Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BY DAN MURPHY the course of a game, a season or a career. Each year brings its highs and lows punctuated by poignant moments etched in our memories. Here is our list of the seven events, in chronological order, that most shaped the course of the 2011 regular season. T SEPT. 3 — SOUTH FLORIDA WEEK A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME Irish senior Jonas Gray may have recovered from his opening drive fumble against the Bulls, but Notre Dame never did. Gray surged to the 1-yard line at the end of an efficient first drive of the season before losing the ball and watching USF carry it 96 yards in the opposite direction for a touchdown. The Irish lost the game and the he brevity of a college football schedule magnifies its slightest adjustments or smallest mis- takes, any of which can change the bench for the rest of the year. Sophomore Tommy Rees took over the reins and never let them go in a decision that changed the course of both of their football careers and the rest of the Irish season. SEPT. 17 — MICHIGAN STATE WEEK AARON LYNCH ARRIVES With a 7-0 lead at home against the Spartans, Notre Dame was hit by the turnover bug again. Rees lost the handle when he was blindsided in the pocket for the 11th Irish turnover in the season's first nine quarters. This time the Irish had an answer. Full-grown freshmen Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt created a stir from the moment they lumbered out of the locker room for the team's first training camp session in August. After a brief tease against South Florida, neither player saw the field against Michigan's dangerous at- tack. Michigan State was the official unveiling of the new Irish defensive line. ticipation of a dominant defensive front. SEPT. 24 — PITTSBURGH WEEK JONAS GRAY OPENS THE FLOODGATES Jonas Gray spent the first 40 games of his collegiate career fruitlessly searching for the Promised Land. He finally cracked the end zone against Pittsburgh and unleashed a touch- down flood of biblical proportions. Notre Dame's offense slogged through this Steeltown showdown, while the Panthers held Irish star Mi- chael Floyd to only four catches on the day. Gray gave the Irish the big play they needed. On a first down from the Irish 21-yard line, the deceiv- ingly fast senior broke one tackle and left the rest of the Pittsburgh de- fense in his wake as he cruised down the Notre Dame sideline to give his team a 7-3 lead. Junior guard Chris Watt and Floyd made key blocks on the run, which serves as a great ex- TURNING POINTS swagger they carried from a 4-0 finish in 2010. The 14-point swing killed the team's chances of escaping a wacky home opener and left them with a 23-20 loss. The turnover prob- lem was just beginning. Too many giveaways and too few takeaways were the culprit in at least three of Notre Dame's four losses this season. Gray's fumble-itis was contagious. Junior Theo Riddick muffed a punt to set up a South Florida field goal in the second quarter and send even more ripples through the rest of the fall. Riddick, billed as this year's X- factor in August, lost his confidence against the Bulls and never blos- somed into the versatile threat he was supposed to be. His absence in the punt game left the Irish with the worst return unit in the country. The comedy of errors in the first 30 minutes of the season also landed senior quarterback Dayne Crist on Freshman defensive end Aaron Lynch forced a fumble when he sacked Michigan State quarter- back Kirk Cousins on Sept. 17 at Notre Dame Stadium. PHOTO BY AARON SUOZZI www.BLUEANDGOLD.com The seven biggest moments of 2011 Lynch made that clear three plays after Rees' fumble when he jarred the ball free from the Spartans' Kirk Cousins on his first career sack. Se- nior defensive end Ethan Johnson recovered the loose ball and Notre Dame avoided a demoralizing turn of events. Lynch finished the game with a remarkable six quarterback hurries, and fresh legs on the defen- sive front, including massive soph- omore nose guard Louis Nix, held Michigan State's once potent running attack to 29 yards to help secure the first win of the season. Chase Hounshell joined the party midway through the season and added to a defensive line that would not have survived the setbacks with- out a strong group of freshmen. Injuries to senior ends Kapron Lewis-Moore and Ethan Johnson could have resulted in a few extra notches in the loss column if not for the young players with a very bright future. Lynch's fumble-inducing blow was the first chance for Irish fans to sit back, lick their lips and rub their open palms together in an- ample of the entire offense's dedica- tion to improving the running game this season. The 79-yard run propelled the team to a 15-12 victory that brought its winning percentage back to .500. It also began a stretch of 12 touch- downs in seven games for Gray, who outperformed even his own expecta- tions in his senior season. The Pontiac, Mich., native started the year with a costly goal-line fum- ble, but his work throughout the rest of the season changed his legacy and kept that play off this list. He ran for 791 yards — 6.9 yards per carry — before tearing his anterior cruciate ligament against Boston College. Gray gave himself a shot at a pro- fessional football career by fighting through adversity, often times shoul- dering the rest of the offense along the way. CACOPHONOUS CRESCENDO Seconds before Notre Dame and A OCT. 22 — USC WEEK USC kicked off the first prime-time football game in South Bend in more JANUARY 2012 27