[gailtate]

This was easily the best slate of week one matchups ever.  Here are my top takeaways:

1.  To me, the biggest story was the impact of transfers.  In almost every game I watched, transferred athletes were crucial to their team's performance.  I guess this is good for those players, since presumably they would not have been starting at the team they left.  Three standouts are Charbonnet (Michigan to UCLA), JT Daniels (USC to Georgia), and Ren Hefley (Michigan to Presbyterian).  Although, I wonder if we will ever see a really good second string player again.  

2.  The ACC got spanked.  Sure, the Pac-12 took its lumps but the ACC was devastated in week one with losses by Clemson, Miami, Duke, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina.

3. An NCAA record was broken by Ren Hefley of Presbyterian.  He threw 10 TD passes in an 84-43 beatdown of St. Andrews.  Interestingly, Presbyterian is now led by the coach that never punts, Kevin Kelley.  In this game, the Blue Hose tried nine onside kicks — recovering the opening one after winning the toss and deferring — and converted four of five fourth-down tries. They did not punt the ball.  The second string QB for the Blue Hose was 7 of 9 with 2 TDs.  I wonder where he will transfer to?

4. Shame on Udub and kudos to Montana.  An unranked FCS team beats a ranked FBS team.  This is rare.

5.  Alabama should be bumped up to the NFL.

6.  The incredible return of McKenzie Milton to sub in and play QB for Florida State and lead his team back from a big hole to tie ND in regulation.  What a gutsy performance by a kid who was told he might never play again because of a devastating knee injury that happened in 2018 when he was playing for UCF.  Doctors at the Mayo Clinic say he's a medical miracle.  Even better was seeing Brian Kelly's sweaty pouty anguished face when the Seminoles scored the tying FG in regulation.

For impact transfers, you left out the ND QB, who was excellent.
And the ND-FSU game was a terrific college contest in a great setting.  
Remember when we used to have those at Stanford?

And I don't like Kelly, either, but credit where it's due.  He followed his AD's directives, toned down his sideline antics, and ND is now a Top 10 team.  Regularly.
[/quote

Not to  mention CLEANED HOUSE after his own 4-8 season (2015). And the old boy has never looked back. He now helms a juggernaut One that will likely be contending, yet again, for the whole bag of chips this year. He doesn't believe that ND is "self-recuiting" and he and his staff know how to recruit hard. His players (and fans) respond and will be rewarded yet again with a Big Time Post-Season. Remember those? Needless to say, there'll be another humiliating Irish home-field advantage come November. Must be fun.

---

[quote="martyup" pid='324015' dateline='1630905489']
I just finished watching the ND - FSU game.  Great game in a great atmosphere that epitomizes all that is great about college football.  

But I have to say, WTF about Brian Kelly throwing his team under the bus within seconds of them pulling off an incredible win.  When asked "What did you think about your teams' ability to withstand Florida State's impressive comeback?" he replied "Yeah, uh you know I'm in favor of execution.  Maybe our entire team should be executed after tonight.  I mean, we just didn't execute very well . . . we've got some work to do . . . I like our team, I like our players, I like their commitment and they way they fought, but we've got a lot of work to do . . . we've got to get a lot better."

If you are going to quote someone else, you should at least acknowledge them.  It was John McKay who initially made the bad joke about executing his team after a poor showing.

Think about the high school football players that were watching that game and heard Kelly's comments.  Who would want to go play football for that guy?  His team had just won a big season opening game against a scrappy opponent in a hostile stadium full of war cry screaming tomahawk chopping fans and his first thought is how to punish his players because it was too close a game.  Even if he was attempting a joke, it was inexcusable.  He is a world class a**hole.

I know a few HS coaches in my area (Sacramento). ND has NO problem attracting players in California they really want. Say what you want about Kelly. He knows what it takes to maintain (as well as field) an elite program year after year.

[gailtate]

This was easily the best slate of week one matchups ever.  Here are my top takeaways:

1.  To me, the biggest story was the impact of transfers.  In almost every game I watched, transferred athletes were crucial to their team's performance.  I guess this is good for those players, since presumably they would not have been starting at the team they left.  Three standouts are Charbonnet (Michigan to UCLA), JT Daniels (USC to Georgia), and Ren Hefley (Michigan to Presbyterian).  Although, I wonder if we will ever see a really good second string player again.  

2.  The ACC got spanked.  Sure, the Pac-12 took its lumps but the ACC was devastated in week one with losses by Clemson, Miami, Duke, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina.

3. An NCAA record was broken by Ren Hefley of Presbyterian.  He threw 10 TD passes in an 84-43 beatdown of St. Andrews.  Interestingly, Presbyterian is now led by the coach that never punts, Kevin Kelley.  In this game, the Blue Hose tried nine onside kicks — recovering the opening one after winning the toss and deferring — and converted four of five fourth-down tries. They did not punt the ball.  The second string QB for the Blue Hose was 7 of 9 with 2 TDs.  I wonder where he will transfer to?

4. Shame on Udub and kudos to Montana.  An unranked FCS team beats a ranked FBS team.  This is rare.

5.  Alabama should be bumped up to the NFL.

6.  The incredible return of McKenzie Milton to sub in and play QB for Florida State and lead his team back from a big hole to tie ND in regulation.  What a gutsy performance by a kid who was told he might never play again because of a devastating knee injury that happened in 2018 when he was playing for UCF.  Doctors at the Mayo Clinic say he's a medical miracle.  Even better was seeing Brian Kelly's sweaty pouty anguished face when the Seminoles scored the tying FG in regulation.

For impact transfers, you left out the ND QB, who was excellent.
And the ND-FSU game was a terrific college contest in a great setting.  
Remember when we used to have those at Stanford?

And I don't like Kelly, either, but credit where it's due.  He followed his AD's directives, toned down his sideline antics, and ND is now a Top 10 team.  Regularly.
[/quote

Not to  mention CLEANED HOUSE after his own 4-8 season (2015). And the old boy has never looked back. He now helms a juggernaut One that will likely be contending, yet again, for the whole bag of chips this year. He doesn't believe that ND is "self-recuiting" and he and his staff know how to recruit hard. His players (and fans) respond and will be rewarded yet again with a Big Time Post-Season. Remember those? Needless to say, there'll be another humiliating Irish home-field advantage come November. Must be fun.

---

[quote="martyup" pid='324015' dateline='1630905489']
I just finished watching the ND - FSU game.  Great game in a great atmosphere that epitomizes all that is great about college football.  

But I have to say, WTF about Brian Kelly throwing his team under the bus within seconds of them pulling off an incredible win.  When asked "What did you think about your teams' ability to withstand Florida State's impressive comeback?" he replied "Yeah, uh you know I'm in favor of execution.  Maybe our entire team should be executed after tonight.  I mean, we just didn't execute very well . . . we've got some work to do . . . I like our team, I like our players, I like their commitment and they way they fought, but we've got a lot of work to do . . . we've got to get a lot better."

If you are going to quote someone else, you should at least acknowledge them.  It was John McKay who initially made the bad joke about executing his team after a poor showing.

Think about the high school football players that were watching that game and heard Kelly's comments.  Who would want to go play football for that guy?  His team had just won a big season opening game against a scrappy opponent in a hostile stadium full of war cry screaming tomahawk chopping fans and his first thought is how to punish his players because it was too close a game.  Even if he was attempting a joke, it was inexcusable.  He is a world class a**hole.

I know a few HS coaches in my area (Sacramento). ND has NO problem attracting players in California they really want. Say what you want about Kelly. He knows what it takes to maintain (as well as field) an elite program year after year.