Notre Dame’s season was full of stops and starts, impressive victories and disappointing losses, a major suspension at quarterback made up for by a surprising performance at the position.
It was summed up well by Saturday’s Pinstripe Bowl, a sloppy yet successful performance at Yankee Stadium.
Notre Dame finished the year victorious, snapping a two-game bowl losing streak with a 29-16 victory over Rutgers in front of 47,112, a record crowd in the event’s fourth year.
“Our goal all along, and I’ve said that since Day 1, we were coming here to win a game, and we were able to do,” Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees said. “I’m really proud of how we persevered and were able to pull one out.”
The Irish (9-4) finished with nine wins — including a road victory over one-loss Michigan State, the third-ranked team in the country — the second most in coach Brian Kelly’s four-year tenure.
“A good year that could’ve been a great year,” Kelly said. “I would say a couple of missed opportunities in some games and we very easily could’ve been a team that’s looking at double-digit wins, and that’s where we want to be every year.”
TJ Jones and Tarean Folston scored rushing touchdowns, offensive tackle Zach Martin was the game’s MVP after the Irish’s dominant performance up front, and Rees, a senior and the backup before Everett Golson was suspended from school over the summer, completed a seesaw career in fine fashion.
He became just the third Notre Dame quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards in a season, joining Brady Quinn and Jimmy Clausen, after he completed 27-of-47 passes for 319 yards without an interception.
Kelly said he didn’t get a chance to speak with Rees individually before his press conference, other than to say, “I’ll be a Tommy Rees fan for life.”
“He’ll keep trying to play the game as long as he can, but I told him he’s got a bright future as a graduate assistant for Brian Kelly,” the coach said.
Rees was more proud of what the group of seniors accomplished as a unit than any personal benchmarks — the four bowl games, the BCS championship berth, the 21 wins over the last two years.
“As a whole senior class, we felt we left our mark on this program, bringing it back where it needs to be,” Rees said. “The way we came to work every day sets a great example for the young guys. I think the program will continue to rise and continue to move in the right direction.”
Unlike last season’s humbling rout at the hands of Alabama in the BCS title game, Notre Dame was clearly the superior team. It more than doubled up Rutgers (6-7) in total yards, 494-236, and held a sizeable time of possession advantage. Notre Dame blew ample scoring opportunities until pulling away late, setting for five Kyle Brindza field goals, but the Scarlet Knights were ill-equipped to take advantage.
Rutgers had its chances, yet the inconsistent Scarlet Knights committed four turnovers — one in the red zone on an ill-advised Justin Goodwin halfback option play — wasted a pair of long Janarion Grant kickoff returns and failed on the goal-line once, typical of their disappointing 6-6 regular season.