Watched ND vs Michigan and Stanford,

TrueGritnPluck

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Have not really seen much of Notre Dame this year, so I tuned in last night to watch their games vs UM and Stanford on CSS................................

1) I know some ND types have been comparing Golson to Manziel, but I just do not see that at all. Golson has elusiveness, and a strong arm - but he does not use these attributes to his advantage ala Manziel. Manziel is much more accurate, especially on the move, and just displays better poise and pocket presence than Golson.

Golson has potential to make plays, but Manziel MAKES them more often.

PS - ND had to bring Rees in at QB, or I think Stanford wins in regulation.

2) The "3 yards and a cloud of dust" type blandness of their offense.

Riddick and Wood at RB have talent, but Michigan and Stanford were able to contain them well. ND does not seem to a lot of playmaking ability at the WR position, in part due to spotty QB play in the pass game. As result, the announcers in the Stanford game kept hammering on the point that it would be decided late, and the 3 yard runs would become body blows that would bear fruit late in the issue.

Sounds a lot like the UA philosophy.

3) ND has a playmaking Tight End in Eifert. He is tall, agile, athletic, and can make plays on the ball while in the air. This is the guy Bama must account for, especially in the red zone, imo - and if I am Kelly, I tell Golson to throw the ball up to him ANY time there is single coverage.

4) Te'o Who??

I tuned in in part to see the Derrick Thomas, Lawrence Taylor type performances expected from a guy who nearly stole the Heisman. I was a bit nonplussed - Teo is a fine player who makes plays, big plays at times, but was not a dominant force in either game I saw.

I did see some other guys make plays - CB Bennet Jackson, DE Tuitt, S Matthias Farley. The supporting cast concerns me more than the Manti Ray...............

5) Stanford QB pressure - they were able to get a LOT of pressure on Golson, and Golson was not able to use innate athletic ability to elude and make plays down the field. I think a guy like Dixon or HUbbard could have a big role, and a big game.

Overall, I saw a talented defense that is usually in the right place, and plays sound fundamentally. They are not world beaters by any means, and good execution will yield good results for us.

I also saw an offense that struggles to sustain drives, and still has a nagging QB controversy lingering on the back burner of the Irish stove. If Jesse Williams can control; the middle like I expect, I think the Bama Defense will have very good success against the Irish.

I think my sleep will be sound before this game :cool:
 
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Bamabuzzard

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Brian Kelly is a fine coach and I would expect him to watch A LOT of the LSU game and possibly elements of the aTm game. I expect ND to not give up on the run but I also fully expect them to do things that have given our defense trouble this season.

The two things I see impossible for ND to gameplan for is Nick Saban with this long to gameplan and this long for our players to rest and be at full speed ala Michigan game and 2011 Capital One Bowl against Michigan St. The speed, power and quickness were simply too much for those teams.
 

AgentAntiOrange

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I also saw an offense that struggles to sustain drives, and still has a nagging QB controversy lingering on the back burner of the Irish stove. If Jesse Williams can control; the middle like I expect, I think the Bama Defense will have very good success against the Irish.

I think my sleep will be sound before this game :cool:
I agree 100%. I believe that the best offense for both teams will be their defense. Both offenses will, for the most part, use a similar strategy-Pound the run to set up the short pass and deep PA pass plus a few wrinkles. I believe our defense will fare better vs their offense than their defense will against our offense and therefore will consistently win the field position game. If we win that and the turnover battle I think it will be very, very tough for ND to win.

The one thing that concerns me is what CCK might do in terms of offensive wrinkles that might get ND a few well timed big plays. And because CNS has such a reputation for half time adjustments I believe CCK will wait until the 2nd half to implement those wrinkles. I feel NDs plan is to hang on for the 1st half and try to keep it close and then try to open up the playbook midway-late in the 3rd.
 

TideEngineer08

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I still say, if we don't turn the ball over, they don't win. The only way they have a chance is if they can force a couple or if we make mistakes resulting in turnovers. I'll add that if they don't take care of the ball, it will be a blowout. Unless it's balanced out with any mistakes we may make.

In other words, I don't believe they are good enough to win a clean game where both teams play their best. That's not to say that they have no chance. Clearly, we have been prone to turnovers against the best opponents we've faced, and it's resulted in three games decided at the very end.
 

TrueGritnPluck

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Nov 21, 2011
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I still say, if we don't turn the ball over, they don't win. The only way they have a chance is if they can force a couple or if we make mistakes resulting in turnovers. I'll add that if they don't take care of the ball, it will be a blowout. Unless it's balanced out with any mistakes we may make.

In other words, I don't believe they are good enough to win a clean game where both teams play their best. That's not to say that they have no chance. Clearly, we have been prone to turnovers against the best opponents we've faced, and it's resulted in three games decided at the very end.
ND is +9 in turnover margin
 

taddy

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Dec 25, 2012
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The Manziel/Golson comparison is kind of crazy to be honest. Golson is a pretty gifted athlete but lacks the developed understanding of the X's and O's of Manziel. Golson can and will run but most of his movements are to buy time and he's good at keeping his eyes down field. His planned runs are few and far between and probably not a healthy thing to do against an Alabama defense.

If we went back to the beginning of the season and evaluated where each team is compared to their potential, I'd have to think that Alabama would be at 60-70% of their potential, Saban would probably say 0% but he's pretty good at getting the team ready. At the same time, I would put ND at the 40% ready, mainly because they are starting a RS freshman QB who is learning the game and relies too heavily on his athletic ability.

The development of Golson from game 1 to game 12 is pretty apparent. While there are a number of things that have to go right for ND to win, the single most important factor will be Golson's performance. What none of us know is how much he has progressed since the last game. I have to think Saban will try to keep him off balance with lots of defensive looks. Golson has shown the ability to play well (for a freshman) in big games on the road. He plays calm, can he do it against an Alabama defense? It will be a test against a Saban defense.

Eifert is mentioned above but I would suggest another player to watch, Troy Niklas. He's bigger and stronger than Eifert. He was moved to tight end this year so there has been a learning curve to be sure. He's a pretty good athlete and has improved through the year. When he's in the game with Eifert, especially if Eifert is double covered, Niklas is a tough match up physically and will be a big target for Golson. It's hard to cover them both and as the passing offense has grown, the double tight end set creates some match up problem. I haven't seen enough of your games to know how that would match up against your personnel.

As a Notre Dame fan, I am excited to see how we match up. I didn't expect us to be here at the beginning of the year but that's why college football is the best. I could talk for days LOL
 

rgw

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The big thing with Golson's development is I question what adversity he faced since the Oklahoma and Stanford games. He hasn't play a great defense since the end of October and his production went up accordingly. Has he gotten better? I don't really know because several times in the USC game he just didn't put the ball in the right spot. He had about as many great throws and terrible. Mettenburger, Manziel, and Murray probably had 3-4 bad throws combined in our three games against them. I characterize bad throws as either throwing into coverage or throws that were open but thrown poorly.

Those three guys played near flawless games while Golson has mainly been a 50/50 good and bad guy in my viewing. With a month to get him prepped, the possibility he can play a flawless game like McCarron last year is better than what he demonstrated during the season. If he plays like he did during the regular season though...I struggle to see how they break 17 points without a litany of turnovers by Alabama.
 

RTR91

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The two things I see impossible for ND to gameplan for is Nick Saban with this long to gameplan and this long for our players to rest and be at full speed ala Michigan game and 2011 Capital One Bowl against Michigan St. The speed, power and quickness were simply too much for those teams.
Possibly the biggest thing for Bama.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk, so my post may not be what I typed thanks to auto correct. Also, I may need an emoticon but cannot use one in this post.
 

taddy

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Dec 25, 2012
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I agree, Golson will absolutely have to play his best game to have a chance.
 

rgw

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I still say, if we don't turn the ball over, they don't win. The only way they have a chance is if they can force a couple or if we make mistakes resulting in turnovers. I'll add that if they don't take care of the ball, it will be a blowout. Unless it's balanced out with any mistakes we may make.

In other words, I don't believe they are good enough to win a clean game where both teams play their best. That's not to say that they have no chance. Clearly, we have been prone to turnovers against the best opponents we've faced, and it's resulted in three games decided at the very end.
The problem is that I don't expect a clean game with these flag-happy Pac-12 officials. It's going to be a choppy game in all likelihood. In fact, flag happy refs tend to benefit the underdog in my experience.
 

FriendlyIrish

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The problem is that I don't expect a clean game with these flag-happy Pac-12 officials. It's going to be a choppy game in all likelihood. In fact, flag happy refs tend to benefit the underdog in my experience.
Haven't heard anyone talk about this AT ALL but I completely agree...
 

TrueGritnPluck

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Nov 21, 2011
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The problem is that I don't expect a clean game with these flag-happy Pac-12 officials. It's going to be a choppy game in all likelihood. In fact, flag happy refs tend to benefit the underdog in my experience.
Seems to me the officials in all BCS games have done a pretty good job of not interrupting game flow for the sake of just getting a flag toss in
 

bamacon

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I still think depth will be the biggest difference after speed. Not Crimson glasses but the last few years when the SEC plays one of these games against the Big-10 types (which I consider ND) the speed seems to catch them off guard. They can adjust to that as the games goes on but lack of depth isn't a problem you can make an in-game adjustment on. If Bama comes to play and doesnt turn the ball over they should win going away. However, as the A&M game proved, you don't have to be the better team, only the better team on that day.
 

domeronaroll

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Sorry, but I am not understanding the adulation for Johnny Manziel vis-a-vis Everett Golson.

I would offer a friendly reminder that Manziel's three(!) interceptions after Texas A&M had a 12-point lead at home over LSU cost A&M the game. LSU scored 14 points (and missed a field goal) off of those three turnovers. A&M lost to LSU by only five points.


If A&M had finished 11-1 with a win over Alabama at Alabama, they would probably have been ranked No. 2 or No. 3 at the end of the regular season, and they would likely have played Georgia in the SECCG for a chance to face Notre Dame in the national title game.


But Manziel fell apart against LSU, and Texas A&M is not even in the BCS because of it.

Meanwhile, if Golson had ever have thrown three interceptions on the road against USC, or on the road against Oklahoma, or in the monsoon against Stanford, Notre Dame would have failed to advance to the national championship game. But Golson never fell apart, and never cost his team a game.
 
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