But it is Clausen, who has learned how to move gracefully in the pocket and to check down to his secondary and tertiary receivers, who is the impetus. After Saturday’s game he sought out Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, himself a former quarterback who won a hum-dinger of a game in this stadium 22 years ago, for a post-game handshake. At the moment both teams had emptied onto the field and words were being exchanged. Clausen intended for theirs to be amicable, but that chance never arose.

“I went up to him, stuck my hand out, just said, ‘Good game, Coach’,” Clausen said. “You know, he obviously didn’t want to talk to me—“

He dissed you, someone asked, if not so succinctly?
“He obviously didn’t see me or didn’t want to talk to me,” Clausen said.

“Maybe he didn’t recognize you,” Tim Prister of Irish Illustrated playfully suggested. “The new haircut?”

The Clausen-Harbaugh non-frontation was only the final such incident in what was a refreshingly smack-filled week between the two schools. It all began last Tuesday, when a 6-6, 293-pound Massachusetts native by the name of Chris Marinelli spat words of disgust in Palo Alto that landed soon after in South Bend. A three-year starter at offensive tackle for the Cardinal, Marinelli, a classics major, authored the following verse:

Special feature Images from Top 25 games OU, Texas win big to set up showdown, 'Bama survives scare and more. NBCSports.com

“The field, excuse my language, the field sucks. The stadium sucks. I think the area sucks… So I hate those guys, I hate that school.”

Three nights later at the Notre Dame pep rally, Kuntz strode to the podium with a retort. First, the unhinged senior, with the help of wideout Robby Parris, tore off the suit he was wearing (“Six dollars, Salvation Army,” Kuntz said when later asked who he was wearing). Then he promised to “rip (Marinelli’s) head off.”

Kuntz did not quite do that, but he did have his best game of the season with two sacks and an interception. In fact, Notre Dame collected five sacks on the afternoon, answering Marinelli’s most supportable criticism (“they’ve got one sack in 200 blitzes this season”) by topping their previous season total.

“There’s a lot of satisfaction,” Kuntz said. “He definitely paid for (what he said).”

These Irish are young, but they are smart enough to realize that they need not provide any extra motivation for opponents. As they make a swifter-than-anticipated rise from execrable to acceptable to—they hope—exceptional, they’ll soon feel all the antipathy that naturally flows their direction when times are flush.

They remain, for the time being, under the radar. But, yes, it’s a lot different than last year. Now Pat Kuntz and his teammates, when their backs are up against the wall, it’s only in interviews. And it’s only a literal meaning.

MORE FROM NOTRE DAME CENTRAL

Notre Dame Central Section Front

Inside the Irish blog: Latest news and analysis ND's loss to Navy puts pressure on Weis again Notre Dame drops out of Top 25 Five things we learned: Red zone offense killed Irish Navy likely sinks Notre Dame's BCS bowl hopes Floyd's back, competition with Tate resumes Up next: Pittsburgh rolls past Syracuse Irish are Golden in blowout of Washington St. CFT: Clausen holding off on NFL talk Safety McCarthy making big plays for the Irish Notre Dame Central Section Front   Add Notre Dame Central headlines to your news reader: