Indeed there was, and I watched it yesterday. Strange--this was the 3rd game in a row I watched on tape having known the end result. And for this one, I had actually seen the game live. So I found myself focusing on different things than I usually do while watching it fresh, to wit:
Our starting defensive line is all Seniors. It’s not very good. That doesn’t bode well for the younger players that can’t crack first string...I think John Carlson can be an All-American tight end...Munir Prince looks very fast; hopefully he can work in some more carries over the rest of the season...NBC is still really bad with the “down and yards to go” and play clock graphics displays—it shouldn’t be that hard to get right...Media Timeouts go by really quickly with a fast forward button...Our first drive was the longest in yards (91), time (7:10) and plays (19) of the season so far...After Geoff Price’s first short punt, cameras isolated him on the sideline while going to commercial—he’s got a real potty mouth...
Trivia question: Against Stanford, Rhema McKnight passed the previous Irish #2 and #3 career receptions leaders to take over sole possession of #2. Who did he pass? Who’s #1? I got #1 wrong (guessed the guy who was #3). Tom and Pat said who #2 was when McKnight passed him, so I didn’t get to guess him.
Godfather: Based on my watching the game, here are the answers to some of the questions we asked each other while watching the game together:
1. Yes, we fumbled the opening kickoff. That’s what took so long to get all the way to the 9 yard line.
2. The Stanford “interception for a touchdown” was correctly called an incomplete pass. While the angle Tom and Pat had made them think it was an intercept, Pat picked up pretty quickly that even if it was an INT, the guy was down and it wouldn’t have been a TD.
3. The facemask personal foul call on Samardzija in the first drive was a good call.
4. The late hit on Brady in the 3d quarter could have gone either way. Out of bounds, but close, not flagrant at all.
5. Carlson’s catch on the last TD was indeed a thing of beauty.
Quote of the game from Pat Haden: “Darius Walker is like a run on sentence. He just kinda keeps going and going and going.” On the next play, DW ran for his 32 yard touchdown.
Speaking of that run, GREAT Blimp-cam coverage on it. Great campus shots too. Even though it looks a lot different than our day, it’s still a magnificently beautiful sight.
And speaking of campus, I think the University needs to come up with an improvement plan for Juniper Road now that they’ve closed it through campus. Right now it looks like a deserted alley in some respects. Between the nice new entrance at ND and Angela, and the brick work they did in the ground in front of the Dome, I’m sure there are some plans on the drawing board for this. As I said to several of you, I didn’t feel like I was on campus until Friday after I registered and actually crossed Angela on to the campus I remember. Juniper was the border, except for the ACC (still can’t call it “the JACC”) and the practice field behind it (Stepan Field? Alumni Field? Can’t remember). Juniper is now “inside the fence” but it doesn’t llook like it belongs there. It looks like Pennsylvania Avenue after Clinton closed it between 15th and 17th in downtown DC. Are we protecting the stadium from terrorists? I don’t think so. Let’s spruce it up, make it look like a nice promenade, if you will. Just don’t put a Starbucks there, please! Rant over.
Bottom line on this game: we played OK against a greatly overmatched team. Their top three receivers were two walk-ons and a freshman. Their defensive line is a bunch of second stringers. They were last in Divisino 1A (119th) in run defense, 117th in total defense and points allowed. On the positive side, no turnovers for second game in a row. Seven different receivers with catches. DW continues to click along.
Unfortunately very little Alumni Band coverage. When NBC came on air there was a good shot of all of us on the field during pre-game. No sound, though. They mentioned Band Alumni weekend once, very near end of game. NO shots of alumni band playing on the sidelines. Showed us milling in to place after current band marched in to tunnel after game. More focus on the KofC pipe and drum band playing around campus than us. Can't find any halftime links on nbcsports.com. And in the ultimate NBC shill, they came back from a commercial focused on our "glocks" who played the N-B-C notes for the camera. Somehow, I don't see Rosie or Nina caving to corporate pressure (at least not for free!). As I said in my last blog, I think University could have gotten some good mileage out of the event with NBC, but, oh well.
So on to the Bruins. Heard today that their starting QB will most likely not play Saturday against the Ducks due to a knee sprain or some such injury. We shall see. Depending on what happens to UCLA Saturday, I predict we’ll be 7 ½ - 8 ½ point favorites. We should cover.
Please feel free to blog away during the bye week. I’ll blog more later on my impressions of the weekend, including my nominees for the percussion section Dorian and Dora Gray awards. You won’t want to miss that, I’m sure!
Apologies for the length of this one. Nancy, please don't ban me!
GO IRISH!! BEAT BRUINS!!
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Don -- re Juniper Road; apparently there will be some more dormitories built to the east of Flanner and Grace. After dinner Saturday evening I walked back toward White Field with one of the Alumni Drum Majors (neglected to ask her name) who now works in the Alumni Office. She told me there are plans in the works to add more student housing there, so Juniper will be disappearing. It is rather peculiar to see the campus sprawl, isn't it? But I guess it's a sign of a healthy school that can expand and maintain its facilities.
Another alum, Dave Wurzer, was reminiscing about how the campus was in a sad state of deterioration when we were students. We talked about the Engineering theater, the classrooms in the Main Building and Niewland Hall as prime examples of 'genteel decline' from lack of maintenance over the years. I believe the University has seen the light and does invest in ongoing maintenance to prevent such blight from happening again.
I think we have all weathered the years extremely well, don't you?
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