Would Irish Upset Of Utah Trump Any Weis-Era Win?

No one, and I mean NO ONE, is going to take Notre Dame seriously, as in RESPECT, until they beat a team that they are not supposed to beat. The Navy game was as pathetic a performance as I have ever seen by Notre Dame, and Tulsa was not much better. There is NO excuse for their losing to Tulsa, there was less for their losing to Navy – they had no fight in them, and you can’t blame Kelly for that. if those kids don’t mind getting pushed around in front of the whole country you can’t do much about that.
I remember watching Chris Zorich back in the mid to late 80s – the rest of the defense played like wildmen because they were scared of what Zorich would do to them if they didn’t. There is no one on the defense like that today.

Against Tulsa Rees showed immense improvement from his performance against Michigan. The last interception he threw came because Kelly called the play and because Rees didn’t have the sense/experience./confidence to throw the ball away. it was NOT all Kelly’s fault.

Rees did, however, show a lot of fire out there, which more than anything is what is needed now.

Utah will be favored, ND is really banged up and will be starting 2nd and 3rd stringers, a true freshman will be starting at QB, potential recruits will be glued to their TV sets, the seniors on the field and in the stands will be ….. I don’t know what they will be.

But I DO know what time it will be – it will be time, it will be PAST TIME to wake up the echoes

Please, guys, make an old fart very happy and kick some ass. That’s all I ask – 60 minutes of in-your- face-kick-ass “Do You Know Who We Are? Do you have ANY idea of who you’re messing with?” football.

That’s all I ask, and NO LESS.

Yes, I think a win over Utah would be big….Proly the biggest upset in a long time for us…Heck a win over Army would be huge right now. To me, the best game in the Weis era was a loss….The Bush-push loss to USC. That was a soul crusher…..

I was really hoping the Utah – TCU game would be close. With Utah coming into South Bend emotionally drained after the biggest game of their season, and with ND having an extra week to prepare, ND would present a serious trap game scenario for Utah.

Unfortunately, blow-outs tend not to be emotionally draining. So instead of a drained Utah, we may very well get a vengeful Utah looking to take out a ruined season’s worth of frustration on us.

I expect the Irish to keep it close and, if we’re lucky, lose in the most heart-breaking way possible. But who knows… I always turn into an optimist on Saturday. Makes it easier to have my heart ripped out.

Utah isn’t any good. No it would not be a major win. Beating USC at the end of the year would be a major win. Utah barely beat medicore Pitt at home. We stink, but that doesn’t mean beating Utah is a major victory. They are as overrated as it gets.

Terry,

Good thoughts. However, I’ve wanted to address the whole lack of “fire,” “passion” and “heart.”

To me, I have a hard time pin pointing when the team plays without those characteristics. I’m not saying they do or don’t in specific games, but I do feel like it’s an all too convienent excuse that fans use whenever the team loses.

For instance, I saw a terrible gameplan that didn’t put the team in a position to win and a lack of playmaking at some positions against Navy. I saw a defense play pretty well and a young offense rally around a true freshman against Tulsa.

In neither game did I come away saying, “if only this team played with more passion and heart, they would have won.”

It’s just something that bugs me I guess. It seems like whenever Notre Dame loses, it’s not because the other team made more plays or out skilled us somewhere, it’s because we didn’t show up with enough passion.

I’ve seen a player like Brian Smith play with plenty of passion and fire, but it doesn’t matter for a guy at his position if you can’t make a play in space.

It’s just something that I think is hard to judge and far too used as an excuse, especially considering the Irish offense isn’t smash mouth and oriented towards simply running over their opponent with “fire” and “intensity.”

And for the most part, I think the defense has played their hearts out this year.

Now, if we want to say these things about the Notre Dame Stadium crowd, well that is as clear as day. I’ve always wanted a more energetic atmosphere with the team run out and crowd cheering, but for the most part, I think the players themselves play with enough passion and heart. It’s not a lack of fire that is the problem right now.

Ryan,

I knew Utah wouldn’t win. It means a loss to them hurts more and a win doesn’t mean as much. That’s the way recent Irish history has been going.

Nice remarks on how a blowout will give them more vengefulness, I totally agree.

Haddaway,

Utah is a very good team, but their probably not an elite team as a lot of people rightly thought this year.

Do you have a win that was bigger in the Weis era?

The Utes have some holes in their defense, but they have a very capable quarterback and two really dangerous running backs. You don’t beat Iowa State (who beat Texas and nearly upset Nebraska) by 41 points without being a pretty darn good football team.

Based solely on where this team is right now and how this season has gone I think this win would be bigger than any in the Weis era. All of the “big” 2005 wins were a nice surprise that got us all excited. In 2006 it was expected. After that calling any Weis win “big” would be a stretch for me.

This is Kelly version 1.0, the injuries have piled up and the honeymoon is officially over. The program needs one. Kelly needs one. The fan base needs one. While I agree that Utah just might be a bit of a paper tiger they are still a one loss team that is ranked #14 in the BCS and you know the Utes are going to come out swinging. A win could do wonders for the program at this point.

ND needs this win if they are going bowling this year. They need the extra practices and game experience so they can build on next season. Forget about it being a bigger win than weis ever had, thats like getting a job at walmart instead of burger king, its still nothing to brag about. Kelly has said they need those extra practices. Here is where we could harp on why they didn’t kick a field goal against tulsa, but I’m trying to look forward. The d will not get fixed overnight. They need speed and depth on that side. The O needs to get comfortable with the spread and play consistent. That will only happen with practice. 7-5 is still possible. Though not what we all wanted, if they win out we will be able to see improvement and we will finally be able to be confident (not just hopeful) of sucess next year.

A win against Utah would be huge. This program needs to win some games that we are not supposed to. We also need to stop losing games we should win, but some wins over a Utah or USC would outweigh losses to Navy and Tulsa.

Over the last 5 years, we have proven that we can play with equal competition and will, inevitably, come to games unprepared and uninspired resulting in a loss to teams we should beat. We have not risen to the occassion to beat a top team (USC, LSU in Sugar Bowl, Ohio state).

We need a “Sportscenter Highlight” game badly. The injuries may be too much to overcome.