Season 3, Game 5:at Notre Dame

Milwaukee College Penguins (3-1, #58) @ Notre Dame Fightin' Irish (3-1, #31)

42. 18. Those were the scores that Notre Dame beat us by the last two seasons. The Penguins meet up with arch-rival Notre Dame each year as a way to gauge our progress. But it is not like Notre Dame is going through a renaissance. In fact, it's the first time in three years that we've met up with them when they haven't been in the Top 25. The gap is getting closer.

Koch (QB #22) was cleared to play today and, despite back-up quarterback Root's (QB #5) fine performance in the last two games (wins against the University of Illinois and Buffalo, in which she threw for 255 yards each game), I elected to go with Koch.

The first quarter was a defensive battle, which tends to favor us. It wasn't until early in the 2nd quarter did we finally put points up on the board; Chi (K #40) kicks a field goal to give us our first ever lead against the Fightin' Irish.

But we couldn't score again in the half. Notre Dame finally broke threw, scoring two touchdowns but missing the extra point each time! 12-3 going into the half.

Both team's adjustments yield touchdowns in the third. But it's here in the second half where Koch starts to falter. Two interceptions. And then a sack puts him out of the game with "back spasms." Root comes in, cold, and throws an interception to ice the game for Notre Dame.

STATS: MKE - ND

score: 10-25
first downs: 13-14
total offense: 225-323
rushes - yards: 25-32 --- 28-54
comp-att-TD: 18-42-0 --- 17--30-4
passing yards: 193-269
sacked: 2-1
turnovers: 3-0
fumbles - lost: 1-0 --- 1-0
intercepted: 3-0
top: 16:29 -- 15:31

KEY PLAYERS (Offense)

Koch (QB #22) 75.5 rating, 18-40 for 193 yards, 2 INT
Wetzel (HB #47) 16-33 rush (2.0 avg), 1 TD; 4-23 rec
Williams (TE #80) 3-32 (10.6 avg)
Franklin (WR #81) 3-82 (27.3 avg)
Buccheri (RG #59) 3 pancakes

KEY PLAYERS (Defense)

Straka (CB #1) 7 tackles, 1 pass deflect
Loeb (DT #60) 5 tackles
Conti (MLB #72) 4 tackles
Division (ROLB #39) 4 tackles (1 for loss)
Price (LE #90) 3 tackles (2 for loss), 1 sack

NOTES: This was kind of a demoralizing loss. It's the first time in a very long time where we haven't forced a turnover of any kind. The closest we got was forcing a fumble, but we went back to our old ways and didn't recover it. Also, everybody and their mother was hoping that Koch would come back and build upon that solid first game of the season, where he scored twice, one through the air and once rushing. But he proved to be in a fragile state of health. With an undefeated Colorado State looming in the horizon, expect to see some unusual tactics from us.