Louisville 31 Notre Dame 28

The only good news for ND fans this weekend is that UCLA thumped USC 38-20, but then again UCLA has QB Hundley and Coach Mora. So USC and ND are both 7-4.

This is the 2nd week in a row that ND could easily have won but blew it with the FG unit. Zaire once again blew the hold knocking off Brindza’s timing and the ball sailed wide right.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a left handed holder for a right footed kicker. That usually doesn’t work with twisted hands and all that.

Timing is critical for the kicker and one little negative nuance will screw up everything. I don’t get Kelly, sure Hunter Smith blew 2 holds but he and Brindza have been practicing for at least 7 straight months.

In a fit of adolescence Kelly benches Smith and inexplicably goes with a LEFTY. Why not use Collingsworth if you make the switch. Oh yeah, he’s got a bad shoulder.

Forget the FG, this game was lost by the OL – specifically C Hegarty and LG Martin. On 2nd down a QB draw play was called and a DE OR DT blew past them and stuffed GOLSON. A TD there and game over.

Once again, Golson’s fumbles resulting in minus 32 yards and Martin belly flopped the ball which thankfully went out of bounds. That together with Golson staring down a receiver led to a pick.

At that point, I let Golson sit out a series and see what Zaire can do. I think Golson now has 22 turnovers and where is Tommy Rees when you need him. Sure Golson came roaring back in the 2nd half, but it should not have come to that.

Down 17-6 at the half ND came staged a comeback scoring 14 points in the 3rd and the game is now ND’s except for how it ended.

The ND defense took it on the chin when Jarron Jones went down and it seemed we had an all freshman team out there with a few sophs thrown in and Collingsworth who looked like he had a broken arm.

I give these young guys kudos. They really played hard and never gave up even though they did not know what they were doing.

I’ll say it again, Greer Martini should be starting at one of the ILB positions. With 3 plays he stuffs the runner, stops a 2-3 yard gain and sacks the QB.

Jaylon Smith is NOT an ILB. Move him outside and play Ben Councell in his place. The kid is a 250 lb senior.

Bench Nyles Morgan. Sure he made 10 tackles but that was chasing guys down the field. Morgan also is uncontrolled emotionally. He had 2 personal fouls in 2 games and yesterdays spearing led to his ejection. The kid is not at all ready to play.

Finally Golson, I’ve noticed in last several games he ignores Kelly and walks away. Kelly says “don’t walk away from me” yet he does. This would get him benched by most teams. Can you imagine doing that to Holtz? Facemask dressing down would follow.

Other players milling around see this total disrespect for the Coach which Kelly does not address and they take this in – it seeps from one player to another and you lose your team.

Final Game is USC and they look as hapless as ND. Could this be the only ND-USC Game not on on tv nationally?

Here are the video highlights and game presser from the Louisville game: