Battle Answers Some Questions
UHND.com - Frank Vitovitch
September 2, 2000

Notre Dame, Ind - Arnaz Battle had never started a game, he never threw a touchdown pass, and his only real playing time came in his freshman year after coming off a separated shoulder injury which left many unanswered questions heading into the season.  Can he pass? Can he respond to adversity? Can he lead Notre Dame to prominence?  These and many other questions were lingering around all offseason and with his performance today he answered many of them.

First off, he can lead this team to wins.  He beat a ranked team in his starting debut.  He can throw the ball.  He completed 10 of 16 passes for 133 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.  He responded to adversity twice by throwing touchdown passes after Texas A&M scored.

In many ways his debut was very impressive.  He ran the option very well gaining 50 yards on 12 carries.  He also pitched the ball well with only a couple option plays being stopped for short gains.  He was a little shaky at first, but as the game wore on he settled down and started to throw the ball well.   He completed just 3 of his first 8 passes, but went on to complete seven of his next eight.

The most important thing he did all day however was keeping calm throughout the whole game.  He had to be nervous coming into the game, buy one could not tell it in his demeanor on field.  He came out and played with confidence from the start.  He also did not get rattled.  When Texas A&M took the lead he stood in there and battled back.  Many times a new quarterback will try to get it all back in one play and by doing so they throw an interception or just make bad throws.

The question that remains is whether or not Arnaz can perform well against a top 10 team and whether or not he can win a game with just his arm.   Against Texas A&M today, Notre Dame ran for 194 yards.  Because Notre Dame found success on the ground Battle was not forced to beat the Aggies with his arm.   Against Nebraska however he may need to pass a lot more early in the game. 

The touchdown pass Battle made to Hunter was right on the money as was pass to David Givens that could have went for a touchdown.   Unfortunately for Notre Dame, Givens had not turned for the ball yet and the ball hit him in the back on the numbers.  I think he showed he can pass the ball a lot better than people think.  He made a few passes that were off target, but he still completed 62.5% of his passes.

Arnaz also showed that he is better at running the option than his predecessor Jarious Jackson.  Battle did not have a bad pitch all day and made the right choice most of the time whether it be to keep it or pitch.  It seemed to me though that like Jackson, he might have a tendency to keep it more than he pitches it.  Because he does pitch it more often than Jackson though, the option becomes much more of a possible weapon that it was under Jackson.

The bottom line is that Battle can play.  The eyes of the college football world were on Notre Dame and Arnaz Battle today and he came up big.  I don't want to over praise him however.  There were things he could have done better though.  One thing he did that I noticed was going to closer receivers such as the fullback and tight end instead of going down field.  This was probably a smart idea though since it built his confidence, but in order for Notre Dame to beat Nebraska and the rest of its early opponents he will have to go deep.

Now that Battle has won a game and showed he can be a good college quarterback he should be able to step out of Jarious Jackson's large shadow.   Jackson's shadow was huge and the fans loved Jarious even when he faltered.   Battle's never give up attitude as shown in one particular play when he spun off a blitzing Aggie linebacker and proceeded to run for a 9 yard gain is exactly the type of play he needs to make to win over the fans.  He had a nice start today and another similar performance next week could do wonders for Notre Dame.

All in all it was a good day for Notre Dame and Arnaz Battle.  The most important thing was that Notre Dame won and Battle did not force anything and lead the offense to a no turnover day.  Next week the competition will be tougher however and how he plays next week should give Notre Dame's a definitive clue as to just how good Battle can be.