01-08-2013, 12:21 AM
I'm glad Bama won. No scratch that -- I'm glad ND lost.
BUT, I don't think the mismatch was as great as people are making it out to be. ND was able to score and contain Bama in the second half. Sure, Bama probably relaxed a bit in the second half with the big lead but they did seem to want the shutout and couldn't get it done. They were still throwing the ball deep late in the game and didn't outscore ND in the second half. The lopsided score is more a matter of ND self destructing in the first half, aided by a few terrible officiating calls going against them (not that I have a problem with that, of course). It looked like it took ND the entire first half to get used to the occasion while it was routine business on the other side (as it should be for a team whose seniors are doing this for the third time).
Would we have done better? I do think our coaches and team would have come out ready to play from the get go. That's been a hallmark of Shaw teams. Would it have been enough to win? Perhaps not, but I'm sure the game would have been closer that this one was.
BUT, I don't think the mismatch was as great as people are making it out to be. ND was able to score and contain Bama in the second half. Sure, Bama probably relaxed a bit in the second half with the big lead but they did seem to want the shutout and couldn't get it done. They were still throwing the ball deep late in the game and didn't outscore ND in the second half. The lopsided score is more a matter of ND self destructing in the first half, aided by a few terrible officiating calls going against them (not that I have a problem with that, of course). It looked like it took ND the entire first half to get used to the occasion while it was routine business on the other side (as it should be for a team whose seniors are doing this for the third time).
Would we have done better? I do think our coaches and team would have come out ready to play from the get go. That's been a hallmark of Shaw teams. Would it have been enough to win? Perhaps not, but I'm sure the game would have been closer that this one was.