For the second week in a row, I award a game ball to Ruben Medoza (Conditioning Coach). I have never seen a better conditioned team than this year's ND team.
No doubt, in Atlanta the ABC guys kept waiting for the Irish to wilt in the heat and at the post game press conference it was JoePa who said his defense wilted at the end of the 1st half.
In the first half, ND ran 43 plays to 24 for PSU. Several of those sequences were no-huddle. That disparity had to take a toll on PSU's defense. Nevertheless, their LBs played like monsters the entire game.
Sid It looks like teams that are better conditioned are going to have to go to the no huddle to get a fatigue advantage. The new rules have cut down on the number of plays in a game unless a team no huddles. The thing that those PSU LBs hated the most was covering Walker out of the backfield and chasing him to the sideline. They time and again had to run 30 or so yds. to make a stop of a 6 yd. gain play.
I was sitting in the row above the tunnel. I'm the large object about 3 seats from the right as we kick the first fg. My grandson was at the game and I had him come to my seat at the end of the game. He caught 2 gloves and a wrist band from the players as they went into the tunnel. Talk about making the day for a 7 yr. old. (not to mention the #10 green jersey that grandpa bought before the game.)