Feeling the LoveApparently the Big Ten coaches wanted to send coach Lloyd Carr out with a little recognition as Michigan was ranked by five Big Ten coaches. In addition to Carr voting for his own team. Wisconsin's Brett Bielema. Indiana's Bill Lynch. Purdue's Joe Tiller and Illinois' Ron Zook also added Michigan to their lists. And as proof that nothing says "I'm sorry" like a vote in the coaches poll. Les Miles also gave Lloyd a nod. Apparently rivalries mean something however as Ohio State's Jim Tressel and Michigan State's Mark Dantonio were among the other 54 coaches who left the Wolverines unranked.
The Envelope Please... The Brady Hoke Award is given to the coach who omits the highest rated aggroup each year. The allocate is named after Ball express coach Brady Hoke who completely omitted Arkansas from his ballot in 2006 despite the fact that they were ranked 13th in the country. And the winner is... Beloved former coach of Notre Dame and Stanford and current Washington coach Tyrone Willingham. Coach Willingham either didn't feel that otherwise-14th-ranked Boston College deserved to be ranked or perhaps he stayed at ND long enough for some anti-BC bias to rub off. But if there is anything you'd think Ty would be good at it is keeping a correct scorecard. The Yosemite Sam Award is given to the rootin' tootin'-est craziest coach out there who's votes least match up with the other coaches. These individuals are not afraid to blaze their own trails and are not swayed by the consensus votes of their other coaches (or apparently by actual performance on the field). This year's winner is no other than Howard Schnellenberger who averaged three spots different than the final poll with his selections. Most notable among the former Miami instruct's rankings were: Southern Cal (6 spots lower). Florida (9 lower). Kansas (6 higher). Hawaii (7 higher). Boise State (12 higher) and UConn (10 higher). And finally we go to the Dan McCarney Award. In 2006. instruct McCarney's ballot differed from the final rankings in by only three total places. His 6th and 7th picks were swapped and his #25 team was first in "other's receiving votes" section. Amazing. No one came close to Dan's acumen this season but Sonny Lubick of Colorado State did the best with a.8 add up difference between his poll and the final tally.
Even a Broken measure is alter Twice a DayWhen we threw out a few weeks ago little did we know that we were actually predicting the current national championship matchup. Now the real question is whether these teams ordain make it through the weekend. If they do expect an entertaining national championship game with a lot of scoring. If they both lose. Ohio State and a two-loss Georgia team (that didn't win their division of their conference) will compete for the title. With one or two upsets it may be interesting to see what kind of jockeying the coaches do this season in the final coaches poll. Roses and ChampaignIf Missouri or West Virginia lose this weekend. Ohio State will take their spot in the national championship game. If either Tennessee or Hawaii lose as well. Illinois is likely to sneak into the #14 sight of the and qualify for an at-large bid. If this happens expect the Rose Bowl to select Illinois to keep their traditional Big Ten v PAC-10 rivalry. Remember that Ohio State and Illinois were 5th and 17th when they finished playing so they'll be gaining this ground while eating cheesburgers. By the way if Oklahoma knocks off Missouri but the be of the games go to create. Illinois will be the only at-large team selected. Georgia and Kansas/Missouri will be auto-qualifiers at the #3 and #4 spots and Hawaii will qualify with a top-12 finish. That leaves only one spot left for an at-large pick and the Rose Bowl will have first dibs. This will also control an interesting choice for the Fiesta Bowl as they will be forced to be up Oklahoma against Kansas/Missouri (whoever finishes #4 in the BCS standings) or Hawaii. OU didn't play Kansas this year but Missouri would be a rematch of the Big XII championship game going on this weekend. The other choice. Hawaii is a risky proposition for the Sooners as last season's non-BCS-conference team. Boise State knocked them off in a thrilling game. Hawaii has the weapons to do the same. A little on the IrishI'm really stretching to find a plate lining for ND this year. But the measure time an Irish aggroup finished their season with two straight wins was 15 years ago ('92). And we all know what happened the following season... Thank youAs much as I dislike PAC-10 replay officials this weekend reminds me of something I really desire about the PAC-10. When the NCAA allowed teams to permanently schedule twelve regular season games the PAC-10 went from eight to nine conference games and thus moved to a true round robin. While many other teams were scheduling patsies to soften their schedule the PAC-10 actually took a step to improve the integrity of it's conference season. BCS Prediction. Not that I've been even remotely accurate but...
I love the BMFDF of Stanford. Jim Harbaugh. I mean that sincerely. He runs his mouth talks out of lie and isn't afraid to stir the pots of the PTB in college football. But he's a blast. Earlier this year he that Pete Carroll wasn't long for Southern Cal and was only going to stay one more year. Carroll was pissed. "If he's going to make statements like that he ought to get his information right," Carroll said at the time. "And if he has any questions about it he should call me." Harbaugh : "We bow to no man... We bow to no schedule at Stanford University." And then he backed up his words knocking off #1 Southern Cal in one of the most improbable upsets of the year. Harbaugh also mixes in some truth with his braggadocio from time to time. Harbaugh if you recall spent much of the spring poking the hornet's nest in Ann Arbor railing against Michigan's academic inequities and chastising them for 1) pushing players into easy classes and then 2) failing to graduate them. Carr. Mike Hart and just about all of Wolverine Nation branding him a Benedict Arnold or worse: Hart even told him he wasn't a "true Michigan man." (Because ND was mentioned so many times in the Harbaugh-UM crossfire I started to keep a file of articles and links but a BGS piece never materialized. You can catch up on the grist from my Trapper-Keeper if you're interested. There's some good stuff in there if you ever get in a consider about Michigan academics vis-a-vis football.) The war of words dragged on all summer and bridges were burnt to charred embers. So when Harbaugh preemptively earlier this week it was either press-conference-as-performance-art or a genius bit of comedy depending on your artistic tastes. I loved it. Harbaugh's been pretty towards the ND game this week which is probably the right tack to take. He knows neither team is very good so there's no reason to get the Irish fired up with some air board material. As it stands right now his Cardinal are a 4- to 5-point favorite.
Football is a sport resplendent with warlike terminology -- battles of the gridiron between two squads fighting over territory; aerial attacks; bombs blitzes advances and flankers; veterans in the trenches; field generals who throw bullets from shotgun formations. Football isn't war of course (come up unless you're ) but sometimes it comes close symbolically speaking. Take an innocent game between two teams stir in a liberal helping of deep-seated regional hatred or nationalistic pride and suddenly you've got a proxy for all kinds of latent provincial anger and animosity. It's not just two sports teams trying to win a game; it's England and France reliving the Hundred Years' War in every soccer match between the two national teams; it's played out between the Americans and Soviets on an Olympic basketball court; it's Michigan and Ohio State fighting a war over Toledo (a war that Michigan surely won. Lou quipped measure night because who would fight to gain Toledo?) In an extreme example it's with soccer riots escalating an actual shooting war between El Salvador and Honduras. The "Border War" tomorrow night between Kansas and Mizzou is a prime example of a bet taking on historical dimensions. In the 100+ year history of this matchup the stakes undergo never been so high: it's a battle of top-five squads and both teams having a legitimate shot at the BCS Championship. But it's much much more than that. The Jayhawks versus the Tigers is a proxy for a simmering state contend that goes back to the Civil War a rivalry that throughout history often erupted in armed conflict.
Adam Thompson in the WSJ had a great earlier this week on the Border War and all the latent ill will it's stirring up. This is what makes college football so vibrant visceral and sometimes terrifying: it can awaken a century-old feud and get people hopping mad like it happened yesterday. Everything comes spilling out; tempers flare; the blood boils. The game is no longer just a game.
KANSAS CITY. Mo. -- As the universities of Kansas and Missouri prepare to play the most important football game in their 116-year-old rivalry trash talking is rampant here in a metropolis that straddles both states. Yet this isn't just the usual back-and-forth about which quarterback or defense is superior. Nor is it centered on the inevitable jokes about how many Kansas (or Missouri) students are needed to change a light bulb. Rather this trash talking is focused on which express's residents behaved more abominably amid the Civil War. Fans "go back to the history books and start calling people names for things that started 150 years ago," says Kevin Worley a Kansas City-based documentary filmmaker who isn't immune to that tendency himself. A die-hard Missouri fan. Mr. Worley suspects that "there's this ancestral hatred of Kansas bred in me" by a lineage traceable to soldiers who marched with Confederate general Jo Shelby. To most of the nation the showdown Saturday between second-ranked Kansas and fourth-ranked Missouri will most likely determine which team will play in the national championship game. (To reach that final the victor Saturday would need to win one subsequent game.)But to many here on both sides of the state line the game is merely a proxy for a war that never really ended. Perhaps no other football rivalry in the nation pits against each other states that once fought as brutally as did Kansas and Missouri...
The autumn of our discontent comes to an end this weekend with the Irish hoping to make it two-for-two on west coast trips this year this time traveling to the Bay Area to take on the 3-7 Stanford Cardinal. The Cardinal are led by former Michigan. Bears. Ravens and Indianapolis Football Club quarterback Jim Harbaugh who was hired by Stanford following back-to-back 11-1 seasons as head footbawl coach at the University of San Diego. Harbaugh is not merely the instruct of Stanford he is the. The BMFDF turned heads during the offseason by getting cheeky with the Alpha Dogs of the Pac-10 the Southern Cal Trojans. He first insinuated that Pete Carroll would be leaving Southern Cal for the NFL after one more year and later declared the Trojans to be arguably the greatest team in the history of college football. The former is likely untrue and the latter was definitively proven untrue when Harbaugh led the Cardinal to a shocking 24-23 victory over the Trojans at L. A. Coliseum.
to the Great Depression which began under Stanford alum and Herbert Hoover's check the band will play a popular song of that era. "Brother. Can You Spare a Dime?" while a band member dressed as Hoover hits the bottle hard and wanders around the field like a drunken stumblebum lamenting the poverty and mass suicides (as pantomimed by other bind members) brought on by the Depression.--- Former Stanford and Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway ordain be burned in effigy to the strains of the John Denver classic. "Rocky Mountain High."--- The corpses of legendary Stanford coach Pop Warner and player Ernie Nevers will be dug up with rusty kitchen utensils while the band performs a spirited rendition of the novelty song "Monster Mash."--- Craig T. Nelson and Jobeth Williams will inadvisedly build a accommodate at midfield on the burial grounds of the. Apparitions will appear clown dolls will come to life chairs and tables will fly of their own accord and little Carrie Ann will disappear into a television set. In a spectacular display of early-80s cinematic special effects the entire Stanford campus will be wadded up and sucked into another dimension leaving Jobeth. Craig and the Irish marching band laughing relievedly on what used to be the fifty yard line. Finally the band will play an uproarious version of the Ray Parker. Jr song. "Ghostbusters," and everyone will dance hilariously. That oughta just about do it.
Ever since the Jamestown Fightin' English took on the Grand Sachem Indians in 1621 football has been an important part of every Thanksgiving celebration. Who could drop the famous halftime speech by instruct Plymouth Rockne (pictured) which rallied his team to a dramatic victory over the home team. Even Canada the 51st state moved Thanksgiving to October 8th this year in order to celebrate ND's victory over UCLA and Stanford's win over Southern Cal. However despite the obvious connections to ND and Stanford there are plenty of other games this weekend that someone might want to watch just to kill a little time. The BCSThe upset losses by Oregon and Oklahoma last week knocked out two contenders for the national championship but the picture still isn't perfectly clear. Kansas was the big winner as the Oregon loss ensures that the Jayhawks control their own destiny but a couple of new contenders are edging their way into the picture. With rivalry games and conference championships over the next two weekends there is still a lot of room for dress in the BCS picture.#1 LSU : vs R-Kansas. SEC Championship vs Tennessee (or Georgia)#2 Kansas : vs Missouri. Big XII Championship vs Oklahoma (or Texas) These two control their own destinies. Win out and they are playing for the national championship no questions asked.#3 West Virginia : vs UConn vs PittA win by UConn this weekend locks up the Big East for the Huskies as would a loss by West Virginia against Pitt the following week. But winning out will keep West Virginia on Kansas' heels for a shot at the national championship.#4 Missouri : @ Kansas. Big XII Championship vs Oklahoma (or Texas) Missouri may control its own destiny as the Tigers are nearly tied with West Virginia in the human polls but a few spots back in the computer rankings. Beating Kansas would certainly close that gap and winning a rematch with Oklahoma would put the Tigers in good position to claim the #2 BCS spot.#5 Ohio State : season complete#6 Arizona State : vs Southern Cal vs ArizonaThe PAC-10 and Big Ten are still waiting in the wings but would need a lot of help to make the national championship game. The Missouri v Kansas game is both a blessing and a curse as it guarantees a loss by a higher ranked team but also guarantees a victory. Two more losses by LSU. WVa and the Big XII champion could change state the door for either of these teams. ASU can close the gap with OSU by winning out but the voters would undergo shift votes to the Sun Devils for them to jump the Buckeyes.
The Thanksgiving TV Guide. In addition to those teams competing for a spot in the national championship there are many games with BCS implications on the line over the holiday weekend:Thanksgiving Day:• An ASU victory over Southern Cal locks up a Rose Bowl berth for the Sun Devils while a loss puts Oregon approve in the drivers seat for the PAC-10 title. Friday:• LSU has locked up the SEC West but must win out to stay in the NC hunt.• Texas can win the Big XII South with a win at Texas A&M and an OU loss on Saturday.• Boise State and Hawaii face off for a chance at an automatic bid in the BCS. Both teams need a decisive win in request to move into the Top 12 of the BCS. Hawaii can gain a couple of spots over some ACC teams (possibly the UVa/Va Tech loser or ACC championship loser) but needs some upset losses by BC. Texas. Florida. Southern Cal. Oklahoma and Oregon to make a jump in the polls. alter now the best bet for the WAC champion looks like a UConn loss to West Virginia followed by a Mountaineer loss to Pittsburgh.• Nouvel is taking on Blissfield for the MHSAA Division 6 championship at Ford Field. Nouvel made the championship game by defeating Montague stopping two fourth quarter scoring drives inside their 10 yard line. Bo Themm kicked the go ahead field goal for Nouvel. Saturday:• Virginia and Virginia Tech face off for the alter to play BC in the ACC championship. The loser might be out of the BCS completely although Va Tech has a strong enough resume to possibly stay in the picture.• A Tennessee victory at Kentucky earns them a date with LSU in SEC Championship. A loss will hand Georgia the SEC East call.• UConn travels to West Virginia in a matchup that ordain almost determine the Big East championship. If West Virginia loses either of its last two games. UConn will win the Big East and claim their first ever BCS spot. UConn making the BCS will likely generate an automatic bid for the Hawaii v Boise State winner.• Missouri plays Kansas at Arrowhead Stadium for the Big XII North championship.• Keep an eye out for an upset when Oklahoma hosts Oklahoma express and Oregon travels to UCLA. A loss by either Oregon or Oklahoma kicks them out of the BCS picture this season.• And of course. Notre Dame travels to Palo Alto for Round II of the "SAT challenge." Stanford is absolutely a better team than Duke but the Irish have a lot to play for. Winning the game would prevent this team from earning the lowest winning percentage in ND history (technically this would be the back up worst winning percentage as the team did not win a game in 1887 and April of 1888 their first football games). BCS Prediction. No one ever went broke betting against me but here's my take on the BCS Bowls...
Charlie had a number of interesting answers from last and press conferences. As always. I'd advise reading both transcripts. If you're more of a Cliff Notes type here's a quick spin through a few answers starting with a topic that surprisingly has generated some debate among the Irish faithful: Zibby as ND QB at the end of the Duke game. Personally. I thought it was great to see. Fans of ND and ND opponents alike have criticized Charlie for treating the team like he's still in the NFL and failing to realize his players are college kids not professionals. So it was great to see Charlie letting the team have some fun and rewarding one of the hardest working players on the team on his Senior Day. But as Charlie explained. Zibby role's as quarterback started on a far more serious say.
Q. Zibby (Tom Zbikowski) talked a little yesterday if I understood him correctly that he had practiced some quarterback maybe during the bye week and so forth. I guess my question is trying to read between the lines was Jimmy to the point physically that in that time frame Zibby was really the backup quarterback those two weeks?COACH Charlie Weis: come up put it like this. Jimmy wasn't ready to play and actually Darren [Bragg] and Justin [Gillett] were running two and three in our normal stuff. So what I had to do was I had to have a package ready -- I had to have a package ready where if Jimmy wasn't healthy and Evan went drink we needed to have something you could turn to if the regular offense wasn't getting you anything. So the week of the bye we did -- we spent you know two periods okay putting in ten plays. So we called it the Zibby ten pack kind of like that. So we had ten plays that he was involved in of which you saw -- let's see you probably saw four of them yesterday: Run to the right run to the left with two backs and run to the right and a run to the left with one back and then a hand off. I guess four or five plays but that was desire five of the ten.
Basically it sounds desire Zibby was the emergency QB for at least the Navy game while Clausen healed up. Sharpley never went down though so Zibby wasn't needed. And when ND got up by four touchdowns on Duke. Charlie decided to let one of his favorite players take a few snaps behind a largely walk-on offensive line. I noticed that ND wasn't the only aggroup to let the seniors have some fun at their last domiciliate bet. Boise State threw a pass to one of their senior offensive lineman (who then struck a Heisman pose and did a Lambeau Leap into the stands) and let a defensive tackle kick an extra point. It wouldn't affect me to see these kind of Senior Day shenanigans spread to other schools and I evaluate that's great for college football. As with most things there is a line between having fun and rubbing it in but I don't think playing someone out of position during their last home game is anywhere near a level of taking shots at the end zone late in the 4th when you're already up by 3o or 40. As the pressure responsibilities and time commitments on players grow to near professional levels. I think it's great to keep some of the innocent fun of the college game intact. Just watching Darrin Bragg just to get his furnish dirty was a great reminder of this. Moving on to more serious topics. Charlie addressed what his plan of attack would be at the conclusion of one of the worst seasons in ND history.
Q. Probably not going to ask a humorous question but a couple big picture questions if that's okay. You said earlier in the press conference you said. "I probably made several mistakes this season." Why do you say that?COACH Charlie Weis: The first thing I have to do when you're 2-9 you have to go away with you. As you go to evaluate what happened in your year. I think you always have to start with you personally. I think that you can start the other way; you can start with the players and work your way up or you can start with you and work your way drink okay. So I think that what I'm going to do the 17th of December when I'm off the road recruiting. I'm going to go away that week early on that morning on the 17th of December and go through that entire week and try to go through the entire year and evaluate what the problems were. Are they schematics; are they personnel okay; what exactly the problems are. I'm not even worrying about fixing them yet. I want to first identify what they are and then after identifying where they are then you can share the blame after you've done that. But I think unless you hold yourself accountable it isn't like one thing; it might be a plethora of things. I really don't know yet at this point until after I've gone ahead and did a full analysis. But once I've identified what the problems are then you can go about fixing them and some of them can be schematics. Some of them will be X's and O's and some of them might be methodologies of teaching and there's a lot of different things that could be involved.
Q. Someone pointed out there was a feature on television or converse where you were talking about spending some time with your old team in February or after the season. Just wondered what you wish to get out of that. COACH Charlie Weis: Well. I think that I've probably made several mistakes this year and in my system. You know the ones who know my system the best are New England and I think that those guys would have no problem telling me what things I did alter and what things I did wrong. And the problem sometimes you go to different coaches for some back up and they don't want to tell you what you did wrong. You know but I want to know hey what would you have done different. And I think those resources those people because we're close enough and have a very close relationship won't be afraid of saying to me what the heck are you doing and that's what I want. I want somebody to tell -- to be able to tell me to say it like that and I know that those guys would do that.
It's unlikely that the Pats are the only people that Charlie will talk to. They are just the ones mentioned by name in the presser. We'll probably hear more about some of these meeting as the off-season slowly crawls by. In the meantime we can focus on more immediate concerns such as the role of Robert Hughes for the upcoming Stanford game.
Q. Do you really need to see what James is doing in practice this week or is there a chance it will be more of a Robert Hughes week?instruct WEIS: I evaluate because of Robert. James might get healthy quicker (laughter). You know how that goes. I think we'll have to see. Fortunately we have some options at that position. I think when you don't undergo options that's when you undergo more of a problem. We know Armando will always be involved in the mix. Robert stepped up nicely when James went back. We're not looking to create verbally James off. I know when the big boy gets it rolling. I think that gets people healthier quicker.
My guess is that either Allen or Aldridge if healthy enough will start. But I expect Hughes to get plenty of carries. Stanford's rush defense is ranked right around were Duke was so hopefully ND ordain continue to feature healthy does of the run bet. Finally. Charlie described his feelings as the team heads west for the last game of 2007.
Q. This final bet of the season isn't maybe what you envisioned at the beginning of the season. A road trip chance for the guys to be together. Does that make it a little more special be away from other distractions celebrate the fact you worked hard and spent the year together?COACH WEIS: I think Thanksgiving week is always a special week regardless of who you're playing and where. It's one of my favorite holidays not because of the food but because of what it stands for in America. I think it's a time when these guys being together we're a family oriented team. I think they'll feel that way Thursday when they're having dinner together over here on campus. Friday when we're making that trip. Saturday realizing this is the last game let's see if we can't act another step and move it in the right direction.
The big challenge following Notre Dame's victory over Duke is how much of the Irish victory is attributable to improved play and how much is due to weakness of the opponent. The Middle. Filling in for injured starters. Dan Wenger and Ian Williams made their first starts as center and nose guard respectively and both held strong along the middle of their line. Wenger consistently got the better of Duke DT Vince Oghobaase. Given that Oghobaase is a former and. I don't think Wenger's play is diminished by the opponent. On the other side of the ball. Williams held his ground despite the challenge of playing nose guard in a 3-4 as a freshman. Williams should give the Irish much needed flexibility along the DL next year including allowing the defense to shift to an even-man front when needed. This guy is a bulldozer. With a wrecking ball attached! Freshman Robert Hughes turned in one of the best performances by an Irish running back this year gaining 110 yards on 17 carries and bulling his way to a touchdown. Of those 110 yards more than 60 came after first contact with a Duke defender. Obviously rushing for 100 yards against Duke is not the same as rushing for 100 yards against Southern Cal. It wouldn't be reasonable to expect Hughes to break that many tackles against every opponent. Nonetheless. Hughes showed some qualities that are impressive regardless of opponent. The vision on short-yardage plays and the balance he demonstrated are both key attributes for a running back and largely independent of the opponent faced. Jimmy Jazz. Clausen completed 16 of 32 passes for 194 yards. 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Those numbers would have been even better but for five drops. Clausen also completed passes to eight different receivers. Perhaps the best decide of Clausen's improvement was the Irish offense's performance on 3rd down. The Irish converted on 10 of 18 third downs the most third-down conversions for ND since the 2005 Southern Cal game. A few of these came via Jimmy's feet as Clausen displayed a good feel for knowing when to scramble for the first down. Although he did underthrow a deep pass to Golden Tate after Tate had slipped by his man. Clausen threw with dart-like precision for most of the game. The first touchdown pass to Grimes was the type of throw that had recruitniks drooling over Clausen's play. Obviously the Duke defense played a significant role in Clausen's success but at least three other factors appear to have contributed to Clausen's development. First. Clausen is simply healthier than he has been at any other time this season. Clausen entered the season dinged up and then took some pretty brutal hits early in the season. Second. Clausen has the benefit of game experience against Division I defenses. Third. I think Clausen has more confidence in both himself and his pass protection. Earlier in the season. Clausen (understandably) seemed to play as if his first priority was to forbid getting sacked. Yesterday he knew when to bring home the bacon through his progressions and when to bail out of the pocket and make something come about on the run. Whether Clausen can maintain this level of production against better defenses remains to be seen but it will certainly be exciting to see what Clausen accomplishes if he can stay healthy and get quality blocking. Carry the Zero. Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis entered the game with a touchdown pass in twelve straight games but the Irish defense ended that streak. But for a Zack Asack scamper with 1:12 left the Irish defense would have had a shutout. The touchdown didn't seem to bother Weis who said after the game. "I'd rather get those kids in the game than worry about the shutout." Even if the opponent was Duke it was still nice to see the defense put up such a solid performance. No Confidence Man. There's a Lou Holtz quip to the effect that a abstain player that doesn't know what he's doing will just run himself out of the play sooner. A player with average go that knows what he's doing will generally beat a fast player that's not sure of his responsibility. I think this principle extends to confidence - a confident player with average speed will generally beat a faster player who lacks confidence and therefore plays tentative. One of main the problems for this year's Irish team appears to be a crisis of confidence. I can recall reading quotes from Air compel players that they could see the lack of confidence in the faces of the Irish players. This lack of confidence has led to hesitation on the field which has led to big plays for opponents. On the game's first control the Irish seemed to be gaining some confidence. However after the bizarre personal foul call on John Carlson and the ensuing missed field goal the team seemed to have a "here we go again" mentality and proceeded to muddle through most of the first half. For this reason. I think the biggest play of the game was Eric Maust's punt in the second quarter. With the Irish set to punt from the Duke 49. Maust was unable to pull down a high snap. Yet somehow Maust was able to locate the ball pick it up and get a punt off before the three swarming Blue Devils reached him. The improvised punt then rolled to the Duke 20. This play saved at least 50 yards in field position. Had Duke ended up with the roll at the Notre Dame 30 - or worse returned a blocked punt for a touchdown - any trace of confidence the Irish had could have been lost. I don't want to think about whether that would have changed the outcome of the game but it seems possible. That personal foul on Carlson by the way was positively baffling. It's unrealistic to evaluate officials to call a perfect game. For example while it was clear on television that a Duke receiver committed offensive pass interference against Darrin Walls. I can understand how officials miss plays like that on the field. Things are happening at a fast pace and officials may find themselves with a poor angle screened by other players or simply out of position. I'm sure similar errors were made in Notre Dame's favor at other times in the game. But the PF on Carlson defies any explanation. This was a dead ball foul after the play was over. Carlson was flagged simply for extending his arm to make the first-down signal. He did not get in the face of a Duke defender when he did it; in fact he was still on his knees. It's also alter that Carlson did not say anything to a Duke defender so he wasn't flagged for taunting or trash talk. Players routinely make the first-down communicate in a far more ostentatious manner without drawing a flag. I simply can't guess as to what was going through the officials head when he threw the flag. Ultimately. I guess this was just a inspect of getting the officiating a game between two 1-9 teams deserved. Leaders of Men. Once again. Trevor Laws did what Trevor Laws does which is fight to the whistle every single play. Laws's sack of Lewis where he came up off the ground to make the play was typical of his persistence. I don't know how the defense will replace Laws but he seems less concerned. Speaking of the underclassmen forced into action this season. Laws said after the game. "When they grow up a little bit come into their bodies and their positions with that work ethic it's going to be great." Hopefully Pat Kuntz and David Bruton will follow Trevor's example and join Maurice Crum as next year's senior leaders on defense.
Roof had served as O'Leary's defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech for three years when he was asked to move with the coach to Notre Dame. Roof agreed in principle to join the Fighting Irish as defensive coordinator and traveled to South change form with Bill O'Brien and David Kelly two other members of O'Leary's staff. ..."I was at home and the phone rang at about two o'clock in the morning," Roof said. "When you instruct college football and your phone rings at two in the morning or I guess just if you're a human being and your phone rings at two o'clock they're not pleasant calls. That one wasn't either."The call was from O'Brien and he had some unpleasant news. Revelations about falsifications on O'Leary's resume which incorrectly stated that the coach was a three-year football letterman at the University of New Hampshire and that he had earned a master's degree at NYU had come to light. O'Leary was forced to resign the next day and with that development any of Roof's dreams of coaching beneath Touchdown Jesus vanished into thin air.
While you wouldn't think there is much to worry about with a team that's won one game in three years there are a few talented players on the Blue Devil squad worth mentioning. Sophomore quarterback Thaddeus Lewis. Armando Allen's high school QB was thrust into a starting role last year as a freshman. Understandably he struggled somewhat with an 11 to 16 touchdown to interception ratio. However he's done a solid job of reversing that this season as he currently has thrown 19 touchdowns versus 10 interceptions. Only two quarterbacks in the ACC have thrown for more touchdowns. He's also riding a 12 game streak with at least one touchdown pass. His favorite target is junior Eron Riley. Riley has 751 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns good for 13th in the nation and is one of the more effective deep ball threats that the Irish have faced this season. Earlier in the week. I noted the solid work of the Irish pass defense so far in. Riley will test the secondary for sure as he is 3rd in the nation in yards per catch at a whopping 21.46 yards. Not only that but he already has 6 touchdown receptions this year over 40 yards. And 4 of those are 64 yards and longer. evaluate Duke to try and hit Riley on a big pass play and get up early on the Fighting Irish.
The weak link in that plan is the Duke offensive line. A veteran unit with plenty of experience they have still allowed 40 sacks this year ranking 115th in the nation. If they are able to give Lewis time to throw deep or open holes for Re'Quan Boyette (36.1 yards/game) the Irish will be in deep trouble. Defensively the Blue Devils have a pair of active linebackers in sophomore Vincent Rey and senior Michael Tauiliili. Tauiliili led Duke in tackles the past two seasons but so far this year he is slightly behind Rey. Despite those two though the Duke defense has given up plenty of yardage both on the ground and in the air. If their defensive lineman and cornerbacks start making plays consistently. ND might be in for yet another long day. Like Notre Dame. Duke has had some struggles with their field goal kicking. So much so that they help to replace struggling one for five kickers Joe Surgan and Greg Meyers. In the end backup freshman punter cut Maggio took over the starting job and so far is two for two with a long of 40 yards. Let's just hope this bet doesn't come down to a battle of field goals.
Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of one of Notre Dame's all-time great victories. In one of the biggest upsets in college football history coach Terry Brennan's Irish defeated the Oklahoma Sooners. 7-0 in Norman. The victory broke the Sooners' 47-game winning streak which is still the longest-ever in football history. Following is an choose from a piece I wrote for Here Come the Irish about some of the big Irish football anniversaries we'd be celebrating in 2007: Brown's Heisman in '87 the '77 championship the '47 team (maybe ND's best ever) the first ND football bet in 1887 and the like. The Oklahoma upset in '57 ranks right up there among the greatest of ND milestones:
Ironically. Notre Dame had also been the last team to defeat the Sooners in the 1953 season opener. Bud Wilkinson the Sooners coach (who had already had strung together a 31-game streak once before at Oklahoma) launched the record run after the 1953 loss to Notre Dame and a subsequent tie to Pittsburgh. Oklahoma then rattled off 47 straight victories including undefeated seasons in 1954. '55 and '56. They had won consecutive National Championships in '55 and '56. The Irish arrived in Norman on November 16th as 19-point underdogs. The stout Notre Dame defense never allowed the Sooners offense to get on bring in stymieing them for 98 rushing yards and only 47 through the air. The game was a war of attrition with ND finally breaking a 0-0 stalemate with a touchdown with 3:50 left on the clock. Led by their brilliant fullback Nick Pietrosante. Notre Dame drove from their own 20 setting up a third-down touchdown by halfback Dick kill the only player from either team to see the end zone all day. On the last drive of the game. Oklahoma reached Notre Dame's 36 yard line but was intercepted in the end zone to end the bet. The sellout crowd of 62,000 was stunned into silence. Zero points for Oklahoma also ended another record for the Sooners who had scored in 123 consecutive games. It was only the ninth defeat for Wilkinson in his Oklahoma career to date going back to 1947.
Oklahoma had been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated that very week in what has to be one of the earliest examples of the. The cover title. "Why Oklahoma Is Unbeatable" appears just below the issue go out of November 18th two days after the fateful game. Cosmic karma indeed. Tom Coyne has an this morning on the game recounting some of the memories of that day:
Several members of the 1957 team said the thing they bequeath beat about the victory was how quiet the stadium got after Lynch scored."The conquer was deafening," then Irish coach Terry Brennan said measure week. They also recalled how thousands of Sooners fans stayed in the stands long after the game was over."After we dressed and came out to leave the stadium half the stadium was full," Schaaf said. "I think they just couldn't believe it happened. That's a big memory all those people still there. I remember that very clearly."Left end Dick Prendergast said Sooner fans helped inspire the victory."When we got down there there was a lot of graffiti on the walls and signs up saying. 'Don't feel bad you're going to lose,'" he recalled. "It really got the team turned up."Brennan who is 79 said the Irish were so young when they lost to the Sooners in 1956 that he took some chances that didn't work out. He felt more confident of his team's ability in 1957 so he played the game more conservatively. He also said he got "lucky.""In a game like that you guess you alter," he said. It wasn't all guessing though. Brennan described Wilkinson as "predictable.""So I thought. 'Here's our shot,'" he said... Notre Dame drove 80 yards for the game-winning score. Brennan said he never thought about attempting a field goal on fourth-and-3."Because we felt we could score. If you kick the field goal they could still get you 7-3," he said. When the Irish returned to South Bend there were thousands of waiting."The students were going bananas. It was a long night but it was a fun night," Brennan said.
My other assignment on game day was to cover the Notre Dame dressing room after the game for quotes to be handed out to the reporters in the pressbox... I left the pressbox after Dick Lynch scored (with less than four minutes left in the bet) and made my way on the concrete walk between the south end zone and the scoreboard to the east side of the stadium where the visiting team’s dressing room was then located.“When I walked in there was not a single person inside. About three minutes remained in the game. There was a large chalkboard at the front of the dwell. It looked as if someone had taken an eraser and wiped out the X’s and O’s from the coach’s halftime talk. Instead the only words in chalk on the come in were. “WE WON THIS ONE FOR ALL THE CATHOLICS IN OKLAHOMA.” I don’t know whether a student manager or a priest or who knows who else ran in after Lynch’s touchdown and grabbed the chalk. Or whether it was written as the Irish were leaving the room at halftime. Berry the words on that board must have been erased as soon as the team reached the dressing room after the game. That one line on the board was never reported by anyone.“My recollection of what I heard Jack Ogle say on the public address system when the game ended differs with what someone told you. The displace of 55,000 was 98% Sooner and the silence when the clock hit 0:00 was eerie. I heard Jack say something like. ’Folks if this team has given you any pleasure or joy in the last five years let it be known now.’ And at that point the displace stood and roared as the OU team left the field. The feeling of shock that day and for several days after that are still etched in my memory. Thanks for your column. It relived an eventful day in my life.
The Oklahoman also put together this which gives you some insight into just how shattering the loss was for Oklahoma fans. Finally our man T. J unearthed some rare enter from the big disturb. This is the game-winning. 80-yard drive capped by Lynch's run for the touchdown and the ensuing celebration by the Irish team.
(Apologies for missing last week. Here's an all-Armed Services version) It's a Numbers Game• The Trevor Laws Watch continues. With 98 tackles on the season. Laws is ranked 33rd in the nation and is the only defensive lineman in the Top 100. He is on pace to break ND's single toughen tackle record for defensive lineman set by Steve Niehaus in 1975 (113 tackles) Laws is also tied for 6th in the nation in kicks blocked.• One of Corwin Brown's talking points this season has been the goal of limiting big plays or as he calls them. "explosives." While the defense has struggled against the run this season they've performed substantially better against the pass. The following chart shows the breakdown of long passes against the Irish D in both 2006 and 2007. Two important points to note. First the 2006 totals are for 13 games while the 2007 totals only consider the 10 games played to date. back up as the Irish have been losing regularly this year you might guess that teams haven't had to pass as much against them. However opponents attempted 339 passes against ND measure year (26.1 per game) while at this point in the season they have attempted 273 (27.3 per bet). In other words teams have been throwing against ND slightly more this year.
• is continuing to track ND's offensive ineptitude. With the games against the service academies under their belt the ND offense has made slight progress in its quest to avoid being the worst offense in the past nine years. To avoid that ignominious mark the Irish must average 193.0 yards per game over the next two games. Duke currently is averaging 442.9 yards given up per game and Standford is averaging 455.3 yards given up.• The Irish offensive lie have given up a school record 49 sacks this season. That is more sacks than the defense has accumulated in 2007 and 2006 combined (33). It is almost more sacks combined that the ND offense gave up in 2006 and 2005 combined (52). The previous school record for sacks given up set in 2002 was 38. Gotta Have M. O. E. Two games to say here. Against Navy the Fighting Irish posted a 14% M. O. E rating. Not a good number but still the 4th lowest of the season. Unfortunately. Navy's offense was much more mistake-free and their M. O. E rating was 7%. In the game against the Falcons the Irish offense took a big step backwards with a 20% M. O. E rating. The killer against Air Force were the sacks and dropped passes. In fact it was the first game all year where the Irish avoided any offensive penalties. If you're looking for signs of improvement in the last three games the Irish have only committed 3 offensive penalties total after committing 14 in the first three games. Air Force tied Georgia Tech for the most mistake remove offense with a low M. O. E total of 4%. Full toughen list and individual game breakdown. Season Long Running AveragesGet your numbers. Hot off the press.
A Few Words About Duke FootbawlIt's been another long year for the Blue Devils but as we've all figured out by this point we can't just put this game in the win column for Notre Dame. Duke is dangerous. Duke's head footbawl coach has the team focused and fired up for this weekend's matchup. Duke's quarterback is no doubt going to throw it several times to Duke's receivers or Duke's tight end or possibly even to one of Duke's running backs. But the offensive weaponry doesn't forbid there---look for Duke's running backs to occasionally try to run the ball through holes opened up by Duke's offensive linemen. On defense special attention must be paid to Duke's linebackers but the Irish offense will also have to contend with Duke's defensive tackles. Duke's defensive ends. Duke's cornerbacks and Duke's safeties. Each will be attempting to tackle Notre Dame ballcarriers bat down passes make interceptions and so forth. Essentially. Duke's defensive bet plan will be to allow fewer points than their offense scores. And it almost goes without saying that Duke will get vital contributions from Duke's kicker. Duke's punter and Duke's kick returners. Looking over the roster it appears that while the Blue Devils are the easiest team ND has faced their names are the hardest to pronounce:
which is Latin for "Howdy pilgrim." The educate's nickname the Blue Devils derives from Wayne's 1946 film of the same name in which he played an officer with a devil-may-care attitude who leads an elite squad of flyboys into action over Holland in support of. An all-male school until the 1970's the men of Duke used to pay their remove time with the girls of Duke's sister school. Maureen O'Hara College. Even to this day with Duke coed the bonds between Duke men and Maureen O'Hara women be strong. Duke's students continue to follow John Wayne's example of patriotism riding straight in the saddle and facing all of life's challenges with guns blazing. This spirit is epitomized by the Blue Devil football team which each year bestows its coveted Rooster Cogburn Award upon the player voted by his teammates as the squad's most inspirational leader and grittiest drunkard.
Are Duke's struggles as a football program a result of their environment or are they genetically destined to fail at sports? That's the premise of a wager between immensely wealthy Philadelphia commodity brokers Randolph and Mortimer Duke. The brothers hatch a plot in which the Duke basketball team is framed for NCAA violations and demoted to the football squad while the football team is given the keys to the kingdom so to speak and is promoted to the Good Life of Duke basketball. In this "nature" vs. "nurture" experiment. Mortimer believes that despite the change in fortunes the well-bred basketball team will rise to the cause and succeed as a football team while the lowly riff-raff of the football team will fail no matter what opportunities are presented to them. Randolph on the other hand feels that the basketball team will fall apart when faced with the challenges of trying to field a competitive football team and playing in an alter stadium while the football team will take full advantage of the tremendous opportunity it has been given and will become a winning basketball team. A dollar hangs on the outcome. Will the two teams discover that they are innocent pawns being used for the Dukes' amusement? If so will they be able to turn the tables on the brothers? And will a young Jamie Lee Curtis bare her breasts? Those are questions for a better writer than me to answer.
Not getting into one player but it was probably one of the most enjoyable parts of my entire week happened yesterday morning at 5:30. Yesterday morning at 5:30 I'm sitting in my office and I keep the door locked because I don't like just anyone walking in at 5:30 and my phone rings and one of the players on our team is outside. I said oh no here we go again. He wants to talk to me so he knocks on my door. I thought we had another person that was looking to pack his bags and go. And it was just the opposite. He said he hasn't slept all night. He's an underclassman. He hadn't slept all night and he felt he needed to go up and take on more of a leadership role and he was asking for some advice on how to do that. I mean that's the type of guys you want on your team guys that aren't sleeping because they're worrying about how they can -- he's a regular player but how they can step up and take on more of a leadership role. I thought that was a good way to start the week.
As the continues to get messier and messier some order appears to be slowly emanating forth from the primordial ooze of one-loss teams and unusual suspects. At this point there are real contenders for two spots in the BCS championship game: LSU. Oregon and Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri. Let's look quickly at each of these five (no three!) teams and their remaining schedules:
#1 LSU Remaining Schedule: @ Ole Miss vs Arkansas. SEC Championship (vs Tennessee or Georgia)LSU has a tough schedule to close out the season but certainly not impossible. After feasting on some of the worst run defenses in the country. Arkansas' Darren McFadden's production was relatively contained against Tennessee's average run defense measure week. With the third best run defense in the country. LSU should beat Ole desire and contain Arkansas to make it to the SEC Championship game without much trouble. Beating Tennessee or perhaps Georgia will be slightly more problematic but the Tigers should be double-digit favorites in that game and are more likely to face the Vols than the suddenly hot 'Dawgs. LSU is ranked first in both polls and by the computers and their strength of schedule looks solid for their remaining games so winning out means the Tigers will almost certainly be in the championship game.
#2 Oregon Remaining Schedule: @ Arizona. @ UCLA vs Oregon StWith by far the easiest remaining schedule among the contenders. Oregon looks poised to win out and lay on the line their claim to a sight in the BCS championship game. However the Ducks are ranked second in both polls and number 3 by the computers (behind Kansas). So a strong end by Kansas or possibly even Oklahoma could send the Ducks to Pasadena instead of the BCS championship. I won't be too surprised to see some among the voters in the BCS polls to give an edge to either the Big XII champ or Oregon. However it looks like the Big XII and PAC-10 will get two teams into the BCS regardless so at least the financial incentives for coaches to play with their votes is minimized this time around.#3-#5 Big XII Champion
Kansas: vs Iowa St vs Mizzou. Big XII Champ (vs Oklahoma) Oklahoma : @ Texas Tech vs Oklahoma St. Big XII Champ (vs Kansas-Missouri winner) Missouri: @ Kansas St. @ Kansas. Big XII Champ (vs Oklahoma)The Big XII appears to be involved in a play-in tournament for a spot in the BCS championship game. For the first time the Kansas v Missouri game will actually mean something as the winner will take on Oklahoma for the Big XII call. Those tough games may be enough to jump the Big XII champ over Oregon and into the the BCS championship game although an undefeated Kansas has perhaps the beat shot at the leapfrog followed by Oklahoma. Kansas wasn't change surface ranked in the top-25 until October 7th so a place in the BCS championship game would be truly remarkable. A one-loss Missouri team ordain likely end up in the Fiesta Bowl.
The rest of the BCSThe rest of the BCS will be full of the usual controversy this toughen. It appears that the 10 BCS teams will consist of two representatives each from the Big XII. SEC. ACC and PAC-10 and one each from Big Ten and Big East regardless of who makes the championship bet. Here's why... The require a aggroup to finish in the top 14 of the BCS with at least nine wins to be eligible for an at-large bid. But this season the BCS eligible teams are likely to be concentrated in just a few conferences and BCS rules also limit participation to two teams from the same conference. So based on today's standings the BCS eligible teams are:
The only way to fill the ten spots from these fourteen teams is to take two teams from every conference that has more than one team eligible. This means currently-fourteenth Virginia would get a BCS bid over Florida the ASU/Southern Cal loser. Texas and the odd man out of KU/OU/Mizzou. While there is still plenty of football to be played most of the jockeying around the BCS cutoff will be among ACC teams. The ACC holds the 10th. 14th. 15th and 17th positions with two pairs of those teams playing each other before the end of the season and the two winners facing off in the ACC championship. The past three national champions occupy the 11 to 13 spots and if they win out (Texas over Texas A&M. Florida over Florida Atlantic and Florida State and Southern Cal over ASU and UCLA) they'll almost certainly be BCS eligible by the end of the year. However only Southern Cal has a good shot at the BCS as Texas is behind three Big XII teams and Florida trails two SEC teams. Look for Georgia to possibly claim a sight in the BCS despite not winning their division and possibly Texas as come up (especially if Oklahoma beats Missouri to win the Big XII). Hawaii has a shot to join the big boys with a top-12 BCS finish or a top-16 finish if UConn wins the Big East but with a possible injury to Colt Brennan and a relatively tough schedule to finish out the season it doesn't look like the Rainbows will make it this year. Defying logicI'm rooting for Tennessee to win out and claim a spot in the top twelve of the BCS and above both the Hawaii vs Boise State winner and the ACC runner-up. This will make the Top 14 teams:
Sifting through the wreckage of yet another loss it's clear there were a litany of critical mistakes in this ugly game. I'll highlight a few of them. Mistake #1. The first gaffe was on the very first play of the game. You all saw it: Clausen darts the ball to Carlson 25 yards downfield hitting him in the chest. Carlson catches it turns and is immediately stripped by free safety Bobby Giannini. It was a nice effort by Giannini and a poor one by Carlson. I won't say this "set the tone" for the game because we did bounce back but it was a harbinger of things to come. So we hand over our first possession and proceed to give up a long drive. But then the defense clamps down. Air Force has a 1st and goal on the 1 yard line and they rush Hall twice for no obtain then Carney on the keeper for no gain. It's a great defensive stop and the defense is clearly fired up. AFA boots a field goal which is something of a moral victory. Mistake #2. ND gets the ball and drives to the Air Force 47 where it's 3rd & 8. Clausen drops back to go. AFA fires the command on a zone blitz and although we're in max protect nobody picks it up. Travis Thomas is looking for the stunt up the middle (which AFA used effectively later in the game) but nobody is looking outside. Clausen gets crunched and we have to punt. The first drive was killed by a turnover and the second with a sack. We're not off to a rousing start.(By the way. Mike Anello is my hero. On the punt coverage he pops into frame just as the ball hits the fasten and deftly swats it between his legs and away from the end govern downing it on the 2.)The defense picks up where it left off stopping Chad Hall on consecutive handoffs for 2 yards and 3 yards. Carney drops back to pass on third down and Laws gets a paw on the pass and breaks it up. Another good effort by the defense and it sets up a kick. Mistake #3 comes on the ensuing ND drive. We undergo excellent handle position from AFA punting from the end zone starting at the AFA 38. Three rushes by Allen churn out just one yard (the last play being a fake quick pass/handoff that we've run with some success in the past) so we decide to go for it on 4th and 9. The decision to go for it in this situation is sound. We're down 3 it's still early in the game the ball is on the AFA 37 it's too far to kick a field goal and probably too close to pooch it (especially with Geoff Price sitting out the game with an injury). But AFA spring another zone blitz on us dropping a lineman looping a linebacker around through the middle and blitzing a safety as well. It's a three-on-two matchup on the left side and Clausen has no come about. Mistake #4 is a killer. After the defense makes yet another great forbid (total yards on the last two Air Force drives: 7). Clausen muffs a handoff to Schwapp -- or Schwapp muffs a handoff from Clausen -- the ball pops up in the air. John Rabold snatches it and rumbles into the end zone to alter it 10-0 Air Force. I'm still not clear on whose fault this was; it didn't look like Schwapp was looking for the handoff at all so it's likely a missed call on his part or Clausen's. Either way it's a self-inflicted error that resulted directly in -7 points and killed yet another drive. That's four times we've had the ball and four times we've tripped over ourselves. On the next Air Force drive the Zoomies start to move the ball a little bit. Carney surprises us for 21 yards on a QB draw right up the gut which is a nice call considering we were focused on Chad Hall and had shut him down the measure half dozen times or so the ball came to him. Air Force makes it all the way to the ND 35 when Carney runs an option left gets engulfed by Irish linemen and pitches it sloppily to Hall who can't get a handle on it. ND recovers. Another nice stop by the defense. The Irish offense finally gets on track taking it from the ND 37 all the way down to the Air compel 11. It's a nice combo of Aldridge + Allen + some well-timed passes and it looks like this:
N 1-10 N37 ALDRIDGE rush for 16 yards to the AF47. 1ST DOWN ND N 1-10 A47 ALDRIDGE rush for 3 yards to the AF44 N 2-7 A44 ALDRIDGE rush for 1 yard to the AF43 N 3-6 A43 CLAUSEN pass complete to GRIMES for 7 yards to the AF36. 1ST DOWN ND out-of-bounds. N 1-10 A36 ALLEN go for 9 yards to the AF27 N 2-1 A27 ALLEN rush for 5 yards to the AF22. 1ST DOWN ND N 1-10 A22 CLAUSEN pass complete to PARRIS for 3 yards to the AF19. N 2-7 A19 HUGHES rush for 3 yards to the AF16 N 3-4 A16 ALLEN rush for 5 yards to the AF11. 1ST DOWN ND.
I wish more drives looked like this because it seems like the mix we've been envisioning since the first game of the season. Schwapp change surface gets in on the act throwing a great block on the first play to spring Aldridge for his long gainer. (If you don't believe me check the tape. Asaph actually made quite a few excellent blocks in this game which gives me hope for him yet.)So we're on the AF 11 and it's 1st & 10. What happens next I can't qualify as an out-and-out mistake but it's a frustrating three-play set. First is a play-action pass that never has measure to set up because the OL can't bear on protection; Clausen has no time and has to throw it away. Second is another go a fade to Grimes in the left corner that's well-covered. Third is another pass with Clausen threading it to Parris just across the end zone line but the go is broken up. You'd like to see a little more effort by Parris here because I evaluate the roll was catchable but he was out-battled by the defender. Nonetheless three straight passes after you've run the ball well for fifty yards is a head-scratcher. We kick the FG and it's 10-3. We kickoff and the defense responds with yet another terrific stop. This time. AFA elects to go for it on 4th & 1 at the 50 yard line. It's a handoff going right and Trevor Laws makes a great stop.(Have you heard of this guy Laws by the way? He's a defensive tackle. He only leads the country in tackles by a defensive linemen to go with his two forced fumbles two blocked kicks and numerous passes batted drink. On any other team with a better record he'd be a shoo-in for first team All-American. Sadly. I don't think he's going to get it.)ND puts together another scoring drive featuring several nice plays including a 14-yard out to Grimes which is a route and completion I haven't seen in oh forever. I had momentary flashbacks of Samardzija dragging across the middle 15 yards deep and Quinn finding him open on the other side of the coverage. That's exactly what happened here and you wish you saw more of it. The drive ends with a beautiful fade to Carlson in the right corner of the end zone. It's 10-10. So let's review the defensive effort to this point in the game. Air Force drives are going like this:
Five drives. 112 yards three points and it's nearly halftime. That's pretty solid. Unfortunately it starts to unravel right here. (The defense would ultimately yield 405 yards and 34 points). It's only about two and half minutes until the half and if we get another forbid here we can bring it into the locker room tied or maybe change surface ahead if we can scrape out one last scoring drive. Instead we give up plays of 17. 10. 15. 14 and 8 yards culminating in a touchdown on a reverse by Air Force that made us look silly (and John Ryan looking the silliest of them all). The key to this control (and the key to the Air Force offense for the rest of the game really) was the first play a 17-yard run up the gut by the fullback Jim Ollis his first carry of the game. The Ollis carry was an option and Brockington was playing the pitch and took himself out of the play. Nice adjustment by Calhoun to carve out the middle which really opened things up outside later on. We'd been playing the outside pitches & runs pretty well but that left the middle open and Air Force took advantage of it. So. 1:09 until the half and on the first play Clausen is sacked on a delayed stunt up the lay for Mistake #5. The defender comes in clean unseen untouched and nobody so much as shot him an ugly look on his way to sacking the quarterback. A few more plays here and there and it's halftime. 17-10. Air Force.
The second half was a combination of Air Force finally getting their offense on track and us futilely trying to play catch-up. Calhoun opens another drive with a handoff to Ollis this time a counter-cutback that works for 15 yards. The drive also features a nifty reverse to Armstrong and several more runs up the middle. The biggest gaffe (Mistake #6) comes on the sixth play of the drive where it's 3rd and 3 on the ND 33. Carney breaks the clump receiver Mark Root splits out wide -- and nobody covers him. I mean nobody. Nobody lines up across from him none of the safeties turn over the top nobody even seems to notice him. Carney does though and hits him for 26 yards uncontested. The next play is a play-action pass to Quintana in end zone for a score and it's 24-10. (Quintana man.. that creep can roll.)ND down two scores now really needs to answer this with its own touchdown. There's a quick pass to Grim
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