UHND.com - Notre Dame Football, Basketball, & Recruiting

I feel plenty of negativity towards Bob Davie. His bungling easily cost us several winnable games, and by all rights, that 1999 team should have at least contended for a Bowl Coalition berth if it weren't for his foolishness. The 2000 team, if healthy, would have had the parts in place for a NC run.

However, as much as people will treat this post with negativity as well, I can't entirely fault Bob Davie for believing that we'd have a better chance in overtime.

The offense, outside of Arnaz Battle's designed runs, wasn't doing much at all. All the Nebraska defense had to do was stack the box with 8 or 9, and towards the end of regulation time, our offense was more predictable than Navy's.

To make things worse, he (Arnaz Battle) had a broken wrist from the week before against Texas A&M. He couldn't throw the ball with any kind of force, and was basically a glorified running back for the Nebraska game. He had a fine game of running, but in the end, all too many drives stalled because his passing threat was pretty much nil. David Givens and Javin Hunter were breaking open all day long on their routes, but he couldn't make the throws.

The defense played great, and special teams were absolutely magical that day. Two of our scores came on special teams (KO return by Jones, PR by Getherall). That's what kept us in the game.

I doubt that we would have been able to drive far enough to attempt a field goal, even with Nick Setta's very strong leg. We would have most likely gone three and out, and after punting, left Nebraska with enough time to score. The defense was gassed at that point, since our offense held onto the ball for about 24 minutes the entire game. At least playing for overtime gave the defense a bit of a breather.

The fact that we couldn't put together a 25 yard drive in overtime reinforces my belief that choosing for OT at least delayed the unpleasant ending.


That game was a lost opportunity, for sure. With a healthy Arnaz Battle, we easily win that game by two scores.