Irish showing their fight in spring game
It's not every day you see punches thrown during a spring intra-squad college football game.
But any fight, anytime, has to be considered a step forward after Notre Dame's horrible, forgettable, regrettable, ugly season in 2007.
Less Wilting Irish, more Fighting Irish has to be a good thing.
Who started the mini-melee in the second half of the Blue offense's 47-46 win over the Gold defense on Saturday in front of 30,286 fans at Notre Dame Stadium? No one fessed up, although guard Eric Olsen looked guilty by the fact everyone was trying to push him away from the scrum.
“We're never going to back down, but at the same time we have to be smart,” said safety Harrison Smith, whose interception return off Jimmy Clausen precipitated the fisticuffs. “At least we showed we have some fight.”
Irish coach Charlie Weis stood talking to cornerback Raeshon McNeil shortly after the fight, but later declined to say who, exactly, was involved in the dispute.
“We'll let it go,” Weis said.
Weis seemed pleased by the team's feistiness, but annoyed by the reality that that type of loss of control during a real game would result in the kind of penalties a rebuilding team like the Irish cannot afford.
“You're trying to push them so they're playing with emotion,” Weis said. “Living on the edge can be dangerous sometimes.”
Chalk up the fight to a positive for now. Completion of spring practice means 2008 is in full swing, the Irish are undefeated “this season,” and the spring brought enough good things to send those 30,286 fans home happy.
Keep in mind, the Irish were playing against themselves and the scoring system was unorthodox, but the feel-good results were plenty:
♦Clausen's arm. The play of the game came when Clausen uncorked a 57-yard pass to Golden Tate that set up the winning touchdown with less than a minute left. Weis called the throw one that Clausen couldn't have made last season, when he was coming off elbow surgery.
Clausen's winning touchdown pass was an eight-yard fade pass to Duval Kamara, a 6-foot-5 sophomore who entered the program alongside Clausen. Clausen completed 10 of 27 passes for 183 yards. The percentage wasn't high, but there were several drops.
“I feel 100 percent (healthy),” Clausen said. “It's nice to throw as far as I can and see them go get it.”
♦The offensive line. They opened the holes needed by running back Robert Hughes (22 carries, 101 yards) and Armando Allen (11 carries, 53 yards). On the first scoring drive, the Irish ran 15 consecutive running plays with Hughes powering in for the score.
“We wanted to let the offensive line tee off,” Weis said. “You can't build physicality if you don't give them a chance to tee off.”
♦The running backs. Three players are likely to share the load, but Hughes' effectiveness gave him a bigger load than Allen or leading returning rusher James Aldridge (six carries, 18 yards).
Weis said Hughes needs to use his size and strength and run less upright to pick up extra yardage, but the running back's tenaciousness was easy to see.
“He's a big, physical guy,” Weis said. “He can read holes, he knows how to cut, he takes care of the football pretty well. … All three of these running backs can play.”
♦The fan support. It wasn't as overwhelming as last season's record spring crowd of 51,852, but it still ranked as the fifth-largest crowd in the game's history.
That means simply that the fans have not given up on Weis, even after the 3-9 debacle of last season. He has made adjustments, turning the play calling over to offensive coordinator Mike Haywood. He added assistant head coach Jon Tenuta from Georgia Tech. He stressed, time and again, the need for his team to be more physical, more emotional and more intense.
Weis said there were games last season when the opponent was “partying” during pregame and his team looked like “tin soldiers.”
The new emotion showed in the mini-melee.
“You only have fun when you're making plays,” Weis said. “Making plays was the emphasis (this spring), and fun was a residual, positive effect that came with making plays.”
Wilting Irish out, Fighting Irish in.
We'll see this fall if it works as well when Michigan rolls into town.
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