Stanford is another team very similar to Purdue in terms of talent and resume. They are 3-2, with both losses being on the road, they did beat Oregon State but that was not the Oregon State team that beat USC, it was their 1st game of the season. I expect to win, we should win, but we won't win unless they come out ready to play from the gun. Stanford always has good skill people and Harbaugh is seemingly developed into a pretty good coach. I don't think we had any injuries to speak of from the Purdue game, although as I understand it Luke Schmidt will still not be available due to the unknown nature of his headaches. Will Yeatman of course will not play either, so we'll continue to be short at TE. Michael Floyd is now the starter at WR, Duval has fallen behind. Tate, Grimes and Floyd are a very good group of WR's and Clausen seems to have developed chemistry so I expect our passing game to continue to improve. Our running game I am hopeful that the breakout by Armando wasn't just a aberration and that we can follow it up with another good effort. Baby Steps!! I'm hopeful that the defense will continue to be able to get the opposition off the field on 3rd downs quite a bit and also will get a few sacks. Ethan Johnson and RJ Blanton are both developing quite nicely to say the least. Go Irish!! To Hell with Stanford!
ND/stanford <r>Terry,<br/> <br/> Like you, I feel the Irish can win this game. Especially if they play like they did the 2nd half of the PU game. <br/> <br/> You mentioned the chemistry between JC and the receivers and I think you are right. We have a couple of guys who can really stretch the field now after wishing for years for that type of player. <br/> <br/> The young talent is starting to show now and the recruiting is paying off. Still need more talent on the D-Line.<br/> <br/> Let's hope they start of the Stanford game with some scoring right away. That would be a good sign.<br/> <br/> Too early to get too optimistic yet but I'm still hoping for 8 wins.<br/> <br/> TO HELL WITH STANFORD <E>:twisted:</E></r>
Wow, it's thursday and this topic was sinking to the bottom. How sad!! But Standford OL Chris Marinelli has livened things up a little bit with some bulletin board material thank goodness. Mike Frank is predicting a big Irish win after last weekend predicting a narrow win over Purdue. Terry
With a young team, it's normal to fear a letdown after a big win. That's my fear, but it's not an overwhelming fear. I like so much what I saw last week that I'm back to feeling optimistic about our chances. It's been a while since I've had that feeling. I like it. Interesting comment by the Stanford OL. I'm guessing that he did not make the dean's list. :lol:
Copied from another board. -This will be Stanford's 6th straight game (no byes yet) -This will be Stanford's 4th road game and they are coming off a road game -Stanford has played all night games this year, sans the TCU game. This will be Stanford's earliest start time of the year -Stanford played at 10pm EST last week, while ND played at 3:30 EST -Stanford has to travel 2243.13 miles to South Bend -Stanford has only five, four star recruits on their 2 deep -Stanford only has four players on their depth chart that ND offered
ND/Stanford <r>I don't think the bullitin board material gets you very far. They made a big deal out of Charlie's "The Hell with Michigan" comments and we know how much that paid off for UM. All it tells me is the kid was pissed he didn't get an offer from ND when he was being recruited and is still mad about it. <br/> <br/> As far as the game I really feel if they play anywhere close to the way they did last Sat and don't turn the ball over, ND will have a good shot to pull this game out. <E>8)</E></r>
This was closer than it probably should have been but I'll take. Four and one. Keep it up Irish. PJ in Jersey
I'm very happy for the win, it's all about just getting better every week. We are a young team and not a well oiled machine like you saw in Missouri last night. We are going to take a few steps forward but there will be the inevitable step back somewhere along the line. Where I don't know but with 4 of our next 5 games on the road. all against teams we can beat but aren't likely to beat them all, so there is still some pain ahead. But when you look at the passing game we have made such great strides this year, even from the 1st game. Our baby's Floyd and Rudolph have grown up fast and are legit threats, the toddlers like Golden Tate and Armando Allen and Jimmy Clausen have grown up as well and the adult in David Grimes is a solid steadying hand on the offense. We are still struggling to run the ball, whether that is due to the opponents just selling out to stop the run or our OL just not getting the job done, I don't know. But if we keep throwing the ball like we have the last 2 games then the defense will have to back off the LOS and focus on the passing game. That might give the OL and the RB's some room to breathe. I hope so. It is just so impressive to see the plays that Floyd and Rudolph are making as true freshmen. And Clausen is so much better now, you can see it in the throws he's making, he is becoming the QB that was predicted of him when he was USA Today HS player of the Year. On defense we are playing better than I had hoped for in defensing the pass, this last game is the first time we've gotten to the QB and gotten sacks and hurries in bunches. But both MSU and Stanford were able to line up and run the ball on us, to our defenses credit they have found ways to get the opposition off the ball. I thought we might be better stopping the run, there was a lot of talk about Tenutas blitz package being basically a run stopping blitz package. We are thin on the DL and I saw this as sort of way to shore that up. Now again to be fair Ringer and the Stanford backs are good backs, and while Ringer did make a lot of plays if it weren't for that 1 run he made he was working for his yardage. I have hope that the defense will progress as the season goes along and the players become more knowledgeable about what Corwin and Tenuata want them to do. But at 4-1 I am pretty happy and can see 8 or 9 wins if we can keep improving week to week. Go Irish.
Charlie and Sid seem to have talked to one another. In todays press conference Charlie pointed out that after the 1st quarter that Stanford only averaqed a little more than 2 yds/carry, and that included that 27 yard run they ripped off in the 4th qtr.
You mean 27 yard "gash", don't you? :wink: Seriously, I'm not a stats guy. I go by "feel". I was nervous as heck in the 1st quarter after they ran the ball 95 yards down our throat for the score, but that seemed to be the end of their threat. For the last 3 quarters we seemed to be able to hold them in check on 3rd down. Granted, every time #7 got the ball I held my breath, but aside from that 27 yard run he really didn't do much after the 1st quarter. In the MSU game, if you take away the RB's 65 (?) yard run late in the game, we held him to respectable yardage. IMO our turnovers, not his running, beat us. Bottom line.......We need to improve in that area of defense, but we are taking baby steps every game toward being an all around stout defensive team.
P.S. I just read a transcript of Coach Weis' press conference. He used the term "gash" a couple of times. Looks like I stand corrected, Terry. You know the terminolgy better than I do. :lol:
You know, I forgot that he went to the game. With all the stuff that has been going on with regards to supposed gestapo like tactics by tailgate police at ND game, I wonder if he stumbled on some stadium steps and was hauled off to the drunk tank and is languishing there till somebody drives out from Joisey to bail him out?
That's why I wrote "supposed" I didn't see it, but then it's a big place and I could miss a lot of stuff. But so many stories have cropped up that even if only some of them are true then they (ND and Cops) need to review what they do. I do think every day all over the country cops can overeact. I doubt if the Brandon Backe story has reached you yet, but he was arrested this weekend after a brawl broke out a wedding he attended. When I read the story I have to say that I wonder why they just didn't step back and let the police handle things, and also I have to wonder why the cops chose to deal with 1 unruly kid (19y/o) in such a harsh manner. Seems like both sides were at fault. That's what I see in a lot of the stories I see regarding incidents at ND. Terry
Jim Harbaugh was reprimanded by the PAC10 for comments about officals following the Stanford loss. He was being a baby over there on the sidelines and I was wondering if they would nail him. From some of the things I've read he has been heckling PAC10 officals for awhile now, not that they don't deserve it. But all conferences have rules about what you can say about officals. The most important thing was the PAC10 aknowledged that after review of the incident their officals made the right call. A first for them in a ND/Pac10 game. Pac10 Reprimands Stanford Coach