Jimmy Clausen Saves Charlie Weis From Himself in Irish Win

Just before halftime in Saturday night's Notre Dame win over Purdue, the moment fans of the Fighting Irish had been fearing finally happened.

Jimmy Clausen showed his humanity.

A long pass intended for freshman Shaq Evans fell into the arms of a defender for Clausen's first interception of the 2009 campaign. The Irish went to the locker room leading the Boilermakers 17-7 and holding all the momentum, after delivering a physical pounding to Purdue over the first 30 minutes of football.

Clausen played sparingly in the first half, only entering the game for a handful of plays over four series—looking decided un-Clausen-esque. He missed some throws, was sacked twice, and was obviously hampered by the toe injury he sustained against Michigan State.

It seemed the game was taken out of his hands and the Irish wouldn't need him, as a spread-based rushing offense led by sophomore Dayne Crist and running back Golden Tate took over.

The Irish showed the ability to run at will, and were physically dominating the Biolermakers throughout the first half—being most effective when Tate was at the helm manning the spread-option attack. Notre Dame dominated the first half, running off 17 unanswered points.

Still, there were points left off the board.

On Notre Dame's second possession following Purdue's easy touchdown, the Irish drove inside the Purdue 30-yard line but decided to go for a 4th-and four with a quarterback playing on one leg. The Irish were denied, and left a crucial three points on the field.

Beginning the second half, it was obvious that things had changed. The Irish ground game that had averaged more than six yards per carry was finding little room.

Abandoned was the Wildcat formation that saw huge gains in the second quarter, and Crist was left to hand off twice before forcing a throw on 3rd-and-long. It seemed as if the Irish were content to sit on their 10-point lead and try to burn out the clock.

The "scorched earth" plan seemed to be working for the third quarter, as despite scoring zero points Notre Dame held the ball for 13 of 15 minutes and held Purdue to only nine yards on seven offensive plays.

Everything changed on a 4th-and-long early in the fourth.

With the ball just on the Boilermaker side of the field, rather than punt and pin Purdue deep Notre Dame spent its second time out of the second half. They decided to allow Crist to attempt only his sixth pass of the game on the fourth-down attempt.

Crist was pulled down (by his helmet) for a loss, and Purdue had the ball at mid-field.

Purdue quickly marched down the field, seeming to realize that Notre Dame blitzes their linebackers on nearly every play, allowing more-than-ample room over the middle.

Very quickly, Purdue was inside the Irish five-yard line. On a 3rd-and-goal play, Notre Dame—for the 60th time in the game—gave a pre-snap blitz look. Like all other of the 60 plays, the Irish sent their left outside linebacker, leaving an opening in the short secondary that Purdue exploited, hitting a short slant to the open space and sliding easily into the end zone.

Pressuring the passer is a good and necessary part of building a great defense, but so is confusing them. Kyle McCarthy missed picking off the ball at the goal line by a millisecond. Had the Irish not blitzed, and instead from a pre-snap blitz look dropped that linebacker (one of the Smiths) into coverage, the passing lane that Purdue QB Joey Elliot expected to be open may have been filled with Irish defenders.

Following the touchdown, having done little more that kill clock for the entirety of the second half, Weis throws a heavily limping Jimmy Clausen back into the game. The Boilermakers send pressure on all three downs, and the hobbled Clausen is forced into an incompletion, a sack, and a short run.

Following the Notre Dame punt, it was apparent that one team spent the appropriate amount of time in the film room—and it wasn't Notre Dame. Purdue channeled the final Michigan State drive from a week ago, and succeeded where State failed as Elliot hit wide-open running back Jaycen Taylor on a wheel route for a 38-yard score.

For the third straight week, Notre Dame was in a dire situation. Facing losing to a team who they had dominated for 50 minutes. Losing to a team that they had a significant talent advantage against.

Losing to a team who had made the correct adjustments and had simply out-coached the Irish.

Excuses were plenty: no Michael Floyd, no Armando Allen, Clausen was injured and clearly not himself.

The trend, however is clear. Notre Dame still has trouble closing. The trend was there last year, with the Irish constantly giving up big leads late. This year it continues. It cost the Irish wins last year, as it has this year.

If it continues, it will cost Charlie Weis his job.

Now trailing Purdue 21-17 with threee minutes to play, it appeared the end of the Weis era had begun. Losing to a 1-2 Boilermaker team who a week ago lost to a MAC team would ignite an inferno of calls for Weis's head. ESPN would begin a "Weis Watch" ticker counting down until his ultimate demise.

In the late momets Saturday night, fate seemed to be closing in on the Irish coach.

Enter Jimmy Clausen.

Fighting everything imaginable—injury, field position, a defense that knew you had to throw—Clausen led the Irish on a 12-play, 72-yard drive that culminated in a two-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Rudolph with 25 seconds to play.

On the drive, Clausen was masterful. Every ball was either thrown with pinpoint accuracy or thrown away. He moved well in the pocket, extending one third down play before finding Robby Paris for a big gain and a first down.

Of the 12 plays on the drive, Clausen threw nine times, completing six for 68 yards and the touchdown.

On the drive, no play was more impressive than the 3rd-and-goal play.

Following a gift from the Purdue coaching staff in the form of a timeout, Clausen took the third-down snap from the two-yard line, avoided the pass rush in sliding right, then threw the ball high and wide at Robby Paris and out of the end zone.

In quickly recognizing good coverage and not taking a sack or forcing a ball into coverage, he showed his growth as a quarterback and lived to fight another play.

The fourth-down throw was also impressive, as he looked off Tate, Rudolph, Evans, Paris, and came back to Rudolph (his fifth read) before throwing the ball low and away from the defender, where only Rudolph could catch it.

Ballgame.

Purdue could only manage one bizzare sweep-reverse-lateral-fumble ruskie play that resulted in a tunrover and an Irish kneel-down to officially end the game.

Victory snatched from defeat, and a coaching staff lives another week.

Troubles are everywhere for the Irish.

They continue to go for fourth downs constantly when a field goal would better serve the cause.

They blitz constantly, despite rarely getting the the quarterback and leaving their secondary out to dry.

They continue to have an air of arrogance in game-planning, refusing to adjust as the game progresses and allowing the opposition to climb back into games, and just as often overtake them.

They continue to commit way too many mental and procedural penalties that cut deeply. (I can't wait until Sam Young graduates. He is literally the "biggest" disappointment on the team.)

The saving grace is that this team has talent.

Golden Tate and Jimmy Clausen can take a game over and win nearly singlehandedly. The offensive line has improved to the point the Irish can run when they need to.

It should be mentioned that Weis did a commendable job game-planning for two completely different offenses for Clausen and Crist. Each were effective. Where Weis continues to fail is making the decisions that a head coach must make. He continues to make decisions that place his players in desperate situations.

On this night, the players overcame and the Irish prevailed.