<p>For those of you who watched the ND game, did you know we should have won? On that last play where USC scored, Bush clearly pushed Leinert into the end zone. This is a 15 yard penalty and would have almost certainly ended the game as they had no timeouts. Some food for thought....USC really did lose, it is just the the refs didn't call the penalty. I know you don't want to change the game, but he was pushed into the end zone! Not calling it changed the game! I am so proud of my Irish though, so proud!</p>
<p>Yeah herbstreit said something about that, I'll have to see the play again. </p>
<p>What a game though, what a game. Game of the millenium (Miami-OSU is close)</p>
<p>I hope I didn't jinx them by calling my family into the room on that 4th and 9 play saying "Notre Dame is one play away from winning". Anyways, Irish, whats the rule about pushing someone into the endzone? On ESPN.com Reggie Bush is quoted as saying, "I used all 200 pounds of my body to push Matt in."</p>
<p>The rule is basically that you can't "push" another player on your team into the end zone, although push is really not defined. It was originally designed to prevent people from putting two huge offensive linemen in the backfield and having them basically 'toss', if you will, a smaller player into the end zone. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that the refs just aren't going to make a call like this when the game is on the line. In most sports it's accepted that you just 'let them play' when the game is on the line, unless something is really blatant, in which case this really wasn't.</p>
<p>There were many calls that were missed and some that were wrong. But, that is just the nature of the game. There was no call for Weis being on the field as well as ND fans. There was no call for the USC asst. coach trying to ask for a timeout even though they had none left. They all could have been flagged, but were not. The rules are up to the discretion of the refs and ESPECIALLY in the case of the push rule. Furthermore, ND played a great game. They had the game until the 4th and 9 play. After they let that go the game was pretty much lost. USC showed themselves to be true champions at that point.</p>
<p>i was right there in the stadium. i was one of the guys running towards the field, oh wait, we were all running onto the field b/c we really won !!</p>
<p>While I would like to believe that, we did let the game go at the end Red. We did, it is that simple. USC fought back and for that I give them credit, they are a great football team and I can tell you from being there they have great fans too.</p>
<p>That being said, I know a lot is up to the official but do we really need not have instant replay (thanks to Pete Carroll) and also have Pac-10 officals? That makes me nervous and I think it bit us a few times, like the fumble play potentially (I haven't seen that replay).</p>
<p>Don't worry about this game; yes it hurts now but it shows one difinitive thing above all else and that is NOTRE DAME IS BACK BABY!!! We didn't win, we just didn't, but this team played with heart and wanted it so bad and I hurt for them as many of the players are my friends. We are back though, make no mistake about it, and next time USC just might not be so lucky!</p>
<p>yea next time they have their little dancer qb and we'll still have quinn and walker and..............well its too many damn we are good!!</p>
<p>I dunno, Quinn looks NFL ready. Let's pray that he stays for his senior year.</p>
<p>I'm an ND freshman.. and for all those who claim dissapointment.. try being on the edge about to jump onto the field when the refs blew their whistle. USC is a hell of a team.. and some calls were VERY questionable (if nothing else the fact that the ball went out at the 3-4 yard line rather than the .5 and that then Leinert would have more likely spiked it). But I can say that I'm proud, because our boys proved that they could keep up with the best. They made USC look average, and that is one hell of an accomplishment.</p>
<p>In regards to Quinn, I highly doubt that he'll be going anywhere this year even though he may have the opportunity. With Leinert and most likely Bush going away this year he'd be likely to win the Hiesman next year.. therein helping him in the long run.</p>
<p>It all depends on what Quinn wants. Some NFL exec was quoted as saying that Quinn is a better NFL prospect than Leinart.</p>
<p>Quinn is much too smart to head for the NFL this year. These rumors are running rampant - Charlie is heading to the NFL and Quinn is heading to the NFL. Quinn knows what another year with Charlie will do for his abilities. He also knows the value of a diploma from ND. </p>
<p>These rumors need to stop.</p>