Was Notre Dame much better than UT?

[BuckettVolz]

Our Defense was awful

 

[GAVol]

"Very good team" ROTF. You evidently didn't see Pitt dominate ND---then let them off the hook in OT at ND. Ole Mrs pounded the heck out of Pitt.
With a National Title on the line, A "Very good team" Shows up.

Do you remember our national title run? We could have easily lost 3 games that year. All that matters is the final score.

 

[orangebloodgmc]

I went into this game disliking (despising may be a better word) both teams but leaning towards pulling for a ND win. After seeing dancing leprechauns and the media jizzing themselves over the thought of a ND win I was ready to see 'bama do their thing and stomp the hell out of ND.

They seriously referred to ND as the "underdog" around the the second quarter. Sorry Rudy, you don't get to be both the #1 team and the "underdog" on the same night.

Good points; that would imply some kind of disparity in their respective schedules, wouldn't it?

 

[GAVol]

Our Defense was awful

And we didn't control the ball the way Alabama did. ND would have played us completely differently.

 

[hohenfelsvol]

Do you remember our national title run? We could have easily lost 3 games that year. All that matters is the final score.

Final score in the final game too. If you get beat like a drum, it's starts threads like this. There is some merit, imo, that ND was way overrated. But that's the system. Playoff's should help some.

 

[99gator]

"Very good team" ROTF. You evidently didn't see Pitt dominate ND---then let them off the hook in OT at ND. Ole Mrs pounded the heck out of Pitt.
With a National Title on the line, A "Very good team" Shows up.

Notre Dame beat more quality opposition this season than Tennessee has in 5 years.

Did they have some stinkers? Yeah. They also beat some quality teams....like the pac 10 champ and co-big 12 champ

Cant believe I'm defending notre dame

 

[sjt18]

ND got a lot of breaks during the season... some of Fulmer's magic dust I guess. I do not know how UT would have done against them with Sunseri as DC but there are at least 6 SEC teams that I would favor over them besides ND. I honestly do not think they could handle MSU, USC, UGA, UF, LSU, or TAM.

In looking for reasons to enjoy this game... I remembered that this same ND team DOMINATED Kiffin and USC just a few weeks ago. It appears that USC may be declining under him... which I find very gratifying both because I hate USC and because Kiffin deserves it.

 

[UNAVol89]

They would have beaten us like we owed them money.

 

[Jax_Vol]

Notre Dame was slow....it would have been a good matchup for us.

bama beat us 44-13
bama beat ND 42-14


sounds bout the same

 

[GAVol]

Final score in the final game too. If you get beat like a drum, it's starts threads like this. There is some merit, imo, that ND was way overrated. But that's the system. Playoff's should help some.

Oh, I agree that Notre Dame was probably overrated. In the SEC, they'd be something comparable to South Carolina - a nice team that needs to play perfectly to beat elite opponents. Probably a fringe top 10 team.

I just think it's comical to go 5-7 and actually believe you're as good as a 12-0 team that played a decent schedule. It takes a special kind of homer.

 

[orangebloodgmc]

Our Defense was awful

Yes, we all agree that our defense was very disappointing, giving up so many busts and big gains.

But this thread asks, "Was Notre Dame much better than UT?"

ND was heralded as having one of the best D's in the nation, while our's was statistically in the bottom 20, I think.

Against common opponent Bama, ND held em to 529 yds and 42 pts, while we held em to 539 and 44 pts.

Was ND much better? :question:

 

[alaVOL]

Was Notre Dame much better than UT?

I don't think so talent wise. ND played team ball and were disciplined like we haven't seen at UT in a very long time. Give ND credit for getting the most out of what they have. I think Nick Saban could have won 11 games with this team and I really believe that. Even in Saban's first year at Bama, they played solid defense from the get go. Great coaching makes that big of a difference. Along those lines I think Butch will get much more out of our young men next year that will surprise most Vol fans. Will that mean 9-10 wins? I'm not saying that, but as I said about Saban's first year at Bama, it was obvious they were getting better and would be very good before long. If Butch can really put it together; the light should start shinning down the tunnel quickly, otherwise we'll be back to a coaching search in 3 years.

 

[99gator]

Notre Dame was slow....it would have been a good matchup for us.

bama beat us 44-13
bama beat ND 42-14


sounds bout the same

Like i said previously, a tank flattens a mercedes and a yugo just the same

 

[sjt18]

Notre Dame beat more quality opposition this season than Tennessee has in 5 years.

Probably. They still looked like a team that UT could have beaten last night.

Did they have some stinkers? Yeah. They also beat some quality teams....like the pac 10 champ and co-big 12 champ

Cant believe I'm defending notre dame

They had more games they should have lost to bad teams than games where they beat good teams. Sometimes it just falls your way... like Stoerner's fumble.

ND was not a top 10 team much less worthy of the NC game. Their D has 3 speeds: slow, super slow, and still.


I personally resent the ND arrogance more and more... especially when they have some success. This whole "We're Notre Dame so we shouldn't have to participate in a conference to get an automatic BCS bid" is truly annoying.

 

[armchair]

ND had a good team this year, but the irish were not even close to a great team. Good defense but weak offense--and they were lucky to win some very close games this year (I think four of them), which is usually how a team gets to the title game. They weren't going to beat bama. It's sickening to think of bama with three titles in four years. Could we have gotten Saban had the timing been right? The man is an AMAZING coach.

 

[volboy81]

burn - his -trailer - down

Ain't no dad burn trailers in Brentwood...not even doublewides! Never heard the whole story of why they left Ohio, but understand OSU fans gave him all kinds of grief because he didn't play homer to them all the time! How's that for classlessness!!

 

[sjt18]

Like i said previously, a tank flattens a mercedes and a yugo just the same

Stats were pretty similar also. You have taken up the argument that UT's D is too slow... UT's D was faster and tackled better than what we saw from ND and their AA LB last night.

 

[I_Bleed_Orange77]

Put down the crack pipe. They beat two BCS bowl winners/ conference champs in Stanford and OU. Went undefeated. Louisville pounded UF, does that mean they would do as well in the SEC? No.
Bama played lights out inspired. Who else would have fared any better last night?

I'll take a stab at it......Texas A&M.

 

[volswillrise12]

I am thinking not. Notre Dame was exposed as a fraud---over hyped and Manti Te'o possibly the most overhyped player--ever. The Tennessee team we saw early in the season----GA, SC, even UF games---could have played with the Domers---IMO. Obviously UT got regressively worse later on, but on their best day, I say they compete with the Exposed #1 team. Last night was fraud night. Manti couldn't tackle---anyone. The Vols' O Line ranks among the best --lest we forget.

Yeah, with our secondary much less our entire defense we'd probably still get killed. Alabama is light years away from just about every team in the conference and that's easy to see.

 

[hohenfelsvol]

Oh, I agree that Notre Dame was probably overrated. In the SEC, they'd be something comparable to South Carolina - a nice team that needs to play perfectly to beat elite opponents. Probably a fringe top 10 team.

I just think it's comical to go 5-7 and actually believe you're as good as a 12-0 team that played a decent schedule. It takes a special kind of homer.

I posted earlier I agree 100% but it won't stop me from rubbing it in to any Domer fans I run across.

 

[GAVol]

Stats were pretty similar also. You have taken up the argument that UT's D is too slow... UT's D was faster and tackled better than what we saw from ND and their AA LB last night.

No way.

 

[GAVol]

I posted earlier I agree 100% but it won't stop me from rubbing it in to any Domer fans I run across.

Absolutely . . . I spent last night intermittently sending texts to my Notre Dame friend updating him on what the Pope was doing after each TD. It went from throwing beer cans at the TV in the 1st quarter to smoking crack in the 4th qtr.

 

[omghulkhands]

Like i said previously, a tank flattens a mercedes and a yugo just the same

Are we the yugo in that scenario?





Well crud....

 

[VOLnMiami]

Stats were pretty similar also. You have taken up the argument that UT's D is too slow... UT's D was faster and tackled better than what we saw from ND and their AA LB last night.

Oh come on....Put down the pipe and take off the orange colored glasses....Damn

 

[99gator]

Probably. They still looked like a team that UT could have beaten last night

I will grant the "any given day" scenario.

In 2009, Tennessee almost beat bama. It didnt make them better than bama.

The body of work of the 2012 season says notre dame had a quality football team and Tennessee was far from it