Forget for a moment the California blue-and-gold rush on the Rose Bowl turf Saturday night, the jubilant sprints by Notre Dame’s players toward their fans behind either end zone.
Forget the hugs and hollers after the first taste of victory this season, a 20-6 win over UCLA that sprung the Irish from their winless purgatory. And forget the players’ index fingers extending skyward: No. 1? Yeah, no kidding.
But forget all that.
Focus instead on one earlier scene that demonstrates the Irish’s pressing need for a remedial course in handling success, as well as grasping reality, before unbeaten and No. 4 Boston College visits this weekend.
Look at Notre Dame’s first touchdown, when Jimmy Clausen dived between center and left guard across the goal line in the third quarter.
And then watch the sideline go apoplectic. At having broken a 6-6 tie. Against a team forced to use a backup quarterback who, because of injury, could become arguably the worst starter among BCS-affiliated schools.
Celebration time? Come on.
“I was a little bit nervous on the sideline because it’s been so long since we’ve been up in the second half,” coach Charlie Weis said. “I had to go up to the guys and say, ‘Fellas, act like you’ve been here before. I know it’s been a while, but act like you’ve been here.’
“You’d have thought the game had ended on that play, how excited the sideline was.”
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It’s absolutely vital that Weis emphatically carry that theme through this week, regardless of how much he wants his team to savor a long-awaited victory.
In fairness, the players’ postgame glee was understandable, as it had been almost a calendar year since Notre Dame had won. But it cannot be more than a passing phase, nor does it deserve to be.
UCLA played a walk-on quarterback for three quarters and turned the ball over seven times.
If the Irish hadn’t won under those circumstances, the rest of the season could have been as enjoyable and rewarding as chewing shards of glass, especially with the Eagles and newly perturbed No. 10 Southern California on tap.
“We just have another quality opponent coming in,” Weis said of Boston College. “The difference is, now [the Irish have] won. So now the pressure isn’t to win a game, it’s to win the next game. I think it makes it a little bit easier.”
Not by much. Against UCLA, Weis thought he could win with a vanilla offense and an aggressive defense, believing that 21 points would be enough.
Boston College averages 35.8 points and 454.8 yards per game. Quarterback Matt Ryan has thrown only five interceptions in 255 passes. Defensively, the Eagles are third in the nation against the run, allowing 49.7 yards per game.
Notre Dame, meanwhile, remains dead last nationally in total offense at 185.7 yards per game and in scoring offense at 11 points per game.
It is unlikely the Irish will benefit from charity like UCLA provided, nor will a milquetoast game plan suffice.
This is the reality Notre Dame faces, not some contrived, adrenaline-infused fantasy that all is now well. But it took three emphatic defeats this season before Irish players snapped out of denial and acknowledged major problems existed.
It was the curse of the players’ own self-confidence. Judging by their vigorous postgame celebration at the Rose Bowl, they might be susceptible to seduction again, to believing that one game against a haggard team was a cure-all turning point.
It’s incumbent on Weis and the senior leadership to extinguish that thought. Weis said this week’s practices would reprise last week’s, which means Tuesday will be a grinding, physical affair.
Weis needs to remind his team, early and often, that such hard work got them where they were Saturday night, but that doesn’t mean they are where they want to be.
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