September 19th, 2010 at 12:18 AM ^
Lou Holtz on the fake field goal: "Notre Dame had it well played. They were prepared, they covered everyone, even the kicker, the guy just fell down."
Really, Lou? He was wiiiiiiiiiiide open.
September 19th, 2010 at 1:24 AM ^
May God have mercy upon the couches of E. Lansing tonight.
September 19th, 2010 at 10:20 AM ^
For Spartys new mascot.
September 19th, 2010 at 12:20 AM ^
Lou Holtz defending Kelly, Mark May says BS they weren't ready. Have to watch it some more but probably siding with May. ND was confused.
September 19th, 2010 at 12:25 AM ^
September 19th, 2010 at 12:30 AM ^
I more or less agree but it still looked a little confused. One thing I'm not clear on is why there wasn't more pressure on the passer. Seemed like he had way too many seconds to stand there and wait for the TE to come free. Normally on a fake you expect the passer to have to be heading toward the sideline to avoid the rush.
It does appear that ND was expecting it but the execution fell apart.
September 19th, 2010 at 12:20 AM ^
To be fair to ND they actually had that covered in terms of assignments, they just got a mixture of tangled up/mugged. I'd have to see it again to say for sure which.
September 19th, 2010 at 12:27 AM ^
If they were playing safe the back line would have had more depth and been able to cover the play easily. ND's guys don't get tangled/mugged unless they are all right up on the line of scrimmage.
September 19th, 2010 at 12:32 AM ^
That's fair, they should have kept a safety back.
September 19th, 2010 at 12:38 AM ^
Exactly. That was the problem. If you are really ready for that fake you have safety coverage deeper than everyone. They were all up by the line of scrimmage. It was obvious from Kelly's demeanor that he knew he had blown it.
September 19th, 2010 at 12:48 AM ^
If you just play your base defense (it was 4th and very long if I'm not mistaken) you force them to either try that fake into coverage or just kick the field goal (where the worst that can possibly happen is double OT and you are just a 46 yard miss away from winning).
September 19th, 2010 at 12:23 AM ^
Best part of this play, Dantonio totally had to pull this trick out of his hat for Notre Dame and now he didn't save it for Michigan. At least we know we can be prepared for something like that as we've seen it now. The less surprises we get, the better.
This sets up for a potentially awesome undefeated matchup between us (knocks on wood)!!!
September 19th, 2010 at 12:32 AM ^
Heck yeah. We should all want them to be undefeated when we play. I could care less what they do except on that day, when I root against them. They are basically harmless. Dantonio gets to everybody because he is so in your face about the in state thing, but really they are just another program we don't aspire to be anything like in the long haul.
Our prestige rises beating as many quality teams as possible. So tonight's result was great. Not to mention entertaining.
September 19th, 2010 at 12:45 AM ^
ND is a program that has the history and resources to be good (i.e. they could beat us even when we have good teams). Not allowing Kelly to get momentum out of the gate is huge (i.e. we've seen how hard it is to get things going with a coach immediately on the hot seat). State, on the other hand, is a program we should/do dominate if we have our own house in order (i.e. so long as we don't have a sub .500 team we are fine). We also know that State will always collapse immediately after playing us (i.e. once their entire season is over).
This was the best result possible. Now we just have to take care of business on Oct. 9th.
September 19th, 2010 at 1:12 AM ^
Schedule. Theirs is a lot easier. So if they beat ND and Wisconsin, they won't have that many games left to lose. They could easily be 10-2 or 9-3, even losing to us. And we could easily be 7-5 or 8-4 beating them. And that won't look great for recruiting. Ideally we're recruiting against ND, as Purplestuff says. But till we can keep most of the top players in the State away from State, they are a bigger problem than ND is, in Michigan, and even Ohio (along with OSU, duh). And I don't think they're really in Florida like we are. (They've always been better in California). So, no, MSU doing well isn't good for us, in any way. Our prestige goes up by winning, period. Not by losing to quality teams.
September 19th, 2010 at 7:12 AM ^
Our prestige goes up by winning, period. Not by losing to quality teams.
As far as recruiting goes, yesterday was not a good day for UM in state. Zettel was suppose to be at the UM-UMass game and then travel to MSU-ND. That likely did not help us. I agree with just winning - let's hope the Mathlete knows what he's talking about and we have a good shot at 9 wins, too. http://mgoblog.com/diaries/post-nd-ballot-and-season-projections
September 19th, 2010 at 12:26 AM ^
September 19th, 2010 at 12:50 AM ^
I didn't want either team to win but if I had to pick I would have wished it was ND. Dantonio is a huge dick. It may have been a ballsy call but he had no choice. It's really Kelly's fault for not having anyone back on his field goal block team just in case. 2nd week in a row Kelly has been outcoached. He's trying to make too many big plays. And yes, it should have been a delay of game
September 19th, 2010 at 9:22 AM ^
Clocks don't work quite the same way in East Lansing as they do everywhere else. It's a singularity.
September 19th, 2010 at 3:22 PM ^
We really look stupid arguing the one second thing. I have watched the play 10 times on my 61 inch HDTV and for the life of me, it seems like the snap and the "00" on the scoreboard show up at virtually the same time. The ABC clock is a second off. Plus, and this is what kills me, there are two refs whose job it is to watch the clock at all times. They didn't flinch. It's not like they were asleep at the switch during the game either...ND got 2 or 3 delay of game flags. The call was amazing, just let it stand and focus on Oct. 9. We have a great chance at taking Paul Bunyan back.
September 19th, 2010 at 1:06 AM ^
MSU/MD in the name of the thread. correct me if im wrong, but shouldnt it be ND?
September 19th, 2010 at 1:13 AM ^
I think ND needs an MD.
September 19th, 2010 at 2:04 AM ^
September 19th, 2010 at 3:49 AM ^
Yeah its way too early to call for Kelly's firing but there is a certain amount of confidence players need to "buy into" a new system.
The upcoming schedule for ND is Stanford, Pitt, and BC I believe.
The reality of the situation is that ND could finish the first half of their schedule as badly as 1-5 which completely shakes the confidence of the players. In fact, they probably arent very likely to even do better than 2-4 at this point, since Stanford looks like an almost guaranteed loss which leaves a split of Pitt/BC.
Domers arent going to be happy with 3-9, 6-6 (bowl wins over Colt Brennan-less Hawaii shouldnt count), 6-6, and a 1-5 or 2-4 start under their new returning-to-glory coach. Even if its stupid there is going to be a hot seat in South Bend in about 3 weeks.
September 19th, 2010 at 9:34 AM ^
No way ANYBODY should be fired after three games, but my previous appreciation for Kelly is turning into thinking he is an absolute moron.
Going for the touchdown against Michigan late, going for it on fourth down at his OWN 40 in a tie game, etc...
There are a lot of reasons to believe Kelly is the next John Cooper: The guy you know will always gift us something once a game. And for that, I'm happy.
September 19th, 2010 at 5:45 PM ^
Is the "play clock" kept on the field by the referees?
I don't think so. Does anybody know?
Naturally, there is a difference between the "game clock" (the game clock isn't even on, during OT) and the "play clock." And there could be a difference between a network's on-screen clock and an official clock, whether on the field or on a scoreboard or not. These have all been posited as explanations for the apparent delay of game in the last play of MSU-ND.
I think it is pretty clear; the ESPN clock was sync'ed with the scoreboard game clock. You can tell that by watching the two of them count down simultaneously in video. (That's actually another good technical question; Are the two clocks electronically sync'ed?)
And, while some others have disputed it, I do NOT see the scoreboard clock reading ":01" when the ESPN clock said :00. I don't think there's an ESPN-sync problem, but in any event I see the scoreboard clocks at :00, before the ball is snapped. Anybody who is seeing ":01" needs a better digital screen.
The Sparties are all over the interwebs this weekend, proclaiming, "Pay no attention to that clock on the scoreboard; the time is kept on the field by the referees." Without a shred of evidence or support. I think it is a myth. NCAA Rule 3-2, Article 4, allows the clock to be run by an off-field official as may be directed under the supervision of one of the game officials. That rule is there, because I think it is virtually universal; the official clock is kept off-field, by "supervised" officials. The official clock is the one we see on the scoreboard.
But just to close this out, can anyone tell us whether there is a different, on-field, referee-held, play-clock? I say no, but I'd like to be certain. Both the scoreboard game clock, and the displayed play clock, are "official" except in cases of malfunction, as far as I am aware. There isn't any clock of any kind that is routinely kept on the field. That was why, years ago, the Conference took action with respect to Spartan Bob. That position of running the soreboard clock is now held by a Conference official, and not a stadium employee, because the scoreboard clock is an official clock. Ditto, of course, the play clock.
September 19th, 2010 at 12:25 PM ^
Jim Tressel (his former boss) puked a little.