Mike Goolsby On What It Takes To Win In SEC Country
Traveling to SEC Country to take on a Top 10 team as a significant underdog.
It’s the position Notre Dame finds itself in heading into Saturday night’s game against Georgia in Athens.
It’s also the position the Irish were in back in 2004 when they headed to Knoxville to face #9 Tennessee, the last time they went on the road to play an SEC team.
And, the Irish managed to come out with a 17-13 victory that night.
That was the highlight of a mediocre 6-6 season that ended the Tyrone Willingham Era in South Bend.
“I know we weren’t very good that year, our coach got fired,” says Mike Goolsby, who was a fifth-year linebacker for the Irish that season.
Goolsby, an Illinois native, assumed he would redshirt as a freshman in 2000 and had the game against the Volunteers circled for years. Instead, Goolsby played as a true freshman, but was still around for the game in Knoxville after taking a medical redshirt in 2003.
“I was like, ‘Damn, we’re going to play in front of 100,000 people,’” Goolsby recalled. “I had been looking forward to that game for years.”
Neyland Stadium had Goolsby’s attention as much as anything and he heard even more about it from Notre Dame offensive lineman Jim Jones, who played there for the Irish back in 1999.
“He said it was so loud when they played in that stadium that the ball was moving on the ground, the ball was trembling on the ground,” Goolsby remembers.
The atmosphere in 2004 didn’t disappoint. Goolsby would later spend time on the Dallas Cowboys with linebacker Kevin Burnett, who was a captain for the Vols that year.
“He said that game was the loudest he ever heard that stadium and he played in it for five years,” says Goolsby. “It lived up to the expectations.
“107,000 rednecks can make quite the noise.”
Not only does Notre Dame get its opponents’ best shot each game, but when the Irish travel to non-traditional rivals, the fans of that program tend to bring their best as well.
“There’s very little middle ground,” says Goolsby. “It seems like people love Notre Dame, they grew up Notre Dame fans or people hate Notre Dame.
“When you go down to that SEC type environment, those fans are thinking, ‘We’re going to show these Yankees what football is really about. It’s SEC football.’ When I was being recruited by some of those SEC schools, it’s a real thing, the pride in the Southeastern Conference.”
As for the game itself, Goolsby remembers the little things, like the new demo cleats Adidas let him rock for the game.
And the big things, like the responsibility himself and fellow linebacker Derek Curry took on to make sure everybody was lined up properly.
“Hell, he got me lined up half the time,” Goolsby laughs. “It was a really important game. They were a Top 10 team and between Derek and I, we ran the show.”
And, of course, he remembers the Pick-6.
Trailing 10-7 midway through the third quarter, Goolsby picked off quarterback Rick Clausen and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown that put the Irish ahead for good.
To this day, Goolsby calls it “a fluke play” because it was a pass Jimmy Clausen’s big brother probably should have never thrown. Still, credit where credit is due.
One play after making a tackle for a loss, Goolsby can be seen pleading with somebody on the defense to make a play on the ensuing third down.
“And then boom, coming out of the huddle, that happens,” he says.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaCuhKihgho&feature=youtu.be&t=4820
(Mobile users fast-forward to the 1:21:00 mark)
The Irish only rushed three on that 3rd-and-long, but Derek Landri still provided plenty of pressure and almost sacked Clausen. Goolsby, meanwhile, was nearby in man coverage on the fullback.
“The guy made a throw he shouldn’t have thrown and I was there to pick the pass off,” he says. “It wasn’t anything crazy that I did. I just ended up being in the right place at the right time.
“I’ll take credit for it. I ran 25 yards or something and I was exhausted.”
Goolsby ran about 15 yards before extending the ball in celebration.
“I got yelled for that after the game,” he says, still sounding a little annoyed. “It’s like, ‘Man, come on.’
“They said, ‘Act like you’ve been there before.’ It’s like, ‘I’ve never scored a touchdown, dude.’”
Looking back, despite the pick-six to go with 14 tackles and a sack, Goolsby still remembers it as just another game in one sense.
“I didn’t lay in bed the night before imagining that I was going to have an interception for a touchdown and a bunch of tackles,” he says. “You just hope you play well.”
But at the same time, he acknowledges there’s a little something extra for a game like Georgia that isn’t present for a game like New Mexico.
“Sometimes I think it’s a little bit of coachspeak, somebody saying, ‘Take it one game at a time,’” he says. “You’re probably going to be a little bit more dialed in.
“When you talk about a level of focus for a game like this, you can’t drop that interception. You’re going to have opportunities and you have to execute on all of those little, tiny things and make those plays that come your way because that’s what it’s going to take to knock off a team like Georgia. You have to be a little bit more focused. ‘Yeah, well, I missed a tackle against New Mexico and he gets an extra three yards.’ You do that against a Georgia running back and it’s going to be a house call.”
As much as anything though, Goolsby imagines this year’s Irish sense an opportunity that only a team like Georgia can present.
“The knock is always that we’re slow, right?” he says. “I think when a team like this Notre Dame team this year, when they go to an SEC stadium to play against SEC-type athletes, they’re the ones going in with a little chip on their shoulder. They’re saying, ‘We can run too, man.’ It’s a chance for them to showcase their raw ability.
“Those SEC schools, they’ve got dogs. They run around and hit. It’s a chance for a school like Notre Dame and their kids to let their hair down and go do the same.”
Georgia may have dogs, but in reality, they’re human and Goolsby doesn’t expect Notre Dame to back down, referencing lyrics from Notorious B.I.G. to make his point.
“It’s like, ‘Picture me being scared of somebody who breathes the same air as me,’” says Goolsby. “When you go into an environment like that, it’s like, ‘These kids bleed and breathe just like I do. They’re not anointed.’ It’s a chance for you to just have at it. That would be my focus if I was playing on Saturday.”
Goolsby expects the Irish to have a good showing. When told the point spread on the game had reached 14 points, he says, “That’s a tasty bet.”
He believes the Irish have the advantage at quarterback.
“I don’t think that quarterback (Jake) Fromm, I don’t think he’s a killer,” says Goolsby. “If I had to, I would take (Ian) Book over their quarterback in terms of being a winner.”
He believes the Irish need to win the turnover battle and be more physical.
“I’ve found some of these teams who have elite athletes like a Georgia, like a Florida, etc., they don’t like to get punched in the face, nobody does, but teams like that, it always seems if you jump out to an early lead, you can shock them,” he says.
“You sort of ride that wave and then you’ve got to come out after halftime and do the same thing again to reestablish yourself. I really think that comes through physical play. That’s more of a defensive thing.”
He also says the Irish have to have some explosive plays.
“Book can’t go 18 for 26 for 260 yards,” he says. “He’s going to have to throw two long balls or we’re going to need to have a couple long runs. You’re going to need those flash plays against a team like this.”
Or maybe a pick-six from a linebacker?
“That’ll work too.”