Sports media and expert analyst...Quite often their logic is flawed.

James Eagle

1st Team
Aug 9, 2011
369
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North Georgia
Remember Georgia vs Hawaii in the 2008 Sugar Bowl? Leading up to the game most of the media outside the SEC were really singing the praises of Hawaii’s high powered passing attack. According to the experts, Georgia and the rest of the SEC had not faced such an awesome offense and doubted that an SEC defense was equipped to handle it. The media build up did manage to sell out the Superdome and TV ratings were high so mission accomplished. Unfortunately, for Hawaii fans who may have been drinking the kool-aid, once the game started it was painfully obvious just how outmatched the Warriors were. Prior to the start of the game, the announcers, Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis seemed excited about Hawaii and a team from the WAC taking on the Bulldogs and the SEC, however, early in the 4th quarter they began criticizing Georgia for running up the score on a defenseless team! The moral to this story is….Apparently, the professional sports analyst aren’t any better equipped to predict the outcome of a game that us regular sports fans. Therefore, don’t let yourself get all excited whenever you read or hear some expert offering his opinion, good or bad, about your team. Roll Tide.
 

rgw

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Sep 15, 2003
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I get where you are coming from but this is the first team in the SEC run of dominance that actually plays a game capable of playing with the SEC: run, stop run. This isn't one of those teams that thinks they'll score a touchdown every possession and out quick you for negative plays on defense. Notre Dame wants to match up and try to out muscle you.

This is the best team the SEC has caught in a championship. Pure and simple.
 
I get where you are coming from but this is the first team in the SEC run of dominance that actually plays a game capable of playing with the SEC: run, stop run. This isn't one of those teams that thinks they'll score a touchdown every possession and out quick you for negative plays on defense. Notre Dame wants to match up and try to out muscle you.

This is the best team the SEC has caught in a championship. Pure and simple.
So was Oklahoma, Texas etc and look at what happened to them.
 

tidefan26

1st Team
Dec 5, 2005
511
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42
43
South Alabama
I hope big Jesse's 100%. I didn't like what UGA could do through the middle when he was out...
Agree 100%. Worst case though, and Jesse isn't 100%, you don't think Square, Lake, Dial could hold the point of attack consistently. I know there is a reason Jesse starts and the others don't at that position, but ND doesn't have a Gurley/Marshall either. I am ignorant on their line as compared to UGA's.
 

AgentAntiOrange

1st Team
Dec 30, 2009
888
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0
Norman, OK
To the point of the OP....I don't think media/analysts are really aiming for logic. I think that, like columnists and talk show hosts, they are about whatever garners viewers and spurns conversation. Quite frankly, you've illustrated this perfectly in your post. On one hand, you call out Brennaman and Davis as an example of failed logic. On the other hand, I had no clue who these 2 people were until you so graciously gave them some free publicity. It's just like PF.....everyone says they hate him but that's the genius of it....everyone hates him. ;)
 

TideEngineer08

TideFans Legend
Jun 9, 2009
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Agree 100%. Worst case though, and Jesse isn't 100%, you don't think Square, Lake, Dial could hold the point of attack consistently. I know there is a reason Jesse starts and the others don't at that position, but ND doesn't have a Gurley/Marshall either. I am ignorant on their line as compared to UGA's.
Their offensive line is very good.
 

selmaborntidefan

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You know, I just don't know.


Florida "backed into" the game (they were only there because UCLA somehow upset USC) and couldn't beat Ohio State
OU had five straight 60-point games
Texas had the greatest run defense since forever
Auburn's defense was terrible and Oregon could exploit it (19 points on the worst team to ever win a championship)

What little I've watched - Notre Dame does the little things right - not spectacularly, but right.

At the same time, I have a hard time getting around that they played basically a Big Ten schedule and - at best - survived it.

They barely beat a mediocre Purdue team.
They barely beat a Michigan team that Alabama pulverized in a game that - in theory anyway - should have been one of our worst because of the rust.
They did have the biggest win against Michigan State points-wise, but they scored fewer points against the Spartans than Indiana (who is annually terrible), Nebraska, or Northwestern.
They barely beat the same Pitt team that lost to Youngstown State


Oklahoma? How much can you read into the game? Oklahoma got called for stupid penalties, including one that cost them a rushing TD just before the half. The Sooners had ONE POSSESSION in the third quarter. Any Irish fan want to bet on the number the Tide gets being higher?

Plus Oklahoma's defense is ranked 43rd, giving up 24.2 PPG and the Irish still only had 13 points with six minutes left to play.


So - who really knows?


Look at Alabama's games and only THREE were close: LSU, Texas A/M, and Georgia.

Incidentally, we had 2, 3, and 2 turnovers (plus the blocked FG) in those games.

The first one was a win on the road that was close because of a turnover.

The second one we were six feet from winning the worst game we played.

The third one was the best game in the SEC in years.
 

rgw

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Sep 15, 2003
20,852
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Oklahoma, Texas, and Oregon were all similar in that they sacrifice size for pure speed on defense. None of them could hold up at the point of attack against SEC run games. I think this the first team that at least has an identity in controlling the run first over just playing the "basketball on turf" game where they do the football equivalent of a fullcourt press: score a lot on offense and rush the passer on defense. Alabama, Florida, and Auburn each had some issues handling their edge speed but the way they could run the ball kept them effective on offense.

Notre Dame is really most similar to those Ohio State teams Florida and LSU played in 2006 and 2007. Ohio State was built similarly to the basic formula for success: they played good defense and established the run. Florida and LSU just absolutely outclassed Ohio State in terms of speed while still matching up size-wise. I just feel like this ND team is better at the point of attack on the OL and DL than those Ohio State teams. Ultimately, I think the same things that got Ohio State beat will beat Notre Dame but it won't be the absolute thrashing Florida and LSU put on OSU.
 

cmmiller711

All-American
Nov 24, 2006
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I get where you are coming from but this is the first team in the SEC run of dominance that actually plays a game capable of playing with the SEC: run, stop run. This isn't one of those teams that thinks they'll score a touchdown every possession and out quick you for negative plays on defense. Notre Dame wants to match up and try to out muscle you.

This is the best team the SEC has caught in a championship. Pure and simple.

This absolutely is not the first team that could run/stop the run. Ohio state had Beanie Wells and the number 3 rush defense in division 1 when they got blown out by a two loss LSU.

They also had James Laurinaitis, who was widely considered to be the best linebacker in college football, Malcom Jenkins, who was widely considered one of the best corners in college football, and Vernon Gholston, who was widely considered to be the best pass rusher in college football.
 
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rgw

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Yeah, that was I was talking about in my previous post. They're more like Ohio State and I guess the biggest concern is whether Alabama is just more quick on the perimeter than they use to seeing. The size and speed of LSU's backs and receivers really killed Ohio State. Florida absolutely murdered their offensive tackles with their big, fast DEs.

I just think that this ND team has a little better OL/DL talent than Ohio State. I do believe ultimately the combination of our ability to play physical like them with speed guys like Cooper and Yeldon looms large for them.
 

TIDE-HSV

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Yeah, that was I was talking about in my previous post. They're more like Ohio State and I guess the biggest concern is whether Alabama is just more quick on the perimeter than they use to seeing. The size and speed of LSU's backs and receivers really killed Ohio State. Florida absolutely murdered their offensive tackles with their big, fast DEs.

I just think that this ND team has a little better OL/DL talent than Ohio State. I do believe ultimately the combination of our ability to play physical like them with speed guys like Cooper and Yeldon looms large for them.
Good insight. I think that the health of Williams on D and Jones on O in the middle is going to be very important to our whole game plan...
 

cmmiller711

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Yeah, that was I was talking about in my previous post. They're more like Ohio State and I guess the biggest concern is whether Alabama is just more quick on the perimeter than they use to seeing. The size and speed of LSU's backs and receivers really killed Ohio State. Florida absolutely murdered their offensive tackles with their big, fast DEs.

I just think that this ND team has a little better OL/DL talent than Ohio State. I do believe ultimately the combination of our ability to play physical like them with speed guys like Cooper and Yeldon looms large for them.
I disagree. Vernon Gholston was better than anyone on ND's roster. A LOT of those guys went on to play NFL ball.

Not to mention 2006 had the best quarterback in college football, Antonio pittman, Chris Wells, Ted Ginn, Quinn Pitcock (first team all-american DL)... Easily just as much if not more talent on those 2 teams than ND.
 

cmmiller711

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that said, I'm not saying that this game will be just like those games, but the '12 version of UA is easily as good as the '07 LSU team and at least in the conversation of the 06 florida team. I think you'd be grasping at straws to say the '12 Golden Domers are a lot better than the 06 or 07 OSU teams. 06 OSU was objectively MUCH better in every way offensively and at least ND's equal defensively after 12 games with more NFL talent.

2007 Laurinaitis stats- 13 Games, 121 Tackles, 51 Solo, 8 TFL, 5 Sacks, 2 INT, 1 FR

2012 Manti Te'o - 12 games, 103 tacks, 52 solo, 5.5 TFL, 1.5 Sacks, 7 INT, 1 FR

other than INT's, it's a wash. Theyre both good linebackers that were made to be gods by ESPN and the rest of sports media.
 
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psupoop

1st Team
Nov 17, 2008
482
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0
Chester Springs, PA
Comparing 2012 ND to OSU from 2006/2007 is unfair to all the pros OSU produces year in and year out. Most underachieving team in the country for my money on an annual basis (aside from this year). The media is making this game out to be a great matchup that ND can win and for the longest I was convinced they could hang with their defense and plodding offense. I'm slowly warming to the notion that we are going to see a repeat of the Michigan State game IF we can get after and put some licks on the QB.
 

bamaslaw

All-SEC
Jan 16, 2005
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Atlanta, GA
You know, I just don't know.
What little I've watched - Notre Dame does the little things right - not spectacularly, but right.

At the same time, I have a hard time getting around that they played basically a Big Ten schedule and - at best - survived it.

They barely beat a mediocre Purdue team.
They barely beat a Michigan team that Alabama pulverized in a game that - in theory anyway - should have been one of our worst because of the rust.
They did have the biggest win against Michigan State points-wise, but they scored fewer points against the Spartans than Indiana (who is annually terrible), Nebraska, or Northwestern.
They barely beat the same Pitt team that lost to Youngstown State


Oklahoma? How much can you read into the game? Oklahoma got called for stupid penalties, including one that cost them a rushing TD just before the half. The Sooners had ONE POSSESSION in the third quarter. Any Irish fan want to bet on the number the Tide gets being higher?

Plus Oklahoma's defense is ranked 43rd, giving up 24.2 PPG and the Irish still only had 13 points with six minutes left to play.


So - who really knows?


Look at Alabama's games and only THREE were close: LSU, Texas A/M, and Georgia.

Incidentally, we had 2, 3, and 2 turnovers (plus the blocked FG) in those games.

The first one was a win on the road that was close because of a turnover.

The second one we were six feet from winning the worst game we played.

The third one was the best game in the SEC in years.
I understand your point, but I don't think this comparison is entirely fair. We always say that everyone gets up to play Alabama and gives us their best game. Well, everyone does the same to ND too. Similar to Texas A&M, they've gotten better as the year went on. I'm not saying you can't count those early games against Pitt, Michigan, etc - but they're a better team now than when they played them.

They played a solid schedule. There was no UGA on their schedule, but you're kidding yourself if you don't think they played good teams. Stanford is a good team, and their worst team played is better than our worst team played. And I don't see how we can nit pick that Oklahoma win. Yes, Oklahoma had a bad game, but let's give some credit to Notre Dame - they beat the tar out of them ON THE ROAD.

Someone mentioned it earlier - the key is speed on the edge. I think this is going to be a harder fought game than any we've had this year. Nobody has been able to match up physically up the middle with us. I think Notre Dame can. We will have to consistently make plays in the passing game - I don't think we'll be able to count on gashing them five yards a rush like we could UGA.

That said, i like us in a low scoring affair that everyone on the West coast cries about being boring on January 8. We won't care :) 17-6 good guys.
 

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