http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/sports/12712314.htm
Irish players’ allegiances aren’t with Ty anymore
By Michael Rothstein
The Journal Gazette
SOUTH BEND – Maurice Crum Jr. didn’t try to hide his feelings or deflect the question.
He knows his answer, and he knows that despite all of the talk this week about downplaying emotions regarding Tyrone Willingham that they are there.
“At some point it will play a small role,” Crum said. “But for the most part, we’re focused on the team and getting back to where we should be.
“It’ll be there, but you have to let that go.”
Crum said he doesn’t know when the moment will be or what it will feel like, just that it will be there.
Willingham coached or recruited almost all of the players making the trip to Seattle this weekend for “The Ty Bowl,” or as most people inside the Notre Dame circle would call it – No. 16 Notre Dame at Washington.
So it must lean to some extra emotion, some thought of the man who brought them all together to this picturesque campus nestled in northern Indiana.
These guys are human, right?
“We missed him,” senior wide receiver Maurice Stovall said. “We did early in the year when we were having issues with the coaching changes, but we’re past that now.”
Now, the players insist, they want the focus on the actual game instead of the large Willingham cloud dominating the questions.
If they had their way, they’d probably shoo it away.
“I’m trying not to focus on that too much, because while we’re playing against him and other old coaches, we’re playing against Washington,” sophomore halfback Darius Walker said. “It’s Washington versus Notre Dame, not Darius versus Willingham.”
Willingham, of course, recruited Walker to Notre Dame, which lingers in his mind.
He remembers how Willingham taught him to grow up and “be a man.” He remembers bits of wisdom the old coach imparted and maybe more than anything, where he saw him before Walker even stepped foot in South Bend.
“He came to my state championship game,” said Walker, who led Buford (Ga.) High School to a 3A state title that year. “That was something I remember, him coming down and sitting in the stands and actually watching the game.
“That’s something that’s encouraging for any high school senior.”
So far, the Irish players said, they have had no contact with the former coaching staff. It doesn’t mean, though, that they wouldn’t like to see Willingham after the game ends.
“Hopefully, we’ll cross paths,” junior quarterback Brady Quinn said.
Either way, Willingham and Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis haven’t said much about the impending hoopla.
Weis said he discussed it with the team. Willingham had only nice things to say, as expected, during his meetings with the media.
Most players, though, admitted the game crossed their minds at some point, whether it was this past week or before the season started.
“We knew it,” junior safety Tom Zbikowski said. “We’re looking forward to it because we know there is going to be a lot of hype around the game regardless of records.”
Zbikowski remembered when Willingham came into his house, trying to convince him to play for the Irish.
“It was enjoyable just to have the University of Notre Dame’s coach in your house,” Zbikowski said. “It was a dream come true.”
While the memories are there, time elapsed. A new coaching staff is in. Three games have been played.
So this blast from the past week is more of a blip than anything else – if you believe the players.
“Things have changed,” Quinn said. “Times have changed. There has been a decent amount of time since it happened so you just have to move on.”
Michigan State apologizes
After beating Notre Dame 44-41 in overtime last Saturday, some Michigan State players took one of the school’s flags and spiked it into the 50-yard line at Notre Dame Stadium, celebrating the school’s fifth straight win there.
Now, they are apologizing.
“We probably shouldn’t have put the flag on the field,” Spartans offensive lineman Gordon Niebylski told The Associated Press. “But at the same time it’s emotional, and we made a mistake, and it happens.”
Notre Dame’s players, while bothered by it, didn’t seem to make it a big issue. However, be sure it’ll probably be something brought up before next year’s game.
“We got over that on Sunday night,” senior linebacker Brandon Hoyte said. “I wasn’t happy that they did it, but the bottom line is that you have to congratulate them on winning the game and that’s that.”
