Tyson said it best...
"Everyone's got a plan until they get hit..."
"Josey Whales ain't a hard man to track. Leaves dead bodies everywhere he goes."
Tyson said it best...
"Everyone's got a plan until they get hit..."
Audio with his voice...........priceless.Tyson said it best...
"Everyone's got a plan until they get hit..."
Only got the quote. I wish I had it!Audio with his voice...........priceless.
I watched that Stanford game the other night.As a Notre Dame fan it's been really interesting following this thread. There's lots of over the top stuff (5 yards from 5 losses? Really? Someone is going to have to explain exactly how that one goes.) but there has also been some great commentary from posters who clearly know their stuff. Alabama running it up the gut will be strength against strength. If Alabama has success running up the middle, it's going to be very hard for Notre Dame to win. Notre Dame defense is predicated on stopping the run, and make offenses beat you by drinking and dunking it with short passes all the way down the field.
Its also amazing to see so much talk about the end of the Stanford game. What that whole thing illustrates to me is how much poor television commentating can impact public perception. They looked at whether the ball did or did not cross the line ad nauseoum, without once mentioning the crucial issue--which was that the play had been blown dead because the player's forward progress had been stopped. You can see the line judge running in, signaling the end of play, and you can se the ND players jumping up to celebrate. True, the player kept churning his legs and trying to extend the ball after that, (who can blame him). But the play had been blown dead. That was the judgment of the crew on the field, that was judgment was confirmed by the replay officials, as well as by the head of officiating who reviewed the call days afterwards (for more details see: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2012/10/16/notre-dame-stanford-head-official/1637591/ )
Quibbling about the call misses the point that is most germane to this thread--and that is that Stanford had the ball first and goal on the 4, and could not get it across. And that was just one of several successful stands where teams had the ball first and goal inside the 4 and could not score a touchdown. As a Notre Dame fan I like ND's chances when Alabama runs and ND is expecting the run. If Alabama can do that, then hats off to you--that would absolutely convince me that Alabama is playing the game at a different level than everyone else. Where I worry is whether Alabama might crack of a big run when ND has its more pass oriented personnel in the game. There definitely are a couple of players that I could see Sabin wanting to run at much more than Te'o.
Another thing that has been fascinating to me is how much folks have talked about the Pitt game, and the undeniable point that ND struggled with some weaker opponents. The thing to keep in mind on the Pitt game is that it was a classic emotional trap game (as A & M was for Alabama), and a number of players had been out that week with intestinal "flu". Most notable of the sick was Louis Nix, who came off the bench and played sick in the second half to help save the day. As important as Teo is, I think Nix is the lynchpin to Notre Dame's stout run defense. Without Nix, they are a much more ordinary defense. (There's a great story on Nix in today's Chicago Tribune--he really is a great, and very fun, young man.)
Sorry for the long winded first post. I think both sets of fans are going crazy thinking about this game, and I'm certainly displaying my propensity to that disease here.
I have two questions for you all. It's looking more and more like Barrett Jones may not play, or,if he does play, he may not be as effective as usual. If so, how much of an impact do you all see that having on Alabama's chances of imposing its will up the middle? (Call me crazy, but I hoping Jones is able to play his best--I really want to see the Jones v. Nix battle--which I think encapsulates this whole game).
My second question is, what if Alabama can't get anything going running the ball up the middle. What then? Would Saban just keep at it, hoping to eventually wear ND down? Or is there a plan B?, or C?, that you would expect him to go to?
Hi Philosopher, welcome. I'm not all that worried about Jones' health for the game. Coach says that he expects Jones to get five good practices in. He played with that same injury for three quarters, and played very well. This time off is just Coach being conservative and getting more practice time for the young man who will be our starting center next year.I have two questions for you all. It's looking more and more like Barrett Jones may not play, or,if he does play, he may not be as effective as usual. If so, how much of an impact do you all see that having on Alabama's chances of imposing its will up the middle? (Call me crazy, but I hoping Jones is able to play his best--I really want to see the Jones v. Nix battle--which I think encapsulates this whole game).
My second question is, what if Alabama can't get anything going running the ball up the middle. What then? Would Saban just keep at it, hoping to eventually wear ND down? Or is there a plan B?, or C?, that you would expect him to go to?
Zone blocking and that little inside trap. Y'all stop that and we'll brag on ya..
My second question is, what if Alabama can't get anything going running the ball up the middle. What then? Would Saban just keep at it, hoping to eventually wear ND down? Or is there a plan B?, or C?, that you would expect him to go to?
Personally, I'm going to be very very surprised if Barrett plays. If he doesn't it's going to place a ton of responsibility on his back up and will probably force a deviation from whatever our game plan might have been with Barrett snapping the ball.As a Notre Dame fan it's been really interesting following this thread. There's lots of over the top stuff (5 yards from 5 losses? Really? Someone is going to have to explain exactly how that one goes.) but there has also been some great commentary from posters who clearly know their stuff. Alabama running it up the gut will be strength against strength. If Alabama has success running up the middle, it's going to be very hard for Notre Dame to win. Notre Dame defense is predicated on stopping the run, and make offenses beat you by drinking and dunking it with short passes all the way down the field.
Its also amazing to see so much talk about the end of the Stanford game. What that whole thing illustrates to me is how much poor television commentating can impact public perception. They looked at whether the ball did or did not cross the line ad nauseoum, without once mentioning the crucial issue--which was that the play had been blown dead because the player's forward progress had been stopped. You can see the line judge running in, signaling the end of play, and you can se the ND players jumping up to celebrate. True, the player kept churning his legs and trying to extend the ball after that, (who can blame him). But the play had been blown dead. That was the judgment of the crew on the field, that was judgment was confirmed by the replay officials, as well as by the head of officiating who reviewed the call days afterwards (for more details see: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2012/10/16/notre-dame-stanford-head-official/1637591/ )
Quibbling about the call misses the point that is most germane to this thread--and that is that Stanford had the ball first and goal on the 4, and could not get it across. And that was just one of several successful stands where teams had the ball first and goal inside the 4 and could not score a touchdown. As a Notre Dame fan I like ND's chances when Alabama runs and ND is expecting the run. If Alabama can do that, then hats off to you--that would absolutely convince me that Alabama is playing the game at a different level than everyone else. Where I worry is whether Alabama might crack of a big run when ND has its more pass oriented personnel in the game. There definitely are a couple of players that I could see Sabin wanting to run at much more than Te'o.
Another thing that has been fascinating to me is how much folks have talked about the Pitt game, and the undeniable point that ND struggled with some weaker opponents. The thing to keep in mind on the Pitt game is that it was a classic emotional trap game (as A & M was for Alabama), and a number of players had been out that week with intestinal "flu". Most notable of the sick was Louis Nix, who came off the bench and played sick in the second half to help save the day. As important as Teo is, I think Nix is the lynchpin to Notre Dame's stout run defense. Without Nix, they are a much more ordinary defense. (There's a great story on Nix in today's Chicago Tribune--he really is a great, and very fun, young man.)
Sorry for the long winded first post. I think both sets of fans are going crazy thinking about this game, and I'm certainly displaying my propensity to that disease here.
I have two questions for you all. It's looking more and more like Barrett Jones may not play, or,if he does play, he may not be as effective as usual. If so, how much of an impact do you all see that having on Alabama's chances of imposing its will up the middle? (Call me crazy, but I hoping Jones is able to play his best--I really want to see the Jones v. Nix battle--which I think encapsulates this whole game).
My second question is, what if Alabama can't get anything going running the ball up the middle. What then? Would Saban just keep at it, hoping to eventually wear ND down? Or is there a plan B?, or C?, that you would expect him to go to?
This reads like a massive quibble. No one knows better than we that you need some lucky breaks along the way to stay undefeated. I think the point that a lot of posters are making is that ND struggled against 2nd tier opponents while Bama did not. On Jones, he played effectively against UGA with the same injury. Jones will play and play well - bet on it. On sticking with running, the common fan complaint is quite the opposite, that we pass when the run is working. On paper, we look like a running team, but that's very deceiving. Many of those running yards were piled up in the last half of games where the opponent couldn't stop the run and there was no reason to pass. Back to the passing issue, many fans feel that we've passed when we didn't need to, just to prove we can. Our new OC is from the west and that may be a built-in bias. It's JMHO, but I do think in this game that we'll start out running until ND proves that it can stop it. We don't really have plans "B" and "C" in the way you frame it...As a Notre Dame fan it's been really interesting following this thread. There's lots of over the top stuff (5 yards from 5 losses? Really? Someone is going to have to explain exactly how that one goes.) but there has also been some great commentary from posters who clearly know their stuff. Alabama running it up the gut will be strength against strength. If Alabama has success running up the middle, it's going to be very hard for Notre Dame to win. Notre Dame defense is predicated on stopping the run, and make offenses beat you by drinking and dunking it with short passes all the way down the field.
Its also amazing to see so much talk about the end of the Stanford game. What that whole thing illustrates to me is how much poor television commentating can impact public perception. They looked at whether the ball did or did not cross the line ad nauseoum, without once mentioning the crucial issue--which was that the play had been blown dead because the player's forward progress had been stopped. You can see the line judge running in, signaling the end of play, and you can se the ND players jumping up to celebrate. True, the player kept churning his legs and trying to extend the ball after that, (who can blame him). But the play had been blown dead. That was the judgment of the crew on the field, that was judgment was confirmed by the replay officials, as well as by the head of officiating who reviewed the call days afterwards (for more details see: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2012/10/16/notre-dame-stanford-head-official/1637591/ )
Quibbling about the call misses the point that is most germane to this thread--and that is that Stanford had the ball first and goal on the 4, and could not get it across. And that was just one of several successful stands where teams had the ball first and goal inside the 4 and could not score a touchdown. As a Notre Dame fan I like ND's chances when Alabama runs and ND is expecting the run. If Alabama can do that, then hats off to you--that would absolutely convince me that Alabama is playing the game at a different level than everyone else. Where I worry is whether Alabama might crack of a big run when ND has its more pass oriented personnel in the game. There definitely are a couple of players that I could see Sabin wanting to run at much more than Te'o.
Another thing that has been fascinating to me is how much folks have talked about the Pitt game, and the undeniable point that ND struggled with some weaker opponents. The thing to keep in mind on the Pitt game is that it was a classic emotional trap game (as A & M was for Alabama), and a number of players had been out that week with intestinal "flu". Most notable of the sick was Louis Nix, who came off the bench and played sick in the second half to help save the day. As important as Teo is, I think Nix is the lynchpin to Notre Dame's stout run defense. Without Nix, they are a much more ordinary defense. (There's a great story on Nix in today's Chicago Tribune--he really is a great, and very fun, young man.)
Sorry for the long winded first post. I think both sets of fans are going crazy thinking about this game, and I'm certainly displaying my propensity to that disease here.
I have two questions for you all. It's looking more and more like Barrett Jones may not play, or,if he does play, he may not be as effective as usual. If so, how much of an impact do you all see that having on Alabama's chances of imposing its will up the middle? (Call me crazy, but I hoping Jones is able to play his best--I really want to see the Jones v. Nix battle--which I think encapsulates this whole game).
My second question is, what if Alabama can't get anything going running the ball up the middle. What then? Would Saban just keep at it, hoping to eventually wear ND down? Or is there a plan B?, or C?, that you would expect him to go to?
With all due respect to Notre Dame(and I respect their accomplishments) the best defense we will face this year is LSU who is bigger and faster at every single position on the field.
37,I stopped reading here. Sorry, I know this is your board and I've respected it, but this is a bold faced lie.
That's enough. Find another board...I stopped reading here. Sorry, I know this is your board and I've respected it, but this is a bold faced lie.
It's OK to disagree (agreeably). It's over the top and gone to call others liars. He needs to go back to wherever he came from. Maybe home and let his mother teach him some manners...I agree with him though. LSU was not the best defense we played. They were breaking in a lot of new DBs this year and their LB corp was overwhelmed with injuries. Minter had so many tackles basically due to covering for other guys missed assignments.
LSU's DL and safeties were as good as any we'll see this season, but they were really struggling with their linebackers at times. UGA's DL is probably a better comparison for Notre Dame but even then...UGA is a team too focused on making big plays. Notre Dame is good about preventing big plays over trying to make them.