Irish Run Away from West Virginia
UHND.com - Frank Vitovitch
10/14/2001
Notre Dame, Ind (UHND.com) - The game was much closer than most fans would like, but Notre Dame pulled out their second win of the season Saturday in a 34-24 win over the Mountaineers of West Virginia. In the game Notre Dame ran for a season high 345 yards including 130 yards from Carlyle Holiday, 119 from Tony Fisher and 92 from Julius Jones.
The Notre Dame offensive line handled the West Virginia line all day long and the Mountaineers had no answer for the option. Carlyle Holiday turned in his second straight 100+ yard rushing performance and now has 252 yards rushing in his last two games. For the second week in a row however the Irish passing game was not a factor. Holiday was just 7 of 14 for 70 yards and had one pass picked off after it got deflected by Javin Hunter.
Tony Fisher also outperformed all other running backs for the Irish again this week. He busted a 55 yard touchdown run that involved him running the last 10 or so yards with him limping a bit just like last week when it seemed that Fisher had a 99 yard touchdown run only to pull up lame with the hamstring injury. Fisher however made it to the end zone this week and collapsed after entering it.
On defense, Anthony Weaver had another strong game as did Ryan Roberts who made a hell of a play in the first quarter to save a touchdown. Avon Cobourne seemed on his way to the end zone after Ron Isreal fell over, but Roberts came hustling down the field, dove, and stopped Cobourne, saving the touchdown. Justin Smith also recorded his first career interception in the fourth quarter. On the next play, Fisher ran into the end zone to tie the game.
The most bizarre play of the game and season up to this point however came on a Nicholas Setta 42 yard field goal. After Setta kicked the ball a towel somehow was flung into the air. The ball hit the towel and lost some of is momentum. Setta got enough of it however so that it sailed through anyway. Setta is now six for six on field goals and eight for eight on extra points.
While Notre Dame's offense turned in its best performance to date, the defense did the opposite. While West Virginia only gained 270 yards of offense, they seemed to move the ball well on the Notre Dame defense and managed to score 24 points on the Irish. The defense will have to step it up next week if they want to beat USC. The secondary in particular will have to come up with some plays. One player in the secondary however that I thought played well was Jason Beckstrom. He got called for some questionable pass interference penalties, but I liked what I saw.
The passing game might have been limited because of the driving rain storm, but the Irish are going to have to open it up or teams are just going to put eight and nine men in the box to shut down the run. With Holiday the option is a viable weapon though which should allow the Irish to move the ball somewhat without passing, but if they want to win out and salvage the season, they are going to have to pass the ball more.
The coaches are also going to have to get Carlyle to throw more when they do call passes. They need to get him to stay in the pocket longer. Right now he doesn't want to make any mistakes so if he doesn't see anything right away he takes off. For now this is ok because he is still young and with more experience he will get more comfortable in the pocket.
Overall, this was a good game for the Irish. They are still capable of playing much, much better, but for now it will do. Notre Dame has two more winnable games before Tennessee comes to town and have a long way to go. In the next two games against USC and Boston College Notre Dame has to pass the ball more, especially on first down. One first down pass in the last two games will not beat a top ranked team.