Has anyone had a chance to watch any Notre Dame games?

GulfCoastTider

Hall of Fame
I've spent most of the last couple of days watching replays of their games against Michigan, Michigan State, Stanford and USC. I haven't gotten around to Pitt or BYU.

Their defense is the real deal. Possibly, they might be as good as ours is. At least on the one-deep.

Their offense struggles to maintain drives against fair to good defenses. The best defense they've played was Stanford, which held them to 13 points in regulation at South Bend. The second best was USC or Michigan State, both of which successfully stopped drives and forced kicks.

Golson tends to lose discipline under pressure. I think he could be made into a turnover machine with a blindside sack or two.

Theo Riddick is a good RB who could play for us. He's versatile and tough to tackle.

Eieffert is the real deal at TE and will be a challenge to cover without help.

The rest off their receiving corps are good and would probably play in the SEC. I'm not sure any would start for Bama.

We clearly have the better QB (a season's worth of stats tells the story), the better RB's and the better WR's.

They have a slight edge at TE and I think it's very close on who has the better OL. Very close.

They are going to have a very difficult time scoring points.
 

rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
20,852
1,351
232
Tuscaloosa
I'd agree with that assessment other than TE. That is one place where they have a convincing edge on us in regards to offense-to-offense comparisons. Efierts matchup on all our coverage combinations scare me the most about ND's offense. Riddick's ability to catch is my second biggest concern...he's probably the best pass catching threat tailback we've seen since those Tebow-led Florida teams.
 

rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
20,852
1,351
232
Tuscaloosa
Maybe it's just because of my video game playing days, but offenses that can effectively use their backs and TEs in the passing game are always difficult to handle. They're the natural mismatch positions on the field and the things you have to do to effectively contain them usually opens up easier things for the WRs. If backs are killing you when slipping out into the flats, a coordinator will respond with more flat zone coverages that can open up the sideline for a WR between the CB and safety.

I know that we will defend the run well and force them to do more things in the passing game. I have a feeling Riddick slipping out on first down is going to be one of their go-to's. We'll usually be in some kind of cover-1 man on first down, so it will put a linebacker in man coverage on Riddick.
 
I've spent most of the last couple of days watching replays of their games against Michigan, Michigan State, Stanford and USC. I haven't gotten around to Pitt or BYU.

Their defense is the real deal. Possibly, they might be as good as ours is. At least on the one-deep.

Their offense struggles to maintain drives against fair to good defenses. The best defense they've played was Stanford, which held them to 13 points in regulation at South Bend. The second best was USC or Michigan State, both of which successfully stopped drives and forced kicks.

Golson tends to lose discipline under pressure. I think he could be made into a turnover machine with a blindside sack or two.

Theo Riddick is a good RB who could play for us. He's versatile and tough to tackle.

Eieffert is the real deal at TE and will be a challenge to cover without help.

The rest off their receiving corps are good and would probably play in the SEC. I'm not sure any would start for Bama.

We clearly have the better QB (a season's worth of stats tells the story), the better RB's and the better WR's.

They have a slight edge at TE and I think it's very close on who has the better OL. Very close.

They are going to have a very difficult time scoring points.
What did they do to make you think that are the real deal?
 

rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
20,852
1,351
232
Tuscaloosa
Notre Dame isn't a complex team to read on how they won. They were a brick wall in the redzone on defense and they controlled possession with the run game while wearing teams down over 60 minutes.
 

BFANLC

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
3,077
0
0
53
In a dream world
Maybe it's just because of my video game playing days, but offenses that can effectively use their backs and TEs in the passing game are always difficult to handle. They're the natural mismatch positions on the field and the things you have to do to effectively contain them usually opens up easier things for the WRs. If backs are killing you when slipping out into the flats, a coordinator will respond with more flat zone coverages that can open up the sideline for a WR between the CB and safety.

I know that we will defend the run well and force them to do more things in the passing game. I have a feeling Riddick slipping out on first down is going to be one of their go-to's. We'll usually be in some kind of cover-1 man on first down, so it will put a linebacker in man coverage on Riddick.
If you are going to put a linebacker on him you'd better use Mosley with some safety help. Linebackers won't be able to keep up with him. Usc had a corner on him and he gave the corner fits.
 

rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
20,852
1,351
232
Tuscaloosa
Yep. The things Notre Dame does well as an offense is being a high quality rushing offense but it is complimented well by having two mismatch types in the receiving game. Efiert and Riddick are their 1st and 3rd leading receivers in terms of receptions. Riddick is only 11 yards off from being one of their top 3 by yardage. Being a good rushing offense, they create coverage situations advantageous to exploiting these guys too.

This is what concerns me the most about Notre Dame. If we don't have a good day offensively - which isn't a given considering their defense - they can pull off a couple of plays where they just have you mismatched on Riddick or Efiert in the passing game or Golson makes an "athlete play" at QB. That is why I'm giving them so much respect...this just feels like one of those teams that may flounder around for long stretches then pull a rabbit out of their hat for a big play. We need a good day offensively to minimize the meaningfulness of those "rabbits out of the hat" plays. I don't think Notre Dame is going to move the ball effectively with 60-minutes of consistency, but if we aren't putting them away then those few mismatches loom large.
 

Nolan

Hall of Fame
Jul 4, 2006
5,591
679
137
Oahu
Generating a consistent, harassing pass rush would be the great equalizer.

Hopefully we can find a way, perhaps exploit something we see on tape.
 

rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
20,852
1,351
232
Tuscaloosa
We also are forgetting their DE Tuitt who is well up there in the national rankings in sacks. I think he's had nearly as many sacks as Clowney. Tuitt is a former 5-star prospect out of Georgia and he's a very legitimate talent. He didn't have huge games against Michigan, Stanford, Oklahoma, and USC though...only 1.5 sacks total in those games. Still, he is no worse than the 3rd best pass rusher we've seen this season behind Jarvis Jones and Damontre Moore. He's a little different than those guys in that he will always have his hands down on the ground and he's a bigger body type. He uses his hands very well and does a nice job of making moves slipping inside tackles.
 

CRMSNtide

1st Team
Jul 4, 2011
345
73
52
and I think it's very close on who has the better OL. Very close
You really believe this?
I mean we have 4 starters on the o-line that could be future first round picks in the NFL.
I have a hard time believing ND has that kind of talent at that position, if they did they would have put games away this year instead of almost losing to unranked teams.
 

crmsntd91

1st Team
Sep 30, 2010
471
0
0
I agree, not about the meth, but about the comparison of the line.

Teams with dominant O-lines like ours, don't struggle punching the ball in when you get to the red zone. Simply look at our drastic improvements in the red zone this year with our O-line.

I do think they have a good OL, but the only good front 7 they have really faced was Stanford, and they got beat up pretty bad.

What have you been smoking? Meth? They do not I no way have an O line that is close to what Bama has. I'm not sure how you've come to that conclusion.
 

BigBama76

Suspended
Oct 26, 2011
1,002
0
0
Atlanta, GA
I've only watched a few minutes of ND vs Michigan and USC but I was least impressed with their secondary and QB. I just don't think their secondary has the speed or coverage skills to deal with our WR's and AJ's passing ability.

Now, their OL, DL and LB's seem first rate so they could hang with us.

We've played some bad games against good competition and won 2 out of 3. If we play to those levels we could still beat ND but my heart might not make it. If we play close to our capabilities we should win by a wide margin.
 

Latest threads

TideFans.shop : 2024 Madness!

TideFans.shop - Get YOUR Bama Gear HERE!”></a>
<br />

<!--/ END TideFans.shop & item link \-->
<p style= Purchases made through our TideFans.shop and Amazon.com links may result in a commission being paid to TideFans.