Playing Like Champions | Notre Dame Dynasty

[RussellBird]

HEADLINES OF THE WEEK:
Sunken Feeling - The previously undefeated #3 Mississippi State Bulldogs falter against LSU. [31-24]
Battle for the Big 12 - James's play leads #13 TCU to a 35-30 over #6 Kansas State.
Game of the Century - The #1 Gamecocks remain perfect with an impressive win over #2 Arkansas. [38-28]

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:
Offensive - Defensive
Texas Tech QB Seth Doege: 31-45, 405 YDS, 9 CAR, 26 YDS, 6 TOTAL TDS - Stanford CB Usua Amanam: 3 TKLES, FF, 2 INTs

NCAA Football Rankings - Coaches Poll - Updated: Nov 12, 2012
RK	LW	TEAM (VOTES)	W	L	POINTS
1	1	South Carolina Gamecocks (36)	10	0	1500
2	4	USC Trojans (25)	10	0	1209
3	5	Wisconsin Badgers	9	1	1057
4	2	Arkansas Razorbacks	9	1	987
5	7	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	9	1	986
6	8	Nebraska Cornhuskers	8	2	934
7	9	Alabama Crimson Tide	7	3	893
8	10	Oklahoma Sooners	8	1	872
9	3	Mississippi State Bulldogs	9	1	865
10	13	TCU Horned Frogs	8	2	863
11	11	Michigan State Spartans	7	3	826
12	12	Florida State Seminoles	8	2	815
13	6	Kansas State Wildcats	8	2	788
14	14	Georgia Bulldogs	8	2	761
15	15	Michigan Wolverines	7	3	693
16	16	Texas Longhorns	7	3	661
17	18	Texas Tech Red Raiders	7	3	597
18	19	Iowa Hawkeyes	9	1	578
19	21	Army Black Knights	9	1	525
20	--	LSU Tigers	6	4	460
21	23	Boise State Broncos	8	2	457
22	24	Fresno State Bulldogs	10	1	433
23	--	Utah Utes	8	2	336
24	--	Louisville Cardinals	8	2	307
25	--	UCLA Bruins	8	2	278

Dropped Out - #17 Arkansas State, #20 Clemson, #22 Georgia Tech, #25 Oklahoma State
Others Receiving Votes - North Carolina (217), Georgia Tech (205), Arkansas State (186), West Virginia (176), Virginia (150), SMU (129), Missouri (52), Clemson (13)

Heisman Watch - Updated: Nov 11, 2012
NAME	POS	SCHOOL		SEASON STATS
Matt Barkley	QB	USC		212-321, 3376 yards, 38 TDs, 65 att, 190 yards, 3 TDs
Marcus Lattimore	HB	South Carolina		172 att, 1073 yards, 16 TDs, 18 rec, 275 yards, 3 TDs
Waymon James	HB	TCU		219 att, 1052 yards, 16 TDs, 20 att, 290 yards, 1 TDs
Montee Ball	HB	Wisconsin		195 att, 1252 yards, 13 TDs, 12 rec, 151 yards, 2 TDs
Knile Davis	HB	Arkansas		179 att, 1001 yards, 12 TDs, 28 rec, 461 yards, 3 TDs

Matchup Preview *|* November 17, 2012
	@
Wake Forest Demon Deacons (5-5 (4-4), 3-1 Away)		#5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-1, 6-0 Home)
Offensive Stats Comparison 26.3 (#65) Points Per Game 34.4 (#11) 369.5 (#69) Total Offensive Yards 403.9 (#32) 162.7 (#60) Rushing Yards 103.5 (#111) 206.8 (#68) Passing Yards 300.4 (#6) Defensive Stats Comparison 368.0 (#78) Total Yards Allowed 335.1 (#47) 167.0 (#104) Rushing Yards Allowed 86.8 (#1) 201.0 (#69) Passing Yards Allowed 248.3 (#118) Injury Report RG [63] Dylan Intemann Torn hamstring (2 weeks) RG [75] Daniel Blitch Dislocated elbow (Doubtful) LOLB [75] Joey Ehrmann Strained Achilles (Probable) Game Notes This may look like an easy win for the Irish, but they will have a little difficulty taking this ACC team down. Wake Forest has a win over Florida State on the road. If that's not enough to focus on them, I'm not entirely sure what is. Notre Dame wants to win this game, so they can take momentum heading into their biggest game of the year against the USC Trojans. If everything goes Notre Dame's way, we may see them finally return to the national championship.

[RussellBird]

I finished up my game against Wake Forest, but school started up today. Expect the recap tomorrow, hopefully. Depends on the amount of assignments I get.

[RussellBird]

Senior Day Domination!


Lewis-Moore celebrates a long fumble return for a TD and soon enjoys some nice oxygen on the sidelines.

CHESTNUT HILL, Massachusetts - The seniors of Notre Dame were celebrated today. After giving the team four hard years of effort, they have finally played their last game donning the home uniforms in South Bend. Over their four years, they have seen turmoil and changes. With their help, the team has finally risen to something much better than what they started. These men started with Charlie Weis's 6-6 record. Now, they find themselves as one of the best teams in all of the NCAA. It has been an amazing journey for these kids. The only thing that can make it even sweeter is a win over USC and a BCS bowl game.

This game was only close in the first quarter. Golson had some trouble earlier finding the open man. Cierre Wood has having some difficulty finding any holes, as the offensive line didn't seem to want to. Then, the second quarter came around and the Irish looked like a much different team. 21 points were scored in less than two minutes of play. Absolutely amazing. Two of them were huge defensive plays that sparked life into both sides of the field. An interception and fumble recovery started a good old fashioned whipping of Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons found out how difficult it truly was to defeat the Irish in South Bend.

In a fairly surprising move, every senior started in the second half. Riddick came in as halfback and took several snaps. The man looked fairly decent, and it was easy to tell that he was enjoying himself. As soon as Riddick took a hand off, the crowd erupted. Shouting his name. Obviously, this crowd knew Riddick despite his lack of playing time. While it wasn't a dominating performance, the Irish felt the need to honor his commitment to both his school and education by allowing him to play his final half in South Bend as a starter.

The defense also looked outstanding in this game. It's not often that the Irish manage to make the opposing team turn the ball over seven times. You can blame Boston College's backup Sousa for not quite understanding what throwing a ball meant. Nearly every passing play, he would attempt to take off for some yardage. A player would be open, but he would still try to pick up some yards on his feet. This allowed Louis Nix III to break a Notre Dame sack record with 4.5 sacks. At the moment, Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix III are looking to break Justin Tuck's single season sack record. It is very possible for these two players if they continue to look this good.

We now salute those who have played their final game in South Bend: HB Theo Riddick, WR John Goodman, WR Robby Toma, C Braxston Cave, C Mike Golic, JR., RE Kapron Lewis-Moore, MLB Manti Te'o, MLB Carlo Calabrese, FS Dan McCarthy, SS Jamoris Slaughter, SS Chris Salvi, K Nick Tausch, and P Ben Turk. You will be missed in Notre Dame!

After a huge hit by an Irish defender, Collingsworth finds the ball sailing into his hands.


Atkinson shows off his agility by performing a spin move and making it passed the Wake Forest players.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Nov 17, 2012	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Wake Forest Demon Deacons (5-5)	3	0	0	7	10
#5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-1)	7	21	17	10	55

Team Stats Comparison
	WAKE	ND
Total Offense	331	413
Rushing Yards	57	64
Passing Yards	274	349
First Downs	19	13
Punt Return Yards	23	62
Kick Return Yards	0	41
Total Yards	354	516
Turnovers	7	1
3rd Down Converstion	7-19	7-16
4th Down Conversion	0-0	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	1/0-0	4/3-1
Penalties	9-50	5-50
Posession Time	18:12	17:48

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		WAKE	ND
5:45	(ND) TD: R. Toma: 15 yard pass from T.Rees (N. Tausch kick)	0	7
3:46	(WAKE) FG: J. Newman, 43 yard FG	3	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		WAKE	ND
6:06	(ND) TD: K. Lewis-Moore, returned fumble 54 yards (N. Tausch kick)	3	14
5:25	(ND) TD: J. Atkinson, returned interception 21 yards (N. Tausch kick)	3	21
4:24	(ND) TD: D. Neal, 63 yard pass from E. Golson (N. Tausch kick)	3	28
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		WAKE	ND
5:59	(ND) FG: N. Tausch, 39 yard FG	3	31
3:27	(ND) TD: T. Jones, 12 yard pass from E. Golson (N. Tausch kick)	3	38
2:07	(ND) TD: J. Goodman, 43 yard pass from E. Golson (N. Tausch kick)	3	45
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		WAKE	ND
4:03	(ND) TD: R. Toma, 16 yard pass from E. Golson (N. Tausch kick)	3	52
3:21	(WAKE) TD: S. Ragland III, 66 yard pass from T. Price (J. Newman kick)	10	52
0:59	(ND) FG: N. Tausch, 24 yard FG

Wake Forest Demon Deacons PASSING C/A YDS TD INT T. Price 15/25 226 1 2 K. Sousa 5/14 48 0 3 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD K. Sousa 22 38 1.7 0 J. Harris 14 44 3.1 0 T. Price 6 -26 -4.3 0 O. Reynolds 2 1 0.5 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD A. Rock 5 60 12.0 0 J. Harris 4 42 10.5 0 S. Ragland III 4 115 28.7 1 T. Davis 4 38 9.5 0 M. Campanaro 2 17 8.5 0 O. Reynolds 1 2 2.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK C. Summers 0 3 A. Ford 0 1 A. Rock 0 1 G. Williams 0 4 W. Barnes 0 1 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD A. Marshall 7 0.0 0 0 R. Haynes 7 0.0 0 0 D. Cooper 6 0.0 0 0 S. Betros 5 0.0 0 0 J. Jackson 5 1.0 0 0

Notre Dame Fighting Irish PASSING C/A YDS TD INT E. Golson 18/35 334 4 0 T. Rees 1/1 15 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD T. Riddick 11 28 2.5 0 E. Golson 10 -10 -1.0 0 C. Wood 10 46 4.6 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD R. Toma 5 65 13.0 2 T. Eifert 5 106 21.2 0 J. Goodman 4 81 20.2 1 T. Jones 2 20 10.0 1 D. Neal 1 63 63.0 1 T. Riddick 1 13 13.0 0 C. Wood 1 1 1.0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK C. Lombard 2 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD M. Te'o 10 1.0 0 0 B. Councell 9 0.0 0 0 J. Atkinson 9 0.0 1 1 A. Collinsworth 8 1.0 1 0 B. Jackson 6 1.0 1 0 L. Nix III 6 4.5 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG N. Tausch 2/2 7/7 13 39 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 B. Turk 6 273 41.5 2 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD T. Riddick 2 41 20.5 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD T. Riddick 7 62 8.8 0

[RussellBird]

HEADLINES OF THE WEEK:
Razorbacks Win! - #4 Arkansas triumphs over #9 Mississippi State. [38-24]
Feelin' It! - #18 Iowa notches a conference win against #15 Michigan behind the arm of Vandenberg. [38-24]


PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:
Offensive - Defensive
Alabama HB Jalston Fowler: 24 CAR, 227 YDS, 4 TD - LOLB Buffalo Khalil Mack: 4 TKLS, 7 TFL, 5 ATK, 3 SKS, 2 FF

NCAA Football Rankings - Coaches Poll - Updated: Nov 20, 2012
RK	LW	TEAM (VOTES)	W	L	POINTS
1	1	South Carolina Gamecocks (32)	11	0	1496
2	2	USC Trojans (29)	11	0	1470
3	4	Arkansas Razorbacks	10	1	1253
4	3	Wisconsin Badgers	10	1	1190
5	5	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	10	1	1112
6	6	Nebraska Cornhuskers	9	2	1067
7	7	Alabama Crimson Tide	8	3	1021
8	8	Oklahoma Sooners	9	1	1009
9	10	TCU Horned Frogs	8	2	910
10	11	Michigan State Spartans	8	3	866
11	12	Florida State Seminoles	9	2	846
12	13	Kansas State Wildcats	9	2	807
13	14	Georgia Bulldogs	9	2	756
14	9	Mississippi State Bulldogs	9	2	749
15	18	Iowa Hawkeyes	10	1	712
16	16	Texas Longhorns	7	3	670
17	20	LSU Tigers	7	4	510
18	21	Boise State Broncos	9	2	455
19	22	Fresno State Bulldogs	10	1	453
20	23	Utah Utes	9	2	407
21	24	Louisville Cardinals	8	2	367
22	--	North Carolina Tar Heels	8	3	295
23	19	Army Black Knights	9	2	268
24	--	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	8	3	245
25	15	Michigan Wolverines	7	4	209

Dropped Out - #17 Texas Tech, #25 UCLA
Others Receiving Votes - UCLA (175), Temple (129), Oklahoma State (120), SMU (99), Texas Tech (25), Clemson (13), BYU (5)

Heisman Watch - Updated: Nov 20, 2012
NAME	POS	SCHOOL		SEASON STATS
Marcus Lattimore	HB	South Carolina		184 att, 1156 yards, 17 TDs, 20 rec, 365 yards, 3 TDs
Matt Barkley	QB	USC		230-349, 3569 yards, 42 TDs, 76 att, 279 yards, 3 TDs
Knile Davis	HB	Arkansas		190 att, 1053 yards, 13 TDs, 29 rec, 473 yards, 4 TDs
Montee Ball	HB	Wisconsin		216 att, 1372 yards, 13 TDs, 14 rec, 168 yards, 2 TDs
John Hubert	HB	Kansas State		204 att, 1121 yards, 11 TDs, 28 rec, 356 yards, 6 TDs

Matchup Preview *|* November 24,
	@
#5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-1, 3-1 Away)		#2 USC Trojans (11-0 (9-0), 5-0 Home)
Offensive Stats Comparison 36.2 (#4) Points Per Game 41.4 (#1) 404.7 (#30) Total Offensive Yards 488.0 (#1) 99.9 (#115) Rushing Yards 137.5 (#88) 304.8 (#5) Passing Yards 350.5 (#2) Defensive Stats Comparison 334.7 (#50) Total Yards Allowed 345.3 (#61) 84.0 (#1) Rushing Yards Allowed 151.9 (#74) 250.6 (#119) Passing Yards Allowed 193.4 (#59) Injury Report CB [85] Bennett Jackson Broken Ribs (Probable) HB [82] D.J. Morgan Broken Shoulder (Out for season) Game Notes This has easily been the most hyped up game all year. Even if the Irish had a terrible record, nearly everyone will tune in to see this. No matter what, when the Trojans and Irish battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh, it is going to be an amazing battle. This will not be any different, as these two teams are evenly matched. The Trojans beat the Irish in South Bend to take the trophy home. The year before that, though, the Irish won in Los Angeles. If that little history has anything to go by, then Notre Dame may be favorites in this game.

[jake44np]

I go with having them join the ACC.

[RussellBird]

Quote: Originally Posted by jake44np

I go with having them join the ACC.

I've sorta decided to keep the Irish independent. It allows me to maintain an A+ schedule and keeps me from playing too many super weak teams. I've played two ACC teams this year, and I've managed to dominate both of them pretty easily. I'll schedule some tough ACC opponents next year to see if the Irish would be a good fit. The idea of Notre Dame moving is not completely dead yet.

[RussellBird]

Costly Safety Gives Trojans Win


Three Irish defenders are unable to defend a single receiver who scores the game winning touchdown in overtime.

LOS ANGELES, California - For the second time this year, Notre Dame feels the crushing feeling of defeat. And, once again, the Irish will be blaming the officiating for years to come. Just as they had in the Sooners game, the referees had a major part in the Irish's loss today. Golson, while young and inexperienced, was continuously called for intentional grounding. This seems like something any freshman quarterback would do, but this is Everett Golson. A man who hasn't committed a single grounding call in his first year. The Trojan pass rush was just like many others Notre Dame faced, and they were no different from the Sooners.

Yet, somehow, Golson throwing away the ball constituted as grounding. Sure, there were a few obvious calls. Golson would drop back a few steps, notice the pressure, and chuck the ball out of play. Those were the most obvious calls. No one is blaming them for making those. The biggest penalty, although, was the one that may have cost them to game. In the first second, shortly after giving up their first points of the game, Golson took the snap and stepped back a few yards. Scrambling slightly to the right, Golson felt the pressure. It would get to him any second now. A hit would surely send him back into the endzone for a possible safety. Knowing that he was well out of the pocket, he quickly threw the ball into the stands. It was quickly called grounding, and the Irish gave up a safety. While this did not mean much at the time, although it earned a few groans, it would be a major part in the Irish's loss.

The Irish would put up a touchdown in the fourth to give them a double digit lead. Unfortunately, Notre Dame's defense would completely collapse in the final quarter. This was something that the fans of this team were use to. They had nearly suffered an enormous collapse against the Hurricanes of Miami. It was surely nothing new. Their offense contained enough firepower to get them down the field for a touchdown. Even when they took that lead, many fans knew that they would get down the field. Those thoughts would come true, but Notre Dame would only manage a field goal to send it to overtime. Once again, the Trojans defense would hold them to a field goal, and the rest was history. Farmer would catch a pass from Barkely in their half of overtime, and, despite three Irish defenders being around him, would come down with the ball for a win.

Now, why was that safety so important? Had that intentional grounding safety never been called, Barkley's touchdown pass to take the lead would have merely tied it. Unless they hit a two point conversion to give them a one point lead, the game would have been tied. This means that the Irish would have actually won on their field goal attempt rather than them merely retying the game. Most of my readers remember the "game winning" touchdown against Oklahoma that was negated due to a holding call that had no meaning in the game. This is eerily familiar to that game. When it comes to facing teams in the top two, the refs seemingly find ways to rob the golden domers of a win.

I'll let the readers decide. Was the biggest reason the Irish lost the intentional grounding call or the collapse of the defense? I'm slightly partial to the former of the two, but that may be a bit of a bias. Anyway, if USC wins the PAC-12 tournament, we may see the Irish in the Rose Bowl. This will mark the second time they have ever been in this prestigious event. Their last appearance coming way back in 1925, where they dominated Stanford by 17 points.

A rare celebration for Golson in the endzone after an amazing quarterback run for a touchdown.


Somehow, Golson finds a wide open Goodman to boost the lead to double digits.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish at USC Trojans
Nov 24, 2012	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	OT	SCORE
#5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-1)	0	7	7	6	3	23
#2 USC Trojans (11-0 (9-0))	0	5	0	15	6	26

Team Stats Comparison
	ND	USC
Total Offense	440	432
Rushing Yards	153	108
Passing Yards	297	324
First Downs	17	17
Punt Return Yards	19	13
Kick Return Yards	49	11
Total Yards	508	456
Turnovers	2	3
3rd Down Converstion	7-16	6-15
4th Down Conversion	0-1	1-1
2-Point Conversion	0-0	1-1
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	4/1-2	3/1-1
Penalties	7-89	6-55
Posession Time	17:24	18:36

Scoring Summary
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		ND	USC
4:19	(ND) TD: E. Golson, 74 yard run (N. Tausch kick)	7	0
0:41	(USC) FG: A.Heidari, 22 yard FG	7	3
0:34	(USC) Safety: Intentional Grounding	7	5
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		ND	USC
2:28	(ND) TD: J. Goodman, 4 yard pass from E. Golson (N. Tausch kick)	14	5
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		ND	USC
8:17	(ND) FG: N. Tausch, 43 yard FG	17	5
5:48	(USC) TD: S. Vainuku, 30 yard pass from M. Barkley (A. Heidari kick)	17	12
1:35	(USC) TD: M. Lee, 10 yard pass from M. Barkley (2-PT)	17	20
0:00	(ND) FG: N. Tausch, 18 yard FG	20	20
OVERTIME SCORING		ND	USC
--	(ND) FG: N. Tausch, 28 yard FG	23	20
--	(USC) TD: G. Farmer, 25 yard pass from M. Barkley	23	26

Notre Dame Fighting Irish PASSING C/A YDS TD INT E. Golson 24/44 287 1 2 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD C. Wood 21 69 3.2 0 E. Golson 6 77 12.8 1 T. Riddick 3 7 2.3 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD T. Eifert 8 99 12.3 0 R. Toma 5 94 18.8 0 T. Jones 4 49 12.2 0 J. Goodman 3 22 7.3 1 C. Wood 2 1 0.5 0 B. Koyack 1 7 7.0 0 D. Neal 1 15 15.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK N. Martin 0 1 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD M. Te'o 12 0.0 0 0 J. Slaughter 12 0.0 0 0 D. Spond 7 0.0 0 0 Z. Motta 7 0.0 0 0 P. Shembo 6 0.0 0 0 L. Wood 6 0.0 1 0 B. Jackson 1 0.0 1 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG N. Tausch 3/3 2/2 11 43 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 B. Turk 4 181 45.2 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD T. Riddick 2 49 24.5 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD T. Riddick 3 19 6.3 0

USC Trojans PASSING C/A YDS TD INT M. Barkley 25/39 324 3 3 C. McNeal 0/1 0 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD C. McNeal 26 107 4.1 0 J. Allen 1 1 1.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD M. Lee 7 78 11.1 1 R. Woods 5 107 21.4 0 G. Farmer 3 55 18.3 1 R. Telfer 3 17 5.6 0 V. Blackwell 2 17 8.5 0 C. McNeal 2 11 5.5 0 X. Gimble 1 5 5.0 0 S. Vainuku 1 30 30.0 0 J. Allen 1 4 4.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD H. Pullard 14 0.0 0 0 L. Dawson 9 0.0 0 0 T. McDonald 7 0.0 0 0 N. Robey 7 0.0 1 0 J. Starling 6 0.0 0 0

[Balrog]

Tough loss

Grrr USC!!!!!!!!!!!