Cheer, Cheer for New Notre Dame

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The Fighting Irish’s fight to return to respectability took a positive turn here Saturday, with big games from quarterback Jimmy Clausen and running back Armando Allen and a convincing 38-21 victory over Purdue.

That made unranked Notre Dame 3-1 and conjured the possibility of a return to the top 25 in the not-too-distant future. The Irish used to be in that fast company all the time, but then, the Irish used to be a lot of things until falling on mostly mediocre times in the last decade.

The brightest part of the horizon may be the schedule, which includes Stanford at home next Saturday and follows with a collection of teams -- until the Nov. 29 game in the Coliseum against USC -- that strikes fear in the hearts of few. After Stanford, there are North Carolina, Washington, Pittsburgh, Boston College, Navy and Syracuse.

It’s not that the Notre Dame faithful have stopped being so. Saturday marked the 202nd consecutive sellout at Notre Dame Stadium. Saturday’s attendance was 80,795. Actually, that 202 number doesn’t properly capture the devotion here. Except for a Thanksgiving Day game in 1973 that had a few empty seats, the Irish have played in front of sold-out home crowds 250 of the last 251 games, a streak that goes back to 1966.

Clausen, the sophomore from Westlake Village Oaks Christian High who seems to get better every game, completed 20 of 35 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns. Allen, a sophomore from Opa-Locka, Fla., had a breakout game with 134 yards in 17 carries and one touchdown. His touchdown was an explosive 16-yard run that put the Irish ahead for good at 21-14 and exhibited the kind of speed and quickness that hasn’t been seen around here since, well, George Gipp.

Embattled Coach Charlie Weis, whose record is an un-Notre Dame-like 25-16, said afterward that his team had learned from last week’s defeat at Michigan State, where it had been pushed around handily by the Spartans.

‘You know, the line of scrimmage was moving the wrong way,’ Weis said. ‘... I think our kids took it personal.’

-- Bill Dwyre