Notre Dame, IN – Almost a year to the day of his ACL injury on the turf of the Alamodome, Notre Dame quarterback Dayne Crist suffered another major injury when he ruptured his patella tendon in his right on a first quarter scramble according to NBC sideline reporter Alex Flanagan.
The injury occurred at the end of a 29 yard 3rd downs scramble by Crist in which he picked up Notre Dame’s first first down of the game. The junior signal caller immediately grabbed his left knee and after being worked on by the training staff on the sideline for a little while, he was escorted to the locker room for x-rays. According to the NBC report, the x-rays revealed a torn patella thus ending Crist first season as a starter for the Irish.
Crist was relieved by freshman Tommy Rees who came in and tossed three touchdowns before ending the half with back to back interceptions. Rees ended the half 18 of 29 for 179 yards.
Crist is the latest Notre Dame top line offensive player to go down with an injury joining starters Kyle Rudolph, Theo Riddick, and Armando Allen. Star wide receiver Michael Floyd returned to action today after missing last week’s loss to Navy.
JDH and IrishPT:
I don’t know. I wouldn’t be so quick to count DC out for the count. He may not be the greatest QB in the world but he’s a great kid and seems tough as nails. I’m rooting for him to come all the way back. I think that having DC back for Summer camps will be great for the QB competition. We need as much competition as possible at all spots but esp. at QB. I think next year’s preliminary depth chart at QB will (hopefully) look like this: 1) DC; 2A)TR; 2B)AH.
Let’s all root and pray for DC’s total recovery.
Totally agree- great kid and a tough kid physically. I could most certainly be wrong about him coming back. Either way and like I said, I certainly wish him the best….
I think Crist’s football playing days are over. This is a very difficult injury to recover from, much less return to playing against D1 competition. I hope he is doing well in school and can at least get a degree. I think ND is still good at that right?
Haha- yeah PT I think AT LEAST we can rest assured Dayne will get a great degree. And good for him because he’s a GREAT kid. But I agree, I think his football days may be over. Tough break for the guy…
NDinOh:
Who is it that you are addressing? You should be more specific with your accusations, lest you create confusion. I, for one, don’t hate anybody, least of all the players. Does it piss me off to a total lack of intensity on the field (ala Navy game)? A total lack of preparation by the coaches on the field (ala Navy)? You bet it pisses me off. I’m supposed to be proud of that? Really? I’m not proud to be one of the worst programs in football (and it’s been that way for years now). I do SUPPORT THEM and have for many, many years. Support with our money, time, emotion, prayers etc. Granted, I’ve tried to take a little break from them, for the first time in my life, for sanity’s sake.
Notre Dame has the greatest tradition in college sports, maybe in all of sports. That’s what we want to see protected. The fear is, right or wrong, that too many years of total irrelevance and, not down years, but down decades, will erode/destroy that tradition. If something doesn’t change soon, we are on that path. Up and down periods are one thing. 15+ years of arrogance and horrible decision-making by “leadership” living in the past is another.
Like you, I hope Kelly goes undefeated. When I see improvement (not perfection, IMPROVEMENT), I will be more positive. This program has not made improvements for many years (save a couple decent seasons by Weis).
That’s the deal, sir, in my eyes and many others. Lastly, I wouldn’t worry about players or recruits getting discouraged by our posts. If they are taking people’s blogging comments to hearts, we don’t want them anyway. They should be worrying about more important things.
Respectfully,
JDH
JDH,
Well said.
The only haters who need our prayers are the ND haters who are so blind to reality that they apparently don’t care to see ND football be great again. Instead, they prefer to posture and pass judgment on those whose only sin is loving ND football enough to call things like they are.
I really wonder if some of these people have families or have ever loved someone enough to tell them the truth even if that truth hurts all involved. Does a parent love his or her child less when they tell them they’re doing something bad? Does a teacher not care for his or her students if he or she chastises them for not working hard enough? Does the Church not love her sons and daughters by calling a sin a sin and asking them to repent?
Some people here should pray for themselves and ask forgiveness for their own blindness to reality and delusional self-righteousness.
SFR-
I hear ya brother. I hear ya. If someone is truly “hating” 18-23 year old kids, then they have serious problems. This isn’t hate. It’s that, at ND, it’s about more than just football. I accept down years and bad times. I don’t accept decades of being a laughing stock. I don’t accept it when, at least sometimes, it seems like I care more than the players!
To add to my post addressing NDinOhio: The following does NOT make me an expert, but perhaps it might provide some perspective. I was a scholarship, D1 athlete. I’ve had great coaches, bad coaches, had to walk the balance of college study and playing a sport “for money”, girlfriends etc. etc. I get it. Granted, not to the level of ND players in such a pressure cooker. But, to some degree, I get it.
Just looking at the schedule for the next 2 yrs BOOM OR BUST!!!!!! Man BK is going to have to do something to change the way things are done at ND its not going to get any easier
Dear Dr. Lou,
Will Brian Billick still come to ND to be the head football coach?
Sincerely,
THEROCKNROLL80S
poor dayne he seems to have Knees of an 80 yr old man.
agreed with every point from top to bottom…..
Another positive_— maybe these terrible losses will lead to a change i can believe in… serves us right for highering a lib as a coach…
Ironically rees’s pass at the end was the EXACT type of pass that moron crist needed to throw at the end of the michigan game
Brian Kelly is a joke. What a dumbass call. I mean cmon you dipshit. Kick the field goal. You LOST that game, you the coach made an awful call. Your team sucks and its your fault you lose games. Take the next two weeks and figure out a way out of ND.
Lou Holtz politely made the point that throwing the football in that situation was terrible and that he would have had the best kicker in the country win the game for a team that desperately needed to WIN!
I recently came across audio of Kelly explaining his offense system to his new ND team.
BK – “Team. You know what I think of when I hear the word football? Well…I hear the word ball and that’s it. Ya know what you’re supposed to with a ball? Ya throw it… Ya don’t bounce it..ya don’t carry it around like some kind a sissy… ya throw it…it’s ball. It’s not that complicated…so why in the name of hell would ya do anything else with? Just throw the sum bitch.
Make sense? Running backs? Who said running backs? Who needs them… shit all i see is couple of people who been wastin their time runnin with a Bawww when they could….be…. CATCHIN’ that ball man! haaaha now ya startin to get aint cha?
I was as excited as anyone else when we hired Brian Kelly. What has occurred to me, though, is that we got Brian Kelly because no one else would take this job. And, no one else will take this job.
So we better get used to the gambling. We better get used to a crappy defense. We better score a lot of points — with a freshman quarterback.
That’s about all I got right now. It’s numbing. Tulsa. I can handle Navy because Navy and Notre Dame go back decades and, well, we beat them like 100 times in a row or whatever. Tulsa? NFW.
One more note to those who have always wanted to “schedule for success.” This is what you get. Losses to Tulsa. Fans that are quieter than any fans in college football. I’m sick about it.
What if we do give BK another three or four years. We get a lot more better athletes and get a lot of experience. Under BK we’re supposed to get BETTER! Seriously, seriously. BK is not the answer. I’ve seen enough of his decision making and leadership. Wow!
NDforever, I agree, Rees looks a lot better suited for this offense. The thing that was most evident to me was his reads look better and he gets the ball out of his hands faster than DC. The kid showed a lot of fortitude out there today. It is just too damned bad Brian Kelly put him in the position to lose this game for ND. Gotta admit, don’t get some of Diaco’s calls. I had a gut wrenching feeling when Tulsa blocked the extra point and went for 2 other way. I feel bad for Dayne and wish him well. He looked pretty damn dejected after the game. Hell, we all are!
does the pressure of coaching at notre dame make these coaches lose their mind? in some of charlie weis’s losses in the last two years the coaching decisions were as bad as any i’ve ever seen and i’ve been following notre dame since 1954. this one was worse. a quarterback throws a pass that never should have been thrown, to a reciever that was never open, on a play that never should have been called. it can’t get any worse than that. why in the world would you want to throw a pass in that situation. kick the damn field goal to win the game. by the way does anyone know if notre dame called the timeout before the last play. why would you want to stop the clock at that point if your are notre dame?
Man, I just can’t stop fuming over this loss.What really pisses me off is that we did not need a touchdown! Why on earth would possess him to even try for the touch. Here’s the deal, coach. You are down 2 points. Field goals are 3 points. You do the math! Absolutely horrendous call. I give four years for any coach to turn a program around. It is going to take me that long to get past this game. Worst part of it is that you did not take the blame for this game, and you should have. Man,up coach!
What… The… F*%#?! Seriously I refuse to watch any more games after that I don’t care if we even win out. We do not play smart football. Someone needs to get in front of Kelly’s face like he does our players on the sidelines and tell him hey how bout kicking the ball with someone that’s made 18 STRAIGHT FIELD GOALS. I can’t stick up for a team that goes out there and performs like that against MOTHER FRICKIN TULSA!
Ya know. I HATE HATE HATE HATE THIS OFFENSE AND BRIAN KELLY’S PLAY CALLING!
I couldn’t give two shits how many games he’s won using this worthless ass offense. “well what do here is score lots and lots of points… and let our defense pin their ears back to stop the pass — PASS IT…PASS IT BOY— YEAH!!! RUN IT? SHIT NO MAN We just pass it”… “MY SYSTEM IS BRILLLLLIANt”!!!
HATE IT!
I’m normally a BK supporter but 42 seconds left and Tulsa has one timeout, run the ball make Tulsa burn a timeout or run the clockdown and kick a fieldgoal Game over.I really don’t understand that call.On to one of the few positives.I think Rees reads the Zone better then Christ, he needs to work on his accuracy but I think he did a good job, the last play should have never happened. I know we have a lot of injuries and I do see a lot of improvement in some areas with some players.The defense has no playmakers though and the playcalling by diaco wasn’t very good all day(a couple of nice blitzes).I love a spread offense but the spread despite what most people think was developed to create running lanes and get athletes in space.I don’t mind the short screens but why did a freshman QB throw almost 50 times.I thought Tommy did well but 50 times come on.I still believe Kelly will trun this team around in a couple of years, a new D coordinator may be in the future.Kelly may not always have great playcalling but Tommy Rees has developed a lot from his last appearence and I can tell Kelly demands perfection, if u keep demanding over time these players will get it.Maybe Christ injury will be a blessing as Rees will learn a lot and I truly believe is a better fit for a spread.That’s my rant for today.Go ND!!( i guess)lol.
I try to get behind Kelly. This is the worst call I have ever seen in any football game. This loss is squarely on his shoulders. No if, ands or buts, and he knows it, but comes up with the same old shit about playing their hearts out. I am sitting there thinking run the ball, run the ball, set up for the best field goal kicker in college football, and whadda do, Brian, throw the fricking football! This is not Rees’fault. He played one hell of game. Brian Kelly, you better find yourself a mirror, and point the finger of blame. You know, I know and every person that watched this debacle knows it too!
Sitting here on the South Side of Chicago after this loss is numbing. Actually whats sad is that im used to being numb (and no not because of the bottle of Tullamore Dew). We have consistently played DOWN to our opponents. Yes it hurts to have your starting QB, RB, TE and one of your WR out, but as the commentators said “every team has injuries this time of year.” While ours are more severe than alot of other teams we still should have won.
This game gave me flashbacks to past years when our D really needed a stop on 3rd down and we couldnt do it. As Tulsa marched down the field on the last posession i was thinking of that USC heave from Leinart, or that bomb down the middle by Michigan State to i believe Plaxico Burress or Charles Rogers in the closing seconds to kick us in the onions. Sure enough we couldnt hold. It also left me wondering why we couldnt play pitch and catch with our recievers and run all over the field on Tulsa the way USC did to us with Kerry Colbert, or the way Michigan did with Mario Manningham or MSU did with Charles Rogers and Plaxico Burress. We couldnt stop those guys to save our life and now we have a stud WR in Floyd and a worse defense than our own and we stall more times that these shitty squad cars they give us in the ghetto. Im throwing this year away but still rooting for ND and am willing to give BK 3 years but its not going to be easy. Tulsa? This one was brutal.
Come play ND and put your craptastic program on the map by beating us on our field! Yay!! That pass was a joke, run the ball, kick the FG and call it a day. My 7 month old kid could have called a better play. Oh well, it’s just a game. Sigh.
You know it’s really almost kind of funny.
Kelly has 30-40 seconds left on the clock armed with one of the very best kickers in all of College Football.
Instead of realizing he has a TRUE FRESHMAN QUATERBACK making decisions and thinking that operating a ball protection offense might be the best option… So that his soon to be award winning stud kicker can win the game….
The man chooses to throw the freaking ball!!! LOL! hahahahah
Man…. that’s a riot. Is it possible that Kelly thinks he coaching an NFL team and he’s trying to lose games so he can get some high drafts picks???!! ahhhhhhh haaaaaa
Yeah… Great Situational Decision Making!!!! lolll
I can’t take too much more of this. Game after game, year after year its nothing but heart ache and watching other (sh*t) teams celebrate on OUR field. I honestly thought bK was going to be the man who brought us back to the level we all wanna be at. I’m starting to seriously reconsider that. I just don’t know what else to do
Tulsa Coach… “Yeah, ya know this program has lost for a decade. Ya… we come to Notre Dame and get a victory! LOl… biggest win in this program’s history”!
Brian Kelly should be fired after that game. you’re on the 20 yd line in fg range to win it. what the hell are you doing throwing the ball with a freshmen quarterback or just throwing the ball, period?! Run up the middle and have your kicker who has made 18 straight win you the game.
I do not know why i still watch this team i am so fired up right now.
Breaking News: Brian Kelly is a jagoff
Didn’t know if you guys were ever going to post another article, not surprised its when something bad happens
Something bad happened in December when Cincy went 12-0 and Brian Kelly was considered a top candidate for this job. Actually lets go back a few years when Urban Meyer declined the job. That was a point where ND was really considered a 2nd class football program
At best, Notre Dame is a second class football program. Of course, these days, what it takes to be a first class football program is, well, beyond where Notre Dame will go. We won’t tolerate 40% graduation success rates (like Michigan, for example). We won’t recruit people with 720 on their boards, like the esteemed Urban Meyer will do.
At the same time, we should be able to win against most teams from non-BCS conferences. We should be able to beat Tulsa. Today is, well, why bother? Today sucks.
I think it’s high time ND consider joining the Ivy League. Why kid ourselves that we can be competitive at this level. Two of the smallest schools in D1A beat us on back to back weekends. Enough said. I don’t know that we could win the Ivy League title, but I know we’d be a lot more competitive there than in D1A (or whatever the hell they call it these days).
BK is in way over his head. And he knows it! That’s why he can’t admit that his staff (which he hired) sucks. That’s why he can’t admit his O is over-rated. That’s why he sure as hell can’t admit that he screwed the pooch at the end of the game today calling a pass play.
Some will no doubt bring up injuries. Whatever. I for one doubt DC would’ve done any better than TR did today. Some will say that the D played great. Perhaps. That’s until they gave up a 3rd and 26 that led to the winning points.
Trying to be optimistic late last week I said we needed to see evolution in all 3 phases of the game over 4 quarters. Instead, we got de-evolution from all 3 phases of the game plus the head coach. This was a complete team defeat! Bad teams find ways to lose games, people. Plain and simple. ND is a bad team.
Trying to be optimistic late last week I also said the season was salvageable at 7-5. The season is now over. ND may well not win another game. It’s possible we can go 4-8. (I’d be happy to be proved wrong, however.) That’s deplorable and speaks to the lack of BK’s coaching skills at this level.
There is most definitely a culture of defeat around ND football. This is Murphy’s Law’s favorite team. Someone accused me last weekend of being generous saying ND was mediocre. I apologize for that. ND football is truly just awful.
Having said all that, like we learned this week, there are more important things than football.