Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547434
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 7, 2026 5 FAN FORUM BE HEARD! Send your letters to: steve.downey@on3.com or mail to: Blue & Gold Illustrated, P. O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702 CLOCK MANAGEMENT Greetings, folks at BGI! I really enjoy one of the simple pleasures in my life: reading Blue and Gold. Thank you for your excellent reporting of ND football! I have a question for you that's been troubling me, and I would like your opinion on it. It seems to be the elephant in the room. I haven't heard anybody talk about it, maybe because they're afraid of offending our coaches? At the game in Provo, shouldn't our head coach, Marcus Freeman, or one of his assistants have been responsible for watching the game clock and recog- nizing that one second remained after the incom- plete pass to Greathouse? Shouldn't someone then have approached the officials and demanded that the field be cleared so Notre Dame could run another play? Looking forward to your answer. Gary Pasquinelli '65 Gary, thank you for the kind words and a fair ques- tion. We agree that someone on Notre Dame's staff should be monitoring the clock and alerting Free- man to any potential discrepancy, especially with the game hanging in the balance. Freeman said afterward that he did not learn about the remaining second until the flight home. He ques- tioned whether someone in the press box could have recognized the timing error in real time and said the staff trusted the officials and replay crew to get it right. That explains what happened, but your point about having another safeguard is worth considering. If anyone on the staff suspected time remained, an im- mediate request for a review would have been war- ranted. We would stop short of saying that demand- ing another play would necessarily have changed the officials' decision. The primary responsibility rests with the officiating and replay crews. The Big 12 acknowledged that the final play was incorrectly cleared and time remained. Notre Dame deserved another snap, and the system responsible for ensuring that opportunity failed. ALTITUDE EFFECT Surprisingly, nobody is talking about the effect of altitude on the team's performance at BYU. Provo's roughly 4,500-foot elevation thins out the air and reduces drag. That's why the ball flew deep into the end zone on kickoffs and CJ Carr's long throws were off the mark. The thinner air also provides less oxygen per breath, which caused our players to tire more quickly who were not as used to the altitude as the BYU play- ers. This was a big problem for our defense trying to prevent BYU from scoring in the fourth quarter and our receivers try- ing to score before the end of the game. A different game plan had to be drawn up, one that leaned more on running the ball and less on passing. Game stats showed that we passed 49 times and ran 24 (carries by running backs). This should have been flipped. And if passes were necessary, they should have been short- and medium- range passes, not deep passes which sailed over our receivers' hands. More carries for Walton would have been preferable. He had only 5 carries yet scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion. Also, playing more subs would have kept our players fresher and improved their performance. Let's hope we can learn from the experience. Diego Tamayo ND '67 Diego, altitude is a fair factor to consider. Thinner air reduces drag on the football, and reduced oxygen availability can make sustained exertion and recovery more difficult. However, we would be cautious about attributing Carr's overthrows or the defense's late struggles directly to elevation without more evidence. The staff did address the challenge beforehand. Marcus Freeman discussed hydration, nutrition and recovery between plays, with preparation informed by Loren Landow's experience working with the Den- ver Broncos. Whether those preparations proved sufficient is a reasonable question. We also understand your desire to see more of Jonaz Walton, particularly after his touchdown and two-point conversion. But simply reversing the run- pass totals would not necessarily have produced a better result. Notre Dame trailed by 11 at halftime, and its final possession required moving quickly downfield for a touchdown. Those circumstances helped shape the passing volume. It is also worth remembering that the defense held BYU scoreless after halftime until the winning touch- down with 1:47 remaining. That strong second-half performance does not rule out late fatigue, but it makes altitude's overall impact difficult to isolate. Your broader point about adapting personnel us- age and play selection to the conditions deserves consideration. Altitude may have contributed, but we cannot establish how much it affected the outcome. Following Notre Dame's disappointing 28-24 loss at BYU Oct. 17, the Fighting Irish and their fans had a bye week to ponder how the defeat will impact their national championship hopes. One intrepid Irish fan, Irishcef3, posted a question on the message board at BlueandGold.com: What needs to happen for ND to win a title? Here is a small snippet of that thread. Irishcef3: Notre Dame fans are famous for overreacting to a loss. So was the BYU game just an aberration, or a sign of bigger problems? I guess we will find out on November 7th. To be honest, my confidence in this team took a hit. I expected so much more than what I saw against BYU. I think Notre Dame has enough talent to win a title, but I just don't fully trust the coordinators. Maybe the staff will tweak some things for the better. We shall find out soon enough. lucio: All of the above and a good draw in the playoffs. I am convinced if Texas had beaten OSU in the semis, ND would've won the title. Bsmitty8: Yes, we can but lacking playmakers on offense and very vanilla scheme. Not sure we could win a shootout if we got in one. o_tommy1380: If I have to pick just one, it'd be better pass rush. Getting to the QB and making him speed up his process creates a domino effect for the defense. If we can't get more pressure, it doesn't matter how good Leonard Moore is. You can only cover for so long before they get open. mh2365: Luck, like every team that wins a title. FROM THE WEB .com .com JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT BLUEANDGOLD.COM! Marcus Freeman's Fighting Irish fell 28-24 at BYU Oct. 17. The Big 12 later acknowledged that one second remained after Notre Dame's final incompletion, which should have given the Irish another play. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER