Well it's the Flyboys up next. Ordinarily I like USAFA, I find their offense to be exciting to watch when it's running well. I do make an exception for this game though! I think the fact that we have played Navy will be a big help for our boys, they have seen the speed and precision of this type of offense and will be better prepared in the 1st half. I don't think the altitude will be a factor. I expect that, like last week Charlie will come out with the intention of getting points on the board quickly, he knows that against the academies that you likely don't get nearly as many possessions and plays so he'll take the ball and move quickly to put a score on the board. I expect that he will be able to put a lot of points on the board, the Air Force defense is not likely to be able to handle Quinn/Samardizja/McKnight and company. I don't really take much from their destruction of Army last weekend. Army self destructed for the most part. If he does get a big lead early, then I expect to see a lot of the young players getting worked into the lineup. James Aldridge is of course the main one that most of us are interested in seeing. I wonder if we'll see Toryan Smith at LB a lot? He's another good one. Go Irish!! Terry
You always worry about your defenders getting hurt by low blocks in this kinds of games. The trick is to get their offense off the field quickly (isn't it always?) That helps in altitude too. The Zoomies can be tough, just ask Tennessee Tom.
USAF/ND <r>Terry,<br/> <br/> Well I don't know what the final score will be but you can look for BQ to have 4 more TD passes and DW will have over 100 yds rushing for sure. How many points are the flyboys gonna put up is the question. I keep saying this but I'm hopeing Aldridge will get some serious playing time on sat.<E>8)</E></r>
This was a strange game. AF had a huge advantage in TOP. At one point in the second quarter with about a minute to go there was a graphic showing the plays that quarter AF 30 ND 0 Yet ND had outscored AF 7-0 since they had blocked an AF FG try and returned it for a TD. Usually, in that high altitude, having your D on the field that much is a disaster. However, the ND O was just so efficient that AF was never close. Brady looks better every week. Looks like Carleson is out for the rest of the regular season at least.
Gip.... <t>Agree it was a strange game. Brady looked great and the Carlson injury really hurts badly. I don't even want to touch on the defense as they just drive me nuts watching them. I'm going to say this one time and hope like hell I'm wrong, hide the kids and dogs when they run up aginst USC as it is going to be butt ugly in LA. Here is one guy that with the exception of Vivtor A will not weep to see any of those nine seniors on that side of the ball go. Great kids but just real average. Recruit Charlie recruit.<br/> <br/> By the way if you did not see USC last night when they really buckle down and want to play they are right there with Ohio State. I dread that game to end the regular season.</t>
That was a very unusal game. I understand why Charlie threw the ball so much at the begining of the game, he need to get some scores up quickly to counter the fact that he wasn't going to get the ball very much. Notre Dame essentially did not have any offensive plays (a few yes) in the 2nd and 3rd Qtr. I didn't quite undertand the defense against the option though. It seemed like Ndukwe was supposed to cover the pitchman wheter or not the play was to the left of to the right and as a result he was always stopping the play after 4 yards. I thought classic option defense was the DE came up field to take the QB, the OLB took the pitchman, the DT's and MLB had the FB. But we had Tommy Z on the QB and Ndukwe on the pitchman. The CB's were 1 on 1 with the WR's. They kept saying that the Irish were determined to take away the FB, did we need both DT's and all 3 LB's to do that, if so those USAFA FB's must be clones of Bronko Nagurski. I continue to be suprised at how many sacks the Irish OL give up, I could see it vs Mich they have maybe the best Front 7 in CFB. But it doesn't seem to matter who we play, Brady is going to be sacke 5 or 6 times. He took some big hits from Air Force. I have to wonder how Troy Smith would fare if he had to play behind the ND OL? Brady is incredible given that he has a very average or worse OL, no real running game, and as good as Rhema and JeffS are as WR they do not stretch the field like Gonzales and Ginn do for Ohio State. Brady might be the best ND football player in the last 25 years. He is certainly deserving of the Heisman. Terry
Terry, <t>Agree on the O-Line and BQ. I watch the O-Line close all the time. Morton while a good Texas kid is real average to say the least. I don't get it as sometimes they just get run right by as they did versus UCLA. ND is real lucky Brady has held up this long. The kid is a stud to say the least. Man I hope he doesn't end up in some place like Detroit or Cleveland draft day. I worry like crazy for his health versus USC.<br/> <br/> As I always tell my baseball friends in the Cardinal Nation appreciate every at bat of Albert Pujols and Irish fans the same about BQ as those don't come along real often.<br/> <br/> I feel he loses the Heisman if Smith eats up Michigan this Saturday. If Mich shows up and he has an average game Brady has a shot if he plays well versus USC. Ah so much to look forward to. Ain't college football great?</t>
It was a strange game. We had almost as many kicks blocked as South Carolina. The bottom line is: Charlie knows how to win these games and he did so easily. Even Lou Holtz had a hard time with the Air Force option and Tennessee dodged the Zoomies' bullet at home. This game was never close. We did get a glimpse of the future in this game and I like what I see. James Aldridge looks like an Auburn running back: big, fast and physical. With a stable of Walker, Aldridge and Prince next year, CW will be able to adjust his attack to the opponent and to the situation. I also liked Torryan Smith on defense. He should be able to give us a real MLB so that Mo Crum can move back outside where his speed can be better utilized...