ND <r>I admit I was wrong about Brandon Wimbush, he is a great young man as I said but he is also a great teammate as displayed Saturday. He put aside what I'm sure were some hurt feeling about being replaced eariler in the season for the starting QB slot and just went out there and more than helped ND win the game. Great guy to have on your side. <br/> <br/> Good news from Kelly today reference to Ian Book:<br/> <br/> <br/> <QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE></r>
George, You aren't alone, but Tillery does that a lot. He makes impact plays on almost every down, but he doesn't always make a play that appears in the stat line. He often takes to OLs to town or force a run to bounce outside of its lane. Our defense doesn't get a lot of attention nationally, but I really like this defense quite a bit.
FYI, if you were watching the game late in the 2nd quarter when they showed the on-the-field tribute to the 1993 team, my son, Brian was front and center in his monogram jacket. During the rest of the game and the next day, he received somewhere between 80 and 100 texts and emails from family, former players, and old and current friends. He's been overwhelmed by the attention to his 15 seconds of fame. During the day and evening, I met several of his former teammates. The one who stood out was Kevin McDougal, a quiet, class guy.
Thanks, Terry. That's the best shot I've seen. Brian is the one in the monogram jacket. Jim, if you would meed McDougal in person, you'd like him, as I did. He has a pleasant, easy personality and an air of humility about him.
Here's a tidbit from an article on und.com on the "Game of the Century" Turned out that Powlus reinjured his shoulder and so Kevin was back as the starter. But I can't imagine what Lou was thinking, Kevin had been having a great season and Ron had not thrown a single pass all year. Why in the world would he even contemplate that move. Lou was a master at big game strategy and team preparation....this would have been a terrible move, one that likely would have caused some locker room issues. https://und.com/news/2018/11/9/football-game-of-the-century-lived-up-to-hype.aspx?path=football
I've known that story for a long time. I did not know about it until a couple of years later. I saw no reason to talk about it and never have until now and only because it's become public knowledge. I sat next to McDougal's father during one of the early games prior to the FSU game and admired his class and the manner in which he supported his son, who at the time was rotating with Failla but getting most of the PT. I haven't read the article, so I don't know what it says. I know that he explained to the team that Powlus' key stats during all the live scrimmages held prior to the game were decidedly superior to McDougal's. Holtz is one of the smartest coaches of his generation. Its an after-the fact matter of opinion whether or not his pregame decision was a mistake. The only evidence that it might have been is that we won. In reality, we'll never know. I said earlier here that I met McDougal on Saturday and consider him likeable, humble, and a class act, but as far as Holtz' original decision, who am I to second-guess a coaching legend?
It is hard to be critical of Lou, he won a lot of Big games at Notre Dame. He had good players of course, but he had a way of preparing for those games, getting his team ready to play that made him a HOF coach. But even Lou isn't infallible so in this case that never happened I'm glad it didn't and that Kevin got to start and play the game.