Sept. 24, 2001

by John Heisler

As Notre Dame’s 2001 football season dawned, we wondered if the Irish would pick off where they finished the ’00 regular season.

We wondered how nearly a full season of on-field experience and a year of exposure to college football would manifest themselves in quarterback Matt LoVecchio’s maturity.

We wondered if it would be remotely possible for the Irish to go two-thirds of the season before losing a fumble (it wasn’t).

We wondered how close Notre Dame could come to the NCAA record low of eight turnovers from the ’00 Irish season.

We wondered who might fill the shoes of mighty-mite Joey Getherall, whose leave-it-all-on-the-field attitude personified the ’00 Irish identity.

We wondered if the Irish play at cornerback, in particular the ability to cover man to man at that position, would enable Notre Dame to continue its aggressive approach on defense.

We wondered if an experience-laden defensive end position — headed up by Grant Irons, Anthony Weaver and Ryan Roberts — would set the tone for the Irish pass rush.

We wondered if outside linebacker Rocky Boiman would evolve into the emotional leader of this Notre Dame defense?

We wondered who would step forward at inside linebacker in the absence of 2000 MVP Anthony Denman (Courtney Watson with 18 tackles against Nebraska and Tyreo Harrison with 11 appeared to be the answers).

We wondered where Carlyle Holiday and Jared Clark would fit into the mix at quarterback.

We wondered if the combination of Julius Jones, Tony Fisher and Terrance Howard would create the desired productivity at tailback.

We wondered if Julius Jones would be able to exhibit on a regular basis some of the brilliance we’ve seen in small doses.

We wondered what the loss of Jabari Holloway and Dan O’Leary would mean at the tight end position.

We wondered what the addition of new assistant coaches Joker Phillips, David Lockwood and Bill Sheridan would mean to the chemistry of the Irish staff.

We wondered if Notre Dame could prove its foray into the Bowl Championship Series waters last year would be more than simply a one-time fling.

We wondered how quickly the Irish could do something to put the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl disappointment behind them.

We wondered how the Irish would survive September — with road games at Nebraska, at Purdue and at Texas A&M before them.

We wondered if the Irish could fortify themselves even in losing, as the seemed to do in falling against Nebraska and Michigan State last fall.

We wondered if Notre Dame’s kicking game again could hope to combine all he elements it developed into a wondrous concoction a year ago?

We wondered if punter Joey Hildbold could continue the marked improvement he showed so dramatically from ’99 to ’00.

We wondered if Nick Setta would prove capable of being the sort of game-winner he was against Purdue in ’00.

We wondered if the overall chemistry of the 2001 Irish squad could grow from that of ’00.

We wondered if the Irish players learned from a year ago how avoiding turnovers and winning the special team battles could go a long way toward helping win football games.

We wondered if the Irish could convince their fans that speed wasn’t the issue it appeared to be in the Fiesta Bowl.

We wondered how good Arnaz Battle would be in his first go-round as a receiver.

We wondered if opposing teams would be worried about the possibility that Battle or former quarterback-now tight end Gary Godsey or even David Givens might launch a pass on any given down.

We wondered if Givens and Battle and veteran Javin Hunter could combine with LoVecchio to give Notre Dame a beefed-up passing attack.

Then, after the Irish fell in their season opener at Nebraska, we wondered what the future held at the quarterback position.

We wondered how it all might have been different if the Irish had scored on the opening drive and the Huskers had fumbled on their first play.

We wondered if it was possible to dig a bigger, quicker hole than the 17-0 deficit Notre Dame found itself facing early on in Lincoln.

We wondered how to assess the Irish offense after one outing.

We wondered how excited to be about the fact the Irish in the second half limited Nebraska to one pass completion, three first downs and 70 offensive yards.

We wondered if an Irish team in defeat had ever been so roundly applauded and appreciated as this one was as it left the Memorial Stadium turf that Saturday night in Lincoln.

We wondered what the Irish would have to do to regain some measure of confidence.

Now, after the events of the last 11 days, we wonder how much of any of this really matters in the big scheme of things.