two reasons we lost this game

[irishndfan2]

1. giving up the 3rd and 18

 

2. allowing UNC with 55 seconds left in the first half drive down the field and kick a field goal

[DJonesIRISH]

3. Young players turning the ball over.

[Canadian_Irish]

I never want the team to lose, but this isnt a bad loss per say.

 

ND outplayed unc in a lot of aspects but the turnovers hurt. And this also keeps ND from getting to a bowl game they might not be ready for this year.

[rdrdreamer]

I say we didn't necessarily get beat, we lost it ourselves. Okay, same thing really. But our guy's can get right from losing in this fashion than being blown out.

 

In fact, the play to end the game was pretty iffy. They can take this as a lesson in playing to keep the officials out of the game.

 

I also agree with irishndfan2's two points/reasons for losing. They are a part of the reason for sure.

[mcdougal93]

Never happy with an ND loss, however, the team impressed me with how well they fought. This was a good UNC team that is improving and so are we. Tate, Floyd, and JC had great games.

 

Our defense seems to be giving up some yardage on running plays. It never seems that the first hit brings the opposing RB down. Our DL needs to get a big push up the middle because we are almost always giving up 4yds a carry.

 

We had this game won and we lost it in the third quarter with the momentum swing. We played with great heart today but we are still a young team learning how to win. This is the biggest problem IMO, we have to learn to put teams away!

[atrain78255]

agree with McDougal on his 2nd point...it was alarming that we gave up that many running plays on defense...we were the most porous that I have seen today. Yes we lost this game because of the five turnovers, but the defense did not help us out today

[williamson143]

I am still trying to cope with being miffed about the game but there were positives. My philosophy is that getting blown out in a game by a clearly superior opponent does not smart as much as losing a winnable game. Today's game was precisely that, but youth tends to come out in situations like this. We've got to move on from this, but it still stings because we had this game.

[2lakes]

Never happy with an ND loss, however, the team impressed me with how well they fought. This was a good UNC team that is improving and so are we. Tate, Floyd, and JC had great games.

 

Our defense seems to be giving up some yardage on running plays. It never seems that the first hit brings the opposing RB down. Our DL needs to get a big push up the middle because we are almost always giving up 4yds a carry.

 

We had this game won and we lost it in the third quarter with the momentum swing. We played with great heart today but we are still a young team learning how to win. This is the biggest problem IMO, we have to learn to put teams away!

 

I have to respectfully disagree about JC. His stats were good, but overrall he played poorly. The litmus test is whether or not he did his job to help the team win the game; and today he did not.

[SpecialFNK]

the biggest reason we lost this game was the INT by Clausen to start the 3rd quarter. if ND simply goes 3 and out to start the 3rd and everything else in the game happens the same then ND wins this game. ofcorse the game wouldnt have finished the way it did had NC not been ahead.

i didnt read any of the game day thread, but it looked as if coning down to the end of the game the refs were trying to give this game to ND. the 3rd down by NC that they overturned was questionable. your supposed to have conclusive evidence to overturn a call on the field, and i didnt see conclusive evidence that that was not a catch, the ground seemed to cause that ball to come loose. ofcorse i was happy the refs called it that way, it was just controversial. then after the Flyod catch/fumble it looked like the refs were reviewing the play an awfully long time. i was thinking the refs were maybe trying to find anyway they could to rule Floyd down on the field before the ball came loose, which they then would have put 3 seconds left on the clock and ND having the balll for one last play.. however no part of Floyd was down on the field since he was laying on top of a NC player so they had to rule it a fumble and give NC the ball and the win.

 

the mistakes by Clausen other than the 3rd quarter INT wernt terrible. the 4th quarter INT was maybe a bad pass by Clausen, but why did the reciever stop the route? i dont remember who the receiver was but it looked like he just stopped while Clausen had allready put the ball in the air.

the fumble by Clausen, maybe he could have tucked the ball in better, but the defender just make a good play swatting the ball out of Clausens hand.

 

this was a game ND could have easily won. i wasnt that impressed with alot of the things NC did. maybe i missed certain things here and there since i watched most of the game tired with a headache, but IMO it was the ND mistakes that cost them this game. NC didnt win the game as much as ND lost it.

[irishwavend]

Ultimately, it came down to the kicking game. We couldn't kick a field goal when we were in range earlier in the game. Instead, we had to go for it. If we kick a field goal there, all we need is a field goal at the end to win.

 

Fortunately, it looks like UNC could win the ACC, so it's not an awful loss.

[Guest brady112106]

The ball on Clausen's fumble just wasn't protected. He should've been more aware and had that ball closer to his body. They fought hard and that's the only way I personally can handle a loss. They continued to fight regardless of the turnovers and damn near pulled a last second victory off. I was as glued to my tv today as I was ND vs MSU '06 or UCLA '06.

[jfschellcrna]

turnovers, period................

[Guest meballos18]

Ditto....little brother....

[GwoodND]

turnovers, period................

 

No Doubt! Turnovers will kill you in a game and it doesn't matter if it is 1 or 5...

[GunSlinger]

the biggest reason we lost this game was the INT by Clausen to start the 3rd quarter. if ND simply goes 3 and out to start the 3rd and everything else in the game happens the same then ND wins this game. ofcorse the game wouldnt have finished the way it did had NC not been ahead.

i didnt read any of the game day thread, but it looked as if coning down to the end of the game the refs were trying to give this game to ND. the 3rd down by NC that they overturned was questionable. your supposed to have conclusive evidence to overturn a call on the field, and i didnt see conclusive evidence that that was not a catch, the ground seemed to cause that ball to come loose. ofcorse i was happy the refs called it that way, it was just controversial. then after the Flyod catch/fumble it looked like the refs were reviewing the play an awfully long time. i was thinking the refs were maybe trying to find anyway they could to rule Floyd down on the field before the ball came loose, which they then would have put 3 seconds left on the clock and ND having the balll for one last play.. however no part of Floyd was down on the field since he was laying on top of a NC player so they had to rule it a fumble and give NC the ball and the win.

 

the mistakes by Clausen other than the 3rd quarter INT wernt terrible. the 4th quarter INT was maybe a bad pass by Clausen, but why did the reciever stop the route? i dont remember who the receiver was but it looked like he just stopped while Clausen had allready put the ball in the air.

the fumble by Clausen, maybe he could have tucked the ball in better, but the defender just make a good play swatting the ball out of Clausens hand.

 

this was a game ND could have easily won. i wasnt that impressed with alot of the things NC did. maybe i missed certain things here and there since i watched most of the game tired with a headache, but IMO it was the ND mistakes that cost them this game. NC didnt win the game as much as ND lost it.

 

 

I agree, this pick was the dagger and hence the loss. No other excuse for it. This is an amazing football team, and it will do wonders beyond your wildest expectations. A loss is a loss but they gave their hearts today.

[D Fence]

Marvin Austin and Omar Hunter.

[Guest sully179]

the loss pissed me off even more because we were 5 yards away from winning it

[ErickJD08]

Someone mentioned that the ref were helping us out with the incomplete call. Fact is that they were just calling the game by the rules. If the WR is falling as they are catching the ball, they need to come down with possession of the ball regardless of what cause the ball to come loose. That was the right call.

[ND FANATIC]

Someone mentioned that the ref were helping us out with the incomplete call. Fact is that they were just calling the game by the rules. If the WR is falling as they are catching the ball, they need to come down with possession of the ball regardless of what cause the ball to come loose. That was the right call.

 

They made the exact same call in the OU/UT game on the interception in the end zone. I'm not sure I agree with the rule, but both calls were mad by the rules....

[dangeruss]

the loss pissed me off even more because we were 5 yards away from winning it

it looked like floyd tried to flip the ball back to one of his teammates. if floyd doesn't do that then their would've been about 4 seconds on the clock for JC to spike the ball and get off one more play to score a TD.

 

but the reason we lost this game was because of turnovers and because we have a bad field goal kicker.

 

-JC throws a pick six (we lost by 5 points)

 

-JC fumbles the ball when ND looks like they are putting together a nice drive.

 

-going for it on fourth down in the 4th quarter because we don't have a good FG kicker.

 

also i like to say that our defense hasn't shown any signs of improvement. each week our offense gets better but the defense still is having trouble stopping the run and getting pressure on the QBs. their is no reason why ND can't finish the year 9-3.