Yikes did I just type that? Well Tulsa week starts with the news that Ian Williams is done for 4-6 weeks with a MCL tear. I guess he'll be back for a bowl if we can get into one. I feel for the guy, he's a Sr. he's worked really hard.
I see that Clay Burton has decommitted from ND and committed to Fla. Of course at that time he did not have an offer from Fla, he had a lot of offers but not one from Fla. He's a kid and entitled to change his mind, and I wouldn't be shocked if ND gets a kid who was previously committed to another school. But the whole thing disgusts me in general.
Carlo went out of the Navy game with a torn hamstring. He will miss the Tulsa game but is hopeful for Army. That's from his dad. He also sent me a series of photos showing the Navy linemen chop blocking, including one on Carlo and one on Ian Williams. They were taken professionally and are indisputable. Carlo's came from behind, right into the backs of his knees with a ref standing just feet away. No penalties called and this apparently went on all day.
Torn hamstring? Back for Army? I don't know anything about torn hamstrings but that sounds incredibly optomistic. Hamstring pulls seem to take forever to heal, a torn hamstring sounds 10x worse.
Well it's not like Meyer is having a banner year either. Seems to me that we recruit a lot of kids that just can't move that far away from mommy. Even the ones who do sign sometimes play like they miss their mommies.
We should recruit Ohio, Pa, Illnois, Indiana, NJ, Michigan with everuything we've got. Forget these warm weather kids unless they pursue us.
And your point is.....? Both Navy and Air Force have been doing that for many years. It is a non-factor and a poor excuse for how badly our defense was carved up. Early on, as Terry can attest, I advocated for our run defense, but I questioned the premature sanctification of our two young MLBs. My supportive mindset blinded me the the fact that our entire defense is no better than mediocre. Offense, the same. The only way I can describe our play last Saturday is disgusting. In my own inept way, I attribute this pitiful showing 40% to schemes (coaching), 30% to players, and 30% to lack of motivation (absence of leadership on the field and on the sidelines). The sum total is 100% responsibility shared by coaches and players. I watched Jerry Faust's teams get carved up every year by Air Force. I witnessed the incompetence of Joe Kuharich and Hugh Devore, Faust, and of course the past 14 years. As bad as I felt during those years, I've never felt as disgusted as I feel after last Saturday. In my time here on Skybox, I've been one of the most cock-eyed optimistic supporters of our program. I feel like all the enthusiasm I have mustered over the past 48 years, since my freshman year at ND, through good times and bad, is gone. I don't know if and when it will return. I'll watch the games and go through the normal in-game emotions, but the utter disgust and embarrassment I feel after last Saturday's pitiful showing will not go away anytime soon.
As long as Navy has been running the option, we've had problems with their blocking scheme. They emphasize cut blocking which is legal but dangerous to the DL and LB's who don't know how to defend themselves. Of course Chop Blocking is different and a penalty. It's the same for Air Force, back in '91, I think, we lost 2 guys to broken legs or ankles against them as a result of their blocking scheme. The difference is that Choping involves engaging a defender high while somebody goes low at his legs, while Cutting involves going low at the defenders legs. I am sort of like Sid, I've had the air sucked out of me as far as being a big time ND fan. Sure I'll follow them, but it's just not fun anymore. It's up to ND and the coaches to make following them fun again. Whether Kelly can do that I have no idea. The thing about the Navy loss that really got to me is that they could have beaten us worse but they called off the dogs in the 4th qtr. That really hurt. We'll probably beat Tulsa, get slaughered by Utah and USC and to tell you the truth since Army runs a similar option to Navy and has been successful this year, in fact I think Army is ranked right above Navy in terms of rushing the football. So I wonder if our defense will be able to stop Army. I could see them beating us if the same defense shows up in Yankee stadium.
I haven't watched Diaco's press conference today, and from what I have read I don't think I will. I will leave that to Krebs since he actually has a connection to what is going on...Diaco is close to having a lynch mob in his front yard from the reactions I am reading. To me I don't really care what he has to say, I had to watch that defense Sat he can't say anything to me that makes any difference. Only thing he can do is fix the problem so it's safe again to watch ND defense.
When I graduated from ND in 52, I asked Bob Lally, who was also in Law School, which team in his estimattion was the dertiest. Without hesitating, he said "Navy". As an aside I am in the hospital since Oct. 6 recovering from surgical removal of cancer. Will go to rehab for a spell before returning home. Grandaughter is an NA, so this willl help.
Vic one thing I want to do with regards to Navy is go back to just playing them as another football team. Since 9/11 we have bent over backwards to show them respect, we stand behind them and sing the alma mater with them and stuff like that. I often wonder if our guys can look across the line and just see players that they need to beat, instead of guys who will be defending them in the near future as officers in the USN or USMC. Good luck with your rehab, beat hell out of cancer!
Very Sad, A ND student lost his life today in an accident at the football practice. He was a video intern and was operating a camera in one of those towers, the high winds caused it to topple and he was killed. He was "tweeting" while at work. One of his tweets was "Gusts of wind up to 60mph well today will be fun at work... I guess I've lived long enough :-/" Followed about an hour later by... "Holy **** holy **** this is terrifying" That was his last tweet. Somebody will no doubt have some explaining to do as to why he was up in that tower during high winds.
Victor, Speedy recovery sir! Illness does bring sports back down to its true level of importance. I found myself in the hospital Monday and Tuesday with chest pains. I go back for a heart cath on Friday since a stress test came back abnormal. Nowhere near as scary as your situation sounds to me. Keep us informed.