Fifth-year center John Sullivan suffered a high ankle sprain on the third drive of the second half, Irish coach Charlie Weis said.In his post-game news conference, Weis said Sullivan's X-rays came back negative. If the injury had occurred in mid-season, Weis said, Sullivan would likely miss two to four weeks of action."But I'm listing him as probable for Georgia Tech," Weis said with a laugh, referring to Notre Dame's season-opener with the Yellow Jackets on Sept. 1.The injury came on a 6-yard run up the middle by early-entry freshman Armando Allen.
Weis receives monogramMonogram Club President Julie Doyle, vice presidents Marc Kelly and Joe Restic, Athletic Director Kevin White and Monogram Club Executive Director Jim Fraleigh presented Weis with an honorary monogram prior to Saturday's scrimmage.Weis joined both honorary coaches for Saturday's game - legendary Irish skippers Ara Parseghian and Lou Holtz - and Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan among the approximately 200 honorary members of the Monogram Club.
Crowd sets recordSaturday's crowd of 51,852 easily eclipsed the 2006 Blue-Gold Game crowd of 41,279 as the most-attended spring game in Notre Dame history. By comparison, defending national champion Florida drew 47,500 fans, while Ohio State brought in 75,310 for their spring games.But the attendance champ for 2007 was Alabama, which turned people away from its "A-Day" game in Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Crimson Tide sold all 92,138 seats in their stadium and had fans watching from ramps and concourses for coach Nick Saban's first contest at the school, USA Today reported.Alabama's previous high for a spring game was 51,117 in 1988.Before Weis' arrival, the largest crowd for a Blue-Gold Game was 35,675 in 1981 for then-coach Gerry Faust's first spring game. Holtz's first year saw 32,071 fans attend the Blue-Gold Game.
Honorary captainsFormer Irish quarterback Tony Rice, who led Notre Dame to the 1988 National Championship was the honorary captain for the Gold team.Ross Browner, a College Football Hall of Famer who played defensive end for Notre Dame from 1973-77 under Parseghian and successor Dan Devine, captained the Blue squad.While Rice was the only offensive starter on the 1988 national championship team not to play in the NFL, Browner played nine years with the Cincinnati Bengals and a final season with the Green Bay Packers.
Rotating QuarterbacksAs part of Weis' plan for giving equal competition for the starting quarterback job, he had the four quarterbacks participate in coin flips to see who would play what series. Irish quarterbacks Evan Sharpley and Demetrius Jones lost coin flips the week before the game, which made Zach Frazer the starter for Gold and Jimmy Clausen the starter for Blue. The quarterbacks rotated every series.Weis said the four had nearly identical repetitions during the spring's 15 practices, ending with Saturday's scrimmage.
