He didn’t do what he was supposed to do. He didn’t carry out his assignment exactly as it had been scripted. He followed instinct over reason.
Sometimes, seasons are saved and destinies met not with logic, but magic. Glenn Earl’s block of David Adams’ field-goal attempt as time ran out in regulation Saturday did not win the game for Notre Dame. That would come later, in overtime, when Joey Getherall took the ball on a reverse and ran 9 yards for his third touchdown of the game, securing a 34-31 Irish victory over a resilient Air Force team at Notre Dame Stadium.
But as Earl deflected Adams’ kick off its path and preserved a 28-28 tie, he claimed for his team the type of magic that separates the select from the standard.
“Not for one second in that game did we ever think we were going to lose,” Earl said.
Not even as Air Force was lining up for the chip-shot field-goal attempt that would have given it the victory as time expired?
“I was just thinking, `All right, I’ve got to push [teammate] Tony Weaver, and if I can’t, I’m going to leap, regardless of what they tell me, because I can’t live with myself if I don’t give it a shot,'” Earl recalled.
Despite squandering a 28-10 lead, the Irish improved to 6-2 and preserved their chance, albeit slim, of being invited to a Bowl Championship Series game at the end of the season. Air Force is 5-3.
After ceding the Falcons a 10-7 halftime edge, the Irish looked to have the game comfortably in control when they scored three third-quarter touchdowns to lead 28-10. But Air Force turned the tables in the final period, holding the Irish to 45 yards and two first downs while putting together three scoring drives to tie the game 28-28.
The Irish opened the scoring in impressive fashion, marching 84 yards in 18 plays. Matt LoVecchio’s touchdown pass, intended for David Givens in the right corner of the end zone, was tapped by Falcons defensive back Wes Crawley into the arms of Javin Hunter, who hung on to give the Irish a 7-0 lead two minutes into the second quarter.
Air Force answered on its next possession as quarterback Mike Thiessen lofted a rainbow pass to Leotis Palmer in the right flat. Palmer, wide open, turned upfield and carried the ball 15 yards to the end zone, tying the score at 7-7. Pass-interference and personal-foul calls against the Irish later gave Air Force first-and-goal at the Notre Dame 2, but the Falcons had to settle for Adams’ 27-yard field goal and a 10-7 halftime lead.
Notre Dame’s offense overcame its sluggishness in the third quarter. Julius Jones returned the kickoff 41 yards to the Notre Dame 46. Six plays later, Getherall hauled in a 28-yard LoVecchio toss for a touchdown and a 14-10 lead. Givens’ 37-yard jaunt on a reverse increased the lead to 21-10.
Less than three minutes later, Getherall scored the second of his three touchdowns, grabbing a 68-yard strike from LoVecchio to put the Irish seemingly comfortably ahead 28-10.
But the Falcons are a veteran team with skilled playmakers. Wide receiver Ryan Fleming, despite playing with a separated shoulder, caught eight passes for a career-high 163 yards, including a 42-yarder over Shane Walton that set up the Falcons’ game-tying field goal.
“I think Ryan proved today that he’s one of the best receivers in the country,” Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry said.
Notre Dame coach Bob Davie agreed. He refused to term the fourth quarter a defensive collapse.
“I give Air Force credit,” Davie said. “As much as I respect them, I didn’t want to see them celebrating on our field.”
Earl’s block ensured that he didn’t have to. Air Force, which had the ball first, kicked a field goal in overtime. Notre Dame, which had been 0-3 in overtime, including a loss to Air Force in 1996 and a loss to Nebraska in this season’s second game, answered with Getherall’s touchdown and the victory.
“It was unfortunate that we didn’t pull it off,” Fleming said. “Some things weren’t meant to be.”
Davie agreed.
“The momentum went back and forth at the end,” he said. “But a team that won’t be beat can’t be beat.”
