2002 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

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.

2002 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Gator Bowl, L 6–28 vs. NC State
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 17
AP	No. 17
2002 record	10–3
Head coach	Tyrone Willingham (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Bill Diedrick
Offensive scheme	West Coast
Defensive coordinator	Kent Baer
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium (c. 80,795, grass)

2002 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
	Conf							Overall
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

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, after an injured Holiday was replaced by Dillingham, and the Eagles defense returned an interception 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

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	8:00 p.m.	vs. No. 21 Maryland		Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ (Kickoff Classic)	ABC	W 22–0	72,903[23]
September 7	12:00 p.m.	Purdue	No. 23	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (Shillelagh Trophy)	NBC	W 24–17	80,795[23]
September 14	1:30 p.m.	No. 7 Michigan	No. 20	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)	NBC	W 25–23	80,795[23]
September 21	3:30 p.m.	at Michigan State	No. 12	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (Megaphone Trophy)	ABC	W 21–17	75,182[23]
October 5	1:30 p.m.	Stanford	No. 9	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (Legends Trophy)	NBC	W 31–7	80,795[23]
October 12	1:30 p.m.	Pittsburgh	No. 8	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)	NBC	W 14–6	80,795[23]
October 19	10:00 p.m.	at No. 18 Air Force	No. 7	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO	ESPN	W 21–14	56,409[23]
October 26	12:00 p.m.	at No. 11 Florida State	No. 6	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ABC	W 34–24	84,106[23]
November 2	2:30 p.m.	Boston College	No. 4	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (Holy War)	NBC	L 7–14	80,935[23]
November 9	12:00 p.m.	at Navy	No. 9	Ravens Stadium Baltimore, MD (rivalry)	CBS	W 30–23	70,260[23]
November 23	1:00 p.m.	Rutgers	No. 8	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN	NBC	W 42–0	80,795[23]
November 30	8:00 p.m.	at No. 6 USC	No. 7	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Jeweled Shillelagh)	ABC	L 13–44	91,432[23]
January 1, 2003	12:30 p.m.	vs. No. 17 NC State	No. 11	Alltel Stadium Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl)	NBC	L 6–28	73,491[23]
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Roster

2002 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 3 Arnaz Battle Sr T 78 Jordan Black Sr TE 48 Jerome Collins So T 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 RB 22 Julius Jones (S) Jr G 73 Mark LeVoir So FB 39 Tom Lopienski Sr G 79 Sean Mahan Sr T 70 Jim Molinaro Jr QB 2 Dan Novakov Sr RB 35 Tim O'Neill Sr RB 23 Chris Yura Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class 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. # Name Class P 17 Joey Hildbold Sr K 13 Nick Setta Jr LS 53 John Crowther Sr	Head coach Tyrone Willingham Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: 2002-08-02

Rankings

See also: 2002 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	NR	NR	23	20	12	10	9	8	7	6	4 (1)	9	9	8	7	11	11	17
Coaches	NR	NR	24	21	12	10	9	8	7	6	6 (1)	10	9	8	7	13	12	17
BCS	Not released									3	3	7	7	6	7	10	9	Not released

Game summaries

at Florida State

See also: 2002 Florida State Seminoles football team

at USC

1 2 3 4 Total Notre Dame 6 7 0 0 13 • USC 0 17 13 14 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; wind variable Referee: Chuck McFerrin Television network: ABC

Scoring summary Q1 4:10 ND Setta 34-yard field goal ND 3–0 Q1 3:46 ND Setta 32-yard field goal ND 6–0 Q2 10:49 USC Williams 6-yard pass from Palmer (Killeen kick) USC 7–6 Q2 3:34 USC Killeen 22-yard field goal USC 10–6 Q2 1:07 ND Pierre-Antoine recovered blocked punt in end zone (Setta kick) ND 13–10 Q2 :05 USC Williams 19-yard pass from Palmer (Killeen kick) USC 17–13 Q3 12:01 USC MacKenzie 15-yard pass from Palmer (Killeen kick) USC 24–13 Q3 6:36 USC Killeen 27-yard field goal USC 27–13 Q3 2:15 USC Killeen 29-yard field goal USC 30–13 Q4 11:58 USC McCullough 11-yard run (Killeen kick) USC 37–13 Q4 7:23 USC MacKenzie 10-yard pass from Palmer (Killeen kick) USC 44–13

See also: 2002 USC Trojans football team

vs. NC State (Gator Bowl)

Gator Bowl

1 2 3 4 Total • Wolfpack 0 21 0 7 28 Fighting Irish 3 0 3 0 6 Date: January 1, 2003 Location: Alltel Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida Game start: 12:30 PM EST Elapsed time: 3:46 Game attendance: 73,491 TV announcers (NBC): Mike Breen (Play-by-play), Pat Hayden Source:

Scoring summary 1 5:09 ND Nick Setta 23-yard field goal ND 3-0 2 14:30 NCST T.A. McLendon 2-yard run (Adam Kiker kick) NCST 7-3 2 5:30 NCST T.A. McLendon 3-yard run (Adam Kiker kick) NCST 14-3 2 1:37 NCST Jerricho Cotchery 9-yard pass from Phillip Rivers (Adam Kiker kick) NCST 21-3 3 2:50 ND Nick Setta 41-yard field goal NCST 21-6 4 10:50 NCST Sean Berton 7-yard pass from Phillip Rivers (Adam Kiker kick) NCST 28-6

Main article: 2003 Gator Bowl

See also: 2002 NC State Wolfpack football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Team players in the NFL

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Jeff Faine	Center	1	21	Cleveland Browns
Jordan Black	Tackle	5	153	Kansas City Chiefs
Sean Mahan	Center	5	168	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Shane Walton	Safety	5	170	St. Louis Rams
Gerome Sapp	Safety	6	182	Baltimore Ravens
Arnaz Battle	Wide Receiver	6	197	San Francisco 49ers
Brennan Curtin	Tackle	6	212	Green 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. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
6. "Irish Rally To Stop Spartans, 21–17". UND.cstv.com. September 21, 2002. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
7. "Fighting Irish Crush Cardinal, 31–7". UND.cstv.com. October 5, 2002. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
8. "No. 6 Notre Dame Rolls Past No. 11 FSU, 34–24". UND.cstv.com. October 26, 2002. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
9. "Post Game Notes". UND.cstv.com. November 2, 2002. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
10. "No. 4 Irish Fall To Boston College, 14–7". UND.cstv.com. November 2, 2002. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
11. "No. 9 Irish Come From Behind To Beat Navy". UND.cstv.com. November 9, 2002. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
12. "No. 8 Irish Rough Up Rutgers, 42–0". UND.cstv.com. November 23, 2002. 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. 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. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
23. 2002 Notre Dame football schedule