Troy Smith made a strong case for himself yesterday in a huge game. Brady Quinn had his usual great game but Weis will not run it up, especially against a service academy. After watching the Irish and the Cadets after the game, style points didn't really seem important any longer. It's hard to pick against a re-match for the NC at this point. Strength of schedule.... I've been watching and listening to ESPN, WFAN in NY and others belittle ND and Brady Quinn's success using the the old "they play a weak schedule" card. Today's Sagarin poll lists ND # 4 behind the big two and USC. ND's strength of schedule is #30, compared to Florida at #36. USC is #3. Ohio State is #26. That criticism of ND holds no water.
Perfect timing. OSU has just finally played a tough foe and ND is yet to play SC. You probably won't hear the strength of schedule arguement after next week.
Obviously your hinting around for ND to sneak in there. Why would we want a replay of last years arse kickin..... :twisted:
George, <disclaimer>This is in NO WAY intended to start anything with anyone, just a question I have. At what point was Brady pulled from the game? I flipped over to it from time to time, and noticed he was still playing late in the 3rd with you guys up by 30. I was just thinking that surely you guys have a backup that needs the work for next year... :?:
Scott, In all the years I've been watching high school and college football, it accepted practice in a blowout game to leave the first string offense in until the end of the third quarter, even a minute or two into the 4th quarter. The more important key to a team's character is what that offense does when they are 30 points up. ND played a conservative, run-down-the-clock game for most of the second half with both the first string and the reserves. Any passes were possession passes to move the chains and maintain control. There is another aspect of pulling your 1st string too early. It's a sign of lack of respect for your opponent's ability to move the ball. Three things are certain under Coach Weis......ND has high respect for every opponent.....ND does not run up the score....ND will not allow Quinn or anyone else to play just to pad his stats. The program has character.
I do think that Charlie wanted Brady to go out a certain way, when the Irish failed on a 4th down sneak that just wasn't how he wanted Brady's last play to be in ND stadium. I think if he had made it and completed the drive then it would have been his last series. Instead Brady got another series to be able to leave the field at ND Stadium with a TD drive. I don't think it was about building his stats or anything like that, it was about giving Brady the opportunity to leave the field on a high point. Charlie no doubt understood that Brady wasn't winning the Heisman with any performance vs Army. He knew it was two things Troy vs UM and how Brady and the Irish do vs USC. Troy did his part and likely barring a 10 TD 1000yd performance by Brady vs USC , Troy has won the Heisman and is a deserving winner. Terry
Troy Smith has the heisman all-but locked up. Even an outstanding performance by Quinn against USC wont get him the trophy.
Brady should not bother going to NY. I'm sure Smith got the votes of Gino Toretta and Danny Wuerffel. He's their kind of guy.
Fortuneately Brady isn't likely to take your advice. He'll go and he'll say and do all the right things.
scott <t>you bring up and interesting question my man.<br/> <br/> I've yet to see Charlie leave the guy in in an attempt to pile up yards or style points. He's always pulled him, at what I felt, was the right time.<br/> <br/> As for our backups. We have a good backup who looks to have some potential. He strikes me as a very "Alabama like" QB who appears to be mobile and have a 'quick' arm but not a great one. I think a lot of this centers around Charlie's practice of 'the best guy playing.'<br/> <br/> With Clausen coming in early in the Spring to compete for the starting job while our current backup will be playing baseball, I do think we might be looking at a situation in which we have a true freshman starting for the Irish next year.<br/> <br/> I'm not one of those recruitnicks who thinks you can just plug and play kids out of HS into starting roles in DI college football. I did see Mustain play games on TV in HS as well as Tebow (whose arm is GREATLY hidden and unappreciated at this time BTW). I think Clausen is at least as good as both of them in terms of sheer physical talent.<br/> <br/> We have a situation at ND in which we have almost no junior class at all thanks to Ty (Hey Look I won the Apple Cup) Willingham. I am honestly praying that we have a good number of those seniors who can apply for a 5th year, do so and offer some leadership to this team that is already comprised of a large number of freshman and sophs. I think we have regularly played anywhere from 10 to 18 freshman in games in which I bothered to look and see who all played.<br/> <br/> I think our present sophomore class is short on number but high on talent. Those are the kids, I believe, that came to ND amidst the firing of Ty. We were already facing a sh*tty recruiting year and the Evil Robot Genius came in to slap some lipstick on the pig but I dont think he had a lot of time to do much damage. So there you have it, we are senior and freshman heavy. I see your point about getting 'quality' minutes for Frazier but I just don't know if those are really going to be quality minutes for our starter next year.</t>
I guess the disclaimer wasn't clear... I was asking purely from the standpoint of it's late in the year, and your senior has nothing left to prove so why isn't the new guy in to get some quality work? I haven't watched the last half of many of ND's games, so I didn't even know who it was. Sorry if my question was taken as an attack. I don't have an ND agenda. Hell I kinda like you guys. 8)
Terry I think inviting Brady last year would have been the right thing. I think doing unto others is to operative phrase here. Let them have their party without the favorite for top pick in the draft. He owes them nothing.
Brady only got 171 votes last year, Bush won with 2500+, 3rd place was 750 points. He wasn't even close. I don't really remember if the top 5 are always invited, and last year was the first year that they haven't been invited or what. Brady should not take your phone call when you call to give him advice. It would serve no purpose other than to make him look like an idiot and generate lots of negative press. He's a great kid, he's always done the right thing, it would be wrong to not go because of some percieved snub last year.
Last year??? he wasn't even close in the voting? Unless there is some rule or precedent that the top 5 voters always go to NY, then he wasn't treated badly. If this was the first time that all 5 top vote getters were not invited to NY then maybe he was snubbed, and so was Michael Robinson of Penn State who also had a great year. But if there have been other years where not all 5 were invited then it was not a snub. Still no reason to not go this year
.. <t>Scott,<br/> <br/> Please re-read what I wrote, I didn't take your question as an attack at all. I thought I was offering a brief, yet somewhat detailed, explanation on why things are the way they are at ND (re recruiting and depth)<br/> <br/> Its really not as simple as 'should Frazier be getting in there sooner?'<br/> <br/> Unless you were referring to the squabble between Terry and Mike. If that's the case, then just ignore it. We do this stuff all the time. Since no one can seem to take arguing with us, we just argue with each other. Neither are are upset at you or your question I believe.</t>
Scott, I did not think you were being negative at all. I started my reply with how I viewed the reason, but I see how I got carried away defending the character of our program. You are a good guy. I'm sorry if I came across as too defensive. I think Corey gave you a good answer.
Brady was written off after his 3rd game this year. He never had a real chance. Great players bring their teams back in the closing minutes. He did it twice this year.