<p>In a message dated Oct 15th at 8:15p joev wrote:</p>
<p>What a game! I can't believe Samardjza caught that ball! Way to go Irish!</p>
<p>I sure hope you are right. I have a feeling this will not be our year, I just don't think we have the talent yet that we need, but there is a special feeling on campus. With Weis, you just never know. I would so love to beat USC, that would be amazing!</p>
<p>i agree with ur prediction
go irish</p>
<p>yeah that prediction looks pretty good and if it's right then by this time next week ND will be #1 in the country!</p>
<p>even though nd lost, they will go up several spots in rankings. they just about defeated the best team in college football, only a fumble or whatever caused the irish to "lose". yeah right, they did not lose.</p>
<p>Really, they didn't lose? I think the front pages of sports sections all over the country might beg to differ.</p>
<p>Mega, why do you come over from the USC boards? The front pages may say that but you know as well as I that Bush pushing Leinert into the end zone was a 15 yard penalty that wasn't called and that would have ended the game. If you come over here to be smart, at least know that you got a gift of a win from those lovely Pac-10 officials. In addition, the fumble saved you as Leinert would have been in-bounds. Maybe it was divine intervention (doubt it) I don't know, but don't come over like you had the better team. You have more talent, but we wanted it more, we outcoached you, and we outplayed you and I think any honest observer could see that (though I am not unbiased and don't claim to be). Anyways, enough with this topic, if you want to debate me on football head to one of the ND football boards as I am on most of them. This is about college, let's stry to get back to it.</p>
<p>Yea, in my book Notre Dame totally won. Just cuz of a whining coach, and a stupid super senior thats only taking dance this year did they score that last touchdown. Unfortunately for his career, i bet he'll get injured, ruining his career start for the titans, he just got greedy/stupid.</p>
<p>Joev,</p>
<p>Pretty good prediction! Check the date you made it, well before the actual game.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Yea, in my book Notre Dame totally won. Just cuz of a whining coach, and a stupid super senior thats only taking dance this year did they score that last touchdown. Unfortunately for his career, i bet he'll get injured, ruining his career start for the titans, he just got greedy/stupid.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>wow, if you followed college football at all you'd know a win is a win and a loss is a loss. Weis said it himself, there are no moral victories.. just a tough loss. there are bad calls, luck tosses, and random occurences in every game. USC won the game fairly; they played with more heart, more guts, and more emotion and won out the best played college football game of the year.</p>
<p>im sorry ace, this hasnt been my first dramatic loss, and ive been on the other side of this coin, i just needed to vent my anger we were close</p>
<p>Red, I think that it's pretty clear that we did lose (not exactly in complete fairness) but we did. It sucks, and trust me that I know to its fullest extent having sat in the student section (row 9) and having been on the edge about to jump onto the field. The fact of that matter is that we did in fact lose, but I am going to completely disagree with you Ace.</p>
<p>"they played with more heart, more guts, and more emotion", if you honestly watched the game I think you'd realize that that is not the case. Notre Dame was coming into this game as the huge underdog, against a team that is being called "possibly the best college team ever". How is it possible then that an undeniably less-talented team pulled through and almost upset the #1 team in the nation? Through intense heart (I hope you did see our last drive down the field.. among other things), more guts (our guys went balls out every play against linemen and players that were expected to blow them out) and emotion (ANYONE even USC fans will tell you that our players were without a doubt more emotionally into that game). </p>
<p>So for future reference, please actually WATCH the game before you make such a bold statement. None of those 3 statements is true.. and I can honestly say that I think 95% of college football fans (who actually watched the game) would agree with me.</p>
<p>I think it's fair to say that ND played an inspired game. What none of the sports talking heads are talking about is the fact that the game never should have been that close in the end. USC committed almost double digit penalties IN THE FIRST HALF ALONE.</p>
<p>Notre Dame played a better and cleaner game. USC was the better team, but they played sloppily and STILL won. </p>
<p>And about the bad calls, USC had a bum call in the first half when ND was getting ready to punt. Remember the personal foul on #36, who wasn't even in the play when they showed the replay?</p>
<p>USC got just as many bad calls as ND. USC played worse, but was, and is, the better team. Leinart and Bush are something special, that's why they won.</p>
<p>And this is coming from an ND fan.</p>
<p>first of all, the "possibly best college team ever" tag was thrown away a long time ago. usc has already been exposed this season to have weaknesses at special teams(with a horrible showing against Arizona) and the secondary(asu, arizona, nd). Notre Dame took full advantage of both(punt return for td, samardja td over walker) and played from what i've been hearing a "perfect game" in all aspects. not a team in the nation should have won that game the way notre dame was playing.</p>
<p>and about the talent... matt leinart has not been playing up to his hype this year(except for these last two drives), jarrett has been fumbling and dropping too many passes, while reggie bush has been the immortal reggie bush. notre dame was clearly more talented on the d and o line- they dominated the line of scrimmage the whole game.. and walker, quinn, and samardja aren't exactly scrubs. i do believe usc is more talented, but not by the margin you believe it to be. in an espn poll, the majority of the nation predicted notre dame to win this game due to their history of upsets, two weeks to prepare for weis, a home game, and their general great play this year. thus, notre dame was not a huge underdog.</p>
<p>about the heart, guts, and emotion.. you think anyone else in college football could thread the needle for a 50+ yard pass on 4th and 9, down by 3, no timeouts, in hostile south bend, and on your own 20.</p>
<p>brady quinn and his offense was just on a roll at the end of the game. usc's already pretty weak defense was tired, while walker and co just needed the ball to score. that was one reason not to send the game into overtime.</p>
<p>you want to see real heart, look at matt leinart's last two drives of the game.</p>
<p>Look at the fact that Leinart and Bush broke down into tears after the game. Is that not heart?</p>
<p>"You have more talent"</p>
<p>True.</p>
<p>"but we wanted it more"</p>
<p>Debatable. I think Matt Leinart, on 4th and 9 on USC's 20 calling an audible amidst a deafening ND crowd showed quite a bit.</p>
<p>"We outcoached you"</p>
<p>I'll agree with that one. Weis' strategy was to keep SC's offense off the field, and he did. </p>
<p>"and we outplayed you"</p>
<p>No, you didn't. In the end, it was USC who made the plays that everyone is talking about - the ones that ultimately mattered. If you outplayed us, you would have won the game, as you purport is what occurred. </p>
<p>"and I think any honest observer could see that (though I am not unbiased and don't claim to be)."</p>
<p>I disagree. I think the college football community immensely respects ND's effort. You're still #9 in the AP poll. However, read the articles covering the game. They're all about USC's last heroic drive, be it Leinart's gutsy audible or his sneak to seal the game. Obviously, you're heartbroken over losing such a close game, as I would be had the tables been turned. But come on, saying you guys really won and that 'SC was outplayed and out-emotioned? That smacks of desperation.</p>
<p>In the end, that was the greatest game I've ever seen, and likely will ever see. Kudos go to ND for putting up an amazing fight and one that could so easily have won them the game. I originally came to this board to offer that sentiment, but was (I hope understandably) miffed at some comments made. I genuinely don't think USC will escape them (and that's what we did this year, escape ND) next year, when Matt is gone and possibly Bush too. Next year, and indeed the rest of Weis' career looks promising for you guys, and I wish your team the best.</p>
<p>i dont call it their heart.............i call it fear</p>
<p>Both teams played with a great amount of heart, and that is what made it great. However, I stand by the fact that we outcoached AND outplayed you because it wouldn't have even been close otherwise given the talent difference. It was a great game, period, and I am just thankful that I was there.</p>