they win this coming Saturday, then Oct. 17th could be, may be, one hell of a day…….Oh I know you’re saying right now they won’t stand a chance, the defense isn’t good enough, their defense is too good…..We’ll have to watch to find out….Gooo IRRIIISSSHH beat Huskies!!

  18. dan ergas - Sep 27, 2009 at 10:21 PM

    the bottom line here is were all notre dame fans,(except for the occasional troll). im not a charlie hater. i see improvement from 2yrs ago bigtime. the recruting weiss has done is better than the coaching he has done. clausen, allen and tate have improved their game. the defense has come along way and i believe are getting better with each game. but for me weiss has not upped his game. when its 4th and ten and your strategy at this point is to run as much clock out it seems you would want to try to make your opponent use as much time as possible on their possesion especially with a 10pt lead. a punt pins them back deep in its own territory. but a sack ignites the home team and gives them the ball at midfield. i love going for it as much as the next guy but not then. its also looks desperate bringing jimmie back in. weiss owes alot to clausen for bailing him out. oh yea, and by the way our second stringers should be able to handle a quite awful perdue squad.

  19. Louis Nosko - Sep 27, 2009 at 11:03 PM

    Refer to basically the same note I attached to the last game, viz., Notre Dame does not have the kind of line play, on either side of the ball, to become a dominant team. They do not have a downfield push on offense, so there is no way a running game can become a power game to control the clock or tempo. And they do not have a dominant line on defense to tackle for negative yardage. And as I said before, until they do they will not challenge for any kind of national championship status.

  20. Nick Bendle - Sep 28, 2009 at 8:15 AM

    Louis Nosko, you nailed it. The O-line is OK, but the D-lIne is basically all sophs and just can’t get it done……YET. Funny thing is this. Had ND punted instead of going for it on 4th and 10, do you really feel that Purdue would not have scored anyway? Face it, they had that wheel play in there pocket, waiting for the perfect time to use it. Instead of a 38 yard TD it just would have been a 58 yard TD. Also burning more clock and giving ND less time to come back. So, ironically, going for it on 4th and ten may have won ND the game.

  21. richard H - Sep 28, 2009 at 8:24 AM

    Being a true ND fan for many years. It appears that this year, once again, the game plan is, I bet we can win a shoot out. I see no improvment on the defensive side of the ball. Against a good offense we will get blown out. The offense seems to have a killer instinct at the beginning of the game and gets a lead and then takes the foot off the gas pedal and gets conservative. Leaving it up the the defense to keep the win. We still need that signature win. We are winning some of the games we are suppose to and not winning the signature games, aka USC. I think the only way Charlie will stay around comes down to the USC game. They are down this year and hopefully we will win. As far as Sam Young, i am a little bit surprised, but then think they are looking for him. The one hold i rememeber in the Michingan State game was the end got doubled with Sam and the tight end and fell with Sam on top so they then called a hold. I couldn’t see it. He will get his act together. We have to stop letting games get away from us in the end and play a complete game. As of this week, we still have not done it.

  22. Anon - Sep 28, 2009 at 10:51 AM

    Everybody likes to talk about the talent that Sam Young has but fails to show. Just because a guy is 6’6″, 330+ pounds doesn’t make him good. He got demoted to the right side of the O-line after his sophomore season. So far this year he has as many – probably more yardage in penalties called against him than any of our running backs not named Armando Allen. The guy needs to spend some time on the bench! Coach Holtz would have NO problem parking Young on the sidelines. Either Young is a chump or our O-line coach is a chump! I’m not sure which it is.

  23. Karen - Sep 28, 2009 at 10:57 AM

    I so agree. THE LACK OF DISCIPLINE is terrible. Not a top 25 team at all.. I love the IRISH and am so disappointed in there continued mental mistakes, lack of discipline etc. AGAIN, COACHING my people.
    I don’t accept that because we have injuries it’s an excuse. Come on. Urban Meyer certainly wouldn’t accept the stupid mistakes of Sam Young. Bench him. Defensive ND is absolutely terrible. I’m sooo disappointed. Perhaps Tenuta should quite blitzing so much and just teach them how to stop the run and understand what assignments they have. Again, ANOTHER wide open Purdue receiver.. I just don’t get it.. 8-4 at best..

  24. Joe - Sep 28, 2009 at 12:09 PM

    I am still waiting to see how good or poor this team is. I cant remember the last time that ND team beat a real good team without having to pull it out of their *** in the last minutes of the game. When I refered to good, I meant a solid ranked team that is not overrated (Top 15). I will say their history has shown they start out very well and during half time they change uniforms with the local high school team. ND was known as the worst 3rd quarter team in the country. It seems they are making improvements in this area. If anyone can tell me the last good team they beat from start to finish, please let me know!
    PS I have been to the following games and still have not seen my team win:
    @ Florida State played in Orlando – mid 90′s LOST
    @ JAX Stadium v. NC State – early 00′s LOST
    Home v. Michigan – 2006 LOST
    Home v. BC – 2007 LOST
    Home v. Pitt – 2008 LOST
    I will be attending the USC this year. If they lose this one, I promise all ND nation I will not got to any more games. Maybe its ME!

  25. Toof - Sep 28, 2009 at 1:48 PM

    Uf they lose to Wash. this week they will choke against USC after that then the university needs to start making phone call and my first three would be Meyer,B.Kelly,and maybe J.Gruden. What do you all think?

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