Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Bobby Clark completed his 11th season as the head coach of the men's Five Questions With … MEN'S SOCCER COACH BOBBY CLARK soccer team. He set the program record for coaching wins earlier this year with a 2-1 victory over Bucknell on Sept. 11, and finished the season with a 136-64-34 mark at Notre Dame. However, this year's team is the first group that did not advance to the NCAA Tournament under Clark at Notre Dame. The Irish finished the season ranked 20th with a record of 9-5-4, but found out Nov. 14 during a practice that they did not receive an at-large bid to the 48- team tournament. They were one of two ranked teams that did not receive a bid. The other was No. 21 Washington, which is coached by Clark's son, Jamie. Blue & Gold Illustrated: So what did the Clark family do to upset the selec- tion committee this year? Clark: "I don't know if they don't like Scots or the Clark family, but that was a little bit funny. A lot depends on the way they work it each year. "You can't plan your opponents' schedule. At the start of the year, we thought we had a strong schedule. … You need a crystal ball to know how your opponents are going to do, but basically that's what kills you." Blue & Gold Illustrated: What went awry this year that caused the team to miss the tournament? Clark: "I think we had the potential to be better than that. I can arguably say this was the best soccer-playing team I've had here. They played really good soccer. Somehow we weren't able to produce the results — either get the goals or not conceded the goal at vital times. We didn't quite get the results when we needed them. "[We didn't do] terrible, but it could have been so much better, and I think we all know that. … A lot of the losses I thought were unlucky, but you have to be careful with that because you make your own luck out there." Blue & Gold Illustrated: This is the first time in 15 years your season is over so early, does it feel a little strange? record in 11 seasons at Notre Dame. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS Clark, the program's all-time win- ningest coach, has a 136-64-34 Clark: "Yeah, What's this Thanks- giving thing? There's a holiday called Thanksgiving? No, it's disappointing. That's why you play the game at the end of the day. I was just so sorry for the seniors because we had a really great senior class." Blue & Gold Illustrated: The team still managed to land three players on all-conference teams this season. Were you happy with some of the individual performances you got this year? Clark: "It was a crying shame that [fifth-year senior] Greg Klazura didn't get any [awards] in the Big East. He was certainly one of our best play- ers all season. He was fantastic. I'm not taking away from the others — Aaron [Maund] did well and Ryan [Finley] got the goals and Dillon [Powers] of course is a fantastic player — but Greg was right with those three guys." Blue & Gold Illustrated: How soon do you move on to preparing for next season? Clark: "You've got put this one to bed quietly. You've got to let it settle. We'll keep working and do a close-up meeting soon. You can't stop being an athlete, that's a fatal mistake. But at the same time you have to unwind. After any disappointment there's a healing process that needs to happen. We'll all go through that a little bit. Then coming back in January we'll be going at it on all cylinders. So that's exciting. "With the boys coming back, they'll be fine. It's the seniors that it hurts the most because there's a finality about it that really hurts for them." — Dan Murphy Point ✦ Counterpoint: Caught From Behind WHAT WAS THE SINGLE MOST SIGNIFICANT PLAY OF NOTRE DAME'S FIRST 11 GAMES? By Dan Murphy Looking Over Their Shoulders Late in the first half of a game that has been all but forgotten at this point, sophomore linebacker Prince Shembo chased down Pittsburgh's Ray Graham to prevent what looked to be a soul-stealing 95-yard touchdown run. Notre Dame's biggest play of the season is not notable for what happened, but for what could have happened. Irish sophomore quarterback Tommy Rees threw an interception at the 4-yard line the play before Graham's 42-yard run. Pitt took over trailing 7-6 with a chance to drive down the field and bring a lead into the locker room at halftime. Graham, one of the nation's leading rushers at the time, was well on his way to doing just that. But the 245-pound Shembo came halfway across the field and somehow caught Graham from behind at midfield. Pitt punted the ball a few plays later, and Notre Dame slipped by with a 15-12 win, which pulled its record to 2-2 at the end of September. What could have become of the half, the game, the season, if Graham rumbled all the way to the end zone on that play? It's impossible to tell what type of but- terfly effects can spring from a single play, but a score in that situation would have been a heavy straw piled on the back of an Irish camel that had some dangerously wobbly knees. If Graham scores it's not too much of a stretch to believe Pitt wins that game. That would have left the Irish at 1-3 with no chance of reaching their preseason goal of a BCS berth after only four games. The questions about Brian Kelly's ability to do the job at Notre Dame would have been impossible to silence. In a year filled with plenty of big plays that went against the Irish, Shembo's hustle prevented a possible morale meltdown with very long-term implications. www.BLUEANDGOLD.com By Wes Morgan As much as senior running back Jonas Gray did in the games after the season opener against South Florida, the lasting image from this season, for me, is his fumble on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line on Notre Dame's opening drive. The Bulls' Kayvon Webster scooped up the ball and deposited it into the end zone for a 96-yard touchdown return. At that moment I remember thinking, "Here we go again." In fact, it would happen again against hated Southern California. When senior quarterback Dayne Crist got a second opportunity to show what he could do, lightning struck in the same place — this time on Notre Dame's first possession of the second half when the Irish trailed the Trojans 17-10. Sophomore starting quarterback Tommy Rees led the Irish to the USC 39-yard line, but was hit by Devon Kennard and tweaked his knee. Crist was inserted and completed 4 of 5 pass attempts to move the Irish down to the Trojans' 3-yard line. After sophomore quarterback Andrew Hendrix came in and rushed for two yards, Crist fumbled the ball on a keeper, and safety Jawanza Starling took it 80 yards the other way for a momentum-shifting score. In both cases, the Irish watched the ball — as well as their BCS hopes — hit the deck, bounce behind them and get carried away. I know it's trivial to look back and think what could have been had a couple plays gone the other way, but I can't help but wonder what this season would have looked like had the Irish not experienced such bad luck against South Florida and USC. Maybe the outcomes would have been different. In most cases a turnover deep in enemy territory can be overcome. But those 14-points swings changed the course of those two games and, really, the 2011 season. DECEMBER 2011 11