I'm pretty sure that's what Coach Brian Kelly said to Michigan State head coach, Mark Dantonio after the Fighting Irish's loss to the Spartans Saturday Night...Why? Let me tell you...
It seems for the past ten years, every game between these two teams is a down to the wire battle...Always a back and forth, whoever has the ball last wins type of game...Saturday's game was shaping up to be the same...
The Irish got on the board first with a touchdown pass from Dayne Crist, to Michael Floyd...The Spartans answered back in the second quarter and even though both teams moved the ball pretty well, the game went to halftime tied at 7...Then the 3rd quarter happened...
MSU's Edwin Baker scored on a 56 yard run...Crist answered back with a ten yard strike to Tight End Kyle Rudolph...Then MSU freshman running back Le'Veon Bell took one in for 16 yards...The Irish drove back down again, and Crist hit Theo Riddick with a 15 yard TD pass...Riddick had a nice game, 10 receptions, for 128 yards and the TD...
Then the Irish defense nutted up and held serve...(Look at that, I just used a Tennis term) In the fourth quarter Crist hit Floyd again on for a 24 yard TD pass...The Spartans responded with a 24 yard TD pass from Kirk Cousins, to B.J. Cummingham...The Irish got the ball back, and were stopped on a fourth and one on their side of the 50...I really thought that call was going to cost ND the game, and make me truly hate Brian Kelly...The Notre Dame defense has had trouble closing games, and now they needed to make some big plays, and they did...Shutting down the Spartans and pushing them back into their own end of the field...Both teams would get the ball one more time and exchange punts...Then it was on to overtime...
Notre Dame got the ball first, and the Spartan defense stepped up again, and made them settle for a field goal...Now the pressure was on the Irish defense again...Now I'm pacing around the living room...trying my best not to wake the rest of the house...Win or lose, I'm going to make some kind of noise...
So what happens...The Irish defense shows up big, and pushes the Spartans back...Now they are lining up for a 46 yard field goal, with an inexperienced kicker...The call that Dantonio makes next can only be described as the 'I have balls 10 times bigger then you' call...FAKE FIELD GOAL...Holder, Aaron Bates takes the snap, takes a couple steps right, pulls up, and throws a 29 yard pass to tight end Charlie Gantt for the game winning touchdown...And I puke in my soup...
My hope of the Irish winning a minimum of 8 games is quickly slipping away...Turning the ball over 3 times and giving up 477 yards(274 passing, 203rushing) is going to beat you more times than not...
Crist finished with 369 yards passing, and the 4 touchdowns...He completed 32 of 55 passes...Floyd had 6 receptions for 81 yards, and 2 TD's...Rudolph caught 8 for 80 yards and 1 TD...Armando Allen caught 6 passes for 70 yards, and carried the ball 13 times for 71 yards...
There is plenty of talent on the offensive side of the ball, but the defense keeps getting beat for big plays...Some on the ground and some through the air...The corners are good, but the safeties seem to get beat deep...The biggest problem the defense has had is finishing games...Well they played well in the 4th and OT, but got beat down in the 3rd...So now the goal has to be for the defense to play a complete game...
Seriously, I need to puke...I don't know if I can handle another long, painful, season...Oh, and Mark Dantonio, great call...I hate you!
Later, The Beeze.
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