Owen Marecic vs Notre Dame

[ram29jackson]

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/28095/irish-blown-out-by-stanford


Irish blown out by Stanford
September, 25, 2010 Sep 257:17PM ETEmail Print Comments By Brian BennettWell, at least it wasn't another heartbreaking, close loss.

Notre Dame didn't have to worry about making one more play to win a game this week. The Irish needed about 35 more.

Stanford hammered them 37-14 in an humiliating rout that is sure to not sit well with impatient Domer fans and alumni. Notre Dame didn't even score a touchdown until there was 6:20 left in the game -- after Stanford took a 34-6 lead. By then, Notre Dame Stadium was about half empty.

Stanford's Owen Marecic matched the Irish's points himself on two consecutive plays. He scored as a fullback on a touchdown run, then picked off Dayne Crist for a interception return and score.

Head coach Brian Kelly is now 1-3 in his first year, and you can bet there will be plenty of grumbling. I still think Kelly is the right guy. But he has had a lot of initial success throughout his career, so this is new for him. Some will question whether his style of play is tough enough for Notre Dame, especially after Stanford battered the Irish around. As for their (very meager) defense, the Irish aren't the first and won't be the last team the Cardinal pushes around. Remember that this team annihilated the same UCLA team that just beat Texas in Austin.

Not that that is much consolation. Notre Dame's next two opponents, Boston College and Pitt, looked similarly awful this weekend, so there's a chance to get back to 3-3 before the schedule eases considerably. But as bad as Purdue looked, you have to question whether the Irish can beat a team with a pulse right now.

This is about the worst start imaginable for Kelly.Share Tags:Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Dayne Crist, Brian Kelly
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I honestly hope this kid is good enough for the pro's. Even if just as a fullback

 

[ram29jackson]

FOURTH QUARTER STAN ND
TD 07:58 Owen Marecic 1 Yd Run (Andrew Luck Pass To Zach Ertz For Two-Point Conversion) 27 6
TD 07:45 Owen Marecic 20 Yd Interception Return (Nate Whitaker Kick) 34 6

 

[Woy]

I can't believe I thanked you. I just read an article on this kid this morning while tailgating at the PSU game and was impressed...then I come back to see he scored both offensively and defensively? Insane.

One of my new favorite collegiate players.

 

[Buzzman]

what the hell was the point to this thread?

 

[Woy]

And hold it for himself.

 

[Rayman]

Marecic would break Hillis in twain.

 

[Tailback U]

He is definitely good enough for the NFL. He will be a fullback.

He's a beast.

 

[Tailback U]

I was gonna post this article before the season but forgot to:

http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_15885414?source=rss&nclick_check=1

Stanford's Owen Marecic is a throwback to the days of two-way players

By Elliott Almond

ealmond@mercurynews.com
Posted: 08/24/2010 10:07:09 PM PDT
Updated: 08/25/2010 07:45:09 AM PDT

Plenty of players did it before the age of specialization: Chuck Bednarik with the Philadelphia Eagles in the '50s, and Purdue's Leroy Keyes in the late '60s are among the most memorable to do so.

But the thought of playing both offense and defense in this era seems as anachronistic as the leather helmet.

Stanford's Owen Marecic will begin his throwback campaign Sept. 4 against Sacramento State, when he will line up at both fullback and linebacker for the Cardinal.

"This youngster is "... the perfectly engineered football player," Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said.

Sometimes it seems as if Marecic (pronounced Mar-EE-sick) came out of a test tube from the 1960s, when football players prided themselves on toughness and perseverance, no questions asked.

Bednarik, the last of the NFL's "Sixty-Minute Men" as a center and linebacker from 1949-60, applauded Stanford and Marecic for resisting the urge to specialize.

"It's pussyfoot football," he said of the modern game.

Marecic's double assignment is as archaic as nicknames like the Galloping Ghost and Night Train, but one that seems naturally suited to the reticent fellow with shaggy blond hair. The senior from Tigard, Ore., embraces the tough-guy personality Harbaugh has brought to Stanford.

"We want to be the team that hits people in the mouth -- and does it relentlessly," outside linebacker Thomas Keiser said. "And having Owen up the middle is just another way we can
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do that."

NFL rookie Toby Gerhart, Stanford's record-breaking tailback last season, has boasted to Minnesota Vikings teammates, "Man, back home at Stanford we had one of the meanest fullbacks I've ever seen."

It just doesn't seem that way, because Marecic, 21, might be the quietest guy in the Cardinal locker room. Marecic shrugs off compliments like a would-be pass rusher.

The player who gained 15 yards in eight carries in 2009 while building a reputation as a fierce blocker for quarterback Andrew Luck and Gerhart demurs when asked which position he likes best.

"Wherever the team needs me the most," he said flatly.

Which his high school coach in Portland said is Marecic's greatest attribute.

"What he does on the field he doesn't think is crazy; in his mind it's what you're supposed to do," said Jesuit's Ken Potter, who also used Marecic as a fullback and a linebacker.

"In my mind it comes down to the same thing: being a football player," Marecic added. "Hitting is always better than getting hit, whatever position you are playing."

Nevermind that major college football has become a complicated mixture of offensive blocking schemes and multiple defensive strategies. The era of single-platoon college players ended in 1965 when substitution rules were liberalized and the game grew beyond "three yards and a cloud of dust."

With those changes came increased demands on players' time. With film sessions, planning meetings and playbooks as thick as historical novels, the game passed by two-way players. In the mid-1980s, Gordie Lockbaum was such an anomaly for playing running back and cornerback at Holy Cross that he became a Heisman Trophy contender, despite playing for a Division I-AA school.

"There are just a lot of obstacles to doing this," said Lockbaum, now an insurance agent and wrestling coach in Worchester, Mass. "The game is becoming more intense, quicker, bigger, stronger and faster. It's got to be a special kid to be able to withstand that over the course of a game."

Don't expect Marecic, 6-foot-1, 244 pounds, to appear on every down, though. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said the player might get the call for about 80 plays per game.

Still "...

"It's few and far between (the players) who can do that," Fangio said.

Marecic couldn't wait to try after the 2009 season ended with a 31-27 defeat to Oklahoma in the Sun Bowl. Despite the punishment his body took throughout the season, Marecic wanted to play again a few hours after that loss to erase the bitterness.

What did his body say about it?

"It learns to comply," said Marecic, a human biology major.

He interned as a research assistant at Stanford Hospital this summer, working on a project involving risk factors for infection in knee replacements. Marecic also worked part time at the Stanford University Golf Course and took up the sport.

He eventually learned to not hit balls as hard as he does opponents. "When I try to do that I don't even know where the ball goes," he said.

Harbaugh thinks he knows where Marecic is going.

"He's an NFL fullback," the coach said.

If not, then perhaps a linebacker.