ND vs BYU game thoughts......

Good game, can't say I am surprised by the final score, but I am disappointed how both sides got there.



BYU had all kinds of opportunities to win this.  Open passes missed and dumb mistakes.  ND did not show up the first three quarters on defense and made dumb play after dumb play with stupid penalties; ND has shots to blow this open if they did not make boneheaded play after play in the first half.  Neither team could make a field goal.  I would have preferred both teams playing well and have a slugfest  with both teams playing at their peek.



My thoughts, BYU's defense is legit.  I have seem ND play many good defenses over the year and your defense is very good.  If ND had a QB who could pass we had guys running open the first half, but overall BYU's defense is very good defense.   BYU's offense is not good, Riley is really bad.....he was skipping balls in warm-ups and he was getting a few laughs from the crowd.....ND fans kept saying "they have big WR's we are lucky they can't get it to them".  BYU did not seem overwhelmed by playing at ND, although this was the quietest crowd in years.



Enjoyable game but frustrating on both ends for both teams.  It was a quiet crowd given last weeks draining game and given it was fall break on campus.  I was surprised BYU did not have a better turn out.  I received my mid-week emails saying the team did not sell their allotment and there were extra tickets, I had always thought BYU traveled well.....usually we only get tickets returned against Wake Forest, Tulsa, S. Florida....maybe BYU fans are beat down from earlier in the season?



Either way, there were a lot of quality BYU fans there and good to catch-up with them.  I feel much better now that I can cheer for BYU for another year. 

ND offense exceeded expectations.

ND defense didn't.

BYU offense exceeded expectations.

BYU defense gave up 400 + % of their rushing YPG average!

And yet the Defense only allowed 17 points and still gave us a shot win the game. They held when it mattered most although Sampson missed some important tackles at the end of the game



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MesaCougFan wrote:
ND offense exceeded expectations.

ND defense didn't.

BYU offense exceeded expectations.

BYU defense gave up 400 + % of their rushing YPG average!

The ND offense suprised me how horrid they were. We had guys running wide open and Rees would send a floater to the sideline.....BYU can relate. We both had FCS QBs playing, BYU fans were mad at Riley's throws, at least he threw to the right guy.



I was shocked that NDs defense (DBs) came out so uninterested in the game for the first half. Worst performance of the year hands down. I hope they learned to no take anyone lightly....historically a problem I thought we had corrected.



Give it to BYU they came to play.



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Extra tix is the fact that our tix office has no clue what's going on. I tried and tired to get tix to the Norte Dame game was told over and over no tix left..funny the week of the game I get an email says we got ND tix...wow thanks I bet airfare really cheap 4 days in advance.

Irish cougar we will get you guys in basketball this year in the coaches vs cancer tourney.

BYUBALLIN wrote:
Irish cougar we will get you guys in basketball this year in the coaches vs cancer tourney.

Should be a good game, we are going to be decent. Preseason (not that it is accurate) #23, although many believe that is low. BYU has been tough. We will see.



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Irish Cougar wrote:

Irish cougar we will get you guys in basketball this year in the coaches vs cancer tourney.

Should be a good game, we are going to be decent. Preseason (not that it is accurate) #23, although many believe that is low. BYU has been tough. We will see.



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Please keep Danny Ainge away from the game! I tease Digger Phelps about this, he said this is one of his worst losses.



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BYUBALLIN wrote:
Extra tix is the fact that our tix office has no clue what's going on. I tried and tired to get tix to the Norte Dame game was told over and over no tix left..funny the week of the game I get an email says we got ND tix...wow thanks I bet airfare really cheap 4 days in advance.

A lot of fans bailed on their reserved tickets through cougar club. I don't know if there were other reasons as well.

How do you bail on tix I have been a season tix holder for sometime, BYU let you order tix and allow people to turn them back for a refund...you have to pay at the time of the order.

Good thoughts. I hope this does not come across whiny, but with respect, ND is not a top five team. I have watched several games and I like your defense but your offense is pedestrian at best. Top ten team? Not sure. Top 15? Quite likely. Good luck to you. We had our chances but left them on the table. Hope you come back here soon.

ND has a legit OL. Take notes Doman and Weber. Those meaty boys ate our D line and LB's for lunch.

BoiseBYU wrote:
Good thoughts. I hope this does not come across whiny, but with respect, ND is not a top five team. I have watched several games and I like your defense but your offense is pedestrian at best. Top ten team? Not sure. Top 15? Quite likely. Good luck to you. We had our chances but left them on the table. Hope you come back here soon.

Thank you. We will see how we play this weekend. I was very disappointed ND's effort this weekend, especially the defense....the secondary seemed totally uniterested, it felt like the Weis years.



I feel BYU's QB frustration, it is similar at ND. Put starting QB is a RS Freshman (out vs BYU) with a ton of talent but he had issues making reads. We have the #1 QB recruit from last year (LSU commit), we also have a more mobile QB who did not play. Of course we played the immobile QB wIth the worst arm....good change up QB, but similar to Riley ND fans don't get The coaching staff's love for him. Golson will be good, he needs things to click mentally.



BYU will/can win Saturday. Riley exceeded my expectations, I thought he would be overwhelmed and worse based on the other games I saw. You had a chance to win, given a break or two you should have. Again, disappointed in an ugly game by both teams.



I really wish BYU still had Utah on the schedule this year, BYU would win big.



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I will say that I want Notre Dame to win the BCS championship game because I am tired of the SEC winning it all the time--and ND deserves some good luck. But, I don't think ND has the offense to keep up with 'Bama or Oregon not to mention Oklahoma next week.



Best of luck the rest of the way though. I can't wait to get ND in Provo!

CAFB_04-12 wrote:
I will say that I want Notre Dame to win the BCS championship game because I am tired of the SEC winning it all the time--and ND deserves some good luck. But, I don't think ND has the offense to keep up with 'Bama or Oregon not to mention Oklahoma next week.



Best of luck the rest of the way though. I can't wait to get ND in Provo!

Thank you! Go Cougars the rest of the way. You should come to ND for next years game.



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Mars wrote:


I wish that Notre Dame was our rival. But just like Boise State, TCU, etc., we have to start winning more often in the big games for that to happen.

I would love that too and the ACC affiliation will make it even harder. Also ND already has a handful of rivals with more to come from the ACC, think FSU. I love the game, albeit tough to cheer against BYU, but this game is slotted the least desirable spot schedule (end of fall break with students off school), it is an easy ticket to get compared to others....the demand is not there and for anyone at the game it was dull compared to other big games; I was shocked even byu gave back seats. I did not see TV ratIngs but would be shocked if it even approached the 3.9 for the Stanford game...needs a big audience.



ND and BYU have never played each other for something, if something was on the line for both teams it may change something. Everyone hates ND, that does not make it a rivalry and everyone wants to beat us....like I said I hope things change but we will see.



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TV ratings were the highest for ND since last year, according to a tweet I saw earlier

hawkwing wrote:
TV ratings were the highest for ND since last year, according to a tweet I saw earlier

The BYU game was a 2.7 but not close to the Stanford game. This came on the heals of a big game so it likely get a boost. What I saw was a comp to game 7 last year, Navy, and 2010 W. Michigan.....byu had higher ratings but it was attributed to better opponent and much better ND team. Purdue was much lower this year, but that was pre the ND hype. I would guess every game is up significantly this year.



If we keep winning Pitt and Wake will be up and of lose we will see numbers go down. Hard to compare a bad season vs a good season....if byu beat BSU, OSU and the U I guarantee byu does not return ND tickets.



Could be a good rivalry but it would take a decades worth of games to get there.



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Irish Cougar wrote:

TV ratings were the highest for ND since last year, according to a tweet I saw earlier

The BYU game was a 2.7 but not close to the Stanford game. This came on the heals of a big game so it likely get a boost. What I saw was a comp to game 7 last year, Navy, and 2010 W. Michigan.....byu had higher ratings but it was attributed to better opponent and much better ND team. Purdue was much lower this year, but that was pre the ND hype. I would guess every game is up significantly this year.



If we keep winning Pitt and Wake will be up and of lose we will see numbers go down. Hard to compare a bad season vs a good season....if byu beat BSU, OSU and the U I guarantee byu does not return ND tickets.



Could be a good rivalry but it would take a decades worth of games to get there.



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The number I saw was 3.7, I believe. But the information could have been wrong.