Luck of Irish Turns, Even if Killer Instinct Doesn't Turn Up

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome, then Notre Dame -- and its fans -- came within one overthrown pass of dementia on Saturday.

The Irish beat Michigan State, 33-30, in a game that felt awfully similar to Michigan one week ago. And Pittsburgh and Syracuse last season. And Navy in 2007.

Notre Dame won a close one for the first time in some time on Saturday, and in many ways it feels less like a victory than a stay of execution for Charlie Weis. While actual buzzards were not circling Notre Dame Stadium, a plane pulling a banner that read "weisinternship.com" was.

"We're aware of the situation," said safety Kyle McCarthy, who snuffed out Michigan State's upset bid--and at least 10,000 "Fire Charlie!" text messages--with his interception at the Irish four yard-line in the final minute. "Coach Weis is our guy. We're completely behind him."

The guys in the gold helmets may be, but it isn't as if Weis has the same backup as, say, the "Can you hear me now?" dude. From the tailgaters to the press box to the message boards to the ESPN "College Gameday" desk ("This is the most pressure-packed game of Charlie Weis' career at Notre Dame," Kirk Herbstreit said earlier on Saturday), Coach Weis death panels are springing up all over. The problem is not that the Irish are inept -- although they have been that the past two seasons -- it's just that they so rarely seem to impose their will on teams.

At the Friday evening pep rally, associate head coach Corwin Brown spoke. A former NFL defensive back whose motor revs much higher than that of his boss, Brown spoke to the throng with evangelical vigor. "My mom used to say, 'You never kick a man when he's down', and I love my mom," said Brown, referring to the fact that Michigan State had suffered a heart-breaking loss of its own last week.

"But my dad used to say, 'That's the best time to kick him'."

The audience roared.

And then one day later, yet again, the Irish forgot to pack their steel-toed boots for the game. The most befuddling thing about the Irish is that, as Herbstreit also noted, "they can't get out of their own way."

Against Michigan State, as they have so often done against inferior opponents the past 15 or so games, the Irish started out crisply. Quarterback Jimmy Clausen was nine-for-nine passing in the first quarter as he staked the Irish to a 13-3 lead.

Then, early in the second quarter, Weis called for a Wildcat formation (not, it should be noted, for the first time). Tailback Armando Allen handed off to Golden Tate, who swept around the right side with intentions of throwing a deep ball to ... Clausen.

Allen was dropped for a 1-yard loss. On the ensuing three plays, the Irish committed a false start followed by a holding penalty followed by Clausen being sacked for the first time this season. Sooner than you could say, "Is it 2007?", Notre Dame faced a fourth-and-36. Worse, and as happened too many times of late, the Irish had squandered their momentum and faced a crisis of confidence.

Kick a man when he's down? The Irish shanked it. Again.

Taking the myopic view, this Saturday's victory looked disturbingly similar to last Saturday's loss.

"The final drive?" said McCarthy, who leads the Irish in both tackles and interceptions and is somthing of an anomaly on this team: consistently reliable. "Yes, it did (seem similar to last week). It was freakishly similar. We were all aware of it."

Up until McCarthy's game-clinching interception with 57 seconds remaining, the two games had a "Strange but True" degree of indistinguishability. Both teams scored in the 30s. There were four lead changes. Irish wideout Michael Floyd fell out of bounds on a potential touchdown catch on the right side of the end zone and was lost for the day. The Irish, facing a third-and-long on a potential clock-expiring drive, attempt a pass to the right sideline to a sophomore wideout (i.e., freshman in terms of eligibility; last week, Deion Walker and today, John Goodman) who entered the day with zero career receptions. On the Michigan school's ensuing game-winning drive, the first-year starter at quarterback morphs into Joe Montana. Weis's secretary is named --

Stop it. Stop it. Stop it!

Michigan State. Pittsburgh. Syracuse. Navy. College students are remarkably resilient, for as the Spartans drove toward the Notre Dame student section in the waning minutes, it appeared as if the devoted Domers were going to have yet another front-row view of faith being put to the test.

With the ball on the Irish 26, Spartan quarterback Kirk Cousins threw a sideline pass that dribbled through the fingers of Irish nickelback Ray Herring and into those of Michigan State's B.J. Cunningham, who made a beautiful grab falling out of bounds. At that fellow Spartan wideout Blair White looked at the Notre Dame sideline and boasted, "That's what we do, boy!"

And giving up game-winning touchdowns right in front of the student section, well, that's what the Irish do. Oh, boy.

On the following play, Cousins overthrew Larry Caper in the corner of the end zone. The Irish secondary blew their assignment--cornerback Robert Blanton failed to notice that Brown had changed the coverage-- and no one was within ten yards of Caper. That play may very well have been the coup de grace of Weis' career in South Bend.



Instead, on the following play, thanks to a fierce rush from linebacker Darius Fleming, Cousins tossed the pick that saved the game, the season and perhaps their coach's job.

Pete Carroll may have lost to a Washington team that finished 0-12 on Saturday, but somehow an Irish loss at home might have played out more ignominiously in the national press. Why? Because as obvious as it is that the Irish players have improved, it seems that they have come no closer to learning how to win.
And we will not even begin to broach the topic of how much more difficult that's going to be with Floyd out of the lineup for likely the next month with, as Weis said, a "clavicle".

Perhaps this was a turning point. Notre Dame, for the first time in eight tries, found a way to come from behind in the second half and win a game. They had not done that since the 2008 season-opener versus San Diego State.

"That's what I was telling the receivers at halftime (after Floyd's injury)," said Clausen, who turns 22 on Monday. "It's your time to step up."

Tell everyone, Jimmy.