Deefense

The Irish defensive players must feel good today.

Two goalline stands forcing Washinton's Huskies to settle for one field goal yesterday enabled ND to take the game into overtime, and ND eventually won. The second goalline stand, in the fourth quarter, was extended to eight plays by a "roughing the snapper" penalty on a field goal attempt, which gave Washington the ball first and one on the one yard line. Since the Washington running game had been very successful yesterday, those defensive stops were a pleasant surprise to ND fans, and a real disappointment to Washington and especially to Washington quarterback Jake Locker. This dispassionate account, of course, understates the emotional content of those minutes.

I'm attaching a write up below, but I want first to complement our new defensive line coach, Randy Hart, on his contribution to this success story, and question how the new Washington coach, Steve Sarkisian, and his players must feel about having fired Coach Hart at the end of last season.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – When a defense makes one goal-line stand in a game, it typically becomes cause for celebration, especially when the stop preserves any shot at winning the game.

But for Notre Dame it wasn’t one goal-line stand that led to the latest miracle win, actually it was three such stands that helped the Irish complete a third-straight comeback in a 37-30 overtime win over Washington, in what was the miraculous of the three.

When asked the secret of the success in those three difficult goal-line situations, defensive lineman Kapron Lewis-Moore simply said, “confidence and heart, that’s what pulls you through.”

The first stand came late in the third quarter with the Huskies leading 24-19. The Irish kept Washington out of the end zone on three straight plays inside the five-yard line, and made a fourth-down stop to hold the Huskies scoreless on the drive, and kept this from becoming a two-possession game

“With each stop we just felt like we were just getting more momentum and momentum,” Lewis-Moore said. “And by the time the fourth down came, we just felt like it was all out.”

The first stand helped to save the game. The second and third stands essentially won the game.

In what turned out to be a “double” goal-line stand, Washington ran eight plays inside Notre Dame’s 8-yard line and came away with just a field goal. The Irish made one goal line stand, but a strange roughing the center penalty during a field goal attempt gave the Huskies new life and a first down on the 1-yard line.

Irish head coach Charlie Weis said he expected his defense to be deflated after the penalty and the fresh set of downs for Washington.

“But there were no signs of it,” he said.

Notre Dame dug in and held again, and Washington settled for a field goal and a 27-22 lead instead of what could have been a 31-22 lead.

“The odds of us winning right there, really aren’t very high,” Weis said of the importance of the stand. “We’re in big trouble.”

Instead, the goal-line stands set the table for the Irish offense to take over and complete another miracle drive.

“I was scared but our defense showed a lot of heart and got us the ball back,” said Irish junior receiver Golden Tate. “It’s scary when the defense is on the field because I can’t do anything about that but cheer them on.”