I hate to ask, but the muffed punt in the first quarter was a huge turning point in the game and while the beardown was complete, it would have felt different with a first half score on the board

I cursed like a sailor on that play! Bad call. Eiffert on the sideline, bad call. When facing a favorite you MUST come out swinging and the start is key. We started poorly and never recovered.

Yep, they were screwed a couple of times. The kick should have been given to ND. Eifert's catch. As many of you saw, holds weren't called, I saw a false start that wasn't called.

 

However, these few things aren't an excuse for the loss.

I cursed like a sailor on that play! Bad call. Eiffert on the sideline, bad call. When facing a favorite you MUST come out swinging and the start is key. We started poorly and never recovered.

 

I agree. I know it sounds like sour grapes to blame the refs in a blowout, but once we got down 14-0 and quit running the ball that game was over.

I hate to ask, but the muffed punt in the first quarter was a huge turning point in the game and while the beardown was complete, it would have felt different with a first half score on the board

 

Yeah, and that's the first time I ever heard an analysis quite like that from a booth officiating expert: After Musberger points out the KR didn't appear to be conctacted, expert says "Well, you don't have to actually touch the guy - even if you run close enough to kinda make him nervous, that's still interference, so good call." WTF?!?

:frusty:

I have watched every ND game and most BAMA games. They are good, not THAT good!

Would we have won prob not, would if have been closer and given us a chance? Yes! Huge blown call, of course the head of officials agreed he's not going to throw his refs under the bus.

Looking back, it might have been a mistake to not take the ball first and try and set the tempo.... Hindsight is of course, 20/20.

So, maybe if we play that game 10 times, Bama wins it 8 times instead of 6. No excuses, we lost. Kudos to Saban and Bama, because they CLEARLY earned it.

 

Last night was just about the worst case scenario of those 8 wins. They ARE the better team, and they certainly were last night. We came out amped up and jittery, we made uncharacteristic mistakes because of it, and aside from our mindset, we played our worst game defensively all year, the side of the ball we simply could not afford anything less than an A effort from. Everything after the 2nd snap was downhill.

 

Still, part of that "worst case scenario" loss was the refs piling on to a poor start. Not reviewing a very reviewable call, plus a pretty terrible catch interference call that affected field position and the turnover margin at a very early, impressionable part of the game, AND the refs trying to rule Eifert's 2nd effort a fumble all affected us. This team generally hasn't been caught up in lobbying the officials, but when you have 3 iffy calls right off the bat, it is unnerving, especially when the guys on the field AND in the booth are missing things.

 

Any way you slice it, whether it's Notre Dame, Alabama, LSU, Texas, or Little Sisters of the Poor - you want to see the best officiating there is for a National Title game, and last night's officiating was anything but. Did it change the outcome of the game? No. But it certainly affected it in a negative way, and that stinks. For a game of that magnitude, both sides deserve to let their play settle things, and not some stooge up in a booth with a replay monitor making poor calls.

After a 42-14 loss, this of course sounds like sour grapes. In reality, though, those missed calls on the punt and Eifert's reception were devastating. They absolutely shifted momentum to Alabama in a huge way, and ND was overwhelmed by the lead.

 

I think ND's players felt shell shocked after Bama was helped by the officials to a 14-0 lead, and they just couldn't regain their composure. If you actually watch the game, it's not like ND played up to their usual standards and they just weren't good enough. ND made all kinds of uncharacteristic mistakes because they were dazed. Part of this falls on Kelly's shoulders, but what's he supposed to do when officials are out there making phantom calls?

Agree with all of the above. But why did the defense stink so bad? Zeke and Manti missing tackles? Didn't see that coming in a million years.

Agree with all of the above. But why did the defense stink so bad? Zeke and Manti missing tackles? Didn't see that coming in a million years.

 

This is the mystery of last night, and I think it's a confluence of three things:

 

1. Nerves: defensive miscues allowed Bama to score the first TD. Fox's facemask, Farley's broken coverage, Nix's offsides penalty. These all led to Bama's first TD, which shouldn't have been devastating except for the fact that...

2. Hole: the first TD by Bama was compounded by two horrible officiating calls that threw us for a loop and gave Bama a huge momentum swing. I think are defenders felt the game slipping away before it really had, they got dazed, and the overthought things rather than playing tough and instinctively.

3. Talent: Bama's a good team and won't let you get away with missed tackles, etc. Pitt was so bad that we were able to beat them despite a lackluster defensive performance. But Bama was too good. If ND had brought it's A game, it would have been a different story.

Looking back, it might have been a mistake to not take the ball first and try and set the tempo.... Hindsight is of course, 20/20.

 

no hindsight here...when we deferred I cursed at the screen and yelled we should have taken the ball first

I have watched every ND game and most BAMA games. They are good, not THAT good!

 

Then ND must be over-rated to get physically beaten the way they did.

No tide, football isn't algebra where if team A is better than B and B is better than C, A is not necessarily better than C. Us getting beat does not mean we were overated it just means we got beat. Period.

Yeah but wasn't he pushed there by the Bama blocker?

You know the surest way, as a football fan, to sound like an asshole? To discredit the other team's win and disrespect the refs by accusing them of making bad calls because YOU DON'T KNOW THE RULES!

 

NCAA Rule 6-4-1 FR66:

"a. It is an interference foul if, before the receiver touches the ball, a Team A player enters the area defined by the width of the receiver’s shoulders and extending one yard in front of him. When in question it is a foul."

 

 

Do yourselves a favor and go watch the tape. If you even attempt to argue to me that Farley wasn't within three feet directly in front of Alabama's return man before the ball got there I will either call you a dog-faced liar or recommend a good eye doctor!

 

I'm sorry, our fanbase is unavailable to speak at this time. We're too busy freaking out about nothing.

You know the surest way, as a football fan, to sound like an asshole? To discredit the other team's win and disrespect the refs by accusing them of making bad calls because YOU DON'T KNOW THE RULES!

 

I guess every ESPN analyst is an a$$hole and don't know the rules because every one of them said that was a bad call-Herbstreet, Meyer, and yes even Pollack. Don't get all bent out of shape-this post was prefaced by stating the fact that Alabama would have still won convincingly; they were a much better team hands down. It was a terrible call though.

Yeah but wasn't he pushed there by the Bama blocker?

 

Yes, it was a bad call. The Alabama blocker caused interference both directly and indirectly. Such is life. We've been getting most of the bounces and calls our way this season. Law of averages caught up with us.

What amazed me was that NEITHER play was reviewed. Since Eiffert's catch was on the sideline, it makes it reviewable, and the punt (since it involved a fumble) should have been reviewed.

 

Kelly calling the TO after Eiffert's catch, but not challenging the call did not make sense to me. Either you waste the time out & challenge or keep playing...

What amazed me was that NEITHER play was reviewed. Since Eiffert's catch was on the sideline, it makes it reviewable, and the punt (since it involved a fumble) should have been reviewed.

 

Kelly calling the TO after Eiffert's catch, but not challenging the call did not make sense to me. Either you waste the time out & challenge or keep playing...

 

Every play is reviewed in college. There aren't coaches challenges like in the pros. He was hoping by taking the time out the box would have longer to look at the play, since they obviously weren't going to stop play on their own.

 

Also, the muffed punt was called a penalty, so, nothing to review as penalties can't be reviewed or overturned no matter how blatant.