The 2005 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team was an American football team that represented the University of Notre Dame as an independent during the 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their first year under head coach Charlie Weis, the Irish compiled a 9–3 record, outscored opponents by a total of 440 to 294, and were ranked No. 9 in the final AP poll and No. 11 in the final Coaches Poll. They defeated No. 3 Michigan, lost to No. 1 USC, and concluded the season with a loss to No. 4 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl Weis was hired in December 2004 after the firing of Tyrone Willingham.
The team featured a passing game that tallied an average of 330.3 passing yards per game. Quarterback Brady Quinn won the Sammy Baugh Trophy and set a school record with 3,919 passing yards. Wide receiver Jeff Samardzija led the team with 77 receptions for 1,249 yards and was a consensus first-team selection on the 2005 All-America college football team. The ground game was led by running back Darius Walker who tallied 1,196 rushing yards.
The team played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana. Schedule
Preseason Coaching changes After finishing the 2004 season at 6–6, Notre Dame officials, in a controversial move, fired third-year head coach Tyrone Willingham. The Irish initially hoped to hire University of Utah head coach Urban Meyer, who had led the Utes to an undefeated season, as Meyer had been an assistant coach for the Irish for five years and had a clause in his contract stating he could leave Utah without penalty if Notre Dame offered him a job. When Meyer accepted the head coaching job at the University of Florida, Notre Dame hired Charlie Weis, the New England Patriots' offensive coordinator, making him the first Notre Dame alumnus to lead the team since 1963.
Roster changes The Irish lost a number of players on defense including four former starting defensive backs, three players on the defensive line, including defensive end Justin Tuck, and two former starting linebackers, including honorable mention All-American Derek Curry, to graduation. On the offensive side of the ball the only key losses for the Irish were running back Ryan Grant and former quarterback and wide receiver Carlyle Holiday. The Irish returned ten starters on offense and four on defense.
Award candidates Four players were named to the national awards watch lists in the pre-season: Anthony Fasano – John Mackey Award D. J. Fitzpatrick – Lou Groza Award Brandon Hoyte – Dick Butkus Award Brady Quinn – Maxwell Award
Rankings
Game summaries
Pittsburgh
The Irish's first game of the season came on the road against the No. 23 ranked Pittsburgh Panthers. The Panthers were led by their first-year head coach Dave Wannstedt and junior quarterback and two-year starter, Tyler Palko. At Notre Dame, the previous season, Palko became the first quarterback to throw five touchdown passes against the Irish in the Panthers 41–38 win. Palko started the scoring this year with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Greg Lee, however Brady Quinn and the Irish answered with a 51-yard touchdown pass to Darius Walker. The Panthers completed the first quarter scoring with a 49-yard field goal by Josh Cummings to take a 10–7 lead into the second quarter. In the second quarter, the Irish took control. The quarter began with a 2-yard touchdown run by Walker. Later, Rashon Powers-Neal scored on his own 2-yard run, and, after a fumble on the kickoff return, less than a minute later Quinn threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Samardzija, the first touchdown catch of his career, to give the Irish a 28–10 lead. Cummings hit a 23-yard field goal to cut the Irish lead to 15, but late in the half Powers-Neal ran for a 9-yard touchdown, giving the Irish a 35–13 lead at halftime.
The second half saw much less scoring. In the third quarter, Powers-Neal ran for a 4-yard touchdown, the only score in the quarter, to give the Irish their final score. In the fourth quarter, Palko ran for his own 4-yard touchdown, and the two-point conversion was the final score of the game. The Irish won the game 42–21, and jumped to 23rd in the national rankings.
Michigan
The second game of the season came on the road against long-time rivals the Michigan Wolverines, led by coach Lloyd Carr and second year starting quarterback, Chad Henne. Michigan had moved up to 3rd in the nation from a pre-season ranking of 4th after a 16-point win against Northern Illinois. Coming into the season, Michigan had not lost a home game since 2002 with a streak of 16 games and hadn't lost a non-conference home game since 1998. Also, despite beating the Wolverines twice in the last three years including a 28–20 win over the then 7th ranked Wolverines in 2004, the Irish hadn't won at Michigan since 1993.
The Irish began the game with the ball, and marched down the field with a 76-yard drive that culminated in a 5-yard Brady Quinn touchdown pass to Rhema McKnight. Late in the quarter, key Wolverine running back Mike Hart was injured during a run, keeping him out for the rest of the game. In the second quarter, on Michigan's first drive past the 50-yard line, Garrett Rivas was able to hit a 38-yard field goal to make the score 7–3 in favor of the Irish. Later in the quarter, the Irish lost McKnight to what would later be revealed as a season-ending knee injury. Quinn and Walker, however, led the Irish on another long drive, culminating in a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Samardzija to give the Irish a 14–3 lead at halftime.
The second half was filled with missed opportunities for the Wolverines. At the start of the third quarter, Henne and running back Kevin Grady led the Wolverines on a 69-yard drive, that was finally stopped on a Henne interception by safety Tom Zbikowski on the Irish 1-yard line. Most of the rest of the quarter consisted of short drives that were stopped early forcing each team to punt. In the Wolverines' final drive of the quarter, the Irish defense held them to their own 9-yard line, and forced a punt that was returned by Zbikowski to the Michigan 33-yard line. Although the Irish only advanced the ball 7-yards, at the beginning of the fourth quarter D. J. Fitzpatrick kicked a 43-yard field goal to give the Irish a 17–3 lead. On their next possession, a Walker fumble was recovered by the Wolverines on the Irish 18-yard line. After driving to the 5-yard line, the Wolverines couldn't convert a fourth down and turned the ball over to the Irish. On the Wolverines next possession, on another fourth down attempt near midfield, Henne completed a 54-yard pass to Jason Avant who was tackled at the Irish 1-yard line. On the next play, however, Henne fumbled the ball into the endzone and it was recovered by Chinedum Ndukwe for the Irish. On the Wolverines next possession, Henne threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham to bring the score to 17–10. Michigan had one final possession with two minutes remaining, but failed, once again, to convert a fourth down, sealing the win for the Irish. With the win, Weis became the first Notre Dame coach since Knute Rockne to win his first two games on the road, and the Irish moved up to 12th in the nation.
Michigan State
The Irish next had their home opener against the Michigan State Spartans, a rivalry game with the Megaphone Trophy given to the winner. The Spartans, this year's team led by coach John L. Smith and second year starting quarterback Drew Stanton, hoped to become only the second team to beat the Irish at Notre Dame for five consecutive games. Despite a win in 2004, the Irish had lost six of their last eight games against the Spartans.
The Spartans led for much of the game, at one point, late in the third quarter after Stanton threw a 65-yard pass for his third touchdown of the game, they had a 38–17 lead. The Irish, however, came back later in the quarter and tied the game at 38 during the fourth quarter, with three touchdown passes by Brady Quinn to give him a total of five for the game. During the overtime period, the Irish, with the ball first, missed three attempted passes by Quinn into the endzone, and settled for a field goal to give them a 41–38 lead. On the Spartans second play in overtime, Stanton, while running the option, pitched the ball to Jason Teague for a 19-yard touchdown to win the game. The Irish dropped to 18th and the Spartans entered the national rankings at 23rd after the week. After the game, apparently upset at not having the Megaphone Trophy to raise after the win, a small group of Spartans planted the Michigan State flag on the field. After the incident, a number of other occurrences of flag planting happened, leading to a banning of the practice by the Big Ten.
Washington
The Irish next went on the road to face the Washington Huskies, in a game dubbed the "Ty Bowl," because the Huskies were led by former Irish coach Ty Willingham. The Huskies came into the game never having beaten the Irish in five meetings including a 38–3 loss at Notre Dame in 2004.
On the first drive of the game, the Huskies easily moved forward on the Irish defense, however, were held without scoring when quarterback, Isaiah Stanback's pass to Craig Chambers was fumbled on the goal line and recovered by the Irish. The Irish didn't score on their first drive when the hold for a field goal attempt was botched. However, on their next drive the D. J. Fitzpatrick kicked a 25-yard field goal for the only score of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Evan Knudson tied the game on a 27-yard field goal. On the next drive, Darius Walker ran for a 17-yard touchdown, giving the Irish a 9–3 lead after a missed extra point. Fitzpatrick kicked another field goal of 39-yards to end scoring in the first half with the Irish leading 12–3.
After two Irish failed fourth down attempts, and a Huskies fumble, Rashon Powers-Neal ran for a 2-yard touchdown to give the Irish a 19–3 lead at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Fitzpatrick kicked another field goal of 23-yards to extend the Irish lead to 19. Later in the quarter, Brady Quinn threw his only touchdown of the game with a 52-yard pass to Jeff Samardzija. Stanback led the Huskies for their first touchdown, culminating in a 1-yard run by Mark Palaita, however the Irish answered with an 11-yard touchdown by Travis Thomas for their final score of the game. With three minutes left in the game, Stanback was replaced with backup quarterback Johnny Durocher, who threw a 41-yard touchdown to Chambers, to give the final score of 36–17. With the win, the Irish moved up in the rankings to 14th in the nation.
Purdue
The Irish next went on the road, for the fourth time in the season, to face the 20th ranked Purdue Boilermakers, led by 9th year head coach Joe Tiller, for the Shillelagh Trophy. Although the Irish led the all-time series against Purdue 49–25–2, the Boilermakers had won the two previous meetings and were hoping to come back after a double-overtime loss the previous week.