Sept. 25, 2004
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NOTRE DAME "Fighting Irish" vs. WASHINGTON "Huskies"
Sept. 25, 2004 * Notre Dame Stadium - Notre Dame, Ind.
POST-GAME NOTES (Notre Dame 38, Washington 3)
WASHINGTON TEAM & INDIVIDUAL NOTES
DT Erick Lobos became the sixth true freshman to play for
Washington this season. The others are: DE Greyson Gunheim, FS Darrin
Harris, ILB Dan Howell, ILB Trenton Tuiasosopo and DT Jordan
White-Frisbee. White-Frisbee made his first career start today. In
addition, redshirt DT Wilson Afoa played in his first Husky game
today.
Notre Dame's 21 first-quarter points tied as the fifth-most
by a Washington opponent in a game. It marked the sixth time in UW
history an opponent has scored 21 points in the first quarter of a
game.
OT Khalif Barnes started his 40th consecutive game this afternoon.
WR Corey Williams had career highs with five receptions, 72
yards and a 28-yard catch.
WR Bobby Whithorne caught the first pass of his career today.
Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn's four touchdown passes
ties for the fourth-most ever vs. a UW team. The last time that
occurred was in 2003, when USC's Matt Leinart threw for four TDs in a
43-23 Trojan victory.
UW now has scored in 268 consecutive games, the longest
active streak in the Pac-10 Conference, and second among Division I-A
teams to Texas (280 entering today).
Washington was held without a touchdown for the first time
since Nov. 7, 1992, when Arizona defeated the Huskies, 16-3.
NOTRE DAME TEAM NOTES
The Irish picked up their eighth home victory in nine
meetings with a Pac-10 Conference team since 1998 (only loss was to
USC last season).
Notre Dame improved to 71-36-6 (.655) all-time against Pac-10
teams, including a 41-13-1 (.755) mark at Notre Dame Stadium.
Irish head coach Tyrone Willingham earned his first career
victory over Washington in six career matchups (0-5 at Stanford, 1-0
at Notre Dame).
Notre Dame scored 31 first-half points, its largest output in
the first half since last year's Stanford game, when the Irish led
34-0.
Notre Dame scored 21 points in the first quarter, its largest
single-quarter output since a similar 21-point outburst to open the
Stanford game last year.
The last time Notre Dame held the opposition without a
touchdown was the 42-0 win over Rutgers on Nov. 23, 2002.
Today's 38-3 score represents Notre Dame's largest victory
margin (35 points) at Notre Dame Stadium since the 42-0 win over
Rutgers on Nov. 23, 2002. It's also Notre Dame's second-biggest
victory margin (regardless of site) since that 2002 Rutgers game,
behind last season's 57-7 win at Stanford.
The Irish drove 79 yards for their second touchdown of the
game, a 27-yard TD pass from Brady Quinn to Matt Shelton. It was
Notre Dame's longest drive of the season, surpassing a 77-yard march
for a 21-yard D.J. Fitzpatrick field goal at the end of the first
half against BYU.
Notre Dame recovered a Washington fumble late in the first
quarter and converted it into a touchdown on the ensuing play
(18-yard pass from Brady Quinn to Anthony Fasano). The Irish now have
forced 16 turnovers (10 FUM, 6 INT) this year and parlayed them into
52 points.
Notre Dame came up with five takeaways this afternoon (4 FUM,
1 INT), marking the fourth consecutive week the Irish have caused at
least two turnovers. That should come as no surprise to many - during
the past three-plus seasons (2001-04), Notre Dame has forced two or
more turnovers in 30 of its 40 games, including 24 contests where
they came up with at least three takeaways.
Notre Dame has forced 11 turnovers in its last two games (6
at Michigan State, 5 vs. Washington).
The average starting field position on Notre Dame's eight
drives in the first half was the Irish 38-yard line, including two
drives that began in Washington territory.
Notre Dame ventured into the red zone three times today,
scoring touchdowns on all three visits (two TD passes to junior TE
Anthony Fasano, TD run by freshman RB Darius Walker). The Irish now
are 10-of-13 (.769) overall in the red zone this year, with eight TD
in 13 chances (.615 touchdown percentage). Conversely, Washington
drove into the red zone twice and came away with a field goal - Notre
Dame opponents now have scored just two TD in eight trips to the red
zone this season (.250 touchdown percentage).
The Irish had two different players (Matt Shelton and Anthony
Fasano) catch two touchdown passes in today's game. It's the first
time Notre Dame has pulled off that feat (multiple players with
multiple TD receptions) since Sept. 26, 1998, when Autry Denson and
Jabari Holloway each had two TD receptions in a win over Purdue.
In its last six wins (Navy, BYU, Stanford in 2003; Michigan,
Michigan State, Washington in 2004), Notre Dame is averaging 35.7
points per game.
Notre Dame recorded its third consecutive win today, marking
the 41st consecutive season in which the Irish have had at least one
three-game winning streak (1964-present).
Notre Dame's defense also helped keep intact another
little-known streak. The Irish have not allowed a touchdown in the
second quarter of their last nine games, beginning with the Florida
State game on Nov. 1, 2003.
NOTRE DAME-WASHINGTON SERIES NOTES
Notre Dame now leads the all-time series with Washington,
5-0, including wins in all three matchups at Notre Dame Stadium (46-0
in 1948, 54-20 in 1996 and 38-3 today).
Washington is one of eight NCAA Division I-A opponents
against which Notre Dame has never lost, with a minimum of four games
played in the series. The others in this select group include:
California (4-0), Illinois (11-0-1), Minnesota (4-0-1), Rice (4-0),
Rutgers (4-0), Tulane (8-0) and West Virginia (4-0).
Notre Dame now has outscored Washington by an aggregate score
of 194-51 in the five-game series, or an average score of 39-10.
In three series games at Notre Dame Stadium, the Irish have
outscored the Huskies 138-23, or an average of 46-8.
NOTRE DAME INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Freshman RB Darius Walker started for the first time in his
brief Notre Dame career. Walker is the first Irish freshman running
back to earn a starting nod since Autry Denson got the call against
Florida State in the 1996 Orange Bowl (following the 1995 season).
Denson started four times as a rookie during the '95 campaign, also
working his way into the lineup vs. Army (Oct. 14), USC (Oct. 21) and
Air Force (Nov. 18).
Walker had a 17-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter,
marking the third consecutive game that the Notre Dame rookie has
found the end zone. Those three games also are the only three Walker
has played in his career to date.
Senior WR Matt Shelton also made his first career start
today. The Collierville, Tenn., native finished with a career-high
four catches for 74 yards and two touchdowns while half of his
catches this season (4 of 8) have gone for touchdowns.
Shelton latched onto his third and fourth touchdown
receptions of the season (five in his career), catching scoring
passes of 24 and 27 yards from sophomore QB Brady Quinn in the first
quarter. Shelton is the first Irish receiver to catch two TD passes
in a game since Arnaz Battle also had two scoring receptions vs.
Rutgers on Nov. 23, 2002. Shelton is averaging 39.4 yards per
touchdown catch in his career.
Shelton also is the first Irish wideout to catch two
touchdown passes in a quarter since Joey Getherall had scoring
receptions of 28 and 68 yards in the third period vs. Air Force on
Oct. 28, 2000.
Senior FB Josh Schmidt and senior WR Carlyle Holiday each had
14-yard receptions in the second quarter, the first catch of the
season for both players. Brady Quinn also caught his own batted pass
and now has completed passes to 14 different receivers (including
himself) through four games this year.
Holiday caught a career-best two passes this afternoon.
Previously, he never had registered more than one catch in a game
during his career.
Brady Quinn threw a career-high four touchdown passes today,
tying a school record set eight times previously (last: Carlyle
Holiday vs. Rutgers on Nov. 23, 2002). Quinn also is the first Irish
quarterback to throw three TD passes in one period since Holiday
turned the trick in the third quarter vs. Rutgers in 2002.
Quinn threw for a season-high 266 yards, one more than his
265 at BYU. It's also the third-highest passing yardage total of
Quinn's career (350 at Boston College and 297 at Purdue, both in
2003).
Junior TE Anthony Fasano caught a career-high two touchdown
passes this afternoon. In fact, prior to today's game, he had two TD
receptions in his career (vs. USC and Syracuse in 2003).
Fasano is the first Notre Dame tight end with two touchdown
catches in one game since Jabari Holloway had two against Purdue on
Sept. 26, 1998.
Senior D.J. Fitzpatrick booted a season-long 45-yard field
goal in the second quarter. It was the second-longest three-pointer
of his career, topped only by a 50-yard field goal in last year's
finale at Syracuse.
Fitzpatrick also averaged a career-best 46.0 yards per punt,
easily topping his previous best mark of 41.1 yards per punt vs.
Florida State on Nov. 1, 2003.
NOTRE DAME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
The Notre Dame football program is nearing a historic
milestone. With today's win over Washington, the Irish need just one
more victory to become just the second NCAA Division I-A program to
amass 800 all-time wins. The Irish currently rank second in NCAA
history with 799 wins, trailing only Michigan's 836 victories
(including UM's win over Iowa today), although the Wolverines have
played nine more seasons than Notre Dame.
With the Washington game televised nationally by NBC, the
Irish extended their streak of appearances on one of four major
networks (NBC, ABC, CBS or ESPN) to 140 consecutive games, a stretch
that covers 10 full seasons (1993-2003). The last time the Irish
didn't appear on one of those four networks was more than 11 years
ago (Oct. 31, 1992), when Notre Dame downed Navy, 38-7, at Giants
Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. That game was shown locally in the
South Bend area on WNDU-TV.
Today's game captains for Notre Dame were: FS Quentin
Burrell, RT Mark LeVoir, DT Greg Pauly and WR Matt Shelton. The Irish
have chosen captains on a game-by-game basis throughout Tyrone
Willingham's tenure at Notre Dame.
Notre Dame won the toss and elected to defer to the second
half, while Washington chose to receive and defend the South goal.
