2004 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

2004 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Insight Bowl, L 21–38 vs. Oregon State
Conference	Independent
Record	6–6
Head coach	Tyrone Willingham (3rd season; regular season) Kent Baer (interim; bowl game)
Offensive coordinator	Bill Diedrick (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	West Coast
Defensive coordinator	Kent Baer (3rd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium
Seasons ←  2003 2005  →

2004 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 24 Navy			–						10	–	2
Notre Dame			–						6	–	6
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2004 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Tyrone Willingham and played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

Season summary

The 2004 season began with doubts and criticism for the Irish. ^[1] With Julius Jones graduating as fourth-leading rusher in Notre Dame history, ^[2] the Irish hoped to replace him with a talented recruiting class. However, Willingham struggled in his second full year of recruiting and the new class was ranked 30th in the nation. ^[3] Despite signing highly sought after recruit Darius Walker, ^[4] the 17 man class only included three four-star recruits. ^[5]

The season began poorly for the Irish with a loss at BYU. Despite Brady Quinn improving at the quarterback position, completing over 50 percent of his passes for 265 yards, the Irish only managed to gain 11 yards rushing. ^[6] They next faced a highly ranked Michigan team at home and Willingham stated that an improved running game would be important if the Irish were to be able to beat the Wolverines. ^[7] Darius Walker answered Willingham in his first collegiate game, gaining 115 yards and scoring two late touchdowns to lead the Irish in the upset. ^[8] With the win the Irish were rejuvenated, ^[9] and rallied to move to 3–1 on the season with wins over Michigan State and Washington. ^{[10] [11]} Some in the media began comparing Willingham to some of Notre Dame's legendary coaches and said the team would win seven or eight games in the season, and be back in national championship contention by 2005. ^[12]

With renewed expectations, the Irish hoped to continue their streak and beat 15th ranked Purdue, who hadn't won at Notre Dame in 30 years. The Boilermakers' quarterback, Kyle Orton, torched the Irish defense handing them a 25 point loss to end the rally. ^[13] The Irish got back on track and beat Stanford, making Notre Dame the second school to reach 800 wins, ^[14] and Navy for the 41st straight time, ^[15] to move into the rankings for the first time since their 2003 loss to Michigan.

The Irish didn't stay ranked for long, as Boston College once again beat the Irish on a late score. ^[16] The Irish had three games left, and needed one win to become bowl eligible, but looked as if that win wouldn't come in their next game as they faced the 9th ranked Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville. The Irish defense, however, stepped up, and, after knocking out quarterback Erik Ainge on a sack, returned an interception for a touchdown to upset the Volunteers and become bowl eligible. ^[17] Once again ranked, the Irish returned home for their final home game against Pittsburgh. Losing on a late score, the team allowed five passing touchdowns by an opponent for the first time ever at home. ^[18] Visiting USC for the final regular season game, the Irish again lost to the Trojans by 31. ^[19] The Irish accepted a bowl bid to play in the Insight Bowl, ^[20] however, in a highly criticized move, ^{[21] [22] [23] [24] [25]} two days later fired Willingham. ^[26] Defensive coordinator, Kent Baer, led the Irish, hoping to "win one for Ty," however, the Oregon State Beavers, led by four touchdown passes from Derek Anderson, beat the Irish in their seventh consecutive bowl loss. ^[27] The Irish ended 2004 with a 6–6 record and in need of a coach.

2004 Insight Bowl

The second bowl on December 28, the Insight Bowl held at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona, the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, was the second of the 2004–05 bowl season to pit two BCS member teams. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the only independent BCS member, took on the Oregon State Beavers from the Pac-10. The Beavers never trailed in the game, and easily defeated the Irish 38–21. Beavers quarterback Derek Anderson threw for 359 yards and four touchdown passes, with no interceptions.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 4	9:15 p.m.	at BYU		LaVell Edwards Stadium Provo, UT	ESPN	L 17–20	65,251
September 11	3:30 p.m.	No. 8 Michigan		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	NBC	W 28–20	80,795
September 18	7:00 p.m.	at Michigan State		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (rivalry)	ESPN	W 31–24	74,962
September 25	2:30 p.m.	Washington		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	NBC	W 38–3	80,795
October 2	2:30 p.m.	No. 15 Purdue		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	NBC	L 16–41	80,795
October 9	2:30 p.m.	Stanford		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	NBC	W 23–15	80,795
October 16	12:00 p.m.	at Navy		Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ (rivalry)	CBS	W 27–9	76,166
October 23	1:30 p.m.	Boston College	No. 24	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (Holy War)	NBC	L 23–24	80,795
November 6	3:30 p.m.	at No. 9 Tennessee		Neyland Stadium Knoxville, TN	CBS	W 17–13	107,266
November 13	2:30 p.m.	Pittsburgh	No. 24	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	NBC	L 38–41	80,795
November 27	8:00 p.m.	at No. 1 USC		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	ABC	L 10–41	92,611
December 28	9:45 p.m.	vs. Oregon State		Bank One Ballpark Phoenix, AZ (Insight Bowl)	ESPN	L 21–38	45,917
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

Michigan

1 2 3 4 Total Michigan 6 3 3 8 20 •Notre Dame 0 0 7 21 28 Date: September 11 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Game start: 3:30 p.m. EST Television network: NBC

Scoring summary 1 8:29 Michigan Garrett Rivas 38-yard field goal Michigan 3-0 1 0:11 Michigan Garrett Rivas 33-yard field goal Michigan 6-0 2 0:00 Michigan Garrett Rivas 22-yard field goal Michigan 9-0 3 11:02 Notre Dame Matt Shelton 46-yard pass from Brady Quinn (D.J. Fitzpatrick kick) Michigan 9-7 3 5:57 Michigan Garrett Rivas 47-yard field goal Michigan 12-7 4 13:48 Notre Dame Darius Walker 6-yard run (D.J. Fitzpatrick kick) Notre Dame 14-12 4 11:23 Notre Dame Darius Walker 5-yard run (D.J. Fitzpatrick kick) Notre Dame 21-12 4 5:49 Notre Dame Rashon Powers-Neal 8-yard pass from Brady Quinn (D.J. Fitzpatrick kick) Notre Dame 28-12 4 2:27 Michigan Steve Breaston 25-yard pass from Chad Henne (Steve Breaston pass from Chad Henne) Notre Dame 28-20

^[28]

Michigan State

1 2 3 4 Total •Notre Dame 14 7 7 3 31 Michigan St 7 0 7 10 24 Date: September 18 Location: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI Game start: 7:00 p.m. EST

Scoring summary 1 12:18 MSU Jerramy Scott recovered blocked punt in end zone (Dave Rayner kick) Michigan St 7–0 1 4:42 ND Brady Quinn 1-yard run (D.J. Fitzpatrick kick) Tie 7–7 1 :07 ND Tom Zbikowski 75-yard fumble return (D.J. Fitzpatrick kick) Notre Dame 14–7 2 8:52 ND Matt Shelton 35-yard pass from Brady Quinn (D.J. Fitzpatrick kick) Notre Dame 21–7 3 5:39 ND Ryan Grant 6-yard run (D.J. Fitzpatrick kick) Notre Dame 28–7 3 5:28 MSU DeAndra' Cobb 89-yard kick return (Dave Rayner kick) Notre Dame 28–14 4 14:55 MSU Dave Rayner 46-yard field goal Notre Dame 28–17 4 :57 ND D.J. Fitzpatrick 23-yard field goal Notre Dame 31–17 4 :09 MSU Drew Stanton 4-yard run (Dave Rayner kick) Notre Dame 31–24

^[29]

Oregon State (Insight Bowl)

Notre Dame vs. Oregon State

1 2 3 4 Total Fighting Irish 0 7 7 7 21 •Beavers 14 7 3 14 38 Date: December 28 Location: Bank One Ballpark Game start: 6:45 p.m. PST Game attendance: 45,917 Television network: ESPN

Scoring summary 1 9:24 ORST George Gillett 12 yard pass from Derek Anderson (Alexis Serna kick) Oregon State 7–0 1 5:41 ORST Joe Newton 11 yard pass from Derek Anderson (Alexis Serna kick) Oregon State 14–0 2 7:49 ORST Dan Haines 11 yard pass from Derek Anderson (Alexis Serna kick) Oregon State 21–0 2 :56 ND Anthony Fasano 13 yard pass from Brady Quinn (D.J. Fitzpatrick kick) Oregon State 21–7 3 9:16 ORST Alexis Serna 38 yard field goal Oregon State 24–7 3 2:40 ND Darius Walker 5 yard run (D.J. Fitzpatrick kick) Oregon State 24–14 4 12:17 ORST Joe Newton 1 yard pass from Derek Anderson (Alexis Serna kick) Oregon State 31–14 4 4:52 ND Rhema McKnight 18 yard pass from Brady Quinn (D.J. Fitzpatrick kick) Oregon State 31–21 4 3:19 ORST Dwight Wright Jr. 2 yard run (Alexis Serna kick) Oregon State 38–21

Main article: 2004 Insight Bowl

See also: 2004 Oregon State Beavers football team

^[30]

Aftermath of the Willingham firing

In firing Willingham, the Notre Dame athletic department cited a relatively poor record of 21–15, a weak recruiting class, and three losses, each by 31 points, to rival USC. ^[31] However, the Irish also hoped to entice Urban Meyer, the head coach of Utah, to lead Notre Dame. Meyer had just led the Utes to an undefeated season and he had a clause in his contract that stated he could leave Utah without a penalty to coach for the Irish. ^[32] When Meyer instead took the head coaching position at Florida, ^[33] the Irish were ridiculed in the media, saying that the Notre Dame coaching position is no longer as prestigious as it was in the past. ^{[34] [35]} After over a week without a coach, the Irish hired New England Patriots' offensive coordinator Charlie Weis as head coach. Weis was an alum of Notre Dame, and became the first alum to coach the team since 1963. ^[36] At least one sports writer stated that Weis was a choice that made sense for the program. ^[37] Notwithstanding, after the fact Willingham's firing remained controversial with some believing he was treated unfairly. ^[38]

References

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28. ESPN.com
29. ESPN.com
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34. Dodd, Dennis (December 3, 2004). "In 2004, Notre Dame beneath top coach like Meyer". CBS Sportsline. Archived from the original on December 8, 2004. Retrieved August 26, 2007.
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37. Smith, Michael (December 10, 2004). "Patriots' Weis is perfect for Irish". ESPN. Retrieved August 26, 2007.
38. Then again Ty Willingham was a major failure at the University of Washington- in fact going 0–12 in his last season.Mandel, Stewart (September 19, 2007). "College Football Mailbag". SI.com. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2007.