Notre Dame’s Crist dependency is exposed

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When his team has a bad game, Notre Dame Coach Kevin Rooney isn’t one to point fingers at certain areas on his team’s play. After the Knights’ losses to Birmingham and Crespi, he blamed the team’s collective effort as the reason they fell short.

But after Notre Dame’s 7-3 loss on Friday to Newport Harbor in the opening round of the Pac-5 Division playoffs, he didn’t sugar-coat the obvious -- he knew not having Dayne Crist, pictured from an earlier game, under center was the main reason the Knights lost.

‘It’s frustrating not having [Crist] play,’ Rooney said. ‘Other guys need to step up, but Dayne’s our best player and it hurts us a lot when he’s not in.’

He’s not kidding. Crist, who had not received doctor’s clearance to play after suffering a concussion in last week’s loss to Crespi, is the heart and soul of the Notre Dame offense and without him, the Knights look, well, pretty average. I know they were playing a pretty darn talented team in Newport Harbor, but they couldn’t build any consistency on offense. RB Thaddeus Brown rushed for only 67 yards in 18 carries and backup QB Thomas Edwards tried his best, but could connect on only 11 of 16 passes for 102 yards.

Notre Dame also had an 85-yard TD run by Brown called back because of a holding penalty.

‘Obviously, we weren’t very productive offensively because we couldn’t do the things we wanted to do,’ Rooney said.

Notre Dame has achieved a lot this season, but by its own lofty standards, it wasn’t enough. I always knew this team was a little too Crist-dependent, and it showed tonight.

-- Austin Knoblauch

-- Image by Richard Hartog/Los Angeles Times