Question: Saban: We're not running away from Teo

BigDIrish

New Member
Dec 27, 2012
1
0
0
I am a visitor to this site and a 1973 ND alumnus. I am here to say that Alabama will easily be the best team we have played in years, and we are fortunate to be paired with you on Jan. 7. If ND comes out on top, it will certainly be an upset. We have had a Cinderella year, and sometimes this can be enough to "turn the Tide" so to speak. Turnovers and penalties in key situation favoring the Irish will be necessary to make this happen, and the Tide has not done much of either. I was at the 1973 Sugar Bowl and the luck of the Irish was certainly present in New Orleans. Since that game, I have been a big Alabama fan as the Bama fans were so classy and gracious in defeat that the impression has lasted 39 years, and I have told many people as much. I will be at the game and look forward to an Irish win, and if not, I hope we can be as classy as you Bama fans were on New Year's Eve those 39 years ago.
 

rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
20,852
1,351
232
Tuscaloosa
Hey, the Irish have a lot of history with ending streaks. I think most of the nation would be in your debt for ending the SEC streak.
 

ND Philosopher

New Member
Dec 27, 2012
17
0
0
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?
 

TrueGritnPluck

Suspended
Nov 21, 2011
1,658
0
0
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?
I watched that Stanford game the other night.

I think Taylor got the ball over the plane, and nowhere in the review or announcement did the commentators OR official say anything about the whistle blowing.

They did mention a whistle from the stands earlier in the quarter as being the reason a play was stopped, a play which looked promising for the Stanford running game
 

AmeliaGayle

BamaNation Citizen
Aug 29, 2012
76
0
0
Mobile, AL
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.

As for your second question, despite our reputation as a paleolithic offense, we're actually quiet balanced and adaptable. We tend to attack our opponent's weakness, and use the pass to open up the run game, which in turn opens up the play action game. If anything, at times we've seemed needlessly reluctant to just bludgeon our opponent, even when the run game seems to be working to perfection.

Any other questions?
 

buzzincuzzin

All-American
Jan 8, 2006
4,963
0
0
73
.

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.
 

Alasippi

Suspended
Aug 31, 2007
12,875
2
57
Ocean Springs, MS
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?
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.

The big misconception about this Bama team however is that we simply line up and try to run over people. Our offense may be as balanced as any offense in America. We run. We pass. We mix in play action and we throw to seven to eight different receivers.

If Notre Dame focuses on the run there's a very good possibility that A.J. may have 150 yards passing at the end of the first quarter.

If they adjust then we may rush for 150 yards in the second quarter.

If they get confused then forget it, it'll be "not good" for the Irish.

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.

We scored enough to win and they couldn't stop us when the game was on the line.

Now, let's flip it.

Notre Dame has not encountered any defense that even remotely compares to Alabama in any way, form or fashion.

Stanford was good but you're talking different levels.

Two QB's scored 20 plus points against us...the Heisman Trophy Winner..and the QB of the SEC East Champion Georgia Bulldogs. Is you're QB that good?

With all due respect you talk about your front seven and you should be proud because they're very good. But, in the regular season, we led the nation in scoring defense, rushing defense etc. and we didn't play Navy's and Pittsburghs and Wake Forest's and Boston College's...
we played the toughest competition in the nation. That simple.

It will hurt us if Barrett can't play but in short, even if he can't go, there's a no name right behind him who is better than Notre Dame's starting center.

His name is "Cousin" and he's ready to kick some butt.

Enjoy the game :)

sip
 
Last edited:

Nolan

Hall of Fame
Jul 4, 2006
5,591
679
137
Oahu
It's a 1 game season now. You can betcha Barrett is playing. Also, CNS isn't coy about injuries. He said BJ would get five practices...so there you go.

Can you imagine how much film he's watching while he rehabs? He'll be ready. Physically and mentally.

And we are balanced, ND visitors, just peruse some stats. Something in my gut tells me we will force the issue with the run, though, early in the game. Dunno why...
 

TIDE-HSV

Senior Administrator
Staff member
Oct 13, 1999
84,527
39,615
437
Huntsville, AL,USA
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...
 

athlete37

Scout Team
Dec 13, 2012
121
95
47
I stopped reading here. Sorry, I know this is your board and I've respected it, but this is a bold faced lie.

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.
 

rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
20,852
1,351
232
Tuscaloosa
I imagine the plan will be to call a lot of off-tackle runs where we can get better numbers. If they really aren't going to bring up a safety, we should be able to overload with two TEs to one side and get more blockers than defenders in the area. I hope our plan in the passing game will be to create balance out of "run tendency" sets instead of simply going spread and trying to catch the opponent off guard. This concept hasn't worked for the last few years. Opponents seems relatively well prepared for our offense going to spread and it hasn't had the same success as that 2009 SECCG where it really threw Florida out of whack. I want to see Alabama line up in the same sets used in the SECCG when they were running relentlessly and call effective passing out of those looks. Get the OLBs more aligned for defending the flats, keep the safeties off guard with play action, etc.

As HSV pointed out, Alabama is really a balanced, almost pass-leaning offense when the game is close with the UGA game being the obvious exception. Even in the UGA game, the staff was set on playing a 3 or 4 wide receiver spread with no-huddle. The rush attempts pile up in the second half of games where it has already gotten out of hand for the opponent. My biggest fear is that Nussmeier defends the run by not going to it enough rather than Notre Dame stopping it. I'd rather come out in the first 3-4 possessions and have Notre Dame stuff it continously than see the initial gameplans from the LSU, TAMU, and UGA games. We need to see a gameplan more like the last national title game where we got into run-leaning sets by our tendencies and make throws to loosen them up.
 

rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
20,852
1,351
232
Tuscaloosa
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.
 
Last edited:

TIDE-HSV

Senior Administrator
Staff member
Oct 13, 1999
84,527
39,615
437
Huntsville, AL,USA
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.
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...
 

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