If those underclassmen don’t keep the OSU game on their minds every time they do their training this off-season nothing will change next season.

Lisa – if they do 16 extra reps of everything for every point will you be ok with that?

Terry

Everyone – watch a replay of the 1988 ND – Miami game.

They’ve beaten us 4 out of the last 4. They were ahead 14-0 within 5 minutes. Did you really think we had a chance to come back?

ND’s offensive and defensive lines were both dominated, and that is where football games are won or lost. That to me qualifies as a butt-kicking.

DeShone Kizer started the last 11 games of the season. Isn’t it time we removed the ‘backup’ label? From what I read he had a bad game, and for that I would submit that
1) He had a bad game – after a lot of good ones – and 2) the O-line didn’t protect him.

Smith’s injury – ‘part of the game.’ I read that it occurred when (former ND recruit) Taylor Decker pushed him after the play was over. Did any of his teammates come to his defense? They said after the game that they were ‘devastated’ by what happened. Whatever happened to ‘pi++ed’? (I know it doesn’t quite have the ooomph of the real word but – feces occur.)

This game was essentially OSU’s first string against our second and third. I don’t care how good of a program you’ve got — Alabama would have lost under those conditions.

The story is told that after Notre Dame was shutout by Michigan 38-0 in 2003, Ty Willingham made sure that all of his players would remember it. 38 reps for everything: sprints, lifts, you name it. That wasn’t going to happen again.

Notre Dame upset Michigan the next season 28-20 at ND Stadium.

The Irish finished 6-5 that season. Ty was fired and the Irish’s final act of 2004 was losing the Insight Bowl to Oregon State to finish 6-6.

Well hello there, Terry.

A few points from me:

1. We played a one loss Ohio State team who was the defending national champion. Whose final record was 12-1.

2. We were missing 11 players on defense: Jaylon Smith, Te’von Coney, KeiVarae Russell, Devin Butler, Shaun Crawford, Drue Tranquill, Avery Sebastian, Sheldon Day, Daniel Cage, Max Redfield, and Jerry Tillery

3. We lost to Ohio State by 16 points … not a blow out and not an ass kicking in my book.

4. We finished the season 10-3 with our backup quarterback.

So please, as someone who didn’t even watch the game, tell me what I’m missing here, Terry.

And in regards to Jaylon, injuries are part of the game. If you are on the field, you are at risk. You must be aware of your surroundings at all time. It was heartbreaking, no doubt, but it is part of the game. Plain and simple.

~Lisa

I take it you’re referring to the fact that both Big 10 teams Iowa and MSU also got dominated – in big bowls.

I’m not talking about them – I’m talking about Notre Dame getting dominated by Ohio State. They own us – 4 out of 4.

Prior to the bowl game, I’d have said we deserved to be on the same field as OSU. One could easily argue that ND was on equal footing with Clemson, as their head-to-head matchup demonstrated. Records & rankings both indicate that OSU and ND were well-matched.

I’m no expert in discerning whether a team is ill-prepared or is simply outmatched. In either case, I’d wager that Iowa and Michigan State have far more to worry about in the “getting dominated” department.

I read that Smith’s injury cam when he was pushed to the ground after the play was ended. By a former ND recruit makes it that much worse. Did anyone come to his defense?

Football games are won up front and ND was dominated on both sides, and the fact is that we got our butts kicked. Spare me the softsoaping.

The story is told that after ND got a butt-kicking in their 1987 Bowl Game at the hands of Texas A&M then Freshman Chris Zorich sat in the locker room and cried tears of frustration and rage. Lou Holtz noticed that. The next year we won the whole thing, and I have to believe that the underclassmen that year kept that A&M game in their minds when they were doing their training through the winter and did a few extra reps, a few extra laps, to get ready for the next season.

Sorry to be so nasty but we got our butts kicked and it could be argued that we didn’t belong on the field with OSU – they’ve owned us in the last 4 games. (We haven’t beaten them for 70 years)

This team had tons of talent, but I didn’t see any attitude, I didn’t see any nasty, I didn’t see anything that would give their opponents anything to respect, let alone fear.