Sad Season Retrospective

[NeuteredDoomer]

Yes. But in that one game, ND vs. Mich., the refs owned the game. Good point that teams change throughout the season. Look at the key injuries to top ND players. Look at the lack of depth. CW is a year away from 10-2. But I think that's where he will max out, unless he stays for awhile.

 

[dskoo65]

Hey guys, couldn't it be safe to say that teams change during hte season. Everybody hopped on the UM bandwagon after they beat us and were saying they might win the big ten and then they took a nose dive. The UM team playing now is a different one than when we played them.

UM had all the same flaws then that have continued all season. ND played a bad Michigan team, they just failed to take advantage of them.

Western Michigan, ND, Eastern Michigan, Indiana. voila. 4-0. Fools Gold. Michigan was never good this year, from beginning to end. the only thing that fluctuated was the quality of opponent.

they could have that written on the tv screen during ND games. "objects on your screen may appear more talented than they really are when playing notre dame"

 

[GaviND]

Did the refs do us a disservice against Michigan? Yes. There were more than a few questionable calls. That said, we're talking about a 5-7 team here. That is the type of team that good teams wipe the floor with in spite of careless mistakes.

Furthermore, even when you take the bad calls into account, the game still would likely have been won -- or at the very lest pushed to overtime -- were it not for some VERY questionable offensive playcalls when we got the ball back with under three minutes to play.

The refs may have been the reason the game was as close as it was, but Charlie was the reason we lost.

 

[laservet]

Did the refs do us a disservice against Michigan? Yes. There were more than a few questionable calls. That said, we're talking about a 5-7 team here. That is the type of team that good teams wipe the floor with in spite of careless mistakes.

Furthermore, even when you take the bad calls into account, the game still would likely have been won -- or at the very lest pushed to overtime -- were it not for some VERY questionable offensive playcalls when we got the ball back with under three minutes to play.

The refs may have been the reason the game was as close as it was, but Charlie was the reason we lost.

Exactly. There were bad calls and no calls both ways, a team has to play through them. UM overcame two holding penalties on one of their td drives. The personal fouls have been a problem all season, a lack of discipline on the part of the players (that's a coaching problem).

Bottom line, at the end of the game ND had the ball, the lead, a rushing game Michigan hadn't stopped, the best passing talent in the country that was absolutely torching the defense (especially #33 who was playing 10+ yards off the receiver and still getting beat short and long), and was averaging ~7 yards per offensive play. ND, players and coaches, lost that game, not the officials.