Man, I'm gonna miss Quinn and Samardzija!!!
*sigh*
24 hour | Email | Homepage | 02.21.07 - 8:36 pm | #

How can you download these videos to your own computer? These are sweet! Thanks for including Grime's TD. I love that play and hope to see more like them next year.
Jake | Email | Homepage | 02.21.07 - 9:35 pm | #

Awesome guys. Thanks for the great work on these and the previous 10.

Here’s a question for you academics out there. If, on a play from scrimmage, the ball carrier touches a knee down, the play is over, right? That’s rhetorical. Obviously this is not the rule on a field goal or a PAT because the holder almost always has a knee on the ground to receive the snap before the attempt. But look at the Samardzija fake field goal. Jeff has a knee on the ground as the holder, but he then stands up and runs. Therefore, the fourth down play technically is not a field goal attempt but rather a play from scrimmage. Why wasn’t he ruled down? I’ve been asking this question since I saw it live.

As a holder in high school, I was taught (by a not very successful or knowledgeable head coach) to take the snap while coming out of my stance. I assume there is a simple answer since I have never seen a fake field goal challenged.
Don E. Brook | Email | Homepage | 02.21.07 - 10:04 pm | #

Don, my dad coaches special teams at our high school and two years ago, we did a fake field goal. They snapped it, and the holder flipped a shovel pass to the end on the far left who came across. We scored, but I remember a flag. I can't remember the ruling, if they took it back or what. I don't know what the rule is on those fakes, but you always have to be careful when running them. That's why if you're a coach you need to ask the ref about any problems with any of your special plays.
Sean | Email | Homepage | 02.21.07 - 10:14 pm | #

IMHO, clutch TD's (Carlson and Shark scores v. MSU) should rank higher than garbage scores against cupcakes.
ThE LoSt BoY | Email | Homepage | 02.21.07 - 10:45 pm | #

Lost Boy-

They should...and they do. Look at the rankings again, featuring clutch TDs at the top three spots

1- Clutch TD vs UCLA
2- INT vs MSU
3- GT touchdown drie in close game
Chris | Email | Homepage | 02.21.07 - 11:02 pm | #

Just to clarify the rule for a Fake FG(See Exception):

From Rule 4:
Ball Declared Dead
ARTICLE 3. A live ball becomes dead and an official shall sound his
whistle or declare it dead:
[...]
b. When any part of the runner’s body, except his hand or foot,
touches the ground or when the runner is tackled or otherwise falls and
loses possession of the ball as he contacts the ground with any part of
his body, except his hand or foot. (Exception: The ball remains
alive when an offensive player has simulated a kick or is in position
to kick the ball held for a place kick by a teammate. The ball may be
kicked, passed or advanced by rule) (A.R. 4-1-3-I).
Aaron | Email | Homepage | 02.21.07 - 11:47 pm | #

I agree with the rule Aaron posted.

I thought Weis mentioned it in his PC or something.

Essentially, the play is NOT down, because there is an exception to the rule for field goals, which allows the holder to get up with a live ball.
atepesm | Email | Homepage | 02.21.07 - 11:56 pm | #

Samardzija telling Drew Stanton "nice pass" is one of the best moments I have ever seen. Drew Stanton was smirking the entire game, even when ND was only down by one score, and I couldn't have been more happy when Lambert took that smirk of his face.
Jeff | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 12:02 am | #

LOL Shark said that to Stanton?!? Where'd you hear that from?
Sean | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 12:41 am | #

The shark did tell Stanton something after his INT. I saw it live and I remember making a comment about it when I saw it..
Freddy | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 2:34 am | #

It's on the video clip - on the closeup of Stanton after the interception, Shark walks by and says it.

I'm usually against trash talking - but I'll make an exception for that one. I was at the OT loss in 2005, and it sucked. But watching us rip their hearts out, send them into their yearly spiral, and get their coach fired one year later... well, that was pretty sweet.
Jeff | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 4:03 am | #

I got to tell you we've all be whinning andcrying over our losses the lack fo recruiting etc -- and with justification -BUT - these last two years are BY FAR the most exciting football I can EVER remember with more incredible games, plays and comebacks than any two seasons in ND histroy.

Prove me wrong...I'd be happy to hear different. Me, I'm pleased as punch.
Schwap | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 7:08 am | #

wait a second... that play where TT took off a defender's helmet while crossing the goal line (against PSU, I believe) didn't make it?

what's with that? That was, for my money, one of the top 20 plays of the year.
domer03inbmore | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 7:34 am | #

The one thing that makes Notre Dame football analysis from BGS the finest in the blogosphere is a phrase like, "as he pinned the ball against the back of a supine Spartan receiver."

A correct use of the word supine. Brilliant!

Oh, and the football was pretty good, too.
dbldomer7375 | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 8:05 am | #

Supine or prostrate? I can't believe that play - one of the most remarkable interceptions in my memory, did not make it. And with great appreciation and love to our Tim Lyons and all the courageuous and unheralded seniors...that's not a top ten...call me Scrooge. Note to previous posters -- a lot of defensive highlights - forgot about Zibby's fumble didn't we...
Yago | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 9:20 am | #

How about best plays that didn't count?
Remember Zbikowski's punt return for a TD in the rain against MSU? Called back for holding, but still a brilliant run, in the rain, and part of the dramatic momentum swing.
Always great to see him recapture his high school option quarterback prowess on the punt returns.
Thank you, Tom.

He's still coming back, right?
Joe Subway | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 10:00 am | #

These were great.
Is clip #10 actually the 1st quarter, not the 2nd?
becky '05 | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 10:16 am | #

"Because the Irish...were able to stop the clock twice with timeouts during the Bruins' short series, they got the ball back with 62 seconds left."

Man I love Charlie Weis. Say what you will about blowout losses to top 5 teams, without him we would have lost TEN games the past two years.
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 10:20 am | #

The other part I love about that MSU call is hearing the dejection in Musberger's voice when Lambert picks it off. He say "interecepted" with such a disgusted tone, you'd think Lambert kicked his dog on the way to doing it.
OITLinebacker | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 10:43 am | #

Domer03; if I remember correctly, the guy who lost his helmet was his high school teammate as well. I remember at the time saying to my wife that image would make a fine poster on the wall of a dorm...

Thanks for posting that rule Aaron.
indy | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 10:43 am | #

The other thing I noticed from watching a lot of these plays is how quickly events can unfold in a college football. Zibby's PSU fumble return, Shark's UCLA run, the FG block TD return, etc all show that a game or series can turn around in the blink of an eye. One moment PSU is running an option, three seconds later ND is celebrating a TD.

Oh how I long for other teams to hold their breath every time we run the ball until our guy gets tackled the way I did every time Reggie Bush touched the ball last year. Fortunately, with the O-line we're developing and the hosses we've got in the backfield, I think that time will be soon.
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 12:30 pm | #

"Last year" = 2005
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 12:31 pm | #

Hey, it wouldn't be a BGS Clip Show without a little controversy, would it?

'05 Clips:
http://bluegraysky.blogspot.com/ ...717375345737933

First comment: "Great list. But I think Zibby's USC touchdown was better than his UT touchdown."
Jay | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 12:46 pm | #

Thanks for the great clips. I forgot how exciting the year was. The big blow out losses skewed my memory away from all of the exciting wins.

I was at that MSU game and my voice feels hoarse just watching the clips.
rbingham'97 | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 1:23 pm | #

i'm with you rbingham... i kept thinking that last years clips would be hard to beat, but i'd say this years stack up pretty well. Although shark's two catches last year, are probably still my faves
guyritz | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 2:40 pm | #

The best Shark catch that I can remember is the one-handed overthrown grab at Purdue in '05. I saw it live. It got considerable press but I was expecting more.
Don E. Brook | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 3:19 pm | #

I love Shark's diving TD grab in the first game in '05 against Pitt - where Fouts (usually moronic in his comments; see Stanford '05) was so amazed at the catch. It really announced Shark's arrival as one of the top WRs in the country.

Justin King was the kid from PSU who lost his helmet vs. TT. I don't think they were on the same HS team; I think they played against each other in HS (TT said he knew a few of them, being from Pennsylvania). I actually was impressed by King on that hit - he's a corner taking on a tough runner like TT, and he laid a good lick. (I felt dirty writing that.) Plus - if they (B10 refs!) had reviewed the play, there's a chance they would have ruled the ball left TT's hands before he crossed the plane. I was glad to see us get the TD, but I think King acquitted himself well that day.
Jeff | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 4:06 pm | #

So nice to see that UCLA game winner. I have never, never heard a crowd so loud and crazily excited as after that score...
jake | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 4:49 pm | #

I get chills every time I watch the game winning TD against UCLA.
Jake | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 6:17 pm | #

I have never had as much fun watching football as I did watching ND play the previous two seasons. Thank you for posting these clips - I am in a hotel about 2 miles from "The Horseshoe" at THE Ohio State and needed some ND goodness to shake off all the Buckeye badness that hangs over this city!
James | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 9:23 pm | #

jake & Jake,

I couldn't agree more. I was in the endzone seating and saw every bit of the unfolding of that touchdown capped by Shark holding the ball like it was the Maltese Falcon. The crowd was deathly quiet beforehand because there was so much riding on our last possession and hope flickered with only 27 seconds left. But the crescendo roar by the ENTIRE stadium after the score was amazing and indeed gave me the chills.

Even better than all of that, however, was the singing of the alma mater after the game. I have never heard it louder, or more beautifully sung by, again, the ENTIRE stadium.

Awesome.
Andy | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 9:29 pm | #

Yeah, I was at the UCLA game, and I screamed so hard with joy -- and for so long, apparently -- that the guy in front of me called a friend and held his cell phone up to my face. Good times.

Thanks for posting these, guys. But also, it wounds me. With ND hoops and hockey doing pretty well, I thought I was coping with the lack of football pretty well, but these clips and the fight song and everything got me going again and now I'm back to counting down the days.

Another thing: It reminds me of how very much I'm going to miss this group of guys. This is the toughest transition for me in a long while; this team had a lot of character and a lot of good characters. They're all quality guys who really seemed to enjoy playing together and I'm really going to miss all those faces in blue and gold.
Heather | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 10:03 pm | #

I have seen a lot of ND Games at the Stadium (New/Old). Harry O's 51- yarder into the wind, Miami in'88, FSU & Charlie Ward, USC in '05, etc.

I will say that none gave me the joy of celebrating like Jeff's Catch/Run against UCLA. I am not sure if it was screaming and holding my nine year old dauaghter or my wife saying I will never come to another game because they always lose when I come(SC'05-The Bush Push CHEATERS!).

I too am going to miss #10 and #83 they were a lot of fun to watch every week because you never knew what was going to happen next. Most of all though I will miss #10 because he is a GREAT person!
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 02.22.07 - 11:53 pm | #

Anonymous, man you are a very lucky person to experience some of those all-time great games at the best stadium in the land, Notre Dame Stadium. I am still waiting to experience my first home game, but I have been in the locker room and inside the stadium two summers ago, and I went to the Fiesta Bowl in '05. Hopefully I can go to the B&G Game this year and sometime a ND home game!
Sean | Email | Homepage | 02.23.07 - 12:50 am | #

I know this is late in the blog, but I believe the ruling is that the holder can leave his knee and return to the ground if the ball is kicked, but if the ball is not to be kicked he can not return to his knee. If the ball is not kicked he cannot throw a pass from his knee. The holder is considered down, that is why you have roughing the holder penalties. So JS can take the snap on his knee, leave his knee to run or pass, but cannot pass with his knee on the ground.
Doug | Email | Homepage | 02.23.07 - 4:18 am | #

I hate to rain on the love-fest, but what I noticed was the absolute absence of big plays in any of the losses.

Despite the heroics against the teams that they should have beaten handily, the '06 Irish underachieved. As I think back on the year, their best players, and the heroes of the '05 season, often had mediocre-to-poor games against the better teams on the schedule.

A really "highlight" season has a team handily beating the teams they should beat and being competitive, and hopefully winning, games against equivalent or superior competition. I think that the '07 team has the chance to have that sort of magical season.
PJ | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 12:38 pm | #