Before we get started on the truly tragic week that will be seen as the unofficial end to the 2010 season in South Bend, it's time to review the blog stats for the month. As a big stat head, this is one of my favorite things to do every month, and I hope you enjoy it too!
Posts in October: 34.
All time ranking: 4th most posted month in LSF history.
Total posts per blogger: 852.
Total "instant sufferings" per Twitter: 1,094
Total views last month: 1,388.
Most viewed post: "My Angels Awards Post" from 10/5/10 with 127 views.
Google sent us: 405 readers.
Bing sent us: 8 readers.
Halos Heaven sent us: 8 readers.
Top 3 Google searches used to find us: "Inaz Sainz" (5), "Long Suffering" (4), "Celtics Lose To Cavs" (2).
Readers by Nation: US (849), Canada (64), Netherlands (50), UK (41), Germany (34), Russia (32), and Ukraine (26).
Readers by Browser: IE (591), Firefox (316), Safari (255), Chrome (68).
Readers by Device: Windows (965), Mac (251), iPhone (13), iPad (11), Blackberry (7), PSP (2).
Hope you enjoyed that. Wave goodbye to the stat report until next month! Now, on to the actual post.
In thinking about what to write regarding Notre Dame's week that was, I have been drawing a blank. I thought about just having one sentance conveying the point that the football season is basically over and that the events of the week show how unimportant the game actually is, but that seemed to short change things. Clearly, the first season under Brian Kelly isn't going as planned for either side of the equation. I just don't think anyone thought things could get this bad.
On Wednesday, the whole importance of football was called into question after the death of student videographer Declan Sullivan. Brian Kelly had Declan high up on a scissor lift videotaping the practice on a windy day, and the wind brought the entire machine to the ground, killing Declan. Coach Kelly took responsibility for the horrible event, stating that it was his call to hold practice and have Declan video it on that day despite the wind. I think all of us are underestimating the impact that this will have on a) the school, b) the team, and c) Coach Kelly, not to mention Declan and his family, of course. Brian Kelly said, "There has never been a more difficult time in my life," and I think he means it. He feels responsible for Declan's death. How can the team go on with this situation happening? Well, often we see teams work through situations like this to win one for their fallen brother. For Notre Dame, however, this seems more like it has shaken the squad to the core, and ended any hopes of a positive season. It's hard to even think of it in those terms, really, as losing a life and losing a game are clearly no comparison. It's just hard all around.
Both Notre Dame and Tulsa wore shamrocks with Declan's initials for the game on Saturday, as the Irish attempted to win for their fallen brother. In the end, though, the game would just serve as a microcosm for this overly disappointing season. Another season where a loss to Navy has sent this team into an extreme tail spin that they won't be able to pull out of. And they promised us that it wouldn't happen.
In the first quarter, it happened. Dayne Crist was hit while running out of bounds, and he went down. It was ruled a season ending rupture of his patella tendon in his left knee. It was just another blow to this team, added to the pile of Kyle Rudolph's season ending injury, and Armando Allen's career ending hip injury. These players were all supposed to have huge years to cap huge careers, and instead their NFL dreams may be taking a serious hit. Tommy Rees came in and filled in fairly well, but Notre Dame just didn't have it going. It all can be summed up by Tulsa completing a 31 yard pass on a 3rd and 26 with about 4 minutes remaining to set up the eventual game winning field goal. How do you let that happen? Of course, Rees and ND marched back, and seemed to be in field goal position, only for Rees to go for a TD rather than play it safe for the FG and the win. He got picked in the end zone, and we watched Tulsa celebrate with their band on our field. Our late 80's/early 00's versions of ourselves would never believe this would be happening. Of course, I have to call Kelly's play calling into question on that final drive. What were you thinking? In the end, a 27-28 defeat marked the metaphorical end to this season for the embarassed Irish.
ND finished just 3 for 14 on third downs and coughed up 4 turnovers. Despite having nearly 15 more minutes of possession, we got dominated in this one. We were even handed over 130 yards in Tulsa penalties. Rees finished 32/54 for 334 yards, 4 TDs, and 3 INTs. Just a crazy stat line for our backup QB. Cierre Wood led the way with a miniscule 58 rushing yards and Michael Floyd had 104 and 2 TDs in the air. Wood also caught 2 TDs and added 57 yards in receiving. On defense, Gray led the way with 9 tackles, while Johnson picked up 2 sacks. It's just pure insanity when you look at the stats.
Have we ever need a bye week more than right now? The Irish open November with a week off to try and figure out where this team is headed as they stumble to the finish line here in 2010. My main question now becomes, "Will we win any more games this season?" That's a dead serious question. This loss to Tulsa calls everything else into question, only amplified by our crazy rash of injuries. We've hit the bye week 4-5, and have 3 games left to try and finish this season with some kind of positive. Sadly, we're going up against Utah, Army (at Yankee Stadium), and USC (in that order). Utah is 8-0. Army is 5-3. USC is 5-3. Can anyone say that we won't finish 4-8? I'm one of the most optimistic Notre Dame fans I know, and I'm feeling 4-8 pretty heavily right about now. At 4-8, do we start talking about Brian Kelly being on the hot seat? Things are just going from bad to worse to even worse in South Bend, and there seems to be no end in site.
I told you we needed this bye week.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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