Notre Dame finally wins at home

Published 11:02 pm Saturday, November 17, 2007

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame’s freshmen made sure the Fighting Irish seniors wouldn’t go their final season without a victory at home.

Jimmy Clausen threw for 194 yards and three touchdowns, Robert Hughes ran for 110 yards and a touchdown, Duval Kamara had a touchdown catch and the Notre Dame defense came within 72 seconds of its first shutout in five years as the Irish beat Duke 28-7 Saturday.

“It’s like a weight has been lifted,” Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said. “I feel happy, especially for the seniors.”

The Irish (2-9), who had lost six straight at home, broke the game open by forcing two fumbles late in the second quarter that led to a pair of 25-yard touchdown passes by Clausen 73 seconds apart in a mistake-filled first half by both teams.

“It’s very disappointing,” Duke coach Ted Roof said. “It’s 0-0 and what did they get, 14 points in the last minute in the first half? You were talking about a one-play game that could go either way. What happened happened. It was certainly a great opportunity for us that didn’t work out.”

Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis, who had a fumble, said the slickness of the field was a factor in the fumbles.

“But we need to take care of the ball,” he said.

The victory allowed the Irish to avoid becoming the first Notre Dame team in 74 years to go a season winless at home. Weis said it was important to send the seniors off with a victory.

“It’s not just the fact that they’re 0-6 at home going into this game. It was the fact it was their last game ever in the stadium,” he said. “Sometimes you don’t understand the magnitude of that statement.”

Duke, playing on national TV for the first time since 1996, lost its eighth straight. It has just two wins against Bowl Subdivision teams the past four seasons: against Northwestern earlier this season and against Clemson in 2004.