ND <r>well it's been a great week for ND on the recruiting trail and now it's time to put a hurtin on sparty. I'm not predicting anything but I'm sure hopeful the boys kick some spartan butt!! Go Irish!!! <E>8)</E></r>
What a shot to my gut, lose on a fake field goal in OT!!! I can't believe it. I was sitting there thinking great job defense pushing them back so the guy has to make a 46 yard FG to tie, he might be an excellent kicker but 46yds is still 46 yds...I'm waiting for the miss....and OH CRAP! Another excellent game to watch if you are not a ND fan, lots of yards, lots of big plays, etc. Wrong team won though! Offense at times looked unstoppable but then at some crucial times they were stopped. Kelly got away with going for it on 4th down, when he should have punted. I was mystified by some of his 3rd and short calls, that last one to Rudolph, Rudolph wasn't even past the 1st down line that happened a couple of times. Baby steps though. The defense at times looked good, and at times like they had no clue. Mich State ran the ball on them, but not so much in crunch time. It's starting to look like a 5 loss season, we are too thin on defense. At times those guy looked gassed esp those 2 safeties Zeke Motta and Harrison Smith who for the 2nd game in a row played every snap because there was nobody behind them who was not a walkon.
Well this screen shot makes it even more of a kick in the gut!! They didn't get the play off!!! Of course that still doesn't excuse the ND defense and the coaching staff for allowing it to happen, butttttttttttttttttttttttttt.....I don't think MCG would take this laying down!! Don't know if B10 refs were on the game tonight.
Tough loss Terry, I can't believe Mi State managed to pull that off. But congratulations on a nice win by Texas.
Remember East Lansing is where the Spartys were the beneficiary of the second that stretched to 5 seconds a while back when MSU upset a highly ranked Michigan team. Helluva play that fake FG last night.......that shouldn't have counted.
If so, then Kelly missed it too. Did he have an appeal option in that scenario? He's learning that he's not in Cincinnati any more.
I didn't think ND would lose to both Michigan teams that's for sure. Check out how long the second took to come off vs. Michigan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoFZIBY-IVU
Wow, that's unbelievable. Was that the official time on the screen or just the network version? If official that's a tough loss. It's a tough loss anyway but that doubles the tough.
Fake field goals, like fake punts... your team has to be aware of the possibility. Fake punt turned the momentum the Gators' way in our game. Fake field goal sealed the fate of Notre Dame as well.
Bill they didn't get it off in time, both stadium clocks were at zero as well....still doesn't excuse the Special Teams from not stopping it. Also, not that it make a lot of difference, but our Special Teams and DL coach has been sick for several weeks and they have had to coach ST's by committee and the DL is being coached by the TE's coach. TE's being coached by a strenght and coniditioning guy. ND has not faired well in OT games in general, haven't lost them all but our record isn't great. I'm not really sure why Dantonio went for the fake, they were at home and they had been moving the ball on us, he had to feel he had at least and even chance to win the conventional way.
Terry, I think the length of the FG had a lot to do with it. What is wrong with the ST coordinator? That's a pretty long time to be out, hope it's not serious. Had Notre Dame stopped the play do you think a late flag may have dropped?
Bill nobody knows for sure what is wrong with Mike Elston, Kelly has said he's been to the Mayo Clinic and that it has something to do with a virus. There have been reports of a nasty drug resistant bug in 20 states maybe that is it. Privacy issues are in play here so unless Mike himself holds a press conf to discuss we may never really know. But we sure do miss him, he's one of our best recruiters and naturally it's important to have all your coaches, being a man short isn't a good thing.
That was a good question about being able to challenge the play clock expiration. Replays do not usually show the stadium clock. I do not know if the graphic used is the official time or not. I do know that every time the graphic showed 0 when ND had the ball the flag came out immediately. Seemed like it was official.
In real time I had no idea that the clock ran out, but clearly other people noticed. The call that chapped me was that "forced out of bounds" call on one of their TD's. That guy was not forced out of bounds, he ran around Walls out of bounds, the offical was right there but I still can't believe he thought Walls had forced him out of bounds. Bottom line though is our defense is still very ordinary, MSU abused it running the football and getting to the edge. Just like last week vs UM, when they needed some yards all they had to do was throw to the edge against the soft corners. Our safety's had to be gassed since they played the whole game. Once they spread us out by getting to the edge they were able to run up the middle. Don't get me wrong they played well in spots, but just not consistent and it will continue to cause us to have to outscore and win in the 4th qtr.
I've read the rules and am still not sure. It says that officials can correct the "game clock" but I don't think that is the same as the "play clock." While I could see a challenge concerning the play clock during a game, I wonder if it's possible on the last play in OT. Everyone runs off the field or on the field etc.