Dazed and Confused

The IRISH lost another close one on Saturday night, falling to Michigan State 34-31 in OT. This is the second straight last second loss for Notre Dame who fell to 1-2 on the season. And worst of all, it occurred on a fake field goal.



HEISMAN BABY

DAYNE CRIST - 32 of 55 for 369 yds - 4 TDs - 1 INT - Crist again proved his value to the Irish offense putting the Irish up with 13 minutes to play in the game. Stats aside, Crist failed to the lead the Irish to a victory.

THEO RIDDICK - 10 receptions for 128 yds - TD - Riddick played his way off the GET HIM OUTTA THERE list with a dramatic performance. Hopefully this version of Riddick is here to stay.

MICHAEL FLOYD - 6 receptions for 81 yds - 2 TD - 2 fumbles - Floyd was Heismanesque at times dominating Spartan defensive backs in the redzone. But then, Floyd plays like he could care less, providing two costly turnovers.


ROCK SOLID

ARMANDO ALLEN JR - 140 total yards - Allen continued his stellar statistical season both on the ground and through the air.

KYLE RUDOLPH - 8 receptions for 80 yds - TD - Rudolph continued to be a dependable target for Crist in the Irish spread.


GET HIM OUTTA THERE

ZEKE MOTTA - The first year starter at safety for the Irish D was picked on all day. Motta's blown coverage on the final score for Michigan State evened the score at 28 with seven minutes to play.

MANTI TE'O - The stud middle linebacker at the heart of the defense came up with a few crucial missed tackles, including one on a 56 yard touchdown scamper.

IRISH D - The defense gave up 477 yards to the Spartan offense while on field almost 60% of the game. And how can I forget, the blown coverage on the fake field goal to win the game!


WAIT, WHAT?

A fake field goal? Are you serious? How do you play to protect against the touchdown! Out of all possible scenarios, the only one that results in an Irish loss occurred. You cannot let that happen!


-DH

From the Depths

The IRISH suffered their first defeat in the Brian Kelly era, losing 28-24 to Michigan in the final minute of play. While the loss was certainly heartbreaking, there were a lot of notes to take away from this game. Regardless, the Irish must put the loss behind them and move forward. Now for the awards:


HEISMAN BABY

DAYNE CRIST - 13 of 25 for 277 - 2TDs, INT, Rushing TD - Forget the numbers, Crist proved why he is the most valuable player on the team. Crist reentered the game in the second half and brought the Irish back from the depths of a blowout. As Crist goes, so will the Irish.

KYLE RUDOLPH - 8 receptions for 164 yds - TD - The go-to guy for the Irish offense was solid again. The 95 yard TD catch gave the Irish the lead with just over three minutes to play - and was simply sweet.

TJ JONES - 3 receptions for 73 yds - TD - Jones continues to impress in only his second start for the Irish - although he must learn to cross the goal line first before celebrating.


ROCK SOLID

ARMANDO ALLEN JR - 15 carries for 89 yds - 1 reception for 9 yds - Allen quietly amassed almost 100 yds of offense. Allen's highlight came on a busted play that he turned into a 5 yard gain and plowed over a Michigan defender in the process.

MANTI TE'0 - 13 tackles - Te'o's job of shadowing Michigan speedster Denard Robinson was no easy task. Outside of the 73 yard TD run, the defense, led by Te'0, held Michigan in check.


GET HIM OUTTA THERE

TOMMY REES - 0 for 2 with INT - While Rees was cast into the spotlight with little notice, one would have hoped the back-up QB would be more ready.

NATE MONTANA - 8 of 17 for 104 yds - INT - Similar to Rees, Montana floundered when given the opportunity to lead the Irish. While he was effective with his feet - 4 rushes for 24 yards - it wasn't enough to move the Irish offense.

THEO RIDDICK - 2 receptions for 39 yds - Riddick was again ineffective in the Irish offense. I think it's time to give someone else a shot.


WAIT WHAT?
This game had it all - big plays and big stops, touchdowns and turnovers, highlights and lowlights, missed field goals, and punts galore. The Irish had plenty of opportunities to win this game, and were winning with 3 minutes to play having rallied from a 21-7 deficit. That's a positive step all things considered.


-DH

10 observations from ND-Michigan game

A few nuggets....

1. Denard Robinson is pretty good. In almost all of Michigan's games this year, they will be equipped with the fastest man on the field. The issue going down the road as Heisman talk begins to surface is how will "Shoelace" hold up? Anytime you run a qb almost 30 times in a game, it's going to take its toll. With that said, the kid's a stud and he's got my week 2 Heisman vote - it's just unfortunate ND will be a significant part of a Heisman candidate reel...again.

2. When we kicked off to Michigan after Rudolph's 95-yard TD (which was silly on all fronts) to go up by 3, did anyone else get the "here we go again" feeling? The image of a shifty young Michigan QB leading his team late in the game over the Irish kept flashing in my head non-stop. I couldn't shake it, and neither could our D.

3. The only way BK goes for the TD at the end of the 1st half (leaving the precious 3 points on the field) is if he knows we are stuck with Nate Montana at Q the rest of the game. With the comeback kid's son lacking some of his hall of fame pop's better qualities, Kelly knew there was no way we could settle for FG's from the 2-yard line. He had to be thinking as he made that decision, how often would we be back to that spot? In hindsight: That was Montana's last pass, Crist came back, lost by 4, should've kicked it.

4. What is wrong with ND's turf? I understand the grass was probably slick due to the precipitation, but there were way too many plays when our guys just flat-out slipped. I thought the D put themselves in a lot of good positions to contain Robinson (forming layers, as Kelly put it), but when you can only defend him with 10 players because one guy can't keep his feet, that's inexcusable and led to many big plays.

5. Kelly's quote at the half was very telling, where he basically said that there is not much coaching that can occur during a game. Referring to Nate Montana, Kelly said the coach was putting the Q in good positions but he had to execute. Most of the coaching is done after the fact, Kelly said, "and that's not a good thing." Looking back, you'd hope Kelly would give the backups some more reps in practice.

6. I actually thought the defense looked decent again. Robinson accounted for all but 30 of Michigan's yards on offense. From a big picture perspective, ND did a terrible job containing him. But what they did well (given they were on the field for 35 of the 60 game minutes!) was manage the situations they were given. The offense threw 3 picks, putting the D in some bad spots. The defense had Michigan shut out in the 2nd half until that terrible closing drive. Yes they have a long way to go (no sacks or turnovers), but if we are looking for progress I'll take 28 points to Denard Robinson over 38 points to Tate Forcier any day.

7. When you know you have one play left at the end of the half (Montana) or game (Crist), how do you throw it out of the end zone?

8. How sick was our first drive? We scored three touchdowns that possession, but in the end only Crist's sneak was counted. If Dayne was healthy the entire game, we win. No question. Not only did he spark the offense but the defense. The only points the D gave up with Crist in the game was Robinson's winning TD. And on offense, with Crist in the game, the drives went as follows: TD, TD, FG, INT, TD, End of game (3 plays for over 40 yards in 20 seconds). Crist was the difference making QB in that game - not Robinson.

9. My first time seeing the NBC game with Mike Mayock doing the analysis. I like him, although I got really uncomfortable before the game when Tom Hammond was literally 2 inches from Mayock's face listening to his keys for the game. I'm not joking.

10. Finally, I am going to wait a few games (maybe the entire season) to give final judgment over this team, the players, or the coaches. As Kelly has said, they don't have an identity yet and it's clear. You read all the message boards and people want to jump off the tallest building. You'll see such quotes as "I'm sick of losing!!" or "Same old team" but this is all so premature. Listen, ND was 4 point favorites (less homefield advantage, it essentially a toss up). Even the general consensus I got before the game was "I think we'll win, but wouldn't be surprised if we lost." I hate losing more than anyone, but what I want from this point on is simple: Progress.

-- rabes

Start of a New Era

The Irish opened up their season with a solid 23-12 victory over Purdue on Saturday, starting off the Brian Kelly era on a positive note. At times, the Irish offense looked polished and perfect, while at other times, hesitant and shaky. However, the Irish defense was aggressive and dominant from start to finish. Nonetheless, it's time for the first awards of the season:


HEISMAN BABY

ARMANDO ALLEN - 18 carries for 93 yds - TD - Allen looked comfortable, and dependable, in the new spread offense. His 22 yard TD run has to be one of the longest TD runs ND fans have seen in a while.

DAYNE CRIST - 19 of 26 for 205 yds - TD - Crist looked comfortable in his first game as the leader of the Irish offense. While the play calling was passive, Crist was still very efficient. He looked calm in the pocket - escaped when necessary. One area of improvement is his accuracy of the deep ball.

TJ JONES - 3 catches for 41 yds - TD - The freshman provided a breath of fresh air solidifying his role as the counterpart to Floyd.


ROCK SOLID

MANTI TE'0 - Tied for game high tackles with 9, T'eo led the stout Irish defense in a dominating performance. The man-child warrior is going to be a dominating force this season.

KYLE RUDOLPH - The stud TE is the sure thing in go-to situations. While Rudolph only had 5 receptions for 43 yards, almost all accounted for first downs, and came on 3rd down.

DARRIN WALLS & GARY GRAY - The starting corner back were all over the field delivering big hits, sure tackles, pass break ups - especially on the deep ball - and two interceptions!

CIERRE WOOD - 7 carries for 58 yds - Wood proved he can live up to the hype. His shiftiness and speed is the perfect counter attack to Allen. Wood amassed almost all his yards on the first Irish scoring drive.


GET HIM OUTTA THERE

THEO RIDDICK - The dropped pass on 3rd down in the midst of a TD drive really hurt his stock. Not to mention, after that, the ball was not thrown his way - go figure.

BRIAN SMITH - Assignment, assignment, assignment! I hold Smith personally responsible for the TD run by Marve.

MICHAEL FLOYD - Hold on to the football son! That TD would have put the game away and sent Purdue fans filing out of the stadium.


WAIT WHAT?

CARLO CALABRESE - The sophomore linebacker tied for game high tackles with 9 in his first career start.


-DH