Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ing the plays that put him in those positions," head coach Brian Kelly said. "During the weeks in practice leading up, there are calls that Chris had during the practice, and he knows what he's do- ing. It's just you're wait- ing for that opportunity. You can't call it for the first time. "That's a play we've run, 50, 60, 70 times … it's "You have to keep call- not as much of a gamble as you would think put- ting a true freshman up there because we've repped it so much." Similar to Tate, though, who caught only six passes as a freshman, it's going to be a matter of Brown developing more than the "go" route, in addition to developing strength that would allow him to be more of a regu- lar, including as a blocker. ence officiating crew played a significant role in Notre Dame's 29-26 victory against Pitt Nov. 3. In the second overtime, and with a chance to getting the breaks" throughout a tumultuous 8-5 season in 2011, the pendulum, or maybe even karma, has been swinging back in Notre Dame's direction in 2012. An oversight on the part of the Big East Confer- For those who moaned about Notre Dame "not 'DESPERADO' EVADES LAW ENFORCEMENT kick a game-winning field goal after forcing and recovering a fumble at the goal line on Notre Dame's possession, Pittsburgh's Kevin Harper missed a 33-yarder wide to the right after a high snap. However, the Fighting Irish sent junior cor- nerback Bennett Jackson and freshman wide re- ceiver Chris Brown — both of whom wear No. 2 — out on defense by mistake. Because two players wearing the same number for the same team cannot be on the field at the same time, that should have resulted in a live-ball foul, a five-yard penalty and a first down for the Panthers at the Irish 11-yard line. "It was a coaching mistake," Notre Dame head the point where we can put him out there in a limited fashion," Kelly said of Brown. "Chris' strength right now is let's push him vertically, but he's got so much more in terms of alignment, assignment, route run- ning … just his physical profile. So we think he's ready now for a part-time role, but certainly not a full-time role yet." "He's starting to get to ted an infraction until after the play. Earlier in the year, Notre Dame was penalized 'desperado.' … Just bad coaching." Kelly said he didn't know his team had commit- on special teams for having two players with No. 15 — fifth-year senior safety Dan McCarthy and freshman wideout Justin Ferguson — on the field at the same time. Ferguson then switched to No. 82. "We have an easy way for us to make sure that this doesn't happen again," Kelly said. "They won't be on the field again [simultaneously]; it's on me now, so I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen." More than ever, today's players in recruiting are infatuated with single-digit numbers. Fighting Irish players share six of the eight numbers from two through nine. "It's something that's changed over the last few coach Brian Kelly admitted. "We had put our 'des- perado' team out there and Chris Brown is part of years in recruiting where kids have this identifica- tion with a particular number," Kelly said. "I think it's still manageable. We just have to do a better job coaching. It's unacceptable that two guys have the same number in the game, and we've got to be able to manage that. "I would like [the] NCAA to come in and say only one guy can have this number. That would make my life a whole lot easier, believe me."