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Irish overcome Cougars in OT, 29-26,on five Setta FGS

 South Bend, IN – CollegeFootballFan.com sat in row 6 to the left of Notre Dame Stadium’s south end zone goal post, and watched Irish PK Nick Setta’s final FG of the afternoon sail seemingly toward us before the ball suddenly curved through the uprights to give Notre Dame a 29-26 overtime win over the Washington State Cougars (1-1).  The Irish overcame a first half 19-0 deficit in their season opener to comeback to defeat WSU in the first meeting ever between the two schools, as CFF added the team from Pullman, WA as its 83^rd team toward the Goal.  It was the second year in a row CFF attended a Notre Dame opener in which Setta paced the ND scoring with 5 FGs.  The fired up Cougars could have done more damage to the Irish whose offense played sluggishly in the first half, but the ND defense minimized the Cougar opportunities early on despite missing several injured starters and their suspended captain, LB Courtney Watson.

     The Irish bumbled, stumbled and fumbled during the first half and the hard-hitting Cougars took advantage.  The Cougar offense scored on its second possession when QB Matt Kegel hit WR Sammy Moore with a 15-yard scoring strike.  PK Drew Dunning’s PAT bounced off the left upright and fell into the end zone, a key miss that would later haunt the Cougars.  WSU DB Virgil Williams’ smack forced QB Carlyle Holiday to fumble on the next ND offensive series and DE D.D. Acholonu recovered on the ND 12.  Notre Dame’s defense held though and State came away with only three on Dunning’s 21-yard FG to go up, 9-0.   Williams next caused Irish RB Julius Jones to fumble the ball during the following series and swiped the ball himself in mid-air to set the Cougars up on the ND 36.  Despite a 27-yard pass from Kegel to TE Cody Bond to the Irish five, the Fighting Irish D held and forced Dunning to convert this time from 29 yards out.  State led 12-0 by the end of Q1, but the Irish defense held the Cougars to only six points after turnovers deep in their own territory.

     A turnover with 2:37 remaining in the first half cost the Irish seven more points directly when WSU LB Will Derting nailed Holiday on a straight drop at the Irish 20. CB Isaac Brown scooped the loose ball and raced the distance into the ND end zone to extend the Cougar lead, 19-0.  Vontez Duff returned the ensuing kickoff to the 44-yard line.  The Irish drove to the WSU 19 with :15 remaining.  Setta converted his first FG this day from 36 yards to get the Irish on the board to avert the shutout and end the half at 19-3.  During the halftime festivities, Notre Dame introduced former team captains from throughout their historic decades.  In the locker room, Tyrone Willingham was performing his own rendition of Knute Rockne’s famous pep talk!  If ever the Irish offense needed a fire lit under it, this was the time.  A die-hard Irish follower from Ontario, Canada wondered aloud if the Irish offense had even practiced since last season!

     Setta booted one through again from 36 yards to open the scoring on the first series of Q3.  Down 19-6, the Irish’s next possession ended in a Cougar interception by CB Don Turner at his own six-yard line.  Throughout the game, Holiday’s passes were floaters that were ripe for interception.  Despite 21 completions, Holiday garnered only 134 yards through the air, but he throws many “dangerous” passes. 

     The final stanza began with the Cougars leading 19-6 and with the ball on the ND 37.  The Irish held, but P Kyle Basler’s well-placed punt fielded by Alex Teems gave ND the ball on its own 4-yard line.  The ND offense, aided by (un)timely WSU penalties, finally came around as Ryan Grant’s 32 yard run and a 29 yard pass to WR Jeff Jenkins put the ball on the Cougars’ 16, but the Irish only came away with 3 again as Setta scored from 38 yards to cut the lead to 19-9.  All-America DB Vontez Duff came up with a big hit after a completed WSU pass to cause a fumble and give the Irish their best starting field position of the day at State’s 29.  RB Julius Jones ran to the seven on the next play.  Holiday, however,  coughed up the ball on the following play, and amazingly recovered it at the eleven, as seen through CFF’s binoculars, when he pulled it out from under WSU’s DE Acholonu, who seemed to have possession.  Holiday capitalized immediately on the potential miscue when he connected with WR Raheem McKnight coming across the middle from right to left to put six on the board and cut the Cougar lead to 19-16.  ND took over on its own 20 after State punted the ball on its next series.  Holiday was injured on the drive’s second play, and Frosh QB Brady Quinn entered the game to the cheers of the ND faithful.  Despite Holiday’s supposed quick recovery, Willingham left Quinn in for the entire series.  Grant and Jones rambled with Jones scampering the final 22 yards around right end for paydirt and the first ND lead of the day, 23-19, with 5:03 left in the game.  OLB Derek Curry picked off Kegel’s pass under pressure on the next series to put the Irish back on the WSU 35.  However, the blue and gold consumed neither yardage nor time as Setta banged through his fourth FG to go up 26-19 with 3:07 remaining.  The Cougars’ dormant, second- half offense moved the ball down field on its next possession.  After a six-yard loss resulting from a Kegel trip, the QB hooked up in the end zone for a 34-yard scoring pass with WR Sammy Moore which turned out to be ESPN’s #1 Play of the Day.  With :53 remaining, Moore made a great diving, bobbled, one-handed catch falling in the end zone.  Guest Game Analyst Les Di Vite (Seton Hall/ND fan) pointed out, however, that the botched coverage by the ND corner allowed Moore to get open to make the great, but unchallenged grab.  CFF’s south end zone seats provided us a great view of the play.  Dunning converted to tie, “but, oh, those missed extra points”, to paraphrase an old baseball term.  Dunning’s miss after WSU’s first TD caused the Cougars to tie rather than win at this point.  Regulation ended in a 26-26 deadlock.  The Cougars selected our end of the stadium away from the ND band and student section that gave CFF a prime location for OT action!  Dunning attempted one of his patented line drive kicks that went wide left from the 34-yard line.  The Cougars came up empty.  The Irish took over.  From our prime seats, Setta’s kick started wide right, but curved in through the uprights, and the Irish were 1-0 after an exciting hard-fought game under a bright, blue September sky in South Bend, Indiana.  This game is what college football is all about, and keeps CFF pursuing this crazy Goal week after week.  Not only did we watch our 83^rd team, we saw a great college football game, our fourth in overtime!

     The Irish travel to Ann Arbor, MI next week to face 2-0 and high scoring Michigan who soundly defeated Houston, 50-3, Saturday at the “Big House.” Like last season, this Irish team looks like it will be dependent on defense again to get it through the first half of the season.  The return of Julius Jones with Ryan Grant will improve the offense, but Holiday (or someone else) is going to have to put some zip in the passing game to balance the offense against some tough defenses they will face in the future. Now 1-1, WSU stays on the road to meet the Big 12’s Colorado, also 2-0, in Boulder, CO.  The Cougars have a hard-hitting defense led by Williams, Derting and Acholonu.  With some more experience under his belt, Kegel and company will score some points and surprise some PAC10 foes this year.  Dunning’s kicks, however, can lead to some misadventures, just like this one.

Extra points:  Watson was suspended by Coach Willingham for team violations the morning of the game.  He's supposedly back in action against Michigan.  All-America?  Captain?  What's he thinking?

Coach Bill Doba of Washington State coached HS ball 8 miles from ND at one time.  As a former defensive coordinator, he must have some influence on his hard-hitting defense.

Setta not only scored five FGs, he booted at four of six kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks. The two returns were to the 21 and 23.  He also handled all the punting chores.  His one missed FG from 36 in Q1 was after a bad snap.  He might help a team out on Sundays next year.  WSU's punter Kyle Basler was adept at placing the ball close to the end zone on several occasions.

CFF stopped for a few brews on Friday night at the Linebacker Inn not far from the Stadium.  Three dollar cover charge gets you a beer and they're all cold.  WSU fans partied along with the Irish.  "ND Victory March" is played on the Jukebox. Live music and dancing as well with not much room to move the night before a game.  Pretty good place.

Shipshewana, IN - That's the town we stayed in about 42 miles east of South Bend.  Amish country!  We noted a lot more buggies there than we've seen in Lancaster, PA.  A little touristy, but it'd be a great place to keep the non-football wives busy on a Saturday while guys head out to South Bend.  The Blue Gate Restaurant had great prices for all-you-can eat Amish dinners.  Great pies!  There was a rodeo in town over the weekend and nearby there's a trotter training track.  All the Amish waved to us from their buggies as we walked through town.  It was a neat place to stay.  We'd do it again when we go to another game in South Bend.

Subway alumni? - They have to come up with a new term.  Not only would we guess that there were people at the game from all 50 states, but there's a international flavor, too!  We met a fan from Ontario, Canada who sat next to us, and there was a Japanese family behind us who seemed to speak very little English.  It was hard to tell if they knew anything about football.

Future schedule - We'll probably see the Irish again next year when the return to the Meadowlands to play Navy.  Any venture to guess what the price of that ticket will be?