Pre-game:
Staff were allowed to start into the gate at 6:30, and walking into the stadium it was echoey and eerie. Not a whole lot of noise outside of the warm-up music. Green Pom-Poms. No food for sale, only bottled water, soda, and coffee.
From my seat:
Clemson has some big dudes, but I don’t think they are as long as ND anywhere except on the DL. This young guys will be a problem moving forward.
I have been critical of Jeff Quinn, but damn, this is the best performance an OL at ND has had since 1993, and they played so cohesively. Venables brought pressure and once Book was able to read it they gave him places to step up and buy time. Tyree is clearly the worst blocking RB, but that’s not to say he’s bad just inexperienced and not built well enough to take guys on at full speed the was Williams and Flemister can.
The crowd was electric. I don’t know what they said the capacity was in TV, but it felt like 20-22k, and when the defense was on the field there was no doubt whose stadium the game was being played in. Video/sound crew did an excellent job keeping people in it with all of the breaks for reviews and injuries. The fast start was exactly what the place needed. It wasn’t uneasy, but there was tension because of the opponent.
We are completely taking Doerer for granted. He was money, and his kickoffs, except for the corner squib that went out of bounds put the coverage team in perfect position to impact field position.
Mayer found redemption in the second half. Love the mental toughness and physical ability of this freshman.
Clemson went right at Clarence Lewis whenever he came on the field, and got a lot of their big plays that way.
Lea adjusted the defense to stop RPO on the final defensive stop in the fourth and OT and got DJ to have to hold onto the ball and ND’s DL finally got home after being close all night.
The officials:
They were bad. But rather than elaborate further, just be happy ND overcame some dumb penalties on their part and no-calls/reversed calls on the part of the officials.
Review was impacted greatly by the big video screen. Twice, it seemed like play would continue until they had no choice because we all saw what they didn’t initially. Killed the flow of the game.
Dabo:
Could get any call he wanted when he yelled at the side judge. Lawrence should have been flagged multiple times from being out even further on the field than Sweeney was, too.
Again, ND overcame.
Rees:
Didn’t try to get cute with the offense. Stuck with the run and didn’t max protect which gave more targets for Book to find, again, a key because of the way the OL played.
He set up some shot plays and even the ones that were missed kept the box open for the TEs and RBs to maneuver.
47 points on Clemson? 3 Touchdowns in the clutch to force OT and then win it? Outstanding.
Book:
Mistakes were made, but he made the plays to win the game often extending drives with his legs and buying time. I was already a fan, but he is never going to get the respect he deserves for these late game drives he has put together over the past 2.5 seasons. He was the big play last night.
Final:
As soon as Ade got the sack on first down of the second OT, the students flooded the aisles and Ran to the bottom of the lower level. I’m sure no one at the University is happy about that or the storming of the field, but there was no way to keep it from happening. They didn’t cause any trouble, just celebrated for their school. I don’t blame them at all, though it was not a great decision.
There was no warning to stay off the field from the PA announcer, either. I recall them announcing to stay in the stands for Stanford in 2012, but not last night.
I don’t care that they didn’t have Lawrence. Unless Clemson somehow has twice the possessions on Dec. 19th, I’m not sure that his stats can be much better than DJ’s were. That kid is going to be really good, too.
I have no voice today, probably won’t tomorrow. We took down #1, and it wasn’t a fluke. We answered.
Staff were allowed to start into the gate at 6:30, and walking into the stadium it was echoey and eerie. Not a whole lot of noise outside of the warm-up music. Green Pom-Poms. No food for sale, only bottled water, soda, and coffee.
From my seat:
Clemson has some big dudes, but I don’t think they are as long as ND anywhere except on the DL. This young guys will be a problem moving forward.
I have been critical of Jeff Quinn, but damn, this is the best performance an OL at ND has had since 1993, and they played so cohesively. Venables brought pressure and once Book was able to read it they gave him places to step up and buy time. Tyree is clearly the worst blocking RB, but that’s not to say he’s bad just inexperienced and not built well enough to take guys on at full speed the was Williams and Flemister can.
The crowd was electric. I don’t know what they said the capacity was in TV, but it felt like 20-22k, and when the defense was on the field there was no doubt whose stadium the game was being played in. Video/sound crew did an excellent job keeping people in it with all of the breaks for reviews and injuries. The fast start was exactly what the place needed. It wasn’t uneasy, but there was tension because of the opponent.
We are completely taking Doerer for granted. He was money, and his kickoffs, except for the corner squib that went out of bounds put the coverage team in perfect position to impact field position.
Mayer found redemption in the second half. Love the mental toughness and physical ability of this freshman.
Clemson went right at Clarence Lewis whenever he came on the field, and got a lot of their big plays that way.
Lea adjusted the defense to stop RPO on the final defensive stop in the fourth and OT and got DJ to have to hold onto the ball and ND’s DL finally got home after being close all night.
The officials:
They were bad. But rather than elaborate further, just be happy ND overcame some dumb penalties on their part and no-calls/reversed calls on the part of the officials.
Review was impacted greatly by the big video screen. Twice, it seemed like play would continue until they had no choice because we all saw what they didn’t initially. Killed the flow of the game.
Dabo:
Could get any call he wanted when he yelled at the side judge. Lawrence should have been flagged multiple times from being out even further on the field than Sweeney was, too.
Again, ND overcame.
Rees:
Didn’t try to get cute with the offense. Stuck with the run and didn’t max protect which gave more targets for Book to find, again, a key because of the way the OL played.
He set up some shot plays and even the ones that were missed kept the box open for the TEs and RBs to maneuver.
47 points on Clemson? 3 Touchdowns in the clutch to force OT and then win it? Outstanding.
Book:
Mistakes were made, but he made the plays to win the game often extending drives with his legs and buying time. I was already a fan, but he is never going to get the respect he deserves for these late game drives he has put together over the past 2.5 seasons. He was the big play last night.
Final:
As soon as Ade got the sack on first down of the second OT, the students flooded the aisles and Ran to the bottom of the lower level. I’m sure no one at the University is happy about that or the storming of the field, but there was no way to keep it from happening. They didn’t cause any trouble, just celebrated for their school. I don’t blame them at all, though it was not a great decision.
There was no warning to stay off the field from the PA announcer, either. I recall them announcing to stay in the stands for Stanford in 2012, but not last night.
I don’t care that they didn’t have Lawrence. Unless Clemson somehow has twice the possessions on Dec. 19th, I’m not sure that his stats can be much better than DJ’s were. That kid is going to be really good, too.
I have no voice today, probably won’t tomorrow. We took down #1, and it wasn’t a fluke. We answered.
