UHND.com - Notre Dame Football, Basketball, & Recruiting

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Link: https://youtu.be/zAhcIAx95OM

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Riley was absolutely NOT a 'much better' passer than Rice. Ricky Watters should be in the NFL HOF. Rocket is Rocket.

There is no comparison.

Jeremiyah Love is a legit Heisman candidate. Price has been overshadowed by Love but IMO we lose little when Price goes in to rest Love. Leonard was phenomenal.

But let's be real. Rice, Watters and Rocket are all legends, for a reason.

Stanford and others in championship year? And Holtz's need to have him practice with darts? Rice did prove that a QBs legs were more important than his arm at that time and Holtz's surprise play calling brilliantly contributed to our great undefeated season. It especially peaked against USC and West Virginia for the 1988 season.

Obviously, not an easy comparison across two very different eras of college football. A blind look at stats would suggest Riley was indeed ‘better’ (QB Rating, completion %, TD/INT ratio) but Rice actually had fewer pass attempts in more in twice as many games as ND’s QB. He was throwing more often on obvious passing downs under the Holtz scheme and his Yards/Attempt is actually higher than Riley. He also had more passing yards than Riley, with fewer pass attempts.

Splitting hairs, I know. But I push back at the notion that Riley was ‘far superior’.

Rice also won a natty. Coffee is for closers.

become surprisingly excellent draft pick.

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pass catching ability was unmatched by any back both in college and the pros. He also ran the ball with great explosion and finished his runs through arm tackles very well. He missed his entire rookie year and some significant time late in his pro career or he would have been a sure NFL Hall of Famer.

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The vision, the cuts, the speed, the strength.....my goodness.

I was there. This run broke their back.


Link: Ricky

That was one of my favorite runs ever by an Irish player. And it wasn't just that run - he had one heck of a day running the ball. Tennessee was so heavily schemed to stop Ismail that he was able to break significant runs left and right. And in the end, the Rocket still got his explosive touchdown run and a couple of nice returns.

It was also the first time I started to question the competence of Gary Darnell. We really couldn't stop the pass against anyone....8 yards per attempt for the year, and it really allowed some teams hang close for most of the game (or worse). He wasn't fully exposed until the following season.

That was my first visit to Neyland Stadium. Holy shit - I was blown away. I became a Tennesse fan after that weekend. We were treated so well all weekend long. No shit - at the ND pep rally on Friday night, none other than Tennessee coach Johnny Majors came and spoke to the ND fans. He followed Lou Holtz. Can you imagine?

We had the game in hand but a late, furious Tennessee rally made it close. A late Tennessee TD followed by a successful onside kick gave Tennessee the ball in the final minute. The game ended on an ND INT in the endzone. ND wins, 34-29.

That ND team was simply loaded.

Have cheered for the Vols ever since.

THAT was evident from his pro career.

If he'd never left SF he would be in the HOF.

Oh. And he was elegant in the open field.

Holtz hated all of the talk and showboating that Watters had a bit of a flair for, and Watters never forgave him for leaving him at home for U.S.C. in '88. They made up later, but between the hot-dogging and some critical fumbles, Holtz wouldn't give him all of the additional touches that he wanted. They made up over the years afterwards, but Watters was clear early on after he was in the N.F.L. that he couldn't stand Lou.

Back then, the 49'ers were running the standard West Coast Offense, so you had to have an agile running back who could run with power, evasion, and speed, while being a legitimate pass catching threat.

They had some fantastic years with Roger Craig as the featured running back, along with Tom Rathman being the bruiser from Hell.

Once Craig started slowing down, they tried other backs, such as Dexter Carter (too small, couldn't run with power), Keith Henderson (medicore at everything), etc., but nobody could fill the shoes of a Roger Craig in his prime until Ricky Watters came along. He would have made an impact in 1991, if he hadn't broken that bone in his foot during the preseason.

Once he left, the 49'ers tried backs such as Johnny Johnson (injury hobbled) and Derek Loville (mediocre at everything), but there was an obvious dropoff.

Unlike other backs, he actually got better with age.


He would have certainly been in the Hall of Fame if he didn't say those four forbidden words, during his time with the Eagles. That was all on him, the fact that he mans up to having been inappropriate like that earned a lot of respect in my eyes.

His departure to Philly had more to do with San Francisco not getting a follow-up Super Bowl in the 90's than anything else, and it's really not close. The drop-off when they moved to Loville and Terry freaking Kirby was enormous. Even Garrison Hearst with his talent wasn't the consistent, complete threat that Watters was (and that's to say nothing of his constant injuries).

I strongly believe that San Francisco would have gotten at least one more Super Bowl out of '95, '97, or '98 had Watters stayed.

And to be clear, I don't put the blame on Holtz or Watters for their feud. I really don't know enough about the details to point fingers there. I'm glad we had him at N.D., though.

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I had my criticisms of him as a player and a pro, but I can honestly say that he's become a much better man.

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ND football didn't start in the 1980s.