Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/50205
down pass attempt. Crist entered the game with a chance to rewrite his legacy at Notre Dame. Crist was crisp, completing 4 of 5 passes to bring the team to the 3-yard line. After a failed rushing attempt by sophomore quarterback Andrew Hendrix, Crist stepped behind the center on third-and-goal from the 1. Whether it was too many different cadences, or a flashback to his last se- ries along the goal line, or just Crist's cruel fate we will never know. But the snap slid right through the quar- terback's hands and squirted loose from a pair of diving linemen. USC safety Jawanza Starling picked the ball up near the Irish 20 and coasted on a painfully long 80-yard touch- down return. Instead of tying the game, Notre Dame found itself in a 14-point hole from which it would not recover. A shot at the BCS was gone. Crist re- turned to play one more meaning- less drive the following week against Navy, but his career in South Bend essentially ended with that snap. A quarterback with immense potential fell on hard luck throughout his four years at Notre Dame. OCT. 27 — NAVY WEEK A LINE IS DRAWN The aftermath of the loss to USC was not pretty. It hit its nadir the fol- lowing Thursday night when Kelly told members of the media that there was a clear difference between the players he recruited and those he inherited. "You can see the players that I re- cruited here. You know who they are," Kelly said. "The other guys here are coming along, but it's a process." The next morning veteran team leaders expressed their "disgust" with the coach's comments via social media. Did Kelly go too far by put- ting a divisive wedge in the locker room, or did his players need to grow thicker skin? The team cleared the air during a regularly scheduled meeting Friday evening and played nice for the cam- eras after beating the Midshipmen the following day. That is easier to do after a 42-point victory. Kelly was on the brink of losing his "family," but an airing of grievances followed by a cathartic "butt whooping" seemed to galvanize the team for a time. There were fears that Kelly's com- ments would drive star talent such as www.BLUEANDGOLD.com Sophomore Andrew Hendrix's solid effort (212 total yards and two scores) in the regular-season finale at Stanford renewed the quarterback debate at Notre Dame. PHOTO BY AARON SUOZZI linebacker Manti Te'o to leave Notre Dame for the NFL next season. That doesn't appear to be the case for now. A tell-all team meeting averted a ma- jor crisis and proved the bonds in the Irish locker room remained strong. NOV. 26 — STANFORD WEEK ANDREW HENDRIX FANS THE FLAMES Hendrix's third-quarter touch- down drive against the Cardinal re- fueled the Notre Dame quarterback competition just in time for nine more months of debate. Hendrix took over for Rees at the start of the second half after the lat- ter took some licks and struggled in a scoreless 30 minutes for the Irish. The difference between the two quarterbacks was best displayed on a daring option pitch from Hendrix that brought Notre Dame down to the 20-yard line. The more athletic sophomore flipped a ball out to ju- nior running back Cierre Wood for a 12-yard gain as a Stanford defender dragged him down. It was an athletic play Rees could not have made. It was also a risky play that Rees would not have made. The more experienced, safer option under center is careful with the ball after a first half of the season plagued by turnovers. Hendrix ran for 13 yards on the next play off a read option and even- tually hit Floyd with a bullet in the front corner of the end zone for Notre Dame's first points of the game. The seven-play, 77-yard drive provided a glimpse of what Kelly's spread could look like with a mo- bile quarterback and pulled Hen- drix a step closer to his classmate in the running for the starting job. Rees will start against Florida State, Kelly said, but Hendrix will also get his shot. No matter what happens against the Seminoles, both quarter- backs are in for another long, com- petitive offseason. ✦ JANUARY 2012 29