It took only two games for Notre Dame first-year head coach Charlie Weis to be mentioned in the same sentence as the immortal Knute Rockne.
In his 1918 debut campaign, the 30-year-old Rockne opened his head-coaching career with victories on the road against Case Tech (26-7) and Wabash (67-7). So when Weis began with far more impressive victories at No. 23 Pitt (42-21) and then No. 3 Michigan (17-10) in 2005, Notre Dame’s sports information office publicized that he became the first coach since Rockne to open his first season with two straight wins at “on-campus” road venues.
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Quinn and the Irish built their lead early and held on late.
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The statement wasn’t inaccurate, but it was slightly stretched.
In 1975, Dan Devine made his debut with a win at Boston College on a Monday night (17-3), and five days later won at Purdue (17-0), a “weekly double” that earned him a spot on Sports Illustrated’s cover several days later. The technicality involved was that the Monday night game against BC was not played at the smaller, on-campus Alumni Stadium but rather at downtown Schaefer Stadium in Foxboro, Mass.
Suffice to say that no other Notre Dame coach than Weis opened 2-0 against ranked teams, both on the road. In fact, it was the first time the Irish opened any season with back-to-back triumphs against ranked teams.
With Notre Dame desperately yearning for a Messiah Coach – the term Notre Dame president Rev. Ed “Monk” Malloy used to indirectly describe Urban Meyer as the perceived successor to the deposed Tyrone Willingham – Weis seemed to fill the bill with his early returns.
The offensive explosion against Pitt was eye-opening itself, with the 42 points the most ever by a first-year Notre Dame coach (since Rockne) in an opener. But the more intense test would come at Michigan, ranked No. 3 and sporting a 16-game winning streak at home. Notre Dame’s last trip to The Big House resulted in a 38-0 debacle in 2003.
This time, though, the Irish asserted control early and, despite sputtering on offense, held on for a 17-10 victory. From unranked to open the season, to moving to No. 20 after the win at Pitt – to soaring all the way to No. 10 with the win at Michigan.
In 2:58 after taking the opening kickoff, Notre Dame drove 76 yards for a touchdown, with Brady Quinn connecting with Rhema McKnight on a five-yard tally. A 72-yard drive in the second quarter, capped by a seven-yard TD pass from Quinn to Jeff Samardzija, made it 14-3 at halftime.
Three times in the second half, Michigan drove into Notre Dame’s red zone, reaching the Irish 12, 5 and 1 on separate possessions. But an interception by Tom Zbikowski in the end zone, an Irish goal-line stand and a Wolverine lost fumble in the end zone resulted in zero points for the home team.
Notre Dame finished with only 244 yards total offense – 55 in the second half – but the 17-3 cushion built early in the fourth quarter was enough to hold off a late Wolverine rally.
The conquest in Ann Arbor created a downward spiral for Michigan that season. The Wolverines would finish only 7-5 and unranked (the next year they would start 11-0 and be ranked No. 2), consequently creating a “Notre Dame didn’t beat anybody good” reaction as the 2005 campaign progressed.
However, few things in football evoke more positive vibes than a new regime experiencing immediate success. Although it was still extremely early in the season, this victory at Michigan elicited immense optimism that possibly – just possibly – Notre Dame had found its future leader after the disappointments experienced under Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham, with the George O’Leary fiasco mixed in.
When asked after the Michigan victory about matching Rockne’s feat from 87 years ago, Weis referred to his long-time mentors, Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick.
“If I dignified that (comment), Parcells and Belichick would just humiliate me,” Weis replied. “I’ve coached two games and we’ve played two games. Let’s come back and revisit that about 10 years from now.”
In 2009, we’ll be halfway home.
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