#25 Irish To Face Washington State In San Antonio Showdown

Oct. 26, 2009

Notre Dame vs. Washington State – UND.com Gameweek Central (new for 2009)

Full Notes Package in PDF Format (recommended for easy reading and enhanced statistical data)

Game #8 – #25/25 Notre Dame (5-2) vs. Washington State (1-6)

DATE: Saturday, October 31, 2009
TIME: 7:42 p.m. ET
SITE (CAPACITY): Alamodome (65,000); San Antonio, Texas

TELEVISION
NBC national telecast with Tom Hammond (play-by-play), Pat Haden (analysis), Alex Flanagan (sideline), Rob Hyland (producer) and David Michaels (director).

RADIO
ISP Sports is the exclusive national rights-holder for Irish football radio broadcasts. ISP manages, produces and syndicates the Irish national football radio network. Notre Dame games will be broadcast by Don Criqui (play-by-play), former Irish great Allen Pinkett (analysis) and Jeff Jeffers providing pre-game, sideline and post-game reports. This broadcast can be heard live on SIRIUS Satellite Radio (channel 159) and XM Satellite Radio (channel 117), as well as on ISP Sports Network affiliates around the country (CLICK HERE for full listing of affiliates).

• All Notre Dame games may be heard in South Bend on Sunny 101.5 FM and NewsTalk 960 WSBT-AM.

TICKETS

• Saturday’s game is not officially sold out. Notre Dame has played in front of sellout crowds in 72 of its last 82 games away from home. In fact, the Irish have played in front of sellout crowds in 216 of their previous 249 games, including 91 of their last 101 contests dating back to the 2001 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (the ’01, ’03, ’05 and ’07 games at Stanford, the ’04 game vs. Navy at the Meadowlands, the ’05 and ’08 games at Washington, the ’07 game at UCLA, the ’08 Hawai’i Bowl and this season’s game at Purdue were not sellouts).

WEB SITES
Notre Dame (und.com), Washington State (wsucougars.com)

REAL-TIME STATS
Live in-game statistics will be provided through CBS College Sports Gametracker via each school’s respective official athletic website.

POLLS
Notre Dame is ranked 25th in both the AP and coaches polls. Washington State is unranked in both polls.

SERIES INFO
This meeting will be the second all-time meeting between the two schools. Notre Dame captured the only other matchup, 29-26, in overtime in 2003 (more on the series history on pages 25-27).

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Junior WR Golden Tate has posted three consecutive 100-yard receiving games. He registered 244 yards against Washington, 117 yards versus USC and 128 yards against Boston College. Tate could become the first Irish player to record four straight 100-yard games since Tom Gatewood set the school record with five consecutive 100-yard receiving games in 1970.

AN IRISH VICTORY THIS WEEK WOULD…

• Improve Notre Dame to 6-2 for the first time since 2005.
• Improve Notre Dame to 2-1 (.667) this season away from Notre Dame Stadium.
• Improve Notre Dame to 2-0 (1.000) in the all-time series with Washington State.
• Improve Notre Dame to 1-0 (1.000) in the all-time series with the Cougars away from Notre Dame Stadium.
• Improve Notre Dame to 82-43-6 (.649) all-time against the Pac-10 Conference.
• Improve Notre Dame to 10-0 (1.000) all-time against schools from the state of Washington (Washington and Washington State).
• Improve Notre Dame’s all-time record to 16-4 (.800) in games played in the state of Texas.
• Improve Notre Dame’s all-time neutral record against the Pac-10 to 4-2 (.667).
• Improve Notre Dame’s all-time record in night games to 55-27-3 (.665).
• Improve Notre Dame’s all-time record to 837-286-42 (.736).
• Improve Notre Dame’s all-time record on the road to 293-142-22 (.665).
• Improve Weis’ record to 35-23 (.603) overall, 10-4 (.714) against the Pac-10 and 1-0 (1.000) against Washington State.
• Improve Weis’ record to 16-11 (.593) overall and 6-2 (.750) against the Pac-10 away from Notre Dame Stadium.
• Improve Weis’ record to 12-6 (.667) in October games.
• Improve Weis’ record in night games to 8-5 (.615).

AN IRISH DEFEAT THIS WEEK WOULD…

• Drop Notre Dame to 5-3 for the second consecutive season.
• Drop Notre Dame to 1-2 (.333) this season away from Notre Dame Stadium.
• Drop Notre Dame to 1-1 (.500) in the all-time series with Washington State.
• Drop Notre Dame to 0-1 (.000) in the all-time series with the Cougars away from Notre Dame Stadium.
• Drop Notre Dame to 81-44-6 (.641) all-time against the Pac-10 Conference.
• Drop Notre Dame to 9-1 (.900) all-time against schools from the state of Washington (Washington and Washington State).
• Drop Notre Dame’s all-time record to 15-5 (.750) in games played in the state of Texas.
• Drop Notre Dame’s all-time neutral record against the Pac-10 to 3-3 (.500).
• Drop Notre Dame’s all-time record in night games to 54-28-3 (.653).
• Drop Notre Dame’s all-time record to 836-287-42 (.736).
• Drop Notre Dame’s all-time record on the road to 292-143-22 (.663).
• Drop Weis’ record to 34-24 (.586) overall, 9-5 (.643) against the Pac-10 and 0-1 (.000) against Washington State.
• Drop Weis’ record to 15-12 (.556) overall and 5-3 (.625) against the Pac-10 away from Notre Dame Stadium.
• Drop Weis’ record to 11-7 (.611) in October games.
• Drop Weis’ record in night games to 7-6 (.538).

IRISH CONNECTIONS TO THE LONE STAR STATE

• Notre Dame boasts four players on its current roster from the state of Texas and 93 monogram winners all-time from the Lone Star State.
• The four current Irish players from Texas include junior WR Derry Herlihy (Houston/St. John’s H.S.), sophomore DT Kapron Lewis-Moore (Weatherford/Weatherford H.S.), senior OG Chris Stewart (Spring/Klein H.S.) and freshman PK Nick Tausch (Plano/Jesuit H.S.).
• Notre Dame does not have any current players from the San Antonio area, but former QB/WR Carlyle Holiday (2001-04, Roosevelt H.S.) was a native of San Antonio.
• Three of Notre Dame’s more noteworthy all-time players from Texas include 1987 Heisman Trophy winner and flanker Tim Brown (Dallas, 1984-87) plus two other consensus All-Americans: center Dave Huffman (Dallas, 1975-78) and defensive back Bobby Taylor (Longview, 1992-94).
• Taylor is one of several noteworthy defensive backs from Texas who joined the Irish program during the 1990s, with that group also including Clifford Jefferson (Dallas, 1998-2001), Gerome Sapp (Houston, 1999-2002), Greg Lane (Austin, 1990-93), Allen Rossum (Dallas, 1994-97); and safeties Jarvis Edison (Bay City, 1994-97) and A’Jani Sanders (Houston, 1996-99).
• Notre Dame’s all-time Texas natives include 21 offensive linemen, 15 defensive backs, 12 receivers, 11 linebackers, seven running backs, seven quarterbacks, six defensive linemen, five tight ends, four kickers, three punters and two fullbacks.
• Other noteworthy Texas natives who played for the Irish in the 1990s included: linebackers Bert Berry (Humble, 1993-96) and Jimmy Friday (Missouri City, 1995-98), OT Justin Hall (Dallas, 1988-1992), DL Alton Maiden (Dallas, 1993-94, 1996), FL Mike Miller (Missouri City, 1991-94), P Hunter Smith (Sherman, 1995-98) and TE Leon Wallace (Bedford, 1992-95).
• Noteworthy Texas natives who played for the Irish in the 1980s included: OG Randy Ellis (Pearland, starting LG in 1981), FL Mike Haywood (Houston, started in 1982 before being hampered by injury the rest of his career), OG Tim Huffman (Dallas, starting OG in 1980), DT Wally Kleine (Midland, starting DT from 1984-1986) and P Mike Viracola (Dallas, starting punter in 1984).
• Those from the 1960s and 1970s included OG John Dampeer (Kermit, starting RT from 1970-72), TE Dennis Grindinger (Dallas, starting TE in 1978), LB Bobby Leopold (Port Arthur, starting LB in 1978 and 1979), OT Rob Martinovich (Houston, starting LT in 1978 and 1979) and TE Robin Weber (Dallas, starting tight end in 1974).
• Some of the founding members of the Irish football program were Texas natives, including: RE Joe Hepburn (El Paso, starter in second and third varsity season, 1888 and 1989), RT Stafford Campbell (El Paso, starter in 1889), QB Angus McDonald (Houston, starter in 1899), LG Rob Paine (Houston, starter in 1907).

NOTRE DAME HAS A LONG, STORIED HISTORY IN TEXAS

• Notre Dame’s two most recent trips to the state of Texas produced a 27-24 win over Texas in 1996 in Austin – followed by a 24-3 loss to Texas A&M in College Station in 2001.
• The Irish own a 4-0 record against the Longhorns in Austin. In addition to 1996, Notre Dame was also victorious in 1913 (30-7), 1915 (36-7) and 1952 (14-3).
• The Irish have played in the Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas on seven occasions – following the 1969, 1970, 1977, 1978, 1987, 1992 and 1993 seasons. A victory in the Cotton Bowl facility in 1977 earned a national championship for Notre Dame after the Irish defeated top-ranked and unbeaten Texas. Notre Dame also faced unbeaten and top-ranked Texas teams in Cotton Bowls following both the ’69 and ’70 seasons (winning in the second of those games to end a 30-game Texas win streak). The Irish are 5-2 in Cotton Bowl appearances, also winning 35-34 over Houston to close out the 1978 season in Joe Montana’s final collegiate appearance.
• Notre Dame also has played in Dallas against SMU in 1949 (a 27-20 win for the top-rated Irish), 1954 (a 26-14 Notre Dame victory), 1956 (a 19-13 SMU win), 1957 (a 54-21 Notre Dame win) and 1958 (a 14-6 Irish triumph) – giving the Irish a 9-3 overall mark in Dallas. Other Notre Dame appearances in Texas came in Houston for games against Rice in 1915 (a 55-2 Notre Dame win) and 1973 (a 28-0 Irish victory).
• All those contests combine to give the Irish a 15-4 mark in games played in Texas.

IRISH FEEL AT HOME IN SAN ANTONIO
Notre Dame’s Alamodome appearance will be a homecoming of sorts for 35 Irish players who participated in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl prep high school all-star game. The group includes seniors FB James Aldridge, WR Barry Gallup, CB Raeshon McNeil, OG Chris Stewart, CB Darrin Walls, OL Dan Wenger and OT Sam Young; juniors RB Armando Allen, QB Jimmy Clausen, CB Gary Gray, RB Robert Hughes, WR Duval Kamara, TE Mike Ragone and OT Matt Romine; sophomores CB Robert Blanton, OL Lane Clelland, QB Dayne Crist, DT Sean Cwynar, LB Steve Filer, LB Darius Fleming, WR Michael Floyd, OL Mike Golic, WR John Goodman, RB Jonas Gray, DT Ethan Johnson, LB Anthony McDonald, DL Brandon Newman, OG Trevor Robinson and TE Kyle Rudolph; and freshmen WR Shaquelle Evans, TE Jake Golic, S Zeke Motta, DT Tyler Stockton, OL Chris Watt and RB Cierre Wood.

COULD BE A LONG WALK FROM THE BASILICA

• One of the many iconic traditions surrounding a Notre Dame home game is the walk by the team from the Basilica to Notre Dame Stadium. The team will not walk the 1,091 miles from the Basilica to San Antonio prior to the game despite this weekend’s contest being a home game for the Irish.
• This weekend’s game marks the first of a series of “off-site” Fighting Irish football games.
• Notre Dame officials expect to play one “home” game per season beginning in ’09 at locations in Texas, Florida and New York.
• The Irish and Cougars will be meeting for the first time since 2003, their only previous meeting. Notre Dame won that one 29-26 in overtime to open the season in Notre Dame Stadium. The 2009 game will be played at the 65,000-seat Alamodome, with the Valero Alamo Bowl serving as the host.
• The Alamodome played host to a Texas A&M-Army regular-season matchup in 2006, served as temporary home to the NFL’s New Orleans Saints for part of the 2005 season in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina – and was the home of the 2007 NFL Dallas Cowboys preseason training camp and the ’07 Big 12 Conference Football Championship. The NCAA men’s basketball Final Four was played at the Alamodome in 2003 and again in 2008.
• Notre Dame has more than 4,600 alumni in the state of Texas, most as part of alumni clubs in San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, Laredo, the Rio Grande Valley and West Texas/Eastern New Mexico.
• The off-site home game concept, as originated by former Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White, came about once the NCAA opted for a 12-game regular season.

CLOSE SHAVES

• Notre Dame has become quite accustomed to nailbiting finishes. The Irish have played in six consecutive games decided by seven points or less. No team in the FBS had played in more such games this season. In fact, Southern Miss is the only school to have even played in five.
• This streak of six consecutive games decided by a touchdown or less for Notre Dame equals the school record. Notre Dame last played in six consecutive games decided by seven points or less in 1983-84, when they went down to the wire with Pittsburgh (L, 16-21), Penn State (L, 30-34), Air Force (L, 22-23), Boston College (W, 19-18 in 1983 Liberty Bowl), Purdue (L, 21-23) and Michigan State (W, 24-20). No Irish team has ever played seven straight games decided by a touchdown or less.
• Six straight football games in a single season decided by seven or fewer points? It hasn’t happened in the 119-year history of Notre Dame football. The previous single-season school record for consecutive games decided seven points or less came during the 1939 season when the Irish started the season with five games in that fashion (W 3-0 vs. Purdue, W 17-14 vs. Georgia Tech, W 20-19 vs. SMU, W 14-7 vs. Navy, W 7-6 vs. Carnegie Tech).
• With its late-game heroics against Washington, Notre Dame captured three consecutive games by seven points or less. The last time the Irish won three straight games by a touchdown or less came in 2002 during Tyrone Willingham’s first season: 24-17 vs. Purdue; 25-23 vs. No. 7 Michigan; 21-17 at Michigan State.
• Prior to the 2002 streak, the last time it happened was Nov. 8-22, 1941, when rookie head coach Frank Leahy led the Irish to narrow wins over No. 6 Navy (20-13), No. 8 Northwestern (7-6) and USC (20-18).
• The Notre Dame record for consecutive wins by seven points or less is five, the first five games of the 1939 season (Sept. 30-Oct. 28) under head coach Elmer Layden.
• The recent Irish streak marked just the fifth time Notre Dame has won three straight games by seven points or less. The others are the aforementioned streak in 2002, the last three games of 1941, the first five games of 1939 and the last three games of the 1937 season (Nov. 13-27).
• The Notre Dame record for wins by seven points or less in a season is six, set in 1939 when that club had a 6-1 record in games decided by seven or less. The 1937 team was 5-1-1 and the 2002 club was 5-1-0 in games decided by seven or less, while the 1929 (4-0), 1940 (4-1), 1974 (4-0), 1990 (4-3), 1997 (4-2) and 1998 (4-1) teams all had four wins by seven or less over the course of the season.
• As for winning percentage in games decided by seven points or less, the 1929 and 1974 teams were both 4-0, while the 1926, 1928, 1954 and 1957 teams finished 3-0.
• One item of note on the greatness of Knute Rockne: he was 20-3-5 (.804) in games decided by seven points or less over his Notre Dame career, including 16-0-2 (.944) over his last seven years. Charlie Weis is 12-8 (.600) in games decided by seven points or less.

FOURTH QUARTER MAGIC

• Notre Dame did it again. The Irish rallied from behind in the fourth quarter to upend Boston College last week. Notre Dame trailed 16-13 with 9:16 remaining in the fourth quarter before a pair of junior RB Armando Allen runs gained 13 yards and junior QB Jimmy Clausen found junior WR Golden Tate for a 36-yard touchdown with 8:12 left. The Irish defense did the rest, forcing a three-and-out and two interceptions on the Eagles’ final three drives of the game.
• Notre Dame has now registered four come-from-behind, fourth-quarter victories this season – a first in Irish football history. The previous record for fourth-quarter, comeback victories was three (set on numerous occasions).
• The Irish have actually rallied from five fourth quarter deficits this season, but were not able to hold off Michigan on Sept. 12.
• Notre Dame rallied from fourth quarter deficits in four consecutive games (winning three) against Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and Washington. The Irish had four fourth quarter comebacks during the 1999 season. Notre Dame also had three fourth quarter comebacks in each of the 1990, 1997, 2000, 2002 and 2003 seasons.
• The previous school record for consecutive fourth quarter comebacks was three during the 2000 season. Interestingly enough, those three straight fourth quarter comebacks to open the 2000 season came under the guidance of three different quarterbacks (Arnaz Battle, Gary Godsey and Matt LoVecchio).
• Notre Dame nearly pulled off its fourth consecutive fourth quarter come-from-behind victory against No. 4 USC. The Irish trailed the Trojans, 34-14, with just under 11 minutes remaining in the contest before the Irish caught fire. Notre Dame scored a pair of touchdowns and drove all the way to the Trojans’ four-yard line trailing 34-27, but was unable to get the tying touchdown.
• The comeback would have been the greatest fourth quarter rally since the Irish stormed past Houston in the 1979 Cotton Bowl behind Joe Montana, erasing a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit for a 35-34 win.

DOWN TO THE WIRE

• With the victory over Washington, Notre Dame snapped its three-game losing streak in overtime games. The Irish had not won an overtime game since 2003.
• Notre Dame improved to 3-6 in overtime in school history. Eight of the nine Irish overtime contests have come at Notre Dame Stadium.

W 37-30 vs. Washington (2009)
L 33-36 vs. Pittsburgh (2008)
L 44-46 vs. Navy (2007)
L 41-44 vs. Michigan State (2005)
W 29-26 vs. Washington State (2003)
L 24-27 vs. Nebraska (2000)
W 34-31 vs. Air Force (2000)
L 20-27 at USC (1996)
L 17-20 vs. Air Force (1996)

• Prior to the victory over Washington, Notre Dame had never won a game in overtime the week following a victory in the last minute of regulation in its storied history.
• Notre Dame has now won four games in its storied history by scoring a touchdown in the last 30 seconds of regulation. Here is that list of games:

Sept. 26, 2009 Notre Dame 24, at Purdue 21 (0:25)
Oct. 21, 2006 at Notre Dame 20, UCLA 17 (0:27)
Nov. 14, 1992 at Notre Dame 17, Penn State 16 (0:19)
Jan. 1, 1979 Notre Dame 35, Houston 34 (1979 Cotton Bowl) (:00)

• Notre Dame has now won 17 games all-time in overtime or with less than 25 seconds remaining in regulation and only five of those have come on the road.
• The Irish have never registered a longer drive (72 yards) to win a game on the road with less than 25 seconds to go in the contest in school history than it did at Purdue.
• Notre Dame scored with just 24.8 seconds remaining on the clock at Purdue. It is the latest the Irish have scored to secure a victory on the road since 1997 when Scott Cengia booted a field goal with five seconds left to secure a 23-22 victory at Hawaii.

Michigan 38, Notre Dame 34
The Wolverines scored a go-ahead touchdown with 11 seconds left to secure a 38-34 victory over the Irish.

Notre Dame 33, Michigan State 30
The Irish regained the lead with 5:18 to go in regulation on junior WR Golden Tate’s 33-yard touchdown catch, but the Spartans drove to Notre Dame’s 18-yard line before senior SS Kyle McCarthy’s interception at the four-yard line with 57 seconds left secured the victory.

Notre Dame 24, Purdue 21
Junior QB Jimmy Clausen completed a two-yard touchdown pass to sophomore TE Kyle Rudolph with 24.8 seconds to play, and Notre Dame rallied for a 24-21 win over Purdue. Clausen led the Irish on a 12-play, 72-yard drive. He went 6-for-9 on the drive for 69 yards, including the go-ahead touchdown pass.

• Since the series with Purdue resumed in 1946, there have been just five games where the winning points were scored in the final five minutes. Ironically, three have come on the date of Sept. 26. Here is a list of those five games:

Sept. 26, 2009 Notre Dame 24, at Purdue 21
Sept. 16, 2000 at #21 Notre Dame 23, #13 Purdue 21
Sept. 26, 1998 at #23 Notre Dame 31, Purdue 30
Sept. 26, 1981 at Purdue 15, #13 Notre Dame 14
Sept. 25, 1971 #2 Notre Dame 8, at Purdue 7

Notre Dame 37, Washington 30 (ot)
Notre Dame waited even later than the last minute to pull out this finish. Junior RB Robert Hughes scored on a 1-yard run in overtime and junior FS Harrison Smith and senior SS Kyle McCarthy jarred the ball loose from Washington receiver D’Andre Goodwin near the goal line on fourth-and-19 as the Fighting Irish beat the Huskies 37-30.

USC 34, Notre Dame 27
Junior QB Jimmy Clausen nearly executed another thrilling fourth-quarter rally, but came up four yards short as No. 6 USC held on for a 34-27 victory against No. 25 Notre Dame. On Clausen’s first pass into the end zone, sophomore TE Kyle Rudolph made a juggling catch but was out of bounds. The second was knocked down by Josh Pinkard and the Trojans started celebrating thinking the game was over. But the officials ruled there was 1 second left. Clausen fired to junior WR Duval Kamara, who slipped and couldn’t get a hand on it.

Notre Dame 20, Boston College 16
Junior WR Golden Tate caught 11 passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns to lead Notre Dame to a 20-16 victory over Boston College, ending a six-game losing streak to the Eagles. The Irish came up with three interceptions in the second half, the final one with 98 seconds left. The last five games Notre Dame has played were decided in the final minute.

NOTRE DAME IN OCTOBER

• Notre Dame is 366-91-8 (.796) all-time during the month of October.
• The Irish are 226-47-4 (.823) in October home games.
• Notre Dame has an all-time mark of 105-39-3 (.724) in road games during October.
• The Irish are 35-5-1 (.866) in October neutral games.
• The Irish have gone 11-6 (.647) in October under head coach Charlie Weis.

ON THIS DATE
Notre Dame has played 14 previous games in its history on Oct. 31. The Irish are a perfect 14-0 all-time on Halloween. The Irish were ranked inside the top 25 on seven occasions, including each of the previous three games and seven of nine (not including this year’s meeting).

Oct. 31, 1959: Monty Stickles kicks a 43-yard field goal with 32 seconds left to carry the Irish over Navy, 25-22.
Oct. 31, 1964: Eventual Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte completed 10 of 17 passing for 274 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Irish past Navy 40-0 in Philadelphia. The 27.4 yards per completion still ranks as the best in single-game Irish history. Bill Wolski also added 106 yards on 17 carries in the victory.
Oct. 31, 1987: Mark Green rambled for 102 yards on just nine carries, good for a 11.3 yards per rush average, in a 56-13 rout of Navy.
Oct. 31, 1998: Notre Dame’s Autry Denson rushed for a career-high 189 yards and one touchdown in a 27-3 victory over Baylor.

— ND —