2002 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Gator Bowl, L 6–28 vs. NC State
ConferenceIndependent
Ranking
CoachesNo. 17
APNo. 17
Record10–3
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorBill Diedrick
Offensive schemeWest Coast
Defensive coordinatorKent Baer
Base defense4–3
Home stadiumNotre Dame Stadium (c. 80,795, grass)
2002 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
South Florida   –   9 –2  
No. 17 Notre Dame   –   10 –3  
Connecticut   –   6 –6  
Utah State   –   4 –7  
Troy State   –   4 –8  
Navy   –   2 –10  
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2002 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 2002 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 overview

The 2002 season became known as a "Return to Glory" for the Irish.[1] This phrase appeared on a student shirt that created a "Sea of Green" in the Irish stands.[2] It was picked up by many in the media and was used on the front cover of Sports Illustrated.[3] Despite not scoring an offensive touchdown in their first two games,[4] the Irish won both, and in the process made Willingham the 24th Notre Dame head coach to win his opener in his first season.[5] The team went on to win its next six games, including wins over Willingham's alma mater, Michigan State, and Stanford, his former team.[6][7]

The team was initially led throughout the season by quarterback Carlyle Holiday, former quarterback and wide receiver Arnaz Battle, and on defense, Shane Walton. Running back Ryan Grant, who had to replace Julius Jones who was out for academic reasons, also played an important role. During the Michigan State game, however, Holiday was injured and replaced by backup Pat Dillingham. Dillingham led the Irish to a comeback win on a screen pass to Battle in that game,[6] and he continued the winning streak until Holiday returned for the Florida State game. In that game, Holiday threw a 65-yard touchdown on his first play to Battle that helped the Irish win the game.[8]

The first Irish loss of the season came against the Boston College Eagles, mirroring the 1993 season when Notre Dame narrowly lost a chance to participate in the national championship game due to a loss to Boston College. Willingham, wanting the team to be a part of the "Sea of Green" in the stands,[9] decided that the team should wear green for the game. In 1985, the last time the Irish wore green at home, they came out after halftime against USC and won the game 37–3. The ploy, however, did not work this time, as the Irish committed 5 turnovers and Holliday was injured again and replaced by Dillingham, who threw 2 interception, one of which the Eagles returned for a touchdown that sealed the loss for the Irish.[10]

The Fighting Irish won their next two games, including their 39th straight victory over Navy and a 42–0 blowout victory over struggling Rutgers.[11][12] This gave Notre Dame a legitimate shot at a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl game if they could win against perennial rival USC. The Irish were ranked higher than the Trojans, but USC quarterback Carson Palmer, who cited the game as the reason he went on to win the Heisman Trophy,[13] threw for 425 yards in the Trojans' 31 point win.[14] The Irish won 10 games but were not invited to a BCS bowl game, and they accepted a bid to play North Carolina State in the Gator Bowl instead. With both an offense and defense that outmatched the Irish, the Wolfpack won the game 28–6, giving the Irish their sixth consecutive bowl loss.[15] Despite the loss, the Irish ended the season ranked in both the Associated Press (AP) and Coaches Polls.[16]

After the season, some Irish were honored with post-season awards. Battle was named by one foundation as their sportsman of the year,[17] while Walton was named as a Consensus All-American.[18] Finally, Willingham was honored with two Coach of the Year awards,[19][20] was named by Sporting News as "Sportsman of the Year",[21] and was the only coach listed by Sporting News as one of their "Most Powerful People in Sports".[22]

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
August 318:00 p.m.vs. No. 21 Maryland
ABCW 22–072,903
September 712:00 p.m.PurdueNo. 23
NBCW 24–1780,795
September 141:30 p.m.No. 7 MichiganNo. 20
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)
NBCW 25–2380,795
September 213:30 p.m.at Michigan StateNo. 12
ABCW 21–1775,182
October 51:30 p.m.StanfordNo. 9
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)
NBCW 31–780,795
October 121:30 p.m.PittsburghNo. 8
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)
NBCW 14–680,795
October 1910:00 p.m.at No. 18 Air ForceNo. 7
ESPNW 21–1456,409
October 2612:00 p.m.at No. 11 Florida StateNo. 6
ABCW 34–2484,106
November 22:30 p.m.Boston CollegeNo. 4
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN (Holy War)
NBCL 7–1480,935
November 912:00 p.m.at NavyNo. 9
CBSW 30–2370,260
November 231:00 p.m.RutgersNo. 8
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN
NBCW 42–080,795
November 308:00 p.m.at No. 6 USCNo. 7
ABCL 13–4491,432
January 1, 200312:30 p.m.vs. No. 17 NC StateNo. 11
NBCL 6–2873,491

Roster

2002 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
WR 3 Arnaz Battle Sr
OT 78 Jordan Black Sr
TE 48 Jerome Collins So
OT 63 Brennan Curtin Sr
QB 9 Pat Dillingham So
C 52 Jeff Faine Sr
TE 88 Anthony Fasano Fr
TE 14 Gary Godsey Jr
RB 4 Ryan Grant So
QB 7 Carlyle Holiday So
WR 80 Omar Jenkins Jr
WR 48 Jonathan Gentine Sr
RB 22 Julius Jones (S) Jr
G 73 Mark LeVoir So
FB 39 Tom Lopienski Sr
G 79 Sean Mahan Sr
OT 70 Jim Molinaro Jr
QB 2 Dan Novakov Sr
RB 35 Tim O'Neill Sr
RB 23 Chris Yura Sr
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
CB 9 Jason Beckstrom Sr
DE 90 Brian Beidatsch So
S 27 Lionel Bolen So
DE 92 Kyle Budinscak So
S 29 Quentin Burrell So
CB 6 Carlos Campbell So
DT 60 Darrell Campbell Jr
S 31 Jake Carney Fr
DB 5 Glenn Earl Jr
LB 41 Mike Goolsby Jr
DE 95 Ryan Roberts Sr
LB 56 Pat Ryan Sr
S 20 Gerome Sapp Sr
DE 99 Jason Sapp So
LB 57 Justin Thomas Jr
DE 44 Justin Tuck So
CB 42 Shane Walton Sr
LB 33 Courtney Watson Sr
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
P 17 Joey Hildbold Sr
K 13 Nick Setta Jr
LS 53 John Crowther Sr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Roster
Last update: 2002-08-02

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
— = Not ranked. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
PollPre12345678910111213141516Final
AP——2320121098764 (1)9987111117
Coaches——2421121098766 (1)10987131217
BCSNot released337767109Not released

Game summaries

At Florida State

at No. 6 USC

1 234Total
No. 7 Fighting Irish 6 700 13
• No. 6 Trojans 0 171314 44
  • Date: November 30
  • Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
  • Game start: 8:00 p.m. EST
  • Elapsed time: 3:26
  • Game attendance: 91,432
  • Game weather: Cloudy; 60 °F (16 °C); wind variable
  • Referee: Chuck McFerrin
  • Television network: ABC
Scoring summary
Q14:10NDSetta 34-yard field goalND 3–0
Q13:46NDSetta 32-yard field goalND 6–0
Q210:49USCWilliams 6-yard pass from Palmer (Killeen kick)USC 7–6
Q23:34USCKilleen 22-yard field goalUSC 10–6
Q21:07NDPierre-Antoine recovered blocked punt in end zone (Setta kick)ND 13–10
Q2:05USCWilliams 19-yard pass from Palmer (Killeen kick)USC 17–13
Q312:01USCMacKenzie 15-yard pass from Palmer (Killeen kick)USC 24–13
Q36:36USCKilleen 27-yard field goalUSC 27–13
Q32:15USCKilleen 29-yard field goalUSC 30–13
Q411:58USCMcCullough 11-yard run (Killeen kick)USC 37–13
Q47:23USCMacKenzie 10-yard pass from Palmer (Killeen kick)USC 44–13

Vs. NC State (Gator Bowl)

Gator Bowl
1 234Total
• Wolfpack 0 2107 28
Fighting Irish 3 030 6
  • Source:
Scoring summary
15:09NDNick Setta 23-yard field goalND 3-0
214:30NCSTT.A. McLendon 2-yard run (Adam Kiker kick)NCST 7-3
25:30NCSTT.A. McLendon 3-yard run (Adam Kiker kick)NCST 14-3
21:37NCSTJerricho Cotchery 9-yard pass from Philip Rivers (Adam Kiker kick)NCST 21-3
32:50NDNick Setta 41-yard field goalNCST 21-6
410:50NCSTSean Berton 7-yard pass from Philip Rivers (Adam Kiker kick)NCST 28-6

Team players in the NFL

PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL club
Jeff FaineCenter121Cleveland Browns
Jordan BlackTackle5153Kansas City Chiefs
Sean MahanCenter5168Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Shane WaltonSafety5170St. Louis Rams
Gerome SappSafety6182Baltimore Ravens
Arnaz BattleWide Receiver6197San Francisco 49ers
Brennan CurtinTackle6212Green Bay Packers

References

  1. ↑ Barra, Allen (September 27, 2002). "Notre Dame's return to glory! (Part 23)". Salon. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  2. ↑ Krivickas, Justin (October 2, 2002). ""The Shirt" makes a return to glory". The Observer. UK. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  3. ↑ "SI Covers". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on June 12, 2007. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  4. ↑ "Irish defense scoring all the touchdowns". ESPN. September 7, 2002. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
  5. ↑ "Notre Dame 22, Maryland 0". UND.cstv.com. August 31, 2002. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
  6. 1 2 "Irish Rally To Stop Spartans, 21–17". UND.cstv.com. September 21, 2002. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  7. ↑ "Fighting Irish Crush Cardinal, 31–7". UND.cstv.com. October 5, 2002. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  8. ↑ "No. 6 Notre Dame Rolls Past No. 11 FSU, 34–24". UND.cstv.com. October 26, 2002. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  9. ↑ "Post Game Notes". UND.cstv.com. November 2, 2002. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  10. ↑ "No. 4 Irish Fall To Boston College, 14–7". UND.cstv.com. November 2, 2002. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  11. ↑ "No. 9 Irish Come From Behind To Beat Navy". UND.cstv.com. November 9, 2002. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  12. ↑ "No. 8 Irish Rough Up Rutgers, 42–0". UND.cstv.com. November 23, 2002. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  13. ↑ "Palmer wins every region except Midwest". ESPN. December 16, 2002. Retrieved March 10, 2009.
  14. ↑ "No. 7 Irish Fall To Trojans". UND.cstv.com. November 30, 2002. Archived from the original on February 20, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  15. ↑ "No. 11 Irish Fall To No. 17 NC State In Gator Bowl, 28–6". UND.cstv.com. January 1, 2003. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  16. ↑ "2002 NCAA Football Rankings – Postseason Week 3 (Jan. 5)". ESPN. January 5, 2003. Retrieved February 18, 2008.
  17. ↑ "Arnaz Battle Named Independence Bowl Foundation Sportsman of the Year". UND.cstv.com. December 18, 2002. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  18. ↑ "Shane Walton Named Consensus All-American". UND.cstv.com. January 3, 2003. Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  19. ↑ "Tyrone Willingham Named Home Depot National Coach Of The Year". UND.cstv.com. December 9, 2002. Archived from the original on July 21, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  20. ↑ "Tyrone Willingham Wins George Munger Award for College Coach of the Year". UND.cstv.com. December 13, 2002. Archived from the original on March 2, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  21. ↑ Bock, Hal (December 11, 2002). "Willingham named Sporting News Sportsman of the Year". Centralohio.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  22. ↑ "Willingham Listed As One Of The Most Powerful People In Sports". UND.cstv.com. January 13, 2003. Archived from the original on February 17, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
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