The Official Notre Dame Football Thread

[FirstTimer]

What the fuck...

give up on ND after every game, FirstTimer. You are the jinx.

When did I say I gave up on this team?

[G-men]

went to my first ever college football game on Saturday. glad i got to see ND completely tear apart Utah. everything was going Utah's way in the beginning before the punt block TD basically completely turned the game around.

[Irish]

If losing to Navy was the lowest of the low, this is probably the highest this season.

[padman59]

Obviously I didn't remember your statement very well, my bad ahhaha

Utah's band was BRUTAL. They played 4 different songs and all of them spelled "U-T-A-H" Sitting behind them was awful. Also, they played during Tim McCarthy's joke and we booed the shit out of them. Many people were pissed off about that.

Anybody else happy to see this team finish!!?!?!?!?!?

I've noticed on broadcasts that opposing bands seem to play over a lot of things in ND stadium this season. I think Tulsa's band was booed for playing over the alma mater a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure what ND's protocol is for home games, but usually someone is coordinating when the band can and cannot play with the visiting band director.

As for finishing, I'm glad the defense held their ground on those two last 4th down attempts from Utah. However, ND needs more offensive production. Until I see the same defensive performance we saw yesterday happen every week, I don't think they can rely on their defense and special teams to win games. The running game is pretty inconsistent. Aside from blocking, Wood shows flashes but lacks patience/vision to see the crease and cut up the field at times. Jonas Gray is the same with less speed, but his history of fumbling and an injury has probably held him back some.

[padman59]

Just looked at the current AP and USA Today polls and thought something was interesting. Every single team Notre Dame has lost to is either ranked or received votes.

Michigan - Ranked 27th
Michigan St - Ranked 11th
Tulsa - Ranked 33rd
Navy - Ranked 36th
Stanford - Ranked 8th

Not to mention wins over 24th ranked Utah and Big East leader Pittsburgh.

I guess its not as bad as I thought

No, but it's essentially the same as last year if you look at the results (which is why it's been a frustrating season IMO). The only convincing losses this season were at the hands of Stanford and Navy. Michigan and Tulsa were due in part to Crist going down and both had a questionable call to bypass a FG opportunity that may have changed the outcome of the game. MSU came down to a trick play in OT. So you have three close losses that could have gone the other way with a few breaks in ND's favor.

[G-men]

Obviously I didn't remember your statement very well, my bad ahhaha

Utah's band was BRUTAL. They played 4 different songs and all of them spelled "U-T-A-H" Sitting behind them was awful. Also, they played during Tim McCarthy's joke and we booed the shit out of them. Many people were pissed off about that.

Anybody else happy to see this team finish!!?!?!?!?!?

i was wondering why everyone was booing haha.

and if id known you were going we coulda met up lol.

[padman59]

Last year, Notre Dame was 6 plays away from the national championship.

I cry when I think about it tbh

It was the same in '05. Charlie "8 Plays Away From Two National Championship Berths" Weis

[FirstTimer]

Dblpost.

[FirstTimer]

Utah


The Good

- Brian Smith. I'm mentioning him first because it may have never been done before and it may never happen again. Where has this guy been his entire career? He was all over the field, in a good way. He was were he was supposed to be and when he was supposed to be there. Yeah sure he dropped an interception but he made every other play he should have and played easily the best game of his Notre Dame career. Congrats Brian.

- Duval Kamara. Another guy that hasn't been heard from in seemingly years. The coaching staff went to the senior in the past two weeks and told him that he had to play big. Duval responded. Now to Duval's credit he had played well in recent weeks while filling in for the injured Michael Floyd and had been having a solid season but he was challenged and told he could be the difference maker in this game; he delivered. A fitting last game in Notre Dame stadium for a kid we all thought was going to be the next big Notre Dame WR after some gmes he had there in 2007.

- Tommy Rees. It wasn't an awe inspiring performance and it started rather shaky but he was solid. Didn't make mistakes, really let the game come to him and was very accurate. In some ways he has this very "1994 Chicago Bears Steve Walsh" quality about him. He's most likely the 3rd or 4th most talented QB on the roster but seems to inspire confidence in the team and terrible play call at the end of Tulsa aside plays like he knows how to win football games. There are two games left in the year but as of right now it's going to be very interesting next spring with Crist, Rees, and Hendrix battling for the QB job.

- Michael Floyd. This kid has done everything right this season. He's improved as a route runner, still makes big catches, and this season has been a great blocker on the outside. After the progress he has made in one season as an all around player I pray he sticks around for his senior year. I think another year under Kelly would be great for Floyd..and Notre Dame.

- Cierre Wood. After a rough start to the game Wood buckled it up and really turned it around. It's easy to see why the coaching staff and Kelly likes this kid. Early in the season if Wood had struggled like he did early on(no patience running, dropping a pass) he would have curled up and been done. Ever since the Michigan State game Wood has learned from his mistakes in game, moved on from them and played well. His mental toughness is a real asset. His play from the 2nd quarter on was very good and his running in the 4th quarter helped seal away the game and he gives the Irish running game a lot to look forward to in the remaining games this season and the seasons to come.

- Jonas Gray. He gets a mention here because his two runs early in the game really helped swing momentum in a big way and him and Wood could really be a thunder/lightening combination next season.

- The defense in general. They came out and played inspired solid football. Gary Gray played a terrific game, and while I thought he could have drawn a couple flags for jawwing with the Utah WR's at least he was playing with some fire, passion, and urgency. Te'o and Smith played a tremendous game inside, although Te'o still overruns plays a bit. Shembo played great as well and could be the 3-4 outside rusher the team has been waiting for. Kona gave the line play a spark and it was nice to see an opposing QB running for his life a bit. The Harrison Smith interception was a great athletic play and maybe my favorite play of the game was the Jamopris Slaughter hit where he seemed to have a 15-20 yard headstart and leveled the Utah running back a yard short of the first down. Very tough to find anything bad to say about the defense's performance.

- The energy in the stadium. Especially in comparison to the lack of atmosphere for the Tulsa game from the outset the stadium seemed to be in the game in a big way. Maybe it was because of senior day, because Notre Dame was playing a top 15 team, because of the pent up emotion and anxt of the last two weeks. Maybe a combination of all three. Whatever it was it was beautiful. The crowd and the team were really feeding off eachother and it was a great thing to see. Some people will roll their eyes about the students storming the field after a win for a 5-5 football team but the university not just the football team needed that win and that experience. It had been 5 years since a win over a top 15 team and it came on the heels of possibly the two of the toughest weeks in Notre Dame football history. It was a really cool site to see and hopefully we see more of it when we are a top ranked team some day.


The Bad

- The students on the field throwing up the "We are #1" sign. I get that you're excited...but you're a 5-5 football team. Please stop.

- Kelly going for it on 4th and 3 in the first quarter. A definite "WTF" moment early in the game and a sign that Kelly possibly hadn't learned anything from the Tulsa debacle.


The Laugh Out Loud

-No "ugly" to mention this week so I have to mention the giant flash cards. I know they served an important purpose but they were still hilarious to see.

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This team is making me bi-polar. Now all of a sudden a bowl birth is back in the (giant flash)cards. This team is young and banged up right now so I'm not going to get too excisted or start making plans to hunker down and watch a bowl game in December but it's nice to have it to possibly look forward to(again) and would be good for the program to get the extra practice time and the extra exposure for recruits. We face the dreaded triple option again this weekend at Yankee Stadium so hopefully Kelly has made changes to what didn't work at all against Navy and the team keeps this momentum rolling and see this as a chance to redeem themselves against a system that made them look clueless. It willbe a very cool game to watch on TV.

Right now I don't think this team is capable of beating USC on the road to end the season but deep down in my heart I hope this past weekend was the win that starts the turn around. Beat a top 15 team in Utah; Win a rivalry game against Army; break the streak against USC, get to a bowl game and win and start turning this program around NOW. Kelly has the chance now to go from a coach that some already had on the hot seat two weeks ago to the guy who could turn the Notre Dame program around in a month. Running off this stretch of games might be the 2010 equivelent of the 2004 Red Sox against the Yankees(We are playing Army at Yankee Stadium....it's a sign I tell you!) but when I ended this last week I mentioned maybe Tulsa was the darkest moment before the dawn...I hope for my heart and sanity's sake that Utah is the win that signals the rising of the sun.

Go Irish. Beat Army.

[FirstTimer]

Read over on another board that Kelly showed the team green jerseys they will be wearing Saturday.

[Mogriffjr]

USC does nothing for me, I think ND is riding a bit high and will beat them...

[padman59]

I got a chuckle seeing Julio Jones as a Biletnikoff finalist while Michael Floyd didn't make the cut. Almost identical stats, but Floyd has 9 TDs to Jones' 4. I don't think either would win it this season, but still a headscratcher.

USC does nothing for me, I think ND is riding a bit high and will beat them...

It's going to be a tough game for the Irish. USC's defense isn't as strong as in recent years, but ND has a true frosh QB and problems moving the ball on the ground. Meanwhile, USC still has playmakers on the offensive side of the ball.

[FirstTimer]

The two ND de-commit's Aaron Lynch and Jordan Prestwood bpth committed to F$U

[FirstTimer]

Not sure if you heard but Kelly confirmed the green jerseys during his Tuesday presser.

[FirstTimer]

Yeah I just read it on IE.

I'm gonna try to get ahold of Kendall Moore III or some other guys that I know on the team about what they look like. I'll let you know when I hear

My guess is Kelly Green with gold numbers...but idk. I have a feeling they will look like ass in these new TechFit things.

I'm betting they look closer to the 2006 version.