Notre Dame defeats Michigan, 31-0, in last scheduled meeting
By WEI LIN photo editor
notre dame fans were in for a surprise when they entered the stadium saturday night for the game against michigan, where the irish emerged victorious in a 31-0 shut out against the wolverines.
a lthough notre dame supporters came with high hopes of winning, no one expected the shutout.
“i heard we were only favored by about three points or so, so i thought it was going to be a close game,” freshman chandler casey said.
The idea of a shutout became more apparent as the game progressed.
“i was not expecting michigan
to not get any points, but after the first quarter, i was expecting we’d do really well,” sophomore and notre dame marching band member ben schultz said.
a s this was the final game between the university of notre dame and the university of michigan for the foreseeable future, many students were disappointed to see the end, but were pleased with the outcome.
“l ast year, it was a bad game overall,” junior l iliana sanchez said. “however, this year we ended it on our terms, and i’m really happy about that. our house, our rules.”
Freshman Quinn brown agreed that the shut out was a great way to end the rivalry.
“This being the first and last notre dame-michigan game
that i’ll be able to see here, that was an awesome way to go out, especially in our home stadium,” he said.
a lthough brown said he was sad to end the rivalry, he added that he was hopeful for the future of notre dame’s football games.
“it’s a little sad that i don’t get to see more of these games,” he said, “but we have other great teams that we’re going to be playing that we’ve added to the schedule so it’ll be exciting to possibly see some new rivalries form.”
many students felt the band was integral to the lively atmosphere in the stadium.
“i love the marching band,”
dempsey speaks on national security
By JACK ROONEY
a
ssociate news
c hairman of the Joint
c hiefs of staff g en. martin e
d empsey, the nation’s highest ranking military officer, came to notre dame on s aturday to deliver the Jack Kelly and g ail weiss l ecture in national s ecurity and address a merica’s most crucial national security issues.
d empsey spoke to a standing-room-only crowd in the c arey auditorium of the hesburgh l ibrary for
Professor publishes book
By KATIE McCARTY news writer
Following years of work, dr. vera profit, professor of german and comparative l iterature, released her book “The devil next door” on aug. 8. profit, who said the book explores the problem of evil, described her writing as an attempt to “help people live better and more efficient lives.”
“The basic premise is how do you recognize an evil person?” she said.
“evil is hard to recognize. evil is a progression, and we tend not to see the first, second, third steps, but the final.” profit said she was inspired by
m scott peck’s book “people of the lie.”
“in 1984, i read ‘people of the lie,’ which so changed the way i looked at life, that not only did i read the text, i read all the material that was listed in the footnotes because i wanted the complete context,” she said. “[peck] can state complex ideas in a totally approachable manner.
“This book was so fascinating that i couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. The book was about the hope for healing human evil. w hat he did was blend theology and science.”
St. Mary’s resumes ‘Justice Fridays’ lectures
By KATHRYN MARSHALL news writer
This past Friday, the Justice education program at saint mary’s college began its yearlong “Justice Fridays” lecture series with an afternoon discussion
about misconceptions and stereotypes women face. discussion leader and senior Jessica richmond said the goal of the meeting was to discuss labels placed on women.
“i found myself facing labels and misconceptions once i hit high school … and the demeaning hold they take on women is a step in the wrong direction for our society,” she said. “i’m just one story. i want to hear other’s stories and brain storm ways to take a stand to these horrific terms and phrases used against women.”
a fter watching a brief video about the stereotypes women hold in society, program attendees shared labels, such as “tomboy,” “ditzy” and “promiscuous,” which they have experienced personally. labels such as these are concrete examples of the barriers fellow students are up against, richmond said.
“we can still be strong women with a man beside us, but when people come up with a strong
see booK paGe 5
ZACHARY LLORENS | The Observer Players celebrate after a dominant win over Michigan. The 31-0 victory was Michigan’s first shut-out loss since 1984.
see FooTball paGe 5
see securiTy paGe 5
see JusTice paGe 5
LUCY DU | The Observer
Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, lectures on U.S. national security Sunday in the Hesburgh Library.
Donald Dye junior off-campus “hey hey hey g oodbye.”
Kevin Frost junior o’neill hall “beatdown for ages.”
Victor Roh junior off-campus “The shirt.”
Jeffrey Wang junior off-campus “a perfect way to end the series.”
D.J. Boyce senior off-campus “g o i rish. beat bobcats.”
Navy SEALs parachute into the Notre Dame-Michigan game to deliver the game ball Saturday night. The Irish went on to beat the Wolverines 31-0 in the final game of the series between the teams. Michigan had not been shut out since 1984.
Today’s Staff News
c arolyn hutyra Kayla mullen Katie mc c arty
Graphics
s ara shoemake
Photo m ichael yu Sports
Zack Klonsinski greg hadley mary green Scene
a llie Tollaksen Viewpoint gabriella l eskur
Corrections
The observer regards itself as a professional publication and strives for the highest standards of journalism at all times. we do, however, recognize that we will make mistakes. i f we have made a mistake, please contact us at (574) 631-4541 so we can correct our error.
Monday
Men’s Soccer Alumni Stadium
6 p.m.
The Irish take on Kentucky.
Blood Drive Hayes-Healy Center
10 a.m.- 2 p.m. Appointments are encouraged.
Tuesday
Free Flu Vaccines Stepan Center
12 p.m.- 9 p.m.
Student I.D. required.
Four:7 Catholic Fellowship Cavanaugh Hall
8:15 p.m.- 9:30 p.m. Worship and small group reflection.
Wednesday
Fall Career Expo
Joyce Center 4 p.m. Including postgraduate service.
Basilica Server Training Basilica of the Sacred Heart 8:30 p.m.- 9:30 p.m. Open to all.
Thursday
Faculty and Staff Mass
Log Chapel 10 a.m.- 11 a.m. In memory of 9/11.
Artist Talk: Sue Coe Snite Museum of Art 6 p.m.- 8 p.m. Open to the public.
Friday
Volleyball Purcell Pavilion. 4:30 p.m.- 6:30 p.m. Part of the Shamrock Invitational.
Women’s Soccer Alumni Stadium
7 p.m.- 9 p.m. Notre Dame vs. Baylor.
ND-Georgetown project receives $1.1 million grant
By GABRIELA MALESPIN news writer
notre dame’s center for c ivil and human r ights received a $1.1 million grant from the Templeton religion Trust last month to conduct research on c hristian persecution around the world.
The project, titled “under caesar’s sword: how c hristian communities respond to repression,” is a joint project with g eorgetown university and includes a team of more than fifteen research scholars from universities around the nation, including international relations professor dr. daniel philpott and assistant professor of political science Fr. robert dowd.
philpott said the university’s involvement is a significant demonstration of commitment to understanding the violation of religious rights across the globe.
“i think it’s very important for a catholic university to be in solidarity with c hristians who are being persecuted around the world,” he said. “This is a notre dame-g eorgetown initiative, and it’s a way for these two catholic universities to cooperate on something that’s
very important for the church.”
The project will focus specifically on past case studies of c hristian persecution and the various strategies c hristian communities have used to respond to religious persecution, philpott said. The team plans to conduct research in more than 30 countries, including sri l anka, pakistan, i ndia, egypt, nigeria and syria. philpott said the countries in the study represent the most egregious cases of religious persecution in the 21st century.
“The persecution of c hristians is widespread in the world,” he said. “To take the violation of religious freedom as a broader human right, the pew Forum estimates that 76 percent of the population lives under a government that strongly denies religious freedom.
“i f you take that, 80 percent of acts of religious discrimination are committed against c hristians. a s i like to say, c hristians are the ‘lion’s share of the lions den.’”
philpott said the project will have a timespan of three years, with the first year dedicated to research and travel and following years dedicated to disseminating research
paid a dverT isemen T
results in important international forums in an effort to increase awareness. Forums will include a major international conference in rome on the 50th anniversary of the second vatican council’s declaration on religious freedom, a public launch of the report in washington d c ., a documentary and a distribution of informative curricula among 5,000 parishes.
The project aims to create greater awareness and response in international and human rights organizations, philpott said, as well as create a sense of solidarity among catholics who remain unaware of the human rights violations faced by c hristians across the world.
“we hope that out of this awareness will come actual responses of solidarity and assistance for persecuted c hristians,” he said. “it would be a terrible thing to forget about them or to ignore them, and it’s part of our very identity and mission to be in solidarity to tell their story, recognize their plight, and do everything we can to help them.”
Contact Gabriela Malespin at gmalespi@nd.edu
p rofessor lectures on catholic education
By JACK ROONEY a ssociate news e ditor
university of p ennsylvania professor of political science
John d i iulio gave a lecture Friday afternoon titled “The ‘ s ilent e pidemic’ r evisited: c an c atholic e ducators r eignite the Fight to i mprove urban s chools?” in which he argued c atholic schools can help solve the pressing education issues in the united s tates, but only if c atholic leaders wholly dedicate themselves to the cause.
The lecture was the first in the Father Tim s cully, csc l ectures on e ducation in the s ervice of c itizenship, named in honor of the founder of the a lliance for c atholic e ducation ( ace ). d i iulio said more people must approach educational shortcomings with the same intensity as s cully.
“ i f we had more c atholic leaders and educators at all levels like our own [Fr. Tim s cully] … if we had more c atholic leaders who practiced, as Fr. Tim does everyday, what p ope Francis has preached about combatting the sinful inequalities in education and other domains,” d i iulio said. “Then i submit to you we would not still be coping with the species of problems [we have in a merican education].”
i n addition to the high dropout rates for minority students and the well-documented achievement gap, d i iulio said the “achievement trap,” which arises out of income disparity, often dooms low-income students.
“The only variable that you can point to in the lineup of suspects to why this is happening is the fact that they are low-income children,” he said. “ i n other words, they’re at the top of their class in grades one, two, three and even into [fourth], but only 56 percent of these highachieving, low-income students maintain their status as high-achievers through fifth grade.”
d i iulio, who also served as the first director of the w hite h ouse o ffice of Faith-b ased and c ommunity i nitiatives under p resident g eorge w b ush, said the statistics surrounding the achievement trap are shameful.
“The rate at which these high-achieving, low-income children are in that ‘silent epidemic’ population is astounding,” he said. “ it’s convicting. we ought to feel convicted by it.”
The problem is well documented enough, d i iulio said, that educators know how to combat it.
“ we know, for example, that in addition to the three r ’s, we need the 4 r ’s: reading, writing, arithmetic but also relationships and relationship building,” he said. “ we know that school-based mentoring, whether it’s done by b ig b rothers, b ig s isters of a merica or by any credible, decent, up-close-and-personal mentoring organization … we know, in theory, that it makes a demonstrative positive difference in closing the achievement gap, in disarming the achievement trap, in turning 10th graders who might drop out who don’t.” d i iulio said the present day is a “g ettysburg moment,” and in order to win the figurative war, c atholic educators must shake old mindsets.
“The c atholic leadership approach to the silent epidemic, to the achievement trap, to the achievement gap which has hovered over us for 50-plus years, can be reignited,” he said. “They can be a major force for addressing the problems of urban education at large. They can do that … [with] less talking, more doing, less c atholic chauvinism and romanticism about parish days gone by.
“The great sadness is that way too many c atholic leaders and educators, at least in the university business, … are either not interested, not in the fight or are in it in a narrowly, institutionally, self-interested way. The problem is that too many of them approach the effort to support and strengthen c atholic schools as if it were a c atholic world end in itself.”
i n order to effectively use c atholic education as a universal educational career, c atholics must work with those who most need help, d i iulio said.
“c atholic schools which have been lost cannot be saved, supported and strengthened without saving all those who need those schools,” he said. “ i ’m not just talking morally and spiritually, i ’m talking practically [and] i ’m talking politically. c atholic schools cannot be saved unless the effort to save them involves an effort to save all the children who could benefit the most, most particularly in urban a merica, from those schools.”
Contact Jack Rooney at jrooney1@nd.edu
casey said. “The marching band accounts for half of the game day experience.”
“[The band] always helps lead the student section chants and the victory march, which gets the crowded pumped,” brown said. “i think they are very vital to the energy of the stadium.” before the momentous game, the u s navy seal parachuting Team, l eap Frogs, parachuted into the notre dame stadium.
Two of the four navy seal s descended into the center of the field, one carrying a notre dame flag and the other an a merican flag. a s the parachuters descended, both irish and wolverine fans were caught offguard and in awe.
“i had no idea what was going on at first,” sanchez said. “but then when i finally realized they were going to jump and land near the stadium, i couldn’t believe it.”
sanchez said she was excited that the notre dame fans sang “na na hey hey Kiss him
book
con T inued F rom page 1
p rofit said p eck’s book inspired her to teach a course on the subject.
“i then created a course called e vil and the l ie in modern e uropean p rose right after reading this book,” she said. “it has always been extremely well received. you study goodness from the other side when you study evil. b ecause the course was so well received and many students told me it was a lifechanging course, i decided to write the book after the course.”
The book looks at the problem of individual evil for the most part, p rofit said.
“i took some of the questions that p eck raises, used his clinical experience, read copious amounts of ancillary material and formulated eight characteristics which define individual evil,” she said. “There are two types of evil –group and individual – which are both discreet and a blended phenomenon. i name the
g oodbye.”
“i was planning in my head to do that, but the fact that everyone joined in at the same time was perfect,” she said.
Fans from the university of michigan expressed their opinions of the notre dame football experience as well.
“The experience for a person who comes from [the university of michigan] was great,” wolverine fan abby schultz said. “people welcomed us to campus.”
emma bozek-Jarvis, also a university of michigan fan, said that not only were the ushers kind, there were “actual [notre dame] students as well who were very nice to us.”
“i think it’s a great way to end the rivalry. i think it’s nice since it’ll get michigan fans to be quiet for a little bit,” ben schultz said as he alluded to the “chicken dance” song that was played after notre dame’s loss against michigan last year at the big house. “we can end it with a bang and not as chickens.”
Contact Wei Lin at wlin4@nd.edu
eight characteristics of evil and trace them though two novels, one written by a s wiss writer and one o scar w ilde’s ‘The p icture of d orian g rey.’ i also propose eight characteristics of group evil.”
p rofit said her book is meant to help other people.
“i am trying to help other people not waste their life trying to reinvent the wheel,” she said. “ we can learn a lot from other people’s examples. we can save ourselves and other people a lot of trouble.
“ w riting a book is a scary position because you have no control over how it will be received. you can give it your best shot and let it go. you have to do it despite your misgivings. The person who learns the most is not the person who reads the book, but the person who writes it. it was worth it to me because i learned so much. i f it makes you look at life just a little differently than before, then it was worth it.”
Contact Katie McCarty at kmccar16@nd.edu
s ecurity
approximately 20 minutes before taking questions from the audience for another 40 minutes. i n his prepared remarks, he broke down a merica’s security challenges into two “heavyweights,” c hina and russia, two “middleweights,” i ran and north Korea, two networks of violent extremism and trans-national organized crime and one cyber domain.
d empsey said a merica will eventually need to refocus its security efforts to the p acific region.
“ you’ve heard a lot about our rebalance to the pacific,” he said. “That’s not a choice, frankly, it’s an imperative. … b y 2050, there will be nine billion people on the planet. s even billion of them will live between c hina and i ndia.
“ we’ve got to rebalance our efforts to the p acific. The question is how quickly and how, and it’s not just military. … we’ll eventually do that, [but] it’s hard to do that when you’re thinking about the isis threat or about a reasserting russia in europe. it is imperative.”
i n i ran, d empsey said the u s . must address more than just i ranian nuclear ambitions.
“ w hat gets most of the notoriety is i ran’s nuclear aspirations,” he said. “ you’re well aware of the negotiations that are ongoing to try to diplomatically and economically … convince i ran that it would not be in their best interest. we’re making some progress.
“it’s not just about nuclear weapons with i ran. They are [also] one of the world’s leading exporters of arms.”
w ith 28,000 soldiers on the Korean peninsula, d empsey said that region is also a primary security priority.
“The security of the peninsula is not just a matter of an alliance obligation, it’s also the fact that we have enormous economic ties to s outh Korea,” he said. “ we’ve got a huge stake in maintaining stability on the Korean peninsula in supporting our republic of Korea allies. That got harder when the youngest leader on the planet became
the leader of [ north Korea]. he’s an erratic fellow, and he’s unpredictable.
“ we’ve got our eye on [ north Korea] and we’re using all of the instruments of military and national power … to make sure north Korea doesn’t achieve its intentions.”
d empsey said isis presents the most attention-grabbing
“As we look at these threats in the Middle East, notably from radical Islamists ... you just have to be very thoughtful about it so we apply the right tool at the right time and over the right length of time in order to make the difference.”
Martin Dempsey chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
current threat to a merican security, but is part of a larger issue.
“[ isis is] part of a network of radical movements that use terrorism as a tactic,” he said.
“ we kind of lump them in and say they’re all terrorism, but they’ve all got different agendas. They work together when it suits their need, and they don’t when it doesn’t, and you can’t paint them all with one brush.
“a s we look at these threats in the m iddle e ast, notably from radical i slamists … you just have to be very thoughtful about it so we apply the right tool at the time and over the right length of time in order to make the difference.”
The international criminal network, d empsey said, may present more of an ultimate threat to a merican security, though it does not receive as much attention as terrorist networks.
“[The transnational organized criminal] network might actually be more dangerous at the end of the day, though it’s hard to make that case,” he said. “That network is often thought of, in policy
terms, as a drug network, [but] it’s more than just a drug network. it’s a railroad, and you know a railroad will carry whatever it is paid to carry. it’ll carry drugs, it’ll carry arms, it’ll carry unaccompanied children, it’ll carry weapons of mass destruction, it’ll carry terrorists.
“i n that network there is a connection between the incredible money generated by that network into the terrorist networks i described before. it’s hard for us to actually track it. … o ne of the things we have difficulty seeing is the connection between the financial power of this criminal network and the power … and ideology of the terrorist network. but that connection is there and we continue to learn more about it and frankly we haven’t done enough against that network.”
d empsey said the cyber domain, while providing a wealth of information and connectivity, poses a potential issue for national security.
“c yber is among the most misunderstood words, i think, in the a merican e nglish language,” he said. “ we love it because it empowers us and it provides us with information that is mind-numbing.
“now you’re connected all the time, everywhere, with access to almost everything, and that’s wonderful. i n so doing, you have exposed some of your privacy, and i think you know that. but, we’ve got issues at the national level of trying to understand and reconcile several of our values: freedom of information, privacy and security. … Frankly, we’ve made modest progress, but not nearly enough progress on [security standards and information sharing].”
d empsey also took audience questions on future risks to a merican security, potential ways to dismantle isis , russia’s use of military force in u kraine and advice for ro T c cadets in attendance. To the cadets, he said to pay attention to the development of democracy and never forget that their commitment is not to themselves, but to their country.
Contact Jack Rooney at jrooney1@nd.edu
voice, they are often criticized,” she said, “i don’t view myself as ornamental. i have my mind and so much more to offer.”
media is the source of many misconceptions, richmond said. in order to change what media is portraying, we must first think about the labels we give ourselves, she said.
“media only portrays what we want to see, and if we say that
what they are showing is not okay then eventually it will change,” she said, “we have to start small, with our inner circles.
“i think as a saint mary’s women we are empowered and we empower each other, which is phenomenal … now it is time to turn this out into the communities we reside in to make a change.”
First-year student Kendall smith said she enjoyed the discussion and the stories shared by her classmates.
“i was really impressed with
how many different opinions came up,” she said. “it was really comforting to know that other girls have the same ideas.”
The “Justice Fridays” program series is designed by saint mary’s Justice education students and will continue all year, philosophy professor adrienne lyleschockley said. it allows students to combat issues they feel passionate about while enacting the mission of the Justice education program in making the world a more just and peaceful place, she said.
“‘Justice Fridays’ are designed to stimulate a campus-wide dialogue on ways to identify and combat injustice, and on methods of advancing social justice,” she said. “by facilitating dialogues that encourage students to think in comprehensive and systemic ways, ‘Justice Fridays’ and the Justice education program enable students to understand and analyze the experiences of the disenfranchised, to constructively respond to unjust situations and to develop concrete and sustainable methods of
advancing justice.” speakers from the school and surrounding community will facilitate future discussions on topics including gender, racial, environmental, legal and economic justice, chockley said. The meetings occur from 1212:50 p.m. in the student center and are open to the public. Those interested in suggesting topics of discussion can contact chockley at achockley@saintmarys.edu.
Contact Kathryn Marshall at kmarsh02@stmarys.edu
The marvel of 3d T v
Keri O’Mara graphics e ditor
3d television is the way of the future. you heard it here first.
i am the first to admit, i was skeptical. i would even go so far as to say i was a hater. w hen someone would use the words “3d” and “television” side-by-side in the same sentence, i would laugh condescendingly, muttering something about youth and technology.
That was the old me. on aug. 16, i placed Jvc Ximenaview 3d glasses on for the first time, and my life will never be the same. i am the proud owner of what one might consider the most impressive feat of technology of our time: a three-dimensional television. a ny one of my friends can tell you that i’ve spent the past month as a fervent advocate of 3d television. every conversation eventually leads to my shameless bragging about this stereoscopic wonder as if it were a beloved first-born child. i’ve successfully converted dozens of others into admirers of this impressive piece of equipment, and don’t plan on stopping any time soon.
The beauty of 3d T v is its transformative abilities – it can turn your living room into a world of adventure. want to take a trip to the san diego Zoo to watch gorillas eat their breakfast? sure, sounds like a plan. or maybe learn how to surfboard with Tahitians? i’d love to. snowboard down some of the highest peaks in the world? go for it. a ll of the above journeys (and more!) are available through the netflix category specifically developed for televisions with 3d viewing capabilities.
There’s something liberating about the novelty of escapism offered by our T v set. The three-dimensional aspect takes this to the next level, inviting us to be directly immersed into the scenes before our eyes. it removes the barrier of the T v screen and instead transports us into a world of possibility. w hether you want to travel to a tropical beach destination or get a backstage look at a ballet performance, the possibilities are endless.
i will admit that my passion for the world of 3d T v is excessive, and my devotion to this object has reached the level of idolatry. however, i will also argue that my enthusiasm is justified. anyone who puts on the glasses and experiences what this technology has to offer would agree that it is changing the way we experience television, and opens the door to future innovations in the television industry.
i hope to continue spreading the joy that this experience can bring to the world, and hope that some day you too can give 3d T v a try; you won’t be disappointed.
Contact Keri O’Mara at komara@nd.edu
The views expressed in the Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Rethinking rationality
First things first, i’m a realist.
within international relations, realism rests on several basic assumptions. The primary actors in the international system are states whose most fundamental concern is survival. states are thought to be cohesive in their policy making and rational. often, states must defend themselves and pursue their own self-interest if they are to endure.
most of this is not terribly controversial. w hat causes much disagreement and is the subject of ongoing debates in academia, d c. and beyond is the assumption of rationality. w hat does it mean to be a rational state? are all states truly rational?
many people find it odd to talk of iran, north Korea or russia as rational. if we move beyond states and consider other actors in the international system, such as hamas or the islamic state, talk of rationality often raises an eyebrow or two. despite what one may think, these states, to which i add a number of nonstate actors, are rational. declaring them irrational does little besides signal an inability to understand their motivations and goals.
rational action entails using reason to move towards the completion of a goal. if the goal is graduate school, then taking the gre would be a rational action. if one assumes that states, and a number of non-state actors, are rational, then understanding their actions is about understanding their goals. w hat goal could a given action, such as firing rockets at israeli cities despite a massive military imbalance, help to achieve? w hat is a given actor seeking to gain?
in international politics, the goals are not always obvious, nor are the thought processes behind a given policy. it can be difficult to tease out why a state is behaving the way it is, prompting many to simply label the actions irrational. if you have been having difficulty understanding the actions of russia in ukraine or hamas in the gaza strip, then you are not alone. Former national security adviser and, later secretary of state, henry Kissinger, like many, was caught off guard by the egyptian invasion of israel in 1973. he was forced to concede that “our definition of rationality did not take seriously the notion of starting an unwinnable war to restore self-respect.” at the time, egypt was thought to be militarily inferior to israel and was highly unlikely to win any armed confrontation. egypt pushed ahead, however, and the yom Kippur war resulted in a massive military loss for egypt. The american conception of rationality at the time did not allow for
this possibility to be seriously considered. The military loss was not the only result, however. The war drastically altered the political landscape and eventually resulted in the united states brokering a deal in which the sinai peninsula was returned to egypt. off the battlefield, a seemingly irrational war later resulted in a change in politics and the accomplishment of major egyptian goals.
with a rational actor framework in mind, hamas’ more recent actions begin to make more sense. hamas, labelled a terrorist organization by many governments, has governed the gaza strip since 2006 after a violent break with the palestinian authority, the governing body of the west bank. w hile the palestinian authority pursues more peaceful methods of seeking statehood, hamas frequently employs violence, including firing rockets into israel and suicide bombings. israel will always win any military confrontation, however.
The recent round of violence in the gaza strip resulted in massive losses for hamas. israel dominated the battlefield and again, the actions of hamas seem illogical and irrational at first glance. The fall of the muslim brotherhood government in egypt, disagreements with hezbollah and iran regarding the syrian civil war, and an economically crippling blockade of the gaza strip have all slowly forced hamas into a corner. it has been rapidly running out of options. To paraphrase german military theorist carl von clausewitz, war is politics by other means, and hamas needed a political change to survive. w hen israel began rounding up hamas activists following the murder of three israeli teenagers in June, hamas was forced to make a decision, and, seeking survival, rockets began flying. hamas may have suffered a tactical loss but won a strategic victory. it gained international sympathy for the broader palestinian cause while further isolating israel, brought the egyptian government in as a mediator, and continues to govern the gaza strip. w hile it remains to be seen if hamas will genuinely benefit in the long run, its motivations for seeking a change in the political environment make its initiation of conflict less surprising.
states, and many non-state actors, are rational actors. it is only a matter of considering what goals they seek to achieve and how a given policy choice relates to that goal. as is often the case with international politics, this is easier said than done.
Chris Newton is a senior formerly of Knott Hall. He is a political science major and international development studies minor. He can be reached at cnewton@nd.edu
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
editorial Cartoon
Christopher Newton stepping o ut o f The c ave
Should the United States provide military and financial support to the state of Israel?
a s we headed back to campus in a ugust, the conflict in g aza had already taken over 1,400 lives. The recent violence has showcased the need for policy changes in the region to the entire world.
a s the largest player on the world stage, the united s tates has been attempting to influence the politics of i srael since its founding in 1948. The reasons for the u s . support of i srael are widely understood – it is one of the only true democracies in the m iddle e ast, and i srael and the u s . share many of the same foreign policy goals. w ith this in mind, military trade has always been a key part of u s .-i srael relations, as i srael has fought multiple wars against its neighbors, some of which have called for the destruction of the entire country.
Today, i srael has lasting treaties with those neighbors. n ow, the fighting is almost exclusively with the p alestinian people. The most recent conflict comes at a time when the u. s . and the united n ations are both calling for a peaceful transition to a two-state solution, where p alestinians could have autonomy in g aza and the west b ank. c omplicating matters are the internal politics of p alestine itself.
The us recognizes the p alestinian a uthority ( pa ), a secular, peace-oriented organization that is attempting to work with i srael toward a resolution. i n 2006, however, h amas swept elections in the g aza s trip – the u s . recognizes h amas as a terrorist organization. The weapons the united s tates sells to i srael right now are supposed to protect the i sraeli people – mainly from rocket attacks that have marked offensive action by h amas in the past.
o f the many lives lost since fighting began, the vast majority of them have been p alestinian citizens. i srael continues to blockade the g aza strip, even with eased restriction calming some international criticism.
i n the u s ., the w hite h ouse and s tate d epartment have condemned i sraeli military actions over the last two months, but military-tomilitary arms trades, even those of offensively-capable missiles, have continued as normal.
Just as recent i sraeli military action has received criticism, so has u s . support of i srael.
a s i srael receives more and more
criticism from the international community – as well as from a growing population within the united s tates – does the u s . continue to benefit from supporting the i sraeli military? i argue that these gains still exist, but they are seriously at risk.
The united s tates has continuously advocated for democracy around the world, and for the past 66 years, i srael has been part of the advancement of democracy. i n order to support the existence of i srael and the dream of democracy in the m iddle e ast, a merica committed special resources and knowledge to i srael’s military.
n ow though, i srael is seen as the aggressor and no longer the beleaguered nation in the midst of enemies. The death of p alestinian civilians by the hundreds is a black mark on i srael and on the hopes of democracy in the region. a system where u s . officials condemn i sraeli actions in public, but military-tomilitary deals still take place behind the scenes is not sustainable.
The key to balancing u s . support of democracy with condemnation of certain military actions is through tighter control of the arms trade with i srael. i f the o bama administration hopes to exert any influence on its ally, the exchange of offensive military weapons must be used as the bartering tool. e very time civilians are killed in i sraeli operations, more people are driven into the arms of h amas, and away from the peace-seeking establishment of the p alestinian a uthority. This is the process the u s . and i srael must work to stop.
The threat of h amas and others in the region dictates the continued sale of weapons to i srael. This continuous process opens an important avenue of negotiation for the u s . to influence i sraeli action in p alestine. The united s tates can retain a special relationship with i srael, and i srael can maintain its regional military supremacy. d e-escalating violence will have the opposite affect that aggressive military action has – it will move p alestinians away from h amas again, and toward a peaceful resolution within a twostate solution.
Tim Scanlon can be reached at tscanlan@nd.edu
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
in the past two months, the state of israel has dropped an estimated 20,000 tons of explosives on the gaza strip, killing in excess of 2,000 people, most of them civilians. a ceasefire agreement has been reached, but given israel’s chronic violation of the similar 2012 ceasefire through its continued blockade of gaza, there is no hope for lasting peace.
meanwhile, the 2014 u s. budget allotted $3.1 billion in military aid to israel. The united states vetoes every u n security council resolution against israel and threatens any who would intervene. every bomb that is dropped, every school that is destroyed, every civilian that is killed is as much the work of the united states as it is of israel.
israel and the united states use the promise of the “peace process” to denounce any palestinian who would use violence in pursuit of liberation. This is the crime of hamas, we are told. palestine’s land is occupied, its people are starved, israel disgraces the very ceasefire it signed, but to lift a gun or to fire a rocket is criminal. This position is a disease even amongst americans who consider themselves pro-palestine. peaceful protest is touted as the answer, while “militant” sounds uncomfortably close to “terrorist.” but that is no answer. should the palestinians take the words of gandhi, who said that when faced with the holocaust, the Jews should have thrown themselves from cliffs in order to draw the world’s attention? or are some things are worth fighting for? violent resistance against oppression is no crime – occupation is the crime.
look to south africa to see how these types of regimes fall. The cia aided in capturing nelson mandela, the “violent terrorist,” but his militants continued to fight. The international boycott of south africa applied useful pressure, but the armed rebels were the existential threat that forced the elite’s hand. in 1991, mandela himself gave credit to cuba’s military defeat of south africa for “destroy[ing] the myth of the invincibility of the white oppressor” and making his release possible. protest and boycott is useful, but some oppressors must be shot. another favorite tactic of israel is to stress the islamist extremism of hamas. yet those who wish to resist will join whoever is doing so, regardless of ideology. w ho could take the place of hamas? Fatah is moderate and secular, but it has staked everything on the peace process. every time israel delays a solution, it discredits Fatah more and more. The popular Front for the liberation of palestine (pFlp) champions workers’ and
women’s rights, but campaigns by the u s and britain to destroy the middle eastern left have marginalized the group. we don’t have to support hamas’s ideology, but its right to stand up to israel must be recognized.
The united states arms israel while trying to broker a two-state solution through the peace process. but the two-state solution is dead, and israel killed it. every day, more palestinian land is seized and given to israeli settlers, in order to break up a cohesive palestinian homeland in the west bank. Former israeli prime minister golda meir denied the very right of palestinians to exist as a people by saying, “There were no such thing as palestinians [when israel was established] ... They did not exist.” by killing palestinians and destroying palestine itself, israel is committed to nothing less than genocide. not three weeks ago, israeli majorgeneral giora eiland called for starving gaza into submission, a tactic that the u s. has denounced as a war crime in syria. a 2008 israeli military document revealed the military’s plan to limit gaza’s food intake to 2279 calories per person per day. For reference, the average calorie intake in israel is 3540/day, while in north Korea, a country denounced for starving its people, it is 2150/day.
as israel and egypt, with heavy u s support, destroy the tunnels that act as lifelines for gazans, we can see the horrors of the blockade in the malnutrition of gaza’s people. here is a driving factor of conflict – profound economic inequality. common israelis are enticed into joining settlements with the promise of land and wealth and told to blame their woes on the enemy. dispossessed palestinians have nothing to lose in joining the fight. For lasting peace, wealth cannot be concentrated at the top, nor across a border. will the united states break the blockade, or force israel’s hand? no. but if it stops the military aid and holds back its veto in the u n security council, then the rest of the world can work toward a solution, whether that’s an independent palestine or a unified binational state. supporters of israel claim the u s needs it as an ally in the region. This was the rationale for supporting right-wing dictatorships in latin america, and now the region is filled with anti-imperialist leftist governments.
injustice cannot last forever, and when the walls come tumbling down, the world will remember who stood for liberation and who stood for oppression.
Billy McMahon can be reached at wmcmahon@nd.edu
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Tim Scanlan
Billy McMahon
world he will do it in: one in which humans and anthropomorphized animals cohabitate, but, nonetheless, maintain their kind’s respective characteristics and mannerisms.
point in the series. at this turn, the show folds unto itself, with self-referential plots and nonlinear storytelling that exponentially escalate the payoffs compared to the amount of groundwork laid in episode one.
[Editor’s note: This article is part of a series called “Weekly Watch,” in which a Scene writer reviews a movie or show available on an instant streaming service each week].
The first episode of “boJack horseman” plays it relatively safe, albeit in a smart manner. with its premiere, the adult-audience, animated comedy spends most of its running time expounding rather than exhausting. The script is not interested in diluting its characters to cheap punch lines and paper-thin dimensionality. raphael bob-waksburg, writer and creator of the series, clearly had a vision for his show’s first season planned out in advance and takes measures in “boJack horseman: the boJack horseman story, chapter one” to lay the necessary groundwork for later, continued payoff.
The episode opens with a faux charlie rose interview with the titular character. we quickly learn about boJack horseman’s past in the limelight, as well as what early success on a 90s television show has shaped him into in the present. boJack is bitter and sour, but there is more than a touch of self-deprecation and destructiveness to his current state, too. we also learn from this first scene that boJack is part horse and part human — not directly because it is never given any real thought or mention, but just look at him. This all helps set the premise of the series’ first season; boJack reveals he is writing a tell-all memoir, seemingly his last chance to maintain his stature. likewise, we get a sense of the
From there, we get a rundown of the main players and storylines that will compose the season. There’s Todd, boJack’s not-roommate; diane, boJack’s notghostwriter; and mr. peanutbutter, boJack’s not-friend. consequently, much of the episode’s runtime slogs through exposition and introductions, although it does feature hints to the scale of joke building at work. For instance, in perhaps the first episode’s best gag, and the show’s most immediate reward, princess carolyn, the cutesy-named cat boJack dates, dumps him, and the call he receives seconds after their split plays off of that information instantly. in addition to the writers never missing a joke based on their show’s environment (see: princess carolyn’s name), the rate of return on these first few episode character and plot setups only increases as the show goes on.
Therefore, early on, boJack’s jackassery tends to annoy and weigh down the plot, creating a crutch the show can always fall back on. This generates a concern for a fairly standard exploration of fame — specifically in television — from the series, and a slightly uneven season on the whole. however, as we get more familiar with him throughout the course of the first season, boJack gives more and more revealing glimpses into his childhood and rise to fame. as a result, his actions become easier to understand and accept, but at the same time, all the more difficult to watch. paralleling this, the show similarly spirals out from the standard around the halfway
w hile, alone, this first episode is not overtly funny, it must be restated that it develops a background for the rest of the season. bob-waksburg knows his show streams on netflix. he knows how viewers tend to watch television shows on netflix. unless they absolutely cannot stand the twenty-something minute opener, they will keep watching the show for at least a little while longer — and the name-dropping cast certainly aids in retaining an audience. a fter all, once the first episode ends, netflix gives a mere ten-second countdown to step away from the second installment and to not see the masterfully directed and scored opening theme, courtesy of the drum half of The black Keys, patrick carney. by the end of the season, entire episodes reference stories that have occurred before them and build upon the constantly growing universe established earlier. in the final episode, the show comes nearly full circle, with another character mimicking boJack’s previously uncovered career decisions. raphael bob-waksburg and company have planned so well that they ordered a second season pickup nary days after the first one was released, and they already have the launching groundwork laid for another densely-populated twelve episodes.
Contact Matt McMahon at mmcmaho7@nd.edu
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
w hen recapping some of the biggest pop culture moments of this summer in scene for this semester’s first issue, i couldn’t resist putting the laughably bad madefor-T v movie “sharknado 2” on the list. sure, it wasn’t quality programming in the traditional sense, but it didn’t claim to be — the syFy network made the lowbudget, self-aware mess of a movie not to improve its repertoire, but as a collective inside joke with a group of celebrities and their fans. with a slew of cameos and a cast of has-beens, “sharknado 2” reveled in its terrible plot and writing. The creators of the shark-meets-tornado sequel employed the same formula used in the original “sharknado,” when they had struck gold as viewers live-tweeted the film, raking in millions more viewers who then live-tweeted in turn. by the “sharknado 2” premiere, more people mentioned the movie than had tweeted about miley cyrus at the 2013 vmas, according to syFy.
syFy wasn’t always creating tongue-in-check original programming. back when the channel was called sciFi, the network was more focused on true science-fiction shows and movies — some not of the highest quality — but as monster-horror films began to get more and more attention, the channel evolved from being laughed at to laughing with its audience. movies got more absurd, and syFy went from sincerely mediocre to deliberately
ridiculous.
other shows have certainly been keen on this style of ironically bad television, such as history network’s “a ncient a liens” or Travel channel’s “ghost adventures.” These shows and this style, of course, are also inextricably linked to internet culture, with memes and satires of the shows scattered throughout the web, but no network appeared to take advantage of irony-loving social media users and awful, low-budget programming the way syFy did. That was until lifetime network premiered “The unauthorized saved by The bell story,” which, along with its accompanying hashtag on the bottom of the screen, debuted last monday.
Just like the “sharknado” franchise, “unauthorized” was low-budget and pulled no terrible punches in its acting, costumes and subject matter, which gave a dramatized behind-the-scenes history of the 90s series “saved by the bell.” w hile the movie’s narrator, a fictional dustin diamond, insisted that “saved by the bell” was an iconic television show, there is little doubt that the movie’s bottom line was to get watchers to talk about just how bad the film was.
here’s the thing about this self-aware, half-baked programming: w hile it certainly works at gaining attention (my Twitter timeline was saturated with #unauthorized tweets), ironically bad movies and television shows are still, well, bad. even worse, they’re bad on purpose, banking on the fact that we, the audience, will revel in their poor quality. a nd while it certainly could be that movies like “sharknado” and “unauthorized” are
so-bad-they’re-good, achieving some sort of post-ironic nirvana in the style of comedians like Tim heidecker and eric wareheim on adult swim, there’s no guarantee that awful filmmaking will somehow be entertaining.
it seems that syFy and the history network have, in some way, made this realization. The two networks have started to return to more genuine programming, like history’s new mini-series, “houdini.” but lifetime is both bad at and late to the game, and “unauthorized” and the upcoming, horrendous-looking “brittany murphy story” show it.
it could be that ironically-bad dramas don’t work simply due to their genre — it’s much easier to create a farce out of a disaster movie than it is an ensemble drama full of teen actors — but lifetime is also revealing just how cheap bad filmmaking and fishing for a Twitter trend really is. “unauthorized” knew it was comically bad, and maybe it was entertaining to collectively make fun of it on the internet, but when considering just how little thought, time or substance went into something like “unauthorized,” that enjoyment is significantly dampened. w hen you realize that something is poorly done not to enhance a joke, tell a story or make a point, but only to get its hashtag trending — which happens to be some seriously cost-effective advertising — you see networks like lifetime are really getting the last laugh.
Contact Allie Tollaksen at atollaks@nd.edu
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Matt McMahon s cene writer
Allie Tollaksen
s cene e ditor
The grand finale
No. 16 Notre Dame pummels Michigan, 31-0, in the final scheduled meeting
Notre Dame’s balance could lead it to success in
managing e ditor
2014
It’s not 2012 anymore. but for Notre Dame, maybe that’s not a bad thing.
I don’t mean to devalue a 12-1 season that resulted in Notre Dame’s first national championship appearance in nearly a quarter century.
rather, I use it to point out how good teams can come in all different styles, schemes and dynamics.
Irish head coach brian Kelly said as much in his postgame press conference when he talked about what drives this season’s team.
Kelly referenced everett Golson as the team’s major driver and referenced the team’s youth, but he ended up going back to the idea of balance.
“When we won 12 games, it was definitely a defensive group that kind of led that,” he said. “t his [group], they feed off of each other on both sides of the ball.”
Now, it’s incredibly premature to declare this year’s Notre Dame squad a great team. so far, the Irish have beaten a middle-of-the-pack mid-major team in r ice and a michigan squad that in spite of its success against Notre Dame in recent years, was still unranked and unproven. a ny judgments about this year’s Notre Dame squad should not be made until after the team visits Florida state in mid-october.
but it’s not premature to evaluate the Irish using observations and statistics from their first two games.
a nd such observations and statistics show that just as Kelly said, the Irish have been feeding off of each other, creating a balanced attack on both sides of the ball.
make no mistake, everett Golson is the main driver behind Notre Dame’s offense. saturday night, the senior signal-caller hardly resembled the timid first-year starter who was pulled in the second quarter against michigan in
By GREG HADLEY
a
ssociate sports e ditor
and so it ends.
after 41 games defined by thrilling back-and-forth battles between two of college football’s most storied programs, No. 16 Notre Dame slammed the door shut on its rivalry with michigan on saturday night, roaring to a 31-0 victory at Notre Dame stadium.
With the series between the two teams going on an indefinite hiatus, the matchup had a special significance for Irish head coach brian Kelly and his players, even though Kelly said
in his pre-game press conferences that he was treating the game like any other.
“It feels great … It’s something that we’re very proud of,” Kelly said after the game. “I would be lying if [I told] you that it doesn’t feel great to shut out michigan, 31-0.”
It was the first time in series history the Irish (2-0) shut out the Wolverines (1-1), and the first time michigan failed to score in a game since 1984.
“We wanted it bad,” senior quarterback everett Golson said. “I think that we wanted to just be successful every time we step on the field. I like to think
Players of the game
el ijah s humate and m ax r edfield
Ir I sh safetI es
one week after struggling against rice, the duo of safeties led Notre Dame’s strong defensive effort against michigan. shumate, a junior, recorded 10 tackles, a pass breakup and an interception. redfield, a sophomore, added six tackles and his first career college interception in his third career start.
that it added a little bit extra motivation being the last time we played them.”
a week after tying the Notre Dame quarterback record for rushing touchdowns in a game against rice, Golson gained only two yards in three attempts on the ground saturday. through the air, however, he posted one of the best games of his collegiate career, completing 23 of 34 passes for 226 yards and three touchdowns.
Golson was helped out by career days from sophomore receiver Will Fuller and senior receiver amir Carlisle. Fuller led all Irish receivers with nine catches, including a 24-yard toss down the sideline he grabbed for a touchdown with 34 seconds remaining in the first half to put the Irish up 21-0.
“[everett and I have] just been practicing hard all spring, ever since he got here, so I think we have a little chemistry, and it’s great to have it with him,” Fuller said. “We can be real dangerous.”
Carlisle, who played primarily as a running back last season,
Irish defense shuts out Michigan, forces four turnovers
By RENEE GRIFFIN sports Writer
It was not the arm of Notre Dame senior quarterback everett Golson or m ichigan graduate student quarterback Devin Gardner that defined the end of the famed Notre Damem ichigan rivalry. It was the intensity of the Irish defense. m ichigan (1-1) came into the game saturday night after scoring 52 points against appalachian state the previous weekend. against No. 16 Notre Dame (2-0), the Wolverines scored zero.
Notre Dame’s defenders recorded three interceptions, two forced fumbles, nine quarterback hurries and two sacks in its 31-0 victory over the Wolverines.
“obviously, shutting out any opponent in college football is an enormous task with offenses today,” Irish head coach brian Kelly said. “a great performance by our defense. Great performance by our coaches. t he preparation was outstanding.”
It was the first time in the 42 meetings between the two programs that the Irish shut out m ichigan.
“It felt amazing,” sophomore linebacker Jaylon smith said. “t hey haven’t had a goose egg since 1984. so that alone — we’re setting our own standards here, and it’s an amazing feeling.” before saturday night, a major question was whether or not m ichigan’s offense could be contained. Gardner is on the school’s top-10 lists for career passing yards, career passing touchdowns, career completions, career efficiency and career total offense. m ichigan junior receiver Devin Funchess had three touchdown receptions against appalachian state, while m ichigan recorded 350 rushing yards in its season opener.
senior linebacker Joe schmidt, who had seven tackles and a forced fumble, said the Irish defense wasn’t too shocked by the shutout.
“I think as a defensive player, you have to see this coming,” schmidt said. “You want to
see DeFeNse PAGE 3
ZACHARY LLORENS | The Observer
Irish sophomore receiver Will Fuller leaps to haul in a touchdown pass from senior quarterback Everett Golson during Notre Dame’s 31-0 win over Michigan on Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium.
Brian Hartnett
rePort Card
QuarterbaCks
It would be difficult for everett Golson to surpass the effort from his season opener, but he came close, throwing three touchdowns. He completed 23 of 34 passes and would have had more completions if not for some dropped passes. He stayed away from designed runs, only rushing three times.
running baCks
Notre Dame ran into the teeth of a strong michigan front seven 31 times and ended up with 54 total yards and no rushes of more than six yards to show for it. Cam mcDaniel scored on a one-yard touchdown run and added two catches for first downs. Greg bryant and tarean Folston combined for only 42 yards on 20 carries.
reCeivers
Will Fuller had a solid game for the second week in a row, and amir Carlisle showed he may be a strong threat at the slot position. the Irish used speed to their advantage and got some separation from the michigan secondary.
offensive line
Notre Dame struggled with run blocking and gaining a push against the michigan defensive line and linebackers. Golson was sacked once and scrambled a few times, but for the most part, had time to find receivers and make throws.
defensive line
after michigan recorded 350 rushing yards in its opener, the Irish surrendered only 100 rushing yards on 35 michigan carries. the line brought pressure on Devin Gardner and recorded two sacks and one forced fumble.
linebaCkers
Notre Dame’s linebackers played fast and physical. Jaylon smith tied for the team lead with 10 tackles, while Joe schmidt recorded seven and forced a fumble. the unit largely limited short passes over the middle.
defensive baCks
Notre Dame’s defensive backs recorded three interceptions — one apiece for max redfield, elijah shumate and Cody riggs. shumate recorded 10 tackles, while redfield added six. the Irish only allowed two pass plays of longer than 20 yards.
sPeCial teams
Kyle brindza continued his strong season, making both of his field goal attempts and rendering nearly every kickoff unreturnable. the Irish punt coverage team surrendered zero yards for the second straight week. a miscue on a punt return by Cody riggs nearly gave michigan the ball in the Irish red zone, but the unit did record 26 yards in punt returns.
CoaChing
brian Kelly and his staff understood the significance of the game and came prepared to play. Defensive coordinator brian vanGorder threw all kinds of blitzes and schemes at michigan’s offense. offensively, the Irish exploited several mismatches in the vulnerable michigan secondary.
overall gPa : 3.56
While the statistics revealed an even game, there’s no denying that Notre Dame looked like the more dominant team saturday night. the Irish defense played fast and pressured michigan’s offense all night. Notre Dame’s offense struggled on the ground, but was efficient and precise through the air.
Play of the game
e verett g olson hits Will fuller for a 24-yard tou C hdo W n
the Irish had the ball on their own 44-yard line with 1:24 left in the first half, no timeouts and michigan set to receive the second-half kickoff. Golson engineered a six play, 56-yard drive in only 50 seconds capped by a 24-yard strike to Fuller that put the game out of reach.
Dominance
grabbed seven passes, including the first two touchdowns of his Notre Dame career. He put the Irish up 14-0 with 3:58 left in the second quarter, then put the game almost completely out of reach at the end of the third quarter with a 12-yard score to make it 28-0. He ended the game with 61 yards receiving, a high for his college career.
“I am just trying to get better on a daily basis,” Carlisle said. “Next week is a new week, so I have to put this in the past and work on getting better as a team and getting better individually.”
the Irish started the game slowly, possessing the ball just twice in the opening quarter. In its first drive, the offensive unit ran the ball three straight times with sophomore running back tarean Folston to get a first down, but stalled out when Golson attempted three straight throws and came up six yards short of the first-down marker. after that, the running game struggled, producing 44 yards on 28 attempts.
“the way they decided to play the game — there was six, seven guys [on the line],” Kelly said. “If somebody is going to play the game so one-sided defensively, we’re going to throw the football. and we probably missed a number of opportunities that we would like to have back, but we think 31 points against michigan is still not bad.”
Despite their trouble pounding the ball on the ground, the Irish did get a rushing score thanks to a one-yard rush from senior running back Cam mcDaniel, and Kelly said he remained committed to running the ball.
“We’ll continue to run it, even in a loaded box, because I think our backs are gifted enough to make some people miss in there,” he said. “We were able to hit some
quick slants off some play action. so we’ll continue to run it even if the numbers are not there.”
the Wolverines, on the other hand, started off the game with their longest drive of the day, by number of plays. Graduate student quarterback Devin Gardner completed his first six passes and drove his team from its own 24yard line into field-goal range. senior kicker matt Wile, however, missed wide right on a 46-yard attempt and gave the ball back to Notre Dame on its own 29-yard line.
“We crossed the 50 [yard line], and they were going to bring more pressure,” michigan head coach brady Hoke said of the Irish defense. “You’ve got to give them a lot of credit.”
after a quick start, Gardner cooled off, completing 13 of 26 passes and throwing three interceptions in the second half. He also fumbled the ball after attempting a pump fake and hitting the helmet of Irish senior linebacker Joe schmidt. Notre Dame sophomore defensive linemen Isaac rochell recovered the loose ball. While the Irish only scored three points off the michigan turnovers, Gardner said they made a significant impact on the course of the game.
“We lost a lot of momentum,” he said. “Football is a game of momentum, and we lost a lot of it.”
In the second quarter, the Irish attack picked up steam as Golson began to pick apart the michigan secondary. on Notre Dame’s second scoring drive, which lasted five minutes and 14 seconds, the senior completed six passes on seven attempts. Golson ended the half with 169 yards on 16-of21 passing.
“I think it all started when [Golson] really got an opportunity to learn how to protect himself,” Kelly said. “I think once that clicked for him … when he felt comfortable there and
protecting himself, that’s he’s really started to grow and develop as a quarterback.”
“I think that he’s matured,” Hoke said of Golson. “He’s a much better quarterback than he was two years ago.”
one of michigan’s bright spots was junior receiver Devin Funchess, who collected nine catches and accounted for 107 of michigan’s 189 receiving yards. Late in the game, however, Funchess went to the trainer’s table with an apparent right knee injury. He would return to the game but was unable to prevent Gardner’s final interception of the night, which came on what appeared to be the last play of the game.
Irish junior safety elijah shumate caught a last-second heave and raced it all the way back for a touchdown, which would have been the first of his college career. the score was called back, however, because of a penalty on sophomore safety max redfield, who had an interception earlier in the game. several michigan players had already run into the tunnel before the flag was announced and had to run back on the field for the final play of the game, while Notre Dame fans celebrated the win.
“It’s embarassing,” michigan junior center Jack miller said. “Definitely not the way we wanted to end the series and perform tonight, but it is over.”
“We don’t want to lose,” Irish sophomore linebacker Jaylon smith said. “especially at home. With a great crowd [of] 80,000 plus, [it was] just an amazing feeling out there tonight.” after starting the season 2-0 at home, the Irish will play Purdue at Lucas oil stadium in Indianapolis on saturday as part of the annual shamrock series.
Contact Greg Hadley at ghadley@nd.edu
ZACHARY LLORENS | The Observer
Irish junior defensive end Romeo Okwara tries to bring down Michigan graduate student quarterback Devin Gardner during Notre Dame’s 31-0 win over the Wolverines on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium.
believe that this is something that you can accomplish every time that you go out on the field.”
most of the game statistics were not nearly as lopsided as the 31-0 score. m ichigan actually possessed the ball for more time and gained nine more yards overall than Notre Dame did.
Where Notre Dame really dominated on the statistics sheet were turnovers and red zone performance. t he Wolverines were unable to get into the red zone at all, and four of their drives ended with an Irish takeaway.
much of the success in the secondary and overall defense could be attributed to consistent penetration and containment by the defensive line, Kelly said.
Balance
2012. He appeared poised and confident, deftly avoiding the Wolverines pass rush and finding receivers with accuracy.
t hose receivers, who entered the season as a collective question mark, have fed off Golson’s energy and stepped up in their own right. Will Fuller has emerged as No. 5’s favorite target thus far, and a mir Carlisle has appeared to put last year’s pass-catching struggles behind him.
a nd despite their struggles saturday night, it would be shortsighted not to mention Notre Dame’s three running backs, whose potential for big plays keeps defenses honest.
t hese position groups have combined to produce an Irish offense averaging nearly 40 points per game, a marked improvement over the unit that averaged approximately 27 points per game last season.
a s Kelly said, though, it’s not just about the offense — the defense has created momentum of its own.
“once we were able to really get a hold of the run game and getting it to third down, we felt like we were going to be in pretty good shape, because we were able to do a lot of things to confuse what they were seeing,” Kelly said. “so, stopping the running game and having a good control over the running game really set up a lot of things for us tonight.”
t he secondary, with the help from the linemen up front, forced two turnovers despite the absence of players like junior cornerback Kei varae russell and graduate student safety austin Collinsworth. sophomore safety max redfield and graduate student cornerback Cody r iggs, for instance, recorded one interception each.
Keeping an offense locked down for a full four quarters is a rare feat, one that requires an energized and motivated
a nd that brings me back to 2012.
t hat season’s defense was characterized by senior leadership — manti te’o, Kapron Lewis-moore and Zeke motta, among others. It featured a formidable defensive line, led by two players taken in the first three rounds of this year’s NFL draft. It played with a “bend, don’t break” mentality that prevented big plays, and it stepped up on the biggest of stages — the stanford and usC games of that season come to mind.
t his season’s defense features an underclassmen-heavy lineup, which has already included eight freshmen. t hree of these freshmen play on the defensive line. Defensive coordinator brian vanGorder’s scheme emphasizes aggressiveness and pressure, giving it a high risk, high reward feel. It’s not yet seen how the defense will fare on the biggest stages.
but despite their differences, both defenses got the job done against michigan. t hey both held mobile quarterbacks,
defense, smith said. He added that the high energy is not out of character for a team like the Irish.
“It’s just something that we live by,” smith said. “You get what you earn. We had to earn it. We weren’t giving in. We were up 21 or 28, at halftime, and it was all about the next play. eradicating everything. Zero, zero.”
t here was one other intangible that smith mentioned as playing a role in the team’s determination — the Notre Dame stadium atmosphere in the final scheduled game against michigan.
“t hat atmosphere was great. It was surreal,” smith said. “Last year we were in the big House playing michigan. so to actually be home, seeing all your family there, it was amazing.”
Contact Renee Griffin at rgriffi6@nd.edu
Denard robinson in 2012 and Devin Gardner this year, in check and forced turnovers — six in 2012, four saturday night. a nd neither unit surrendered a touchdown to the Wolverines.
Which brings me back to my original point. In today’s era of college football, there is no exact blueprint for success. offenses can be based on a power running game or an open spread aerial attack. Defenses can be highly aggressive or more technical and passive, but either one can succeed.
a nd that is good news for this year’s Notre Dame team. It won’t be the 2012 squad — its scheme, personnel and, yes, even special teams (in a good way) are different. but that doesn’t mean it can’t be as successful as that team was.
Contact Brian Hartnett at bhartnet@nd.edu
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Irish end shutout streak
By RENEE GRIFFIN sports Writer
Notre Dame’s shutout of michigan broke the Wolverines’ NC aa-best streak of 365 games without being held to zero points. the game also marked the first time the Irish shut out michigan in 42 meetings between the two schools. t he win gave Notre Dame an all-time record of 876-305-42 (.733), which tied it with texas for second place in all-time Football bowl subdivision victories.
Special teams have special performance senior kicker Kyle brindza converted all four of his extra point attempts against
michigan, extending his streak to 59 completed extra points in a row. He also had touchbacks on five of his six kickoffs, giving him 12 touchbacks on 15 attempts for the season. brindza kicked his 46th career field goal in the fourth quarter, tying him for second with former Irish kicker Nick setta on Notre Dame’s all-time list of most field goals kicked. With 26 return yards saturday, the Notre Dame punt return team has gained 106 punt return yards in two games. the Irish return team gained 106 total yards in 13 games last season.
A game of firsts a legion of less-experienced players had an impact
sCoring summary
notre dame 7, mi C higan 0
Cam mcDaniel 1-yard run (brindza kick) 1:50
3:45
notre dame 14, mi C higan 0
amir Carlisle 1-yard pass from Golson (brindza kick)
3:58 remaining
Drive: 13 plays, 80 yards, 5:14 elapsed
notre dame 21, mi C higan 0
Will Fuller 24-yard pass from Golson (brindza kick)
0:34 remaining
Drive: Six play, 56 yards, 0:50 elapsed
notre dame 28, mi C higan 0
amir Carlisle 12-yard pass from Golson (brindza kick)
Kyle brindza 43-yard field goal 12:03 remaining Drive: Seven plays, zero yards, 2:07 elapsed
for the first time against the Wolverines. s ophomore safety m ax r edfield had his first career interception, while graduate student cornerback Cody r iggs had his first interception in an Irish uniform. s enior receiver a mir Carlisle scored his first two touchdowns at Notre Dame, while sophomore linebacker James o nwualu recorded his first career punt return. Linebacker Kolin Hill became the 11th freshman to get a taste of playing time this season, and the eighth freshman on the defensive side of the ball to play.
Contact Renee Griffin at rgriffi6@nd.edu
send-off shutout
For the first time in the history of the Michigan-Notre Dame series, which began in 1887, the Irish shut out the Wolverines, winning 31-0. Although Michigan outgained Notre Dame, 289 yards to 280 yards, the Wolverines never entered the red zone. Michigan graduate student quarterback Devin Gardner threw three interceptions — including one to Irish junior safety Elijah Shumate in the game’s final seconds.
AMY ACKERMANN | The Observer Irish senior quarterback Everett Golson hands off to sophomore running back Tarean Folston during Notre Dame’s 31-0 win over Michigan on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish and the Wolverines squared off in their final scheduled meeting Saturday night.
ZACHARY LLORENS | The Observer
Irish senior slot receiver Amir Carlisle scampers in to score his second touchdown against Michigan on Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium.
AMY ACKERMANN | The Observer
Irish senior running back Cam McDaniel downs a punt inside the one-yard line Saturday.
ZACHARY LLORENS | The Observer
Irish sophomore receiver Will Fuller racked up nine receptions for 89 yards and one touchdown Saturday.
CAROLINE GENCO | The Observer
Notre Dame Leprechaun John Doran fires up the crowd during Notre Dame’s 31-0 win over Michigan on Saturday.
with two victories at home under its belt, the notre dame football team certainly doesn’t need any help from us this season. still, the scene staff is here with some advice to make future home victories even sweeter: song suggestions for students, fans and athletes alike to jam out to during games. w hile nothing could ever replace all of the best music from our own marching band, as long as music is being played on the loud speakers, these songs are our picks for the next “seven nation a rmy” or “crazy Train.” These are our favorite songs that are sure to get the irish pumped up for another victory.
“d-boyz” – r ich boy featuring mannie Fresh
By MIKO MALABUTE
i’m going to be honest: as of very recently, i wasn’t familiar with this song at all. in fact, i first heard about it two hours prior to writing this “staff pick.” but here’s the thing: if matthias Farley and everett golson are telling you that they want to hear the crowd chant “d-boyz,” and they close out an epic rivalry era against the michigan wolverines by handing the team its first shutout loss since 1984, routing them by 31 (ahem, 37) points, then you go ahead and play “d-boyz” and chant it until you can chant no more. i’m not saying we should pattern ourselves after the seattle seahawks, but here’s my final thought: seattle has its whole “12th man” and “legion of boom” thing going on, and the seahawks are the defending champions of professional football. so let’s embrace this and have this song playing after each dominating defensive performance. d-boyz.
“say a l ittle prayer” – a retha Franklin
By MADDIE DALY
a s a catholic university with a major football program, we are one of the few schools that can sing this song seriously during a game and use it to our advantage. “say a l ittle prayer” would bring the fans together,
regardless of whether the score is 31-0 in notre dame’s favor or not. in case we forgot to say that pre-game prayer, singing this song will remind everyone to put in a good word with the man upstairs. it’s an oldie, yet still a well-known classic, and alumni and students alike can sing along and use this song to pump up the team to push for the win.
“rock you l ike a Hurricane” – scorpions
By DAN BARABASI
a star of barney stinson’s “get pumped playlist,” this scorpions anthem describes the notre dame football spirit, ready to rock foes “l ike a hurricane.” we “wake up early morning/the sun comes out” as we begin to tailgate. Then, as “the night is calling” we file into the stadium, as hungry wolves who “run the show” against puny opponents.This classic rock song will even keep the faculty section on their feet “til the storm breaks loose.”
“idontGi V ea****” – rabbit Junk
By JOHN DARR
There’s a really easy way to trick people into chanting: play a song that features other people chanting. rabbit Junk’s new single is a bombardment of shredding guitar and screaming synths — think a maximalist version of Treats-era sleigh bells — backing up a crowd that roars “oh yeah!” every two seconds. if the chanting vocals and melodic arrangement weren’t as gripping, “idon Tgivea****” would be downright obnoxious. but wait — aren’t we talking about a notre dame football game? notre dame fans, obnoxious? no way. it’s perfect.
“attak” – rustie ft. danny brown
By MATT McMAHON
in high school, i was in charge of cultivating my
soccer team’s pump-up album, which we played at home games. i retroactively feel like a failure because i didn’t time travel to a future (namely, earlier this year) when scottish electronic producer rustie’s absolutely insane “attack” came into existence to put it on the playlist. in a mere seven notes, this song hits harder than anything ever heard in notre dame stadium, hereby known as “attak” by rustie ft. danny brown stadium. w hen danny brown comes in, it’s his most psychotic delivery since his own birth. To whoever is in charge of the music during football games: learn from my time-travel shortcomings and play “attak” whenever someone foolishly sits down.
“lose Control” – missy elliot
By ERIN McAULIFFE
First of all, missy elliot. second of all, ciara. if that isn’t reason enough to bump “lose control” through the stadium, the jam also adds some female artists to the male-dominated sport/experience/playlist. it even embodies the traditional stadium anthem lyrics (“wave your hands, scream louder”), and the lyrics rub our superiority in the other team’s face (“we on fiya!”). The women even instruct us on how to perform those demanding cheers with weird arm motions, singing “move your arm to the left, girl/now move your arm to the right, girl.” This song easily transitions from the club to the seventh-grade dance floor to the notre dame stadium — an act of versatility that only missy elliot could accomplish.
Contact Miko Malabute at mmalabut@nd.edu, John Darr at jdarr@nd.edu, Matt McMahon at mmcmaho7@nd.edu, Maddie Daly at mdaly6@nd.edu, Dan Barabasi at dbaraba1@nd.edu and Erin McAuliffe at emcaulif@nd.edu
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
it’s never too early for heisman talk
Manny De Jesus sports writer
a fter just two weeks of college football, we’ve experienced countless jawdropping plays, a couple of critical upsets and a few players that have left the rest of the college football world wondering whether or not they’re even human. i t is really early in the season, but it’s never too early to start looking at who has the most realistic chance at taking home college football’s most prized trophy: the h eisman.
a fter watching more hours of film than r on Jaworski, i ’ve come up with a list of players, from most qualified to least, that best fit the h eisman’s description of the most outstanding player in the country, excluding our own athletes here at s outh b end.
t odd Gurley, r unning back, Georgia
Todd g urley has been looking for the h eisman since he stepped on the field as a freshman, but this year will be his first real chance to take home the award. a s of late, the running back position hasn’t received much love from h eisman voters. The last four winners were all quarterbacks, with the last running back to win it being former a labama running back m ark i ngram.
g urley has a shot at being the second to win it in the last six years. h e’s the most explosive back that i ’ve seen since r eggie b ush. i n just one game this year against c lemson, g urley carried the ball a mere 15 times and ran for 198 yards to go along with three touchdowns and a 100-yard kick return that also went for a touchdown. g urley can really do it all. h e’s a 6-foot-1, 226 pound bruising back that has the speed and elusiveness to make almost anyone miss at any given moment. g eorgia is going spend all season competing for the sec title and that’s going to be credited to g urley’s play throughout the season.
marcus mariota, Quarterback, oregon a nother player who’s usually on the h eisman preseason watch list is junior quarterback m arcus m ariota. This d uck has been lights out statistically since his first year as a starter in 2012. h e’s one of my favorite players to watch because of
his elite dual-threat ability. s ome guys are able to throw and run the ball well, but m ariota does both with excellence week in and week out. a fter beating both dinky s outh d akota and last year’s r ose b owl champions in m ichigan s tate, m ariota has thrown for 585 yards and six scores through the air along with 85 yards and a touchdown on the ground. c hip Kelly had a lot to do with o regon’s success in recent history but without m ariota, o regon just isn’t the same team.
Kenny Hill, Quarterback, t exas a & m
Kenny Football, or as he said he wants to be called, Kenny Trill, has been able to fill into the shoes of Johnny c leveland with ease. i n his debut as an a ggie, h ill threw for a school-record 511 yards against preseason n o. 9 s outh c arolina, showing the rest of a merica that Texas a & m is still a powerhouse team even without Johnny m anziel. a fter his second game, when h ill completely decimated l amar, 73-0, the a ggies rocketed up the ap poll from no. 21 to no. 7. h ill has become a force to be reckoned with and he’s surely caught the attention of h eisman voters. a s of right now, h ill is a potential h eisman candidate, but until he helps the a ggies beat a labama, he won’t be considered a finalist for the award at season’s end. i wanted to come up with a fourth player to put on the list, but there really isn’t anyone else who comes from a relevant conference that stands out. i nstead i came up with a list of guys that could become potential candidates as the season progresses.
e ric Kendricks, linebacker, ucla ; a meer a bdullah, running back, n ebraska; b ryce p etty, quarterback, b aylor; Jameis w inston, quarterback, Florida s tate; a mari c ooper, wide receiver, a labama.
l ike every season, there will probably be a couple of guys that come out of nowhere to make their way into the h eisman watch, but these are the guys i think have the best chance of making it to n ew york as a finalist in d ecember.
Contact Manny De Jesus at mdejesus@nd.edu
The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Buffalo takes down Chicago with overtime FG
Associated Press
chicago — Fred Jackson showed no signs of slowing down as he raced along the sideline, and the buffalo bills might be ready to kick things into a higher gear, too. a stunning overtime victory over the bears was a good start.
Jackson set up dan carpenter’s field goal in overtime with a 38yard run to the 1 and the buffalo bills surprised chicago 23-20 on sunday.
The veteran running back ran for just 61 yards, but he came through with a big one at the end.
“i am old, but i can still play,” the 33-year-old Jackson said.
The bears had just punted to open the extra period and buffalo took over on its own 22 to start the winning possession. The bills got the ball to the chicago 39 when the 33-year-old Jackson turned toward the left side and broke off his big run, pushing safety chris conte out of the way twice inside the 10 before being knocked out of bounds at the 1.
buffalo’s eJ manuel backed up 3 yards and put the ball in the middle of the field. after a delay of game, carpenter won it with a 27-yarder.
it was a good start for the bills as they enter a new era following the death of founding father and hall of Fame owner ralph wilson. They’re trying to end a 14-year playoff drought and they started by knocking off a team eyeing a run to the postseason.
“it’s so difficult to win on the road in this league, especially on opening day i think it’s even tougher,” bills coach doug marrone said. “i’m proud of them. it was different, i’m not going to lie to you. it was different in that locker room before the game.”
Jackson said, “it was a great statement win for us to put all that stuff behind and focus on the season.”
This was not what the bears had in mind. They got little pressure from a revamped defense despite the addition of five-time pro bowl end Jared allen, and there were some questionable decisions at times by Jay cutler, who got picked off twice while throwing for 349 yards and two touchdowns.
The bears trailed 17-7 at the half after buffalo scored 17 unanswered points and came up short down the stretch after tying it.
The bills looked like they might pull this one out in regulation with
a 20-17 lead after dan carpenter kicked a 33-yard field goal.
That came after cutler threw across his body and tried to squeeze a pass to martellus bennett on a third-and-1 at the buffalo 34. Kyle williams came away with his first career interception, instead.
but the bears answered after the bills grabbed the lead.
They drove from the 20 to the buffalo 19, and cutler threw an incomplete pass to brandon marshall in the end zone before robbie gould tied it with a 37-yard field goal with 30 seconds left in regulation.
“you guys are going to be as negative as possible,” a surly cutler said. “but we’ve got a lot of games left, we did a lot of good things. obviously we made mistakes today and we’ve got to clean them up and got to keep it going.”
manuel completed 16 of 22 passes for 173 yards for buffalo. he also had a 2-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
robert woods added 78 yards receiving.
chicago’s matt Forte ran for 82 yards and had 87 receiving. brandon marshall caught eight passes for 71 yards and a touchdown. alshon Jeffery also had 71 yards receiving, although he spent most of the second half on the sideline because of a hamstring injury.
bennett had 70 yards receiving and a Td, but left guard matt slauson and center roberto garza left the game with ankle injuries. it wasn’t a great afternoon for a revamped defense, either. allen, the star addition in the offseason overhaul, was a nonfactor in his bears debut. but Trestman thought it was a good day overall for that group — Jackson’s long run aside.
“at the end of the day you keep them in the 17 to 20-point range, that should be enough for us to win,” he said. “and if we hang onto the football, take care of it we would have been in a good position to do that.”
panthers 20, buccaneers 14
Tampa, Fla. — cam newton watched from the sideline as his backup handled the Tampa bay buccaneers.
derek a nderson filled in nicely for the injured two-time pro bowl quarterback, throwing for 230 yards and two touchdowns sunday in carolina’s 20-14
season-opening victory. despite rallying with two late touchdowns, it was an ugly debut for the bucs under coach lovie smith. The defense applied little pressure on a nderson, and an offense that was one of the worst in the nFl a year ago showed few signs of improvement until midway through the fourth quarter. with newton cheering on his teammates after being held out because of a rib injury suffered in preseason, a nderson completed 24 of 34 passes with no interceptions and one sack. The 10th-year pro tossed for Tds of 5 yards to greg olsen and 26 yards to rookie Kelvin benjamin. carolina’s defense did its part, too.
The panthers sacked Josh mccown three times and intercepted smith’s hand-picked quarterback twice, both times on ill-advised throws. mccown, a career backup coming off his best season as a pro in throwing for 13 Tds versus one interception filling in for an injured Jay cutler in chicago a year ago, was 22 of 35 for 183 yards and two Tds. much of his production came after the panthers built a 17-0 lead midway through the third quarter. luke Kuechly had one of carolina’s three sacks and forced a fumble that set up graham gano’s 33-yard field goal in the final minute. The bucs pulled within 17-14 on mccown’s Td throws of 19 yards to chris owusu and 6 yards to bobby rainey.
The bucs got the ball back trailing by a field goal with 1:36 to go. but Kuechly, the 2013 nFl defensive player of the year — forced rainey to fumble after a short reception on the next play, spoiling any hopes for a comeback.
olsen finished with eight receptions for 83 yards. benjamin had six for 92 yards.
newton led a pair of lopsided victories over Tampa bay a year ago, when the panthers tied a franchise record with 12 victories. The first player selected in the 2011 draft posted career highs in completion percentage, touchdowns passing and passer rating. he injured his ribs aug. 22 at new england, sat out carolina’s preseason finale and was limited in practice last week after initially saying he was confident he’d play.`
For ren
Falcons defeat Saints in OT
behind Ryan’s record day
Associated Press
aTlanTa — matt ryan has turned in plenty of impressive performances for the atlanta Falcons.
This was probably his best one yet.
Throwing for a franchise-record 448 yards and showing some rarely used mobility to keep plays going, ryan led the Falcons to a 37-34 overtime victory over the new orleans saints in another thriller between the nFc south rivals sunday.
matt bryant kicked a tying 51yard field goal on the final play of regulation and won the season opener with a 52-yarder after the saints fumbled the ball away on the second play of overtime.
but this was mostly about ryan, who completed 31 of 43 with three touchdowns and eclipsed the team passing record of 431 yards set by chris chandler in 2001. ryan also ran three times for 15 yards and dodged the saints’ pressure most of the day, going down only one time after taking a career-high 44 sacks last season.
“he’s played a lot of games, made a lot of plays for us,” coach mike smith said. “but i was really impressed with his ability to extend some plays by moving
around in the pocket. and he was very, very accurate. w hen you have (568 yards) of total offense and 448 through the air, your quarterback is playing well.”
For good measure, ryan eclipsed the team record for career Td passes. he is now at 156, breaking the mark of 154 held by steve bartkowski.
The Falcons beat new orleans for just the fourth time in their last 17 meetings. This one was particularly sweet for atlanta coming off a miserable 4-12 season, its first losing campaign since 2007.
“it’s a good start,” ryan said. “but it’s a long season.”
The teams combined for 17 points in the final 2:50 of the fourth. The saints got the ball first in overtime, but marques colston was stripped from behind by william moore after catching a first-down pass over the middle.
Joplu bartu recovered the fumble at the saints 38. moore flexed his muscles from his knees in the middle of the field, while colston slammed his helmet in disgust when he got back to the sideline, brushing away a teammate who tried to console him.
“you’ve only got two eyes. you can’t see behind you,” moore said of his play on colston. “i’m going to continue to work on that and
paid a dverT isemen T
hopefully i can get some more throughout the season.”
The game fit right in with a divisional series in which nine of the previous 12 meetings were decided by eight points or less.
“That’s a tough game to lose,” saint coach sean payton said. “every once in a while, you get in one of these games where the score goes back and forth. The smallest of details, especially in overtime, magnifies any little mistake.”
The Falcons (1-0), who twice trailed from 13 points in the first half, went ahead on Jacquizz rodgers’ dazzling 17-yard run with 2:50 remaining. The diminutive back cut this way and that for a 31-27 lead. back came drew brees and the saints (0-1), needing only 90 seconds to go 71 yards. mark ingram powered over from the 3 for his second touchdown to make it 34-31 with 1:20 left.
That was enough time for ryan. he completed three passes on the tying drive, the big one a 21-yarder to devin hester that set up bryant’s tying kick.
hester, who has starred as a return specialist, showed he’s still got some skills as a receiver. after not catching even one pass for chicago last season, the 31-yearold had five receptions for 99 yards.
49ers defense blitzes cowboys
Associated Press
arling T on , Texas — c olin Kaepernick looked ready to lead the s an Francisco 49ers to another n F c championship game.
Tony r omo looked rusty for the d allas c owboys.
Kaepernick threw two touchdown passes to vernon d avis, one right after the first of three interceptions by r omo, and the 49ers opened the season with a 28-17 win over the sloppy c owboys on s unday.
The 49ers (1-0) also got a 35-yard fumble return on the second play of the game when c hris c ulliver picked up a loose ball stripped from d e m arco m urray. They led 21-3 after the first quarter despite running just four offensive plays.
c oming off a spotty preseason for his offense, Kaepernick was efficient, going 16 of 23 for 201 yards without an interception.
r omo was playing his first meaningful game for the c owboys (0-1) since back surgery in d ecember.
s an Francisco’s secondary made up for a front seven missing the suspended a ldon s mith and the injured n avorro b owman. s afety e ric r eid returned the first interception 48 yards to the d allas 2, setting up Kaepernick’s second scoring toss to d avis.
The d allas defense was supposed to be the problem after the league’s worst unit from a year ago released franchise sacks leader d e m arcus w are in a salary cap move and lost middle linebacker s ean l ee to a season-ending knee injury in the offseason.
i nstead it was the d allas offense that caused most of the trouble for the c owboys as 49ers coach Jim h arbaugh, the only coach since the 1970 merger to lead a team to a conference title game in each of his first three seasons, improved to 4-0 in season openers.
r omo looked like a quarterback who was limited in the offseason and training camp, not a good start for a
team trying to avoid tying a franchise record with a fifth straight year of missing the playoffs.
h e didn’t see r eid on a throw to d ez b ryant, then didn’t see wide-open receiver d wayne h arris for an easy touchdown. i nstead he forced a pass to Jason w itten that was intercepted by p atrick w illis in the end zone.
The interceptions kept coming even after starting s an Francisco cornerbacks Tramaine b rock (toe) and c ulliver (concussion) had been knocked out of the game. b ackup p errish c ox had his second career pick when r omo threw deep to d ez b ryant in double coverage.
i t didn’t take Kaepernick long to put that rough preseason behind him, leading the 49ers 80 yards in just three plays on their first possession. h e stepped out of an ankle tackle by Jeremy m incey and threw 29 yards on the run to d avis, who juggled the ball as the crossed the goal line before holding on for a 14-3 lead.
The 49ers also had an efficient drive in their 2-minute offense to finish the first half, with Kaepernick throwing for 39 yards leading to c arlos h yde’s 4-yard scoring run for a 28-3 halftime lead.
w hen r omo wasn’t throwing interceptions, the d allas offense was getting falsestart penalties and using timeouts to avoid delay-ofgame penalties.
p art of the problem was the noise from large swaths of red-clad 49ers fans seeing their team for the first time in the regular season in the $1.2 billion home of the c owboys.
m urray bounced back from the fumble on his first carry of the season to get 71 yards in the first quarter and 118 with a touchdown for the game.
b ut he didn’t get the ball on second-and-1 from the s an Francisco 2 with a chance to tie the score early. i nstead, r omo was sacked and d allas settled for a field goal.
Irish start second day
By KIT LOUGHRAN sports writer
in 10th place
The irish stand in 10th place after two rounds at the gopher invitational at windsong Farm golf club in independence, minn. on sunday.
notre dame finished 39-overpar through the first two rounds of the tournament, hosted by minnesota. The irish posted a first-round score of 302 and second-round score of 305 for a team total of 602. The team heads into day two placed 10th out of a 15-team field, and the irish look to improve that ranking with tomorrow’s round.
“we need to play the way we did last week, which is with comfort and confidence,” irish coach James Kubinski said. “we seemed to become uncomfortable far too easily today. we’re a growing team. we took a step backward but with a nice round tomorrow, we have an opportunity to post a solid finish in the tournament.”
Though the irish are focused on moving up the leaderboard, the squad’s underclassmen played two solid rounds that carried the irish through the first day. Freshman Thomas steve leads the irish after the first 36 holes with a five-over-par score of 147 (76-71-147) that puts him in a tie for 17th.
“i was extremely impressed by Thomas, our freshman, in not only leading our team in scoring today but for the way he did it,” Kubinski said. “he showed a lot of heart out there, after a slow start. as the day went on though, he became more comfortable. he didn’t have his best game today but still showed enough grit and resolve to post five birdies over his last nine holes.”
like his coach, senior patrick grahek said he was proud of steve’s performance on the course.
“it was great to see our underclassmen really step up and perform well today,” grahek said. “our freshman Thomas steve … is playing some very solid golf.” close behind steve, fellow underclassmen sophomore matt rushton ended the day tied in 22nd place with a six-over-par score of 148 (73-78-148). grahek
(72-181) led the squad’s upperclassman through the first day, securing an eleven-over-par finish and tie for 40th place. sophomore blake barens (81-79160) and junior cory sciupider followed (81-80-161) grahek and are tied for 61st and 63rd place, respectively.
baylor ended day one at the top of the leaderboard with a four-over-par score of 572, following a first round 289 and second round 283. c alifornia (293-289-582), m innesota (294-295-589), c harlotte (296294-590) and Kent state (291302-593) rounded out the top five. c oming off a team victory at the notre dame Kickoff c hallenge last week, the i rish are prepared and capable of competing in such a talented field of competitors, grahek said.
“ we are one of the most talented teams in every field we play in, but playing to our potential is something we need to work on,” grahek said. “ we, as a team, need to develop our practice of exhibiting patience out on the course. o nce we can find our comfort zones and play our own games, we will succeed as a team.”
playing up to its potential wasn’t notre dame’s only challenge yesterday. The course itself was a test for the i rish, grahek said.
“c onditions [on the course] were tough today,” grahek said. “There were tucked pins, strong winds and fast greens.” now familiar with the course, the i rish head into the third and final round of the tournament today. grahek said the team is focused on building upon yesterday’s performance and knowledge of the course.
“[Today] we are going to come out with a lot more confidence and purpose with what we are trying to do,” he said.
“The golf course is fairly intimidating, so staying focused is key.”
The i rish compete in the last 18 holes of the 2014 g opher i nvitational at w indsong Farm g olf c lub today.
Contact Kit Loughran at kloughr1@nd.edu
paid a dverT isemen T
KEVIN SONG | The Observer
Irish senior David Lowe follows through on a drive during the Notre Dame Kickoff Challenge at the Warren Golf Course on Aug. 31. The team traveled to Minnesota last weekend for the Gopher Invitational.
Irish men win their own crusade in Valparaiso
By GREG HADLEY
a ssociate sports e ditor
For the 12th straight year, notre dame kicked off its season Friday with the crusader open in valparaiso, ind., winning the men’s team title.
The irish were led by sophomores chris marco and Jacob dumford, both of whom raced sparingly last year. marco and dumford finished the four-kilometer race in under 11:10, the only runners to do so that day, and grabbed the top two spots.
“it was encouraging to see sophomores chris marco and Jacob dumford lead us to the win,” irish coach matt sparks said. “Those are two guys we will need to help us later in the season.”
dumford and marco led a notre dame squad made up almost entirely of underclassmen, many of whom were racing for the first time in their collegiate careers. nine men made the trip to valparaiso, including five sophomores, three freshmen and one junior.
The irish placed all five of their scoring runners inside the top 10 and posted a final score of 24 points, which put the team eight points ahead of runner-up iupui and 61 points in front of the host valparaiso.
“The highlight of the meet was the men’s team coming home with the win,” sparks said. “having only spent two weeks practicing with this group, i was not sure what to expect out of the younger athletes.”
Freshmen John Flannery, Kevin pulliam, calvin Kraft and william dolan all made their irish debuts and placed in the top seven for
notre dame. sophomore Kris moran also competed for the the first time in a notre dame singlet. on the women’s side, the irish only raced four athletes and failed to record a team score. individually, however, freshman sydney Foreman finished fourth in her first collegiate race and led all irish finishers. Three of the four notre dame runners were freshmen.
none of the projected varsity runners for either the men’s or women’s squad made the trip to race, instead staying home and participating in a hard workout, sparks said.
“we are confident in the fitness of the upperclassman men and women who did not compete and used the weekend to train,” sparks said. “This meet was an opportunity for underclassman to be accountable for the team’s success.”
western michigan took the women’s team title with 34 points, followed closely by iupui, who fell four points short of a tie.
paid a dverT isemen T
Observer Staff Report
s aint mary’s kicked off their home conference schedule in style, following up its four-set win against olivet on Friday with an impressive 3-0 victory over rival a lbion on s aturday. The pair of wins for the b elles marks the first time the team has started with two straight home conference victories.
stretch in which they scored eight points in a row. From there, the brits were unable to tie it back up, as the b elles held off several late runs to take the second set by a count of 25-22.
The irish do not race again until the national catholic championships on sept. 19. notre dame will host the 35th edition of the event at the notre dame golf course. both the men’s and women’s teams have won five straight titles, with the women taking home a share of the championship for the past nine years.
sparks said he feels confident his team can repeat as champions again.
“we do have a couple of athletes that will be nursing some injuries, but we will race all healthy athletes — men and women — at the national catholic meet,” sparks said. “we have a strong tradition of running well at the national catholic meet, and we are working to continue that trend.”
The irish take to the course again on sept. 19 for the national catholic championships at notre dame golf course.
Contact Greg Hadley at ghadley@nd.edu
Volleyball
m ichigan did lead n otre
d ame in hitting percentage, .206-.124 and benefitted from the i rish racking up nine more attack errors and five more service errors.
Fry was once again the
a gainst the c omets (25, 1-2), the b elles (3-4, 2-1 miaa) rallied after losing the opening set, 25-23. a fter tying the game 21-21 and 2222, the team could not hold on, but came back strong in a back-and-forth second set.
d espite 11 ties, the b elles strung together six unanswered points and held on for the set victory.
a fter that, s aint mary’s came from behind again to win the third set, 27-25, and clinched the victory after never trailing in the fourth set, 25-22.
Though the b elles were initially down 14-11 in the first set against a lbion (0-7, o-3), they rallied to tie it at 16-16, before ripping off four points in a row to go ahead 20-16. d espite the brits getting the next two points, s aint mary’s would go on another fourpoint run that would give them a comfortable 25-19 opening victory.
The second set featured more of the same, with the brits notching a five-point burst at one point to take an 18-13 lead. however, the b elles responded with a torrid
statistical leader for the i rish as she recorded a team high 11 kills, three aces, five blocks and three digs.
w ashington s tate finished the weekend as champions of the annual g olden d ome i nvitational, clinching the title with a 3-1 victory over w estern m ichigan on s aturday. b ettinson took
a fter playing relatively even with the brits, 5-4, to open up the third and final set, the b elles opened up offensively and scored 11 of the next 14 points to take a commanding lead of 16-7. a lbion never got closer than that, as the b elles cruised to a 25-14 victory in the set and subsequently the match.
s everal players stood out for the b elles. s ophomore l exi grady had a team-high 16 assists, while sophomore meaghan gibbons led all players with 15 digs. s even players on the b elle side tallied at least three kills, with junior Katie hecklinski leading the team with seven. s enior melanie Kuczek added six blocks, on a day where nine b elles had at least one block.
s aint mary’s next match will be against conference rival Trine, who is coming off of a 3-2 victory over Kalamazoo on s aturday. The Thunder are led by junior Taylor r abel, who put up a double-double against the hornets, recording 18 kills and 11 digs. Freshman m ikayla c arpenter recorded a career-high 31 digs and the Thunder improved their record to 5-1 and 1-1 in the miaa
The b elles play the Thunder at home, with a scheduled game time of 7 p.m.
home the tournament mvp honors.
n otre d ame continues its home schedule next weekend at the s hamrock i nvitational, when the i rish will welcome T cu, n ortheastern and n orthern i owa to the p urcell p avilion as they continue to seek their first victory of the 2014 campaign.
Observer File Photo
Irish junior Kevin Durham rounds a corner during the Notre Dame Invitational at the Notre Dame Golf Course on Sept. 27.
W s occer
con T inued F rom page 16
appearance for the i rish, set up the first goal of the game with a cross to sophomore midfielder morgan a ndrews, who buried the ball in the back of the net from 15 yards out.
a fter allowing Texas Tech and usc back into games with four second-half goals combined, notre dame came out aggressive in the second period, picking up three yellow cards and forcing broncos goalkeeper a ndi Tostanoski to make four saves.
muya gave the i rish some breathing room in the 82nd minute with an unassisted goal, the first of her collegiate career. muya, the only international player on the notre dame roster, was making her first start with the squad since coming over from e ngland.
“her first game was Friday because she wasn’t cleared by the ncaa yet,” g eyer said.
“she had a goal and an assist, so it was really promising to see that, her clicking and doing all those things right away. o ur other freshmen that play also have been making an impact, which is great.”
period.
“ we did a good job playing the whole game and not giving up easy goals,” g eyer said. “ we went the full 90 minutes on Friday and 120 minutes today, which is something we weren’t able to do last weekend.”
w ith the team back on track, g eyer said she thinks the i rish have the ability to play with any team in the country.
“[ i ’m] not really surprised [that] we played well, because i think we’re good and we’re going to have a good year,” g eyer said. “ we just got unraveled last weekend and now we’ve kind of put everything back together.”
n otre d ame returns home this weekend for matchups with b aylor and Toledo on Friday and s unday, respectively. a fter that, the squad enters conference play, which will provide the biggest challenge of the season, g eyer said. The acc currently has four teams ranked in the top 15.
in a ‘ w ’ felt good.”
The i rish (2-0-1) had the early push to start the game, as senior midfielder n ick b esler sent a header inches over the crossbar only minutes in.
n otre d ame would find the back of the net in the 15th minute as graduate student forward l eon b rown took a pass from b esler at the top of the penalty box and drilled it past d artmouth junior goalkeeper s tefan c leveland. The tally was b rown’s second in only the third regular season game for the i rish.
“ it’s great to get the goal, it’s a terrific goal,” i rish coach b obby c lark said. “ b ut from that moment on i felt that [ d artmouth] started to come into the game.”
s oon after, b ig g reen senior defender hugh d anilack fired a response shot from 20 yards out as the crowd was resettling into their seats, but i rish graduate student goalkeeper p atrick wall found the shot through the mass of legs and bodies in front of him and smothered it. wall would finish with two saves for the game.
n otre d ame would add to their lead in the 42nd minute as junior midfielder e van p anken and freshman forward Jeffrey Farina worked a give-and-go deep into the d artmouth penalty box before p anken buried his first score of the season.
a gain d artmouth would attempt a quick answer. a fter wall knocked away a pass, b ig
g reen freshman midfielder g iorgio g orini would head a cross off the far post. The ball redirected off the frame right along the goal line before being cleared by sophomore defenseman b randon a ubrey, keeping the i rish lead at 2-0 going into halftime.
The b ig g reen would finally break through in the 54th minute when g orini slammed home a loose ball from only a couple yards out.
“They got the goal back and you say, ‘This is a game,’” c lark said.
The i rish would regain the two-goal advantage only five minutes later when p anken sent a through-ball forward to c icciarelli, who muscled past the defender marking him to gain control of the ball and bury it low near-post.
“e arly in the game we had almost the exact same run-in and [ p anken] just hit it a little too hard past me,” c icciarelli said. “ w hen he saw me making that run again he played me a perfect ball. The defender had no idea i was coming, so i just used my big body and moved him out of the way.
“To come back and put one in pretty quickly definitely took away their momentum and that’s how we’ve got to respond every time.”
“it was good that both starting strikers, both seniors [ b rown and c icciarelli] got goals,” c lark said. “i think that was terrific. … a s a striker it’s always good to get the first goal of the season.”
notre d ame would add to its lead with an own goal by d artmouth on a cross by
junior midfielder c onnor Klekota that deflected off a defender and into the net.
a lthough the score ended up lopsided, the i rish felt they played a poor game overall and were disappointed in their performance.
“ we definitely didn’t play our best,” c icciarelli said. “b ut we just need to gut out games and show some grit and show people we’re going to battle to win no matter what and i think we did a great job of that at least.”
“it was a very good result, but i never felt comfortable in the whole game,” c lark said. “To be truthful, i was a bit disappointed with the way the team played … but when you don’t play as well as you’d like you have to give some credit to your opponent. This was always going to be a difficult game for us because [ d artmouth coach and former notre d ame assistant c had r iley] knows exactly what we do.
“The grass was a little long, as this game hadn’t been anticipated to be played [today], so maybe that maybe slowed our passes down, but it’s the same for both teams.”
d ue to the weather Friday, the final day of the tournament was pushed back from s unday to monday, when notre d ame will look to clinch at least a share of its second consecutive b erticelli memorial championship, meeting Kentucky on the a lumni s tadium pitch at 6 p.m.
Contact Zach Klonsinski at zklonsin@nd.edu
The i rish repeated their gutsy performance two days later in p alo a lto, c alif., against the c ardinal (4-01). s ophomore goalkeeper Kaela l ittle recorded a season-high six saves and the defense weathered a fourshot barrage in the overtime
“[ it was] definitely two good results on the road, especially coming off two losses last weekend,” g eyer said. “ it gives us a little bit more confidence going into the start of the acc season when we start playing a lot of tough opponents.”
The i rish take the pitch at a lumni s tadium this Friday to take on b aylor at 7 p.m.
Contact Greg Hadley at ghadley@nd.edu
MICHAEL YU | The Observer
Irish junior midfielder Evan Panken, 15, battles a Wisconsin defender for possession while fellow junior midfielder Connor Klekota trails in support during Notre Dame’s 5-1 win over Wisconsin on Aug. 25.
Happy Birthday: pursue your dreams. Follow your heart and let your intuition guide you. an unexpected change in your financial situation is apparent if you give your all to the pursuits that bring you the most satisfaction. base your decisions on what will bring you the highest rewards instead of doing things that help others. This is a “me first” year. your numbers are 8, 14, 21, 29, 36, 40, 44.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): expand your interests and friendships and you will discover options you didn’t realize you had. an emotional situation may be based on false information. don’t jump to conclusions or make assumptions that can lead to alienation.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): be careful not to go over budget or to take on more than you can handle. stick to simple pleasures and avoid indulgences that can be costly. Focus on love, self-improvement and stabilizing your position. seek knowledge and hone your skills.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): don’t believe everything you hear and tread carefully when discussing personal preferences. Treating the people you are emotionally connected to will help you avoid complaints, jealousy and revenge. protect your reputation by offering honesty, regardless of the consequences.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): use your intuition to guide you through any trouble you encounter at home or with a partner. your straightforward approach to life and the way you handle personal affairs will provide you with the strength to counter anyone trying to dismantle your plans..
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): ylook for opportunities to learn, travel or interact with stimulating people. don’t let anyone pressure you to take on responsibilities that don’t belong to you. look for alternative ways to live if it will encourage happiness and peace of mind.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): don’t take anything for granted. ask questions and get answers before you make a decision that can affect a partnership. Find ways to increase your assets using cautious calculations. having a plan and strategy in place will help prevent mistakes.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Take the liberty to do things that please you. it’s fine to be a peacekeeper, but once in a while you have to give in to your needs. make plans to have some fun with someone who makes you feel special.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): do what you can to help someone facing confused or uncertain times. your loyalty and desire to make a difference will put you in the spotlight, bringing about some awesome opportunities to explore new possibilities for professional advancement.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): make plans and have fun, but don’t let the reactions and authenticity of someone’s response toward you mislead you. ulterior motives are likely to be behind a gesture of friendliness someone offers you. be careful who you share personal information with.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): if you cannot make up your mind, retreat. Take however much time you require to avoid making a mistake. money will come to you from an unusual source. don’t share information regarding your gains. bide your time.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): you’ll have an intuitive view when it comes to personal finances, health or legal matters. Follow your gut feelings and make whatever changes are necessary to get what you want. opportunity is heading your way, so don’t hesitate to take it.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): There are all sorts of things you can do to protect your interests and to help your assets grow in value. your intuition is strong, but your emotions will cause uncertainty. a realistic assessment will lead to victory.
Birthday Baby: you are disciplined and thoughtful. you are clever, caring and helpful.
Jumble | david hoyT and JeFF KnureK
sudoKu | The mepham group
Irish battle weather, Big Green to earn tourney win nd wraps up west coast swing
By ZACH KLONSINSKI sports writer
it took a few hours longer than anticipated for n o. 2 n otre d ame to begin the defense of its m ike b erticelli m emorial Tournament title. The originally scheduled Friday night game against d artmouth was pushed back to s aturday afternoon due to bad weather, but as thousands of football fans walked past a lumni s tadium, the host squad rolled past the b ig g reen (0-1-0) by a score of 4-1.
“a ll day we all had our minds set on the game, and then to see that storm and get it cancelled and not know what to do kind of ruined our night,” i rish senior forward v ince c icciarelli said. “ b ut to bounce back the way we did today and be able to put something together and put
By GREG HADLEY a ssociate sports e ditor
a week after losing two close matches and plummeting in the national rankings, n o. 25 n otre d ame flew across the country and restored part of its lost confidence, thanks to a 2-0 victory over n o. 16 s anta c lara and a 0-0 draw to fourth-ranked s tanford. w ith the unbeaten trip in c alifornia under their belts, the i rish (3-2-1) expect to see their ranking bounce back, sophomore midfielder/forward e mily g eyer said.
“ i would be surprised if our ranking didn’t go up,” g eyer said. “ i think we deserve better than 25[th].”
The win and tie came after the i rish lost both matches, 2-1, in the n otre d ame i nvitational on a ug. 29 and 31 to n o. 10 Texas
Tech and usc . The losses early in the season under new coach Theresa r omagnolo could have set the team’s confidence back, but g eyer said the i rish never wavered. “ r efocusing on what our goals were for this season [is what helped us bounce back], and i guess just moving on and letting go of what happened last weekend and showing that we’re better than that,” she said. “ i think we had a rough patch but we showed this weekend that we can bounce back and get over that and continue our upward trend.” a gainst s anta c lara (32-0), the i rish came out shooting, recording seven shots in the first half. Freshman forward Karin m uya, in her first
Notre Dame endures tough Golden Dome Invite
Observer Staff Report
n otre d ame dropped all three of their weekend matches and won only one set in the home-opening g olden d ome i nvitational at the p urcell p avilion. The i rish (0-5) lost to w ashington s tate, 3-1, Friday, iupui , 3-0, s aturday and w estern m ichigan, 3-0, s unday. Their match with the c ougars (51) on Friday evening was the most competitive for the i rish. a fter winning the first set 25-23, the i rish lost the next three sets. 11 lead changes and 22 ties marked the match. w ashington s tate senior middle blocker c helsey b ettinson led both teams with 22 kills. For the i rish, freshman s ydney Kuhn notched 14 kills, the high mark for any n otre d ame player. s he also recorded the highest hitting percentage for n otre d ame (.382).
The lowest point of the weekend occurred when graduate student outside hitter n icole s mith injured her ankle against the c ougars. s he was not able to play for the rest of the tournament.
o n s aturday afternoon, iupui rolled right past the i rish in three consecutive
sets with scores of 25-13, 2521 and 25-23. n otre d ame was stuck in a scoring funk throughout the match, hitting just .138 for the afternoon and recording only 34 kills. i n stark contrast, iupui earned 42 kills, 11 blocks, and recorded a .231 hitting percentage in their winning performance. Freshman middle blocker s am Fry lead the i rish with eight kills.
iupui broke out in front from the start s aturday, hitting .306 while n otre d ame hit .045 in the 25-13 opening set rout. The set also featured a 12-2 iupui scoring run. a s the match went on, the i rish kept closing the gap, ending the contest with the closest set of the night. The score was tied at 14 with control of the serve to n otre d ame, before the Jaguars pulled away, 25-23. i n s unday’s finale, n otre d ame was once again swept, losing in three sets with scores of 25-22, 25-20 and 25-21. The match was closer than the score revealed however, as the i rish had higher totals in kills, assists, service aces, digs and blocks than the b roncos. w estern
MICHAEL YU | The Observer
Irish senior forward Vince Cicciarelli works to control the ball during Notre Dame’s 5-1 exhibition win against Wisconsin on Aug. 25.
ZACHARY LLORENS | The Observer
Notre Dame senior middle blocker Jeni Houser tries to get a piece of a kill attempt during a match against Duke on Oct. 2. Houser leads the Irish in kills so far this season.
