The 2009 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team was an American football team that represented the University of Notre Dame as an independent during the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. In their fifth and final season under head coach Charlie Weis, the Irish compiled a 6–6 record and outscored opponents by a total of 361 to 311. They were 6–2 after eight games, but lost the final four games to Navy, Pitt, Connecticut, and Stanford.
Notre Dame's passing offense was outstanding. Wide receiver Golden Tate tallied a school-record 93 receptions for 1,496 yards, scored 108 points, and won the Fred Biletnikoff Award. Quarterback Jimmy Clausen completed 68.0% of his passes, had a 161.4 passer rating, and tallied 3,722 passing yards (second most in Notre Dame history) and 28 touchdowns. On defense, the Irish gave up 397.8 yards per game, ranking 87th of 120 Division I FBS teams.
Weis was fired as head coach two days after the final game. Although Notre Dame was bowl eligible with six wins, the university chose not to play in a bowl game. Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick hired Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly after a 10-day coaching search.
The team played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana.
Schedule
Preseason Coaching changes Following the 2008 season, offensive coordinator Michael Haywood left the team to become the head coach for the Miami (Ohio) University Redhawks. Following what some critics called a disappointing 7–6 season, Charlie Weis announced several major changes to the coaching staff, including the replacement of the offensive and defensive line coaches. Frank Verducci was hired to replace John Latina as the offensive line coach and was placed in charge of revamping the Irish running game as the running game coordinator. Tony Alford was hired to replace Mike Haywood as the running backs coach. Finally, Weis hired defensive line coach Randy Hart, a veteran coach at University of Washington from 1988 to 2008. Former Notre Dame standout and NFL veteran Bryant Young was also hired as a defensive graduate assistant with the possibility of eventually stepping in to coach the defensive line.
Roster changes
Graduating players Senior safety and captain David Bruton was the only player drafted from the team, going in the fourth round to the Denver Broncos as the 114th pick overall. Five more players would sign quickly after the draft, including David Grimes with Broncos, Pat Kuntz with the Colts, Terrail Lambert with the 49ers, and fullback Asaph Schwapp and offensive lineman Mike Turkovich with the Cowboys. Defensive lineman Justin Brown and captain Maurice Crum Jr. also exhausted their eligibility.
Transfers Tight end Joseph Fauria transferred from Notre Dame to UCLA prior to the start of the season following an undisclosed University violation that would have sidelined him for the season.
Award candidates The following players were announced to award watch lists prior to the start of the 2009 season:
Armando Allen – Doak Walker Award Jimmy Clausen – Davey O'Brien Award, Maxwell Award Kyle Rudolph – Mackey Award (only sophomore named to the list) Golden Tate – Biletnikoff Award, Maxwell Award Dan Wenger – Rimington Trophy Sam Young – Outland Trophy
Rankings
Game summaries
Nevada
Notre Dame beat Hall of Fame coach Chris Ault's Nevada squad 35–0 to give Charlie Weis his first and only shutout as Irish head coach. Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen continued his efficient play from the Hawai'i Bowl victory the previous season (22–26 for 401 yards and 5 touchdowns), completing 15 of 18 passes for 315 yards and four touchdowns. Clausen started the game by completing 10 of 11 passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns, highlighted by a then career-long 70-yard pass for a touchdown to Irish wide receiver Michael Floyd. Clausen bettered that in the third quarter with an 88-yard scoring pass to Floyd. The 88-yard touchdown was the third longest pass completion in Notre Dame history. Floyd leapt over Wolf Pack cornerback Doyle Miller and kept his balance when Miller tried to pull him down at the 50-yard line, then raced in for the score. Clausen also completed a 24-yard TD catch to Floyd and a 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kyle Rudolph in the first drive of the game. Irish running back Armando Allen logged the other touchdown on a 1-yard run. He finished the game with 72 yards on 15 carries.
The victory was Notre Dame's first shutout victory since a 42–0 win over Rutgers in 2002. The Irish defense set the tone early, stopping Nevada to three and out on its first three possessions. Irish linebacker Toryan Smith stuffed Wolf Pack running back Vai Taua for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 and also logged a sack. Highly touted freshman linebacker Manti Te'o also got in on the action for Notre Dame on his first play early in the second quarter. On third-and-15 from the Nevada 26, Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick took off and had some room but Te'o caught him from behind after an 11-yard gain, forcing the Wolfpack to punt. The Irish defense held Nevada to 153 yards rushing and 307 total yards. Kaepernick was 12 of 23 passing for 149 yards with two interceptions. Irish cornerback Robert Blanton intercepted a Kaepernick pass at the end of the half, and senior captain Kyle McCarthy logged the second interception of the day and the fourth of his career in the third quarter.
Michigan
Offense ruled the day as the Fighting Irish were upset in the final seconds by archrival Michigan, 38–34. The 72 combined points were the most in the history of the Notre Dame – Michigan rivalry, and the game marked just the fifth time Michigan has scored 30 points or more against Notre Dame. Jimmy Clausen continued his impressive play, throwing for 336 yards and 3 touchdowns, but it was not enough to offset costly penalties (9 for 75 yards), questionable play-calling, and an efficient performance by Michigan freshman quarterback Tate Forcier (23 for 33, 240 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT).
After Daryl Stronum's 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown helped the Wolverines to an early 14–3 lead, Notre Dame roared back in the second quarter, largely on the strength of Clausen's passing. Clausen threw touchdowns on successive drives—the first to Golden Tate, the second to Michael Floyd—to give the Irish their first lead of the afternoon at 17–14. The teams traded field goals at the end of the quarter and Notre Dame took a 20–17 lead to the locker room.
On the first series of the second half, Forcier led Michigan down to the Notre Dame 9-yard line before a missed field goal gave the Irish a temporary reprieve. A Jonas Gray fumble on the ensuing Notre Dame possession was recovered by Michigan at the Irish 26-yard line, and five plays later, the Wolverines regained the lead on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Forcier to Kevin Koger.
Michigan extended its lead to 31–20 on the second play of the fourth quarter when Forcier, facing fourth-and-three, ran 31 yards for a touchdown. Clausen rallied the Irish with a 14-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate, and Kyle McCarthy intercepted Forcier on the next series, giving Notre Dame the ball at the Michigan 36. The 7-play drive was capped by an 8-yard Armando Allen touchdown run and a successful two-point conversion run by Allen off a well-executed Statue of Liberty play, giving the Irish a 34–31 lead with a little over 5 minutes remaining.
The Notre Dame defense stiffened and forced a punt, giving the Irish offense the ball back with 3:07 remaining. Allen rushed 13-yards to the Notre Dame 29 for a first down, but Robert Hughes was stopped on the next play for no gain and Michigan used its first timeout to stop the clock at 2:29. Rather than run the ball and force Michigan to use its two remaining timeouts, Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis called pass plays on second- and third-down, both of which fell incomplete, and the Irish punted the ball back to Michigan having only taken 54 seconds off the clock. Forcier made the Irish pay for their mistake, coolly driving the Wolverines down to the Notre Dame 5-yard line, where he connected with Greg Matthews for the game-winning touchdown with 11 seconds left in the game.
With the heartbreaking loss, Notre Dame fell out of the top 25 in both the AP and Coaches' Polls.
Michigan State
Notre Dame recovered from its tough loss at Michigan by beating rival Michigan State for the first time at Notre Dame Stadium since 1993. The win wasn't sealed until Kyle McCarthy intercepted Spartans quarterback Kirk Cousins at the Irish 4-yard line with 57 seconds remaining in the game. Trailing 30–26 midway through the fourth quarter, Jimmy Clausen connected with Golden Tate off a fly route for what proved to be a 33-yard game-winning touchdown. A key play occurred late in the third quarter when Irish defensive tackle Ian Johnson blocked a Michigan State extra point to leave the score 26–23 Notre Dame; had the extra point been successful, Michigan State could have won the game with a field goal on its final drive.
Clausen, playing through a turf toe injury, had another big game, going 22 for 31 with an even 300 yards and 2 touchdowns. Halfback Armando Allen rushed 23 times for 115 yards and a touchdown and also threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Robby Paris out of the wildcat formation. The defense continued to be a problem for Notre Dame, as it surrendered 459 yards of total offense to the Spartans, including 354 through the air.
The win also proved to be costly, as Notre Dame star wide receiver Michael Floyd was lost for the several regular season games to a broken collarbone suffered during the second quarter.
Purdue
With the game on the line, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis put the game in the hands of his hobbled quarterback Jimmy Clausen. Slowed by a turf-toe injury sustained in the Michigan State game, Clausen engineered an 88-yard game-winning drive with 3:41 to go to give Notre Dame a 24–21 victory over the Boilermakers. Trailing 21–17, Clausen completed a 22-yard pass to tight end Kyle Rudolph to move the ball to the Purdue 32. After a Purdue forced Notre Dame into a 3rd-and-14. Clausen completed a 15-yard pass to wideout Robby Parris for a first down. A 17-yarder to Golden Tate set up a first-and-goal at the 4. After three plays netted two yards, Clausen found Rudolph in the end zone on fourth down for the winner with less than a minute remaining.
Clausen played mediocre for most of the game, completing 15 of 26 passes for 171 yards, and throwing his first interception of the season. After splitting time with backup quarterback Dayne Crist, who directed two touchdown drives in the first half, Clausen returned to the game when it got tight in the fourth quarter. The victory was the Irish's third straight game decided in the final minutes. Kyle McCarthy had an interception at the 4-yard line with 57 seconds left to seal Notre Dame's 33–30 win over Michigan State the week before. A week earlier, Michigan's Tate Forcier threw a 5-yard touchdown pass with 11 seconds remaining to beat the Irish 38–34.
Washington
Notre Dame defeats the Washington Huskies 37–30 at Notre Dame Stadium to give Notre Dame its 4th win of the season. Notre Dame stayed alive with 3 goal line stands resulting in only 3 Washington Husky points. Golden Tate was able to scorch Washington's defense for 244 yards receiving, 31 yards rushing and one touchdown. Notre Dame finally wins in OT and extends their record to 8–0 against the Huskies.
USC