Notre Dame's Five Minutes of Greatness
Anthony Ughetti
November 21, 1999

The theme of this season and of the final Notre Dame home game of the millennium has been "Notre Dame’s Century of Greatness." Attendees of Saturday’s game were treated to commemorative Century of Greatness programs, and public address announcements recounting special moments in Irish football history. Tony Rice was recognized at halftime for his memorable role in the last Irish National Title, in 1988. With all of this pomp and circumstance, I was hopeful that the 1999 team would rise to the occasion and make a statement of their own.

They did, for about the first five minutes. Then greatness degenerated to mediocrity, then back to plain old predictable Notre Dame football, circa 1999.

The Irish came out on fire. During pregame warmups, the players and coaches could be heard yelling and exhorting one another. I was seated in the absolute last row of the stadium, and even from there I could hear Bob Davie firing up the team. The seniors were hitting each other on the butt, each challenging one another to play to a higher level. I did notice that Jarious was pretty erratic in warmups, under and overthrowing his receivers, but I figured by gametime he would settle down.

Defense took the field first, the players waving their arms for support from the crowd. The crowd responded, yelling as one voice, as loud as I have heard all year. Tim Hasselback was shaky, and the defense forced an early punt.

Prior to the game, as the Irish arrived back on campus for church at the Basilica, I was among the crowd waiting near the church door. I shared my opinion with both Bob Davie and Kevin Rogers that we should throw more on first down. Imagine my surprise when our first play offensive from scrimmage was a long pass to Raki Nelson! Just like I called it! The opening two offensive drives were flawless works of art from a play calling and execution standpoint. An early 14-0 lead, and it looked like the Irish of old were back.

But oh, my, how quickly the winds of fortune changed!

Jarious goes to throw a pass to 5’7" Joey Getherall near the right sideline; the pass is so high that Georghe Muresan could not have caught it.

A pass to Nelson is too high and hot, glancing off of his fingers and into the waiting arms of a BC defender.

Then Davie, who earlier in the year admitted in the press that he had not been using Arnez Battle appropriately, put him in for three straight running plays. Any BC player or coach who scouted film knew that this would happen. Why Bob doesn’t let him throw the ball is totally beyond me. A long Irish drive could have reestablished momentum and turned this game back in our favor. Instead, we went three and out and I have a sore throat today from screaming "LET ARNEZ THROW THE BALL FOR ONCE, BOB!"

Next series, Jarious is back and bounces one out to Joey, who catches it on one hop. Playcalling degenerates back to running on first down, option on second, desperation pass or sack on third and long. Our punting game actually holds us in the game for a time. Despite the continued inability of Joey Hilbold to kick further than 40 yards, excellent downfield coverage pinned BC deep on a few occasions.

And on and on, until next thing you know we are losing 31-14 and fans are staring to head for the exits early in the fourth. Those who left early missed a daunted Irish comeback, but like most else in 1999, this fell short as well. With ten minute left in the fourth, Jarious slowly and deliberately drove the team down field, got within the red zone, totally overthrew open receivers in the end zone, and finally found Tony Fisher in the corner of the endzone for the score. But surprise! Jim Sanson misses the extra point. Despite Julius Jones finally breaking a punt return for a score, the game was just not as close as the score indicated. The icing on the cake was Jarious’ final interception, on a five yard pass over the middle to a wide open Pedro Cirino, who unfortunately is not an Irish receiver but a BC defender. Fans were left with that lonely sinking feeling, although we did get the value-added entertainment of watching a squirrel run into the end zone as time expired. Too bad you don’t get any points for that.

So, thus ends the 1999 home season, thus ends the 1900’s at Notre Dame Stadium. A Century of Greatness overshadowed by the Season of Mediocrity. Will the Irish rise again to National Title prominence? Is Bob Davie the man to lead them there? Will the game programs in 2099 have anything to celebrate from the 21st century?

Of course! WE ARE ND! Bring on Nebraska!