Putting on the practice pads will help ease pain

The sting from the loss to Boston College is slowly wearing off.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Against Pittsburgh 31/2 weeks ago, Notre Dame tailback Rashon Powers-Neal sustained a deep thigh bruise on his left leg. That hurt.
In practice the following week, Powers-Neal aggravated it and "just made it worse," he said. That hurt even more.
But none of that compared to the pain he felt Saturday, standing on the sideline, reduced to a spectator as the Irish (8-1) fell 14-7 to Boston College.
For the Irish players, hitting the practice field Tuesday was as much salve for the season's lone slip-up as it was preparation for Navy (1-7), which Notre Dame faces Saturday at Ravens Stadium in Baltimore.
"I think one of the best cures for a competitor after a game where you've lost, you haven't played as well as you should have and something has been taken away, you can't wait to get on the field again," Notre Dame offensive coordinator Bill Diedrick said. "And I think that's probably the best medicine."
One of the first things the Irish worked on remedying -- as they do every week, said Diedrick -- was their bout of the "dropsies." Against the Eagles, the Irish fumbled the ball seven times, losing three.
"It's a fundamental that you work on every single day," Diedrick said. "That's why it was such a shock on game day.
"We got it straightened out."
Everybody, said linebacker Mike Goolsby, had a hand in the loss. And everybody has to play better against the Midshipmen.
"We came in Sunday afternoon, watched the film, saw what we did wrong, saw what we have to correct, and just move on," Goolsby said. "I mean, it's stuff that's correctable, and stuff that you can't do. Everybody knows what they did wrong, and everybody knows how to fix it."
Staff's approach
Coach Tyrone Willingham said the novelty of Saturday's outcome -- it was the first time he and his staff had to prepare an Irish team coming off a loss -- didn't change the rhyme and rhythm of practice.
"It only changes our ability as coaches to try to reinforce what you have to do to win any football game, and not take anything for granted," Willingham said.
Coming off their first loss of the season, said Powers-Neal, there is little danger of the Irish overlooking the Midshipmen.
"Nobody wanted the game to be over. Nobody wanted it to end the way it did, but it did, and that's life," Powers-Neal said.
Last week, Powers-Neal said, his left leg still hurt through practice. Tuesday, it hurt a lot less. Saturday, he expects to play. And if the Irish win, Powers-Neal said, he won't feel the hurt at all.