My biggest concern at this time (2nd quarter)? I feel Donald slipping away. Tennessee embarrassed Cal, the 9th ranked team in the nation, and so far, we are less than impressive. This has got to matter to Donald. Hope we improve considerably in the next 30 minutes. We have to in order to keep Donald leaning our way. Just my 2 cents.

yeah, I've kind of had some similar feelings. Don't forget Harrison Smith too. On the bright side, Colorado lost to Montana St., Ryan Miller can't be as in love with CU as he was before.

I doubt one game will be enough to sway a kid either way! Lets stay postive ND seemed to get it together at the end of the quarter. We had better protection and Quinn looked to be settling down. When he gets hyped up he over throws everybody. Nerves? Who knows but they need to settle down!!!!!!

I don't think anyone is hitting the panic button. I fully expect ND to win. Merely suggesting that Tennessee's performance was impressive and as has been discussed, we were all hoping Cal would hand the Vols head to them, as this could have only helped us with the Tennessee talent out there that we are trying to get.

some things to consider at half time:

 

walls actually had that bomb well covered, just didn't look back for the ball.

 

smarge hasn't caught one for more than 15 or over the middle yet. walker has only had about 8 touches.

 

on tv, they're calling for more draws and traps up the middle to counter the blitzing. also, maybe we need more grimes to stretch the field.

 

let's see how the d starts it off...

I think this second half will be ball controll. running the ball and short passes.

in the red zone, big drive, 17-14, no turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers,

It's time for US to get a turnover.

Wow,... I didn't really want to win like that, but a win is a win. I think that G Tech is a lot better than people think, and I'm not just saying that bc they gave ND a run for their money.

 

Some more thoughts on TN win and ND survival. One thing that hasn't been mentioned that I feel is really important is home field advantage. This is the first game of the season for these kids, and having your home crowd behind you helps to shake out the jitters. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that that is the reason for both cases, but I would say that it had something to do with it.

Grason,

I agree. This close win may very well be a blessing. It may bring the ND players back down to earth. Now they know they're mortal, despite all of the talk of a National Championship. They know they can be beat. I think this game will pay huge dividends in our match with PSU.

No big injuries -- that's a big deal week to week.

 

And BQ didn't hurt his Heisman chances IMO. Actually, after some initial jitters, he won that game with the two sneaks -- one for the TD and one to seal it. And most importantly, no big mistakes. Of course, Walker made a major contribution too. But now that I think of it, I wonder if he wasn't hurt a little after all, given that Thomas had so many carries on the last drive.

 

I thought the D looked very tentative and our linebackers got pushed all over the field. But, in the end, they got the job done.

A couple of observations:

 

1.) I love TT...he is a legitimate #2 guy b/c he isn't great but gets it done...But, Special Teams, D & O...that's awesome!

 

2.) How about Bob Davie....A. Musberger talking about poor clock management and saying, "You know a little about that Bob." And, B. Bob second guessing Charlie's calls, both the QB draw for a TD and going for it at the end.

 

3.) The D was awesome...with exception to Richardson early in the game and Walls being bitch slapped around the field on a couple of plays, but he does show some great speed and cover ability.

 

4.) How out of shape was that GTech D!?! I love how we capitalized on them wearing down and just kept the ball on the field with our big men plowing up turf to keep their D exhausted.

 

5.) Carlson was a little suspect on his blocking in the first half...I miss Fasano, but he is great on his patterns. Schwapp also missed a block trying to put a shoulder into a guy without actually blocking him.

 

Anyway, overall, a win's a win, and it seems like we shook out the jitters. I guess we will see next week, won't we? Until then, it's time to watch Memphis put a hurting on Coach O and Ole Miss.

I wasn't too nervous or worried at any point in the game except for that 4th and 1 play with a minute left...it's our first game, we were rusty, and unlike most of the other top 25 we actually played a real team in our first game. The way GTech played in this game was impressive and they should be able to make some noise in the ACC again this year. Also, I realize that Brady was rusty, but honestly sometimes I still question his decisions and the way that he throws the ball. If you look at a lot of his throws he seems to be pretty inaccurate, and that's how he's always been. Even last year the big plays all came from the bombs that he threw to Mo and Shark and it was up to them to make the big play.

There were a lot of positives tonight. Starting with the defense. I thought they looked pretty sharp tonight. We gave up some big plays (why was Walls left all alone with Johnson?), but looked fairly tough all night. We also looked good on kickoffs (Renkes got it into the endzone a few times) and we had some nice returns. Shwaap looked good carrying the ball in short yardage. And I thought McKnight looked really good in his first game back.

 

More than anything else, tonight was character building.

 

The first game is a tuneup. We went up against a team that's good at pulling off upsets, that has a damn good defense. Don't get too worried. The only thing that really frightened me tonight was our FG kicking.

The "D" looked fine EXCEPT for the D-line. They looked worse than last year. Unfortunately, they SHOULD be the cornerstone and if they don't improve (about 1,000%), ND will be 9-3 again!

GT put up a good contest. It's obvious that we still need to correct the field goal situtation.