Irish picking up the pieces

November 4, 2002 - BY JOHN JACKSON STAFF REPORTER - CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

Although Notre Dame's chances of winning a 12th national championship took a major hit Saturday in a frustrating 14-7 loss to Boston College, the Irish still have a shot at earning a spot in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 3.

If Notre Dame (8-1) wins its last three games, it could move up to one of the top two spots in the final Bowl Championship Series standings--with a lot of help.

At least two of the three remaining unbeaten contenders--Oklahoma, Miami and Ohio State--would have to lose, and the Irish also might have to jump past some one-loss teams such as Texas and Washington State.

''Right now, we feel we didn't play our best and need to bounce back,'' quarterback Carlyle Holiday said. ''All of our goals are still attainable. We may not control our own destiny, but they are still attainable.

''We just have to keep our heads up and bounce back. That's the motivation of all my teammates.''

With the loss, the Irish dropped to No. 9 in the Associated Press media poll and No. 10 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. Notre Dame also figures to take quite a tumble when the BCS standings are released today. The Irish had been No. 3 in each of the previous two BCS rankings.

Oklahoma, which moved ahead of Miami to take over the top spot in the AP poll, will remain atop the BCS standings by a wide margin. Miami and Ohio State will battle for the second and third spots. Texas probably will be fourth and Washington State fifth.

The next four spots are up for grabs, with Georgia, Virginia Tech, Iowa and Notre Dame each having a chance to be ranked anywhere from sixth to ninth.

The Irish will have a chance to bounce back when they face struggling Navy on Saturday in Baltimore (11 a.m., Ch. 2, 1000-AM). After a bye week, Notre Dame will face another weak opponent in Rutgers on Nov. 23, then will wrap up the season Nov. 30 at No. 10 USC.

''It's on us,'' cornerback Shane Walton said. ''We could go up or down from here. The seniors have to step up. We have three more games to win.''

As most of the Notre Dame players sat in stunned silence in the locker room Saturday, defensive tackle Darrell Campbell--one of the team's more vocal leaders-- spoke up.

''I basically came in the locker room and said, 'We cannot accept this. This is unacceptable, losing,''' said Campbell, a senior from South Holland. ''Our game plan is to win. That's what this program is all about ever since Tyrone Willingham got here. We cannot accept mediocrity, and hopefully [we'll] turn this into a positive.

''We definitely will have a different approach to practice this week.''

How Notre Dame responds to adversity will determine whether the program's first season under Willingham will be remembered as a magical season or simply a good season with a disappointing finish.

''We need to win,'' Campbell said. ''We need to beat some teams, get the feeling back. We need to go back to the drawing board, just like anything that doesn't go successful for you.''

After doing a great job of protecting the ball for much of the season, Notre Dame had seven fumbles, losing three, on a clear day and a dry field with the temperature hovering around 40 degrees.

Boston College (5-3) scored all of its points off Irish turnovers, including a 71-yard interception return for a touchdown by linebacker Josh Ott.

''They really beat us at our own game,'' said backup quarterback Pat Dillingham, who threw the pass picked off by Ott. ''Our defense has done a great job all year creating turnovers. We learned that when we turn the ball over ourselves, we cannot win that way.''

Said center Jeff Faine: ''We just killed ourselves putting the ball on the ground. Any time you shoot yourself in the foot like that, it's hard to win.''

Holiday was asked to describe Willingham's reaction to the loss.

''He realizes we didn't play our best football game,'' Holiday said. "He just wants us to bounce back and keep our heads up. We still have a great season ahead of us. We could still finish 11-1 and even make it to the championship game. He realizes that.

''We're still a good team, and we can still reach the goal that we have.''