Notre Dame’s third offensive play on Saturday went 51 yards for a touchdown.
By the time the third quarter ended, Washington’s offense had exactly 51 yards.
Those contrasting statistics may come closer to reflecting Notre Dame’s domination at Husky Stadium than the eventual score, a 33-7 Irish victory.
Other stats that recorded the level of Washington futility: The Huskies didn’t make it across midfield until six minutes were left in the game. And they came within three minutes of suffering their first shutout since 2004 and their first shutout at home since 1976.
And while they avoided that indignity, there were others.
The loss officially doomed them to their fifth straight losing season and mathematically eliminated them from bowl consideration.
They remain chained to North Texas, sharing the nation’s longest losing streak and the distinction of being the only winless schools in the NCAA Bowl Subdivision.
The loss dropped Washington to 0-7 all-time against Notre Dame, and it dropped coach Tyrone Willingham to 0-2 in his pair of chances against the school that fired him in 2004.
All of this played out before an ESPN2 national television audience.
“We seemed to be able to do very few things right,” Willingham said. “Obviously, our offensive productivity was not very good. But at the same time, I thought our defense did some things for portions of the ballgame to kind of give us a chance. We just could not mount enough of an offensive standpoint to make it a ballgame. It was a very difficult night.”
Notre Dame scored touchdowns on its first two possessions – drives of 63 and 70 yards respectively.
The Washington offense spent the rest of the evening utterly unable to answer.
Notre Dame’s blitzing defense constantly had Huskies quarterback Ronnie Fouch on the run or on his back. When he did manage to get a pass to its target, the too common result was a dropped ball.
It got bad enough that the crowd of 70,437 reacted to the rare first downs – eventually nine in all – with sarcastic cheers.
The stack of ugly numbers piled high enough where offensive coordinator Tim Lappano finally waved off a questioner who began listing some of them.
“I know,” he said. “Really, I understand what the whole situation was. It’s not that they didn’t try or anything. We got beat physically at times up front and in the backfield with all the pressures, and there were times when we dropped balls that took us out of drives and field position.
“I don’t think that was from lack of trying or anything like that. We just didn’t execute very well. That comes down on me and that comes down to making plays.”
The Huskies had 26 rushing yards and completed 11 of 25 passes for 98 yards. Of those 124 total yards, 69 came on the final drive.
“I had 5 passing yards most of the game,” Fouch said. “My last series we went out there and threw the ball around and had fun. We moved the ball well and guys made plays – the young guys like Cody Bruns and Charles Hawkins and D’Andre Goodwin made some big-time plays.”
While that final drive was little more than lipstick on some piggish statistics, it was meaningful for the Huskies.
“If you’re going to lose you want to lose at least putting up points on the board,” said Goodwin, who got UW’s lone touchdown late on a 6-yard reception in the back of the end zone. “We weren’t going to stop fighting until we drove the ball down field and scored.”
Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s offense was workmanlike.
Quarterback Jimmy Clausen completed 14 of 26 passes for 201 yards, while several runners combined for 252 yards on the ground.
The numbers might have been lower if the UW offense had done more to keep its defense off the field.
However, the defensive players weren’t buying it.
“We’re all frustrated,” cornerback Nate Williams said. “The offense is frustrated, the defense is frustrated, the special teams (are) frustrated. … It’s a team game. I think we gave up a lot of big plays and (33) points so it’s our fault just as much as the offense’s fault. It’s a team game. We’re not pointing fingers, we’re not blaming anybody.”
Don Ruiz: 253-597-8808
blogs.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
game in review
Notre Dame 33, Washington 7
Player of the game
Notre Dame receiver Michael Floyd caught four passes for 107 yards. That represents more than half of Notre Dame’s 207 passing yards. And 51 of those yards came on a touchdown reception on the third play of the game that gave the Irish a lead they would never surrender.
Huskies player of the game
D’Andre Goodwin had a game-high seven catches, including UW’s lone touchdown. Goodwin was the only UW receiver to have more than one catch. He has led the team in receiving every game this season except for the Arizona game.
Turning point
Washington’s first possession was a three-and-out. Then Notre Dame needed only three plays to score its first touchdown, a short pass to the sideline that Floyd turned up the field for a 51-yard score. By the time the third quarter came to an end, the Huskies had exactly 51 yards of total offense.
Bad good play
When things are going wrong, they just go wrong. In the second quarter, UW’s Nate Williams notched the Huskies’ first interception since the second game of the season. Unfortunately, it came at the UW 1-yard line on a fourth-down play from the UW 32 … meaning the interception cost the Huskies 31 yards of field possession.
“I expected everyone to criticize me for leaving my offense on the one,” Williams said. “But the way that a player is taught: When the ball is in the air you’re supposed to grab it. In the heat of the battle I didn’t know that I was on the 1. I just saw the ball in the air and I grabbed it, and that’s what I’m supposed to do.”
Coach Tyrone Willingham confirmed that, although he acknowledged that he would have preferred the defender understand the situation well enough to make his own decision to simply bat the ball down.
Personnel report
UW starting defensive tackle Senio Kelemete injured his left knee during pregame warm-ups and was carted off the field. His prognosis isn’t yet known. Tailback David Freeman suffered an ankle injury of undetermined severity. … Safety Victor Ayiewa suffered a groin injury. … True freshman receiver Cody Bruns played, and recorded his first career catch for 21 yards. … Washington started the game in a nickel defense, resulting in linebacker Chris Stevens and cornerback Vonzell McDowell being credited with their first starts of the season.
Extra points
The Huskies are now 0-7 all-time against the Irish. The schools are scheduled to meet again Oct. 3, 2009, in South Bend, Ind. … In the third quarter, linebacker Donald Butler and defensive end Everrette Thompson recorded the Huskies’ fourth and fifth sacks of the season. The first three – all at Arizona – had been recorded by end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim. … UW game captains were Garcia, Teo’Nesheim, Paul Homer and Chris Stevens.
Next
3:30 p.m. Saturday, at Southern California; Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum; FSN.
Don Ruiz, The News Tribune
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