Saturday Sports Recap
Posted: Sunday, October 18, 2009 by Travis Cody inNot good enough. And moral victories are no longer satisfactory. In the last two games against USC, the Irish have only managed a grand total of 3 points. Today they got 27, but it still wasn't enough.
Since the last time ND beat USC in 2001, the Irish have given up 280 points to the Trojans and only scored 119.
Now a 4th quarter interception by junior CB Gary Gray gave me a bit of hope. He returned the ball to the Trojan 13 yard line, and the Irish were able to score on a TD pass from junior QB Jimmy Clausen to junior WR Golden Tate. That brought the Irish to within a TD.
Then ND held USC on the next possession, which they hadn't really been able to do in the second half. And I remembered that Clausen has led several 4th quarter comebacks this season. And then there were a couple of "luck o' the Irish" bounces, including a fumble recovery and a completion on 4th and 10 to keep the drive going.
And USC inexplicably kept making bad personal foul penalties. They hit a helpless receiver and then roughed the QB. And with :09 to play it looked like Kyle Rudolph caught a pass in the endzone, but his knee was just on the sideline boundary as he gained possession. If there's magic left, he gets his knee down in bounds and we're playing in OT.
So with :04 seconds, ND called time out to try and see if there was any magic left. But it wasn't to be. Clausen made a bad throw that would have been short of the endzone if it hadn't been incomplete, and the Irish lose for the 8th time in a row to USC.
But wait...instant replay confirmed that there was :01 left on the clock after the incomplete pass. One more chance for magic. USC called time out to get organized.
But that only delayed the inevitable as Clausen missed a wide open receiver in the endzone. And ND loses for the 8th time in a row to USC.
Just not good enough. And it doesn't seem like there's much magic left.
Notre Dame hosts Boston College next week.
I get the reasons for the "neighborhood play" at second base. That's when the second baseman or short stop skips around the second base bag but never actually touches it. They'll usually get the out call as a courtesy to give them a good grounding so they can get out of the way of a base runner who is trying to break up the double play. The idea is that as long as the player doesn't blatantly miss the bag, he'll get the out call.
But in the bottom of the 10th inning last night, Angels' shortstop Erick Aybar clearly straddled second base on a routine double play ball and he didn't get the out call. He missed the bag about as blatantly as you can miss it. I could see it live and he hopped over the base twice. The runner should have been called safe and he was.
It ended up not impacting the game, as the Angels were able to get the third out without surrendering the winning run. What I don't get is why take that chance in that situation? He had plenty of time to touch the bag and make the throw to complete the double play. He had touched the bag all night long in similar situations. Just step on the dang base and be certain of the out.
Despite that little controversy, game 2 was an absolute gem. It really is a shame that it ended on an error by the Angels in the bottom of the 13th inning. But it did, and so the series shifts to Anaheim with the Yankees up 2 games to 0.
I missed most of the game between Washington and Arizona State because the Angels and Yankees played deep into extra innings. The baseball game did end soon enough that I got to see the UW defense hold ASU to a missed field goal with just about 7 minutes to play.
Then junior QB Jake Locker led the Huskies on a terrific drive during which he got a couple of great catches from sophomore receivers Devin Aguilar and Jermaine Kearse. UW got a field goal to tie.
Oddly though, after the Huskies held ASU and got the ball back with about 1:17 to play, UW was very conservative with a couple of running plays. They didn't get the first down and had to punt. I guess they were trying to play for OT, but what do you suppose happened?
Senior QB Danny Sullivan threw a 50 yard TD pass to senior WR Chris McGaha to win the game for ASU. McGaha was totally wide open on a busted coverage.
Washington travels to #13 Oregon next week.
The first BCS poll comes out on Monday. Here are the results from the AP Top 12.
1 Florida (6-0,4-0) beat Arkansas 23-20. Tim Tebow threw for 255 yards and a TD on 17 of 26, and rushed for 69 yards on 27 carries.
2 Alabama (7-0,4-0) beat #22 South Carolina 20-6. Mark Ingram rushed for 246 yards and a TD on 24 carries.
3 Texas (6-0,3-0) beat #20 Oklahoma 16-13.
4 Virginia Tech (5-2,3-1) lost 28-23 to #19 Georgia Tech. Josh Nesbitt rushed for 122 yards and 3 TDs on 23 carries.
5 Boise State (6-0,1-0) beat Tulsa 28-21. Kellen Moore threw for 187 yards and 3 TDs on 22 of 32.
6 USC (5-1, 2-1) beat #25 Notre Dame 34-27. Matt Barkley threw for 380 yards and 2 TDs on 19 of 29.
7 Ohio State (5-2,3-1) lost 26-18 to Purdue. Joey Elliott threw for 281 yards and 2 TDs on 31 of 50.
8 Cincinnati (6-0,2-0) beat #21 South Florida 34-17. Zach Collaros rushed for 132 yards and 2 TDs on 10 carries.
9 Miami (5-1,2-1) beat UCF 27-7. Jacory Harris threw for 293 yards and a TD on 20 of 26.
10 LSU was idle
11 Iowa (7-0,3-0) beat Wisconsin 20-10. Ricky Stanzi threw for 218 yards and a TD on 17 of 23.
12 TCU (6-0,2-0) beat Colorado State 44-6. TCU rushed for 275 yards and 3 TDs as a team.
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