Domer: Beating a Dead (Trojan) Horse

FanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind.during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- USC beat Notre Dame. I get it.

The Trojans were the better team on October 17. There was no "Bush Push" chaos on the final play from scrimmage. In fact, USC made a do-or-die defensive stop after what might have been the game's last play or, as Pete Carroll said three days later at his Tuesday press conference, "It was nice to beat Notre Dame twice."

The game never seemed as close as one that hangs in the balance in the final seconds, even though it actually did. It never had the feel of 2005.

I supply that preface because what I am about to write will likely stoke some of the commentariat to post "Get over it" below or to give me a Blake Ayles double-deuce salute. That faction exists and that's fine. However, I write this for any fan who is wondering why the media who cover the Irish--and we are not insignificant in number, only in purpose--have not given the game's final 35 seconds more scrutiny. I know that if I were a fan, as opposed to being a pressbox squatter, I'd wonder why it was being relatively ignored.

Yesterday I watched a replay of the NBC telecast on Hulu for a story about USC safety Taylor Mays and before long I was Jim Garrison poring over the Zapruder footage. Two things struck me. First, how cool is Hulu? I was able to watch the entire game in under 39 minutes. Second, what a colossal missed opportunity for the Irish.
Granted, you can say that they should never have even gotten that opportunity.

If Everson Griffen does not get flagged for showing off his biceps to the USC Song Girls...

If Taylor Mays does not get flagged for two personal fouls in the fourth quarter...

If Matt Barkley's pass does not ricochet off his receiver's mitts and into Gary Gray's arms...

If someone in a Cardinal helmet, and not Armando Allen, had recovered John Goodman's fumble in the open field.

But all those breaks went Notre Dame's way. Then, after first Golden Tate and then Parris each made as impressive a catch as either has in their careers, the Irish were just eight yards away from a game-tying touchdown. After having trailed by 20 points to the nation's then No. 2 defense with 13:33 to play.

The Irish had four fresh plays, 35 seconds and one timeout to gain eight yards. Except that they didn't.

When center Eric Olsen snapped the ball back to Jimmy Clausen on the ensuing play, there was 0:15 on the clock. Clausen toss fell incomplete and Trojan defensive lineman Malik Jackson was flagged for roughing the passer. That infraction moved the Irish half the distance to the goal line, but now only nine seconds remained.

Notre Dame had squandered 26 of its final 35 seconds (74.2 percent of its remaining time) on first down.

Besides, the flag on Jackson was inconsequential. It may have even been detrimental. Notre Dame's pass-first offense would have been better off it the receivers had more space in which to work. Particularly against a defense as fast as USC's. Remember that the Irish had first-and-goal at the four at Purdue and needed four plays, and a nice box-out by Kyle Rudolph, to score the game-winning touchdown.

You know what happened from there. An incomplete jump-ball pass to Rudolph (he tipped it to himself and made a nice grab, albeit out of bounds...just a few feet away from where Michael Floyd had caught a ball out of bounds and broken his collarbone four weeks earlier) that took five seconds off the clock. An incomplete slant-in to Tate that eroded another three. And a quick out to Kamara, who slipped, as NBC's Tom Hammond notes that

"Kyle Rudolph was wide open in the end zone", and the game is over.

USC wins. Again.

Afterward, Eric Hansen of the South Bend Tribune broached the timing issue with the second question of Charlie Weis' post-game press conference. "There was a bunch of time that clicked off after the penalty," Hansen said. "Did you think about calling timeout there?"

"No," Weis said. "We knew how many plays we were going to be able to get off right there. We knew what plays we were going to call. We probably could have gotten it off a couple seconds earlier. With that one second we had at the end of the game, that was about the number of plays we were counting on having in that sequence right there. Kind of figured out what we were going to do. Just didn't end up getting it done."

Weis was strangely sanguine in his answer. On the other hand, he had just emerged from a locker room of deeply despondent players and coaches. No doubt he was pretty bummed out, too. Maybe he just did not feel like assessing blame, or taking it, at that moment.

Here, though, is where even a nimrod sportswriter can go Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer on the Robot Genius. There is absolutely no decided schematic advantage in having 15 seconds in which to run four plays as opposed to 35. None. The sudden shortage of time most likely affected the play calls. For example, the Irish might have run a Wildcat, but with only 15 seconds to play, they could no longer afford to go with a slow-developing roll-out or sweep. They couldn't even afford to have Clausen roll out more than once.
The Irish were able to run four plays in that final 15 seconds only because three of them were quick-hitters. Against a defense with superior athletes such as the Trojans', the Irish might have had a better chance on a broken play. They just couldn't afford to run one, though, due to time restrictions.

Clausen, too, was dismissive of the fact that the offense threw away 20 of its final 35 seconds. "No," the quarterback said when asked if he'd lost track of the time, "I saw the clock the whole time. We were trying to get plays in and out, trying to do as much as we could at the time."

Maybe the Irish never score even if they do manage the clock properly. USC's defense is that good. We'll never know. And even if they do score, do they go for two ("I was going to use my last timeout to make that decision," Weis said) and convert or do they take on Pete Carroll in overtime? Either way, I like USC's chances.
So maybe this is much ado about nothing and I could have put my time to better use by raking someone's leaves the last hour or two. Then again, think of all the Irish stood to gain by coming out on top that day. They could be 6-1 right now and in the top ten in the BCS rankings. Captain Comeback would be the Heisman front-runner and his Domer legacy would rank up there with Montana's and Ismail's.

USC had the game in hand. And then the Irish had a chance to steal it (thanks in no small part to Golden Tate who, by the way, when you go back and watch the game on Hulu--39 minutes!-- you'll notice was rarely actually tackled). And at the very moment it seemed as if they might end the Trojans' seven-game win streak, the Irish inexplicably allowed twenty of the game's final 35 seconds to run off the clock.

When the game ended--the second time-- the Irish still had one down and one timeout left to burn.

I will never understand nor will I accept the explanation that this is what the Irish wanted.

Both on and off the field this season, Jimmy Clausen has been a class act. To be honest with you (to employ his favorite clause), I cannot believe how far he has come and how fast. I'm rooting for him the way you root for anyone who plays the game with courage and skill and--to employ the most over-used sports adjective of the past three months--poise.

Clausen's a winner. And he's very smart between the goalposts. So I wonder...if I am reviewing the final 35 seconds of the USC game in my head this thoroughly, how much more so must he be? Given all that was at stake that day? And given that, each and every day it looks less and less likely that he will spend another autumn in South Bend?