8) ...and there's going to be a dumpster fire at the strip mall... These punks exist in the real world just to pad our resume. Let's take their lunch money and ride out of town on their bicycle.
You'll never make a living betting on the Irish when heavily favored. I think if we had hammered them we might find ourselves at #2 this morning. As per script, Kelly starts shutting things down with about ten minutes to go.... in the third quarter.
I like it. BC has one of the worst defenses in D-1 vs. the run. Pounding the ball with a 2+ TD lead is fine with me. I'm not into style points. I'm glad Kelly isn't.
Then you will have to be content with the cards you are dealt. Unfortunately, we don't make the "rules" for bowl selection. To date, it has always been a beauty contest. If there were a true playoff system them a win would truly be a win as it is in the NFL. This BC team a woeful.
You want style points? How about defensive style points? Try this: -ND ranks #1 in scoring defense at 11.1 points per game. -ND is the only undefeated team in the top 13 in scoring defense. -8 of the last 11 national championship teams ranked in the top 8 in scoring defense. -Only 6 defenses in the last 10 years have allowed fewer points per game than ND so far this season. -ND's strength of schedule ranks no. 25 with opponents' winning percentage at .580. The other two undefeateds are 41st (.536) and 59th (.507). Deal the cards. Here is an excerpt from an article by Keith Arnold dated 11-11-12 in NBC's "Inside the Irish":
Sid/George, You're both right. To be honest, we could have beaten them 50-0 and it wouldn't have mattered though. Somehow what KState has done in a really suspect B12 has been deemed more worthy, and the country (myself included) has been waiting for an excuse to rank Oregon #1. I think Oregon has the toughest road ahead, but they may well be the best team and can handle it. The only hope I see of KState losing is Texas. One thing that bothers me for the past 2 weeks is that ESPN and their experts keep referring to the fact that the other undefeated teams (even when Bama was unbeaten) have a conference title game and ND does not...ergo, ND is the least worthy of all the teams. Maybe something has changed but... does the Big12 have a title game? I thought they had 10 members playing in 1 division. That should put them back into the old 'Pac10' class of being passed over because they don't have a title game... or am I wrong here?
Solid workman like win, we never trailed. We consistently had long drives and if not for the fumbles would have some more style points. This defense really is good at preventing scores, it is a little frustrating to watch recievers run free in the short zones for easy catches and pile up yards..but they don't amount to anything if they can't score. Both the Pitt QB and the BC QB have good arms and are pretty mobile, and I have assume it is by design that we let them complete those underneath throws. We ultimately would get to them when they crossed the 40 yard line. But as I said it's a little frustrating to watch them sit back there and complete a lot of passes. Like the Pitt game though we had the stats, and we ran the ball more than we threw the ball and we ran the ball for over 200 yards. I really thought we would have more offense, but Kelly does want to run clock and let his defense clean up. Golson, everybody says he is growing in the job, I guess they are right. 11-14 3rd downs is pretty awesome. If he finally gets a feel for reading the defense he can be really good, maybe even Evertt Football! It was great seeing him finally starting to connect with Tyle Eifert, that guy really has a great pair of hands. Theo...he did fummble that one time, but with all the wishing that Kelly would get more caries for Cierre Wood and GAIII, it's pretty clear why Riddick is the starter. He hits the hole and goes north/south and he hits the hole faster than either of those other guys. So far it's pretty clear that once GAIII hit's the second level he's fast and will get more than the other guys....but he doesn't seem to get to the hole fast and he doesn't seem to hit it with conviction like Riddick. I'm not sure why Wood isn't better than he is, he's faster than Riddick, he's bigger than Riddick, but he's not a better RB than Riddick. On the defense I continue to be impressed with how well we tackle in the defensive backfield. Bennett Jackson has really developed as a CB, we'll miss Zeke Motta next year but we'll be better over all with experience and depth in the DB's. As far as the NC race goes, I see we are a solid #3 in the polls. I think Oregon if they go undefeated is a deserving team. I think that if both ND and KSU go undefeated we have an edge over them having played a tougher schedule and having done at least as well against our common opponents in OU and Miami. But all three teams have a couple of hurdles left before we can worry about that. Texas is now the team everybody thoguht they would be, they can beat KSU. Texas has more talent. Oregon has some tough games left in including Stanford and the Civil War and a championship game. What would be a mess if all three undefeated teams end up losing a game. But for now I'm staying with a win is a win.
my guess is Theo is the guy because he runs harder. Every carry is a fist fight with that guy and Kelly loves fighters. Wood is a better athlete and certainly more dangerous with the ball in his hands.. the carry for Theo after the fumble was a good microcosm imho. He delivered the blow to the LBs and safeties trying to take him down. He runs angry.
ND <t>WE'RE 10-0. If you would have ask any ND fan at the beginning of the season if they would be happy if the Irish were 10-0 after Nov 10 if that had won all 10 games by 1 point, how many would say no? Right.<br/> <br/> <br/> Fact is, we have a great Defense with a offense still in the making. When they get it all together, we will be wining games like sat night 54-6 instead of 21-6. BC was never in that game. The only question was how badly we woukd win by. Yeah, they were fired up, they think it's a rivalry but seriously rivalry? Come on man! <br/> <br/> BC was 2-7 and now they are 2-8. They are who we thought they were, a pile of horseshi*!</t>
Corey I think you are right with Theo, I hope Woods has an epiphany and comes back next year with that attitude. He is starting to remind me of Jonas Gray who besides fumbling didn't really like running north/south always wanted to juke somebody. Finally when he realized that he needed to become a tough inside runner who would run you over he took the job from Woods last year. This year Theo took the job from Woods. Woods has one more chance to become all that he can be, will the light bulb go on for him like it did for Jonas and for Robert Hughes as well?
Tim, You are correct, sir. Terry, I don't know if what Theo has can be taught. You make a great comparison by bringing up Jonas. He learned to run physical (ala Lacey at Alabama). What Theo does is a little different. I don't know the kid personally, but from watching his style of play, I'm fairly certain that he'd throw punches at LBs and Safeties trying to tackle him if he could get away with it. He isn't the biggest, strongest or fastest guy on the field but he's a mean mother****** who doesn't just thrash about to get free, he tries to hurt the tackler. This causes some of the lesser DBs to try to go for his feet, which actually plays right into his strength...quickness and foot speed. That's why I say every carry with him is like a fist fight. He doesn't just want by the tackler, he wants a piece of him.