ND Fan here with thoughts

TideFan in AU

Hall of Fame
Welcome to the board, Dr Dome. Congrats on a great season - and don't tell anybody I said this - but its nice to see ND back amongst the elite in CFB! ;) I also hope to be able to play you guys for the NC. This will be a very historic matchup of two the greatest programs of all time. I think ND will be a tough game, but I feel condfident of a win based off of the games I've seen your team play this year. Your team reminds me of our 2008 team - very good, but not quite there yet.

As far as the defensive comparison, I do think ND has a very good defense. I think your defense would make a lot of plays and keep it a close game. I see your defense giving us trouble, but I think we will be by far the best overall team you've faced. Your defense hasn't faced an O line anywhere near what our's is this year, and none the RB's have been as good as our's. I think we have the best offense and defense you'll face this year if we beat UGA. OU is the only team on your schedule that an argument could be made for that is statistically better than us, but they are nowhere near as physical. That's not meant to be arrogant or conceited - that's just what numbers say, and its what I truly believe.

Now, as far as being compared to say our defense last year, its not even in that category statistically. Your defense is giving up over 50 yards per game more than our defense this year, and but our defense last year held opponents to over 100 yards less per game than your defense does this year. Our defense this year is currently ranked #1 in total defense, and it a little below average compared to our 2011 and 2009 defense. Our 2011 defense is one of the best in CFB history, and our defense this nor your defense this year is anywhere near that level. That team gave up 183 yards per game, 7 points a game, and had 3 first rounders, 1 second rounder that came out last year, and 2 or 3 more possible 1st rounders that will come out this year. That defense was just plain nasty, and if we had them this year, we wouldn't have even had a close game this year.

With all that being said, I respect ND as a worthy opponent and there's a reason they play the game. I also respect CBK as a great coach, and I know he'll have your team ready to play. I believe if we get the chance to play you guys in the BCSNCG, it will be an epic battle of two very good teams. If we get there, may the best team win. Feel free to stick - we welcome rivals that like a good discussion on our favorite subject!
 

Bear Disciple

1st Team
Oct 27, 2009
868
0
0
Tuscaloosa, AL
I don't feel the need for me to bring my opinions in on the potential National Championship Game matchup between Alabama and Notre Dame, but I will say that after reading Forde's article regarding the most impressive wins by comparison, I am unsure as to why he gets paid to write and it is not the other way around. Personal bias aside, each one of his picks, especially from 4 through 12 is extremely subjective and at times baffling. The least he could do is explain his reasonings, but I fear for his sake that may have been rather difficult considering the decisions he made at times. No wonder I stopped reading his stuff long ago...
 

edwd58

All-American
Aug 2, 2006
4,710
1,390
187
You ND fans keep reading, and believing, all the articles you can find proclaiming how great you are and why the rest of college football should fear playing you guys. For me, it's as simple as this: until you go out and beat an SEC team, I'm going to remain skeptical.
 

Stonewall1959

2nd Team
Oct 5, 2005
315
3
0
64
Macon, Georgia

http://www.sagarin.com/sports/cfsend.htm

Bama #39 - ND #30

Guess it just depends on where you look.

However, according to Sagarin, PRIOR to the season Bama's SOS was #15 and ND's was #25. Really not Bama's fault that some of the teams that were predicted (Michigan and Auburn, for example) to have good seasons didn't pan out. Can't forget, either, that Bama was slated to play Georgia in the regular season before the addition of A&M and Mizzou made the conference reshuffle the schedule.

Right now I just want to beat the bulldogs into a greasy puddle and then worry about the golden domers.
 

OreBama

All-American
Sep 26, 2005
3,349
5
57
Portland, OR
I don't feel the need for me to bring my opinions in on the potential National Championship Game matchup between Alabama and Notre Dame, but I will say that after reading Forde's article regarding the most impressive wins by comparison, I am unsure as to why he gets paid to write and it is not the other way around. Personal bias aside, each one of his picks, especially from 4 through 12 is extremely subjective and at times baffling. The least he could do is explain his reasonings, but I fear for his sake that may have been rather difficult considering the decisions he made at times. No wonder I stopped reading his stuff long ago...
You got that right, BD. Forde is a Saban-hater and Alabama-hater even before the two were united. I don't expect universal acclaim, but I do expect fairness or at the least good-natured jibes. Therefore, I haven't read his articles in some time and won't read the one in the OP.
 

OldNo7

BamaNation Citizen
Dec 7, 2010
69
0
0
Birmingham, AL
Welcome to the board! We're happy to have you...so long as you come in peace ;-)

I would love to play for another crystal ball this year, period. But I would also love to play y'all for it. Bama hasn't played Notre Dame in my lifetime and it would be great to finally see it, especially with such high stakes.

You are going to get a shiny new Heisman for Christmas. I'm pretty sure of that. But I feel that your schedule this year has put your team in a position that they're not quite ready to be in. You're good, which is how you've won all your games. But you're not great yet, which is how you almost lost so many of your games. I just don't see you guys being able to produce enough on offense to make up for how much you won't be able to stop us from producing on offense. I might be wrong. We shall see.

Regardless of the outcome, if we meet in Miami, it'll be pretty electric.
 

Stonewall1959

2nd Team
Oct 5, 2005
315
3
0
64
Macon, Georgia
Been waiting for Notre Dame/BAMA for a long time. That's all I'll say until we handle business.

But no defense in the history of defenses compares to 2011. None!!

Just for fun, I'm going to throw out this...


1961

at Georgia
W
Sep 23, 1961


vs Tulane
W
Sep 30, 1961


at Vanderbilt
W
Oct 7, 1961


vs North Carolina State
W
Oct 14, 1961


vs Tennessee
W
Oct 21, 1961


at Houston
W
Oct 28, 1961


vs Mississippi State
W
Nov 4, 1961


vs Richmond
W
Nov 11, 1961


vs Georgia Tech
W
Nov 18, 1961


at Auburn
W
Dec 2, 1961


1961-62 Sugar Bowl vs Arkansas

Six shutouts is hard to compete with. : )

Roll Tide.
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
20,932
15,931
282
Boone, NC
How would the Irish do playing our schedule this year? My guess 10-2 at best. If they played the Gators schedule I think they'd be 8-4.

Does anyone think we wouldn't be 12-0 with their schedule along with Georgia, LSU, Florida, and TAMU?
 

FriendlyIrish

3rd Team
Nov 22, 2012
217
0
0
Man, us Domers are taking over...:biggrin:

Idk about comparing to last years Bama defense, and I'm not willing to go there. But I will say that comparing how many yards our D gives up is pretty deceiving. For most of the year, we have relied on our red zone D to win games. We suffered 3 injures to starters in secondary, and we are young back there. Thus, we were bend don't break, especially against Oklahoma/Michigan, and were willing to give up the chunk yards and stuff in our territory. It worked, seeing has how we are #2 in scoring defense (we were tied with you, until the Auburn blowout).

On offensive yards, I think its pretty deceiving as well. One would think that we would have high offensive y/p/g b/c our D gives up big yards in the middle, but we don't. Actually we are ranked 43, while you are 39, and its pretty much tied if you look at rush + pass yards. However, we have controlled possession against every team we have played. ND is ranked 12 in time of possession this year, Bama is 26. I know that we have a certain amount of scores with over 5 minute drives and its number one or two in FBS. I can't find the exact stat, but I'm almost positive it exists.

Takeaway is that our style of play has been to give up yards in the middle, lock down D in our territory, and have long drives that eat clock and control the game. Against a bama D, it might not be as possible. We did it against Stanford (19 in total D), MSU (4 in total D), BYU (2nd in total D), and nearly every other team we played.

Again, glad to be on the board. Hopefully 'bama takes care of business this weekend and we can have an epic battle in 43 days.
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
20,932
15,931
282
Boone, NC
Should have added "welcome" to Domer. You and Irish will enjoy the friendly banter.

And I agree that it is good to have the Irish in the NC talk again. We need some one to hate on other than other SEC teams. :wink:
 

bradley30

1st Team
Sep 9, 2009
573
0
35
Oxford, AL
Frankly, I've been watching ND for 38 years and I've never personally witnessed a defense like this before (this includes the stellar '80 and 88' defenses). I also think it ranks right up there with Saban's best Alabama defenses. I think this is one of the best defenses in all of college football over the the past five seasons. The stats bear that out.

Thoughts?
You must have not watched Alabama play laster year. Notre Dame's defense is not the best this year, much less the previous 5 years...... I would venture to say that BAMA's 2011 defense was possibly the best of ALL-TIME. The stats below don't lie:

BAMA 2011 Defensive Stats (1st column nat'l rank, 2nd SEC rank):

2012 Defensive Statistics:
 
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rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
20,852
1,351
232
Tuscaloosa
I think Notre Dame has as fine of a defensive unit as you can hope for in a college team. I don't know if they're better than last year's Alabama or LSU units. In my opinion, Florida has the top to bottom best defensive unit in the nation this season but any team with a top 5-10 defense is good enough to go to battle.

Notre Dame is in the national title because their offense made huge leaps throughout the season. Their run game came along last year but the QB play was atrocious. Rees did well when injuries to Golson forced him into action but the real difference is that Golson has finally put it together good enough to manage the offense. They're not an ineffective offensive unit anymore...I don't know if they're as good as Alabama or Georgia on offense but if their defense holds UGA/UA in check, they've proven they will make plays in the fourth quarter.

I feel like they're kinda like our 2008 team...they're walking a tightrope that could get exploited when they finally play a team with a coherent offensive and defensive gameplan. They caught Stanford with Nunes still at QB, we know that Denard isn't all that great for Michigan, and the only team with offensive firepower across the board got their QB hurt the week before playing Notre Dame. I don't know if ND would beat each Hogan-led Stanford, Gardner-led Michigan, and Barkley-led USC given their offensive output in each of those games.

I know Alabama missed out on some offenses' best shot at QB too this year, but Alabama didn't let any of those game be close either. My point is that their defense can keep games in winning distance for their offense...the offense has gotten better but it would probably take something like the BCSCG performance last year by Bama's D when you have a top SEC defense playing against their offense.
 
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FriendlyIrish

3rd Team
Nov 22, 2012
217
0
0
Notre Dame is in the national title because their offense made huge leaps throughout the season. Their run game came along last year but the QB play was atrocious. Rees did well when injuries to Golson forced him into action but the real difference is that Golson has finally put it together good enough to manage the offense. They're not an ineffective offensive unit anymore...I don't know if they're as good as Alabama or Georgia on offense but if their defense holds UGA/UA in check, they've proven they will make plays in the fourth quarter.

I feel like they're kinda like our 2008 team...they're walking a tightrope that could get exploited when they finally play a team with a coherent offensive and defensive gameplan. They caught Stanford with Nunes still at QB, we know that Denard isn't all that great for Michigan, and the only team with offensive firepower across the board got their QB hurt the week before playing Notre Dame. I don't know if ND would beat each Hogan-led Stanford, Gardner-led Michigan, and Barkley-led USC given their offensive output in each of those games.
I will say we caught a break against U$C with Wittek. Couldn't believe that the pieces fell into place like that for us. With Barkeley, it's a different game.

I can promise you, and would bet my entire college debt on this, that we would NOT lose to scUM with Gardner at the helm. We went through 3 years of absolute hell against them. If you have seen the stadium pictures from that game with the lei's, you would know it was a very magical night that we would not have let slip away. This is coming from a recent Michigan grad... don't get me started on that story :)

The counter-argument to our lucky breaks with QB's is that we played Rees the second half of the UM game, and Golson was still getting pulled every other play against Stanford. But it's cool that you are aware our offense is starting to click on all cylinders, as many who don't watch every game wouldn't notice the progression of Golson throughout the year.

The wild card play that 'Bama has (among others, I'm sure) is that they have played in this game with the time off. I don't know how ND will handle that. My Tigers didn't handle it too well and I'm still hung over from that nonsense. Assuming you get through UGA, it will be interesting to see how that plays out for us.
 
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CRMSNtide

1st Team
Jul 4, 2011
345
73
52
To the OP, congrats on a great season, y'all won every game and have a good defense, i really hope to see a ND Vs Bama match-up, i was pulling for ND to beat USC.

One thing ill kinda knock y'all for is the Irish had more than a few close call this year, sometimes against unranked teams too.

Bama absolutely stomped a mud hole in everybody except LSU on the road and A&M, both top ten teams.

But, you found a way to win and thats what really matters.

This would be a great game with plenty of hype, more than usual with such storied programs involved.
TV ratings through the roof, just hope to get past UGA and make it happen.
 
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glasscutter256

All-American
Jan 31, 2009
2,173
29
67
Huntsville
First of all, I don't think it would be a blowout. Lets not let some idiot media person (whose job is to cause an uproar) speak for all Alabama fans. I think your claim that ND has one of the best overall defenses in all of college football over the past 5 years is absurd!! It is only the 6th best defense this year, so how you can claim it is one of the best all time over the past 5 years is delusional.
Secondly, ND has not played an easy schedule. They deserve credit for going undefeated. Kelly is a good coach. However, every decent offense (some bad offenses) has moved the ball on your acclaimed great defense. When teams miss easy field goals, drop easy passes, and throw interceptions directly to you, you can't claim that is good defense.
I think we all know Pat Forde is a ND homer of some sorts much like Lou Holtz.
Everett Golson has improved tremendously from the beginning of the season, but he has not seen a defense like an SEC defense yet. We are faster than Mich St. and more disciplined than Stanford. When we hit, he knows it! He isn't as quick and elusive as a Manziel and won't stand strong in the pocket like Mettenberger.
Lets just wait and see.
 

LCN

FB | REC Moderator
Sep 29, 2005
14,242
68
67
54
Been waiting for Notre Dame/BAMA for a long time. That's all I'll say until we handle business.

But no defense in the history of defenses compares to 2011. None!!
JMO , but I find such statements bordering on absurd .....

And this is why ....
How quickly most forget the 1992 team that wasn't exactly an offensive juggernaut.
The stats are close , but the 1992 defense played with a D+/C- offense and about as penalty prone special teams units as there has ever been in school history whereas the 2011 defense was paired up with an A- offense . The '92 unit played one poor quarter against Miss St (the only regular season team to crack the 300 yard mark with 301) while the 2011 defense was embarrassed by DII foe Ga Southern . In addition , the 2011 defense folded when it mattered most (LSU loss) . The 1992 defense had to win nearly every game that was played , other than the lone game in which the offense set the tone against S. Car . I think some fans have forgotten a huge portion of the total picture , but , as I said it's JMO .
 

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