i rish seek first road win

By LIAM COOLICAN a ssociate sports editor

The last time notre dame took on Georgia Tech, the mood in south bend was hopeful. The irish had emerged with a come-frombehind, 73-72 overtime victory at Purcell Pavilion. it seemed, after five straight losses to open conference play, they were primed to turn the season around.

it was hard to believe that a team coming off a top-three finish in the acc, a team that was minutes away from a sweet sixteen berth, could fall off so drastically.

“obviously we haven’t started off the acc schedule the way as we’d like, but we still got 14 more games to prove it and get back on track,” graduate student guard dane Goodwin said after that game, which saw the irish erase a sevenpoint deficit in the final four minutes to force overtime. “We have the ability to do it, we have the ability to close out games like tonight.” in that stretch, they have shown no ability to close out close games. They fell on the road to syracuse despite leading by as many as twelve points in the second half. They dropped a one-possession game to north carolina state in raleigh. Perhaps most disconcertingly, they lost by a dozen points at home to a mediocre boston college team in a game that was there for the taking until the closing minutes.

Yet less than a month later, those hopeful sentiments ring hollow. The irish have gone on to lose five of their six conference games since. Their only win came against an abysmal Louisville team. in fact, notre dame has yet to win a game against a team ahead of them in the conference standings. The irish currently sit 13th in the acc, ahead of only the cardinals and Yellow Jackets.

“in the two games we’ve won in the league, the other team helped us a bit,” head coach mike brey said after the most recent loss, an 81-64 defeat to Wake Forest. “These guys aren’t going to help you.” even against a Georgia Tech team that sits 1-12 in acc play, including a double-digit loss to that same Louisville team that was blown out in south bend only recently, the irish might need more help to get their first road win of the year.

“We’ll go to atlanta and keep on playing,” a dejected brey said after saturday’s loss. “You’d love to see if you can get a little momentum before you go to Greensboro (for the acc tournament).” brey, who has become known for his thin rotations, does not have many options available behind Lubin. Freshman dom campbell, his primary backup, is unavailable for several weeks due to an achilles injury. That leaves junior matt Zona, the student section favorite who had played just 33 minutes this year prior to saturday’s game. Zona added little on offense and was a liability at times on defense against the demon deacons as they racked up 28 points in the paint. Zona has played few meaningful minutes in his three-plus years with the irish, but he’ll get a chance to prove himself down the stretch as Lubin and campbell both deal with injuries. meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets are in the midst of a nine-game slide dating back to early January. it is a prime opportunity for notre dame to get their first road win. if they hope to do that, however, the irish will have to work to keep Georgia Tech off the offensive glass. Georgia Tech collects 11 offensive boards per game, good for third in the conference. The irish, meanwhile, typically don’t benefit from second-chance points, averaging just 6.9 offensive boards, the fewest in the acc

The irish will need more from Goodwin if they hope to return home with a win on Wednesday. he paced the irish with 19 points and a season-high 12 rebounds in the win on Jan. 10. Yet he scored just six points on 2-12 shooting in the loss to Wake Forest. Goodwin has had a disappointing stretch of games after he was a key to the irish’s success a year ago.

Yet Goodwin can’t do it alone. The irish have struggled on the glass all season, particularly recently with the absence of freshman forward ven-allen Lubin. Lubin has missed the last two games with an ongoing foot injury. They were out-rebounded 37-23 on the defensive glass against Wake Forest.

Lubin practiced monday and will have a chance to play Wednesday, according to the south bend Tribune’s Tom noie, which would be a much-needed boost for the irish.

Limiting second-chance opportunities will be key against one of the worst shooting teams in the country. Georgia Tech is shooting at a lowly 41.2% clip from the field, last in the conference. it will be a prove-it game for an irish defense that has been among the conference’s worst in the conference this season.

The beauty of college basketball is that the season is never truly over thanks to the conference tournament format. but with just eight games remaining before the acc tournament, time is running out to right the ship.

Wednesday’s game tips off at 7 p.m. from mccamish Pavilion in atlanta. The contest is available on regional sports networks and the notre dame radio network.

Contact Liam Coolican at lcoolica@nd.edu country. The ceiling of their 2014 team dropped to a new Year’s six bowl at best, but that would require winning out. northwestern entered as one of the coldest teams in the country. They had lost four straight games and scored no more than 29 points in any game. during their skid, they hadn’t exceeded 17 points. The Wildcats entered notre dame stadium with a 3-6 record. They looked illequipped to face an angry Irish team that riding a seven-game home winning streak. notre dame was led in 2014 by everett Golson, the quarterback who brought the Irish back to the national championship in the 2012-13 season. however, his 2014 campaign was a rocky one, with Golson throwing 29 touchdown passes but also 14 interceptions. The Irish were led by running back Tarean Folston and wide receiver Will Fuller, each over 1,000 all-purpose yards. Their defense generated a lot of turnovers, notching 16 interceptions on the year, but also struggled to stop their opponents without those turnovers, allowing over 29 points per contest. safety matthias Farley tied for the team lead in both sacks (3.5) and interceptions (four).

Irish started fast before the game, head coach brian Kelly told nbc sideline reporter Kathryn Tappen that he expected Golson to play well, despite throwing four interceptions at Arizona state. Kelly noted they would let him be aggressive and get off to a good start. he also said that it was important for his young defense to continue to grow each game. however, the first sign of things going wrong happened on northwestern’s first possession. on paper, the Irish should have dominated the Wildcats, but that didn’t happen early. northwestern marched 74 yards on nine plays for a touchdown. They moved the chains via a pair of solid third-down conversions. Then, at midfield, the Irish’s struggling rush defense struck again. northwestern dominated at the line, and one offensive lineman absolutely obliterated freshman linebacker nyles morgan downfield, keying a 44-yard run. From there, an

Facing the ice-cold Wildcats offense seemed like the perfect recipe for accomplishing as much.

The hope for defensive improvement was ultimately in vain, but Golson did come out aggressive. he threw on the first three plays. After a pair of incompletions, Golson fired a 14-yard third-down pass under pressure from his blind side. on the ensuing play, Golson called his own number and showed impressive burst to run 61 yards for the score. A strong offensive start for the Irish against a weak northwestern offense was part of the recipe for an easy win, and Golson delivered.

Irish penalty gave northwestern multiple chances from inside the six-yard line and they converted easily. Poor situational defense, a bad penalty and failing to prevent big plays. Trends that often hurt young defenses hurt notre dame on that first drive.

The Irish needed some veteran leadership from the defense, which they got on the next drive. A pair of fifth-years in cody r iggs and Austin collinsworth combined for a scoop-and-score touchdown. however, the PAT was blocked and returned for a safety, cutting the notre dame lead to 13-9.

The game script continued to favor the Irish, as they earned a stop on downs on the ensuing northwestern possession. Then, they blitzed the Wildcats’ defense for 64 yards in four plays, taking a 20-9 lead. The mood in notre dame stadium was energetic, and the Irish, after a sluggish defensive start, looked strong on both sides of the ball.

What went wrong?

In baseball, after a big inning, there’s something called a shutdown inning — holding an opponent scoreless after scoring a few runs of your own. notre dame, up 11 points with a hot offense, could have used a big shutdown possession from their defense after taking command. They forced a third and 10. northwestern, showing little confidence in their offense, called for a draw play. but, the conservative play call resulted in a 45-yard run, gashing the heart of the Irish defense.

Another third down conversion, and another 40+ yard rush. northwestern gained another 25 yards on three rushes and eventually scored on a four-yard touchdown pass. Instead of a quick stop, notre dame allowed northwestern to close within 20-16 in the opening seconds of the second quarter.

A punt and a turnover brought the Irish’s offensive momentum to a screeching halt. The turnover came via a Golson interception that was returned 65 yards. northwestern needed one play to gain the remaining four yards and take a 23-20 lead. suddenly, northwestern, in just the first half, had nearly matched the most points they had scored all season.

Although notre dame scored to take the lead, 27-23, heading into the locker room, the momentum felt decidedly against the Irish. northwestern had again gashed the Irish defense with a big play, a 60-yard pass, but notre dame bailed themselves out with an interception. even then, they followed up that burst of energy with a missed 38-yard field goal. Without special teams miscues, the Irish could have led by 10.

Second Half

To open the second half, the Irish allowed yet another explosive play. This time, it was a 29yard pass from northwestern quarterback Trevor siemian. siemian later ran for 16 yards to bring the Wildcats into the red zone. A sack halted the drive, but northwestern still gained a field goal and held plenty of offensive confidence. notre dame failed to regain any momentum. They went three-and-out, but the Irish defense forced a fumble. notre dame took over at the northwestern 21. After a 16-yard run, they promptly fumbled, their second turnover inside the Wildcats’ 30.

Like in the first half, however, notre dame seemingly seized control. nothing came of the Irish fumble, and notre dame scored on their next possession to take a 34-26 lead. more missed opportunities haunted the Irish, as they fumbled again inside the northwestern fiveyard line. however, the Wildcats couldn’t capitalize, and notre dame scored again. The Irish went for two points, a questionable decision at best. The Irish failed, allowing northwestern to stay within eleven. Unforced errors — failed extra-point conversions, a missed field goal and two turnovers within five yards of the end zone — kept the game within striking distance. still, with barely six minutes remaining, all notre dame needed to do was not surrender a pair of scoring drives to a struggling northwestern offense. enter notre dame’s young defense. notre dame allowed a third-down conversion and then promptly committed a personal foul. Another big siemian run, this one for 15 yards, brought northwestern to the red zone, and they scored and converted a two-point conversion. With 4:10 remaining, notre dame led, 40-37.

The Irish offense converted a pair of first downs, and northwestern began burning timeouts. The Irish needed one first down to seal the result. even if they didn’t get it, a couple of runs and a punt would have given northwestern under 40 seconds to work with and likely a full field to drive to tie the game.

Instead, senior running back cam mcdaniel fumbled, and northwestern drove 44 yards for the game-tying 45-yard field goal. In overtime, the two offenses combined to gain a single yard. The difference? special teams, yet again. notre dame missed their field goal, and northwestern made theirs, sealing the stunning 43-40 upset. It was a collapse of the highest order for notre dame. While a road loss to a top-ten team, even a bad one, was somewhat forgivable, this game wasn’t. The season went down the drain, and notre dame couldn’t get itself out of a largely self-inflicted collapse. They lost to no. 24 Louisville at home the next week, and then they traveled to their unranked rivals at Usc The Trojans laughed the Irish out of the stadium en route to a 49-14 win, sending the spiraling boys in blue and gold to a 7-5 record. It was the only four-game losing stretch of the brian Kelly era, a skid started at Arizona state but truly set in motion by a stunning loss to northwestern.