Notre Dame's 2-pointer haunts Huskies

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A game with seven lead changes and nearly 1,000 yards of total offense came down in many ways to just a couple of feet.

Robert Hughes' feet, actually.

He's the Notre Dame fullback who carried the ball on the Irish's two-point conversion with 1:20 left in the fourth quarter. He disappeared into a pile that inched its way to the end zone for the two points that wound up being the reason Erik Folk's 37-yard field goal forced overtime instead of winning it outright.

Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen passed for 422 yards, Golden Tate had the most receiving yards for any Notre Dame player in the past 40 years, but those 3 yards Hughes gained on the two-point conversion were pretty tough for Washington to swallow.

"We had him stopped and their O-line just pushed us back," said Cort Dennison, Huskies linebacker.

It certainly looked that way.

Notre Dame led by one point after Clausen's second touchdown pass of the game. The Irish went for two to protect against a game-winning field goal, but Hughes' initial push was stopped. That's when a rugby game broke out.

"There was a scrum in there," Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said. "He's a big boy, pushing the pile north. You get them scrums, and all of a sudden you end up in the end zone. Score one for the good guys."

That probably depends upon your perspective, Charlie. What did Steve Sarkisian see from the other sideline?

"I couldn't tell," Sarkisian said. "I didn't know where he was. I didn't know if the momentum was stopped."

Of course, there's probably not a lot of sympathy for the Huskies' plight on that play. After all, the Irish lost at home to USC in 2005 on a play known in these parts as the Bush Push for the way running back Reggie Bush gave quarterback Matt Leinart an assist into the end zone. There is a penalty for a teammate who grabs, pushes, lifts or charges into a runner to aid his progress, but it is seldom called. A penalty flag was thrown in the end zone on the two-point conversion, but it was picked up, the referee stating there was no infraction.

Suspense has been the story line for this Notre Dame season, though. Its previous three games were each decided in the final minute and Saturday's seven-point overtime victory was actually Notre Dame's second largest margin of victory this season.

"Clutch," Tate said when asked to describe his team's ability to win close games.

The Irish gave plenty proof of that Saturday. Hughes' scoring play was just the last instance in which Notre Dame knuckled up at the goal line, which was the story of the second half.

In the third quarter, the Irish stopped Washington twice from the Notre Dame 1 on quarterback runs by Jake Locker. In the fourth quarter, Notre Dame kept Washington out of the end zone despite the Huskies running five plays inside the Irish 5.

And with 1:20 left in the fourth quarter, it was Notre Dame's offense that knuckled up at the goal line as Hughes plunged into a pile that eventually crept into the end zone.

"I was just trying to keep my feet moving," Hughes said. "That was my whole focus."

Those feet turned out to be quite a difference in the game.

Safety first

Notre Dame safety Kyle McCarthy didn't know that D'Andre Goodwin had the ball in his hands for a moment on Washington's final play of the game. He just knew that his hit along with that of Harrison Smith kept Goodwin from completing the catch.

"I don't know where the ball was," McCarthy said. "I was just going for the hit. Obviously, something good happened."

For Notre Dame, it was good. Goodwin very nearly made a remarkable catch on fourth-and-19.

"Almost one of the greatest catches of all time," Washington coach Steve Sarkisian said. "But he'll be OK."

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com