Most impressive defensive game I've seen from the Irish in a long time. The shut down Bell and harassed the qB forcing him to make a lot of bad throws. It was key to get out in front of them though, which the offense did, and then that drive starting at the 4, I was worried that MSU had flipped the field on us...but a gritty effort by Wood and the OL to eat up a lot of clock and get us in position to get the FG. BTW. That guy with the hurt groin that allowed Brindza to kick is the new Wally Pipp. Just think he can kick it out of the end-zone and make FG's too!! When was the last time we had that. And how about our punter tonight...give that kid a ball as well. But really this was Manti's night, he had so much emotion and played so great and on Nat'l TV...god bless him.
I couldn't help it, I was on the local radio today on WDFN. The host has just predicted that MSU would win 20-10 and invited ND fans to call in. I just couldn't resist. I called in. I reminded him that we beat MSU handily last year in SB and 2 yrs. ago MSU was lucky to win in overtime with a fake FG. I told him that our QB from last year was on the bench becuase we have a better one and theirs was graduated. I asked him why MSU was favored and he said that they had a tough defense. I tole him that we had a great front 7 and they couldn't run on us. We agreed that was why the games are played. He was wrong. I was right. End of story.
Gip. LOL atta boy. All, Our defense is stout between the hashes. We'll see how well we pursue speed next week.
ND <t>They had won 15 straight at home. They hadn't given up a touchdown this year. They had an awesome defense. They were ranked #10, we were ranked #20. We were on the road in their house at night, they had the big bad running back, etc., etc., etc.......they forgot we are ND, and we beat they're a$$!!!!!</t>
Other than that dope who decided he was going to try to level Golson in the last 20 secs during the kneel down drill, very clean game. Impressed by the number of Spartan players who sought out Manti' to express their condolences.
Well that was a good one! What's most interesting to me is that the way Kelly played that game, he KNEW he had the better team going in...a lot better. The Irish ran just enough open offense in the first twenty minutes to get a two score lead, then they shut it down to run the clock and allow the defense to pound on them. Wow. Did they pound on them or what? Poor Sparty thought they were playing someone that they knew and ended up with an Alabama-sized fast attack defense in their face. As I thought, the MSU pass rush was overrated. They only had one sack in the game and they were over-pursuing so much, that I thought Kelly could have tacked A LOT more points on them if he had wanted to..., but playing it safe was the sure way to win and I'll take that any day. Please note: this week, Kelly had Goodman and Toma out there early, while the offense was still open and they came through again. On Goodman's TD, Toma was wide-open too and behind the Dbacks in the endzone. There was some real senior leadership out there today and a lot of qustions were answered. Here's what I saw: - Irish Dbacks Wow and wowza. The Spartan receivers couldn't get open. That's very bad news for Irish opponents, with kid-monsters like Stephon Tuitt, Prince (Look-at-me-I'm-out-of-control) Shembo, Louis Nix and Sheldon (Hurt-myself-celebrating) Day bearing down on them at warp speed. The most impressive Dback to me was true frosh Elijah Shumate. That guy was everywhere! He can cover and he knows what he's doing. It was the Spartans who couldn't cover ND's receivers without holding or interferring. The younger, faster, taller Irish Dbacks didn't appear to have any of those problems. Kelly's recruiting is paying off in a lot of areas, but nowhere more than in the defensive backfield. When injuries take a toll on paper, BK just comes up with another great athlete to toss in there. I feel a LOT better about the Dback situation now. - Ground game The Irish can do more here too, because they have the athletes to do it. Cierre Wood looks like a senior on a mission from God. In the 4th qtr, he was averaging over 14 yards a carry and there are at least three backs behind him with as much talent as he has. It seems like Kelly can get yards on the ground whenever we wants to. He's playing things very close to the vest this year, but opponents later in the year, like Stanford and USC, may be surprised by how well the Irish can run the ball. -Special Teams Looking good. A lot of early problems have been solved there. -Start the game Why does something stupid have to happen every week? After a week of practice and scripting the first ten plays, somebody doesn't remember how many tight ends are in on the first formation? A timeout SEVEN seconds into the game? Are you kidding? Every man on the offense is wearing a wrist-reminder and they don't........(breath deep, take a drink, don't melt down) OK, maybe that won't happen next week.
Congratulations fellows and Diane. A great win and I must admit I was surprised with the ease in which you held Michigan State in check.
This Irish team is legit. For a week we heard about how we could not match up with MSU because they were so physical. We pounded then from start to finish. On defense we must have played at least at least 20-22 different players and every one of them brought the whippin' stick every play. Shumate is a stud. He is like a wild colt and Kelly is giving him a little more rope each week. He is a stud. Mathias Farley came in when the starting safety got hurt and you did nt even miss him. Ah, depth! Golson has a way to go but his athleticism opens up the entire offense and makes every player on offense that much better. Now we don't give up tons of sacks, the line looks better, receivers are open etc. Nobody has been tougher on Kelly than I but last night was his virtuoso performance. Great game plan and he was cool as ice on the sidelines. If this is the new Kelly then I am on board because last night he was a coach and not a cartoon character.
What a catch by John Goodman, there were some who didn't want him to come back for a 5th year....even if he doesn't do much that one play was worth it. I remember sitting on the sideline at the Wazzo game in San Antonio after Dayne Crist had hit Goodman in stride with a frozen rope for a spectacular TD catch and run and thought....I'm going to see that a lot in the future. Of course it didn't work out that way. But I'm glad Sid's old yard boy is back!
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As far as not giving up sacks or MSU not having a pass rush, let's not sell Mr Golson short. If Rees were back there, we'd have given up 4 sacks at least. Hell, Golson completed a pass while he was in midair being decked. Let's not **** on the road just so we have something to stomp our feet on. That's a good MSU team and a very good Michigan State defense. They hadn't given up a TD until we did that to them twice. Also, Michigan State did do some things that they wanted to do defensively. I honestly think they succeeded in one part of their game plan, it just didn't work. Everything else I agree with. Still, a mobile QB can take it's toll.. Next week will be very different.
Congratulations to the Irish. Well done impressive performance probably as good as any I have seen come out of ND in many a season. They are starting to make my strong endorsement of BK look pretty smart.
Yes, because every ******* section on this board is about you and your genius. High five! Now put on your hockey helmet, take your juice box and go color.
Back on topic... Krebs.. You and I have both been brutal and I'm quite sure still skeptical about Kelly.. However, one thing I have noticed that is entirely different than last year is the 'red face' seems to be saved for the locker room. He is still chewing ass, barking at guys and blowing up on them.. but no more of this showing up a kid constantly in front of 80k people. Maybe I'm jinxing it, but I'm glad to see it. He seems to be more calm, more strategic and reacting more analytically to the action on the field as opposed to the passionate time bomb stuff last year. I hope it continues.