I wonder what the obstacles are for Purdue getting back to where they were in the 60's? Seems like they should have as much to offer as Wisconsin and Iowa two teams that have eclipsed them. Is it money and commitment, the right AD? Obviously some of it has to do with getting the right coach, Tiller had a pretty good run for awhile won a Big 10 Championship in 2000 but finished 7th or 8th 3 out of his last 4 years in the B10.
Not sure, Terry...that is debated ad nauseum on the Purdue list. One problem is the makeup of the fan base. You cite Iowa and Wisconsin but they have a large base of fans who are not connected with the university. Obviously Ohio State and Notre Dame have a huge base of non-alum fans. Most Purdue fans tend to be Purdue people. It's just that way. We always joke about the typical Indiana sports fan with the reversible jacket (ND for football season and IU for basketball.) In addition Purdue is in a small city and many graduates tend to be engineers, aeronautics majors, technology majors, meteorologists, computer guys, etc and they often move far away, cutting down on the fan base living close by and always available for games. But maybe that's all just making excuses...after all, if Boise State can do it... Wins bring fans....fans and wins bring in recruits....recruits bring wins. Somehow you've gotta jump on the circle.
Sat nights game has been designated a Gold and Black game for Purdue so depending on where the Purdue fans sit they are going to wear either gold or black. Student section will be in black. As I said Purdue has an extra week to prep and you can bet that they have saved some wrinkles for the Irish. Need to get out front quickly to take the crowd out of it.
Ray Zellars vs Purdue...Chris Collingsworth doing the call...I used to hate that guy. <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/l93D-MBFALw" frameborder="0"></iframe> Jonas is capable of making a run like that, I hope he does!
Drew was 2-2 vs the Irish having been beaten in his Sr year by legendary Irish QB Gary Godsey! :wink:
ND <r>Well here we go. Time for the ND/Purdue game. I'll try not to let my emotions carry me a way in this post and anger some here who admit they are strong supporters of the PU program. Most of you already know the disdain I have for Purdue and the reasons why so we won't go there. <br/> <br/> I'm obviously disappointed in the performance of the team thus far and last sat did nothing to make me think things are going to get better any time soon. You can't have that many turnovers and penalties and expect to win on a consistent basis. You also can't keep fair catching punts as has been mentioned.<br/> <br/> I was really surprised Kelly didn't put Crist in the game after the performance of Rees during most of the Pitt game. But about the time I'm yelling put Crist in, PLEASE.... Back comes Rees and leads the team on a long drive and throws what would be the game winning touchdown. go figure.<br/> <br/> Back to Purdue....<br/> <br/> It looks like they are planning to do the same as they did 2 years ago by having the game at night, wearing those intimidating black uniforms, have the BLACK and gold sections in the stands and I'll be surprised if they don't have the former coach Yukon Jack/Wilford Brimley(Joe Tiller) up in the booth firing up the crowd again at half time!<br/> <br/> Whatever....<br/> <br/> I'm going to agree with Stu on this one:<br/> <QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> Terry,<br/> <br/> The situation with the Chris Brown kid doesn't really bother me that much. I've learned not to believe what these kids say until Feb comes and they actually sign a letter of intent!</r>
I've just returned from the annual ND-Purdue luncheon in Indy. Speaking for ND was Jack Swarbrick. Speaking for Purdue was Jeff Zgonina (sp?) who holds what look to be several unbreakable single-season and career school and Big 10 records for a DL. He was a 4-year starter, which itself is impressive. Not a polished speaker but a very impressive resume, including 17 years in the NFL. On the other hand, Swarbrick was entertaining and interesting. He didn't provide any "scoop" but he did a great job of both needling the PU folks and emphasizing the mutual respect and tradition that is inherent in the rivalry. I'm fired up!
Looks like I'm going to have to catch this game on Tivo. My closest friend's only daughter is getting married Sat. The reception will be during the game. Now I know where there is a TV I could sneak to and watch at least for a while. However, with the Tigers-Yanks game on at the same time, I haven't got a chance.
Watched South Florida vs. Pitt last night. My conclusions (opinion): South Florida is not nearly as good as their record, which shows the tragedy of how our turnovers handed them the game; Pitt is much better on offense than shown last week and pretty darn good on defense. If Pitt continues to play like they did last night, we may look back on last week's game and see that our win was not as disappointing as many thought. Time will tell. The season still is young.
I watched Pitt vs. South Florida too and it confirmed everything we already knew. South Florida was nothing and the Irish gave them everything. Pitt was vastly improved and much better than South Florida. The Irish defense is winning games for them, just as they did at the end of last season. Notre Dame won't reach elite status until the offense stops turning the ball over. A better QB would really help... :idea:
Todd Graham is an excellent coach, and Pitt is and will be a quality program. That their QB (Sunseri) and RB(Graham) both had great games before and after ND tells me how good our defense really is. The USF QB is a Sr and he didn't have as good a game as our Soph and our OL did a much better job against the fast tricky Pitt defense. I think Pitt has a good shot at 8 or9 wins and a good bowl game this year. But back to ND. We signed Will Mahone a 4* RB from Ohio last night, it was not a big surprise but still a welcome addittion. He's touted to be an excellent power back. Here's CoachD's eval. Tim will be happy!
Interesting debate has been going on most ND boards this week. The Tommy Rees debate. He's made a lot of turnovers this year, and the result was losses to USF and UM although fairly he put us in the lead vs UM only to see our defense blow it. But still there is a strong vocal group that wants to see the new kid Golson, he is supposedly the ideal Kelly QB, strong arm mobile, threw for 12K yards as a high schooler. There isn't a lot of talk about Hendrix though, even though Kelly describes them as even in the competition. Golson is the man, he's sort of taken up the spot usually reserved for the 2nd string guy. But Crist is pretty much written off. I'm of the opinion that Golson needs to sit and learn, and that maybe Hendrix is the guy who should be playing this year if we get a chance. I did wonder though if Rees was going to get yanked during the middle of the Pitt game with the offense struggling so much. If he does get yanked in a game this year, I imagine Crist will be the guy off the bench, it just wouldn't make sense to put in a true freshman or RS freshman. Now if we get into a blowout, like tonight (hope,hope) then sure I could see getting the young guys some snaps. It will be interesting to see how the QB situation works out, if Rees finishes the year pretty strong and starts all the games and we finish say 9-3 he'll be tough to unseat as the starter going into 2012. What does Crist do? Transfer? What if Golson seizes the #3 spot, does Hendrix transfer. As yet we don't have a QB in the 2012 class. We could end up very very thin at QB next year if Crist graduates and moves on to another school next year to try and be the starter, and if Hendrix decides he is never going to start here and also transfers. I did read that Hendrix is a Pre-Med major doing very well in the classroom, so given ND's reputation in getting kids into Med School maybe he'll figure out he's not an NFL qb and stay so he can go to Med school. I guess Massa also could move back to QB if needed. My head hurts, I think I'll go to the golf course! Go Irish!
Lou Holtz: The most popular player on the field is the second-string quarterback. (In this case, also the 3rd and 4th string QBs) Sounds like the Mahone kid a a solid north-south runner. I like that.
Terry, you asked about Marve...found this. Sounds to me like he has matured a bit since his problems in Miami. Terbush will start. Good luck today...but I think I'm the one gonna need it. Q&A With Robert Marve
Excellent win by the Irish. What I liked the most was the nearly 300yds rushing. Tommy had an excellent game but he still has a ways to go, and we still need to finish better in the red zone. We left some points out there.
ND <t>What can I say. ND kicked their butt. Maybe they should try playing some one else besides directional schools before playing big boy football. <br/> <br/> We have a good defense.</t>