We are 14 point dogs. I like it, it works better for us to be big underdogs IMHO. Stanford is a very solid team, Hogan can be very good or he can have a game like he did vs USC. I think we'll play well and have our chances, but if we turn the ball over then we can't win. It would also be nice if we got some turnovers. Since Stanford likes to pound it, that plays right into Carlo's sweet spot, we need for him to have a great game and for Jarron Jones to play another great game. He's going to have to play a lot of snaps as Kelly said Kona is not going to be 100% and you don't want to see Tyler Stockton out there very much.
JO'Co made a comment the other day that if we beat Stanford, we win the Pac12. Well, we've beaten the other team in the P12 championship game, plus we've beaten one of the teams in the B10 championship game. It's been an up and down season, for sure. We certainly are capable of beating Stanford. I guess it depends on which team shows up and if/where we find the leadership (aka intangibles) to make it happen.
ND <t>Turnovers as Terry mentioned will probably be the key in this one. Stanford doesn't make many mistakes. Play like they dis against BYU and we have a chance to beat them.</t>
I agree with Tim. We're thin in the trenches and that's tough against a team that will trot out 8 and 9 man OLs against you. Still, Diaco in the past has shown a good nose for coming up with blitz schemes to sell out and stop those. If we can do that, it will get down to our DBs being able to contain their WRs which I think is possible. If they try to wheel route or slip a back out of the backfield, I'd just as soon our LBs (aside from Jaylon) just tackle their ass and take the penalty
:roll: :roll: :roll: (sigh) The nephew of Coley O'Brien... http://irish.nbcsports.com/2013/11/25/stanford-qb-hogan-couldve-been-irish/ "Hogan’s father went to Notre Dame. So did his sister. So did a dozen cousins, aunts, uncles and his paternal grandfather. Uncles Coley O’Brien and Ivan Brown played football for the Irish."
Yeah things just didn't line up for Hogan and ND. Golson was viewed as a better prospect coming out of HS for what Kelly wanted, Golson was the #16 Dual Threat QB on Rivals and Hogan the #15 Pro Style QB on Rivals. Plus we already had Crist, Rees, Massa and Hendrix on board. Of course Massa moved from QB, Hendrix never developed, Crist turned out to be an outstanding kid but not a starter as even after transfering his guy Charlie planted him on the bench. Then Gunner Kiel who came the next year only stayed 1 semester. QB recruiting has been difficult and fraught with disappointments for sure, lot of what ifs. Hopefully we are back on track with Golson, Zaire and Kizer in the fold and the Calif kid Barnett coming in 2015. Back to 1 QB in each class. Calif guys like JO'Co remember how badly Carson Palmer wanted to come to ND but they wouldn't offer him because of academics. Our academics are a little more flexible these days and Palmer would have gotten in most likely. But Davie and his OCoord the guy from Syracuse also wanted QB's who could run some option (wanted a Donavan McNabb clone). Palmer never let us forget it, never missed an opportunity to take a shot at us.
ND <r>I wasn't sure why ND was so hot about getting This Williams kid until I saw this video....kid 's a freak!!<br/> <br/> <URL url="http://www.hudl.com/athlete/o/765315/highlights/94317378"><LINK_TEXT text="http://www.hudl.com/athlete/o/765315/hi ... s/94317378">http://www.hudl.com/athlete/o/765315/highlights/94317378</LINK_TEXT></URL></r>
ND <r>Terry,<br/> <br/> When I made that post about the video on Williams I didn't know he had actually already flipped from Mizzou. I started to tell you that you misread my post but checked over on ISD and shazaam, there he is!! Committed to ND!! Wow, I'll have to try that again! <E></E></r>
Jhonny is from Berrian Springs that is about a half hour drive from ND. For once we ended up with the recruit who wants to have his folks see him play every week.
ND <t>Well in the end this game came down to our QB's decision making and overall ability. We had a shot at the end by you just can't overcome two interceptions like that, at that point in the game. We had a lot of things going against us going into this game but still came close to pulling it off. It is what it is. Hopefully we can end up the season with a bowl win and in the future not end up in the situation we found ourselves in as far as the QB position. <br/> <br/> Two positive notes for the day for me anyway.....Michigan loses to OSU and we won't have to see Alabama in the NC game this year for a change...thank God!</t>
1. We got beat by a better team...not a lot better..., but better. 2. There was nothing we hadn't seen before. This was a good Notre Dame team, but not a great one. The kind of flaws that it had are correctable only by recruiting and help appears to be on the way. 3. I sure hope Collinsworth gets another year. The more he plays, the better he gets. 4. With our luck this year, we'll probably have to play Alabama in another bowl game... 5. I enjoyed watching UCLA slaughter USC today. It was the Bruins greatest margin of victory over the Trojans since 1970...
Some weird notes from the game.......... Hardy and Shumate were suspended by Kelly before the game so Colinsworth had no back up. Stanford had two holding penalties called on them...... All season! 2.7 yards per carry is not going to get it done. We were out rushed 261-64. Irish only gave up 8 sacks all year with a statue playing QB. That is amazing. The Irish have lost at least four games in 6 of the last 7 seasons.
Leading up to the game wth the suspensions the rumors of a flu bug spreading through the team I was worried that Stanford would run us out of the stadium. So while I was disappointed that we lost I thought the team fought hard and just came up short. 1. Tommy made some great throws and a couple not so great throws, but that is Tommy. He threw 2 picks and Hogan threw 2 picks, Hogan had a running game and Tommy didn't. I wish Tommy a lot of luck in life, he gave it all he had for ND. Not having a reliable running game (for what ever the reason) made his job much tougher. Not being mobile made his job much tougher. Looking at the QB's in the pipeline we won't have to worry about our QB's not having 1)strong arms 2) mobility to make you pay. 2. OL...protecting Tommy against an agressive Stanford D was impressive. He got some grass stains for sure and Skov introduced himself to Tommy a couple of times. But the OL was great all year and was yesterday. For what ever the reason they weren't a great run blocking OL, maybe because the coaches decided that they needed to be great pass blockers and spent a lot of time working on that over run blocking. Don't know. Could of course have something to do with who they were blocking for or the play calling. Again don't know. Lot of critiicism of Kelly was directed at him not sticking with the run or committing to the run. 3. WR's/TE's all played well yesterday and made some great catches...they were not the reason we lost. 4. Defense...just too beat up in the front 7 to handle that Stanford OL that mauls people. That was why we lost, Stanford running game and OL was the difference. We fought hard and had some moments, but when they needed it they just lined up and knocked us off the ball. 5. Future. This was a hard year due to Golson being expelled, to losing some great players/leaders and the massive number of injuries that we had to deal with almost from the day they reported to camp. But if those guys heal and are 100% for next year combined with some young guys who got experience this year we could be looking at an excellent season. Recruiting needs to finish strong and it looks like it probably will. Our young OL's like Hanratty, Heggarty, Stanley, Elmer, Martin, all got valuable playing time. We have some guys who will play next year as RS Freshmen who will be excellent depth so I think we'll be solid there, and Jarron Jones will fill in for Nix along with Tony Springman and if somehow Kelly recruits Tuitt to stay for another year we'll be solid. Not sure how it's all going to work out on the Lb side, Jaylon Smith might be an AA, but it's fuzzy for the rest of the guys. We have a lot of talent coming back next year in the DB's including Nicki Baratti who I think will be a hit man at Safety. Redfield, Cole Luke, etc all got PT. Other than TJ Jones all the WRs and TE's come back and we add some more talent from the freshman class. Bryant will be healthy, Folston got valuable experience, and McDaniel showed he can be solid. Hopefully Kelly will find a way to use GAIII, but he needs to ride the pine as a RB. On to the bowl game, where ever it may be. A win would be nice.
Terry, that's an excellent assessment of the game and the team. I would add only that if Jaylon Smith is going to be an AA, he needs to learn to stand his ground vs. an oncoming rush. He was decleated at least three times last night. That's not an AA performance. Of course, for whatever reasons, injuries or just plain bad play, our defense has a long, long way to go before it can compete with the likes of the Stanfords of college football. I also agree with JO'Co's assessment that we were beaten by a team who is not that much better and that this year's version of ND was a good team. A few weeks ago, in the throes of disappointment following the Pitt loss, I said we were an average team. I was wrong.
Sid I expect that Jaylon will be a few pounds heavier next season when they line up in Sept. It was a lot to expect him to be able to set the edge against college tackles and TE's blocking on him, but he did a good job. But against a team like Stanford that was loaded with Sr's they, as you noted, took it too Jaylon a few times. He'll be a better player for it next year. I also agree with JO'Co that while Stanford was the better team, they weren't head and shoulders better than ND. We gave them all they could handle even as beat up as we were on defense. I think if Stanford and ND had swapped QB's and Tommy Rees was the Stanford QB and Kevin Hogan was the Irish QB they'd still win...I like Kevin Hogan because he can run, but he hardly ran all over us and he did throw 2 picks like the much criticised Tommy Rees. But inspite of the criticism of Tommy, he didn't lose the game for us, Stanford won that game because their OL and RB's were very very good.
I think that none of us was happy with the outcome but I was satisfied with the effort. I'm impressed with the OL's protection record this year but realize also that an experienced QB knows when to throw it away and avoid the sack. The difference between last years D and this year's was startling. Sure we lost a NFL second round draft choice in Manti but there was no comparison even before the injury deluge. I guess Tuitt's operation last spring effected his play in the early part of the season. Once again our red zone offense last night was brutal. There has to be some changes made in offensive philosophy. Right now next year looks like it will be worth waiting for.
ND <r><QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> The red zone offense will improve greatly with a dual threat QB. Put Golson within 10yds of the endzone and it creates a whole different situation for a defense to contend with.</r>