Blue and Gold Illustrated

Nov. 27, 2017*

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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6 NOV. 27, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED FAN FORUM in my opinion was a flawed idea. Short sideline passing seemed to just open the door for Miami's speed to cover. The early deep route that was a yard too long showed a weak- ness that should have been exploited more often. All in all, it's been fun to watch the Irish play this season. The team played hard in every game and made this old grad proud. Go Irish! John Carr '64 Via the Internet TRUCKED! Hopefully after the debacle in Mi- ami the Heisman and 33 Trucking campaigns are put on the shelf be- cause the ND Big Wheeler ended up in a ditch on I-95. Can the Irish refocus for Navy? Their eyes showed they were over matched mentally, physically and schematically against Miami. Gorman Findley Centre Hall, Pa. THE MAGIC FLUTIE While I am still in profound shock over the humiliating beatdown in Miami, that's not the reason for this missive. I simply want to counter Mr. Ca- hoe's comment in your Nov. 13 is- sue disparaging Doug Flutie. In my opinion, Mr. Flutie is the most knowledgeable, articulate and bal- anced analyst I can recall, and I've been watching and listening to Notre Dame games since the 1950s. He is not a "homer" and should not be. NBC is a national network and other than Notre Dame fans also watch. When the opponents do something to evoke a remark, he is always on point and factual. I enjoy BGI and the insightful comments and depth of knowledge about the Irish. I'm sure most fans feel as I do, but won't take the time to write. Go Irish! Woody Nedom Los Gatos, Calif. CLUELESS I've been a subscriber for many, many years, but it's clear to me, based on tonight's game, that you guys haven't a clue about Notre Dame football. No point in further investing in information/analysis that's no better than my own. Kevin Kane Via the Internet UPON FURTHER REVIEW … In the football history "Under The Dome" in the Oct. 30, 2017, you state the first national television game at Notre Dame was Nov. 8, 1952 versus Oklahoma. Wrong. It was early in 1951 against SMU. Here is what I remember: • The president of SMU said a pre- game prayer. • Rusty Russell of SMU ran about 65 yards and ran out of his shoe. • I believe the announcer was Mel Allen of NBC, and the announcers kept pointing out the I formation of Notre Dame. • We lost 27-20, and it wasn't that close. • SMU quarterback Fred Benners passed us crazy. I saw it in my then hometown in Kentucky on WAVE TV station of Louisville. The previous year's game against Michigan State was shown on CBS, and the 1951 game at USC. Unless I was watching, how would I know these facts? Elwood F. King Radcliff, Ky. Mr. King, the games you refer to had a regional, not national, telecast. It is officially recorded in the Notre Dame archives that the Oklahoma game in 1952 was the first that was broadcast to a national audience. Notre Dame actually began televising games in 1947. The book "The Fighting Irish On The Air" noted "WBKB (in Chicago) was the first station to broad- cast a Notre Dame home football game with the Iowa contest on Oct. 25, 1947." The DuMont Television Network then began doing the same in 1948, but not on a national basis. Then in 1952, the NCAA took over TV rights that included limiting each school to one national television appearance per season (later increased to two), and that began for Notre Dame against Oklahoma that season. Incidentally, the WAVE you note in Louisville was the 41st television station in the United States during the infancy of that medium. BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters Blue & Gold Illustrated P. O. Box 1007, Notre Dame, IN 46556 or e-mail to: lsomogyi@blueandgold.com Even after the 41-8 debacle at Miami, when Notre Dame was still ranked No. 8 by the Col- lege Football Playoff committee three days later, Fighting Irish faithful kept dreams alive. Here were a few samples on BlueandGold.com. Irish Slab: Here's how Notre Dame could get into the Final Four (in addition to winning its last two games) 1. Clemson loses to Miami in ACC title game 2. Bama wins out 3. TCU beats Oklahoma in the Big XII title game 4. Michigan beats Wisconsin and/or OSU 5. OSU or Penn State beats Wisconsin in Big X title game Your final top 4 would be Bama, Miami, ND and either OSU/PSU or Georgia/Oklahoma. JCrone031: I think we might need a bit more than that. The problem with losing as badly as we did is that we're going to put ourselves squarely in the similarly situated section with all of the other 2-loss teams — which means they're going to look at conference champion- ships. There's a chance, due to our difficult schedule and the possibility that we could have played against 6 teams in the top 25 (UGA, Mi- ami, MSU, USC, Stanford, NC State), beating 4. But either USC is going to drop after losing to Stanford, or Stanford isn't going to be ranked. So our highest ranked win is going to be some- one in the teens, or we're only going to have beaten 3 top 25 teams. All of that probably doesn't cancel out a conference championship. Many will say that the blowout to Miami is going to be the issue. They're wrong. There's a chance Ohio State goes with as bad a blowout against a significantly worse team. Johnmichie: Bucks or PSU would jump ND if they had 2 losses in beating an undefeated Bad- ger team. Just focus on winning a major bowl, which was the realistic hope in August. ND has no business in final 4 scenarios now. Just win a major bowl game, and it is a very good year! Patisbad: You had me until the part where I have to cheer for Michigan. ND025876: A one-loss ND team with this kind of schedule could be in over a one-loss confer- ence champ. No way a two-loss ND team is in over a two-loss conference champ. Apegambino: ND would just be lucky to go on the road and beat Stanford, which is something Brian Kelly has never done. FROM THE WEBSITE

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