October 4, 2007
Mixing It Up with some UCLA Bloggers
Author: Frankie V | Filed Under Notre Dame Football
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Hey guys, last night I joined a couple UCLA bloggers in discussing this weekend’s game. They were all very hospitable and all seemed to feel like I do that this game could end up any number of ways, none of which would be surprising.
Anyway, visit BruinShow.com to listen to the podcast.
BruinZone.com also posted a blog about how Notre Dame can pull off the upset this weekend. Here’s an excerpt:
The real trouble that UCLA’s defense might face will come through the air. Notre Dame has struggled mightily with their inexperience quarterbacks, but things started clicking against Perdue. Behind a strong 4th quarter effort by reserver quarterback Evan Sharpley, the Irish almost doubled their passing yards for the year and actually gained more yards than an opponent for the first time this season. His final numbers for the game, 16-24, 203 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT, compared very favorably to what Ben Olson put up against Oregon State. The Bruin’s secondary has been caught with it’s pants down a few times this year and some timely passes by the Irish could cause trouble. The real question this week for Charley Weis and company is if Jimmy Clausen (who missed the second half against Purdue with an injury) will be behind center or Sharpley. The Irish responded well to Sharpley and he could be a spark for their struggling squad.
The Bruins offense goes up against an Irish defense that has to be begging for some help. They actually aren’t all that bad of a squad, but when you get no breaks and no points from your counterparts on offense, it is almost impossible for any defense to look good. They have a total defense ranked 52nd in the country, which is right up there with UCLA (55th). The scoring defense has been poor, but what do you expect when your offense puts you in bad situations? If Weis can solve his offense woes then this defense has enough mustard to keep them in the game. Defensive lineman Trevor Laws has made some plays this year to help the Irish and they could use a big game from him this weekend.
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Comments to this Article
robert t. gilleran
October 5th, 2007 at 12:04 am
frank,
1. another excellent story.
2.yes, unlike the people at that other school out here in the city of the angels, the people at ucla are quite civilized and polite and the student athletes are real student athletes, just as they are at notre dame.
3. yes, ucla does have the advantage this year in experience. however, we will be out at the rose bowl in pasadena to cheer this notre dame team on to victory, knowing that we will see a fine game without the trash talking and rude behavior that takes place at other venues like the big house.
4. there is a magic and a beauty about the ucla campus and the rosebowl that could never equal the magic and spirit of notre dame, but it comes closer than any other place we have ever seen.
5. for those nd fans who are not coming to see the game in person at the rose bowl and may be having difficulty finding a way to watch this game because of the abc screwup on their coverage map, we did some checking about the availability of espn360 online on which you can pick the notre dame/ucla game over ohio state/purdue no matter where you are.
6. the availabilty does depend on whether or not your isp has paid the fee to disney/espn so that the video is available online for free.
7. verizon is one isp that has paid, along with frontier.
8. the surprising one is att/yahoo. there were no announcements whatsover that att had paid for the espn360 access, but they have. those who have att/yahoo as their isp may have to try a few of the sites that pop up when you put espn 360 in your search engine. some of the sites inform you that your isp yahoo does not provide espn 360. however, if you try other espn360 sites that pop up, you will eventually hit one that recognizes that att/yahoo has paid the fee for espn360 through att and that you can watch the nd/ucla game for free.
9. we hope that this information will be of assistance to any notre dame fans who have not found another method to get around abc’s coverage map screwup.
10. with respect to the stories that have surfaced that michigan will not have to forfeit the 2007 penn state or the nd games because of having a player they knew to be ineligible, artis chambers, play in those games because of some determination by the big 10 conference, those stories are extremely inaccurate.
11. while the conferences still do have control over the refs that they supply for the time being and can protect the crooked ones no matter how bad they are, the matter of what happens when a team admits that they had an ineligible player in a game falls withing the jurisdiction of the ncaa, not of the conferences.
12. michigan and lloyd went to the big 10, knowing that joe paterno would decline to pursue the matter because joe paterno still is operating under the misconception that all other teams play honestly because he does.
13. the ncaa has set the recent precedent on forfeitures because of the participation of ineligible players by requiring the oklahoma sooners to forfeit at least 5 games for that very reason.
14. lloyd and michigan tried to do an end run around the ncaa by taking the matter to the big 10.
15. that will not work. this is ncaa territory and the forfeitures are automatic, whether or not the opposing schools want to pursue them.
16. we all know what michigan would do if notre dame played an ineligible player in a game that michigan lost. we will make sure that they get what they deserve. no participation by notre dame or charlie weis is necessary.
keep up the great work and enjoy the game( we think that the outcome will surprise the world now that charlie and his staff have done the oline and other training that someone should have done during the offseason),
bob gilleran