10 points away from MSU for most of the game, Notre Dame never came back from the deficit. No repeat of 2006 when they rallied in the fourth quarter. This time, it was Notre Dame that offered the turnovers and Michigan State that capitalized. Early. I had given the Irish the win based on the momentum built over a shaky win against SDSU and a solid one against Michigan.
I also stated that if Michigan State let Notre Dame score early, they might just validate what the young ND players thought: that they might be for real. Well, the Irish is for real, but not good enough to come back from a 10 point deficit on the road yet. The Irish did the job itself by turning the ball 3 times and missing 2 field goals. The threat that was looming over the Irish D-line materialized and Javon Ringer ran for 123 yards and 1 touchdown. With 5 minutes to go and while the game was all but over, the Irish let Ringer run 7 times for 78 yards and his 2nd touchdown. You have to be impressed however. While Ringer is a real threat, he was clearly frustrated by the Irish all day and could not find his rythm, being hit in the back field a number of times.
This game did highlight a few positives for the Irish. Clausen is really more mature than last year. His ball handling, how he reacts under pressure is really encouraging. Receivers for Notre Dame also did a great job as it appears that this was the only way to move the ball Saturday.
The big problem and something to really start worrying about is the rushing. ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL. Notre Dame can't run efficiently and can't defend it either. Michigan last week and Michigan State this Saturday showed the blueprint to effectively hurt the Irish. It gets a defense tired, it eats time on the clock and if you get to close to the line, you get hit with big gains through the air by the opposing offense. Notre Dame's offensive line did a good job of preventing sacks but couldn't cause any holes to open for Robert Hughes that seemed to run into walls for the duration of the game. It has to hurt and not just on the body.
Notre Dame is a young team that is very promising. They need to score early to get momentum. The Boilermakers are in town, and if they stop the rush, we should be celebrating with the student section at the end of the game.
Julie Henderson
Jessica Gomes
Did You See That?
College Football Top 25 Review
Comments (0) Add A Comment
Comment
Remember to keep your posts clean. Profanity will get filtered, and offensive comments will be removed.