Note: Actually wasn't a bad call; coaches at the highest levels of college and pro football don't go for it on 4th down anywhere near as much as they should by any statistical analysis (I've seen numbers that suggest you should never punt; I think that's going a bit too far, myself). And while that wasn't a brain-dead obvious go-for-it situation, it was an emenantly makeable one -- though I think the odds would have been better with just lining up and throwing the ball.
Sometimes taking a perfectly logical risk doesn't work. But that doesn't mean that risk shouldn't be taken. ND needed to keep their offense on the field if they were going to win the game; that meant they needed to go for it on 4th and short.
