Historically the Irish have not done well vs FSU. We beat them in 1993 at ND Stadium and in 2002 at FSU, but that's it, we've lost the other 8 times we've played them. One of the more frustrating losses was in a bowl game where we jumped out to a lead in the 2011 Champs Sports Bowl and were up 14-3 entering the 4th Qtr and the offense just didn't do anything, the play calling was weird and I think Kelly was just trying to not lose rather than do something to extend the lead. 'Noles aren't very good this year as we all know, but they do have a decent defense, a good DL, so our offense needs to be sharp. Their OL is their biggest problem. It was a problem in the opener vs Va.Tech and continues to be a problem. Francois the starter at QB didn't play last week with an injury issue and it's not clear if he will this week. Blackmon his backup put up some really big numbers but they still lost by almost 20 pts to NC State. The weather will be cold on Sat, definitely not what FSU is used to playing in down in Sunny Fla! We should win, hopefully we get a big win and get backups some reps as well as no new injuries. Kelly says we came out of the Northwestern game pretty well, Tranquill got a lot of playing time and is feeling even better this week. I doubt if he's going to miss his Senior day. Jafar Armstrong apparently tweaked his ankle vs Navy and that hindered him some vs Northwestern, but Kelly expects him to be a full go on Saturday. Irish Men open the basketball season with Illinois-Chicago tonight. So far Brey has used a lot of different combo's in the exhibition game and the trip to the Bahamas so who knows what the starting lineups will be. One thing for sure for a guy who likes to have a lot of upper classmen playing he's going to have to play a lot of freshmen this season. He has a really good group but they are freshmen.
High Sat. at ND will be 33. Probably around 28 at game time. Snow flurries are possible. ND linemen will be wearing short sleeves. I'm guessing that the Nole players will be standing there on the sideline just waiting to get back on the plane and get to Tally. This could be like that bowl game with Miami in El Paso a while back.
ND <t>If the rolls were reversed and we were playing FSU in their stadium and we were 4-5 and they 9-0 everyone including the media would be expecting us to leave with out butts whipped. I’m just sayin....we should probably win.</t>
ND <t>Sorry for the spelling error but for some reason the board won’t let me edit my post. It should be “roles†reversed.</t>
Well crap, Ian Book is out for FSU. He's got rib injuries from a hit in the Northwestern game. I think we might be able to beat FSU without him, defense will have to come up big time. If he's not 100% for Syracuse/USC I doubt if we can win out. MIght need Jurkovec if Wimbush doesn't cut it.
All it takes is one injury to turn things around 365 degrees! This has to be very disappointing news for Irish fans. Ohio State has dealt with this kind of situation with J. T. Barrett on multiple times and still survived. Maybe the luck of the Irish will prevail too?
We are going to need a big running game that is for certain. Wimbush throws the ball around recklessly. The line on this game should tighten up on this news.
No kidding Don, the good news is that Brandon Wimbush has a lot of experience as a starter, and he was able to beat a very good defense in Michigan in the 1st game. The only good thing is that Brandon has been a good soldier as a backup, unlike Kelly Bryant who quit, and the game against FSU is Sr. day and Brandon is a Senior. It will be terrific for him if he plays well and gets the win on his Senior Day. Everybody expects Brandon to transfer after the season and play his 5th year at another school. So this will be his final home game. Kelly didn't mention this of course in his Tues FSU press conference, I'm sure the reason was that they didn't want to give FSU any time to game plan for Brandon instead of Ian Book. They are two completely different types of QB's so it would have been our advantage to have sprung that on them. But as always there is somebody who gets an inside bit and has to be a Internet Hero and be the first to post the information. Just like earlier when somebody got a bit of information about a potential academic problem for Book (turned out to be false) but raced to be the first person to break the news...be a big man. College of course is different and you can hide injuries from your opponents, in the NFL you'd get fined for this as the Miami Dolphins just did for incorrectly reporting on the status of Steve Tannehill the Dolphins QB.
George I think everybody has the same thought as you have, what Brandon couldn't do was throw those short/intermediate passes and screens that Book just nails. That change is what got our offense going. It's probably too much to hope that he's gotten better at reading the defense and making the correct throws, but who knows. Hopefully the Irish get off to a fast start and the defense makes life miserable for the FSU QB's.
This has to be the play it happened on ... at first it doesn't look like much, looks like he gets a knee to the right side, but when he gets up and walks away he's clearly in some pain. But he never missed a down and it was early in the game and he played really well in the 2nd half so I never gave it another thought. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0SRmqWmqnNM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe>
Not everybody. Very few college teams have the luxury of a proven winner as backup, which is what BW is. Of course, Book is the better passer and IMO the better field leader. No question. But BW isn't exactly chopped liver. Remember, it was not BW's fault that as a team we faded in November last season. What happened is that he could not pull off the performance necessary to offset the failures of our OL and defense. I'm very comfortable with BW running the offense vs. FSU and, if necessary, for the rest of the season. We sink or swim as a team, not because of one player. I believe that this team's mentality is perfect for BW to step in and be successful, i.e., we're going to do whatever it takes to win. I like our chances. If we're going to compete for a championship, we need to overcome adversity like this. I believe we have the depth and character to do so.
ND <t>Well I’ll just state the obvious...this sucks!! We might be able to pull out a win at home against FSU but we are not beating Syracuse without putting up some serious points! Brandon Wimbush is a great young man but I have serious doubts we can win any of the three games remaining with him. Again, this sucks! God please heal Ian Book’s injury fast, please ..and help Brandon Saturday.ðŸ™</t>
Sid, I'm with you also. Injuries are part of the game and you just have to "adapt and overcome" . Right AJ? :wink:
Green Jersey's for FSU and Senior Day. The players requested them. https://twitter.com/NDFootball/status/1060698487543791624 Last time I can remember Green Jersey's on Senior Day was 2006 for Brady Quinn's Sr. Class vs Army. Beat the hell out of them that day.
Cat and Mouse? Brian Kelly wouldn't name a starter for FSU. When asked if Ian has been practicing, he replied that he's been at Practice but has been limited. When asked if Phil Jurkovec had to play would he feel confident, he said yes that Phil has been getting a lot of work and could win the game. When asked about the starter said that they would look at things Sat and decide. Coach Speak, and as I said earlier if it were the NFL he'd be fined. Tim Prister raised the possibility that Book will not be ready for Syracuse and possibly not even USC.
ND <r>Terry,<br/> <br/> Like I said, this sucks. <br/> <br/> Wimbush starts = L<br/> <br/> Book starts = W<br/> <br/> We are either 9-3 or 12-0. Best possibility with Wimbush is 10-2. <E</E></r>
eh, this is football not slow pitch softball. You have to overcome adversity if you're going to win an NC. I thought our biggest problem would be overcoming the idiots doing the rankings, turns out, life's gotta curveball for us. Fair enough. I agree with Sid. Also, f*ck Florida State. I hope Wimbush kicks off a QB controversy.