That's a valid point. To me, the difference is that with Golson we have an offense that turns the ball over. With Rees, we just turned the ball over.
Well consider that the D gave up one scoring drive over 9 yds. That part of our team was outstanding.
ND <t>Our Defense was great. I'm beginning to believe those who say this defense is better than 2012.</t>
Stanford's D has been giving up less than 200 yds. of offense per game this year. We ripped them for 370 yds. Playing conditions contributed to the TOs and missed FGs.
Re: the Cole Luke INT and the Robinson catch. In both cases, I never saw the ball hit the ground. In both cases, the player had at least one hand between the ball and the ground. Robinson had both hands beneath the ball at all times. I can't figure why Mayock and Hicks thought the call would be overturned. The "favorable" call that IMO bailed us out was earlier when the receiver (Koyack?) seemed to be stopped a couple of feet behind the 1st down marker on 3rd down. We were awarded a 1st down via a very generous spot, thus spared having to make a decision on punting or going for it. Played like ****? Corey, what game were you watching? Sure we had TOs and missed FGs, but this was a heavyweight fight with the two defenses taking center ring. The offenses were almost an afterthought. I was amazed at how inaccurate the Stanford QB was. Like Gip said, we laid 370 total yards and 17 points on a very stout and stingy defense. IMO for every criticism of our offense, you can come up with 2 or 3 things to praise about our defense. Believe me, with the season only 1/3 over, I'd much rather have a defense like ours than a glamorous "Oregon-type" offense. By the way, how did Oregon do this week? :wink: Speaking of defense, I prefer to wait several more games before comparing this year's D to 2012. Also, can we now ditch the conversation about Golson and the Heisman, or at least impose a moratorium until later in the season? Call me superstitious (which I am) but I see "jinx" written all over those two topics.
Oh yeah, picked up a 2016 verbal from Ohio OL Tommy Kraemer who is a 5* kid from Cincy, same HS as Kyle Rudolph.
The one where we dropped pass after pass. The one where our QB kept falling into the Stanford trap and making the wrong read. The one in which our QB was sacked on a QB draw by our offensive guard who was being thrown around the field like a rag doll, which is new to him since he's normally being used as a turnstile at tackle. The same game in which our QB had to throw the ball away because BOTH of our guards missed the snap count and Stanford ran right by them. I will admit that I am being too nit picky about the defense. They played well. The mistakes they made were just awful but they really don't make many of them so it's not that big of a deal. (for example, Kevin 'White Shadow' Hogan's TD run in which he faked out 3 different people with a ball fake and cut back that was more Barry Manilow than Barry Sanders.) Really, the biggest mistake there was Schmidt biting and instead of defending the option inside out. He knows better and he didn't make a mistake the rest of the night. Like I said, I'm being too nit picky about the defense. At the same time our offense is living on talent and scheme alone at the skill positions. We don't have a consistent run game. We can't block worth a **** with the notable exception of our WRs who are carrying this team along with the defense. Look, I'm happy we won because screw Stanford... but let's not lose ourselves here. That may well be a 4 or 5 loss team by the end of the season. And before you scoff, keep in mind that they already have 2 losses and they haven't played Oregon, Arizona State, UCLA or really anyone else. They've beaten UC Davis and Army while escaping against a pretty average Washington team. I'm happy. I'm just realistic.
:roll: Take the win. All across the Top 10, dreams of making the 4-team playoff are turning into dumpster fires. All wins are good wins; even mud fights with the top defense in the nation... 1. Matt Hegarty was not our worst OL today. Stanford's NG ran right past him without being touched on nearly a dozen plays, but he wasn't the worst. 2. Steve Elmer was the worst. He's had trouble in every game, but this was ridiculous. He was tossed aside like Raggedy Andy; to the left; to the right; driven back into the QB; pancaked; rolled; flattened and road-graded. He was up against a line full of 5th year seniors today and some day he will look back on this experience and laugh... 3. Golson saved us. Some of his strong-armed throws into the wind and rain were harder than they looked and he doesn't panic. 4. I'm glad Cam McDaniel is still around too. This was a day when senior leadership made the difference, because Stanford has a lot of seniors too. 5. The best defensive player on either team today was Andrew Trumbetti. Every game he creates more and more problems for Irish opponents. Along with Jaylon Smith, he's the problem every team needs to worry about. 6. Notre Dame's corp of receivers are becoming pretty special. The wind and rain cut down on Fuller's explosiveness, so Chris Brown stepped up to have his best day. This is a VERY good group that brings a load of weapons with them. 7. I couldn't believe all the whining and stupidity coming out of that broadcast booth. When USC fires Pat Haden, maybe he can get his old job back...
I give Golson and the WRs a "pass" in those conditions. A strong directional wind like that is brutal on QBs accuracy. One way the ball is sailing and the other its is getting pushed down by an invisible force. Not easy. The defense excelled again. James Onwalu(sp) #17 gets the hit of the game. That Stanford RB looked like he ran into the side of a building. Trumbetti gets better every game, as does Drue Tranquil. I thought Matthias Farley played very well too. The O-Line has no built in excuses though. They are simply not improving. Lombard #74 on three occasions blocked no one on plays that were stopped cold or for a loss. Elmer looks confused which translates into no fire out or drive. Hegarty will have nightmares over his performance. has Only Golson's mobility saved him. I have no explanation for that group. Kelly has really evolved in his sideline temperment. He would have lost his mind a few years ago. He's coaching now.
ND <r>Loved the pics Terry. <br/> <QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> Picking up the commit was icing on the cake. That was a huge game for a couple of reasons and I almost forgot we had a lot of potential recruits in for that game. Hopefully that gave them a good impression.<br/> <br/> Yes, we do still have trouble with our O line and running game and we turned the ball over way too much the last two games AND I'm not kidding myself about how good we are or not but most of the problems we have are correctable. I just got so sick this week of being disrespected by the sports media types especially on ESPN. They just seemed to think it was a given Stanford was gonna win that game. I will gladly watch them all eat crow for the next couple of days.</r>
I notice George acknowledged the weather and the cross wind. Everyone else who is criticizing the dropped passes and the errant throws doesn't know how difficult those conditions were. I'm in Indy, where the conditions were the same if not a few degrees higher than South Bend. It was a miserable day to be outside. Two things made the conditions look better on TV than they actually were. 1) Modern camera technology has a way to take away the appearance of the falling rain and blowing wind to make the conditions look less severe than they are. 2) The field turf provides a clean look to the field at all times. If this game had been played on real grass, it would have been a mud bath. Hence, while turnovers and dropped passes and missed FGs are not good, it was happening to both teams yesterday. One more thing. I give Stanford's defense a ton of credit for how bad our O-line looked. I'm with everyone else who believes we have problems there, but we played against an outstanding defense (yes, Corey) and came out on top despite all the O-line problems that have been pointed out. We survived. In 2012, we survived how many games? Four? Five? I'm not ready yet to compare us to 2012. Just sayin'. Who was it who said, take the W and move on? kp? I agree. I'm not discounting North Carolina at all, but our last six games may be the toughest 6-game stretch in the country. We have a long, long way to go.
ND <r>This says it all without any words:<br/> <br/> <URL url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDUvS88s_cY&list=UUAMR05qSc5mfhVx20fDyAoQ"><LINK_TEXT text="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDUvS88 ... Vx20fDyAoQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDUvS88s_cY&list=UUAMR05qSc5mfhVx20fDyAoQ</LINK_TEXT></URL></r>
Maybe things aren't always as they seem re: the O-line. Here is one point of view: http://bleacherreport.com/tb/df5Fc?...m=newsletter&utm_campaign=notre-dame-football
A couple of comments from Eric Hansen of the SBT: We're ranked 5th in the new Amway Coaches' Poll, up from 8th. We're flanked by Mississippi (4th) and Mississippi State (6th).
Sid I hope the OL is getting better, to tell you the truth I couldn't really see it yesterday. I think we fought hard, played hard and I give a lot of credit to Stanford's DL which as JO'Co pointed out was 5th year Sr's for the most part. Hegarty played center against Stanford last year and I think he had a better game, he was abused yesterday. But UNC isn't Stanford they are a bad team that East Carolina scored 70 points on and they are giving up almost 190yds rushing per game. If our OL doesn't push those guys around and our backs don't run for a combined 200+ yards, then we've got a problem. BTW: that throw that Golson made was a hell of a throw, shows how strong his arm is, the kid can throw the rock. Weather. I think Sid mentioned how bad the weather was at his house, I thought maybe he was kidding. I was at the 2012 Stanford game and I have said before it was wet, cold, miserable. Well the consensus seems to be that Sid is right, a lot of people said it was much colder, the rain was heavier, etc. Which makes some of those throws that Golson made even more impressive and sort of explains the drops that both Stanford and Notre Dame WR's were making. Irish Move up to # 5 and #6. It really doesn't make much difference....we have to beat FSU at their place. But the way things are setting up, I think even if we lose to FSU we have a real shot at that being our only loss. 1 loss unlikely to get us into the Final Four unless it's a 1 point loss and we really sort of outplay them.
ND <r><QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> Te Irish just need to keep winning. If they do that everything will take care of itself. <br/> <br/> I don't know if this team is worthy or not of the rankings now but I do know they are a work in progress and by the end of the season they MAY just be real good. Hopefully this week we will get some more pieces to fall into place(the frozen five) and pick up another win against NC. Hopefully. <br/> <br/> You have to admit though, things are looking much better for this team than they were the first week of the season.</r>
Good points all, boys. Onward and upward. We'll see how the season progresses and I'm glad to have Stanford in the rear view. I really believe, barring a weather nightmare, that we should crush North Carolina. Not looking past them. Not being disrespectful. Just looking at 'what it is.' They are a team who beat Liberty (wasn't Tod Jeffers an alum of Liberty?) and squeaked by San Diego State in a game I thought SDSU had them beat. Since then, East Carolina hung 70 on them. Clemson hung half a hundred and Virginia Tech coasted past them 34-17. They're scoring 3 or 4 TDs a game against all comers so far, but they seem to have trouble on defense.