....ND had the ball on their own 20 yardline with 1:02 remaining on the clock.

 

i was thinking well there's no way ND can go 80 yards against this defense, this game is all but over.

 

then BQ hit JS to the ND 40 yardline, i started thinking well maybe we got a chance.

 

then BQ hit DG to the UCLA 45 yardline, then i started to think okay just a few more plays.

 

then BQ hit JS and he started darting up the field toward the endzone, i started screaming OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD! TOUCHDOWN! I DON'T BELIEVE IT, I DON'T BELIEVE IT!

I was at the game and usually I get this sense of "It's over..." but somehow I didn't have that feeling. I was in shock when Jeff scored, it was an amazing thing to be part of...

I'm not gonna lie, I was really thinking the worse. Sitting in my chair shaking my head no in disgust, praying for a miracle. And then it happened.... LOL. After the first completion I didnt say another word until JS broke that last tackle, after that me and my 7 year old son went nuts, lol. It had to be an incredible game to be at.

i was standing in front of the tv with my six year old son. i just looked at him and said "watch this". then it was smardjia, grimes, and then the miracle i almost threw him through our nine foot ceiling. he has never seen me that excited. the next morning when i went to get him out of bed he said, "are you still excited about the game daddy, cause i am." a new nd fanatic has been born.

Schell That's great and sounds like you have a good son.

I honestly thought they'd get it done. For us to stop them after we gave the ball back, there was no way it was done for nothing. That said I still ran out to my car, grabbed the necklace with a charm that has Jesus on one side and The Blessed Mother holding Baby Jesus on the other, my wife's grandfather had it blessed by the Pope, I rubbed it held it so hard I thought my finger was gonna start to bleed. I say a little pray before the games, I didn't vs Michigan and we lost. When Brady hit Jeff and Samardzija made that unbelievable run after the catch and leaped into the endzone, I just kept on screamin HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT over and over and over. It was a great feeling but at the same time was like you didn't know what to do. unbelievable, thats for sure

I was thinking that if they went away from what they did all day and played some form of prevent defense, they might give us a chance and prevent themselves from sealing the victory.

I was thinking that if they went away from what they did all day and played some form of prevent defense, they might give us a chance and prevent themselves from sealing the victory.

i was a little surprised that UCLA didn't try to put more pressure on BQ.

I was saying a few Hail Mary's and the occasional Our Father.

Schell That's great and sounds like you have a good son.

thanks sir john, i actually have 4 sons and all are huge nd fans. this was just special cause he and i were alone and it was an opportunity for us to create that common ND bond.

I was thinking that if o-line didn't show up for the first time that day, we had no chance. Contrary to what the pundits have said, UCLA really didn't change their defensive scheme to a "soft prevent" on that last drive. They had only been rushing four all game long, and their outside speed rushers (17 and 44) had been extremely adept at slicing through our pass protection. Sam Young had a pretty rough game, and Ryan Harris wasn't much better (incidentally, I was walking behind this mountain of a man with red hair on campus this morning and realized it was Young; that kid is huge). Throughout the game, I was thinking, "so this is what it's like to get pressure on the QB without blitzing."

 

The adjustment that allowed us to be successful on that last drive was having Brady roll out to his right. It saved his neck on the first play of the drive, when 44 literally leaped right over Harris and began to bear down on Brady. I thought BQ was headed for the sideline to run out of bounds; he threw the ball just before he reached the line, and Jeff was waiting 20 yards downfield, wide open. The second play of the drive, our protection was very good--one of the few times Brady had no pressure in his face. The TD play, Brady had to roll to his right again, and it looked for a minute like he might run the ball. The rest, they say, is now part of ND lore.

 

When Jeff scored, the student section really erupted. Standing on those six-inch-wide planks doesn't exactly make for safety amidst mass delirium, so I grabbed my pregnant wife around the belly and pulled her off the plank before jumping up and down and screaming for joy. Not coincidentally, the baby was kicking her like crazy the entire game. While my wife attributes this to the stressful situation, I am of the opinion that he was celebrating the fact that he was attending, albeit in utero, his first ND game.

Great Posts medvnd a baby on the way? Congratulations and God's Blessings on all of you.

when Quinn was stopped on 4th and 1 with 2:26 left and UCLA took over i wasnt sure what to think. my first thought was that UCLA could simply run out the clock, but i wasnt aware of the timeout situation. when the commentators mentioned ND had all 3 timeouts i was thinking maybe ND could get the ball back if the defence could stop UCLA and make them go 3 and out, but i still wasnt sure if there would be enough time left on the clock. my hope was that ND would force UCLA to punt and maybe ND could get a punt return TD. i just had this crazy feeling that there could be some big play left for ND to win, but again i really thought it could be a punt return TD and then ND stadium would go crazy.

when UCLA punted and Grimes ended up making the catch deep in the end zone for a touchback with 1:10 left i was thinking there was still enough time left. i knew ND could still make plays, 10+ yards each time and the clock would stop to move the chains. i was thinking well maybe if they can somehow get close to mid field there could be a hail mary type pass similar to that from the Cal/Washington game.

i always had hope that somehow ND could pull it out, and watching Samardzija make the catch and run i was yelling at the tv RUN RUN! and then to see him jump that one defender and run past the other before going into the end zone, it was insane! i was jumping up and down so happy

I was sitting in the stands in the endzone where Shark scored.

 

I was thinking if we pull this off I am going to scream so loud into the UCLA

loudmouth sitting next to me who had been blowing off all game about how great they were and how overrated we are etc. that his flippin' head explodes.

 

When it happened I screamed for two solid minutes

right in his earhole.

 

I scramed until he picked up his ucla paraphrenalia and left.

 

And I was still screaming.

The whole game I was complaining to my brother, they better wake up or they are going to lose...After Quinn was stopped...we both went silent.

 

I then said, I cant believe we lost to UCLA...then somehow the defense made a stop and then I said well a blocked punt or punt return would be nice otherwise I dont know if we can do it.

 

No punt return and then they came out, before the ball was snapped Hammond said something that I will never forget and was running through my mind the whole drive..."Brady Quinn will get one more chance, this is where legends are made".

 

First pass to Samardzija for 21 gets out of bounds I stand up and kind of look at my brother like alright maybe.

 

Second pass to Grimes for 14 or so, he stands up this time and im saying get up there dammit he didnt get out of bounds.

 

Then it happened, im not gunna lie I dont even remember all of what I did or what happened I just remember after he caught it i thought he was going to fall but he didnt he scored and my brother and I just went soooooooo nuts and hugged each other for about 5 minutes and then we went downstairs and hugged my dad as we just could not believe it.

 

After all of that emotion I went down to my knees and I almost started crying, I dont know why prolly becuz all of the emotion but it was just unbelievably crazy, one of the happiest days of my life.

We scored and everyone went nuts. i hugged everyone around me. people were jumping all over the place. i stopped to watch the potentially crucial extra point and then went nuts again. one of my friends got elbowed pretty hard in the eye, but even he didn't care. it was nuts.

i was very pissed off!

 

but when brady tossed the first one to jeff, i was getting pumped,,,, then the td, i went nuts, jumped up ran around like an idiot. punched an air duct. then the wife came to the stairs and said. what was that noise? i just yelled!

 

hey, jfschell nice story, bet that was cool. your son will remember that.

Hey Frosh, do you happen to have a much larger version of the Rhema McKnight catch on your avatar?

After Jeff scored I jumped up and down, high fived a security guard and a cheerleader then I snapped a quick pick of this guy...do you know who he is?

 

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a50/Hejduk23/Zorich.jpg

Is that Zorich?

Zorich is white.