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Game Thread Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 20 (final)

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ulukinatme said:
Why talk about schedules? Hey, we can't help so many of the teams we scheduled for this year were crap :wink2: Especially when teams are scheduled 7 or more years in advance, you never know whats going to happen between now and then. Tennessee had a decent defense, but they didn't do a job on our receivers like OSU did. If the deep ball was ever open for us, and it rarely was, we dropped the passes...I won't even go into linebackers. :) Regardless, Tennessee usually has a tough team, just not at present. USC was tough, we didn't win, but we hung with them as well as Texas did. It seems we definitly played better ball at the beginning of the season as oppose to the end, namely games like the Fiesta Bowl, Stanford, and a shabby display at Syracuse. Anyway, our schedule is usually one of the toughest in the country in this year, just not this year the way things ended. Next year could be more of the same, or a different story, I know we open with Georgia Tech and Penn State.
Anyway, it was a great game to watch for sure, there were so many big plays throughout the game. My heart stopped for a second on that fumble/incompete pass run back by Zibby, and the combination of Ginn and Smith was explosive. I would love to see a rematch in the next year or two, hopefully next time we'll bring a defense with us :tongue2:
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I think the biggest schedule complaint is that certain folks look at the names of the temas that ND beat, rather than at the teams they beat. When people see names like Pitt, Washington, Pudue, Syracuse, and Stanford, they assume it must have been a difficult schedule, not taking into account that all of those teams had down years. In any given year, ND's could be the one of the toughest in the nation, or just mediocre. This year, it happened to be mediocre, but the media never really seemed to mention the fact that it was not as difficult as it usually is. Next year, it could be the toughest schedule in the nation, or it could be mediocre again. Who knows?

S 02 @ Georgia Tech
S 09 PENN STATE
S 16 MICHIGAN
S 23 @ Michigan St.
S 30 PURDUE
O 07 STANFORD
O 21 UCLA
O 28 @ Navy (Baltimore)
N 04 NORTH CAROLINA
N 11 @ Air Force
N 18 ARMY
N 25 @ Southern Cal

Like most, I certainly would not be saddened to see these teams meet up again. So much tradition and legacy. Good stuff, for sure. :)
 
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Sorry if that was a bit out of the blue and not related to the more recent posts, my post was related to replies on page 92 or 91 I think :) I am a bit disappointed we have ALL 3 military teams on the schedule again next year, I was hoping we were getting away from that with just playing one a year...oh well. GT, Penn, Michigan, UCLA, and USC should all be decent calibur games to watch, as well as MSU. For some reason MSU always has one of their best games of the year against us =P
Speaking of Zibby 2 posts back, I found several articles about him in HS on ESPN's website. He was the top athelete out of Illinois 3 years ago, and they did some diary thing where they followed his recruiting process each week and the teams that wanted him. It said the coach of Northwestern left an invitation to play for them along with a total $150,000 over 4 years scholarship. I thought I'd post the articles, thought it was interesting every Big 10 team was trying to get him except OSU, and maybe Purdue.
http://espn.go.com/recruiting/s/zbikowski1.htmlhttp://http://espn.go.com/recruiting/s/zbikowski1.html
 
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ulukinatme said:
I would love to see a rematch in the next year or two, hopefully next time we'll bring a defense with us :tongue2:
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ulukinatme - your wish is going to be hard to fulfil.

ND's schedule is pretty well set in the early games (September, October) all the way out to 2012.

LINK

Once the Big 10 schedule begins there are also few spots on the Buckeyes schedule That makes it difficult to set up an in-season Buckeye vs Fighting Irish game.

We know that our new AD Gene Smith wants to see such a contest (as you know he is an ND alum). Next year or two isn't going to happen, sadly. Our best chance is re-match in a bowl game (preferably Fiesta :biggrin:).
 
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Bucky Katt said:
I think the biggest schedule complaint is that certain folks look at the names of the temas that ND beat, rather than at the teams they beat. When people see names like Pitt, Washington, Pudue, Syracuse, and Stanford, they assume it must have been a difficult schedule, not taking into account that all of those teams had down years. In any given year, ND's could be the one of the toughest in the nation, or just mediocre. This year, it happened to be mediocre, but the media never really seemed to mention the fact that it was not as difficult as it usually is. Next year, it could be the toughest schedule in the nation, or it could be mediocre again. Who knows?

S 02 @ Georgia Tech
S 09 PENN STATE
S 16 MICHIGAN
S 23 @ Michigan St.
S 30 PURDUE
O 07 STANFORD
O 21 UCLA
O 28 @ Navy (Baltimore)
N 04 NORTH CAROLINA
N 11 @ Air Force
N 18 ARMY
N 25 @ Southern Cal

Like most, I certainly would not be saddened to see these teams meet up again. So much tradition and legacy. Good stuff, for sure. :)
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Next year's schedule looks about the same to me, though I'm sure we'll be hearing from ESPN, oh, say the second the draft ends and on to September about how frigging impossibly difficult it will be for Saint Charlie. Michigan State is a mess, there is no reason to think Purdue will suddenly be 9-2, the military schools play hard, but AFA and Army had losing records, and they've beaten Navy 186 years in a row, Penn State will be lucky to be bowl eligible with all they lose (4 new secondary starters will kill them in that game, unless Steve Atwater and Ronnie Lott are on the depth chart), Stanford won't be any better, and they didn't go to a bowl, North Carolina can be a tough out on occasion, but they didn't make a bowl either and that game is in South Bend. Michigan had 5 losses, but who the hell knows.

That leaves UCLA (could be a 91-88 game), Georgia Tech (who just got smoked by Utah) and of course USC. Looks like one elite game, a couple of middle-of-the-pack BCS teams, and not much else to me.
 
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jwinslow said:
yes, because most of buckeye nation doesn't say "we should have beaten texas" :roll1:
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Yeah, but.. but.. but...


WE FRIGGIN SHOULD HAVE!!! :p

Personally, I think it's fair for dude to say ND hung with USC as well as Texas did. Both were close, won in the waning moments. It's not as if Texas shut USC down, you know. Neither did ND. Texas scored at will, and probably at a better clip than ND did (frankly, I don' t recall the ND USC score) Anyway, I don' t think dude's comment is particularly outlandish.

I'd hate ND fans for a host of other reasons :p
 
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BCS Bowls Today on ESPN Classic

FYI - ESPN Classic showing all BCS games today.

Fiesta Bowl is at 4PM, Rose @ 7PM. Sugar on right now.
The AARP Bowl @ 1PM (think I'll watch the AA Army game instead thank you)
 
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Texas scored at will, and probably at a better clip than ND did (frankly, I don' t recall the ND USC score)
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Notre Dame/USC game went 31 ND - 34 USC
Texas/USC game was 41 Texas - 38 USC
Texas definitly scored at will, and if OSU had started Smith the whole game against Texas he probably would have made the plays to win the game. Interestingly enough, we held USC to less points than the Texas defense did...you wouldn't think that after seeing how our defense got dominated by OSU :wink2:
Texas denies USC setting up a huge Texas win.
Notre Dame gives up a huge pass play setting up a Notre Dame loss.
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The guy that gave up that 4th down pass play was also the same guy that gave Ted Ginn that first easy touchdown...the first among many in the Fiesta Bowl. Wooden is the first guy that needs replacing in our defensive backfield if we hope to have any hope against fast teams. Although, the game wasn't over after the 4th down pass play, the defense stuffed two attempts by Leinart before the Bush Push, and the refs botched at least a few plays. A loss is still a loss though.
 
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Link



Football's Appearance In Fiesta Bowl Earns High Television Rating Irish battle with Ohio State, not decided until late in the fourth quarter, draws a 12.9 rating.<!-- remove this block --> <!-- end block --> Jan. 10, 2006
The University of Notre Dame's 2006 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl football appearance against Ohio State Jan. 2 on ABC Sports earned a 12.9 Nielsen television rating, up four percent from the comparable time slot a year ago (a 12.4 for Texas' 2005 Rose Bowl win over Michigan).
The 12.9 rating marked the highest non-championship game rating for the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl since the start of the Bowl Championship Series in the 1998 regular season. The Fiesta Bowl earned 17.2 figures both for its Tennessee-Florida State title game in 1999 ('98 season) and its Ohio State-Miami championship matchup in 2003 ('02 season). The previous Fiesta high for a non-title game matchup was an 11.3 for Oregon vs. Colorado in 2002. Notre Dame's other BCS appearance in 2001 in the Fiesta Bowl against Oregon State earned a 10.7 rating.
The 12.9 number represents Notre Dame's highest rating of the 2005 season (the Oct. 15 Notre Dame-USC game on NBC drew a 6.7, highest of the regular season), its largest rating for any game since a 16.0 for the 1993 Notre Dame-Florida State contest - and its highest bowl rating since a 17.5 for the 1991 Orange Bowl ('90 season) between Notre Dame and Colorado.
Other recent ratings for Irish major bowl appearances included an 18.5 for the 1990 Orange Bowl vs. Colorado, a 15.0 for the 1989 Fiesta Bowl vs. West Virginia, a 12.5 for the 1996 Orange Bowl vs. Florida State, an 11.4 for the 1992 Sugar Bowl vs. Florida, an 11.3 for the 1994 Cotton Bowl vs. Texas A&M, and a 10.2 for the 1993 Cotton Bowl vs. Texas A&M.
The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl rating mirrored Notre Dame's regular-season home game ratings on NBC Sports - which were up 44 percent from the previous year, based on a six-game 3.6 average in 2005. The 6.7 rating for the '05 Notre Dame-USC game marked Notre Dame's highest rating for a home game in more than a decade.
Meanwhile, the four 2006 BCS games combined for a 55.9 cumulative rating, up 27 percent from a year ago and the highest in the eight-year history of the BCS.
 
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sandgk said:
ulukinatme - your wish is going to be hard to fulfil.

ND's schedule is pretty well set in the early games (September, October) all the way out to 2012.

LINK

Once the Big 10 schedule begins there are also few spots on the Buckeyes schedule That makes it difficult to set up an in-season Buckeye vs Fighting Irish game.

We know that our new AD Gene Smith wants to see such a contest (as you know he is an ND alum). Next year or two isn't going to happen, sadly. Our best chance is re-match in a bowl game (preferably Fiesta :biggrin:).
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Plus they still have about 6 years left on their contract with scUM, and there is NO WAY that they will ever want to play both us and scUM in the same regular season. Why, that would be tantamount to a real Big 10 schedule!
They have most of their tough games at home next year (except for USC) so the schedule does favor them in that regard.
 
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NightmaresDad said:
Plus they still have about 6 years left on their contract with scUM, and there is NO WAY that they will ever want to play both us and scUM in the same regular season. Why, that would be tantamount to a real Big 10 schedule!
They have most of their tough games at home next year (except for USC) so the schedule does favor them in that regard.
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Yeah but the two games they lost this year were both at home so...they're gonna need to do more than have home-field advantage.
 
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