The rout is on. Yet another example of a clueless defense that is not even competing. #18 and Richardson couldn't cover me and as usual no pressure from the line. How embarrassing. I will say this for the last time until CW gets the defensive side of the football fixed ND has NO chance to win a bowl game, none. This game is a total mismatch.
I disagree Larry. Notre Dame just needs to calm down and play. The team was too wired up in the beginning and Charlie took a an unneccessary risk which cost them. You are not facing the Pittsburgh Steelers but the LSU Tigers. They will make mistakes and your defense will make some plays. The key is your offense needs to play well. ND has faced better and quicker defenses than LSU. Brady has had lots of time to throw.
Not so fast my friend 14 - 14 2:25 left in the first half. It started all LSU but has switched and Notre Dame is getting plenty of offense and holding their own on defense. They are looking pretty good to me.
In the Michigan and USC games we played much better in the 2nd half, so only being down by 7 is sort of encouraging to me. Also the fact that we have been able to run the ball on the LSU defense is encouraging. The late score to make it 21-14 really makes that first possession of the 2nd half extremely important. I don't want to go down 14 points again to them again. JaMarcus really does have a strong arm, it looks stronger than Brady's to me. Terry
Should be a tie game. Still lots of football to be played. Notre Dame needs to keep running the ball and play a little smash mouth against a team that looks like it doesn't like a physical game. This is a game Notre Dame can win. USC, Mich, UCLA and GT all played better and quicker defense vs ND. LSU is not at that level defensively. Their secondary is excellent, but their front 7 is not doing squat.
He's got some great tools. Get a little pressure in his face and see how he does. He looks a little too comfortable.
AJ... <t>I decided to wait till almost the end to post. This was a debacle and about as bad as I thought it would be considering we play no defense at all. Over 500 yards and counting. Without a doubt an utter embarrassment with those clowns in the secondary.<br/> Charlie has a huge job on his hands to get that bunch pointed in the right direction.<br/> I think I'll hurl if I hear someone including CW say we did not play that badly.<br/> <br/> Nine straight and counting. Goodnight !!</t>
It's a little late AJ, unfortunately for Notre Dame the fat lady is coming on the stage. But the Irish have nothing to be ashamed of, Charlie Weis has done a great job the last two years and he is bringing bettter players on board each recruiting season. The future is bright for Notre Dame.
"This is a game Notre Dame can win. USC, Mich, UCLA and GT all played better and quicker defense vs ND. LSU is not at that level defensively" Brady was 15 of 35 for the night. I do think LSU played a little defense.
LSU was just too fast on the outside and too strong on the lines for the Irish. I thought we could stay with them in the 2nd half based on us driving the ball twice for scores in the first half. But I think we only made a couple of first downs and they drove the ball relentlessly, they totally dominated the time of possesion in the 2nd half. We will be rebuilding next year because Willinghams last two classes were both small and not ranked in the top 25. Last years class was good and those guys have already seen a lot of PT as backups, a lot of them will be starters next year. This years class has a chance to be a very good one as well if Charlie finishes strong, a lot of those guys will get on the field as well. But that isn't a good thing to be a fresh/soph dominated team. Hopefully by 2008 we will have a good base of talent that is faster and better. Terry
My condolences to the Notre Dame faithful. With the loss Tennessee had against PSU, I think I am qualified to say that I know how you feel. :?
In case anyone here still thinks Florida cannot hang with the mighty Bucks let's try and remember that Florida beat this same LSU team by a score of 23-10.
Bill, I said all along Notre Dame's offense had to keep them in the game and they failed. This is the strength of their team and this is how they win their games. Considering that LSU did not have defenders drapped all over Brady, I thought the play calling in the 2nd half sucked and on some plays had too much maximum protection and not enough receivers. Notre Dame also had a bad break imho , on the fumble which was reversed. As I understand it, a player has to make an athletic move in order to consider possession. That Notre Dame defender had 2 hands on the ball and planted his left foot in bounds before it got bobbled out of bounds. I thought their D was hanging in there pretty well, early in the 2nd half, but with no offensive support sooner or later it would collapse. Notre Dame was kicking ass on couple of drives in the 1st half and inexplicably went away from some of the plays which worked so well. This was a bad day for Charlie Weis. LSU has some great talent especially on the offensive side of the ball, but Notre Dame was capable of playing a much better game and the outcome should have been competitive.
"LSU romped after halftime. The Fighting Irish, who piled up 261 yards in the first half, were outgained 333-30 over the final two quarters. Notre Dame hasn't won a postseason game since its 24-21 victory over Texas A&M in the 1994 Cotton Bowl. The Irish have been outscored 316-157 during their losing streak, with seven of the defeats by double-digit margins." Folks...there ain't no sugar coatin this one. Next year we should wait until the bowl game itself to see where the Irish belong.
Are you suggesting that the Irish be left out of the polls until they play the season? That seems dumb. The guys on InsideTexas are fairly unamimous that this proves that the Irish do not belong in the BCS and should be kicked out until we agree to join a conference.
Are you nuts? Man to man coverage with no pressure on the QB? They put very little pressure on Brady. That's the kind of defense that the Texas Techs' and Hawaii's pick apart. If they put Quinn in a no huddle offense and let Quinn make the decisions, I guarantee ND would have scored more points.
Terry, I am certainly not proposing that. But you have to wonder with 9 straight bowl losses...most of them by substantial numbers that the Irish may be getting bowl nods over more deserving teams. I know that's a big argument waiting to happen but the Irish need a signature win next year before the bowl season or people will start to wonder about their BCS bowl worthiness over other candidates. My condolences on the loss. I know it's not fun to watch for an ND fan.