Morning Open Thread: Notre Dame vs Navy

Submitted by Zone Left on

Let's count the ways this doesn't make sense.

  1. 9am EST kickoff. By the time the West Coast rolls out of bed, the game will be over.
  2. No five star tailbacks in Ireland.
  3. Jetlag and other distraction slows preparation for Week 2.
  4. Seriously Navy, you're an American service academy playing a game in Ireland?
  5. The jerseys.

Edit: The jerseys are not being worn today, but they still suck.

mgobleu

September 1st, 2012 at 8:09 AM ^

Funny, I was there in december; the only american fb reference I saw was a kid in dublin with a USC hoodie on, and a guy in Killarney that recognized my M beanie and said, "ahh, I know that M. The Wooooolverrrrrrrrrines, innit?"
Yet nary a single piece of ND paraphernalia.

TrppWlbrnID

September 1st, 2012 at 8:18 AM ^

Notre Dame, like many colleges, faced severe financial difficulties during World War II. The US Navy made Notre Dame a training center and paid enough for usage of the facilities to keep the University afloat. Notre Dame has since extended an open invitation for Navy to play the Fighting Irish in football and considers the game annual repayment on a debt of honor." Basically navy's stadium is too small for the game so they move locations every year. Part of what makes college better than pro, to me.

Princetonwolverine

September 1st, 2012 at 8:50 AM ^

I really don't care that they are playing in Ireland unless they are sending recruits over with them. I like live football almost 24 hrs per day. Why would we care about the west coast? They get to see the Hawaii home games at a reasonable hour.

jaggs

September 1st, 2012 at 8:59 AM ^

I'm a hockey player from Canada, so I'm not sure of some of the intricacies of defending the triple option. Hoke has stated that the first thing would be to hit the dive man (FB). What are the rules regarding tackling of a player without the ball? A ball fake to the FB is meant to trick the defence into thinking he has the ball, can they tackle him? Same quetion applies to play-action fakes by the QB. If he hands it off and then pretends to still have the ball, is he live?

909Dewey

September 1st, 2012 at 9:43 AM ^

but it was turning into the rule book. The answers to your questions are "not many", "yes", and "yes".  The defense can more or less tackle anybody in the neutral zone or behind the line of scrimmage.  The only limits are the aggression penalties - unsportsmanlike conduct, roughing the passer, after the play, etc.  There are some special considerations for the defense engaging receivers but they only apply past the line of scrimmage.  The check and balance here is that if defensive players waste their time tackling guys other than the ball carrier, they won't be defensive players for long.

M-Wolverine

September 1st, 2012 at 9:02 AM ^

Hardly recognized you with that avatar.

I'm just glad we're not embarrassing our country by ND wearing those uniforms in front of the real Irish.