The season is drawing closer and closer to the opening kickoff for our beloved Irish. Notre Dame stands at 8-1 and just a few votes away from being in the top 10. The Fighting Irish feel as if they are being overlooked and under ranked with only one blemish on their record. Three teams stand in their way for a BCS berth and possibly a shot at the National Title.
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ND (8-1) @ Navy (5-4) 42-14 IRISH
Navy comes into this game needing only one more win to be bowl eligible. They are coming off of a much needed bye week as their starting QB Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada (or simply: Kaipo) was out for most of the game versus Temple with a hamstring injury that has bothered him since fall camp. Notre Dame and its legion of alums and fans are eagerly looking forward to this game and are ready to dish out some revenge after last season's 3OT loss to end the 43 year losing streak by Navy.
The game was never really close. The Irish took their first three drive of the game for a TD. The first was on a 8o yard drive that ended with a 4 yard TD run from Robert Hughes. It was his 6th carry of the drive. The second TD drive was considerably shorter on both yards and plays. One play was all it took and Luke Schmidt took a screen pass out of his H-Back position with a convoy 47 yards for a TD. The third drive was after Navy slotback Shun White broke a long run, but was stripped of the ball at the Irish 22 by a hustling Gary Gray. Kyle McCarthy fell on it for the recovery. 12 plays later Michael Floyd caught a 17 yard crossing route in front of the goalline and fell back into the endzone for the score. Navy finally scored on a wicked triple reverse that put Tyree Barnes in the endzone. Notre Dame led at the half 21-7.
The Irish jumped all over the Middies in the second half to continue the onslaught. They put up two touchdowns in the third quarter (8 yard run by Aldridge and a 12 yard pass to Ragone). This put the Irish at a comfortable 35-7 lead going into the 4th. Navy scored a TD on a very well choreographed drive of 76 yards. The Irish took the ball on the kickoff and ate up the next 8 minutes of clock by running the ball and running it some more. Jonas Gray finally punched it in for the TD with about 1:19 on the clock.
MVP- Brian Smith: 18 Tackles. 5TFL. 3 Sacks. Beast
ND (9-1) VS. Syracuse (2-8) 49-0 IRISH
It was surprising that Greg Robinson lasted as long as he did. He was finally fired after Syracuse lost its 6th straight and 8th overall for the season versus UConn. They lost that game 38-0 while Zach Frazer threw for over 300 yards and 5 TD's for the Huskies.
This was a killing. Jimmy Clausen threw for a career high 397 yards and 5 TD's ( Grimes 15yd, Schmidt 17yd, Grimes 29yd, Floyd 44yd, Kamara 22yd) as he is getting better and better as the season winds down. Robert Hughes topped the 100 yard mark with 112 yards and scored a TD on a52 yard run. Asaph Schwaap scored the first TD in his 4 years on a dive from the one.
Syracuse was dismal and only had 138 yards of offense, three turnovers (2 fumbles, 1 INT) and was sacked 6 times. three of those sacks were via Kerry Neal.
After the game, Syracuse called Cincinnati and forfeited the next game. Two hours later, Syracuse announced the cancellation of the entire football program.
Troy Nunes continues to blog.
MVP- Jimmy Clausen: 31-40 397yds 5 TDs.
ND (10-1) @ U$C (9-1) 3-0 IRISH
The Trojans are coming off of a bye week and boy did they need it. The team has had 14 different outbreaks of jock itch this season. The players spent the off week sitting in tubs of ice. When Fighting Irish Assistant Head Coach Jon Tenuta was asked by a reporter if he "felt that this jock problem would translate into a positive for ND", Tenuta calmly grabbed a a dead caribou carcass from under the desk and gnawed on it. I take that as a no comment.
The game itself turned into a disaster for both teams as a killer storm attacked Los Angeles. By killer, I mean that Brittany Spears, Tom Cruise, Paula Abdul, and Keanu Reeves are no longer with us. DUUUDE. The officials delayed the game for 2 hours waiting on the lightning to pass. When it finally did, the crap hole known as the Coliseum was now a real crap hole.Neither team could move the ball efficiently and as frustration set in over the field conditions, tempers flared. Eric Olsen was tired of the bullshit. After the Irish came out at halftime with the game tied at 0-0, Olsen heard that fucking song from the Trojan band one too many times and destroyed the entire brass section himself. He was escorted out of the stadium by security to the applause of 79,000 fans. They were glad that the band finally was silenced as well.
The game continued on to be one punt after another. Field goals were tried and field goals were missed. Turnovers happened at a steady pace. Then, lightning struck. No not that lightning, Armando Allen. He received a punt at the Irish 22 yard line and somehow found enough footing to juke and jive his way to open daylight and streak down the sideline. He was finally pushed out of bounds at the Trojan 27 yardline. After 3 short runs Notre Dame was on the U$C 20 with :22 remaining after an Irish timeout. Brandon Walker trotted on to the field. The ball was set, and then it was snapped... right over the head of the holder! Walker chased the ball and fell on it to stop the play. Turnover on d....Flag on the play. U$C was lined up in the neutral zone. Irish ball. 1st and 10 from the 15. Weis kept his kicking unit out there as the clock now read :13. Walker was 32 yards away from glory. Snap is good... hold is good... the kick... motherfucking good!!!!! The Irish have a 3-0 lead with :7 remaining. The Trojans tried a lateral return on the kickoff but fumbled it away to Steve Paskorz with time expired.
Walker was carried off of the field. Pete Carroll wept as Snoop Dog beat his ass. The Irish finish the regular season at 11-1 and now wait on the BCS in a few weeks to find out where they play.
MVP- Brandon Walker: 1-4 FG 32 yarder & Ian Williams: 13 tackles 3TFL 2 sacks.
Next Up: Bowl Game
Ranking: 3 A.P. / 4 Coaches / 3 BCS
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