My Take | Syracusefan.com

My Take

sutomcat

No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Aug 15, 2011
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Gotta be quick because of the basketball game.

So proud of this team. They could have given up so many times during the season but did not. They might not have been the most talented or experienced team in the country but they showed me they had as much heart as anyone out there.

Thought Gilbert did a nice job with the game plan against what is probably the finest defense in college football. Those short passes were surprisingly effective and reminded me of how the Syracuse offense was in the first couple of years under Dino, when Sean Lewis was still here.

Was pleasantly surprised as how well we were able to run the ball. Tucker was brilliant at times today. Such a nice blend of size, speed and agility. He really struggles pass blocking and at this point, does not look comfortable catching passes but he will get better in these areas. You gotta like what Lutz can do as well. He looks way more comfortable catching the ball and with Hough arriving this spring, I wonder if we see him go back to the slot? Gotta find a way to get more playmakers on the field, and Lutz is most definitely a playmaker.

Thought the OL had their best game of the year. They opened some holes for the run game and usually gave Rex ample time to get throws off. Good to see, wish we saw this kind of play earlier in the season, when it would have meant more wins. That late bye game Servais a chance to heal up and he was much better after that.

Thought Rex played welll in a lot of ways. His throws were accurate most of the time, he seemed to get more zip on them than normal and he made a lot of good decisions. Clark Lea tightened up coverage on the WRs and started blitzing late in the first half, and that bothered Rex quite a bit, but I thought he showed poise in the pocket and toughness too. It is a shame he lost those two fumbles. More on that later.

Thought Taj played like a senior leader again. I am not sure Sterlin knew what he had for much of the year...really didn’t feature Taj on offense until pretty late in the year, but better late than never. Props to him...if he doesn’t come back, he went out like a champ.

Thought Queeley made a couple excellent catches. That TD was a thing of beauty. He has distanced himself from the other WRs as the next featured guy. Excited for his future. Nykeim had a quiet game (we had no KO or punt returns, which is really weird). Hope he decides to come back.

Aaron had that nice reception and got popped and lost the ball. He again did not look close to 100%, I am sure he is playing hurt for the good of the team and feel bad for him. Hope he comes back to have a proper senior season. That offensive pass interference call against him might have been the worst call of the season. On the topic of bad calls, why do we always get the short end of the stick on these? The fumble they called on Rex has been reversed 95% of the time in games I have watched. Was shocked when it was not. And what was going on with the roughing the passer call on Kingsley Jonathan where he hit the top of Book’s helmet (not grab his face mask as the ND announcers claimed)? Or the other roughing the passer call where Book was pushed just after he released a pass? Or the blatant offensive PI on 88 when he pushed Iffy, who had position, to the ground so he could make a catch. When that play was replayed, the ND director was careful to start the replay just after the push off. How was that play NOT reviewed? Why can other teams hit our QB late and hard and we can’t even touch opposing QBs?

This would have been an entertaining and close game if not for these incompetent refs blowing all these calls. Those calls directly lead to like 18 points for ND. What a disappointment.

Thought the defense did a fine job. ND was unable to run the ball effectively for almost the whole game. Book struggled to find open receivers and the only reliable play for ND was Book running out of the pocket and either throwing on the run or running for his life. Team effort all the way. Carter was again very good. Wax is getting better. Black was a man out there. Jones was a force stopping the run, as was Thompson. No one ever notices Williams but he occupied his guy and held his ground. Tough kid. Under appreciated. Iffy and Williams battled with some really good WRs, won some battles and lost some. Looked like Iffy was asked to cover that big TE a few times. Tough assignment. And oh yeah, Hanna is a tough SOB that plays his heart out every game.

Thought ND had a few terrific players. Even though 88 likes to push off a lot, he has a lot of talent. Book is as good as any QB in college football. So smart, so accurate, so athletic. If we have Book on Syracuse, we win this game. I really believe that. That #6 on defense made big plays all game long. He will also play on Sundays.

I hope Mike Tirico is making a ton of money to give up his journalistic integrity and become a fanboy for ND football. It has to be tough for him to confirm all the bad calls that went ND’s way as good calls. What does it say about the intelligence level of ND football fans if they insist on listening to announcers who step over each other fawning over how great Norte Dame’s players and coaches are? Ugh. I grew up and continue to listen to home team announcers for NYC teams, who always take pains to be objective and calls games honestly. I would hate to have to listen to ignorant blowhards making crap up about my team all the time. How unfortunate.

That said, I thought Dungy made a lot of good observations and he, and only he, made an objective call. I was fascinated with the broadcast for a number of reasons besides seeing Tirico reduced to a slobbering sycophant. I thought that Collinsworth kid that was such a major disaster when he was somehow given a job at the ACCN was back washing dad’s car but no, he has actually been hired to constantly make idiotic comments about ND that are meant to be positive. Ugh.

They must have a big budget. They had a ton of cameras in use during the game. Had way more repeat angles available than I am used to. They even had one of those cameras mounted on two wires, that could produce overhead shots from virtually anywhere (largely if not completely wasted).

But they insisted on using an angle from way up near the top of the stadium for their base shot, with the camera pulled back so you could see a ton of field with no players and the players were thus about half as big as normal.

They also did things like let a shot of a player walking off the field stick as the live shot until after the ball for the next play had been snapped. It was like the director was watching another game and got distracted regularly. Weird. The ND production team is not very good.

This was a most unusual team. They seemed to be at their best when challenged against excellent teams and the worse their opponent, the worse they played. It is a shame because when they played well, they were capable of beating a lot of the teams on the schedule. In the end, the lack of a capable QB for most of the season was a crushing blow, and probably cost the team 3 or 4 victories. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Sigh.

When I watched ND play Clemson, I thought they had a good chance to beat them in the ACC championship game. Not so sure now. I think Syracuse exposed some weaknesses that Clemson is going to be all over in their rematch. I think to beat Clemson, you need to have a good pass rush. Didn’t see that today. You have to be able to run the ball well. Didn’t see that today.

If Clemson has their starters back on defense, they will win the rematch by 20. Maybe 25. If their defense is still messed up, ND has a fighters chance, but they are going to need to outscore the Tigers. Look forward to watching it. Who knows, those two teams might end up playing a third time a few weeks later for the NC. Stranger things have happened.
 
I watched the TD play on Iffy a few times during halftime and I thought they got the call right. There was contact but it wasn't as blatant like I thought it was at first. They missed a facemask on the Book TD run, and Elmore definitely got hit late OOB but that play wouldn't have mattered.
 
The hemet tap was absurd. I guess by the rule book it’s a penalty and I’m sure Brian Kelly can live w it.

Really proud of the way these guys played today. Hope springs eternal. Maybe the helmet tap brings Kingsley back.
 
I watched the TD play on Iffy a few times during halftime and I thought they got the call right. There was contact but it wasn't as blatant like I thought it was at first. They missed a facemask on the Book TD run, and Elmore definitely got hit late OOB but that play wouldn't have mattered.
Baloney. What I will tell you with zero doubt is if Iffy and the other guy had switched uniforms, it absolutely would have been called offensive PI.
 
Book is a good enough QB to keep them in any game. I don’t see them getting blown out by Clemson
 
Mike Tirico makes 5 million a year at NBC. I think most of us would sell our souls to our corporate bosses for that money.
I'm surprised it's not more. Doesn't Mike Greenberg make 6 million at ESPN?
 
My least favorite Tirico comment was on the replay of the Lutz long TD run, he had to make note that ND had their backups in.

I mean, our entire ****ing season has been played with backups, but god forbid we have a good play against the NOTRE DAME backups who probably could play football for any school in the country.

Then Dungey starts talking about Lutz like a he's a special needs kid.
 
I do not understand how we are always consistently on the short end of the stick on the ref calls in these ACC games. I turned he tube off after the roughing the passer against Kingsley because I said to myself, they are not going to let us win today (even if we could which we didn't). Meanwhile our D was held blatently on pretty much every ND offensive play and not one call. Some of them were so unbelievably bad I was doing face palms. How is this possible year after year ?

We are terrible but I am convinced that we are getting screwed by the ACC refs in both FB and BB. I feel like we just take it and don't make enough noise from the AD down. Make a greatest hits tape and go see Swofford over an over an over. The squeeky wheel gets the grease.
 
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Mike Tirico makes 5 million a year at NBC. I think most of us would sell our souls to our corporate bosses for that money.
Tirico is the one of the best play by play guys in the biz. The NBC production is weird because it’s essentially a local broadcast that is carried by a national network. I’m sure if opposing fans had to listen to Park and Terry they’d be upset as well.

Dungey, however, is awful. The next insightful things he says will be his first.

Was proud of the game SU played today. D stepped up and played their butts off. I wish we had more at DL, that could’ve kept a couple scores off the board.

O is just so damn limited with our QB situation. I didn’t love Gilbert this year, but he’s also trying to game plan around some massive deficiencies. I’ve been harsh on our WRs but they played well today. Tucker is special. Having two guys go for over 100 yards against ND might be the achievement of the season.

Tons of work to do in the off-season. But I do have some hope.
 
Gotta be quick because of the basketball game.

So proud of this team. They could have given up so many times during the season but did not. They might not have been the most talented or experienced team in the country but they showed me they had as much heart as anyone out there.

Thought Gilbert did a nice job with the game plan against what is probably the finest defense in college football. Those short passes were surprisingly effective and reminded me of how the Syracuse offense was in the first couple of years under Dino, when Sean Lewis was still here.

Was pleasantly surprised as how well we were able to run the ball. Tucker was brilliant at times today. Such a nice blend of size, speed and agility. He really struggles pass blocking and at this point, does not look comfortable catching passes but he will get better in these areas. You gotta like what Lutz can do as well. He looks way more comfortable catching the ball and with Hough arriving this spring, I wonder if we see him go back to the slot? Gotta find a way to get more playmakers on the field, and Lutz is most definitely a playmaker.

Thought the OL had their best game of the year. They opened some holes for the run game and usually gave Rex ample time to get throws off. Good to see, wish we saw this kind of play earlier in the season, when it would have meant more wins. That late bye game Servais a chance to heal up and he was much better after that.

Thought Rex played welll in a lot of ways. His throws were accurate most of the time, he seemed to get more zip on them than normal and he made a lot of good decisions. Clark Lea tightened up coverage on the WRs and started blitzing late in the first half, and that bothered Rex quite a bit, but I thought he showed poise in the pocket and toughness too. It is a shame he lost those two fumbles. More on that later.

Thought Taj played like a senior leader again. I am not sure Sterlin knew what he had for much of the year...really didn’t feature Taj on offense until pretty late in the year, but better late than never. Props to him...if he doesn’t come back, he went out like a champ.

Thought Queeley made a couple excellent catches. That TD was a thing of beauty. He has distanced himself from the other WRs as the next featured guy. Excited for his future. Nykeim had a quiet game (we had no KO or punt returns, which is really weird). Hope he decides to come back.

Aaron had that nice reception and got popped and lost the ball. He again did not look close to 100%, I am sure he is playing hurt for the good of the team and feel bad for him. Hope he comes back to have a proper senior season. That offensive pass interference call against him might have been the worst call of the season. On the topic of bad calls, why do we always get the short end of the stick on these? The fumble they called on Rex has been reversed 95% of the time in games I have watched. Was shocked when it was not. And what was going on with the roughing the passer call on Kingsley Jonathan where he hit the top of Book’s helmet (not grab his face mask as the ND announcers claimed)? Or the other roughing the passer call where Book was pushed just after he released a pass? Or the blatant offensive PI on 88 when he pushed Iffy, who had position, to the ground so he could make a catch. When that play was replayed, the ND director was careful to start the replay just after the push off. How was that play NOT reviewed? Why can other teams hit our QB late and hard and we can’t even touch opposing QBs?

This would have been an entertaining and close game if not for these incompetent refs blowing all these calls. Those calls directly lead to like 18 points for ND. What a disappointment.

Thought the defense did a fine job. ND was unable to run the ball effectively for almost the whole game. Book struggled to find open receivers and the only reliable play for ND was Book running out of the pocket and either throwing on the run or running for his life. Team effort all the way. Carter was again very good. Wax is getting better. Black was a man out there. Jones was a force stopping the run, as was Thompson. No one ever notices Williams but he occupied his guy and held his ground. Tough kid. Under appreciated. Iffy and Williams battled with some really good WRs, won some battles and lost some. Looked like Iffy was asked to cover that big TE a few times. Tough assignment. And oh yeah, Hanna is a tough SOB that plays his heart out every game.

Thought ND had a few terrific players. Even though 88 likes to push off a lot, he has a lot of talent. Book is as good as any QB in college football. So smart, so accurate, so athletic. If we have Book on Syracuse, we win this game. I really believe that. That #6 on defense made big plays all game long. He will also play on Sundays.

I hope Mike Tirico is making a ton of money to give up his journalistic integrity and become a fanboy for ND football. It has to be tough for him to confirm all the bad calls that went ND’s way as good calls. What does it say about the intelligence level of ND football fans if they insist on listening to announcers who step over each other fawning over how great Norte Dame’s players and coaches are? Ugh. I grew up and continue to listen to home team announcers for NYC teams, who always take pains to be objective and calls games honestly. I would hate to have to listen to ignorant blowhards making crap up about my team all the time. How unfortunate.

That said, I thought Dungy made a lot of good observations and he, and only he, made an objective call. I was fascinated with the broadcast for a number of reasons besides seeing Tirico reduced to a slobbering sycophant. I thought that Collinsworth kid that was such a major disaster when he was somehow given a job at the ACCN was back washing dad’s car but no, he has actually been hired to constantly make idiotic comments about ND that are meant to be positive. Ugh.

They must have a big budget. They had a ton of cameras in use during the game. Had way more repeat angles available than I am used to. They even had one of those cameras mounted on two wires, that could produce overhead shots from virtually anywhere (largely if not completely wasted).

But they insisted on using an angle from way up near the top of the stadium for their base shot, with the camera pulled back so you could see a ton of field with no players and the players were thus about half as big as normal.

They also did things like let a shot of a player walking off the field stick as the live shot until after the ball for the next play had been snapped. It was like the director was watching another game and got distracted regularly. Weird. The ND production team is not very good.

This was a most unusual team. They seemed to be at their best when challenged against excellent teams and the worse their opponent, the worse they played. It is a shame because when they played well, they were capable of beating a lot of the teams on the schedule. In the end, the lack of a capable QB for most of the season was a crushing blow, and probably cost the team 3 or 4 victories. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Sigh.

When I watched ND play Clemson, I thought they had a good chance to beat them in the ACC championship game. Not so sure now. I think Syracuse exposed some weaknesses that Clemson is going to be all over in their rematch. I think to beat Clemson, you need to have a good pass rush. Didn’t see that today. You have to be able to run the ball well. Didn’t see that today.

If Clemson has their starters back on defense, they will win the rematch by 20. Maybe 25. If their defense is still messed up, ND has a fighters chance, but they are going to need to outscore the Tigers. Look forward to watching it. Who knows, those two teams might end up playing a third time a few weeks later for the NC. Stranger things have happened.
One really bad non-call was on Book's second TD run. On a blitz, their RB, who is a pretty good blocker, hooked and held our rusher just as he was about to grab the QB.
 
Tirico is the one of the best play by play guys in the biz. The NBC production is weird because it’s essentially a local broadcast that is carried by a national network. I’m sure if opposing fans had to listen to Park and Terry they’d be upset as well.

Dungey, however, is awful. The next insightful things he says will be his first.

I love Tirico. That one comment just bugged me. But I'm also a baby.

Dungey is hard yet soft on the ears.

I listened to Park and Terry for the first half last week. I like Terry, but it was getting frustrating hearing him keep talking when the ref was announcing results of the replay.
 
Gotta be quick because of the basketball game.

So proud of this team. They could have given up so many times during the season but did not. They might not have been the most talented or experienced team in the country but they showed me they had as much heart as anyone out there.

Thought Gilbert did a nice job with the game plan against what is probably the finest defense in college football. Those short passes were surprisingly effective and reminded me of how the Syracuse offense was in the first couple of years under Dino, when Sean Lewis was still here.

Was pleasantly surprised as how well we were able to run the ball. Tucker was brilliant at times today. Such a nice blend of size, speed and agility. He really struggles pass blocking and at this point, does not look comfortable catching passes but he will get better in these areas. You gotta like what Lutz can do as well. He looks way more comfortable catching the ball and with Hough arriving this spring, I wonder if we see him go back to the slot? Gotta find a way to get more playmakers on the field, and Lutz is most definitely a playmaker.

Thought the OL had their best game of the year. They opened some holes for the run game and usually gave Rex ample time to get throws off. Good to see, wish we saw this kind of play earlier in the season, when it would have meant more wins. That late bye game Servais a chance to heal up and he was much better after that.

Thought Rex played welll in a lot of ways. His throws were accurate most of the time, he seemed to get more zip on them than normal and he made a lot of good decisions. Clark Lea tightened up coverage on the WRs and started blitzing late in the first half, and that bothered Rex quite a bit, but I thought he showed poise in the pocket and toughness too. It is a shame he lost those two fumbles. More on that later.

Thought Taj played like a senior leader again. I am not sure Sterlin knew what he had for much of the year...really didn’t feature Taj on offense until pretty late in the year, but better late than never. Props to him...if he doesn’t come back, he went out like a champ.

Thought Queeley made a couple excellent catches. That TD was a thing of beauty. He has distanced himself from the other WRs as the next featured guy. Excited for his future. Nykeim had a quiet game (we had no KO or punt returns, which is really weird). Hope he decides to come back.

Aaron had that nice reception and got popped and lost the ball. He again did not look close to 100%, I am sure he is playing hurt for the good of the team and feel bad for him. Hope he comes back to have a proper senior season. That offensive pass interference call against him might have been the worst call of the season. On the topic of bad calls, why do we always get the short end of the stick on these? The fumble they called on Rex has been reversed 95% of the time in games I have watched. Was shocked when it was not. And what was going on with the roughing the passer call on Kingsley Jonathan where he hit the top of Book’s helmet (not grab his face mask as the ND announcers claimed)? Or the other roughing the passer call where Book was pushed just after he released a pass? Or the blatant offensive PI on 88 when he pushed Iffy, who had position, to the ground so he could make a catch. When that play was replayed, the ND director was careful to start the replay just after the push off. How was that play NOT reviewed? Why can other teams hit our QB late and hard and we can’t even touch opposing QBs?

This would have been an entertaining and close game if not for these incompetent refs blowing all these calls. Those calls directly lead to like 18 points for ND. What a disappointment.

Thought the defense did a fine job. ND was unable to run the ball effectively for almost the whole game. Book struggled to find open receivers and the only reliable play for ND was Book running out of the pocket and either throwing on the run or running for his life. Team effort all the way. Carter was again very good. Wax is getting better. Black was a man out there. Jones was a force stopping the run, as was Thompson. No one ever notices Williams but he occupied his guy and held his ground. Tough kid. Under appreciated. Iffy and Williams battled with some really good WRs, won some battles and lost some. Looked like Iffy was asked to cover that big TE a few times. Tough assignment. And oh yeah, Hanna is a tough SOB that plays his heart out every game.

Thought ND had a few terrific players. Even though 88 likes to push off a lot, he has a lot of talent. Book is as good as any QB in college football. So smart, so accurate, so athletic. If we have Book on Syracuse, we win this game. I really believe that. That #6 on defense made big plays all game long. He will also play on Sundays.

I hope Mike Tirico is making a ton of money to give up his journalistic integrity and become a fanboy for ND football. It has to be tough for him to confirm all the bad calls that went ND’s way as good calls. What does it say about the intelligence level of ND football fans if they insist on listening to announcers who step over each other fawning over how great Norte Dame’s players and coaches are? Ugh. I grew up and continue to listen to home team announcers for NYC teams, who always take pains to be objective and calls games honestly. I would hate to have to listen to ignorant blowhards making crap up about my team all the time. How unfortunate.

That said, I thought Dungy made a lot of good observations and he, and only he, made an objective call. I was fascinated with the broadcast for a number of reasons besides seeing Tirico reduced to a slobbering sycophant. I thought that Collinsworth kid that was such a major disaster when he was somehow given a job at the ACCN was back washing dad’s car but no, he has actually been hired to constantly make idiotic comments about ND that are meant to be positive. Ugh.

They must have a big budget. They had a ton of cameras in use during the game. Had way more repeat angles available than I am used to. They even had one of those cameras mounted on two wires, that could produce overhead shots from virtually anywhere (largely if not completely wasted).

But they insisted on using an angle from way up near the top of the stadium for their base shot, with the camera pulled back so you could see a ton of field with no players and the players were thus about half as big as normal.

They also did things like let a shot of a player walking off the field stick as the live shot until after the ball for the next play had been snapped. It was like the director was watching another game and got distracted regularly. Weird. The ND production team is not very good.

This was a most unusual team. They seemed to be at their best when challenged against excellent teams and the worse their opponent, the worse they played. It is a shame because when they played well, they were capable of beating a lot of the teams on the schedule. In the end, the lack of a capable QB for most of the season was a crushing blow, and probably cost the team 3 or 4 victories. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Sigh.

When I watched ND play Clemson, I thought they had a good chance to beat them in the ACC championship game. Not so sure now. I think Syracuse exposed some weaknesses that Clemson is going to be all over in their rematch. I think to beat Clemson, you need to have a good pass rush. Didn’t see that today. You have to be able to run the ball well. Didn’t see that today.

If Clemson has their starters back on defense, they will win the rematch by 20. Maybe 25. If their defense is still messed up, ND has a fighters chance, but they are going to need to outscore the Tigers. Look forward to watching it. Who knows, those two teams might end up playing a third time a few weeks later for the NC. Stranger things have happened.
Again you are right on the $$$ thanks for another great analysis.
 
I love Tirico. That one comment just bugged me. But I'm also a baby.

Dungey is hard yet soft on the ears.

I listened to Park and Terry for the first half last week. I like Terry, but it was getting frustrating hearing him keep talking when the ref was announcing results of the replay.
I listen to our radio crew a lot, since I always tend to do yard work on Saturday’s, and it corresponds with our season collapsing in October and November. Terry’s alright. Park... meh.
 
Thank you Tomcat. You're a Syracuse homer, but there's nothing wrong with that. Love to read your takes.
 
My least favorite Tirico comment was on the replay of the Lutz long TD run, he had to make note that ND had their backups in.

I mean, our entire ****ing season has been played with backups, but god forbid we have a good play against the NOTRE DAME backups who probably could play football for any school in the country.

Then Dungey starts talking about Lutz like a he's a special needs kid.
Kinda like how according to Richt the reason why we had a lead against NC State is because NC State kept screwing up, and not because we could possibly have done anything well.
 
I do not understand how we are always consistently on the short end of the stick on the ref calls in these ACC games. I turned he tube off after the roughing the passer against Kingsley because I said to myself, they are not going to let us win today (even if we could which we didn't). Meanwhile our D was held blatently on pretty much every ND offensive play and not one call. Some of them were so unbelievably bad I was doing face palms. How is this possible year after year ?

We are terrible but I am convinced that we are getting screwed by the ACC refs in both FB and BB. I feel like we just take it and don't make enough noise from the AD down. Make a greatest hits tape and go see Swofford over an over an over. The squeeky wheel gets the grease.


I don't think we're terrible.

I understand that our record says that that's the case, but I like this team and I am optimistic about the future.
 
Gotta be quick because of the basketball game.

So proud of this team. They could have given up so many times during the season but did not. They might not have been the most talented or experienced team in the country but they showed me they had as much heart as anyone out there.

Thought Gilbert did a nice job with the game plan against what is probably the finest defense in college football. Those short passes were surprisingly effective and reminded me of how the Syracuse offense was in the first couple of years under Dino, when Sean Lewis was still here.

Was pleasantly surprised as how well we were able to run the ball. Tucker was brilliant at times today. Such a nice blend of size, speed and agility. He really struggles pass blocking and at this point, does not look comfortable catching passes but he will get better in these areas. You gotta like what Lutz can do as well. He looks way more comfortable catching the ball and with Hough arriving this spring, I wonder if we see him go back to the slot? Gotta find a way to get more playmakers on the field, and Lutz is most definitely a playmaker.

Thought the OL had their best game of the year. They opened some holes for the run game and usually gave Rex ample time to get throws off. Good to see, wish we saw this kind of play earlier in the season, when it would have meant more wins. That late bye game Servais a chance to heal up and he was much better after that.

Thought Rex played welll in a lot of ways. His throws were accurate most of the time, he seemed to get more zip on them than normal and he made a lot of good decisions. Clark Lea tightened up coverage on the WRs and started blitzing late in the first half, and that bothered Rex quite a bit, but I thought he showed poise in the pocket and toughness too. It is a shame he lost those two fumbles. More on that later.

Thought Taj played like a senior leader again. I am not sure Sterlin knew what he had for much of the year...really didn’t feature Taj on offense until pretty late in the year, but better late than never. Props to him...if he doesn’t come back, he went out like a champ.

Thought Queeley made a couple excellent catches. That TD was a thing of beauty. He has distanced himself from the other WRs as the next featured guy. Excited for his future. Nykeim had a quiet game (we had no KO or punt returns, which is really weird). Hope he decides to come back.

Aaron had that nice reception and got popped and lost the ball. He again did not look close to 100%, I am sure he is playing hurt for the good of the team and feel bad for him. Hope he comes back to have a proper senior season. That offensive pass interference call against him might have been the worst call of the season. On the topic of bad calls, why do we always get the short end of the stick on these? The fumble they called on Rex has been reversed 95% of the time in games I have watched. Was shocked when it was not. And what was going on with the roughing the passer call on Kingsley Jonathan where he hit the top of Book’s helmet (not grab his face mask as the ND announcers claimed)? Or the other roughing the passer call where Book was pushed just after he released a pass? Or the blatant offensive PI on 88 when he pushed Iffy, who had position, to the ground so he could make a catch. When that play was replayed, the ND director was careful to start the replay just after the push off. How was that play NOT reviewed? Why can other teams hit our QB late and hard and we can’t even touch opposing QBs?

This would have been an entertaining and close game if not for these incompetent refs blowing all these calls. Those calls directly lead to like 18 points for ND. What a disappointment.

Thought the defense did a fine job. ND was unable to run the ball effectively for almost the whole game. Book struggled to find open receivers and the only reliable play for ND was Book running out of the pocket and either throwing on the run or running for his life. Team effort all the way. Carter was again very good. Wax is getting better. Black was a man out there. Jones was a force stopping the run, as was Thompson. No one ever notices Williams but he occupied his guy and held his ground. Tough kid. Under appreciated. Iffy and Williams battled with some really good WRs, won some battles and lost some. Looked like Iffy was asked to cover that big TE a few times. Tough assignment. And oh yeah, Hanna is a tough SOB that plays his heart out every game.

Thought ND had a few terrific players. Even though 88 likes to push off a lot, he has a lot of talent. Book is as good as any QB in college football. So smart, so accurate, so athletic. If we have Book on Syracuse, we win this game. I really believe that. That #6 on defense made big plays all game long. He will also play on Sundays.

I hope Mike Tirico is making a ton of money to give up his journalistic integrity and become a fanboy for ND football. It has to be tough for him to confirm all the bad calls that went ND’s way as good calls. What does it say about the intelligence level of ND football fans if they insist on listening to announcers who step over each other fawning over how great Norte Dame’s players and coaches are? Ugh. I grew up and continue to listen to home team announcers for NYC teams, who always take pains to be objective and calls games honestly. I would hate to have to listen to ignorant blowhards making crap up about my team all the time. How unfortunate.

That said, I thought Dungy made a lot of good observations and he, and only he, made an objective call. I was fascinated with the broadcast for a number of reasons besides seeing Tirico reduced to a slobbering sycophant. I thought that Collinsworth kid that was such a major disaster when he was somehow given a job at the ACCN was back washing dad’s car but no, he has actually been hired to constantly make idiotic comments about ND that are meant to be positive. Ugh.

They must have a big budget. They had a ton of cameras in use during the game. Had way more repeat angles available than I am used to. They even had one of those cameras mounted on two wires, that could produce overhead shots from virtually anywhere (largely if not completely wasted).

But they insisted on using an angle from way up near the top of the stadium for their base shot, with the camera pulled back so you could see a ton of field with no players and the players were thus about half as big as normal.

They also did things like let a shot of a player walking off the field stick as the live shot until after the ball for the next play had been snapped. It was like the director was watching another game and got distracted regularly. Weird. The ND production team is not very good.

This was a most unusual team. They seemed to be at their best when challenged against excellent teams and the worse their opponent, the worse they played. It is a shame because when they played well, they were capable of beating a lot of the teams on the schedule. In the end, the lack of a capable QB for most of the season was a crushing blow, and probably cost the team 3 or 4 victories. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Sigh.

When I watched ND play Clemson, I thought they had a good chance to beat them in the ACC championship game. Not so sure now. I think Syracuse exposed some weaknesses that Clemson is going to be all over in their rematch. I think to beat Clemson, you need to have a good pass rush. Didn’t see that today. You have to be able to run the ball well. Didn’t see that today.

If Clemson has their starters back on defense, they will win the rematch by 20. Maybe 25. If their defense is still messed up, ND has a fighters chance, but they are going to need to outscore the Tigers. Look forward to watching it. Who knows, those two teams might end up playing a third time a few weeks later for the NC. Stranger things have happened.


The no-call that really bothered me was the obvious push-off by ND No. 88 that allowed him to make the catch and score.

I didn't think that was even close - as blatant an OPI as I have seen in a long time.

I too am very proud of this team.

The Orange played hard, hit really hard and never quit.

Obviously, you can't make mistakes against the No. 2 team in the country.

With the young talent on this team, I am optimistic about the future.

Gotta bring in an athletic, dual purpose QB!
 
The first fumble that was reviewed and not overturned was complete garbage. That Tirico agreed with the call made me sick, 5 mil or not. The ACC was not going to let their golden goose get into a close one with their 1-9 team.

I’m proud of how we played and honestly feel hope for next year.
 
The no-call that really bothered me was the obvious push-off by ND No. 88 that allowed him to make the catch and score.

I didn't think that was even close - as blatant an OPI as I have seen in a long time.

I too am very proud of this team.

The Orange played hard, hit really hard and never quit.

Obviously, you can't make mistakes against the No. 2 team in the country.

With the young talent on this team, I am optimistic about the future.

Gotta bring in an athletic, dual purpose QB!
Agree 100% if that was us that made that play we would have been called for offensive interference.
 
Couldn’t agree more with your Collinsworth Jr. evaluation.

He’s awful. And NBC picking him up after his craptastic ACCN tenure reeks of nepotism.
That's what happened to him? I couldn't figure out where he disappeared off to.
 
Only watched the first half, gave us Marvin Harrison in a gold jacket, lots of HOF Cuse players, Tirico kinda backing up us missing 27? players this season to this point. Seems like things may have gone downhill from that.
 
Only watched the first half, gave us Marvin Harrison in a gold jacket, lots of HOF Cuse players, Tirico kinda backing up us missing 27? players this season to this point. Seems like things may have gone downhill from that.
Tirico gave us lots of props.
 

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