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I was a senior in high school before my freshman year at ND and I remember thinking to myself, "That son of a bitch is going to run out the clock and with two effing time-outs left! This is unreal" |
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I like to think of this of game more along the lines of, "What if our faithful Irish alums were actually faithful?" But yeah, bad call, Davie. |
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This game was my sophomore year, and Bob Davie robbed me and all other fans there that day of a signature game of the century type win. This game more than any other is one that constantly sticks in my head. A lot of my extended family were in attendance, and my aunt, who knows very little about football, asked me why we didn't try to win the game. This and the 2005 USC game were the best I have ever attended, which is sad, since they were both losses. In fact, when I was at the USC game, I thought to myself, finally a great game the Irish will win to make up for the Nebraska game. And then there was the Bush Push. |
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I distinctly remember one set of downs in OT. They got 2 yards on first, none on second. And (to surprise them?) we played a soft zone on 3rd + 8. Gave up the first down. Lost later in the drive. "Doh-yeah" Davie struck again! |
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Great post, Pete. |
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Oh and I forgot to add... despite the annoyance at so MANY of them being in our stadium, as a whole, the Husker fans were by far the most gracious group of opposing fans at ND that I've seen. |
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This was my first game back at ND after a tour in Korea, ticket gotten from a buddy in law school. It was my wife's first game back as an alum. From our seats in the student section, the sea of Red was sickening. Stomach-turning. And yet, even though ND Stadium had become U. Nebraska at South Bend, we hung in and found a way to stay in the game. I remember the Julius Jones KO return and pandemonium breaking out--and thinking "Holy Crap, we could win!" I remember us getting the ball back with a minute left, and thinking we were GOING to win...and then... |
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What is more amazing than Davie's testosterone deficitcy is the fact he actually had 2 time outs left at that point. He usually blew all times out in the first 4 minutes of each half! |
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Effing Bob Davie. I hate him so bad. |
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20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing. |
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I was at that game, in the upper bowl behind the student section. I recall seeing Getherall slam his helmet into the turf when he realized Davie was playing for OT. I cannot remember the OT because I'm still standing there with an incredulous look on my face that we played for OT. Granted, the chance of doing anything in the last 1:10 was slim, but it was one more chance than Nebraska had. |
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I can forgive a coach for making moves that are too aggressive (see: Weis, Charlie), but I will never... never forgive Davie for this. This was my Freshman year, it remains burned in my eyes forever, the sight of that clock running out. I nearly cried. |
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So Pete...How do you REALLY feel about Bob Davie? |
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J-MAC - to me, the reasons you listed for why Davie was right to play for overtime are exactly the reasons I give for why it was wrong. Our offense had effectively done nothing the latter half of the game. The only reason we were in the game was the play of special teams, which plays no role in overtime. Head to head, our offense couldn't match Nebraska's for the first 60 minutes of the game...how Davie thought we would suddenly be able to match the 'Huskers blow for blow in overtime escapes me. Our best chance to win would be in regulation when Nebraska didn't have another chance to score. Obviously, there's no guarantee we'd have moved the ball at all or made a FG if we got into range...but that would have been our best chance to win. That's not 20-20 hindsight...it's the exact thing I said as I watched him run the clock out years ago. |
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Anybody remember how many timeouts Nebraska had left? Also, I heard from people who watched the game on TV that the NBC guys couldn't stop talking about how good the Huskers were. Nice NBC. Anbody able to confirm/deny? I also hope I'll never again attend a game with that many opposing fans in ND Stadium ever again. |
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Also a comment for J-MAC: I would point out that Bob didn't have to pick the better of the two opportunities. He could have had both. If they didn't get it at the end, THEN go to OT. You gotta play to win baby, don't play not to lose! But I did ask about Nebraska timeouts to see if they could have stopped the clock a lot if the drive stalled. It doesn't affect my opinion, but I am curious. |
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Between Davie going for OT and the Solich comment, I guess that’s why one is announcing color for ESPN2 and the other is floundering around trying to make a coaching come back at U, of Ohio (the other Ohio school). |
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Checking the box score: |
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The thing is he didn't have to start throwing the ball 30 yards down the field to "try to win". He could have tried anything except just running it up the middle to see if we could break one run and then use a timeout if we needed to. Run a reverse or a shovel pass or a screen or something out of the Boise State playbook which at least gives the team a chance to make a play. If you don't have the confidence to go for the win through the air, at least try to get creative on the ground to see if you can make something happen. |
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I agree with Marc against J-Mac. Last year I was over the south endzone at the UCLA game. Granted we were behind, not tied, so we had to try to drive the field in just over a minute. But seeing an offense that had generated nothing in the second half put together the final drive to take back the game was unreal. No way could Davie or Willingham have led a team to do that. |
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I was at this game with my then 14-year-old Son. I'll never forget all the RED, inside and out. We even sat between husker fans . I was completely sick w/anger when I realized he was going to run out the clock. Yes, the crowd was definitely booing. I remember trying to explain to my Son why ND was doing anything. I was dumbfounded. |
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I don't remember which year it was, but my loss of any faith in Davy came against MSU at home. Does anyone remember more specifically? We had the ball, 4rth and 1 or 2 at the 50 with about 2:00 min left, down a couple. Davy punted and we never got the ball back. My recollection is that the offense was playing ok, but we hadn't stopped state as well. Anyway, another gutless call |
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First of all, screw Bob Davie. 8 seasons of mediocrity thanks to him, plus 1-2 more terrible defenses with him under Holtz. |
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Its easy to say that Bob Davie should have gone for the win after the fact. Dont get me wrong, I agree that Bob Davie was an idiot, thats obvious, but with Arnaz Battle playing with a broken wrist and ND starting on its on 30 yard line, I dont know if you would have found a coach in the country that wouldnt take there chances in overtime. |
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In Bob's defense, I can't believe I wrote that, Holiday was something like 3/15 for 40 or 50 yards that afternoon. Still, you try and win the game in regulation. |
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Pardon me it was Battle under center that day |
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Manor09, I was watching the game on TV from my dorm room at Georgetown. (My father, '76, has never forgiven me for choosing the Jessies over South Bend.) NBC was kissing up to Nebraska the whole game, its true. But towards the end, even they wondered why Davie wasn't trying to make something happen, precisely along the lines of what Marc said. The team had relied on magic all game - why not see if the offense could capture it for one drive? |
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When you are only in the game because of weirdness and special teams, you don't play for overtime. That is a no brainer. There was absolutely no way we were going to play with them in OT, just like you wouldn't in a million years start the game from scratch. We were very fortunate to be tied, which means you go for the kill, not let it even out. |
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I was at the game with my son, and we screamed ourselves hoarse -- I couldn't talk for about three days afterward. We probably screamed louder to make up for the many ND fans who were absent, having disgracefully sold their tickets to Nebraska fans (Judases, all of them). We were overmatched in talent but had played a tremendously gutsy game -- now the chance was there to win it. It didn't even have to be a successful pass -- with Battle's ability to scramble, a big play would have been possible because Nebraska would likely have been in a prevent type defense. The only reason not to play for the win was fear of a turnover -- but you could just as well turn the ball over in OT. Charlie Weis would NEVER have run out the clock in that situation. Davie's decision making was inexcusable. |
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I remember that very moment well. We were spack dab in the middle of an incredible ND moment. Everybody knew it except Boob Davie. |
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The worst result of Davie's cowardice was seeing the looks on his players faces after they were robbed of the ending their physical and mental sacrifices on the field deserved. He should have been fired on the spot. |
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I was there. |
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There's no hindsight involved in this "what if?" Every single person in that stadium knew at that instant that Bob Davie should have gone for it in regulation. We had TWO TIMEOUTS LEFT! If you don't think you can go 35 yards to have a chance at a game-winning field goal with over a minute left and two timeouts, how do you think you can go 25 yards to score the TOUCHDOWN you're going to need to keep the game going after Nebraska scores on their posession?? |
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I was also in the stands that day. I argued until I was blue in the face with any ND fan who said that was the right decision. |
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I had the unfortunate task of being a bob davie, tyrone willingham tenured student. i arrived at campus with disdain for davie (don't you hate it when people call him davies though?) in the summer of 2000 to watch us beat A&M at my first game as a student, then watched this. My best friend since 5th grade and I stood in the stands, hungover, and couldn't believe what we saw. To all those at ND with coach Weis, rejoice for this simple fact - even when ND is down now, unlike with davie and ty, there is still a reasonable chance we can win. if we were down by 14 in the 4th quarter when i was there, kiss it goodbye, mary herself would have had to play alongside jesus if we had a hope of scoring 14 in one quarter with either of those assbags. |
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I agree. I was at that game. It was clear at that moment that Davie never understood Notre Dame, nor would he ever understand Notre Dame. The fans would rather have gone down swinging going for the win. Unfortunately, he never gave thos kids a rightful shot at glory, and we will never know what might have been. |
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