Despite the loss today, I don't feel all that bad. I'll just post some of my game observations here and then follow up later after I've had the chance to watch the game over again on TV.

The defense was good today. ND has a much better offense than the three previous opponents we've faced and we held them to less points. At times it seemed like we got to the QB and made him uncomfortable. We forced two takeaways - one shy of our goal. Going into this game I was really concerned about covering Floyd. We really held him in check.

Ray Graham looked great again today. He's a real beast out there. At times it seems like he's our only offensive weapon.

I did not like the penalties today. We had way too many false starts. Even with a new starting guard we need to avoid these mental errors moving forward.

Is there a game that goes by where Sunseri doesn't make game changing mistakes? He just does not get rid of the ball quickly enough for this offense to be effective passing the ball. I'm sure Graham harps on him about this but there is no way that there are just no open receivers every time he holds the ball. I think he has a lot of problems processing the defense and I'm not sure he'll ever improve on that. In his defense, I could not tell in real time whether there were open WRs for him to throw to. I would have to go back and watch the game over again. My guess is that there were (often) but again I don't know.

I did not mind Graham's decision to go for it on 4th and 26. With the way ND was moving the ball on us, I think it is nieve to think they wouldn't have made a single first down. Therefore, you have to go for it and at least give yourself a chance.

I'm not sure I like Graham's timeout management.

Yea, I agree. Tons of wasted TO's in this game. If those TO's wasn't wasted in the 3rd, the O could've had a shot to win the game late. That's all moot.

And honestly, I wasn't pissed off about this loss at all. Kinda surprised.

So after watching the first half again on TV, my opinion hasn't changed too much. I'll just list a couple of quick points about it.

- The defense actually looked better to me on TV than they did at the game. It could have been Urban Meyer's continual compliments or just that I was able to gain more of an understanding on what we were doing but I think we played a solid defensive half. It's hard to follow all of the adjustments that are being made from the stands. Even though you have a clearer view of the entire field, you can't rewind. We were definitely disguising our coverage quite well. That's key for a 335 alignment.

- Timeout management was awful. I knew it was bad but the reality is it was awful. We took a timeout on 3rd and 1 in ND territory just to come out and run a QB sneak! That's unbelievable and an unbelievable waste of a TO. I know there are instances where the coach just doesn't like what he sees but this was ridiculous. If we didn't get it the first time we could have lined up and did it again. Really awful decision making.

- The pitch call at the goal line was pretty bad. This is one of those calls that you say hindsight is 20/20 about, though. It would have been genius if it worked. The reality, though, is again you have two downs to work with at the goal line. Being that Graham is aggressive and seeing as we have one of the best RBs in the nation I would think a simple run up the middle would have worked. Spielman noted that we could have just run another QB sneak as we got a huge push on the earlier 3rd and 1. I agree. Bad play call - especially because you know that ND is athletic if nothing else.

- Greg Williams missed a pick 6 opportunity that looked like it hit him square in the hands. Hopefully the next time that happens he catches the ball first and then takes it back to the house.

Hopefully I get to the second half before the USF game! At this rate IDK.