All Things Notre Dame - The Clashmore Mike Memorial Thread

[Clashmore Mike]

From one of the insiders at Irish Illustrated...now this is truly luck of the Irish...

"I've seen this posted a couple times in other threads, but upon reviewing the replay, No. 2 Chris Brown and No. 2 Bennett Jackson were both on the field for the field goal block when Pitt kicker Kevin Harper missed from 33 yards. Notre Dame was flagged for a penalty of this nature against Purdue when No. 15 Justin Ferguson and No. 15 Danny McCarthy were on the field at the same time. Ferguson has since changed his number to No. 82. If the penalty had been called, it would have given Pittsburgh a first down at the Notre Dame 11-yard line, with the Panthers still needing only a field goal to win the game (assuming my interpretation of the rule is correct)."

[UMStan White]

I love the sentiments of "subway alumni" that never set foot on campus. What bug crawled up your ass? Oooh ND fans don't care about the Big! now that's scary!!!!! Seems to me you're the only one around here who cares about ND other than the week we play. (aren't you a MAC school grad?)

[Clashmore Mike]

Heh...going personal now huh?

[Rocky Bleier]

Like an MSU fan calling a Michigan fan a Walmart Wolverine. So hurtful.

[entropy]

I'd rather put up with ND than another year of an SEC title. Anyone but the SEC

[hack]

Absolutely, IMO.

And what hurts is that Michigan could have beat that team if Al Borges were not Al Borges.

[SeattleLionsFan]

Personally as a fan of the B1G and Michigan in particular, I'm not going to complain about a school being overrated based on their history, tradition and fan base.

I will complain about Kent State being ranked ahead of almost every team in the B1G.

[lineygoblue]

Like an MSU fan calling a Michigan fan a Walmart Wolverine. So hurtful.

Yeah, I've been trying to figure out why I'm supposed to be offended by that....

Maybe Sparty alums who are now working as Wal Mart greeters see too many people in Michigan apparel?

[hack]

It's not so much offensive as is it another version of the ``they're so arrogant'' sentiment. Spartans fans would love to be able to afford shopping at Wal-Mart.

[Clashmore Mike]

It’s not a question of “hurtful” so much as it’s a reflection of integrity, or lack thereof. Sure, on any national public board, an anonymous Sparty fan behind a keyboard will insinuate that I’m a fair-weather fan because I don’t have a Notre Dame degree…same as he/she will call any number of you a “walmart” wolverine. That’s par for the course in the internet world…but it’s a completely new indictment for me here.

I’ve been posting with some of these guys since ’97. SeattleLionsFan can personally attest to my loyalty to ND going back to the summers of ’92 & ’93. I’ve had a presence on this forum since ’01 or ’02 (can’t even remember). Never in that time has my devotion to my team been questioned, or my alma mater been an issue. I’ve divulged that personal info over the course of at least a decade without the expectation that it would be used to denigrate me. However, it’s now clear that, at least amongst some, it’s tolerable to keep an MAC graduate, fair-weather, ND puppet around so long as ND is battling to stay above .500 and getting their ass kicked in some late December toilet-bowl.

Apparently, again, amongst some, there is no credibility earned by the fact that I never turned tail following Willingham’s running of the program over the cliff…or the disaster that was 2007…or any of the shit-tastic mediocre seasons that littered those years in-between. Fair enough…lesson learned.
Again, from my perspective, the primary change here is that Notre Dame is fielding a competitive team and is relevant in the national discussion. Otherwise, the subsequent change is the ability (or inability) of some of you to handle it.

[Clashmore Mike]

As far as my own person take on ND this season (not that anyone bothered to ask), I’m not blind to some fairly serious deficiencies. I’m still enthralled with the Stanford win. But that Pittsburg game really brought whatever haughty expectations I had back down to earth. I’m not disappointed that we had a let-down following the big win in Norman, but if we were truly top five/elite, I think that we woulda/coulda/shoulda had a let-down and still won by ten points. Neither Teo’ or the defense as a whole looked like they have all season. Certainly, they deserved to have an off-day, but that was more than just “off”. Turnovers, penalties, missed field goals, horrendous kick and punt coverage…I’m well aware that without some plain old Irish luck we’re 8-1 with a devastating loss. Instead, we’re 9-0 with a lot of question marks.

I think that Golson and the offense have improved. He still makes mistakes, but they aren’t catastrophic. The running game has vastly improved…but all that has translated to is yardage…not points. Our red-zone offense is pitiful. In other words, the only benefit has been to give the D a breather and that the woes on offense are somewhat more isolated and specific than just vague inconsistency.

Our special teams continue to be poor at best and will cost us a close game at some point…honestly, I’m surprised that they haven’t yet…that’s just a matter of time.

I’ll take it a few steps further. Acknowledged and confirmed that what looked like a ridiculous/daunting schedule isn’t all that. I don’t think ND has to apologize for it, but certainly it’s not what it looked to be in August. Also would note that we’ve been extremely lucky this season in terms of health. I can’t remember any time that we played so many physical games and didn’t lose some key players at key positions…Notre Dame has indeed been extremely lucky in that regard.

At the same time, I don’t at all feel any sense of dismay or gloom. The season has already exceeded my wildest expectations and unless we melt-down against Boston College or Wake Forest, I’m excited for the future.

You guys who are now, in October and November, making analogies to Alabama and a BCS championship, are just trying to cover yourselves more than offering legitimate analysis. I don’t think Notre Dame can beat Alabama…never even thought about it…in fact I don’t know anyone who has take that position (the Lou Holtz/Mark May sit-com on ESPN notwithstanding). But now, after 15+ years of declaring, with conviction, that ND will always be a “has-been” your position is that we’ll get killed by undefeated, #1, defending national champion Alabama? Really? If that allows you to feel less silly and stupid than you should by owning up to your previous proclamations…then good for you. It certainly isn’t going to diminish my enjoyment of a turn-around season.

[hack]

Stay steady, Clash. It's all good. But what did you expect now that ND's actually a combination of good and lucky? Of course there's going to be some frustration and resentment here...

[Paul L]

Absolutely, IMO.

And what hurts is that Michigan could have beat that team if Al Borges were not Al Borges.

Yeah, Al was the one tossing the ball to everyone in a gold helmet.

And that halfback pass from Vincent Smith was the deciding play in that game.

Lastly, Al Borges is to blame for Superstorm Sandy.

[hack]

I welcome you respond to the things I've actually said about Borges rather than a ridiculous cartoonishly-inflated exaggeration of them.

But, frankly, if Al Borges were the head of FEMA he'd probably have sold off the national strategic reserve of sandbags by now and converted all first-responders to non-essential roles.

[Paul L]

I'll judge Borges when he has a QB that can complete a forward pass north of 10 yards, an OL that can create a hole wider than Kate Moss (or Karen Carpenter, Calista Flockhart, take your pick), and a running back who can hit said hole and not trip over his own feet.

And I don't think a WR corps of Drew Dileo, Jeremy Gallon, Jeremy Jackson, Roy Roundtree, and Ricardo Miller is causing any sleepless nights for opposing DCs.

This offense is devoid of ANY playmakers, outside of DR's feet. Take that away and what else does he have to work with?

And not stressing ball security? M has 3 fumbles lost, vs. 7 for the opposition.

Struggling with the vitriol towards Big Al is all.