Nordame Hammers, Iowa State, 33 to 9 in the Camping World Bowl in Orlando, not exactly what we expected,

based upon a lot of the stuff we had seen of Iowa State and the uncertainty about just where

Nordame's head was, but it was in the right place.

And all the credit in the world for Brian Kelly, the coaching staff, the team was ready to

play in every aspect.

I guess they were three for 13 on third down, but they came up with many ways to...

Negative.

They kept one negative.

Oh, and J. Bramlett wasn't at his best, but otherwise, that was a dominant football team out there.

They played like they had something to prove. They played like they belonged in the Orange Bowl.

They played like winning 11 games this year was important.

They played like a team that didn't want to hear about, they might not be prepared to play in this

game. And they were dominant, both sides of the football.

I mean, would it have been so hard for Brian Kelly just to say, you're welcome?

Or to the media?

It's like we were the ones that provided in the most negative ammo that apparently they used

and turned to this fireball of fury against Iowa State. But, I mean, I was still working on my game

story in the press box and got a text from somebody on staff that just said, focused enough

for you. So they clearly were aware of what was being written and said about their willingness to be in that

game or interest to be in the game and I'm going to got to give them all the credit in the

world because I mean look Iowa State had those two turnovers early before Notre Dame really

even got into gear. Ian Book had a couple near interceptions that could have made the game close but it felt like

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