ND Fan here with thoughts

rgw

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Sep 15, 2003
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You can't fault Alabama on their schedule. They get assigned 8 conference opponents, 6 they get every year regardless. The motivation for conference-aligned teams is to win the conference title, so again, I can't fault Alabama for scheduling 1 live-body in the OOC portion to prevent wear and tear detrimental to the #1 goal (win the SEC).

Notre Dame still schedules the same 3-4 gimme games but they are a tad more aggressive partly because they only have a national title resume to build and no conference championship to win. Independence seemed stupid when they were scheduling these types of games and going 5-7 or 6-6 or 7-5. Independence seems brilliant win they can go 11-1 or 12-0. They have much more latitude in their scheduling because they can cherry pick cross-sectional matchups to validate their team in the eyes of voters across the nation. A Stanford and USC win brings some West Coast respect; their Big Ten run brings some Midwest respect; their ACC games got them so face time on the East Coast; and their Oklahoma game got some respect out of the Sun Belt.
 

FriendlyIrish

3rd Team
Nov 22, 2012
217
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I don't want to sound like a ND basher, but here's my take:

Teo is a good player. Very good. He is not worthy of a Heisman. His stats aren't particularly impressive other than INTs. He should not win the Heisman. His story is exceptional, but his play on the field has not been the kind of transcendent play you'd expect for a defensive guy to win the Heisman. I think Jarvin Jones is a better linebacker and the NFL draft will bear that out.
I'm not here to debate the heisman, but I think this is interesting:
Charles Woodson
- 42 tackles (4 for losses)
- 1 sack
- 8 INT's
- 11 REC/283 Yds/2 TD's
- 3 Rush/15 YDS/ 1 TD
- 11-0 Team Record

Manti Teo
- 103 Tackles (5.5 for losses)
- 1.5 Sacks
- 7 INT's
- 2 Fumble Recoveries, 2 Forced Fumbles
- 12-0 Team Record

Tie in his amazing story for this season, and he deserves to be #2 in straw polls right now.
 

rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
20,852
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232
Tuscaloosa
Manti Teo is a Brian Urlacher in the the college ranks. He deserves an invite and serious consideration but I think Manziel has been the most outstanding player in college football for this season. He broke an SEC record held previous by Tim Tebow then Cam Newton...two Heisman winners. His performance against Alabama was peerless.
 

TideEngineer08

TideFans Legend
Jun 9, 2009
36,284
30,893
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I'm not here to debate the heisman, but I think this is interesting:
Charles Woodson
- 42 tackles (4 for losses)
- 1 sack
- 8 INT's
- 11 REC/283 Yds/2 TD's
- 3 Rush/15 YDS/ 1 TD
- 11-0 Team Record

Manti Teo
- 103 Tackles (5.5 for losses)
- 1.5 Sacks
- 7 INT's
- 2 Fumble Recoveries, 2 Forced Fumbles
- 12-0 Team Record

Tie in his amazing story for this season, and he deserves to be #2 in straw polls right now.
He compares very favorably with Woodson, if not better. Trouble is, Woodson should not have won it that year. It pains me to say it because I couldn't stand him, but Peyton Manning deserved it that season. Woodson won it on hype alone. Take a look at Champ Bailey's stats at Georgia a couple of seasons later. He had far superior stats on offense and defense and did not sniff the Heisman.
 

PacadermaTideUs

All-American
Dec 10, 2009
4,072
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You can't fault Alabama on their schedule. They get assigned 8 conference opponents, 6 they get every year regardless. The motivation for conference-aligned teams is to win the conference title, so again, I can't fault Alabama for scheduling 1 live-body in the OOC portion to prevent wear and tear detrimental to the #1 goal (win the SEC).

Notre Dame still schedules the same 3-4 gimme games but they are a tad more aggressive partly because they only have a national title resume to build and no conference championship to win. Independence seemed stupid when they were scheduling these types of games and going 5-7 or 6-6 or 7-5. Independence seems brilliant win they can go 11-1 or 12-0. They have much more latitude in their scheduling because they can cherry pick cross-sectional matchups to validate their team in the eyes of voters across the nation. A Stanford and USC win brings some West Coast respect; their Big Ten run brings some Midwest respect; their ACC games got them so face time on the East Coast; and their Oklahoma game got some respect out of the Sun Belt.
LOL. This may not have been a joke if you were referring to the geographic region vs the conference. If you were referring to the conference, it's pretty funny, though our Sooner brethren may not agree.
 

FriendlyIrish

3rd Team
Nov 22, 2012
217
0
0
Please,,,,,

1. Triple OT to beat Pitt.
2. ND lost to Stanford,, regardless of what the refs gave them, (they have gotten quite a few strange calls this year) he crossed The goal line, we all saw it.
3. They barely escaped Michigan.... A team that was completely non-competitive with Bama.

ND is fooling themselves, and any Bama fans that see this as a competitive matchup are just nostalgic or being charitable..
He didn't get across the goal line. Well, he did, but after the whistles blew and his elbow had hit the ground, not to mention it was on his 3rd try.

I think our schedule and the close games we have played, plus the exponential improvement in the area we needed it the most (Golson) towards the end of the season has us being the best competition for you in the NCG. Think about it: Stanford showed how to beat Oregon. Everyone believed they were unstoppable, but they aren't. K State is, well, K state. And if you played UF or any other SEC team in the NCG, it would be like another week in the SEC. You have schemed for those teams all year, you know their players, you know how to beat them. You don't know how to beat us. No one does. No one has showed how to yet.

CNS will come up with something assuming you get by this Saturday. I don't think giving him a month any more than all the other ND fans. But CBK is an offensive coach, as stated above. He has just been waiting for the right pieces to fall in place, and Golson is it. He doens't have the best numbers because he was playing like a true freshmen up until the OU game. And even after that, he got pulled against Pitt.

As stated by another poster, I think the month off will hurt us. Just like it hurt LSU last year. LSU was on all cylinders towards the end of the year. Then they came out flat and didn't even get across the 50.
 

FriendlyIrish

3rd Team
Nov 22, 2012
217
0
0
Again, this is all assuming you get by UGA. I don't want to be in here saying we are the best competition for YOU in the NCG and jinx it or anything. But if we are the best competition for you, we are obviously the best competition for anyone in the SEC b/c I believe 'bama is best in the conference.
 

KrAzY3

Hall of Fame
Jan 18, 2006
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Notre Dame has been very impressive this season. It's all who shows up really. The Alabama team that played LSU or Texas A&M could easily lose to Notre Dame or Georgia. The Notre Dame team that showed up against Pitt is likely blown out by Alabama.

I don't think Notre Dame can do as many things as Alabama, but if the game is low scoring enough that won't matter. It could come down to turnovers, special teams, or even penalties. Alabama has shown their offense can be stifled, as the A&M and LSU game attest to. If Alabama can be held around 20 points, Notre Dame just needs a couple of breaks...
 

trenda

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Comparing results against common opponents is not a good way to project victory or defeat; but it does provide fodder for analyzing the numbers.

The defensive numbers are fairly similar, until you think about the fact that ND played their best players for the entire game due to the close score. Bama, once up 34-7 early in the third, basically played 2nd, 3rd and 4th teamers the rest of the second half (which is where UM got 64% of their total yds). Michigan's 3rd down conversion rate was over 50% against ND and only 25% against Bama.

Offensively, the score speaks for itself. Bama averaged 9.5 yards per pass and 5.5 yards per rush (again, with subs playing the majority of the 2nd half), while ND averaged 7.6 yds per pass and 3.0 yards per rush with their starters playing to the wire. The Bama/UM game was over early in the second quarter, while ND and UM battled to the end.

Lastly, Bama did this on the road (neutral site), while ND struggled with UM in South Bend. Again, this by no means can be used to project victory or defeat for either team; but it does show how each fared against a common opponent. In this case, Bama fared much, much better.
 

RollTide1224

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Feb 18, 2008
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Pitt sure seemed to show a good way to beat you: Don't get one of the worst pass interference calls ever and don't miss a chip shot field goal for the win.

Stanford showed how to beat you they just came up (or maybe didn't though I think the call was legit) an inch short.

I think Notre Dame is a solid team but I don't think they have played a team that is collectively as good as Alabama. You have played teams with strong offenses though they were hamstrung with injuries. You have played teams with good defenses but poor offenses. Alabama brings incredible talent and ability to both sides of the ball.
 

crimsonbleeder

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Dec 1, 2002
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Notre Dame has been very impressive this season. It's all who shows up really. The Alabama team that played LSU or Texas A&M could easily lose to Notre Dame or Georgia. The Notre Dame team that showed up against Pitt is likely blown out by Alabama.

I don't think Notre Dame can do as many things as Alabama, but if the game is low scoring enough that won't matter. It could come down to turnovers, special teams, or even penalties. Alabama has shown their offense can be stifled, as the A&M and LSU game attest to. If Alabama can be held around 20 points, Notre Dame just needs a couple of breaks...

I'll agree with you yet add this caveat: Alabama's offense can be stifled WHEN THE QB and STARTING TB are INJURED. AJ's injury to his back during the MSU game was much worse than anyone knew. It affected him GREATLY for LSU, but EVEN MORE for the TAMU game due to him exerting himself so much (in celebration and play) during the LSU game.

They're both healthy now---our offense is unstoppable by any defense I've seen when AJ is healthy.
 

rgw

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Sep 15, 2003
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No offense to our ND friends on here, but I'm more worried about Georgia than Notre Dame. Mainly because they're the only one of those two on the schedule right now.
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
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So a ND guy calls up on Finebaum yesterday and claims that when (if) Bama faces ND that we are going to face a team that has more size than us. Said something like "it'll be something we've never seen." Specifically he mentioned the defensive line. Now as I understand it, ND has a great defensive line and the size of those guys are from the 290's up into the low 300's.

Problem is this caller evidently doesn't know how to use Google because this is probably an "average" to "small" line that you face in big SEC games like LSU and Georgia. Georgia's nose tackle is 330lbs. LSU's defensive tackles are all around 300. Shoot, the guys we practice against everyday, Jesse Williams and Brandon Ivory are 320 and 315. And everyone of our offensive linesmen, except one (Steen I think who is around 295), is over 300.

Some of the things being said about ND are just outlandish..."best defense ever" ???
 
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rgw

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Sep 15, 2003
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As Mark Twain said, "The trouble with the world isn't that people know so little, it is that they know so many things that just aren't so."
 

DocCrimson

All-SEC
Jan 3, 2010
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I think ND has played admirably thus far. My .02 is that they have been as lucky as good thus far. I think they deserve their ranking, as they have yet to lose despite some poor performances. We have more talent, but in our poor performances, we fell short and lost one. There certainly are places to nitpick with ND when predicting the outcome of a potential ND-UA BCSNG, which is why I believe we would "more likely than not" win in the BCSNG. Perhaps the most significant has to do with ND's defense. While they have been stingy giving up scores, they've given up a fair amount of yards, and then lock down inside the 20. That works great against plodding teams, but as much as some people struggle to admit it, we've become an explosive offense. Also, some of their best defensive stands have had a lot to do with the other team. People have mentioned Stanford and Pitt, but the one that stood out most to me was USC. USC's playcalling within the 5-yard line was ATROCIOUS. I think 40-60% of BCS teams could have stopped them from scoring with the plays they ran. I think the Irish defense is overrated, but to be fair, I think our defense this year has been somewhat overrated. More importantly, I think our offense can move the ball, and score, against ND. We just shouldn't run the same goal-line play 3 times in a row and be stunned when we can't get in the endzone.
 

Im_on_dsp

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Oct 10, 2007
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You don't know how to beat us. No one does. No one has showed how to yet.
Knowing how to do something and then actually doing it are two entirely different things. I know how to birdie every single hole in a round of golf but I've never pulled it off and neither has anyone else. In football it all comes down to talent and execution. There is nothing tricky about either your offense or defense. If we get to the BCSCG I'm not at all worried about your schemes. I'm only worried about our players being more talented than yours and being able to execute.
 

rgw

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Sep 15, 2003
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As for Notre Dame's size, judging the depth chart on rivals.com, they appear to be your pretty standard 2-gap 3-4 defense. The NT is in the 320s like Jesse Williams but smaller than Josh Jenkins (UGA's NT), their LBs are in the high 240s and mid 250s (a little bigger than UGA's LBs but about the same as our own), and their safeties are both about 210 (like our own safeties but a little smaller than UGAs).

On the balance, their defense looks the part of an elite unit walking off the bus. It is nothing unlike what you'd see when lining up against the 2-gap 3-4 defenses of UGA or Alabama in the SEC. Even Florida or LSU's 1-gap 4-3 scheme (though I think Florida mixes some 2-gap concepts) are pretty hefty though schematic differences force a little bit different type of player at DT and LB. They sacrifice a little size - and I do mean just a little - for a good deal more sideline to sideline and downhill speed.
 

TrampLineman

Hall of Fame
Jul 21, 2010
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So a ND guy calls up on Finebaum yesterday and claims that when (if) Bama faces ND that we are going to face a team that has more size than us. Said something like "it'll be something we've never seen." Specifically he mentioned the defensive line. Now as I understand it, ND has a great defensive line and the size of those guys are from the 290's up into the low 300's.

Problem is this caller evidently doesn't know how to use Google because this is probably an "average" to "small" line that you face in big SEC games like LSU and Georgia. Georgia's nose tackle is 330lbs. LSU's defensive tackles are all around 300. Shoot, the guys we practice against everyday, Jesse Williams and Brandon Ivory are 320 and 315. And everyone of our offensive linesmen, except one (Steen I think who is around 295), is over 300.

Some of the things being said about ND are just outlandish..."best defense ever" ???
Even Steen is listed at 303. We are 311-320-302-303-335 across the front. Our D-Line goes 282-320-286 so I'd say our lines stack up very well against ND. They are crazy if they think we can't handle their size and they'll overpower us.
 

crimsonaudio

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Sep 9, 2002
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It's ridiculous for ND fans to think they have equal athletes to Bama. Just look at our recruiting rankings for the last five years. Sure, they have big guys, and they have fast guys, but across the board, we have superior athletes.

Doesn't mean we win, assuming we get there, but c'mon.
 

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