I don't remember anyone playing Samford in modern times but they did play many schools in the south years ago. Again, their opponent the week before Ga Tech was Miles College. Seems to me Ga Tech must be mishitting on offense to score only 24 on a team like that. You know I told you guys about ND's suspect offense a few years back when Davie was there and you all scoffed until the sh*t hit the fan and ND collapsed for a few years because of their putrid O. Now I am not saying the defense compares to that offense I am just saying beware until more data is in. I do think Michigan has a decent if not pretty good offense so this Sat.'s game may give more of an inkling where the Irish are heading this year on D.
MCG, they could have also fumbled or taken a sack on the next play after that, not been able to get a TD and had a kick blocked and returned for a TD, it's wasn't a given that they would have scored. Plus after ND got the ball the strength of the Penn State team was supposed to be it's defense and they couldn't stop the Irish offense from scoring. I'd have been more sympathetic if it was late in the game with the game close. Until they took out the Irish 1st team defense their offense couldn't close the deal. When you have a defense that is supposed to be as good as the PSU defense was given credit for, you stop the opponent after a situation like that and get the ball back for your offense. They have veternan leadership on that PSU defense in Connor and Pulsloveny. I saw JoePa's press conference and even he poo poooed the effect on the result. In fact I thought it was interesting that he came out and admitted that his defense was out of gas at the end of the 1st half. When was the last time you heard a coach say the other team ran your defense out of gas in the 1st half. Late in the game maybe, but 1st half. We made plenty of our own breaks and the win can't be tainted by that one call. Terry
Just so we're clear, Ga. Tech played their second string QB the entire second half. They took a large early lead thanks to 2 int's returned for TDs. They used the game to give their back ups plenty of playing time. (this is the type of game that Spurrier would have run up 70 to show his manhood.) Troy scored more vs FSU than Miami. So does that mean that Troy has a better offense?
The call did not taint the win but it well could have affected the viewability of the game from a neutral fan's standpoint. I tuned out in the second half and was listening to UF-UCF on Yahoo.
The purpose of this post is to once and for all refute MCG's and his buddy Pat Haden's incorrect and slanted versions of the now-infamous clipping penalty late in the 2nd quarter. I went to NBC.com and watched it over and over. Bull crap. The "block-ee" as MCG refers to him was never facing the block-er. The ND player was squarely facing the sideline and running toward it to maintain his angle on the ball carrier long before the PSU blocker approached him. The blocker went down toward the ND player's knees from behind. He did not make square contact but he pushed the ND player straight ahead and beyond the path of the ball carrier, thus taking away the opportunity for the ND player to make the tackle. You don't have to cut down the defender to earn a clipping call. You only need to impede his opportunity to make the play. That is clearly what happened. I understand why MCG made an issue of it, but I don't understand why Haden insisted it was a "bad call". He should know better. He's been doing ND games long enough that I don't feel it was his SoCal bias showing....or was it? In any event, both MCG and his buddy were dead wrong.
Hey the guy tried to clip the ND player, that he wasn't competent in doing it is no reason to cut him some slack!!!
I viewed the "push" as you describe it as an attempt by the "block-ee" to avoid contact with the "block-er" and he was successful in which case the attempted block never occurred. I really did not see any clear attempt or intention to clip as Terry is saying. In any event ND was going to win anyway and so we move on to this Saturday's games and we will have 7 big games in which to see how the refs personally can affect a game's outcome. :roll: :evil: :evil: (truthfully it would be fantastic if these games are played without ref incidents)
MCG, either you did not read what I said or you simply refuse to admit you are dead wrong. Likely the latter. How in the world can a player avoid a block he never sees coming? The ND player never saw the PSU blocker. The blocker took aim for him from behind, NOT from the side or in front of him. The ND player was focusing only on the ball carrier and making the tackle. His back was to the blocker the entire time. Read my lips. There was no avoidance. You can see it for yourself on NBC.com.
Didn't have the time to comment earlier, but I'll say this regarding the above comment. Even if it was a bad call, Mo is overlooking the fact that this was a road game and not a home game. If it's a home game, it would obviously have more of an impact because of the crowd. As far as viewability, I don't know what game you were looking at but Penn State flat out stunk on both sides of the ball. They were a rookie team, both offensively and defensively and played like it. There was no consistancy on offense and way too soft on D. The 3-4 is a good run defense , but with little pass rush, a QB like Quinn picked them apart and had them running all over the field. This is not last years team. The loss of 2 excellent DE's has hurt them and looks like they are trying to compensate with superior depth at LB. Mo, you just got to give ND credit. I'm hoping they get better but so far doesn't look like it. [/quote]