2005 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team The 2005 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team was a college football team who represented the University of Notre Dame in the 2005 NCAA Division I - A football season . The team was coached by Charlie Weis in his first year as head coach , and played their home games at Notre Dame Stadium . The Irish completed the season with a record of 9 wins and 3 losses , culminating in a post - season appearance in the Fiesta Bowl and a number 9 ranking in the nation . Pre - season . Coaching changes . After finishing the 2004 season with a record of 6 - 6 , Notre Dame officials , in a controversial move , fired head coach Tyrone Willingham . The Irish initially hoped to hire Utah head coach Urban Meyer , who had led the Utes to an undefeated season , as Meyer previously was an assistant coach for the Irish for 5 years and had a clause in his contract stating he could leave Utah without penalty if Notre Dame offered him a job . When Meyer instead took the head coaching job at Florida , Notre Dame hired Charlie Weis , the New England Patriots offensive coordinator , making him the first Notre Dame alumnus to coach the team since 1963 . Roster changes . The Irish lost a number of players on defense including four former starting defensive backs , three players on the defensive line , including defensive end Justin Tuck , and two former starting linebackers , including honorable mention All - American Derek Curry , to graduation . On the offensive side of the ball the only key losses for the Irish were running back Ryan Grant and former quarterback and wide receiver Carlyle Holiday . The Irish returned ten starters on offense and four on defense . Recruits . With poor recruiting being one of the issues that led to the firing of Willingham , Weis was challenged to coach the Patriots ' offense during the day and work on recruiting players for the Irish at night . He took a proactive role in recruiting , including sending seven of his assistant coaches to a recruit who had de - committed after Willingham was fired ( the recruit , however , signed with the Ohio State Buckeyes ) . Weis , with some of Willingham ' s recruits signing also , built a class of 15 recruits , including five four star recruits . Award candidates . Four players were named to the national awards watch lists in the pre - season : Coaching staff . When Willingham was fired all of his assistant coaches left , leaving Weis to rebuild a coaching staff . He sought to find experienced coaches that would be able to make the team competitive . When the new assistants were announced in January they were billed as having 25 seasons of collegiate head coaching , 50 seasons as coordinators , 12 seasons as NFL assistant coaches , and 42 bowl victories . Before the season , however , assistant offensive head and quarterbacks coach David Cutcliffe after undergoing heart surgery and being on medical leave , decided to resign , saying he felt his absence unfair to the players and coaches . In early June , Peter Vaas was named as Cutcliffe ' s replacement . Vaas was a former six - year NFL Europa head coach , an eight - year collegiate head coach , and had 17 years of assistant coaching experience , including two years at Notre Dame under Lou Holtz . On October 29 , only half - way through the season , Weis , who originally signed a six - year contract with the Irish , was offered an extension on his contract . The new 10 - year deal was worth $ 30 to $ 40 million , and made him the highest paid coach in college football . The extension was seen as controversial , as Weis ' record was 5 - 2 at the time while Willingham started his first season with an 8 - 0 record . Schedule . Game notes . Pittsburgh . The Irish ' s first game of the season came on the road against the No . 23 ranked Pittsburgh Panthers . The Panthers were led by their first - year head coach Dave Wannstedt and junior quarterback and two - year starter , Tyler Palko . At Notre Dame , the previous season , Palko became the first quarterback to throw five touchdown passes against the Irish in the Panthers 41 - 38 win . Palko started the scoring this year with a 39 - yard touchdown pass to Greg Lee , however Brady Quinn and the Irish answered with a 51 - yard touchdown pass to Darius Walker . The Panthers completed the first quarter scoring with a 49 - yard field goal by Josh Cummings to take a 10 - 7 lead into the second quarter . In the second quarter , the Irish took control . The quarter began with a 2 - yard touchdown run by Walker . Later , Rashon Powers - Neal scored on his own 2 - yard run , and , after a fumble on the kickoff return , less than a minute later Quinn threw a 19 - yard touchdown pass to Jeff Samardzija , the first touchdown catch of his career , to give the Irish a 28 - 10 lead . Cummings hit a 23 - yard field goal to cut the Irish lead to 15 , but late in the half Powers - Neal ran for a 9 - yard touchdown , giving the Irish a 35 - 13 lead at halftime . The second half saw much less scoring . In the third quarter , Powers - Neal ran for a 4 - yard touchdown , the only score in the quarter , to give the Irish their final score . In the fourth quarter , Palko ran for his own 4 - yard touchdown , and the two - point conversion was the final score of the game . The Irish won the game 42 - 21 , and jumped to 23rd in the national rankings . Michigan . The second game of the season came on the road against long - time rivals the Michigan Wolverines , led by coach Lloyd Carr and second year starting quarterback , Chad Henne . Michigan had moved up to 3rd in the nation from a pre - season ranking of 4th after a 16 - point win against Northern Illinois . Coming into the season , Michigan had not lost a home game since 2002 with a streak of 16 games and hadn ' t lost a non - conference home game since 1998 . Also , despite beating the Wolverines twice in the last three years including a 28 - 20 win over the then 7th ranked Wolverines in 2004 , the Irish hadn ' t won at Michigan since 1993 . The Irish began the game with the ball , and marched down the field with a 76 - yard drive that culminated in a 5 - yard Brady Quinn touchdown pass to Rhema McKnight . Late in the quarter , key Wolverine running back Mike Hart was injured during a run , keeping him out for the rest of the game . In the second quarter , on Michigan ' s first drive past the 50 - yard line , Garrett Rivas was able to hit a 38 - yard field goal to make the score 7 - 3 in favor of the Irish . Later in the quarter , the Irish lost McKnight to what would later be revealed as a season - ending knee injury . Quinn and Walker , however , led the Irish on another long drive , culminating in a 5 - yard touchdown pass to Jeff Samardzija to give the Irish a 14 - 3 lead at halftime . The second half was filled with missed opportunities for the Wolverines . At the start of the third quarter , Henne and running back Kevin Grady led the Wolverines on a 69 - yard drive , that was finally stopped on a Henne interception by safety Tom Zbikowski on the Irish 1 - yard line . Most of the rest of the quarter consisted of short drives that were stopped early forcing each team to punt . In the Wolverines ' final drive of the quarter , the Irish defense held them to their own 9 - yard line , and forced a punt that was returned by Zbikowski to the Michigan 33 - yard line . Although the Irish only advanced the ball 7 - yards , at the beginning of the fourth quarter D . J . Fitzpatrick kicked a 43 - yard field goal to give the Irish a 17 - 3 lead . On their next possession , a Walker fumble was recovered by the Wolverines on the Irish 18 - yard line . After driving to the 5 - yard line , the Wolverines couldn ' t convert a fourth down and turned the ball over to the Irish . On the Wolverines next possession , on another fourth down attempt near midfield , Henne completed a 54 - yard pass to Jason Avant who was tackled at the Irish 1 - yard line . On the next play , however , Henne fumbled the ball into the endzone and it was recovered by Chinedum Ndukwe for the Irish . On the Wolverines next possession , Henne threw a 26 - yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham to bring the score to 17 - 10 . Michigan had one final possession with two minutes remaining , but failed , once again , to convert a fourth down , sealing the win for the Irish . With the win , Weis became the first Notre Dame coach since Knute Rockne to win his first two games on the road , and the Irish moved up to 12th in the nation . Michigan State . The Irish next had their home opener against the Michigan State Spartans , a rivalry game with the Megaphone Trophy given to the winner . The Spartans , this year ' s team led by coach John L . Smith and second year starting quarterback Drew Stanton , hoped to become only the second team to beat the Irish at Notre Dame for five consecutive games . Despite a win in 2004 , the Irish had lost six of their last eight games against the Spartans . The Spartans led for much of the game , at one point , late in the third quarter after Stanton threw a 65 - yard pass for his third touchdown of the game , they had a 38 - 17 lead . The Irish , however , came back later in the quarter and tied the game at 38 during the fourth quarter , with three touchdown passes by Brady Quinn to give him a total of five for the game . During the overtime period , the Irish , with the ball first , missed three attempted passes by Quinn into the endzone , and settled for a field goal to give them a 41 - 38 lead . On the Spartans second play in overtime , Stanton , while running the option , pitched the ball to Jason Teague for a 19 - yard touchdown to win the game . The Irish dropped to 18th and the Spartans entered the national rankings at 23rd after the week . After the game , apparently upset at not having the Megaphone Trophy to raise after the win , a small group of Spartans planted the Michigan State flag on the field . After the incident , a number of other occurrences of flag planting happened , leading to a banning of the practice by the Big Ten . Washington . The Irish next went on the road to face the Washington Huskies , in a game dubbed the " Ty Bowl , " because the Huskies were led by former Irish coach Ty Willingham . The Huskies came into the game never having beaten the Irish in five meetings including a 38 - 3 loss at Notre Dame in 2004 . On the first drive of the game , the Huskies easily moved forward on the Irish defense , however , were held without scoring when quarterback , Isaiah Stanback ' s pass to Craig Chambers was fumbled on the goal line and recovered by the Irish . The Irish didn ' t score on their first drive when the hold for a field goal attempt was botched . However , on their next drive the D . J . Fitzpatrick kicked a 25 - yard field goal for the only score of the first quarter . In the second quarter , Evan Knudson tied the game on a 27 - yard field goal . On the next drive , Darius Walker ran for a 17 - yard touchdown , giving the Irish a 9 - 3 lead after a missed extra point . Fitzpatrick kicked another field goal of 39 - yards to end scoring in the first half with the Irish leading 12 - 3 . After two Irish failed fourth down attempts , and a Huskies fumble , Rashon Powers - Neal ran for a 2 - yard touchdown to give the Irish a 19 - 3 lead at the end of the third quarter . In the fourth quarter , Fitzpatrick kicked another field goal of 23 - yards to extend the Irish lead to 19 . Later in the quarter , Brady Quinn threw his only touchdown of the game with a 52 - yard pass to Jeff Samardzija . Stanback led the Huskies for their first touchdown , culminating in a 1 - yard run by Mark Palaita , however the Irish answered with an 11 - yard touchdown by Travis Thomas for their final score of the game . With three minutes left in the game , Stanback was replaced with backup quarterback Johnny Durocher , who threw a 41 - yard touchdown to Chambers , to give the final score of 36 - 17 . With the win , the Irish moved up in the rankings to 14th in the nation . Purdue . The Irish next went on the road , for the fourth time in the season , to face the 20th ranked Purdue Boilermakers , led by 9th year head coach Joe Tiller , for the Shillelagh Trophy . Although the Irish led the all - time series against Purdue 49 - 25 - 2 , the Boilermakers had won the two previous meetings and were hoping to come back after a double - overtime loss the previous week . Although neither team was able to score on their opening drives , the Irish quickly got going on their second , and were led by Brady Quinn ' s passing and Darius Walker ' s rushes on a 90 - yard drive that ended with a Rashon Powers - Neal 1 - yard touchdown to give the Irish the lead . The Boilermakers , led by Brandon Kirsch to the Irish 2 - yard line , failed to answer after a goal line fumble was recovered by the Irish . Quinn then led the Irish on a 98 - yard drive , that lasted into the second quarter , and ended with another 1 - yard touchdown run by Powers - Neal . The ensuing kickoff was returned by Dorien Bryant 66 yards to give the Boilermakers the ball on the Notre Dame 30 - yard line , however , they were unable to advance it and didn ' t score due to a missed 43 - yard field goal . Quinn took advantage and led the Irish on a 73 - yard drive ending with his touchdown pass to Jeff Samardzija . With another 10 - yard touchdown run by Walker later in the quarter , the Irish took a 28 - 0 lead at halftime . In the second half , the Boilermakers finally scored after Kirsch passed for a total of 73 yards on an 85 - yard drive that ended with his touchdown 18 - yard touchdown pass to Bryant . The Irish answered on Quinn ' s second touchdown pass to Samardzija of 55 yards , however Kirsch cut the Irish lead once again to 21 after a 3 - yard touchdown pass to Bryant . Although Quinn and Kirsch threw back - to - back interceptions , neither team scored again in the third , leaving the score 35 - 14 . The Irish started the fourth quarter scoring with a 22 - yard touchdown pass from Quinn to John Carlson , for Quinn ' s final series in the game , he would be replaced by back - ups David Wolke and Marty Mooney for the final three drives . Kirsch led the Boilermakers to a 5 - yard touchdown rush by Kory Sheets for his final drive of the game , he would be replaced by Curtis Painter for their final two drives . The Irish , helped by Wolke ' s only completion of the game for 29 yards , scored again with a 10 - yard rushing touchdown by Travis Thomas , for the final Irish score of the game . After both teams had turnovers , Painter and the Boilermakers capitalized with Sheets second rushing touchdown of 8 yards , giving the final score with the Irish winning 49 - 28 . With Quinn ' s touchdown passes , he tied a Notre Dame record held by John Huarte of 10 straight games with touchdown passes , and also became the only Irish quarterback to pass for 300 yards in 3 straight games . After the game , the Irish moved up to 12th in the nation and would move up again to 9th before their next game , while the Boilermakers dropped from the rankings . USC . In a game that looked to be overshadowed by pre - game hype and assertions of being the newest " Game of the Century " the meeting between perennial rivals , Notre Dame and USC , called by some the second greatest rivalry in college football , would be the 77th meeting between the schools , who play for the Jeweled Shillelagh . The Trojans , led by coach Pete Carroll and Heisman - winning senior quarterback Matt Leinart , were ranked first in the country , were on a 27 game winning streak , and had won three straight meetings with the Irish , each by 31 points . Expectations , however , were high that this game would be closer . In a surprise move , after Weis insisted it wouldn ' t happen , the Irish wore green jerseys for the game . The score was back and forth for much of the game , with the Irish leading 21 - 14 at halftime after a pair of touchdowns by running backs Reggie Bush and LenDale White for the Trojans , and a rushing touchdown by Travis Thomas , a passing touchdown by Brady Quinn , and a punt return for a touchdown by Tom Zbikowski for the Irish . The Trojans took a 28 - 24 lead with five minutes left in the game when Reggie Bush ran for his third touchdown of the game , however , Quinn answered with four complete passes and his own 5 - yard touchdown run to give the Irish a 31 - 28 lead with less than two minutes remaining . On the Trojans last series , however , Leinart , after being sacked and facing a fourth down on his own 26 - yard line , completed a 61 - yard fade to Dwayne Jarrett to give the Trojans a last chance near the Irish goal line . After a series of plays including Leinart fumbling the ball out of bounds , the stadium clock incorrectly running out of time , and part of the Notre Dame student section rushing the field , the Trojans had the ball on the Irish 1 - yard line with seven seconds remaining . Instead of opting for the field goal and going to overtime , Leinart tried to sneak into the end zone . When he was stopped , in a play that would be called the " Bush Push " , Bush pushed him over the goal line for the winning score of 34 - 31 . On June 10 , 2010 , the NCAA found that Bush was ineligible for college athletics during the 2005 season , and USC was forced to vacate all wins from that year . BYU . After the disappointment from the loss to USC , the Irish looked to rebound against the BYU Cougars , a team that gave the Irish a season opening loss in 2004 . The Cougars were led by junior quarterback John Beck and first - year head coach Bronco Mendenhall . The Cougars had a 3 - 3 record , but had won their previous two games . The Cougars started the scoring with a 45 - yard field goal , but Brady Quinn , completing six of seven passes on his first drive , threw a 10 - yard touchdown to Maurice Stovall to take the lead . Beck led the Cougars on a drive that included an interception by Mike Richardson , that was fumbled and recovered by the Cougars and finished with a 12 - yard touchdown pass to Jonny Harline . The Cougars led 10 - 7 at the end of the first quarter , but a pair of 15 - yard Quinn touchdown passes to Jeff Samardzija and Stovall gave the Irish a 21 - 10 lead at halftime . In the third , Quinn completed three long touchdown passes , two to Stovall and one to Samardzija , while Beck ran for a touchdown and threw another to Todd Watkins to end the third quarter with the Irish leading 42 - 23 . The final score of the game came in the fourth when a Beck pass was intercepted by Tom Zbikowski and returned 83 yards , giving the final score of the game with the Irish winning 49 - 23 . The Irish won their first home game of the season and moved to 9th nationally . Tennessee . The Irish next played the struggling Tennessee Volunteers . The teams last met at Tennessee in 2004 , when the Irish surprised the top - 15 ranked Volunteers with a 17 - 13 win . The Volunteers were led by coach Phillip Fulmer and quarterback Erik Ainge . When the Volunteers didn ' t score on the first drive of the game , the Irish took advantage , with Brady Quinn leading an Irish drive that ended with his 43 - yard touchdown pass to Anthony Fasano . The ensuing kickoff was fumbled by the Volunteers , and Quinn threw his second touchdown to Maurice Stovall three plays later . Volunteers ' kicker , James Wilhout kicked a 26 - yard field goal for their only score of the quarter . In the second quarter , on a Volunteer punt , Tom Zbikowski returned the ball 43 - yards to give the Irish a 21 - 3 lead . After a Quinn fumble that was recovered by the Volunteers , Ainge led a 40 - yard drive and threw a 7 - yard touchdown pass to Bret Smith to give the halftime score of 21 - 10 . In the second half , after a failed fourth down conversion by the Irish , Wilhout kicked a 30 - yard field goal to put the Volunteers down by 8 . When the Irish didn ' t answer , Ainge and running back Arian Foster led the Volunteers to Foster ' s 3 - yard touchdown . With Ainge ' s pass to Smith completed for a two - point conversion , the game was tied at 21 at the end of the third . In the fourth quarter , however , the Irish scored 20 , including two D . J . Fitzpatrick field goals , a Quinn touchdown pass to Jeff Samardzija , and a Zbikowski interception return for a touchdown . With no answers by the Volunteers , the Irish won the game 41 - 21 . With the win , Quinn continued his Irish record touchdown passing streak to 13 games , Samardzija ' s touchdown catch , his 12th broke an Irish record of touchdown catches in a season , and the Irish moved up in ranking to 7th nationally . Navy . The Irish next played the Navy Midshipmen , a team the Irish had played annually since 1927 , and had beaten in 41 straight games , a record NCAA winning streak . Navy was led by option quarterback Lamar Owens and coach Paul Johnson . The game began with a 73 - yard Irish drive that ended with a 31 - yard touchdown pass from Brady Quinn to Maurice Stovall . Navy answered , after a 69 - yard drive that took half of the quarter , when Adam Ballard ran for an 8 - yard touchdown . After both teams failed to convert on fourth downs in the second quarter , Quinn led the Irish to a Travis Thomas 12 - yard touchdown run . On the next Navy possession , a fumble by Owens was recovered by the Irish . Quinn completed two passes on the drive and Darius Walker ran for a 12 - yard touchdown . After a Navy punt , a Quinn pass to Anthony Fasano for an 8 - yard touchdown , gave the Irish a 28 - 7 lead at halftime . A six - minute drive by Navy to start the second half ended in a 1 - yard touchdown run by Owens to bring Navy to within two touchdowns , but Quinn answered on the next drive with a 17 - yard touchdown pass to Stovall . After both teams threw interceptions , Quinn threw his fourth touchdown of the game , a 10 - yard pass to Stovall . With a Brian Hampton 17 - yard touchdown to Tyree Barnes , Navy finished the scoring in the game . The Irish won 42 - 21 , with Quinn increasing his Notre Dame record touchdown passing streak to 14 games and the team extending its record winning streak over Navy to 42 games . Syracuse . Notre Dame ' s next game , and final home game of the season , came against the 1 - 8 Syracuse Orange . Syracuse , led by first - year coach Greg Robinson and quarterback Perry Patterson , had spoiled the Irish chance of not having a losing season in 2003 when they routed the Irish in the Carrier Dome by 26 . This year , however , it seemed like the Orange , ranked last in total yards , were over - matched . The Orange , however , kept up with the Irish in the first quarter , and after a failed field goal attempt by D . J . Fitzpatrick , and a 51 - yard run by Damien Rhodes on the ensuing drive , the Orange scored the first points of the game with a 31 - yard field goal by John Barker . On the next Irish drive , Fitzpatrick ' s field goal attempt was blocked , and the Orange kept the lead . However , four minutes later , a 25 - yard Brady Quinn pass to Maurice Stovall ended with a touchdown , giving the Irish the lead . A 30 - yard pass to Jeff Samardzija , on the second play of the next Irish drive , gave the Irish a 14 - 3 lead that they would have at halftime . On the first play of the third quarter , Patterson was intercepted by Leo Ferrine , who returned it 17 - yards for a touchdown to give the Irish a 21 - 3 lead . After a failed fourth down attempt at the Orange goal line , and a pair of punts by the Orange , Fitzpatrick gave the Irish a 24 - 3 lead with his 44 - yard field goal . In the fourth quarter , Fitzpatrick kicked a 29 - yard field goal , Darius Walker ran for a 3 - yard touchdown , and Patterson threw an 18 - yard touchdown to Joseph Kowaleski for the only Orange touchdown of the day , to give the final score of 34 - 10 in favor of the Irish . With the game , Quinn continued his Notre Dame record touchdown streak and the Irish moved to 6th nationally . They were also one win away from being eligible for a BCS bowl . Stanford . The final Irish test of the regular season came on the road against the 5 - 5 Stanford Cardinal , in the last game in Stanford Stadium before it would be renovated . Stanford , coached by first - year coach Walt Harris and quarterback Trent Edwards , and Notre Dame played annually since 1997 and have a minor rivalry for the Legends Trophy . The Irish had won the three previous seasons when coached by former Cardinal head coach Ty Willingham , and the Cardinal didn ' t look to have much chance in this game after losing in the Big Game to rival California , with the Bears outrushing the Cardinal by 210 yards . The Irish took an early lead on the second play of the game when Brady Quinn threw an 80 - yard touchdown to Jeff Samardzija , however , after a Quinn interception , Edwards tied the game with a 27 - yard touchdown to Mark Bradford . The Irish scored the last points of the quarter with another Quinn touchdown to Samardzija , this time for 7 yards to bring the game to 14 - 7 in favor of the Irish . In the second quarter , after both teams failed to convert fourth downs , a 38 - yard Edwards pass to Justin McCullum , tied the game once again . Although Quinn threw his second interception of the game later in the quarter , neither team scored again in the half . In the third quarter , Quinn threw his third touchdown to Maurice Stovall for 10 - yards , however , D . J . Fitzpatrick missed the extra point , and left the Irish only winning by 6 . With a missed 42 - yard field goal by Fitzpatrick , and the Cardinal not scoring in the quarter , the Irish took a 20 - 14 lead to the fourth quarter . Early in the fourth quarter , Carl Gioia replaced Fitzpatrick and kicked a 29 - yard field goal to put the Irish up two scores , however , on his kickoff , T . J . Rushing returned the ball 87 - yards to bring the Cardinal to within two points . Quinn then brought the Irish on an 80 - yard drive that ended with a Travis Thomas 8 - yard touchdown run . The Cardinal were only able to answer with a 31 - yard field goal that made the score 30 - 24 in favor of the Irish . Fitzpatrick was brought in during the next Irish drive , but missed a 29 - yard field goal that would have put the Irish up by two scores . The Cardinal , who had brought in backup quarterback T . C . Ostrander when Edwards didn ' t move the ball in the third quarter , capitalized on the miss and took the lead on a 4 - yard pass to Matt Traverso , with less than two minutes left in the game . Quinn then completed three long passes and Darius Walker ran the last 6 - yards for the go - ahead touchdown . A direct snap to Walker on the two - point conversion put the Irish up by a touchdown with less than a minute remaining . Ostrander was able to bring the Cardinal to their 38 - yard line on a 14 - yard pass , but was sacked on a fourth down to seal the win for the Irish , 38 - 31 . With the win the Irish were eligible for a BCS bowl , and although falling to 7th in the rankings , were ranked 6th by the BCS and invited to the Fiesta Bowl . Fiesta Bowl . With 9 wins and a ranking of 6th in the BCS polls , the Irish were invited to the Fiesta Bowl , held in Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe Arizona , to face the number 4 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes . The BCS appearance was only the second for the Irish and the first since a 2000 loss to the Oregon State Beavers in the Fiesta Bowl . The Buckeyes , led by coach Jim Tressel and junior quarterback Troy Smith , had a 9 - 2 record , with losses to BCS contender Penn State and eventual national champion Texas . Although both teams had long football histories , they had only met four times previous to this game , the latest in 1996 . The Irish took an early lead on a 20 - yard run by Darius Walker , but Smith answered for the Buckeyes three minutes later with a 56 - yard pass to Ted Ginn Jr . to tie the game . After Smith fumbled the ball on the Buckeye 15 - yard line , the Irish had another chance to take the lead . However , after not gaining a first down after three plays , they attempted a fourth down conversion , during which Quinn was sacked . Without scoring , the quarter ended with the game tied at 7 . On the third play of the second quarter , Smith once again scored a touchdown on a 68 - yard pass to Ginn to give the Buckeyes a lead they would never relinquish . On the Buckeyes next drive , Smith brought them to the Irish 15 - yard line , before his fumble was recovered by the Irish . The Irish , however , couldn ' t take advantage , and on the Buckeyes next drive Smith threw an 85 - yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes to give the Buckeyes a 21 - 7 lead . With a blocked field goal attempt by the Buckeyes , the score stayed the same at the half . In the third quarter , the Irish blocked a second field goal attempt , and finally took advantage with a 10 - yard rushing touchdown by Walker . With a missed extra point , and a 40 - yard field goal by Josh Huston on the Buckeyes next possession , the Buckeyes took a 24 - 13 lead into the fourth quarter . In the fourth , Huston added another field goal , and Walker ran for a third touchdown , before Antonio Pittman ran for his own 60 - yard touchdown for the final score of the game . The Buckeyes won 34 - 20 , giving the Irish their NCAA record - tying 8th straight bowl game loss . Notre Dame also finished 2 - 2 against schools from the Big Ten in 2005 . Notre Dame is considered a prospective candidate for possible Big Ten expansion , though the Irish have rejected several invitations in the past . Post - season . Notre Dame records . By the end of the season , the 2005 team set 47 Notre Dame team and individual records . The team set 11 season records , including most points ( 440 ) and most offensive yards ( 5728 ) . Four players set individual season records , including Jeff Samardzija ' s touchdown receptions ( 15 ) , Brady Quinn ' s touchdown passes ( 32 ) , Darius Walker ' s receptions by a running back ( 43 ) , and D . J . Fitzpatrick ' s PATs ( 52 ) . Seven individual game records were set , including Quinn ' s touchdown passes ( 6 ) and Maurice Stovall ' s receptions ( 14 ) . Samardzija set a record with 8 consecutive touchdown catches , Walker another record with four consecutive 100 - yard rushing games , and Quinn ' s record of 16 consecutive games with a touchdown pass that began in 2004 and ended in the Fiesta Bowl . With his records this season , Quinn holds 30 Notre Dame individual records , including games with 300 - yards passing ( 5 ) becoming the only Irish player to throw for 400 - yards in a game more than once . Awards . A number of Irish players and coaches were named post - season award finalists and winners . Head coach Charlie Weis was named by the Football Writers Association of America as the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year . Offensive coordinator , Michael Haywood , was named by the American Football Coaches Association as the Assistant Coach of the Year . Offensive lineman John Sullivan was named by the Walter Camp Football Foundation as the Connecticut Player of the Year , wide receiver Jeff Samardzija was named as a finalist for the Fred Biletnikoff Award , and tight end Anthony Fasano , named to the preseason Mckey Award watchlist , was also named a finalist for the award . Quarterback Brady Quinn , after finishing fourth in Heisman Trophy balloting , was nominated for two Player of the Year awards , two quarterback trophies , and won the Sammy Baugh Trophy . In addition to the awards , three Irish players were named on All American teams . Quinn , Samardzija , and safety Tom Zbikowski were all named the AP All - America team , Samardzija to the second team and Quinn and Zbiokowski to the third . In addition to the AP team , Samardzija was named to seven other All - America teams , six on the first teams . Samardzija was also named as Notre Dame ' s NCAA record 79th Consensus All American . NFL Draft . In the 2006 NFL Draft , three Irish players were drafted by NFL teams . Fasano was taken by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round of the draft , Maurice Stovall was taken by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round , and Dan Stevenson was taken in the sixth round by the New England Patriots . In addition to the three players taken in the draft , six signed free agent contracts with NFL teams .