notre dame 47, clemson 40 (2ot) | monday, november 9, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com
One for the history books No. 4 Irish beat No. 1 Tigers in overtime thriller for first win over top-ranked team in Kelly era
Photo courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics
Irish graduate student wide receiver Javon McKinley dives to make a fingertip catch during Notre Dame’s double-overtime, 47-40 win over Clemson on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. McKinley had a team-best five receptions for 102 yards, including a 45-yard grab that put the Irish in a position to retake the lead near the end of the third quarter.
Where were you when Irish eyes were smiling? Hayden Adams Sports Editor
I like Mike Tirico on the Notre Dame NBC broadcasts, but he just couldn’t do that game justice. Nobody could. Not even the dulcet tones of Morgan Freeman — one of the most iconic voice artists ever — could capture what it was like to be there when Notre Dame knocked off No. 1 Clemson. No announcer could evoke the same kinds of feelings of angst, stress, nerves, joy, excitement, hype, letdown, hype again, letdown again, relief, bliss and a host of other emotions as embodied by the mass of students who, admittedly, did not adhere to social distancing protocols while storming the field. Hey, I’m not gonna make excuses for that, but it begs the see ADAMS PAGE 3
By JIMMY WARD Associate Sports Editor
On perhaps the most influential day in American history, Notre Dame beat a top-ranked opponent in Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers. It was the first time the Irish hosted a No. 1 ranked opponent in 15 years and the last time they got a victory over the best in the nation since 1993. The double-overtime slugfest thriller had no dull moments. The Irish got off to a quick start as the first legal play saw sophomore running back Kyren Williams take it 65 yards to the house to give the Irish an early 7-0 lead just seconds into the game. Clemson would make an error on the following kickoff and muffed the kick, their first drive would start from their own six-yard line. After a quick first down, the Irish were able to halt the Tiger offense and get the ball back with great field position. But the next time their offense would reach the endzone was not until 22 seconds
remained in the game. Irish senior placekicker Jonathan Doerer would hit a 24-yard field goal to cushion the Irish lead, 10-0. Clemson struck back with a 53-yard touchdown but Doerer went four for five on field goal attempts with a 45-yard long to keep the Irish in it throughout the night as their offense struggled to find the endzone. But Clemson’s junior kicker B.T. Potter went 4-4 to keep the game neck and neck. The Notre Dame defense absolutely shut down Tigers senior running back Travis Etienne and the rush game overall holding Clemson to 34 net rush yards on 33 attempts. On the flip side Irish sophomore running back, Kyren Williams rushed for 140 yards on 23 carries and found the endzone on three separate occasions. Etienne led the Tigers with 28 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown. Irish defensive coordinator Clark Lea executed his gameplan to perfection and forced freshman quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei to air it out
for 439 yards and two touchdowns. It was expected that both Lea and Tigers defensive coordinator Brent Venables would force their opposition to throw the ball but the contrast of success was shocking, to say the least. While Notre Dame’s offensive line seemed to be able to will their way down the field, Clemson struggled immensely to even get the ball back to scrimmage on run plays. The Irish would get down inside Clemson’s ten again on their next drive but failed to convert on third down and Doerer banged home a 27-yarder to give the Irish a 13-7 lead over the Tigers. Etienne would field the subsequent kickoff and was met early by junior linebacker Jack Lamb, the Tigers would start this drive from their own 12. Clemson worked the ball down the field but were forced to settle for a field goal. Notre Dame would punt on their next possession but the Irish defense and one player, see VICTORY PAGE 2
Win will define legacy of Kelly, seniors By JIMMY WARD Associate Sports Editor
In 2015 a lot of leaders on this 2020 roster had either just committed or had just been recruited by Notre Dame. That same year the No. 12 ranked Clemson Tigers, led by Dabo Swinney, defeated the sixth ranked Irish in a nailbiter dubbed the “BYOG” game — “bring your own guts,” as Swinney put it in his mayhem-filled postgame interview. A recruit today would look at that game and say to himself, “Hey, I might be more successful if I went to a different school, a school more accustomed to winning in big games.” But this group decided to stick with their gut decision, and after putting in the work for four or five years, these seniors and graduates have see SENIORS PAGE 3
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Insider
The observer | monday, november 9, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com
Victory Continued from page 1
in particular, Jerimiah OwusuKoramoah stepped up and made a pair of game-changing plays. Owusu-Koramoah flew in from his outside linebacker position and snatched a toss that bounced off Etienne’s fingers and took it to the house for his first career touchdown and the Irish defenses first of the year giving the Irish a healthy 20-10 lead. Three plays later the senior linebacker forced another fumble that would eventually result in a Doerer field goal. Clemson would respond with a field goal to start the second half as Potter drilled one from 46 yards out. They would force an Irish three and out and Uiagalelei would then throw his second touchdown pass of the night, knotting the game up at 23-23. The teams traded field goals once more to start the fourth quarter and with 9:42 left in regulation, it was still all square, 26-26. The Tigers would drive down the
field after forcing another three and out and Etienne would find the endzone from three yards out to give the Tigers a 33-26 lead. Notre Dame received the ball with 3:33 left, if Irish graduate student quarterback Ian Book would have one moment to shine it would have to be this drive so everyone thought or maybe there was an alternate route. The Irish would go three and out and give the ball to Clemson who still maintained a one-score lead with 2:10 left. Owusu-Koramoah and senior linebacker Drew White would give the Irish offense one last chance though as they came up with a few big plays that forced the Tigers to give it up with 1:48 on the clock for Ian Book and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees to work with. Notre Dame would start their game-tying drive own backed up all the way from their own nine-yard line. 8 plays, 1:26 and 91 yards later Book found senior wide receiver Avery Davis open for a game-saving touchdown. As thrilling as it was to see
Book finally able to piece together a game-tying drive over a big-time opponent the game was really put on ice by Clark Lea’s defense in overtime, well the second one that is. Although they allowed the Tigers to get down to the one-yard line on what was originally called a touchdown but overturned on the very first play in overtime, Williams would find the endzone on Notre Dame’s turn to keep the Irish alive and then once again in the second overtime to give them the lead. The Irish defense would seal the game here. The sound in the stadium began to rise long before the ball was even snapped. A roar, a swarming Irish pass rush and more roars emanated from the 11,011 strong that sounded a lot more like 80,000. As the Tigers faced a second and nineteen reality was beginning to set in. The crowd shook the stadium as Uiagalelei dropped back to throw, graduate student defensive end Daelin Hayes gashed into the Tigers backfield and found another sack, Clemson
was thirty-nine yards away from staying alive. Students knew what was about to happen and crowded the walls surrounding the field. As the clock hit zero Notre Dame students leaped from the walls and rushed the field. The Fighting Irish had just defeated their first top-ranked opponent in 27 years, long before the lives of the students who were now flooding the field began. Kelly was asked about the field storming, something he foresaw long before the final decision. “Our students were awesome. They made it feel like a true game,” Kelly said. “When they stormed the field you got a sense of a special moment at Notre Dame. I know our players did as well. I think what made it even more special was what I had alluded to earlier was just the resolve. I had told our team in our walkthrough today … ‘Listen I just want you to know when we win this thing the fans are gonna storm the field.’ Plenty of people counted the Irish out of this game even with
Trevor Lawrence on the sidelines. Kelly said that his team was not celebrating because they were counted out but because they had fought to beat the top-ranked team in the country in a double-overtime instant classic. It was not so much about proving doubters wrong but more so about finding faith in themselves. “Look, all the narratives that are out there and whatever is said, talked about, that doesn’t help you win this game. What we’re excited about and what we’re celebrating is that we played with an incredible focus and resolve. Those are things that we work on to try to be successful and win football games,” Kelly said. “We’re not celebrating because we showed the world or we changed the narrative or we did this because they were the No. 1 team in the country. We did it because we proved something to ourselves, and that’s really satisfying and that’s what we’re celebrating.” Contact Jimmy Ward at wward@hcc-nd.edu
Photo courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics
A group of Irish defenders, including graduate student defensive end Ade Ogundeji and senior linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, swarm the Tigers ball carrier during the 47-40 Notre Dame win against Clemson at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday. The defense held Clemson to 34 rushing yards (on 33 carries), the lowest mark since 2009.
Play of the game
player of the game
avery davis catches a 53-yard pass from Ian book
Notre Dame linebacker jeremiah owusu-koramoah
Notre Dame was in a dire situation near the end of regulation, down a touchdown with under two minutes left on their own 28-yard line. Ian Book unleashed a pass to senior wide receiver Avery Davis, who reeled it in in stride and was tackled four yards shy of the end zone. Three plays later, Book again found Davis, this time for the gametying touchdown.
Senior Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah played a key role in keeping the momentum on the Irish side during the first half. He grabbed a pitch in the backfield and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown, the first of his career. Three plays later, he punched the ball out for a fumble that was recovered by Notre Dame, and he also assisted on a crucial sack in second overtime.
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Volume 55, Issue 36 | MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com
BIDEN WINS BIG With record turnout, Biden received more votes than any other presidential candidate in US history. Harris is poised to be the first female and first woman of color elected to the vice presidency.
LIYA BLITZER | The Observer
Democratic candidate Joe Biden was elected the 46th president of the United States on Saturday, after days of ballot counting and uncertainty. Biden received more votes in the 2020 election than any other presidential candidate in the country’s history. Biden, 77, defeated President Donald Trump after he was projected to win Pennsylvania and secured 290 votes from the Electoral College, according to the Associated Press. He is the oldest president-elect in American history. Senator Kamala Harris, Biden’s running mate, will be
the first woman and the first woman of color to take on the role of vice president. Biden has been vying for the presidency for decades, and after his third attempt to take on the position, he has been elected in the midst of a surge of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and a national movement calling for racial justice. Biden spoke Saturday night at a drive-in rally for supporters in Wilmington, Del., his home state, to accept the win. “I’m humbled by the trust and confidence you’ve placed in me,” Biden said to supporters who honked in response. After Trump’s repeated tendencies to sow division
throughout his presidency, Biden called for unity among Americans in his address. He also addressed Trump supporters directly at times, promising to be a president for all. “I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but to unify and doesn’t see red states and blue states, but only sees the United States,” he said. Acknowledging the pandemic and the economic crisis within the country, Biden pledged to prioritize the COVID-19 pandemic and draft a plan to be put in place when he takes office in January. “That plan will be built on a bedrock of science,” Biden said. “It will be constructed out of
compassion, empathy and concern. I will spare no effort — or commitment — to turn this pandemic around.” Biden won the popular vote with more than 74 million votes, while Trump clocked in at about 70 million votes. While the Associated Press and other news organizations called the election in favor of Biden Saturday, Trump said he and his team will continue to seek out lawsuits to challenge the results. Trump is the first incumbent president to lose a re-election bid since 1992 when George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton. During her acceptance speech Saturday night, Harris thanked the women who came
before her and addressed the women who will come after her. “But while I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last,” Harris said. “Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.” While Biden won the presidency, Republicans will likely remain in control of the Senate and several Democratic candidates lost their seats in the House. Cities around the country erupted in celebrations on Saturday. People cheered and danced into the night, as cars honked their horns and music played.
NEWS PAGE 3
SCENE PAGE 5
VIEWPOINT PAGE 7
FOOTBALL PAGE 12
ND W SOCCER PAGE 12
Observer Staff Report
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TODAY
The observer | MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com
Question of the Day: ndsmcobserver.com
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What is your favorite song the ND marching band plays?
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“The Alma Mater.”
“The ‘Friends’ theme song.”
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“‘Mr. Brightside.’”
“‘HandClap.’”
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“The Notre Dame Victory March.”
“‘Can’t Stop The Feeling!’”
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The Fighting Irish won 47-40 against the Clemson Tigers on Saturday. After a contested game, most student attendees rushed the field, failing to socially distance, which spurred the University to escalate end-of-semester exit testing protocols and requirements.
The next Five days:
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Peace Accord Conference virtual 9 a.m. - noon Panel on the Colombian case.
PEMCo Cabaret Library Lawn 7 p.m. - 10 p.m. The Pasquerilla East Musical Company returns to the stage.
ROTC Veterans Day Ceremony Fieldhouse Mall 5 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. With former Sen. Joseph Donnelly.
SUB Finals Stress Relievers South Quad 4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Get goodie bags or punch a boxing bag.
Study at the Snite Museum Snite Museum of Art all day Study spaces are firstcome, first-serve.
Virtual Postgrad Service Fair (Part 1) virtual 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Catholic Volunteer Network programs.
Transgender Day of Remembrance 2020 Grotto 8:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Prayer service to honor transgender people.
“Movement vs. Motorcade” virtual 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. Flash panel to examine protests in Thailand.
Cocktail with a Curator: Cheryl Snay virtual 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. Look at art while enjoying a cocktail.
“Faith, Abundance, and Potential” virtual 9 a.m. - 10 a.m. A CSC seminar with Kerry Robinson.
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Co-founder of The Observer dies at 75 Observer Staff Report Editor’s Note: A version of this story was published online Nov. 8. Robert Sam Anson, Notre Dame class of ’67, a magazine writer who co-founded The Observer as an undergraduate, died Nov. 2, the New York Times reported. He was 75. He died at a home he had been staying in Rexford, New York, from complications due to dementia. As a student at Notre Dame, Anson delivered editorials on the evening news through the campus radio station. He was
critical of the Vietnam War and Lyndon B. Johnson, which the administration disapproved of at the time, the National Catholic Reporter said in a 2015 article. Although Anson was chosen to be news editor of Scholastic by the magazine’s previous editor, the vice president of student affairs at the time Fr. Charles McCarragher, who had a say in who was a member of the editorial board, rejected the proposal and chose someone else. Instead, Anson helped found The Observer with another student, Stephen Feldhaus. The Observer printed its first issue November 3, 1966. Over the
rest of his time at Notre Dame, Anson frequently clashed with University President Emeritus Fr. Theodore Hesburgh over the content of The Observer. Hesburgh told one of his biographers, “People were always asking me, ‘Why don’t you expel Anson?’ I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.” At the same time, both Anson and Hesburgh had great respect for each other. Anson later referred to Hesburgh as “the only father I ever had.” After graduating from Notre Dame, Anson went on to work for TIME magazine. He traveled to Cambodia and was taken as
a prisoner of war in 1970. He was held for weeks by the North Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge. Hesburgh reportedly called Pope Paul IV at the time, who was able to help arrange Anson’s release. Anson went on to write for Esquire, Life, Mademoiselle, The Atlantic and New Times. He also wrote six books including “War News: A Young Reporter in Indochina,” which discussed his experiences covering the war. At The Observer’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2015, Anson urged the paper’s student journalists to appreciate their
time as reporters. “[I hope] everyone has a great time, doesn’t get pushed around by the administration, resists authority — including that of the president of the United States — and just feels so lucky they are working as journalists,” he said. “I just think it was a million to one shot that The Observer would work, and it did work.” He was born March 12, 1945, in Cleveland. Anson was raised by his mother, Virginia Rose Anson, who was a schoolteacher. Anson is survived by two daughters, Christian Anson Kasperkovitz and Georgia Grace Anson, and his son, Sam Anson.
ND modifies exit protocols University trustee after Clemson game Arthur Decio dies Observer Staff Report A fter the majorit y of student attendants rushed the field after Saturday night’s v ictor y against Clemson and a number of others gathered before the game, Universit y President Fr. John Jenk ins expressed his disappointment in an email Sunday night. The Universit y announced it w ill place a registration hold on any student who fails to report for testing when asked to do so, which would
prevent a student from matriculating or registering for classes next semester. In order to curb the potentia l of spreading the v irus in students’ home communities, Jenk ins instructed students to remain in South Bend until they receive their ex it test results. If students fail to comply, the administration w ill place a registration hold on their record. Jenk ins a lso said students who host gatherings that do not follow the Universit y’s Paid Advertisement
hea lth and safet y guidelines w ill face severe sanctions. “We recognize that such steps may require some to adjust plans and schedules, but these obligations are critica l for your hea lth, as well as the hea lth of our campus, our loca l communit y and the communities to which you w ill travel for brea k,” Jenk ins said. “The grave circumstances of this pandemic compel us to ta ke these exceptiona l measures.”
Observer Staff Report Editor’s Note: A version of this story was published online Nov. 8. A rthur Decio, who has been a Notre Dame trustee since 1971, died Friday, according to a press release. He was 90. Before becoming a trustee, Decio was the chairman, president, director and chief executive officer of Sk yline Corp. Sk yline Corp. produces manufactured housing and recreationa l vehicles. The company was origina lly operated out of a welding garage in Elk hart, Indiana. Now, there are eight operating div isions in the nation. Decio donated money for the construction of Decio Facult y Ha ll and the Patricia George Decio Theatre in the DeBartolo Performing A rts Center. He a lso founded the Universit y’s Cavanaugh Council and donated funds to the Snite Museum, Student Emergency Relief Fund, A ra Parseghian Medica l Research
Fund and Hesburgh Libraries. He received an honorar y degree from Notre Dame in 1975 and a lso received honorar y degrees from Hillsda le, Indiana State Universit y, Purdue Universit y, Saint Mar y’s College, Vincennes Universit y and Sa lem College. Decio was appointed by the president to three nationa l commissions over the course of his life. Universit y President Fr. John Jenk ins expressed his condolences to Decio’s family and friends. “A rt was a cherished, w ise and generous friend of Notre Dame, and a dear friend to me persona lly,” Jenk ins said. “He likew ise lent his many ta lents to innumerable civ ic, religious, educationa l and humanitarian causes here in the South Bend-Elk hart region, statew ide and nationa lly. My prayers are w ith his family and many friends as we mourn his passing while celebrating a life so ver y well lived.”
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NEWS
The observer | MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com
ND professor forecasts COVID-19 cases, peaks By ALYSA GUFFEY Associate News Editor
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has published forecasts for the number of coronavirus cases and deaths for the upcoming weeks. Notre Dame professor Zifeng Zhao has also been working on predicting the numbers of the virus two weeks into the future. Zhao, who works on the analytics team in the University’s department of information technology, operations analytics, teaches a course on predictive analytics and centers his research around forecasting and prediction. “I try different ways that I can try to extract information from what I have right now to predict what might happen or something that is unknown,” Zhao said.
Zhao said it was natural for him to look at the number of coronavirus counts and deaths due to his area of study. “Basically [there’s] COVID cases in every country and every day you can have a number… so you have a series of numbers, and very naturally, I would want to see if I can look at the series of numbers and try to predict what’s going to happen in the future,” Zhao said. The statistical method Zhao has used is a time series, where data points are sequenced and indexed in chronological order and then used to forecast possible scenarios. While Zhao uses this approach, he stressed that his method is one of many to do such predictions. “There are many different methods, and the way we choose to do it is using a very simple model where you can change points,” Zhao said.
He began to apply his knowledge to the numbers of virus case counts around mid-April, he said, with two colleagues, Feiyu Jiang of Tsinghua University and Xiaofeng Shao of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, who share an interest in the time series approach. Zhao and his collaborators’ original research assumed a single peak in the pandemic to match the courses of multiple pandemics in history. However, since their study was published, Zhao said the team is working on methods to predict the second and third waves of the virus and answer questions regarding what those peaks will look like. “When there are multiple peaks, can you detect when the second peak or the third peak would likely go up and when it would likely appear in the future? And can you try to use that
forecast to warn people like that like possible future scenarios?” Zhao said. In addition, Zhao said he has shifted his approach from predicting a specific number of coronavirus cases to predicting intervals for the second and third peaks. “I try to tell you what is a worstcase scenario for us or maybe not the worst-case scenario but what is the 90% worst-case scenario,” Zhao said. “[I] give a range of different predictions so not just one number but a range of numbers and try to tell people okay this is a range and most likely with 90% confident or 80% confidence, I assume the future number [of coronavirus cases] is going to fall into this interval.” Zhao and his team recently won a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to further his research over the next
three years to work on how to better model time series data. The grant proposal, Zhao said, was due before the pandemic hit, so their work on the pandemic has been implemented into this larger project. Zhao said he sees his research on the forecast of the coronavirus as a matter of public health, especially after observing the early stages of the pandemic in China and Italy. “If you know those forecasts and if the government really listens and you know there is going to be a peak… you probably would try to do some public health intervention and to prevent that from happening,” Zhao said. “Then, the hospitals might not collapse and the death rate wouldn’t be higher.”” Contact Alysa Guffey at aguffey@nd.edu
Data scientist gives lecture on algorithmic bias By ELIZABETH PRATER News Writer
Cathy O’Neil, a mathematician, data scientist and New York Times bestselling author, gave a keynote presentation on algorithmic bias Friday afternoon. O’Neil received her PhD in math from Harvard, and she has held academic positions at MIT and Barnard College where she did research on arithmetic algebraic geometry. She also founded the O’Neil Risk Consulting and Algebraic Auditing. Her address was part of an event hosted by the Technology Ethics Center at Notre Dame. Following O’Neil’s presentation there were a a few panels featuring Notre Dame faculty members. They analyzed the source of algorithmic bias as well as the ethical obligations that institutions have to account for bias in algorithmic decision-making.
She began her talk by discussing her argument against the authoritativeness of big data, which is a term that refers to data that is difficult to analyze using traditional methods because it is so complex and fast. “[Big data] is presented to us as factual, scientific and authoritative. I’m going to argue that it is the opposite of that,” O’Neil said. “We’re told not to look behind the math, and we’re told to trust it blindly… that is a problem of power.” In order to analyze big data, predictive algorithms are used to sort and compile the data. O’Neil said we use predictive algorithms on a daily basis. She broke down the two different elements of predictive algorithms using the example of choosing what to cook for dinner. “When I cook dinner for my kids, the data I have on hand is what are the ingredients in my kitchen. The history of data, and historical data is all the memories
of what my kids eat and don’t eat,” O’Neil said. “I need a definition of success. What does it mean for me, for my kids, that the dinner was success?” She said that the definition of success could contribute to bias. “I am inserting my agenda into my meal preparation,” she said, continuing with the dinner analogy. This same specific bias can be seen in the technological realm. “[Facebook] deliver news items to you that will keep you on Facebook for as long as possible. That is an agenda,” she said. “That’s the sort of proxy for money because the longer you spend on Facebook, the more you click on ads, which is where they get money from.” Although this may benefit Facebook, this often does not benefit the individual scrolling through their feed. “Facebook is to decide what is their definition of success and how to optimize it to their benefit,” she said. “And I would argue that [clickbait] is not to our benefit, as a nation, as a world, because we’ve seen that their definition of success is actually promoting misinformation and disputes and arguments.” O’Neil said people commonly defend algorithms by pointing to the complex mathematics and writing off individuals who challenge the math without proper background training. “But ultimately, what is going on behind [the algorithms], is deciding what we deserve,” O’Neil said. “That is essentially what big data does. Pretty big algorithms have been replacing your bureaucracy at every turn. So anytime you’re interacting with a bureaucracy, like applying for a job, applying for college, an algorithm is probably deciding whether you deserve or don’t deserve something.”
Additionally, algorithmic bias has larger implications within society. The likelihood of incarceration can be algorithmically predicted by one’s ethnicity, prior incarceration, family history and socioeconomic status. “The context matters. An algorithm needs to be understood within its context. The ethical dilemmas represented by an
algorithm in the context, will very much depend on the details.” O’Neil said. “And that’s one of the reasons as an algorithmic auditor myself that I do not believe whatsoever in automated AI ethics tools. There is no such thing as automated ethics.” In reference to the data science community, O’Neil says that data scientists as a whole are Paid Advertisement
overloaded. “We are expected to not only build algorithms, but to solve ethical dilemmas. And it’s way too much,” she said. “Our job is to translate those decisions about values to code, rather than to make those decisions.” Contact Elizabeth Prater at eprater@nd.edu
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The observer | MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com
By JAKE WINNINGHAM Associate Scene Editor
The answer: This Canadian philosophy student and aspiring broadcaster began hosting television shows in his native Ontario before shifting to and from short-lived NBC game shows for years. He replaced his friend Art Fleming as the host of “Jeopardy!” in 1984, a position he ending up holding for 36 years and over 8,200 episodes until his death from pancreatic cancer on Sunday at age 80. The question (which, as always on “Jeopardy!,” is so much more than just that): Who is Alex Trebek? Trebek was a nerd icon who nevertheless mercilessly bullied the nerds daring to mispronounce a single word on his show, an ageless fixture whose mustache was the only way to track the passage of time from season to season. He was at once inimitable and easily parodied. His most famous pop cultural depictions, whether it was Cliff Clavin’s immortal Final Jeopardy response on “Cheers” or Will Ferrell’s increasingly exasperated “Saturday Night Live” impression, worked precisely because Trebek was so familiar. In a TV landscape that has become increasingly fractured, the last piece of monoculture wasn’t “Game of Thrones” or “The Bachelor” or “The Simpsons;” it was Trebek and “Jeopardy!,” appearing on televisions across the country almost every night for decades. Gifted with a steady purr of a voice that was by turns cutting and cuddly (all depending on the caliber of the contestants), Trebek became as much of the “Jeopardy!” experience as the yellow-on-blue color scheme or Merv Griffin’s earworm of a theme song. He wasn’t just part of the set, however; equally comfortable with all-timers like Ken Jennings or anonymous one-off contestants, Trebek always
By DILLON BEGLEY Scene Writer
Over the past 20 to 25 years, ever since the very first WWE and WCW professional wrestling video games, there have been many great games based on sports entertainment. My favorite personal classics include Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain on the Playstation 2, the entire Smackdown vs Raw series on Xbox 360 and WWE 2K19 on the Xbox One. It has often been the case that people who are not even fans of professional wrestling themselves tend to enjoy these video games when they play them. With the arrival WWE 2K Battlegrounds, it’s time to review the latest professional wrestling video game. The last WWE 2K game, WWE 2K19, was a complete disaster commercially and financially. Could 2K right their wrongs with the new, arcade-focused WWE 2K Battlegrounds? I personally played the game on the Nintendo Switch, and here’s the good, the mixed and the bad of WWE 2K Battlegrounds.
The good: First, let’s start off by discussing what WWE 2K Battlegrounds for Nintendo Switch get’s right. The game is very easy to pick up and play, a nice departure from the previous, more simulation based 2K wrestling video games on Xbox and PlayStation. Second, the game is completely over-the-top and feels like a true arcade game. Everything
kept a level head that connected him to the viewers at home. As the seasons wore on, Trebek’s celebrity grew to a point where certain categories seemed designed solely to gain traction on Twitter. The joke was never on Trebek, though — not even when he deadpanned his way through Desiigner’s “Panda.” Instead, the host grew along with the times, even if the format of his show remained unchanged. When Trebek rapped “Started From The Bottom” with his usual stentorian gravitas, he wasn’t making fun of it, and the show wasn’t making fun of him; he was simply (and correctly) placing Drake in the same lineage as the long-dead authors and forgotten historical pacts that have always formed the backbone of “Jeopardy!” Perhaps the trait most necessary to Trebek’s success was his quiet competence; there was simply never any doubt that Trebek knew exactly what he was talking about. He could quote Balzac with just as much ease as he did the Beastie Boys. Even when faced with an entire category of the dreaded “triple stumpers” — as he was on an infamous occasion when three contestants took a break from naming literary terms to showcase their utterly stunning lack of knowledge about football — Trebek could wring deliciously entertaining television out of his contestants’ stunned silence. The sight of Trebek futilely miming a fair-catch signal, trying to get some kind of recognition from the three athletically-agnostic players in front of him, had enough dry pettiness to power a “Real Housewives” reunion. There’s a certain kind of dedicated “Jeopardy!” viewer: the one who knows exactly what time the show comes on in whatever city they’re visiting, the one who can remember particularly challenging clues off the top of their heads, the one who has favorite contestants in the same way that normal people follow athletes. (Shout-out to Colby Burnett,
the Chicago teacher whose first-round win and attendant facial expressions over neckbeard-twirling villain Austin Rogers in the 2019 All-Star Tournament had me reacting like I was watching the Super Bowl.) Trebek existed for that kind of fan. He was the patron saint of know-it-alls everywhere, turning trivia into high art. The host took a barroom game that’s usually played for a gift card or free wings and transformed it into a way for the lucky few to win thousands of dollars and for the much more numerous masses to win living room bragging rights. After a brief break to remake the show’s production guidelines in a post-COVID world, Trebek and the rest of the “Jeopardy!” team returned to their usual five-episode-a-day taping schedule in September. While it’s not clear just how many episodes Trebek was able to film before he passed away, the show announced that his last-ever episode will air on Christmas Day. After all of the uncertainty and pain that this year has brought, his last episode will be a balm; rest assured that, no matter who’s playing or what questions are asked, Trebek will have the same voice, the same humor, the same dignity that he always had. Families are going to take a break from their celebrations to watch Trebek welcome us with his usual grace into a seemingly backwards world where answers lead to questions and people actually use the word “potpourri.” Trebek may be gone, but it won’t be the last time he brings people together to shout answers at the screen. There won’t be a last time; for as long as people are trying to prove just how much they know, “Jeopardy!” will be around. And where “Jeopardy!” goes, Alex Trebek leads the way. Alex, we’ll take “Thank You” for $2,000. Rest in peace.
from the electric cage match, to cheesy entrances and wild no-disqualification matches feels natural in this game. Additionally, there is a great roster of past and present male and female real-life wrestlers to choose from. The 70 plus characters, with more coming soon from free updates, include everyone from John Cena, The Rock and Hulk Hogan to Randy Orton, Roman Reigns and Charlotte Flair. So, what WWE 2K Battlegrounds has going for it is overall fun and simple gameplay, great characters and all the benefits of being the first arcade-style wrestling game in almost ten years.
with bobble-head-like heads. Not only that, but the moves from these characters are very limited. Besides each wrestlers’ finishing maneuver and signature takedowns, most wrestlers shared the same basic move set. And while it’s good that the game doesn’t appear to be as glitchy as other wrestling games, it does lag a lot more and suffer more from frame rate issues. Finally, the game modes and match types are quite a bit limited. It’s true that some of the favorites and classics like Royal Rumble, Gauntlet and basic exhibition matches exist in this game, but the game is much more limited than ever before — a true single-player campaign story mode is completely non-existent. Thus, the game does have redeeming qualities, but there is work for a lot of improvement.
The mixed & the bad: With that said, there are a lot of mediocre elements of this game and some truly bad aspects. While none of these, or even all of them together, make the game truly horrible, they prevent it from being a great or classic wrestling game and hurt the quality quite a bit. For example, it’s really frustrating that not all of the characters to play as can be easily unlocked. Instead, micro-transactions or having to purchase them outright with either real money or earned video game currency frustrated me because the great, huge roster became limited to around ten to 15 until I either bought or played enough to unlock more. Plus, these characters do not look as good as they do in other games, not even in 2011’s WWE All Stars video game. They look too cartoony and not much like tough, over-the-top wrestlers. Instead, they appear small
Contact Jake Winningham at jwinning@nd.edu
The verdict: Overall, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is not an awful game, but it’s not great by any means either. The consensus feel for this game from critics and fans alike appears to be ‘meh.’ While I think I personally enjoy it more than others appear to, even with all of its flaws, it’s not as repayable or fun as most wrestling video games. I would give this game a score of three out of five Lucky Charms. It’s an alright game for sure, just not as amazing as one would have hoped.. Contact Dillon Begley at dbegley@hcc-nd.edu LIYA BLITZER | The Observer
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The observer | Monday, November 8, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com
Where from here?
Inside Column
What I’ve learned from the 2020 election cycle Nelisha Silva Viewpoint Editor
As of Saturday, Nov. 7, Joe Biden is the new president-elect and Kamala Harris is the new vice president-elect. This is the first time a sitting president has lost reelection since George H. W. Bush in 1992, putting Trump on the short list of one-term presidents in the history of the United States. This election cycle, I worked on a congressional campaign in my home state of Nevada, working to reelect a Democrat in Republican district. Our race was called shortly after the presidential race, making Rep. Susie Lee the first ever Democrat reelected in NV-03. I couldn’t help but feel a massive sense of pride and joy with both of these wins, months of work had finally paid off. But this cycle is so much more than just races won — it’s about lessons we’ve learned. So, as I reflect on my first foray into electoral politics, I want to share some thoughts. 1. Everyone comes from somewhere. To touch on a recent column by one of my best friends, the only way we can succeed in creating a successful democracy is to recognize that everyone’s beliefs come from somewhere just as important as our own. As much as we all want to believe that we have the right ideas for the future, those across the aisle from us have the same level of confidence in their beliefs. We can’t find progress when we refuse to have humility in discussions. While I could go into a whole spiel about this topic, I would recommend reading Ellie’s column for a far more nuanced and detailed approach on this. 2. Credit must be given where due. This presidential cycle saw Georgia turn blue for the first time since 1992. While questions of how this happened are floating around cable news, the answer is clear: voters of color flipped this historically Republican state. This victory is due to the people of color who have been organizing their communities and getting out the vote for the last decade. This victory was not won by the Democrat establishment targeting of white moderates, but rather by community leaders focusing on communities of color that have long been ignored by establishment politics. Stacey Abrams has received credit for this flip in the media, but the movement goes beyond her, with organizers of color working to get voters to the polls at a level of turnout almost never seen before. These organizations have been working in Georgia for nearly a decade, and this year’s election is a testament to their hard work. We must remember the part that people of color have played in this election. 3. Communities of color are the future of the Democratic party. Building off my last point, communities of color are responsible for some of the biggest moments of this election. As I previously mentioned, Georgia’s flip can be credited to Black voters. Arizona turning blue can be credited to the Native voters in the state turning out at record numbers. Michigan’s blue wave can be credited to the Black community in Detroit. In Nevada, the presidential election — and the race I worked on — was decided by the Asian and Latino communities. As the U.S. grows more diverse in the coming years, we must recognize the power that these communities hold and the work that they have done. Too often, politicians focus on capturing the “white suburbs” or moderate-swing voters, while ignoring the growing power of communities of color. Communities of AAPI, Latino, Black, Native voters hold power and influence at a level never seen before, and their power has to be acknowledged. This cycle has shown us the power of organizing in these communities, and shown us what the future of the Democratic party looks like. 4. Democracy is never done. To quote John Lewis, “Democracy is not a state. It is an act.” Even now, with a new president-elect, the work of democracy is never finished. Fighting for a future that provides for all Americans is a struggle that will always continue, no matter who is in charge. Democracy requires a constant vigilance by the people and constant effort to listen to each other and find solutions for our nation. We must work together to build a more perfect union. America must be a country for all, not just the majority. So now, with a new president, let’s move forward with our democracy and continue to fight for an America that represents all Americans. Contact Nelisha Silva at nsilva1@nd.edu The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Trevor Lwere On The Other Hand
The 2020 presidential election confirmed what we knew all along; American society is as polarized as ever. After everything that has characterized the evening of the Trump presidency, one could be forgiven for having hoped for a landslide. Yet, the fact that the election was that close, defying polls and mainstream expectations brought to the forefront once again America’s deep-seated divisions. Therefore, key amongst the tasks at hand for the next U.S. president is to heal and bring together a sharply divided, bruised and hurting nation. To do so, the starting point for the next president ought to be careful and correct study of the source of this polarization. Leaders are a reflection of what society is or has become. We cannot ask leaders to be radically different from us, yet they come from amongst us. In fact, we should not act surprised when leaders act in questionable ways; their conduct is most likely a reflection of what society practices and what society has groomed them into them into. This is the context in which we must understand Donald Trump. There are two ways to understand Trump; Trump the person and Trump the spokesperson. Trump the person, like all of us, is far from perfect. The difference between him and most leaders, be it in America or elsewhere, is that other leaders understand the weight and significance of the presidency and therefore choose to restrain their conduct. Trump, on the other hand, does not bother to restrain himself; and the media does not hesitate to keep his misgivings in the spotlight and rightly so. Yet, despite all this, more than 70 million Americans wanted Trump to continue on as the American president. Surely, there must be something more to it. It cannot be that 70 million Americans simply enjoyed Trump’s antics and voted to continue seeing more of those. Indeed, to make Trump the person the main and only issue of this analysis is to grossly miss the point. A question must be asked; why is it that despite his conduct, a non-trivial number of Americans wanted him to stay on as president? This fact should not be taken for granted, which brings us to an understanding of Trump the spokesperson. As a spokesperson for a significant segment of the American population, Trump has been unapologetic in his defense of the values that he purports to represent; whether he lives by those values is a different question. Thus, in Trump, very many Americans, and indeed very many people around the world found a voice for their values, perhaps in reaction to the progressive forces representing a whole different set of values and ideas. It seems to me that majority of those who voted against Trump did so primarily in opposition to the values that he represents and those for whom he speaks. Yet, Trump the spokesperson not only spoke for the values of very many Americans and very many people around the world. Beyond the values that have been a source of contention in the American polity, Trump also spoke to the socioeconomic
reality of millions of Americans; genuine and legitimate concerns. It is on this basis that very many Americans saw in Trump a viable alternative for their present condition. Therefore, it will be a great mistake for progressive forces of change to simply lump Trump’s voters into a narrow, undifferentiated category of those who profess values that they think have no place in the public realm, while ignoring the more genuine and legitimate concerns that them to vote for Trump in the first place. Ignoring the genuine, legitimate concerns only serve to further polarize the American polity. Progressives, who see themselves as accomplishing a historical mission of transforming society in fundamental ways will seek to double down on their positions, even moving to entrench these constitutionally so as to protect them against political attrition for when conservatives take power again. And so the cycle of political polarization in the American polity would be perpetuated as those who voted for Trump will be driven to desperation for a lack of redress for their genuine concerns; when another opportunity arises, when another Trump comes around, they will not hesitate to vote for another spokesperson for their concerns, since they would have been largely ignored by the other side. For America’s experiment in self-government to continue to work, the next president ought to bring America together. In the current circumstances, this will require consensus rather than unanimity. According to French sociologist Philippe Urfalino, unanimity is formed when everyone votes for the same option. That may not be possible even in heaven. On the other hand, Margaret Gilbert (1987) describes consensus as allowing something to stand as the view of the group. It seems to me that those who opposed president Trump disagreed completely with the values he stands for and represents. They also seem to be baffled by how it is possible that their fellow citizens were willing to vote someone who represents values that are in direct contradiction with their very existence. But as I have said, it is mistaken to think that those who voted for Trump did so only because of his values. Some of Trump’s less controversially spoken policies resonated deeply with a large section of the American population. Surely, for some of the seventy million Americans who voted for Trump, there must be something else that made then willing to vote for Trump not because of but in spite of the values he represents. And whereas these genuine concerns maybe correlated with the values, the true are not reducible to each other. The next U.S. president ought to identify and respond to these concerns as a starting point to establishing some consensus in this country. Trevor Lwere is a junior at Notre Dame majoring in Economics, with a PPE minor. He hails from Kampala, Uganda and lives off campus. He is a dee-jay in his other life and can be reached at tlwere@nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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The observer | Monday, November 8, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Requiem for the common good To “create a sense of human solidarit y and concern for the common good that w ill bear fruit as learning becomes ser v ice to justice”; that part of the Universit y mission statement formed my worldv iew as an undergraduate at Notre Dame. In emphasizing the common good, the line offers a necessar y supplement to the ideals of liberal democracy that would place indiv idual over communit y, freedom over equalit y, self-interest over collective interest. Sectarian beliefs should not take precedence in a democracy, but a religious principle can inform and deepen public understanding, especially when the principle easily translates into a truth that is accessible to people of all faiths and none. The common good is one such concept. It was that inspiring overlap bet ween Notre Dame and nation that allowed me to read the words etched above the Basilica door not cy nically but civ ically. “God, Countr y, Notre Dame” indeed. It pains me to say I can no longer interpret
those words in the same way. The present pandemic has clarified the urgency of returning a sense of the common good to our understanding of the duties of citizenship. As the philosopher Danielle A llen has put it, sacrifice is “a democratic fact”: our indiv idual liberties are always, rightly and necessarily, being checked by the liberties and interests of others. The challenge is to ensure that this sacrifice is fairly distributed, so the same people aren’t always giv ing things up while others always gain. That’s why the emphasis on “justice” in the Universit y’s mission is so key. And yet, far from offering a countercultural example of what the common good might look like, Notre Dame has centered itself w ithin a culture eager to disavow the duties of democratic citizenship — and to displace sacrifice onto others. From its per verse redeploy ment of the rhetoric of “fear” at the heart of the “Here” campaign, to its pursuit of the economic good of football at the
expense of so many other competing communit y interests, as laid bare in Saturday night’s game, the Universit y’s response to the COV ID-19 pandemic makes the common good a commitment worth mourning. Universit y leaders bear some responsibilit y for this state of affairs, but so do the citizen-students who compose the campus communit y. But Notre Dame is a place for learning, and as the mission statement promises, a “concern” for the common good, if cultivated, “w ill bear fruit as learning becomes ser v ice to justice.” My hope is that Notre Dame students w ill work to resurrect the Catholic values of communit y in a way that can enliven the democratic fact of sacrifice that w ill be so necessar y to our nation in the coming weeks and months. Greg Laski class of 2005 Nov. 8
A short letter for tired students Renee Yaseen Outside the Lines
Nothing tasted sweeter than the capri-suns and orange slices passed from hand to hand after my elementary school soccer games. Do you remember? Water bottles dripping wet from a minivan’s melting cooler, air smelling like Kentucky blue grass and making everything kind of taste like it. You may have similar memories. A hug from a teammate after a big trivia team win (or loss). Consolation fast food in a friend’s car after a tough day. Unexpected congratulations, flowers at the stage door from someone you never expected would make it. In isolation — a word which takes on new meaning this semester — these moments don’t seem to seriously affect our ability to do our jobs. Play our games. Take our tests, run our meetings, sing our solos. We don’t expect these small delicious graces — orange slices and flowers after every challenge or success — and we could technically carry on without them for some time. But, as the suburban mom cohort is so quick to remind us in well-meaning Facebook posts, “love is in the small things” — it’s in moments of sharing. After a long, difficult year in which many of these traditionally comforting surprises are not possible in the way we once knew, I wish I could pass a proverbial orange slice to everyone in the world. We are
tired, we have grieved and many of us (especially us younger folk, weaving in and out of one important milestone to the next) are dismayed at the echoes of how we imagined things would turn out differently, had we not endured this global pandemic, 250,000 American deaths, and the realization that our nation is more angry, more divided, and more politically polarized than ever before. This week’s column is nothing more than an honest reminder to you and to myself to safely take joy in what you can this winter. If you want to sleep nine plus hours a night while you can, absolutely go for it! You don’t have to grab an internship to fill every waking second, and I hope you won’t feel guilty if you don’t. Read a book, for yourself or aloud to a friend. Watch a funny movie. Compliment strangers. Make desserts. Eat them. Sing. Hug those closest to you (especially if you’ve been avoiding close contacts for the past four months) and enjoy the beauty of the falling snow. Step away from your phone. You deserve to reconnect with the moments of childlike wonder that we are often prevented from feeling during periods of hard work and stress. I know as a nation, we can begin to move toward a collective place of celebration again. And I hope when you eat oranges this winter that you are reminded of the small things, of the kindness of a PTA mom at halftime at your childhood soccer games, and of the tiny-yet-impactful gifts of togetherness
we will reap soon. Till next semester, be well.
KERRY SCHNEEMAN | The Observer
Renee Yaseen is a junior who majors in International Economics and Arabic. She’s currently on a gap semester doing lots of creative stuff and lots of un-creative stuff. She can be reached via the chat on a shared Google Doc at 3 a.m., on Twitter @ReneeYaseen or by email at ryaseen@nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Follow us on Twitter. @ObserverViewpnt
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DAILY
The observer | MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com
Crossword | WILl shortz
Horoscope | Eugenia Last Happy Birthday: Think before you act. Don’t make assumptions or jump to conclusions, regardless of what others say or do. Take your time and study the facts, and focus on truth, justice and fair play. Show compassion and understanding, and you will be offered respect and admiration in return. Strive for freedom, peace and making your environment and community better. Your numbers are 9, 16, 22, 26, 31, 39, 47. ARIES (March 21-April 19): Don’t labor over something you cannot change or people who don’t share your beliefs or values. Concentrate on the people you love, those you can count on and those who make a difference. Selfimprovement projects are favored. Romance is on the rise. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Not everyone will agree with you today. Consider alternatives, and be willing to compromise to find common ground. An emotional situation will arise if you or someone close to you feels insecure or jealous. Keep the peace. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Improve your surroundings. Comfort and convenience will make it easier for you and those you live with to kick back and enjoy life. Make the most of whatever situation you face, and the outcome will encourage a safe and secure future. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Pay closer attention to details. Update documents about to expire, check over your bank accounts and personal bills, review contracts and confirm upcoming appointments. Leave nothing to chance, and you will avoid disappointment and unnecessary stress. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Get physical, fit and ready to conquer whatever comes your way. Refuse to let others tempt you to act frivolously or get involved in excessive behavior. Make romance and love priorities and self-improvement your stress reliever. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Don’t hide your feelings. Honesty will help solve problems; being evasive will not. Offer solutions and compromises, and be willing to work toward a better future with someone you love. Make peace, happiness and health priorities. Moderation is mandatory. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Don’t stick around if you aren’t appreciated. Size up your situation, make your grievances known and move on to helping people and organizations that believe in your focus. Give only to those who are grateful, and give back accordingly. Romance is encouraged. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Step aside if you feel you are in harm’s way. Don’t leave yourself open to being taken advantage of by someone who is emotionally manipulative. Call the shots instead of letting others put you in a compromising position. Personal growth is favored. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Nurture your way to tiptop shape. Focus on diet, fitness and being around the people who bring out the best in you. Make personal gain your target and home improvements a necessity to ease stress and accommodate your needs. Romance is featured. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): A change will lift your spirits. Move things around at home to allow space for projects you want to pursue. Steer clear of friends and relatives who are argumentative or don’t share your lifestyle or beliefs. Concentrate on what makes you happy. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Go over the ups and downs of a pending situation, and you’ll come up with a plan to combat what isn’t working for you. Being prepared will help you engage in talks that are useful, factual and offer alternatives. Romance looks promising. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): What you do for others will make you feel good about yourself. Use your attributes and experience to make a difference that will lead to personal satisfaction and recognition. A financial boost is apparent. Birthday Baby: You are impressive, deliberate and helpful. You are conscientious and persistent.
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ndsmcobserver.com | MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020 | The Observer
Sports Authority
Sports Authority
Extreme dorm sports Maria Leontaras Editor-in-Chief
I know what you’re thinking. What in the world could Maria Leontaras have to say about sports? Maria, who says all runners look the same because they all could never be her? Maria, who completed almost two months of intensive summer gym classes in high school so she wouldn’t have to pretend to play sports to get school credit? I could wax poetic about my love for the Cubs (read: Wrigley Field hot dogs) or share my two years of experience as an athletic trainer, but I’ll spare you. Instead, we’re going X Games Mode: Dorm Edition. The following is a compilation of the most extreme sports I’ve played during my four years of living on campus, and I welcome you to try them out for yourself.
out throughout the semester, the cart has seen better days. But sometimes, it goes X Games when one roommate sits on it as another spins the cart in circles or runs down the hall. For now, it lives under one of our beds some feet away from the skateboard with a cup taped to the top.
Roommate powerlifting Living in a quad with the same three people for two academic years leads to a lot of questions, one being who can lift the most. Rather than visiting the gym and lifting actual weights, my roommates and I became resourceful — we lifted each other instead. The results of this experiment are useless, but now we know who can win in a dorm room chicken fight. That counts for something right?
Bug bouts
A one-time event, hallway swimming will go down in history as a highlight of freshman year. One of my current roommates and I spent a lot of time in our dorm. I knew we would be friends for a long time when she demonstrated Michael Phelps’ specialty stroke by dragging herself across the carpeted hallway of Regina. She “swam” past the door frame, I watched and the extreme dorm sports were born.
A seasonal sport, bug bouts have persisted throughout my time on campus. Gnats swarming lamp lights at 1 a.m. Stink bugs terrorizing dinnertime. A wasp nest waiting to explode near a window. We’ve been in the stands for it all. But the sporting doesn’t begin until the fight for extermination does. Mostly a team sport, we toss shoes to one another for a quick swat or stomp. We jump with brooms to swing at bugs on the massive overhead light. We (I) scream the entire time. X-treme.
Dorm dashes
Regret Olympics
An irregular occurrence, dorm dashes take shape in many forms. In the fall of 2019, they meant my roommate Naruto-racing my younger brother’s friends in the dark hall of Le Mans when they visited during a football weekend. In the fall of 2020, they hypothetically mean running up to the Holy Cross Hall side entrance in the hopes of catching an open door in the wake of revoked swipe access. But it’s only hypothetical, of course.
The most impressive feat of all doubles as one of the most extreme to ever occur on a college campus: sitting on the couch, sunglasses on, large, black coffee in hand, forcing your roommates to keep the blinds closed until the sun goes down. Most sports come with no regrets, but when it’s on X Games Mode, some things are bound to go wrong. But what’s college life without being a little dumb and a little extreme? Happy sporting!
Hallway swimming
Cart gymnastics One blustery day last fall, I stumbled upon a cart on the side of the road. The cart soon found shelter in my dorm room. Primarily used for grocery hauls and moving in and
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Contact Maria Leontaras at mleontaras01@saintmarys.edu The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Follow us on Twitter. @ObserverSports
Winners, losers of NBA offseason’s timing Thomas Zwiller Sports Writer
On Oct. 11, when LeBron James hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy, it concluded a season that had stretched on for over a year because of a lengthy season suspension due to COVID-19. It had been an exhausting, tiring conclusion to a season that had seen the players live in a bubble for three months. However, not 25 days later, on Nov. 5, the NBA Players Association announced that it had voted and approved the 2020-2021 NBA season. This season isn’t slated months from now, in fact, it’s just around the corner — it starts on Dec. 22, or just 43 days from now. The NBA Draft will happen in just nine days on Nov. 18, and following that the NBA free agency period will begin. Today, I plan to look at the big winners and losers of this announcement, and how it will shape the NBA Season.
The winners Golden State Warriors: Golden State was pretty content with punting on last season. Klay Thompson missed the entirety of the season when he sustained an injury in the previous Finals against the Toronto Raptors. Kevin Durant left the team by demanding a trade to the Brooklyn Nets. Steph Curry broke his hand early on in the season and missed almost all of the remaining season. The team went 15-50, placed last in the Pacific Division and was one of eight teams that missed the Orlando Bubble entirely. This really does work to the advantage of the Warriors; they have a squad that will be incredibly rested after injury and will have the dynamic duo of Steph and Klay back. They also boast the number two pick in this year’s draft, meaning while they are well over the NBA Salary Cap, they can still add talent. This is a team that will go from one of the league’s worst to one of the league’s best. The Brooklyn Nets: The Brooklyn Nets are in a bit of a different situation than the Golden State Warriors. Their team was competitive in the East, going 39-40,
and made the NBA playoffs. They were promptly swept right out of the playoffs by a dominant Toronto Raptors team who was simply better than they were. That honestly makes a lot of sense though; superstar Kyrie Irving was absent from the bubble, and he was a key component of that Nets team. Why do I think the Nets are in a great spot, after being swept by one of the teams atop the East? Because of Kevin Durant of course. After Kevin had sustained a season-ending injury on the Golden State Warriors, he demanded a trade and went to Brooklyn but didn’t play for the entirety of the season. I honestly think that the Nets are in a better spot than the Warriors currently are. Without Klay or Steph, the Warriors were terrible and their record of 15-50 shows that. The Nets with an onagain-off-again Kyrie were just under .500, and they will be adding one of the best players in the league, with a proven core of younger players. Should KD be able to play near the level of his old self, we could be looking at a Nets team rivaling any in the East. Phoenix Suns: The Phoenix Suns went 8-0 in the bubble but missed the playoffs on win-loss percentage. Their young gun, Devin Booker, played out of his mind in the bubble, scoring 31 points, 4.6 rebounds and 6.1 assists. The team proved it is good and is just a piece away from the playoffs. They could very easily get that piece in the NBA free agency, as they should have the cap space. I think that this season is going to be a lower playoff seed, but a competitor nonetheless.
The losers Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers were the NBA champions, so that softens the blow of the news that they will be suiting up again in December. That being said, this is going to be a team that is exhausted. They will have had about a month off in between seasons, a time period that will be the shortest in the four Major League history. I think that LeBron is going to try and take it easy,
ease himself back into the season. Whether you like it or not, he’s going to need time off to rest and may play under load management restrictions. The team is a proven winner though, so I don’t expect the short rest to hamper them too much, they’ll be in the mix for the West. Miami Heat: The Heat were the runner up to the Lakers in the Finals, meaning they have the same problem the Lakers have. One bonus is that they are a younger team overall than the Lakers, so I think they physically can rebound better. They also have plenty of salary-cap space, something the Lakers don’t have. There have been free agency rumors of the Heat getting a big piece, someone like, say, Giannis, who can leave the Milwaukee Bucks. I’m not too sure that Giannis will leave just yet, but the Heat can definitely add talent that is more rested. The Heat proved that they are competitors to be taken seriously. They took apart the Pacers and the Bucks and outplayed the Celtics, falling short to the Lakers, in part due to injury. I think they have what it takes to be back in the mix in the East. Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics: These two are both going to be contenders, there’s no question. They’re losers, because they went deep into the postseason, and played long series (the Nuggets in particular, who played 19 games in the playoffs alone). I think they have a similar problem to the Lakers: they’re good, they’re just going to have to deal with a load management problem and try not to let their players wear out. They don’t have a particularly high first-round pick since they both went deep into the postseason, and as they are both over the cap, they won’t be able to add a whole lot of talent. To be fair, they don’t really need too; I think the Celtics can win the East, and the Nuggets will be a major player. Contact Thomas Zwiller at tzwiller@hcc-nd.edu The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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to be a lifelong ND fan! & a ton of relief.” / “We finally did it!” For a Notre Dame team that was 4-8 four seasons ago to now defeat the No. 1 team in the country… Notre Dame fans deserve this one. For having to deal with a level of performance that felt like mediocrity by Notre Dame’s standards, this is oh so sweet.
Player of the game? Lot of selections for quarterback Ian Book here. I totally get that (even with the fumble) given that he went 22-for-39 for 310 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions, plus another 64 yards on the ground. Book has taken so much criticism, some of it fair, but the way he responded in this game — even though that response was to a horrible decision he made — earned him the game ball. However, some others understandably chose sophomore running back Kyren Williams. One hundred forty yards and three touchdowns against Clemson ain’t too shabby for sure. And to the person who said “Kyren Williams in pass protection,” thank you for bringing that up. Williams isn’t big, but boy does he sacrifice his body in pass pro. Other selections included senior linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, who I was ready to give the game ball to after a scoop ’n score and forced fumble on back-to-back defensive possessions. One person selected the kicking unit, and that’s understandable for a group that made four of five field goals and all their extra points under tremendous pressure. Oh, and don’t forget punter/holder Jay Bramblett saving a kick-six to end the half.
Play of the game? “Is it even possible to choose one?” No, not really. But we’re doing this anyway. “First TD set the tone.” Like I said, after that score, you could tell this team was different from past ones. “JOK return for TD.” / JOK fumble and score.” The big thing for Notre Dame’s defense this season has been forcing turnovers. They hadn’t done it much, and this secondary has not proven itself skilled enough to intercept passes against the best quarterbacks. So, as the position group has for years now, the linebackers stepped up. Two pass breakups for buck linebacker Shayne Simon were huge, but Jeremiah OwusuKoramoah was the star. He didn’t miss a beat when the ball bounced to him and he took it to the house, and that’s just what ND needed. That and his forced fumble on the ensuing Clemson drive after his score. Notre Dame won the turnover battle 2-1 and it made all the difference.
“Pass to Avery Davis to take it down first and goal” / “Book to Avery Davis” Would agree with this, for no other reason than it showed Notre Dame could make the big play when they needed to. Book had overthrown Davis a couple of times, but the latter pulled off Chase Claypool-esque vibes on that final drive of regulation with a toe-tap sideline catch, the 53-yarder and the tying score. If you can’t root for that guy — who played four different positions in four seasons — after that Clemson performance, then there’s something wrong with you. “Daelin Hayes sack in 2OT.” / “Sacks of DJ in second OT.” / “Defensive stop in second OT.” / “The final play.” There’s definitely recency bias at play here, but I also understand it. Both teams were worn down and Notre Dame had just taken the lead. The defense smelled blood in the water, and it got more intense with each sack. That was their opportunity to put the game away and they made sure Clemson’s offense never got a shot at sending it to a third overtime.
Give an overreaction you have from this game “THE ACC IS TRYING TO MAKE CLEMSON WIN VIA THESE REFS!!! (Still not convinced this is an overreaction, might still be true)” I think this is probably an overreaction, but not much of a one. I do believe that Dabo Swinney intimidated the referees into picking up the flag on that fourth quarter defensive pass interference. I think the referees were also just doing what referees do and taking their job descriptions way too seriously. The conspiracy I buy into is that they would want a closer game because it increases the hype around the game and the narrative for the seemingly inevitable rematch in the ACC Championship, so maybe that influenced their calls. “National Championship locked up.” Yeahhh… remember all those feelings of stress and anxiety I mentioned earlier? You’re going to have go through those again in the presumptive rematch of this game in Charlotte, and also in the College Football Playoff if they make that. “ND is the best team in college football.” I think Clemson is the better team, but Notre Dame had a better day. The Tigers maybe win that game six out of ten times, maybe it’s 50-50, but that’s without Trevor Lawrence. And Alabama (now ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll) and Ohio State (No. 3) are both outstanding as well. But we just saw ND can be the best team on the field against any opponent on any given day. “We got 40 points scored on us. Gotta tighten it up. (Overreaction because that defense is elite)” Appreciate the self-monitoring on your own overreaction. In
today’s college football, elite offense beats elite defense. In the end, both teams were tired, and Notre Dame’s defense caught enough of a second wind to make the plays to send them home. There are things to improve, but you couldn’t have asked for any more in this first matchup with the Tigers. “Don’t catch Covid before we play BC!!!” / “COVID finna hit y’all campus hard after that cello” / “This will be the last game Notre Dame plays due to COVID-19.” Yeah … not really an overreaction here, I’m sorry to admit. Although I highly doubt this will be the last game they play, they might lose one on the schedule. “Pissed ‘cause everyone is saying Clemson didn’t have their best team out there.” Not an overreaction. You have a right to be upset about that, although I wouldn’t personally get upset. I worry about Notre Dame’s perception nationally, but anyone who doesn’t think this was a valid win over the No. 1 team in the country is an idiot or just biased against Notre Dame, or both. D.J. Uiagalelei threw for 439 yards, the most any player has ever thrown for against Notre Dame (beating out Carson Palmer in 2002). Notre Dame managed to hold Travis Etienne — the two-time ACC Player of the Year, all-time leading rusher in the ACC and future college football hall-of-famer — to 57 yards receiving and 28 yards rushing. He averaged 1.6 yards per carry. Tell that to Stewart Mandel, Paul Finebaum, Kirk Herbstreit, Bruce Feldman, Colin Cowherd and anyone else who, in your opinion, doesn’t give the Irish enough credit. [Disclaimer: mentioning the names of these individuals is not necessarily me saying that this is how I feel about them. Except Colin Cowherd. He sucks.] “WE WANT BAMA.” Honestly, I want Bama, too. We just beat one No. 1 team, let’s go for double. “Horrible question. Impossible to overreact.” At this point, granted.
Did this game change how you view the Notre Dame football program and/or Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame tenure? Why? Lot of mixed messages here. Some say this changed their perception of the program but not Kelly because they already thought he was good. Others recognized that this was a win he needed in order to get rid of the narrative that he couldn’t win big games. The majority opinion seems to be that, really, it’s about damn time Kelly got this win, and he did, which everyone can enjoy. What are your expectations for how the rest of this season plays out? A lot of people expect the Irish to win out, and from their they are split on if they win or lose to Clemson in the ACC Championship. Some are saying
a College Football Playoff berth, which is now possible regardless of the result in Charlotte, but not the most likely if they lose. I appreciate those who just described their expectations as “high.”
Are you worried about a trap game vs. Boston College? Out of 31 respondents, 74.2% say yes and 25.8% say no. But again, that’s assuming the Irish play BC immediately, but after the fans storming the field that not a guarantee. And finally…
Highlights of how people said they watched the game “Falling on the ground on the second sack. As a former [assistant managing editor] at The Observer, a great moment to just be a fan.” Love to hear from the Observer alumni. “I was sad that Ian was sad bc he’s cute, then I was so, so glad he hung in there and redeemed himself and I danced some jigs.” Glad to know you have your priorities in order. “I was seated until the last Clemson drive. After each sack, I got a foot closer to the TV. When the final play was finally over I leaped, Jordan over Ehlo style, and fist pumped.” Love the old school NBA reference. “Pacing, weirdly eating a tray of blueberries next to me every time I was nervous, and not looking at my phone at all because of superstition.” Hey, the superstition paid off. Cue Stevie Wonder. “I stress-cleaned my entire house and did two loads of laundry because watching was too stressful.” Been there with my laundry and dorm room last season. “Yelled in disappointment at the Skowronek drop on fourth down, the Book fumble, and the
Davis broken up near-TD catch. Screamed in joy at the deep pass to Davis, the two sacks in OT and the final play.” Man I was drained after the first quarter. At that point the emotions I felt were between disappointment and sweet relief. But you can bet I would’ve been leaping if I wasn’t worried about falling off the stadium bleachers. “Screaming. Joy. Nervous. Hope. Lost hope. More hope. Pacing. Elation. Banging pots on my balcony at midnight.” / “My heart was racing and I couldn’t breathe.” I feel that. I was getting knots in my chest, too. “Was in a text chat with four besties from ND lot of swearing going on.” / “Lots of yelling, cursing, exhilaration.” You love to share these kinds of moments with those close to you. Swearing makes it all the more intimate. “Family is asleep & I’m sitting on the floor rocking back and forth in great anticipation on every play on the last defense series. When after the last play I jumped up with so much excitement for this moment in ND history.” It’s a great one. Up there with Catholics vs. Conflicts, Bush Push, Game of the Century, etc. I don’t know if I would have been able to control my emotions even for my family’s sake. “Oh. My. God. Could not believe.” Me neither. Whew, that was a long one. But hey, I think we earned it with this win. Thanks to everyone who participated in the poll. Looking forward to more reactions the rest of the season. Until then, enjoy this one responsibly. Contact Hayden Adams at hadams3@nd.edu The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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occasionally applied their high-press with success and created some early chances. However, a Tar Heels’ goal midway through the first-half following a poor Notre Dame giveaway in midfield and a setpiece goal after halftime prevented any potential upset bid for the Irish. Norman said his team was frustrated not to get a result but saw a lot of positives in the tape that they will look to carry over to Tuesday’s clash. “I think there’s a lot of things we did well in that game that we can use as … confidence [builders] going into the Florida State game, because I think we did do a lot of good things,” he said. “We just needed to be sharper in some areas. And if we were, I think that game could have been very different.” Junior goalkeeper Mattie Interian should be especially confident following her performance against the Tar Heels. The Pasadena, Calif., native made a career-high seven saves against UNC after being named ACC Defensive Player of the Week for protecting a clean sheet in Notre Dame’s penultimate game of the regular season at Louisville the Sunday prior. Norman admitted that having a keeper who can be relied upon to make big saves like Interian is vital versus top
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opposition. “It’s just the reality sometimes of those situations [that] you need your keeper basically to steal a goal or two in those games to help you out,” he said. “I think she’s in a good place, and I think she’s obviously got the talent to do that for us.” Interian and co. will be looking to avenge Notre Dame’s 5-0 season-opening loss to Florida State in Tallahassee. The Seminoles scored four goals off the bench, including two long-range efforts from junior midfielder Yujie Zhao. Norman lauded the Seminoles’ prowess and depth in the midfield and explained how the Irish plan on playing more on the wings this time around. “[Florida State] have a lot of really special 10s or attacking center-mids that sit in these little spaces in front of back lines that can do some really good stuff,” he said. “Trying to protect those areas and actually keeping the ball in wide areas, I think [that’s] gonna be important and crucial for us. That’s gonna be a lot of game plan of not letting them switch the field. Once they get to the side, can we squeeze them to that side and just keep them there and try to make them as predictable as possible for us.” However, slowing down the Seminoles is not something opposing teams have accomplished this season. Florida State has outscored their opponents 25-4 with goals from nine different players, and Paid Advertisement
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connery mcFadden | The Observer
Irish junior midfielder Brianna Martinez, center, fights for the ball during Notre Dame’s 2-1 win over Cincinnati on Aug, 31, 2018, at Alumni Stadium. Martinez has taken three shots on goal this season.
several members of the squad have earned national and ACC recognition. Junior midfielder Jaelin Howell was named Top
Drawer Soccer’s player of the week after scoring a gamewinner with 12 seconds left in regulation vs. then-No. 5 Duke in her first game back from a USWNT camp invite. Freshman forward Jody Brown is the Seminoles’ joint-leader in goals following a brace vs. then-No. 3 Clemson in the regular season finale to bring the St. Ann, Jamaica, native’s tally to four. At the other end of the field, freshman goalkeeper Cristina Roque was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week for keeping clean sheets in both contests. Despite the Seminoles’ obvious pedigree, Norman maintained that his team would not just sit back and invite pressure, though he did admit his team will inevitably have less of the ball Tuesday than the Irish are used to. “We need to make [Florida State] uncomfortable and press them, and then there’s going to be times where they’re just going to have the ball, and we need to be patient defending,” he said. Notre Dame boasts some attacking talent of its own, but the Irish have sometimes struggled in front of goal this year, only outscoring opponents 12-10 in eight games. Norman said he is pleased that creating chances has not been a problem for Notre Dame but also said that the Irish can be sharper in the final third. “We get into dangerous areas on a very consistent basis, probably the most [often since] I’ve been here, and for
whatever reason, that final pass, final shot just hasn’t quite come as often as I think we would like it to come,” he said. “I think it’s something that we continue to work on and talk about, and I think a lot of our attacking players have done a lot of work outside of our actual regular scheduled practice to do that stuff and just try to become more comfortable.” Other than sophomore forward Kiki Van Zanten, who is often used as a substitute but is joint-top of the ACC with six goals in conference play, only senior attacking midfielder Sammi Fisher has managed to score more than once in 2020. Junior midfielder Luisa Delgado and senior forward Eva Hurm, who scored a combined 11 goals in 21 games last season, are yet to find the back of the net this year. Norman pointed to a condensed season to help explain some of these trends and expressed confidence that his team would create opportunities on Tuesday. “We may not be creating 20 chances against Florida State, but we’re going to get some,” he said. “We have to be calm and composed in those situations, whether it’s just passing the ball [into] the corner of the net or making a good decision on a final pass.” Kickoff Tuesday is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. No public attendance will be permitted, but the match will be broadcast on the ACC Network. Contact Greg McKenna at gmckenn2@nd.edu
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nd women’s soccer
ND to take on top-seeded FSU in ACC Tourney By NATE MOLLER Sports Writer
The No. 14 Notre Dame women’s soccer team is set for a rematch versus No. 2 Florida State Tuesday in the opening match of the ACC Tournament at Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina. Though North Carolina came in at No. 1 in the United Soccer Coaches’ national poll after defeating the Irish 2-0 in Chapel Hill last Sunday to match Florida State’s undefeated regular season, the Seminoles (8-0-0, 8-0-0 ACC) finished first in the ACC after besting the Tar Heels in goal difference in conference play +21 to +16. Despite the loss in their regular season finale at UNC, Notre Dame (4-4-0, 4-4-0 ACC) managed to grab the eighth and final qualifying spot in the conference tournament. Tuesday’s clash continues a key stretch for Irish athletics punctuated by Notre Dame Football’s historic win over No. 1 Clemson Saturday night.
However, the postgame field rush by Notre Dame students drew substantial national criticism as the Indiana State Department of Health reported a record-high 5,007 new coronavirus cases Saturday. When head coach Nate Norman was asked whether he was nervous about the health of his team while watching the scene, he said, “Yeah, I was.” However, Norman said he trusted his players to make good decisions to stay safe and avoid jeopardizing the opportunity the Irish have worked so hard for during this unusual season. “I don’t think I had in my mind that there could be a field rushing, but I would think that all of our players would not be involved in that I hope,” he said. “We have too many things going on that to just kind of lose sight in one moment to sacrifice that would be not a good idea.” Against women’s college soccer’s preeminent blueblood in UNC, the Irish see W SOCCER PAGE 11
allison thornton | The Observer
Irish senior forward Eva Hurm wrestles a Hawkeyes player during a 3-2 Notre Dame loss to Iowa on Sept. 20, 2019, at Alumni Stadium. Hurm leads the team with 11 shots on goal, and she also has an assist.
COLUMN
Fans react to Notre Dame’s win over Clemson Hayden Adams Sports Editor
As has become a weekly postgame staple, the Observer sports department sent a poll out via social media to gauge fan reactions to Notre Dame’s 47-40 double overtime win over No. 1 Clemson. We asked a variety of questions and got a variety of responses from a record number of respondents, so let’s get to it.
How did the Clemson game make you feel?
Photo courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics
Irish sophomore running back Kyren Williams tries to break a tackle as he dives forward during Notre Dame’s 47-40 win over Clemson at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday. The Irish moved to a No. 2 ranking.
“Panicked” / “STRESSED” / “Nervous” / “Nervous. Then amazing.” / “Ecstatic” / “Anxious and then ecstatic.” / “Anxious and happy.” / “On edge until the last second and then amazing.” I felt all of that and then some in the student section. It was a roller coaster of emotions. From the opening touchdown on the second play from scrimmage, there was a sense — at least in my mind but I’m confident others felt it — that this team is different from the one in 2018. It certainly helps that with one touchdown they instantly doubled the total amount of points they scored against Clemson in that Cotton Bowl.
Going into this game, my mindset was that Notre Dame could not waste possessions. They had to come away with points on every drive, which they were doing. But after Clemson got their first score on a 53-yard touchdown pass, it made me a lot more anxious knowing they could have a 21-7 lead instead of 13-7 if freshman tight end Michael Mayer hadn’t dropped a presumptive touchdown and the offense didn’t get a false start on 4th-and-short from the goal line. The second half was even rockier, especially because the defense somehow managed to keep alive the smallest slivers of hope despite several offensive woes, including Ian Book’s fumble for a touchback. The referees were also horrendous and in my humble should be dispatched to the Sun Belt or some other nobody conference because the ACC should have better. But that feeling in the second overtime when the defense got back-to-back sacks? Indescribable. But these emotions do a pretty good job… “Joy” / “Bliss” / “Amazing” / “HYPE” / “Hell YEAH” / “Very proud of Notre Dame.” / “Proud see ADAMS PAGE 10
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physically manifested some of these goals they laid when they arrived on campus. Some of these players would have a role in the 2018 Cotton Bowl loss. Senior linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah for one knows all about it “In reference to what [this win] means to our senior class, we worked so hard. You know, especially in 2018, I had to sit through that, Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and I, we had to sit through that and watch that game,” he said. “And it was a painful game. So we always say that it is for the brotherhood, you know what I mean? And not just the brotherhood that is playing with us. It’s a brotherhood that came before, so we just wanted to do it for them, do it for us and do our community and our fans. That’s what we did. So it’s a great one.” If 2015 was the BYOG game, then this one could be the bring your own soul game. Notre Dame’s leaders and captains all had rollercoasters of a night individually, but they would bend and not break. They poured their heart and soul and every ounce of their
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question of why a program like Notre Dame is in the position where the students will storm the feel after beating No. 1. Clemson and Alabama and Ohio State’s fans don’t storm the field. Notre Dame has been there and, after this win, is decidedly taking steps to get back there. This was one for the ages. It will be spoken of in the same breath as Catholics vs. Conflicts, the 1993 Game of the Century and the Bush Push. And with regard to that last one, doesn’t this taste so sweet? This is the kind of game where you will remember forever where you were when it happened. For me, I was shirtless in the student section be smushed up against the barrier as everyone waited for the defense to get four more stops in double overtime and give us the tacet permission necessary to take the field. To illustrate the point of remembering where you were, please enjoy the response that this Observer reader submitted in our postgame poll about how the game unfolded for him and his 8-year-old son. “We trade different ND footballs back and forth to change momentum. He cried when the refs overturned the pass interference call on Ben [Skowronek]. We stood. We knelt. He prayed for good luck when he thought I wasn’t looking. I prayed in the bathroom when I knew he wasn’t. But for the first time in my life, I didn’t
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being into this game. Ian Book coughed up the ball after rushing for what would have been a first down and looked down for the count. But if there is one thing that is certain about this class and about Notre Dame in general, it is that they face adversity and overcome it. Their head coach is no different. “As a coach, you commit your vocation to this because you love seeing your players overcome what amounts to sometimes difficult odds. That was fun to watch those guys,” head coach Brian Kelly. Kelly said that he was not phased at all by Book’s fumble and he kept his head straight and would lead his team to a huge upset. “I went up to him right away. I said, “Listen, we’re going to need you to win this game for us. It will come down on your shoulders, and you’re going to win the game.” I just stayed positive with him. Obviously he’s struggling to get in the end zone, and it was a big play, but I knew there would be other opportunities for him. He’s shown it before, that he makes big plays down the stretch to win games.” Another veteran member of this team that made a defining play was graduate student defensive lineman Daelin
Hayes. Hayes sealed the game for the Irish after a huge sack that set up a third and 24 in double overtime for Clemson. He sealed that game up for the Irish, and for Kelly, it gave him a much-needed signature victory, as Kelly has long been criticized for not being able to win big games. Kelly has now silenced the haters but will now need to keep the pace with a new and improved target on his team’s back. It is difficult to quantify or even describe what this win means for this Notre Dame football team and Brian Kelly. Ian Book probably put it best. “So fun, a night I’ll never forget. No matter how old I am, I know I’ll remember this game forever. So just a special moment. And just the fans involved in it, and just watching the defense just do what they did,” Kelly said. “And just sitting on the sideline, knowing that they were going to stop them. It was just unbelievable, and I just started screaming and ran out there and threw my helmet. And it’s just a night I’m never going forget. And when the fans stormed the field, it was actually pretty cool. It was really fun.”
pray to the football gods for me. I asked them to make my son happy. He was distraught the entire 2nd half. I did my best to explain that he should be happy no matter how the game ended tonight because ND was playing how we used to….with maximum effort and for each other. It was almost as if I was talking to myself 30 years ago,” he wrote. “I kept telling him that pit in his stomach and the fear of losing is really a blessing. That fear and those nerves are a function of the true love and passion we have for ND football. I always tell me kids to be passionate about what they do, win or lose. When the clock struck zero… I went over to the front door, unlocked it and said ‘go put on those slides.’ He knew. Pushing me out of the way, he sprinted down the front steps and into the street. And we ran for two blocks screaming ‘Go Irish!’ Like maniacs. Exactly what I did in ’93 after FSU. My 11-year-old daughter met us outside too. Grinning ear to ear. She watched the game upstairs with my wife, like civilized people… I will NEVER forget tonight. As long as I live…..” None of us will forget this game. Ian Book said himself after the game that he’ll remember this for the rest of his life. I will remember this for the rest of my life. This was the last home football game I will ever attend as an undergraduate (students aren’t admitted to Syracuse). This was the last time I would get to witness the enormous “Here Come the Irish” banner
that my dorm raises across its east side facing North Quad. This was the last time I would be doing pushups in the stands, of which I still owe 37 because I only got 10 in on the bleacher before they distracted me with a video on the big screen and resumed play in the second overtime too quickly. I’m pretty confident Brian Kelly isn’t going to forget this one. He just got the devil off of his back with this win. And no, I’m not talking about Dabo Swinney, because I don’t think he’s the college football equivalent of the devil (although apparently some of the students at the game did with the notso-glowing chant they directed at him). Brian Kelly and Ian Book, probably the two most criticized members of this Notre Dame team (and I have partaken in that criticizing), just gave me a win over the No. 1-ranked team in the country in what was — for all intents and purposes — my final home game. So a big fat THANK YOU to those two and the entirety of this team is in order. Thank you, Irish, for making that game one for the history books and making 2020 just the slightest bit better. As my mother’s friend texted her: “What a great college memory!!! Regis was smiling.” I’m sure he was, along with so many other Irish eyes.
Scoring Summary 1
Kyren Williams 65-yard run (Jonathan Doerer kick)
14:27
remaining Drive: One play, 75 yards, 0:33 elapsed
NOTRE DAME 10, clemson 0 Doerer 24-yard field goal
5:55
remaining Drive: 10 plays, 49 yards, 6:24 elapsed
notre dame 10, clemson 7
Cornell Powell 53-yard pass from D.J. Uiagalelei (B.T. Potter kick)
4:11
remaining Drive: Four plays, 75 yards, 1:44 elapsed
2
Notre dame 13, clemson 7 Doerer 27-yard field goal
13:09
remaining Drive: 13 plays, 66 yards, 6:02 elapsed
Notre dame 13, clemson 10
Potter 25-yard field goal
8:32
remaining Drive: 11 plays, 80 yards, 4:37 elapsed
Notre dame 20, clemson 10
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah 23-yard fumble return (Doerer kick)
5:53
remaining Drive: One play, -8 yards, 0:05 elapsed
Contact Jimmy Ward at wward@hcc-nd.edu
Contact Hayden Adams at hadams3@nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
notre dame 7, clemson 0
Notre dame 23, clemson 10 Doerer 45-yard field goal
2:41
remaining Drive: 4 plays, -2 yards, 2:25 elapsed
Notre dame 23, clemson 13 Potter 46-yard field goal
1:09
remaining Drive: Six plays, 47 yards, 1:32 elapsed
3
Notre dame 23, clemson 16 Potter 46-yard field goal
12:15
remaining Drive: Nine plays, 36 yards, 2:45 elapsed
Notre dame 23, clemson 23
Davis Allen 10-yard pass from Uiagalelei (Potter kick)
4:12
remaining Drive: 13 plays, 60 yards, 6:29 elapsed
4
Notre dame 26, clemson 23 Doerer 44-yard field goal
11:37
remaining Drive: Seven plays, 31 yards, 3:12 elapsed
Notre dame 26, clemson 26 Potter 30-yard field goal
9:42
remaining Drive: Five plays, 58 yards, 1:55 elapsed
clemson 33, notre dame 26
Travis Etienne 3-yard run (Potter kick)
3:33
remaining Drive: 12 plays, 74 yards, 5:41 elapsed
Notre dame 33, clemson 33
Avery Davis 4-yard pass from Book (Doerer kick)
0:22
remaining Drive: Eight plays, 91 yards, 1:26 elapsed
OT
clemson 40, notre dame 33
Uiagalelei 1-yard run (Potter kick) Drive: Two plays, 25 yards
clemson 40, notre dame 40
Williams 3-yard run (Doerer kick) Drive: Four plays, 25 yards
2OT
notre dame 47, clemson 40
Williams 3-yard run (Doerer kick) Drive: Seven plays, 25 yards
3
4
Insider
The observer | monday, november 9, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com
Photo courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics
Irish senior kicker Jonathan Doerer follows through on a 24-yard field goal during the first quarter of Notre Dame’s 47-40 win over Clemson in double overtime Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. Doerer made four of his five field goal attempts to keep the Irish in the game when their drives stalled out, including two scores from over 40 yards.
an instant classic
Notre Dame wasted no time getting on the board, with Kyren Williams running for a 65-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. The two teams traded leads over the rest of the game and two overtime periods. A defensive stand punctuated by two sacks sealed a signature win for an Irish team that had been known for underperforming on big stages.
Photo courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics
Irish graduate student cornerback Nick McCloud celebrates after a play in Notre Dame’s win.
Photo courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics
Irish sophomore running back Kyren Williams celebrates a touchdown during the Notre Dame-Clemson game this weekend.
Photo courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics
Irish junior tight end Tommy Tremble lowers his shoulder as he is tackled during the 47-40 victory.
Photo courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics
Irish sophomore defensive lineman Isaiah Foskey pursues Tigers running back Travis Etienne during Notre Dame’s win over Clemson on Saturday. The defense held Etienne to a career-low 1.6 yards per carry.