Like I said before, I have become a highly critical ND fan under this current coaching regime, so any praise from me means a lot. That being said, I was really happy with the MSU game. Sure there are still a lot of things that need to be worked on & ND isn't back. Sidenote, I cringe whenever someone states that ND is back. It's just begging for criticism. Anyway, ND still has a very long way to go & that becomes abundantly obvious anytime I watch a top level team play, like the Bamas of the NCAA.
But I'll take a solid win against a #10 MSU. Let's be real though, MSU isn't a Top 10 team. I never understood why they were ranked so highly preseason considering their 3 year starter, Cousins, had graduated. No team is a Top 10 team with a brand new starting QB at the helm, in my opinion. Especially not a team like MSU. They have a solid D though, so it was nice to see ND be able to fare well against decent competition for the first time this season, at a nighttime away game, nonetheless.
The biggest story of the game was Manti Te'o's play. He had one of the best, if not the best, game of his ND career. The Tuesday night before the game his grandma died & then a few hours later his girlfriend died on Wednesday morning. Reports say she had lost a long & hard fought battle with Leukemia. My heart broke for Te'o when I heard the news, what a horrific thing to happen to him. I was sure that he would go back to his home in Hawaii & he wouldn't be able to play the MSU game. But yet, he stayed at ND. He wanted to stay with his friends & he wanted to play in the game. Game planning & practice gave him an outlet, like it does for so many players going through troubles.
He played a great game & he somehow held is composure, even after ESPN pulled him aside for a post game live interview. Te'o showed such strength & grace, in what one can only presume, is the hardest time of his life. I have to give credit to MSU's players and coaches, a ton of them went up to Te'o after the game to give him their condolences/tell him they were praying for him. Good on them, that was a really stand up thing to do. Then Te'o made his way to a small corner at MSU's stadium that was full of ND fans. They were chanting his name as he stood in front of them waving at them. The scene nearly brought me to tears, just seeing all the love & support he was getting from the crowd. The camera cut out right as the fans were beckoning him in for a hug.
Manti Te'o is the perfect representative of ND. ND nation is so proud of him & everything he has done for this team. In order to show support for him, Notre Dame is trying to get everyone to wear leis at the game tomorrow. How awesome would it be for Manti, his family & his girlfriend's family to be able to see a sea of leis at the game in support of them? So far about 30,000 leis have been donated. I was hoping the ND athletic department would pass out 80,000+ leis to everyone in the stadium, but I guess there's some NCAA compliance issues. Something about not being allowed to advertise a player. Hopefully they can find a way around that.
Regardless, wear a lei tomorrow to show Manti Te'o your support. I'll be watching the game at home & the only lei I have is a cheapo plastic freebie I got at some event years ago. But you best believe I'll be wearing it tomorrow.
The forecast for tomorrow's game is cold & rainy. I love going to cold & rainy football games because all the literal fair-weather fans get up & hide. The only people that are left in the stadium are the crazies that cheer louder when it rains harder. That's the weather football is meant to be played in, only tough survive. Go Irish!
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| Yay for a dimly lit garage picture of my official ND poncho. I only give you the best here. |
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