The luckiest part of that closing scenario is the Leinert fumble. If it goes into the endzone and OB the Irish get a touchback. If it remains in play and the Irish recover game over. If it goes backward, no opportunity to sneak. It somehow goes out at the one? And all our haters always talk about "the luck of the Irish."
We had this game locked up, in hand and found a way to lose it. We no longer have sole control over our destiny. Water over the dam now. We can only go forward and hope, once again for help from others. And we may get it or may not. It starts on the road with an undefeated Duke team that we are currently a two point favorite over.
It becomes a single elimination tournament at this point. Win out and you are probably in, lose and you're out. Alabama of course is in the same boat. If we win out, the strength of schedule will be the deciding factor.
Big NBC numbers for the Buckeyes / Irish Saturday night. 2nd most viewed NBC regular season game since the FSU /Irish game of the century in 1993. Also the most viewed prime time regular season game on any network since 2018. Also reports I am seeing were that the Buckeye fans were good guests. Notre Dame-Ohio State draws near-record ratings for NBC Sports
Celebrating my newfound ability to post actual tweets, thanks to Terry's guidance. Here's a significant stat, IMO. It shows that we have a super competitive defense. How long has it been since that happened?
Basketball can practice now. Here's Coach Shrewsberry after pracice. I of course have no idea how this season will go with so many new faces, but I continue to be impressed with him.
One of the things that is being debated now about the Ohio State game is did we run the ball too much? It seems like we spent all of the Kelly years complaining that we needed to run the damn ball, complaining that Kelly didn't spend any time practicing the run game, that it was all about his passing game. Now that Freeman has publicly said he wants to base his offense on a strong run game and develop of course top OL. He did not say he didn't want to throw the ball but he wants to run the ball and stop the run. So now some think we are too committed to the run, that there were lots of open WR's Sat night but that the game plan was to run the ball and go for short routes that could develop quickly and not count on Hartman to have a lot of time against a excellent Buckeye Front 7. One guy over on ISD even put together a 35 minute video analysis of how we could have been more aggressive throwing the ball. I watched a few minutes but I just don't have the interest in getting into X's and O's, plays work or they don't game plans are good or they aren't. But if you like this sort of thing.
On Duke a couple of things I'm reading. 1. Duke QB Riley Leonard is a problem, he's a big kid who can run the ball when needed and he did have several key runs in the upset of Clemson. Strong arm as well. 2. Duke does have an excellent pass defense but based on stats they don't have a strong run defense. So it seems like our OL and RB's should be good to go, and if we gash them with the run game then the passing game seemingly will open up for the Irish. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around going to Duke and everybody talking about it being a hostile environment. It's going to be a sellout for sure and I guess by definition that makes it a hostile environment. I just don't think of Duke football fans being like LSU fans or Clemson fans, or Penn State fans, etc. Makes it all the more imperative that we get out of the gate fast and take the crowd out of it.
Now if it's a basketball game...that's another story! I guess the Cameron Crazies don't go to football games!
Re: criticism that we ran too much vs. Ohio State. Three things in life are guaranteed: death, taxes, and criticism by ND fans. It always will exist, especially after heartbreaking losses such as Ohio State. Over the years, I've become numb to it. My bottom-line opinion of the game, as I posted earlier, is that it's the best game by an ND team in many years. I'll stick with that thought and move on to Duke with fingers crossed.
They had a game plan. It worked for 59 min. and 59 sec. We missed a makable FG and lost by 3. Why we lost was pretty obvious. We didn't defend a 3rd and 19 and we played with only 10 men the last 2 plays. The game plan put us into position to win. Late game execution failed. End of story.
Duke? Football? Crowd? Hostile? Hmmmm......been there, it is not remotely close. I have alot of Dookie friends. It's a teeny, tiny place more often than not half-filled. I think they're averaging less than 25,000 per game this season. No doubt the Irish will be the biggest draw of the year but hostile is not a word that I would use to describe the Duke football environment. I wouldn't be surprised with a slow start, but after getting their feet back under them, the Irish will have their way with the overmatched Dookies.....
Amen to that Sid. It goes with the territory in Columbus and the homes of many of the other football powers as well. There is plenty of criticism being directed at Day for the less than dominant performance, bad play calls, etc at South Bend. People just don't seem to get it....great teams playing another great team don't dominate because the other guys have really good players also and oftentimes make each other look bad. The other guys have excellent coaching staffs and fine game plans and 4 and 5* players on scholarship also and they will each make their fair share of plays. I just shake my head.....I actually have a friend of mine calling for Day's removal over his 4th down play selection. True story
Injury upsdate from Freeman. Jayden Thomas remains questionable or even doubtful with his hamstring injury. He hasn't practiced yet this week, but they're not ruling him out yet. Braylon James has been practicing with the offense this week. We'll see if his role increases, Marcus Freeman says I've read that this is due to the injuries to the WR's leaving them short. They expected to RS James and felt he wouldn't be ready to play this year. But now they need him and maybe a walkon for depth. Eli Raridon (knee) is practicing with the team and gaining confidence. The plan is to be able to use him next week as long as there are no setbacks. Nolan Ziegler (personal reasons) is progressing into some scout team and individual drills. He's trending in a direction that may allow him to play this season. Of course none of us know what is going on in Nolan's life, but regardless of how things play out for football I hope he's able to deal with it and continue his education and get his degree from ND. Deion Colzie's knee surgery is scheduled for today.
Krebsie, I truly shudder at the thought. Both the thought of losing again and/or the vitriol that would cascade down upon a truly extraordinary and gifted coach. It will be ugly to be sure. The expectations and pressure on the head guy at a major program like Ohio State, Bama, ND and a select few others is beyond comprehension and reason. Consider Day's record....he's 49-6, a winning pct of .891. Of the six losses, 5 of them were to teams that finished the season in the college football playoffs. His record in matchups with other top 10 teams is 10-5 and he was a bad call and shanked field goal from winning two of those and at least 1 Natty. There is nobody in the game today with a record to match that and he's still a very young coach in his 5th year, certain to learn and get better at his craft. Just out of curiosity and for sh!ts and giggles, I put together a little table of a few other guys perhaps we've heard of during their first 5 years at the their "Primary" school - for example Bear and Saban at Bama - even though most if not all had prior HC experience. It made sense to put Urban in 2x. Important also to keep in mind that most of these guys coached in an era before scholarship restrictions wherein it was not unusual for the big time programs to stockpile talent. So to answer your question Krebsie, I don't know to be honest. I can't imagine an AD that would let him go, certainly not Gene Smith. He's strong enough and has enough credibility to stand up against the angry $money$ but Gene is retiring after this year. It could be that the hate and vitriol in Columbus may just become unbearable and such that he and his young family just say "F" it, I don't need this sh-tuff and head off to more reasonable pastures of which there would be many. That is my greatest fear....I wouldn't fire Ryan Day any more than I would have fired any of the guys on that list....cause the question always is, who are you gonna get that's gonna be better than that guy? You tell me, what do you guys think?
I realize your comments were to George, but very valid points BuckeyeT and interesting stats as well.
No Don, Krebsie just asked the question, but I sort of threw it out there for everybody. However, let's be clear, it's not going to happen so there is that......
That's pretty illustrious company that he's in. I'm guessing that he's the youngest. Of course, the program was at or near the top when he got there, but he's kept it there. Lack of interview composure aside - he'll grow out of that - unless there's some surprising reversal of fortune, he's on the road to sustained excellence. Re: Michigan, whatever happens shouldn't make a difference. If the brass is smart, it won't.