2009 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team The 2009 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 2009 college football season . Charlie Weis entered his fifth season as head coach with the expectation from the Notre Dame administration that his team would be in position to compete for a BCS Bowl berth . Notre Dame started the first part of the season 4 - 2 , with close losses to Michigan and USC but ended the season with four straight losses , including a second loss to Navy loss in three years . Weis was fired as head coach the Monday after the Stanford loss at the end of the season . Although Notre Dame was bowl eligible with 6 wins , the University announced on December 4 that the Irish had chosen not to play in a bowl game . Irish athletic director Jack Swarbrick hired Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly after a 10 day coaching search . Pre - season . Coaching changes . Following the 2008 season , offensive coordinator Michael Haywood left the team to become the head coach for the Miami ( Ohio ) University Redhawks . Following what some critics called a disappointing 7 - 6 season , Charlie Weis announced several major changes to the coaching staff , including the replacement of the offensive and defensive line coaches . Frank Verducci was hired to replace John Latina as the offensive line coach and was placed in charge of revamping the Irish running game as the running game coordinator . Tony Alford was hired to replace Mike Haywood as the running backs coach . Finally , Weis hired defensive line coach Randy Hart , a veteran coach at University of Washington from 1988 - 2008 . Former Notre Dame standout and NFL veteran Bryant Young was also hired as a defensive graduate assistant with the possibility of eventually stepping in to coach the defensive line . Roster changes . Graduating players . Senior safety and captain David Bruton was the only player drafted from the team , going in the fourth round to the Denver Broncos as the 114th pick overall . Five more players would sign quickly after the draft , including David Grimes with Broncos , Pat Kuntz with the Colts , Terrail Lambert with the 49ers , and fullback Asaph Schwapp and offensive lineman Mike Turkovich with the Cowboys . Defensive lineman Justin Brown and captain Maurice Crum Jr . also exhausted their eligibility . Transfers . Tight end Joseph Fauria transferred from Notre Dame to UCLA prior to the start of the season following an undisclosed University violation that would have sidelined him for the season . Recruiting . The Irish added 18 players to its roster with high school recruits . Included in the class were five - star linebacker Manti Te ' o ( top defensive player in the nation ) , four star runningback Cierre Wood , and five - star offensive lineman Chris Watt . The class was named No . 11 by Rivals , No . 14 by ESPN and No . 23 by Scout . Award candidates . The following players were announced to award watch lists prior to the start of the 2009 season : Game notes . Nevada . Notre Dame beat Hall of Fame coach Chris Ault ' s Nevada squad 35 - 0 to give Charlie Weis his first shutout as Irish head coach . Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen continued his efficient play from the Hawai ' i Bowl victory the previous season ( 22 - 26 for 401 yards and 5 touchdowns ) , completing 15 of 18 passes for 315 yards and four touchdowns . Clausen started the game by completing 10 of 11 passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns , highlighted by a then career - long 70 - yard pass for a touchdown to Irish wide receiver Michael Floyd . Clausen bettered that in the third quarter with an 88 - yard scoring pass to Floyd . The 88 - yard touchdown was the third longest pass completion in Notre Dame history . Floyd lept over Wolf Pack cornerback Doyle Miller and kept his balance when Miller tried to pull him down at the 50 - yard line , then raced in for the score . Clausen also completed a 24 - yard TD catch to Floyd and a 19 - yard touchdown pass to tight end Kyle Rudolph in the first drive of the game . Irish running back Armando Allen logged the other touchdown on a 1 - yard run . He finished the game with 72 yards on 15 carries . The victory was Notre Dame ' s first shutout victory since a 42 - 0 win over Rutgers in 2002 . The Irish defense set the tone early , stopping Nevada to three and out on its first three possessions . Irish linebacker Toryan Smith stuffed Wolf Pack running back Vai Taua for a 1 - yard loss on fourth - and - 1 and also logged a sack . Highly touted freshman linebacker Manti Te ' o also got in on the action for Notre Dame on his first play early in the second quarter . On third - and - 15 from the Nevada 26 , Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick took off and had some room but Te ' o caught him from behind after an 11 - yard gain , forcing the Wolfpack to punt . The Irish defense held Nevada to 153 yards rushing and 307 total yards . Kaepernick was 12 of 23 passing for 149 yards with two interceptions . Irish cornerback Robert Blanton intercepted a Kaepernick pass at the end of the half , and senior captain Kyle McCarthy logged the second interception of the day and the fourth of his career in the third quarter . Michigan . Offense ruled the day as the Fighting Irish were upset in the final seconds by archrival Michigan , 38 - 34 . The 72 combined points were the most in the history of the Notre Dame – Michigan rivalry , and the game marked just the fifth time Michigan has scored 30 points or more against Notre Dame . Jimmy Clausen continued his impressive play , throwing for 336 yards and 3 touchdowns , but it was not enough to offset costly penalties ( 9 for 75 yards ) , questionable play - calling , and an efficient performance by Michigan freshman quarterback Tate Forcier ( 23 for 33 , 240 yards , 2 TD , 1 INT ) . After Daryl Stronum ' s 94 - yard kickoff return for a touchdown helped the Wolverines to an early 14 - 3 lead , Notre Dame roared back in the second quarter , largely on the strength of Clausen ' s passing . Clausen threw touchdowns on successive drives — the first to Golden Tate , the second to Michael Floyd — to give the Irish their first lead of the afternoon at 17 - 14 . The teams traded field goals at the end of the quarter and Notre Dame took a 20 - 17 lead to the locker room . On the first series of the second half , Forcier led Michigan down to the Notre Dame 9 - yard line before a missed field goal gave the Irish a temporary reprieve . A Jonas Gray fumble on the ensuing Notre Dame possession was recovered by Michigan at the Irish 26 - yard line , and five plays later , the Wolverines regained the lead on a 3 - yard touchdown pass from Forcier to Kevin Koger . Michigan extended its lead to 31 - 20 on the second play of the fourth quarter when Forcier , facing fourth - and - three , ran 31 yards for a touchdown . Clausen rallied the Irish with a 14 - play , 80 - yard drive that culminated with a 21 - yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate , and Kyle McCarthy intercepted Forcier on the next series , giving Notre Dame the ball at the Michigan 36 . The 7 - play drive was capped by an 8 - yard Armando Allen touchdown run and a successful two - point conversion run by Allen off a well - executed Statue of Liberty play , giving the Irish a 34 - 31 lead with a little over 5 minutes remaining . The Notre Dame defense stiffened and forced a punt , giving the Irish offense the ball back with 3 : 07 remaining . Allen rushed 13 - yards to the Notre Dame 29 for a first down , but Robert Hughes was stopped on the next play for no gain and Michigan used its first timeout to stop the clock at 2 : 29 . Rather than run the ball and force Michigan to use its two remaining timeouts , Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis called pass plays on second - and third - down , both of which fell incomplete , and the Irish punted the ball back to Michigan having only taken 54 seconds off the clock . Forcier made the Irish pay for their mistake , coolly driving the Wolverines down to the Notre Dame 5 - yard line , where he connected with Greg Matthews for the game - winning touchdown with 11 seconds left in the game . With the heartbreaking loss , Notre Dame fell out of the top 25 in both the AP and Coaches ' Polls . Michigan State . Notre Dame recovered from its tough loss at Michigan by beating rival Michigan State for the first time at Notre Dame Stadium since 1993 . The win wasn ' t sealed until Kyle McCarthy intercepted Spartans quarterback Kirk Cousins at the Irish 4 - yard line with 57 seconds remaining in the game . Trailing 30 - 26 midway through the fourth quarter , Jimmy Clausen connected with Golden Tate off a fly route for what proved to be a 33 - yard game - winning touchdown . A key play occurred late in the third quarter when Irish defensive tackle Ian Johnson blocked a Michigan State extra point to leave the score 26 - 23 Notre Dame ; had the extra point been successful , Michigan State could have won the game with a field goal on its final drive . Clausen , playing through a turf toe injury , had another big game , going 22 for 31 with an even 300 yards and 2 touchdowns . Halfback Armando Allen rushed 23 times for 115 yards and a touchdown and also threw a 5 - yard touchdown pass to Robby Paris out of the wildcat formation . The defense continued to be a problem for Notre Dame , as it surrendered 459 yards of total offense to the Spartans , including 354 through the air . The win also proved to be costly , as Notre Dame star wide receiver Michael Floyd was lost for the several regular season games to a broken collarbone suffered during the second quarter . Purdue . With the game on the line , Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis put the game in the hands of his hobbled quarterback Jimmy Clausen . Slowed by a turf - toe injury sustained in the Michigan State game , Clausen engineered an 88 - yard game - winning drive with 3 : 41 to go to give Notre Dame a 24 - 21 victory over the Boilermakers . Trailing 21 - 17 , Clausen completed a 22 - yard pass to tight end Kyle Rudolph to move the ball to the Purdue 32 . After a Purdue forced Notre Dame into a 3rd - and - 14 . Clausen completed a 15 - yard pass to wideout Robby Parris for a first down . A 17 - yarder to Golden Tate set up a first - and - goal at the 4 . After three plays netted two yards , Clausen found Rudolph in the end zone on fourth down for the winner with less than a minute remaining . Clausen played mediocre for most of the game , completing 15 of 26 passes for 171 yards , and throwing his first interception of the season . After splitting time with backup quarterback Dayne Crist , who directed two touchdown drives in the first half , Clausen returned to the game when it got tight in the fourth quarter . The victory was the Irish ' s third straight game decided in the final minutes . Kyle McCarthy had an interception at the 4 - yard line with 57 seconds left to seal Notre Dame ' s 33 – 30 win over Michigan State the week before . A week earlier , Michigan ' s Tate Forcier threw a 5 - yard touchdown pass with 11 seconds remaining to beat the Irish 38 - 34 . Southern California . In the closest game against USC since the controversial 2005 loss , Notre Dame nearly overcame a 34 - 14 USC lead to cut the Trojans ' lead to 34 - 27 , but Jimmy Clausen ran out of magic on the final drive and couldn ' t score a touchdown that would bring the game into overtime . Boston College . Notre Dame notched its first victory vs . Boston College since 2000 , outlasting the Eagles 20 - 16 . In a game that had four lead changes , it was the Irish defense that came up big in the end , intercepting three passes by Eagles quarterback Dave Shinskie in the second half . Notre Dame linebacker Brian Smith sealed the victory by picking off Shinskie with 98 seconds left in the game . The Irish scored first on a 37 - yard Nick Tausch field goal . Boston College would log its first points of the game on a safety resulting from an intentional grounding penalty called on Jimmy Clausen . After Nick Taush kicked a 34 - yard field goal to make it 6 - 2 , Dave Shinskie led the Eagles down the field to take the lead on a 7 - yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Rich Gunnell . Jimmy Clausen and the Irish offense answered right back before the end of the first half with a 12 - play , 74 yard drive culminating in an 11 - yard touchdown pass from Clausen to Golden Tate . The Irish defense , however , could not maintain the lead to start the third quarter , giving up large pass plays and a 6 - play , 56 yard scoring drive by the Eagles . After several stalled drives by the Irish offense , Jimmy Clausen finally connected with Golden tate on a 36 - yard touchdown pass to put the Irish ahead for good with a little over eight minutes left in the game . Clausen would finish the game passing 26 for 39 with 246 yards and two touchdowns . Golden Tate logged his 5th 100 + yard receiving game , notching 128 yards on 11 catches with two touchdowns . Senior captain Kyle McCarthy also logged two of the second half interceptions to seal the Irish win . Washington State . In the first of several " offsite home games " scheduled over the next several football seasons , Notre Dame played host to Washington State in the Alamodome in San Antonio , Texas . The Cougars , who last played Notre Dame in 2003 losing in overtime 29 - 26 , were routed 40 - 14 . Notre Dame would score first with a Nick Tausch a 29 - yard field goal . Notre Dame ' s next score came from a Jimmy Clausen pass to Duval Kamara for a 7 - yard touchdown in the first quarter . In the second quarter , Golden Tate scored on a 16 - yard run for a touchdown out of the wildcat formation . After a Robert Hughes touchdown put Notre Dame up 23 - 0 , Washington State ' s Jeff Tuel would cut the Notre Dame lead to 23 - 7 , connecting with Jared Karstetter for an 11 - yard touchdown . Notre Dame regained momentum , however , as Clausen ' s second touchdown came with 7 seconds left in the half ; a spectacular 50 - yard hail - mary pass which Golden Tate caught in triple coverage . The play put Notre Dame up 30 - 7 at the half . Notre Dame back - ups also saw game action , highlighted by backup quarterback Dayne Crist ' s 64 - yard touchdown to John Goodman in the 4th quarter . Nick Taush also added a 23 - yard field goal in the 3rd quarter , setting the Notre Dame record for consecutive field goals at 14 . Clausen would finish the game 22 - 27 , 268 yards and two touchdowns . Golden Tate would finish with 141 total yards and two touchdowns . Robert Hughes , starting in place for the injured Armando Allen , racked up 131 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries . Notre Dame ' s defense also stepped up , holding Washington State to 206 total yards and notching 5 sacks and two interceptions . Notre Dame would finish the game with 592 total yards in the game . Washington State freshman Jeff Tuel was 12 - of - 23 for 104 yards and two touchdowns and two interceptions . Navy . Notre Dame lost to Navy for the second time in three years and the second time in a row at Notre Dame stadium . Post - season . Charlie Weis entered this season with the expectation from the Notre Dame administration that his team would be in position to compete for a BCS Bowl berth . Notre Dame started the first part of the season 4 - 2 , with close losses to Michigan and USC . Many of their wins were also close , aside from a 35 - 0 victory over Nevada and a 40 - 14 thrashing of Washington State . Sitting at 6 - 2 , however , Notre Dame lost a close game at Notre Dame Stadium to an unranked Navy team , 23 - 21 . This loss was the second to Navy in the last three years , after Notre Dame had beaten Navy forty three straight times dating back to 1963 . Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick , when asked about what his biggest disappointment had been that season , took a long pause , then said , " the Navy outcome . " While Swarbrick clarified that he would not evaluate the football season until season ' s end , he stated that " Up until the Navy game we were in the BCS conversation . " The Navy game , however , was the first of a four game losing skid , as Notre Dame followed up the Navy loss with losses to a top - 10 Pittsburgh team , an overtime loss to Connecticut at home , and a season ending loss at Stanford . The week prior to the Stanford game , Swarbrick announced Weis would not be recruiting following the game . Weis was fired as head coach the Monday after the Stanford loss . Swarbrick announced that wide receiver coach Rob Ianello would head football operations , including recruiting , until Brian Kelly was named . Although Notre Dame was bowl eligible with 6 wins , the University announced on December 4 that the Irish had chosen not to play in a bowl game . Awards . All - Americans