USC Players: "Notre Dame Gave Up"
Interesting article from ESPN about the USC players' take on Notre Dame's 4th Quarter demeanor on saturday. The money quote comes from USC Linebacker Chris Galippo:
"At the end there, when they didn't call those timeouts, they just quit. And that's what Notre Dame football's about. They're not anything like USC."
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/ncf/story/_/id/7144760/usc-trojans-matt-…
October 26th, 2011 at 12:15 PM ^
I know the whole sentiment here towards Notre Dame, but, while they have performed well below their expectations, they still have been to 5 BCS games in those 20 years. They haven't been great, but let's not make them out to be Purdue.
October 25th, 2011 at 5:33 PM ^
I seem to remember a game in 2004 that a team was down by 17 with 8:23 left in the fourth and started calling timeouts early. That worked out pretty well. I have no idea what Kelly (and osu Fickell) were doing.
October 25th, 2011 at 5:41 PM ^
did not use his timeouts because he did not want to lose by 3 touchdowns. USC ran out the clock on ND's 5 yard line to end the game.
October 25th, 2011 at 7:23 PM ^
Remember a couple of years ago when the Jets tried to let Jacksonville score so they could get the ball back and at least have a chance of winning, and Jones-Drew thwarted it by taking a knee at the goal line?
I guess the pros put more of an emphasis on winning and less on the point spread than Notre Dame does?
October 25th, 2011 at 9:41 PM ^
Put yourself in Brian Kelly's shoes, where in here do you call the timeouts?
Usc 1-10 at Nd49 USC drive start at 06:43.
Usc 1-10 at Nd49 McNeal, Curtis rush for 15 yards to the ND34, 1ST DOWN USC (SMITH, H.;SLAUGHTER).
Usc 1-10 at Nd34 McNeal, Curtis rush for 4 yards to the ND30 (SHEMBO).
Usc 2-6 at Nd30 McNeal, Curtis rush for 1 yard to the ND29 (FOX).
Usc 3-5 at Nd29 PENALTY ND personal foul off-setting, PENALTY USC personal foul off-setting.
Usc 3-5 at Nd29 McNeal, Curtis rush for 14 yards to the ND15, 1ST DOWN USC (GRAY, G.;SMITH, H.).
Usc 1-10 at Nd15 McNeal, Curtis rush for 2 yards to the ND13 (GRAY, G.).
Usc 2-8 at Nd13 McNeal, Curtis rush for 4 yards to the ND9 (FOX).
Usc 3-4 at Nd09 Timeout USC, clock 02:41.
Usc 3-4 at Nd09 McNeal, Curtis rush for 5 yards to the ND4, 1ST DOWN USC (NIX;FOX).
Usc 1-G at Nd04 McNeal, Curtis rush for loss of 2 yards to the ND6 (NIX;GRAY, G.).
Usc 2-G at Nd06 McNeal, Curtis rush for 2 yards to the ND4 (LYNCH;SLAUGHTER).
Usc 3-G at Nd04 McNeal, Curtis rush for 2 yards to the ND2 (TUITT;FLEMING).
Usc 4-G at Nd02 End of game, clock 00:00.
Obviously, you start off wanting to save your timeouts and get a stop... then USC picks up a first down on 3rd and 5 with about ~4:30 minutes left on the clock. Still time to get the stop and save your time outs... but then McNeal picks up a 1st down on 3rd and 4 with about 2 minutes left inside the ND 10. At this point you can either blow all your timeouts and get the ball back with about 1:40 down 3 scores... or take the loss. I can see someone saying that not using your timeouts here is "quitting" but I don't know if there is a team in the history of college football who has come back from being down 3 scores in 1:40. If there is, I'd love to see a link to it.
October 25th, 2011 at 10:41 PM ^
This business of not wanting to use your timeouts on defense so you can have them available when you get the ball back makes no sense whatsoever. On offense you control the tempo of play--you can hurry snaps, spike the ball to exchange downs for time, your sideline throws and incomplete passes will stop the clock. On defense if you don't call time out you're just watching them run off the play clock every down. You get the biggest time gain for your TO on defense...this stuff is so obvious I don't know why it even needs to be said.
The answer to your question is that timeouts on ANY three plays, except the ones where the clock had already stopped, would have given ND a better chance of winning the game than they had watching SC run out the clock. I would have used them early but in the end it didn't matter--every possible permutation gets you the ball back down 17 with about two minutes to play if SC kicks the field goal.
I honestly don't know which is worse--saying "well, I don't think anybody's ever come back from this far down so we might as well pack it in" or a Fickell-level failure to understand basic time management.
This week's ND game couldn't provide a starker contrast. Navy probably would have used their timeouts if they were down 42.
October 26th, 2011 at 9:42 AM ^
Now hes acting like what, his goals were to be 6-6 and just make a bowl game, lol come on this season is again a disapointment. This might sound like a broken record but I feel and have always felt that 2012 will be Kellys year to shine. unfortunitly for him Michigan will be even better than this year then as well. but 10-2 is what I predict for the Dame next season.