Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Top Storylines By Lou Somogyi Home Cooking In The Home State Home-field advantage has been a misnomer at Notre Dame in recent years. It’s not so much that the Irish haven’t posted an unbeaten home campaign in a school-record 13 seasons, but rather the alarming regularity at which it has been unable to defend its home turf. Since 2007, the Irish are 17-16 at home, including ignominious losses to Navy (2007 and 2009), a 2-8 Syracuse team (2008), Connecticut (2009), Tulsa (2010) and South Florida (2011), with the latter three coming in their first-ever visit to Notre Dame Stadium. Nevertheless, if there is one program whose number Notre Dame has had when it comes to home games over the past four decades, it’s Purdue. Since 1976, the Irish are 16-1 (.941) at home against the Boilermakers, with the lone blemish a 41-16 trouncing in 2004 at the hands of head coach Joe Tiller’s No. 15-ranked team. Over those same 36 years, other traditional rivals have had much greater success in Notre Dame Stadium. USC is 8-9 on Irish turf since 1979, while Michigan State is 7-7 there since 1983. Pitt has won five times in 13 tries since 1976, while Boston College is 5-6 there since making its first visit in 1987. Yet Purdue, which once held the record for most consecutive victories at Notre Dame Stadium with five from 1954-62, has repeatedly come up short, and lost three straight from 1998-2002 through unusual circumstances: • In 1998, the Boilermakers took a 30-21 advantage with just 7:52 left, only to lose 31-30 when Jim Sanson kicked a 17-yard field goal with 57 seconds left. Notre Dame safety Tony Driver, who many believed had left school that same week, intercepted two Drew Brees passes in the final two minutes, the first returned 37 yards to set up the go-ahead field goal and the second to seal the outcome. • In 2000, after Irish starting quarterback Arnaz Battle was injured a week earlier, head coach Bob Davie turned to converted tight end Gary Godsey. Irish T-shirts before the game read “In Godsey We Trust.” Godsey scored Notre Dame’s first touchdown on a nine-yard run, and he completed 14 of 25 passes for 158 yards with one interception in the 23-21 Irish victory. He drove the Irish to the game-winning field goal from 38 yards out by Nicholas Setta, as time elapsed. Brees was 13-of-22 passing for 221 yards with two scores and an interception. • In head coach Tyrone Willingham’s first season (2002), Notre Dame pulled off a 24-17 victory — with all three touchdowns scored by defensive backs. Gerome Sapp returned a fumble for a 54-yard score, Lionel Bolen grabbed a fumble on the ensuing kickoff for a four-yard tally, and Vontez Duff scored the game winner in the fourth quarter when he picked off a Kyle Orton pass and raced 33 yards. It all begins with Purdue if Notre Dame is to finish unblemished at home for the first time in 13 years. Rocking The Cradle Miami (Ohio) has the title of “Cradle of Coaches,” and Purdue has designated itself in its marketing as the “Cradle of Quarterbacks.” While many schools, including Notre Dame, could present a similar case, what Purdue has going for it is its quarterbacks have started more NFL games than any other school, plus thrown for the most yards and touchdowns in the league. With Len Dawson, Bob Griese and Drew Brees, it joins Alabama (Bart Starr, Ken Stabler and Joe Namath) for most number of quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl. That cradle has been rocked in recent years with injuries and inconsistency: • Senior Caleb TerBush was elected captain this spring and has been the Tommy Rees of Purdue’s offense — steady but unspectacular. He’s been twice the backup to his competition, Robert Marve and Rob Henry, before Marve tore his ACL in the fourth game of 2010 and Henry tore his ACL prior to the 2011 season. • Sixth-year senior Marve has the cannon arm and potential star power, a la Dayne Crist, after transferring from Miami. He completed 31 passes at Notre Dame in 2010, but they totaled only 220 yards (7.1 yards per completion) in a 23-12 loss. Last year, he was 9-of-22 passing for 91 yards in the 38-10 trouncing from the Irish. TerBush led the lone touchdown drive in the closing seconds. • Junior Rob Henry is the dual-threat who replaced the injured Marve in 2010, passing for 996 yards and rushing for 547 en route to getting elected as co-captain in 2011 before the knee injury sidelined him. Unlike Navy with its triple option, Purdue should give a better test to Notre Dame’s green cornerbacks. The issue is who can provide the Boilermakers the best option at quarterback? Keeping The Hope Oftentimes, the kiss of death in coaching is a contract extension. Bob Davie received a five-year extension at the end of his fourth season in 2000 when his 9-2 Notre Dame team earned a BCS bid. One year later, he was fired after a 5-6 mark. Alabama’s Mike Shula was 10-2 in his third season (2005) and signed a six-year extension through 2011. He was fired a year later after finishing 6-6 and losing for the fourth straight season to Auburn. Nebraska’s Bill Callahan improved to 9-5 in 2008 and inked a three-year extension through 2011. Then he was fired a year later after posting a 5-7 ledger. Purdue’s Danny Hope already was on the proverbial hot seat last year after opening with 5-7 and 4-8 records his first two seasons. Questions loomed about whether he would be axed after a 4-5 start in his third season, including a 24-22 upset at Rice and a 38-10 blowout at home versus Notre Dame. Meanwhile, Purdue’s average attendance dropped to 45,255 at home in 2011. However, a 26-23 overtime win against reeling Ohio State, an Oaken Bucket victory versus Indiana and a bowl bid at 6-6 “kept Hope alive.” On Dec. 23 he signed a two-year extension through Dec. 31, 2016. A 37-32 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl victory over Western Michigan produced the 7-6 finish. “The development of a strong program requires perseverance and a willingness to critically address all aspects of our program each year, so we can amend and update our plan,” Hope said in a prepared statement. “… It is nice to see some payoff for the work to date.” Another losing season, though, might prove once again that contract extensions have a fickle nature. Remembering A Quick Turnaround Much has been made about Notre Dame needing to overcome the jet lag and get its collective body clock retuned from its trip to Ireland for the Sept. 1 opener against Navy. Will it have a residual effect the next week against Purdue? One example Notre Dame can turn to with regard to making a quick turnaround successfully is head coach Dan Devine’s first two games with the Irish in 1975. That year, Notre Dame opened on a Monday night at Boston College, a hard-fought victory by a rebuilding Irish team that had only two starters returning on offense. Severe traffic congestion didn’t allow the players to return to their hotel until 2 a.m. — and the team arrived back on campus on Tuesday afternoon. Consequently, the staff canceled the Tuesday practice for Purdue, which had upset the Irish 31-20 a year earlier. Notre Dame also would have to drive to Purdue to win their second game in five days. “That was a really rough week,” recalled Irish All-America defensive back Luther Bradley (1973, 1975-77). “We didn’t practice on Tuesday, and the coaches had to put in the game plan in a hurry. We had a lot of information to digest — plus we had to catch up on our classes because we missed all day Monday and Tuesday. But they expected us to do it and we did.” Bradley saved the day when his 99-yard fourth quarter interception return for a touchdown extended Notre Dame’s lead to 10-0 in its 17-0 victory at Purdue. Thirty-seven years later, at least the Irish are scheduled to be at home by 1:15 a.m. the Sunday after the Navy game. They can attend classes on Monday and practice shouldn’t have to be cancelled on Tuesday. — Lou Somogyi