Willingham was Irish's missing piece

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The soap opera was Florida State. But the story was Notre Dame.

It's back (completely).

It's for real (really for real now).

It has University of Miami fans twitching (more on that later).

And it had so much fun in Saturday's 34-24 win against Florida State that it didn't want to leave Doak Campbell Stadium. There was receiver Arnaz Battle, in a tan suit and crisp blue tie, tucking a handful of stadium grass in his pocket an hour after the game saying, "A little souvenir." There was coach Tyrone Willingham, standing nearby atop the painted 'F' in the block-lettered "Florida State" end zone, telling reporters, "I suppose this is our most impressive win -- if all of you say so."

And there, at the other end of the field, in a stadium empty of Florida State fans, a couple hundred Notre Dame fans jumped up and down as if on pogo sticks while chanting to the ESPN College GameDay crew, "Fiesta Bowl! Fiesta Bowl!" Last one out, turn off the scoreboard.

And the last Seminole apologizing, please turn off the copy machine. Players were apologizing to fans for their play. Defensive end Alonzo Jackson was apologizing to Bobby Bowden for a locker-room outburst. And Bowden was releasing a statement saying he "meant no disrespect" for comparing Notre Dame to a serial killer.

It was that kind of Saturday, the kind Florida State wants back, Notre Dame keeps celebrating and Miami fans best beware. You can bet your Pythagorean Theorem when the BCS formula gets reconfigured on Monday that Miami stands a good chance to drop to No. 3 behind Oklahoma and leap-frogging Notre Dame.

And everyone knows what that means. It means the college football season could again come down to Miami standing with its face pressed against the national championship window. It happened that way in 2000, the season coming down to strength of schedules more than strength of teams, and Butch Davis getting shut out.

Miami's schedule gets help with upcoming games at Tennessee and against Virginia Tech. And Notre Dame's lineup weakens with games against Boston College, Rutgers, Navy and Southern California -- in order: a win, a joke, a breeze and a debate.

But today, Irish eyes are watering at the thought of a 12-0 finish after a Saturday unlike any of their seven others this year. There were Saturdays when Notre Dame won without the offense scoring a touchdown. There were Saturdays when they won with a Rudy Moment -- a walk-on quarterback throwing the deciding touchdown.

So much around the program has had the luck-of-the-shamrock feel, going back to George O'Leary fudging his resume, losing the job and Willingham then being hired.

"I call that Divine Intervention," athletic director Kevin White said outside the locker room Saturday.

"I don't know what was missing there, but whatever it was Ty Willingham gave it to them," Bowden said.

He gave it a deep pass on Notre Dame's first offensive play. That went for a 65-yard touchdown. He gave it a defense that caused four Florida State turnovers in a second half in which it held running back Greg Jones to 2 yards on two carries.

Most of all, he has driven home a sense of purpose with the seas-of-green "Return To Glory" T-shirts and perspectivespeak after wins.

"This win just means we took another step," he said.

Nothing more?

"No, another step," he said.

On the flight to Tallahassee, Notre Dame players were shown the video of Notre Dame's 1993 win against Florida State in which current Dolphin Shawn Wooden broke up FSU's final pass. That gave Notre Dame a No. 1 ranking.

"On the flight home, we might show them what happened the next week when Boston College beat (Notre Dame)," Willingham said.

Next up: Boston College. But if the Irish need reminding of this, they didn't need luck in winning Saturday. The scoreboard didn't just say so. The Florida State locker room, loud in frustration, echoed it as well.

David Hyde is a sports columnist for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.