Tale of Two Plays: A 20-20 Game Potentially
Lost in a lot of the hang-wringing and justifiable frustration is this:
Two plays go differently, all else playing out the same, this is a 20-20 game headed to OT.
First is the Winovich tackle/penalty. Directly extended what would've been a 4th and goal FG attempt. Instead of 17-3 they score to make it 21-3. He directly gave them a high % opp for 4 more points with that late hit. Really inexcusable.
Second play is the botched FG attempt from 36 yards. Holder just couldn't get what looked like a decent snap down. Sucks but just quirky like that. Performed 100 times that's 3 points for blue 80-85% of the time.
So +4 on the penalty and -3 on the solid drive but freak FG flub. 20-20 ball game with maybe a Shea drive at the end or heroics in OT.
September 2nd, 2018 at 10:06 AM ^
The Michigan d-IF-ference
Always has to be present.
September 2nd, 2018 at 11:14 AM ^
Man give me a break. ND saw what a tire fire our offense was and went completely conservative in the second half barely even trying to score. This team had as much hype coming out of camp as any I can remember, and after one half of football we were made aware that it's going to take a miraculous turnaround in several facets of our game to even have a chance at competing for the division this year, with zero chance at the CFP. So sick of this shit.
September 2nd, 2018 at 11:32 AM ^
Jon Runyan (NTJR) and Bushell Beatty are our tackles and it's not a secret that spreading out and getting our safeties in single coverage exposes our defense. I think ND and Michigan could play 5 weeks in a row and ND would win 4 of them. We have deficiencies that can't be coached up or game-planned to effectively compensate for.
September 2nd, 2018 at 11:38 AM ^
Game was lost in the first quarter when stupid penalties lead directly to ND's fist 21 points. Three times penalties kept ND drives alive and the three missed interception opportunities , (Devin Bush, Lavert Hill, & Brad Hawkins) certainly could have changed the outcome.
September 2nd, 2018 at 11:40 AM ^
Isn’t this true in every game of every sport that’s ever been played in the history of man? Pretty sure some guy in 20 A.D. said, “man... if he missed the left arm with the trident, Gladiator Horacio would still have his shield and who knows what could’ve happened!”
September 2nd, 2018 at 2:21 PM ^
You know what every team in every game has to overcome “breaks”. the stream of what ifs that’s been prevalent around here does my head in. It’s been a combination of things resulting in a .500 record over the past 18 games. OL, QB, penalties, big plays given up by the defense, poor clock management, poor special teams etc. A general air of disorganization.
September 2nd, 2018 at 3:18 PM ^
Spot on Cranky Dave.... general air of disorganization is right. Penalties = disorganization. Lack of any pace on offense when clock is winding down = disorganization.
I am tired of hearing all the excuses from everyone. If this or that happened or if this or that call wasn't made. Cmon. At some point all of this comes back around to your head coach. They don't look ready to play, they don't have organization, they appear to be quite undisciplined.
September 2nd, 2018 at 3:15 PM ^
Hard to have any heroics at the end of a game when you are offense with 2 minutes left looks like you are trying to run the clock out. No pace.