Notre Dame pulled off a fabulous comeback last night, scoring 19 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to beat Michigan State, 40-37, in East Lansing, MI. Notre Dame is now 3-1, and play Purdue at South Bend next Saturday.
I got home and it was 17-0 Michigan State after one period of play. ND really struggled on defense, and it looked like they were going to get torched like they did against Michigan last week. But they rebounded in the second half, as Brady Quinn threw five touchdowns, and Terrall Lambert returned an interception 19 yards for a TD with 2:53 left to play to win it.
Quinn went 20-for-36 for 319 yards and one interception. This gives the Irish a measure of revenge against Michigan State, who after upsetting the Irish 44-41 in overtime last year at South Bend (a game I was at, sitting in the stands at the far end zone near the MSU band) took their school flag and "planted" it at midfield, acting like they "conquered" Notre Dame. (I guess the term "act like you've been there before" applies here.)
Michigan State's 2005 season went downhill after that.
Payback's a bitch, Spartan fans.
Definitely one hell of a comeback, but narrowly beating 2 unranked teams, comfortably beating an awful Penn State team (who are now unranked) and getting destroyed by the only decent team they've played all year do not suggest national championship to me. On the other hand, their season would have definitely been over and even a BCS berth impossible had they not pulled that one out. They started off the season wildly over-rated and at this point, I don't quite know what to make of them. They clearly have no D whatsoever, but they seem to be capable of racking up points against weak opposition which could carry them through. Luckily for them their schedule doesn't look too scary now, but I wouldn't bet against Navy giving them problems and unless they improve, I'd say USC will be counting the days until ND's trip out west.
ReplyDeleteBe glad you're not a BC fan though - they can't even convert PATs and lose games by having to run the ball on 4th and 2nd with under a minute left. Yes, I am VERY aggravated. Can you tell?
I can't disagree that this is an overrated ND team. The schedule does favor them and a national title now seems almost impossible...
ReplyDeleteI saw that "buzzer beater" on Saturday night that NC State scored to beat BC. I felt badly for my friends who are BC fans, especially you, WSF....
ReplyDeleteI blame the coach as much as the kicker.
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