Notre Dame

#26
#26
TrueOrange said:
Take that up with NBC then
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Good point. Unlike every other team who switches conferences for a quick cash grab, ND would almost certainly have to take less money to join a conference and would have to give up most of their rivalry games in the process.
 
#27
#27
I think the key's going to be which Notre Dame QB - what's the QB's name, Gholson? - shows up: the one who plays solid enough (like tonight and OU) or the one that fans were saying/worried was a turnover machine earlier on in the year?
 
#28
#28
bleedorange0037 said:
I don't think they have zero chance against Bama. If the same Bama team that showed up for the aTm game shows up in Miami, they can easily lose. That said, given that Saban will have a month and a half to prepare, I think the good Bama shows up and wins by 20+.
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Guess what, Brian Kelly and his staff have six weeks to prepare. I'm sure in that time span Bob Diaco can come up with a game plan to stymie the Alabama offense.
 
#29
#29
FenianVol said:
Notre Dame are a very strong match up for Bama but again dont write off Georgia yet.
I think this ND team has champions written all over it and would do enough to beat either Alabama or Georgia.
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Ga is very capable of either winning the SECCG or getting rolled. btw glad kiffin lost.
 
#30
#30
Boston Vol said:
Guess what, Brian Kelly and his staff have six weeks to prepare. I'm sure in that time span Bob Diaco can come up with a game plan to stymie the Alabama offense.
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True. The difference is that Saban will be preparing WAAAAY better players. We'll see what happens. If ND wins, it'll be a hell of a coaching job by Kelly.
 
#31
#31
bleedorange0037 said:
I don't think they have zero chance against Bama. If the same Bama team that showed up for the aTm game shows up in Miami, they can easily lose. That said, given that Saban will have a month and a half to prepare, I think the good Bama shows up and wins by 20+.
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Brian kelly used to win national titles with only a week to prepare...now you're giving him and his staff plenty of time...they will be ready...and don't give me that better athlete stuff...USC and Oklahoma had better athletes too
 
#32
#32
TrueOrange said:
I think the key's going to be which Notre Dame QB - what's the QB's name, Gholson? - shows up: the one who plays solid enough (like tonight and OU) or the one that fans were saying/worried was a turnover machine earlier on in the year?
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Gholson has grown considerably during the season as has the entire offense. He has shown great poise in intense road games at OU, and tonight. I think Notre Dame can score on Bama. Maybe not 30 but 20-23 maybe all either team needs.

The offense isn't A&M, but they execute and run. The special teams are also very good and have made the difference in more than one game this season.

To see them put down USC and Bamee back to back... :thumbsup:
 
#33
#33
Vols4life said:
Brian kelly used to win national titles with only a week to prepare...now you're giving him and his staff plenty of time...they will be ready...and don't give me that better athlete stuff...USC and Oklahoma had better athletes too
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The whole better athlete argument pretty much died after the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. Miami had better athletes across the board and OSU still found a way to win.
 
#34
#34
I think Notre Dame would have the same record as Bama this year if they swapped schedules.
 
#38
#38
Top to bottom, ND's schedule is as good or better than Alabama's:
They played 1 10 win team (Alabama played 2).
They played 3 8 win or better teams (Alabama has played 4).
They played 7 teams with winning records (Alabama played 5).
They played 2 teams with an even record (Alabama played 1).
They played 10 BCS conference opponents (Alabama played 9).
They played 3 teams with losing records (Alabama played 6).
They played 0 Mid major teams with losing records (Alabama played 1).
They played 0 FCS opponenets. (Alabama played 1).

Because ND won all of their games, I think you could argue that their body of work is better. Margin of victory and results with common opponents (Michigan) come out in Alabama's favor though.
 
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#39
#39
tumscalcium said:
LOL, funniest post of the night.
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What's so funny? Both of those teams rely on the run to setup the pass. Notre Dame has one of the best rush defenses in America. Notre Dame's biggest weakness is their secondary. Neither Ala or UGA have the WRs that would cause Notre Dame problems.
 
#41
#41
ND struggled and barely beat Pitt, Purdue and BYU. Bama would've had no trouble with any of those teams, beating them by at least 3 touchdowns. ND also struggled with and barely beat Michigan, a team Bama stomped. Like someone else said, they're '02 Ohio State all over again.
 
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#42
#42
VOLMEB said:
ND struggled and barely beat Pitt, a team Bama would beat by at least 3 touchdowns. They also struggled with and barely beat Purdue and BYU, both teams Bama would have no trouble with. Last but not least, they struggled with and barely beat Michigan, a team Bama stomped. Like someone else said, they're '02 Ohio State all over again.
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You ought to do more than just read box scores and actually watch football.

Notre Dame is a defensive team. That is what they do, they stop their opponents from scoring. Nobody who has watched ND is going to claim that ND is an offensive juggernaut. They have a decent ball-control offense, but an offense that struggles to get touchdowns.

Further, Golson has matured tremendously over the course of the season. As he has matured, ND's offense has put up some more points. Comparing the ND offense that faced Michigan and Purdue with the ND offense now is absurd. ND is now using more of their playbook with Golson and Golson is making intelligent decisions as their QB.

As for struggling with Michigan, ND did not. ND forced five turnovers in that game (I do not count the turnover right before half) and turned the ball over twice. The game was never in doubt, by the way. ND held a two possession lead from the 1st Quarter until there were less than three and a half minutes left to play. That is a solid victory, in my book.

As for the Pitt game, so ND had a let down. They still came away with the victory, much like other championship teams have done in the past (if Bama wins this year, that let down would have been A&M, a let down that resulted in a loss, by the way; last year, Bama had a let down against a team that they later beat by three touchdowns, that let down resulted in a loss as well).

Finally, is the comparison to the '02 tOSU team one that is supposed to somehow suggest that ND is not a championship caliber team? Last time I checked, tOSU beat the U in 2002. Of course, McGahee blew his knee out in that game and tOSU got away with a blatant PI call in the endzone; however, tOSU was a team that pundits were saying would be blown out by the U...and, well, they beat the U.

Football is not all about offensive production. Great defenses often only need an offense that can simply control the time of possession (ask Trent Dilfer about his Super Bowl victory). ND's offense has proven time and time again it can do that; ND's defense has proven that it is for real.
 
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#43
#43
therealUT said:
You ought to do more than just read box scores and actually watch football.

Notre Dame is a defensive team. That is what they do, they stop their opponents from scoring. Nobody who has watched ND is going to claim that ND is an offensive juggernaut. They have a decent ball-control offense, but an offense that struggles to get touchdowns.

Further, Golson has matured tremendously over the course of the season. As he has matured, ND's offense has put up some more points. Comparing the ND offense that faced Michigan and Purdue with the ND offense now is absurd. ND is now using more of their playbook with Golson and Golson is making intelligent decisions as their QB.

As for struggling with Michigan, ND did not. ND forced five turnovers in that game (I do not count the turnover right before half) and turned the ball over twice. The game was never in doubt, by the way. ND held a two possession lead from the 1st Quarter until there were less than three and a half minutes left to play. That is a solid victory, in my book.

As for the Pitt game, so ND had a let down. They still came away with the victory, much like other championship teams have done in the past (if Bama wins this year, that let down would have been A&M, a let down that resulted in a loss, by the way; last year, Bama had a let down against a team that they later beat by three touchdowns, that let down resulted in a loss as well).

Finally, is the comparison to the '02 tOSU team one that is supposed to somehow suggest that ND is not a championship caliber team? Last time I checked, tOSU beat the U in 2002. Of course, McGahee blew his knee out in that game and tOSU got away with a blatant PI call in the endzone; however, tOSU was a team that pundits were saying would be blown out by the U...and, well, they beat the U.

Football is not all about offensive production. Great defenses often only need an offense that can simply control the time of possession (ask Trent Dilfer about his Super Bowl victory). ND's offense has proven time and time again it can do that; ND's defense has proven that it is for real.
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I watched all of those games, thank you very much. Comparing Pitt to TX A&M and LSU is just downright funny. Fact of the matter is, Bama struggled with 2 teams and lost 1 game. Those games were against 2 very good teams. ND struggled with and barely beat several mediocre teams, teams Bama would, and in Michigan's case did, crush. My mother is a ND graduate btw so I've grown up on ND football. I watch every game that I can.
 
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#44
#44
I hate the argument that ND plays a harder schedule than SEC teams just because they don't play any cupcakes. They play all average teams where SEC teams play half great teams and half bad teams. Lets be real is a national championship caliber team going to lose to Purdue? BYU? No. Could they slip up against LSU? Texas A&M? Damn right they could.
 
#45
#45
tennesseefan31 said:
I hate the argument that ND plays a harder schedule than SEC teams just because they don't play any cupcakes. They play all average teams where SEC teams play half great teams and half bad teams. Lets be real is a national championship caliber team going to lose to Purdue? BYU? No. Could they slip up against LSU? Texas A&M? Damn right they could.
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But they didn't lose.
 
#47
#47
tennesseefan31 said:
I hate the argument that ND plays a harder schedule than SEC teams just because they don't play any cupcakes. They play all average teams where SEC teams play half great teams and half bad teams. Lets be real is a national championship caliber team going to lose to Purdue? BYU? No. Could they slip up against LSU? Texas A&M? Damn right they could.
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When did they lose to BYU or Purdue?
 
#48
#48
tennesseefan31 said:
I hate the argument that ND plays a harder schedule than SEC teams just because they don't play any cupcakes. They play all average teams where SEC teams play half great teams and half bad teams. Lets be real is a national championship caliber team going to lose to Purdue? BYU? No. Could they slip up against LSU? Texas A&M? Damn right they could.
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Half of Alabama's opponents have been great? The SECCG will be their 13th game. Of those 3 have been against top quality opponents. LSU, A&M, and Georgia. The rest of the schedule has been filled with mediocre competition.
 
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#50
#50
tennesseefan31 said:
I hate the argument that ND plays a harder schedule than SEC teams just because they don't play any cupcakes. They play all average teams where SEC teams play half great teams and half bad teams. Lets be real is a national championship caliber team going to lose to Purdue? BYU? No. Could they slip up against LSU? Texas A&M? Damn right they could.
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You're talking about trying to win 12 consecutive games too, though.

I think playing Western Carolina and Florida Atlantic is like having 2 additional BYE weeks and theoretically an additional week of rest would make winning the tough games easier.

Not to mention Alabama played 2 or 4 SEC opponents that are worse than the two teams you mentioned.

Alabama just had to get up for 3 games and they couldn't do it.
 
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