Notre Dame (football only discussion)

[Steve19]

Originally Posted by Bucklion

It's just they way they are...this whole season will be one big excuse. When NoNothing is 1-6 or 2-6, then Claussen will light it up the last month with big numbers against bad defenses the last 3 or 4 weeks and they'll all start coming back to the other boards bragging about a NC 2008, as if 2007 was one big preseason. This will be the NoD equivalent of the "probation years" defense that Cryami uses.

Ding, ding, ding...we have a winner!

Here are the rules for Notre Dame fans:

Rule 1:

When our team sucks, talk about (a) the future or (b) our "storied heritage". Try to fit the words Gipper and Rudy in as many sentences as possible.

Rule 2:

If you think our team does not suck, rethink your position, then read Rule 1.

[ScriptOhio]

(For all you football historians)

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Appalachian State's upset of Michigan was one of those where-were-you-when-it-happened moments, creating an outcome so unimaginable it is certain to be remembered - and, in Ann Arbor, reviled - for as long as college football is played.

Blame it on Rockne for making one of the greatest coaching blunders in history.
Notre Dame had beaten Tech so convincingly the previous four seasons - by a combined score of 111-19 - Rockne chose to watch the Army-Navy game played before a crowd of 100,000 in Chicago. Historians have long spun a tale that Rockne was scouting Navy for the following season, but that appears to cover up his true motives.
In his book "Shake Down The Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football," author Murray A. Sperber reprints letters written to and from Rockne and Christy Walsh, the first nationally recognized sports agent. Walsh also represented Babe Ruth and helped the publicity-conscious Rockne subsidize his $10,000-a-year salary by lining up outside work.
At Walsh's behest, Rockne, Stanford's Pop Warner, and Yale's Tad Jones were to watch Army-Navy and write newspaper articles about it, as well as select an All-America football team.
"It will certainly grab the spotlight for the 'Big Three' (coaches) and get us a lot of timely publicity," Walsh responded.
Rockne agreed, writing, "The game in Pittsburgh will not be important enough ... I can (put) it in charge of someone else."
Remarkably, Rockne considered taking his starters with him to Chicago before the following week's game at Southern Cal. Amid rumblings he would do exactly that, Rockne was forced to send a telegram to Carnegie Tech athletic director Clarence "Buddy" Overend emphasizing his regulars were coming, even if he wasn't.
"We are pointing for your game Saturday and will give you all we have," Rockne said.
Turned out that wasn't much, even though Notre Dame was 8-0 and had allowed only one touchdown all season. Tech was 6-2, beating previously unbeaten Pitt 14-0 but losing to Washington & Jefferson 17-6 and New York University 6-0.
Before traveling to Chicago, Rockne put assistant Hunk Anderson in charge and gave him a game plan. The only problem: it didn't consider Notre Dame might trail or be pressured, so Anderson stubbornly stuck with the ill-conceived plan long after the Irish fell behind.
Rockne's absence and the rumors about the starters not playing gave Tech a big motivational lift. Indeed, Notre Dame played its backups during a scoreless first quarter, then trotted out the regulars for what was supposed to be a take-charge second quarter.
"Men, Knute Rockne thinks you so poor as football players that he's starting his second string against you and he's so sure he'll win, he's not even here," Steffen told his players. "He's in Chicago watching Army and Navy play some real football."
The fired-up Tartans opened a 13-0 lead at halftime on scoring runs by Bill Donohoe and C.J. Letzelter. In the third quarter, quarterback Howard Harpster drop kicked field goals of 32 and 45 yards. Tech preserved the shutout with a fourth-quarter goal-line stand led by tackle Lloyd "The Plaid Bull" Yoder.
Harpster, who coached the team from 1932-36, and Yoder were later inducted into the National Football Federation and Hall of Fame. Carnegie Tech football took off after the upset and, a dozen years later, won the Lambert Trophy as the best team in the East, a major accomplishment given the competition. The Tartans also beat Notre Dame three more times, in 1928 (27-7), 1933 (7-0) and 1937 (9-7).

But the school, renamed Carnegie Mellon in 1967, quit playing major college teams during the World War II. After the war, the Tartans returned to playing non-scholarships teams with goals as modest as their own.
Carnegie Tech's brief glory days aren't forgotten. Today, Carnegie Mellon players walk from the locker room to the playing field through the Howard Harpster Hall of Fame, where the 1926 Notre Dame game ball is displayed. Knute Rockne? That absentee loss probably cost him a national title, as the Irish beat Southern Cal 13-12 a week later in a game Rockne called "the greatest I ever saw," but it did not substantially tarnish his reputation as one of his sport's great coaches.

Entire article: FOX Sports on MSN - COLLEGE FOOTBALL - Upset special: With Rockne gone, Irish took a Michigan-like tumble

[iambrutus]

How horrible is ND's offense, really? Lets look at the numbers

39 Total possessions
24 punts
3 INTS
5 Fumbles
2 FG made
1 FG missed
4 OTHER (end of half/game)

[ant80]

Do we really need a thread for this? Can't the same points be made at the ND football only thread?

[iambrutus]

Originally Posted by ant80

Do we really need a thread for this? Can't the same points be made at the ND football only thread?

yes we do, no they can't

[OCBucksFan]

Originally Posted by iambrutus

How horrible is ND's offense, really? Lets look at the numbers

39 Total possessions
24 punts
3 INTS
5 Fumbles
2 FG made
1 FG missed
4 OTHER (end of half/game)

Honestly, with those kids, what can they do to turn it around? I mean they look like a comedy movie about there, and unlike those comedies I don't foresee some super coach and a "bad kid" coming to save the day. The line sucks, the defense sucks, the run sucks, the pass sucks, overall, there's a reason their offense is ranked 119 out of 119 teams in college football.

Serves the damned school right, they had a good coach who was getting great recruits in and turning the program around but they fired him for some guy who's only real talent is the ability to eat a whole chicken bones and all.

[iambrutus]

Originally Posted by OCBucksFan

Honestly, with those kids, what can they do to turn it around? I mean they look like a comedy movie about there, and unlike those comedies I don't foresee some super coach and a "bad kid" coming to save the day. The line sucks, the defense sucks, the run sucks, the pass sucks, overall, there's a reason their offense is ranked 119 out of 119 teams in college football.

Serves the damned school right, they had a good coach who was getting great recruits in and turning the program around but they fired him for some guy who's only real talent is the ability to eat a whole chicken bones and all.

i agree 100%, it really shows just how horrible they are, the offensive yards vs punting yards is the funniest thing.

[NFBuck]

Originally Posted by iambrutus

i agree 100%, it really shows just how horrible they are, the offensive yards vs punting yards is the funniest thing.

Reminds me of the first two years of the Browns rebirth when Chris Gardocki was the best player on the team.

[tsteele316]

Originally Posted by NFBuck

Reminds me of the first two years of the Browns rebirth when Chris Gardocki was the best player on the team.

it actually closely resembles the movie Necessary Roughness. Except Corwin Brown is no Robert Loggia, and they can't get Sinbad to use his final year of eligibility.

[BrutusBobcat]

How bad is Notre Dame's offense?

Bad enough to be appearing on milk cartons around the midwest.

Bad enough that they're closer to finding Jimmy Hoffa than an end zone.

But not bad enough to have their own thread on BP.

I think we now see why Demetrius Jones got on the first bus to DeKalb instead of the one to Ann Arbor. Even if Charlie Sammich were to pull Jimmy Savior, Jones would have no receivers, no running backs and no protection of which to speak. All Jones would be doing is spending the rest of his college years fighting it out for the starting job of the worst offense in the country. Maybe he was putting that Notre Dame education to work.

Their problem right now is that they don't even have a base core of competency to which they can turn to gain some yards and confidence. Even the worst offense should be able to protect the football for a drive or two and get into field goal range occasionally, whether by running inside, outside, running the QB, short passing or something. Every team has at least one thing that they do adequately, and generally at least one lineman who blocks his man more than half the time.

Not only does ND have a shocking lack of talent, the player development is bad enough to make Carr's staff look brilliant. I also don't see Weis having the ability to bring out a Rudy-like performance from any of his players. I'm looking forward to watching what Dantonio's defense does this week. This past weekend, I caught some glances at their game while watching the Bucks, and they looked like a fast, hungry, hard-hitting bunch -- a lot like what we came to expect when he was here.

[EastSide]

Originally Posted by NFBuck

Reminds me of the first two years of the Browns rebirth when Chris Gardocki was the best player on the team.

What do you mean 1st 2 years? Gardocki has been the really only player the Browns could even brag about since they came back. But I did get tired of hearing how long he went without a blocked punt. every punt at every game they had to state how long he has went without getting a punt blocked.

No matter how bad ND is this year ... they still got a long way to go to be the disappointment that the Browns have been.

[NFBuck]

Irish QB talked trash--down 31-0!

Posted: Monday September 17, 2007 07:47AM ET

In the middle of Saturday's third quarter, Michigan linebacker Shawn Crable rushed Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen. Michigan's senior defensive captain burst through the line, leapt as he approached Clausen and flew toward the freshman, unable to stop after Clausen released the ball. Crable accepted a roughing the passer penalty and said the call didn't bother him. Apparently it got to Clausen, though, whose Notre Dame team was already losing, 31-0. "He started talking and I didn't really understand that," Crable said. "He doesn't get rattled but he is a freshman. I just told him I'm going to be right back to see him. Then my coach told me to shut up and I was on the sidelines."

It's gonna be a pleasure watching that assbag fail.

[Bucky Katt]

Originally Posted by NFBuck

It's gonna be a pleasure watching that assbag fail.

I assume you're referring to Claussen. Here's my version for Crable:

It has been and will continue to be a pleasure watching that assbag fail again and again and again.

[OCBucksFan]

Trash talking trash to trash, interesting...

[OCBucksFan]

From the Irish Envy forums...

I have throughly researched the MSU team and they are much slower on defense than any of the 3 teams that we have played. Don't get me wrong they will bring the heat, (Dantonio is known as a very good defensive coach) but he doesn't have the personel to fit his defensive scheme quite yet. Even though it hasn't been apparent I think our athletes far out match theirs. The offense will have fewer mistakes and will move the ball with consistancy, which will give the D a break. I can't wait until saturday!