Final thoughts on ND

I thought ND held quite a bit and it was never called -- particularly on those stretch runs to the left to Hughes. And unlike you, I was certain the Matthews catch would be overruled and called a TD. It seemed pretty clear to me that he had possession and was in bounds.

That whole game was gross from start to finish. Words can't express how much I hate that NBC Notre Dame coverage team and the "aura" they try to create. Why does NBC hire such milquetoasts to do their broadcasts?

I had the game on mute while I watched it. It was surreal watching Charlie Weis go down that way with no sound to give it meaning or drama or clarity. To me it was not in the least bit funny. Just disturbing.

can see when you watch a game over and really analyze every play. In real time everything goes so quick and you really don't notice a lot of things going on in the play. But, when you replay the game and stop, rewind, pause, rewind etc. you can see everything from blocking schemes to route patterns.

 Nice post, agree on all bullet points except for the Sheridan INTs.

     - First INT: I believe he threw this ball to soon and too high, Butler never had a chance.

     - Second INT: Babb might have faded a little to the sidelines but you can't lobb the ball into triple coverage.

Appreciate the effort and research that goes into this kind of post. Well done.

As far as the officiating... Some of you may remember me freaking out about that bad calls in the Aztec-Irish game, and hoping it wasn't the same against us. I too saw quite a bit of home cookin' in that game, most of which was referenced above. Yes, refs are people too and people make mistakes, but weren't the gifts we gave ND enough? As Charlie looks back on the game film, I'm sure he's realizing how little his team actually did to win that game.

if you had a video description. I'll forever subscribe to your posts and urge you to start a blog.

Right or wrong, the ability to see why a play worked / didn't work / almost worked is what makes people flock MGoBlog. Continue posting.

Sure, there were a few key calls that went against Michigan, BUT certainly not enough that it was the deciding factor for the outcome of the game. There's holding in every game. I don't recall ND holding that much, and I was focusing on that pretty keenly when it became apparent we weren't geeting to their QB. And the players and coaching staff didn't complain about holding at all, either during or after the game. If it was egregious and happening repeatedly, you would've heard about it from our guys.
On Tate's 48-yard TD bomb, don't blame that play on holding, blame our FOUR(!) DBs for not being able to cover one fucking guy! That just makes you sound like a whiner, and I don't think you are.
Having said that, I got the feeling the Big East refs were going to make sure the home team stayed in the game and any close call went their way. The same thing probably occurs in our place, too.
What I don NOT believe for one second, however, is that the Irish "shut down" their offense. Michigan was insided their 10-yard line twice and turned the ball over. Michigan was poised to cut the lead to 4 pretty early in the 2nd half. The weather was clearly contributing to fumbles, and that means points can get scored in a hurry. And they're saying that under those circumstance they stopped trying to score? I call bullshit.

and an 18-point, lead the Irish DID try to score on a play-action pass into the end-zone on 4th down.

COCKSUCKERS.

ND was clearly trying to run up the score, but the pass got broken up and intercepted.

In the last 2 blow-out wins by Michigan, our offense did not score a SINGLE POINT in either 4th qtr! That's right, M beat the living shit out of ND quickly, then completely shut down the offense in the 4th quarter.
But Weis? Fakes the run on a play-action pass into the end zone, up 18 with 2 minutes left on 4th down.

What a FUCKING DICK.

I can't believe none of the people on ESPN were talking about that. I'll bet that probably pissed off the M staff, though.

This was a very good post. I always like it when people that have played post so i can see if my reactions are right or wrong.

One question: I have heard that S. Brown did not have deep responsibility for the deep ND TD pass and this was corner error. This cannot possibly be right, can it? Brown was the deep safety on a one (or was it 2?) man route...he let the WR go. That can't have been the correct play, right? I thought this was obviously bad coverage by Brown but people are telling me I'm wrong...not to totally exonerate the corner (Trent, I think) but didn't he have safety help coming?

No, if you look at where Brown was positioned at the snap he clearly did not have deep responsibility. He was covering the underneath routes and also spying inside to potentially provide run support on what looked to be a running play.
Trent needed to stay on top, and I have no idea what Harrison was doing.
Brown sucks, but you can't blame him on this play, other than if he was a better QB of the defense, like FS ideally should be, he'd have been yelling at Trent to stay high and make sure he wasn't susceptable to the deep ball.

.. for this.
As much as I would have liked for that Matthews TD to stand, it was going to remain as called on the field.
I know you can call holding on every play, but drexel is right there were some egregious non-calls. That's not why UM lost, by any means, but it's still a fact.
Anyway, we all saw the game, and we all know a better team will play next game.

there were several running plays where i was surprised we didnt get flagged for holding. they were really letting that go all day.

the refs really were atrocious. but that's only part of the story of the game

It could have been much worse; the officials weren't from the Sun Belt conference.

I'd probably be more upset about the officiating if we hadn't turned the ball over six times.

Great post - really interesting to read.