ND/MICH <r>BobDA,<br/> <br/> I'd like to feel sorry for you but I have absolutely no confidence that ND is capable of winning this game. After last saturday's game, I haven't seen anything yet that would even come close to making me give a projection that the Irish would win this game. I don't care how many 5* players ND has, if you don't coach them right they will lose to even lesser talented teams, much less a team that has as many talented athletes as UM does.<br/> <br/> CW is a great recruiter, it remains to be seen if he is a good coach. <E</E></r>
Somebody get ahold of Option Tim and tell him that Lou "They're Gonna Kill Us" Holz has stolen his logon and password. 8)
OptionMan...lol from the old Prodigy Days when we all thought ND was going to rule with QB's like Carlyle Holiday!! Turns out Carlyle couldn't run the option!
ND/Mich <r>Terry and Stu,<br/> <br/> Sorry guys but I'm tired of being disappointed by this coaching staff. I feel like we have stepped back in the Jerry Faust era! Lots of talent but no one to coach them. Come on...it was San Diego State for Christ sake!!!! To top it off they came in undermanned and beat up!!!!!<br/> <br/> ND should have scored a TD every time they had the ball!! It took until the last 10 min of the game until they even remotely started to look like they could move the ball effectively and consistently on an inferior opponent!!<br/> <br/> We were hearing all the hype about being able to pound the ball an run it down the opponents throat....yeah right! They should have been but they weren't, not even close. <br/> <br/> I'm just not buying the hype anymore. They need to shutup and show up running for about 300 yds then maybe I would feel positive. <E>:evil:</E></r>
I sort of agree Tim, that game took the wind out of my sails. I thought it would be and should be a walkover for ND, but clearly I was wrong. We were a terrible team last year and maybe we'll make it all the way back to just mediocre. We'll know a lot more after the Michigan game. One thing for sure though, maybe those students who posted all the negative stuff after the scrimmage had it right after all. Terry
Holy cow... Kamara made 2 mistakes. One cost us a TD (points) and the other set up SDSU for points. Clausen missed a wide open WR in the end zone that led to us trying and missing a FG because of a bad snap. We missed a 47 yard FG just wide. The absolutely horrible fumble call on SDSU's 5 yard line that gave them the ball and almost cost us a RBs knees. Those are all missed point opportunities, if any of those are connected on, this game takes on a different face from the get go. I have and still do openly question our style of rushing attack against SDSU, but we still moved the ball when we had to.. Let's not forget that from the moment Bruton caused and recovered that fumble... ND scored TDs on its next 2 possessions and finished the game sitting inside the SDSU 20 running out the clock. The offensive line did not give up a sack. We had holes to hit, we just didn't hit them. Every mistake that ND made can be corrected. As I said before in the other section, this game was a lot closer to being a blowout than people are talking about.. The Irish weren't making 3 and out mistakes... They were right on the verge of blowing that thing open and then committed mistakes at exactly the wrong time.. IF this team learns to get out of its own way, they will be fine. Much has been made of the fact that the defense didn't get any sacks, but totally ignores the fact that SDSU went to a 1 step, and 3 step drop with the vast majority of it being 1 step drop.. This game reminded me a lot of our old openers under Lou against Northwestern, Vanderbilt, etc.. Was I happy with it? No... Did we show progress and improvement?? Yes we did. The same players that were hapless and underachieving under Ty became super stars under this same coaching staff. Did they forget how to coach all of a sudden? You guys seriously don't seem to grasp how deep of a hole Ty left us in and if you ever need a reminder, I'd recommend that you tune in to watch the tragic comedy that is Washington Husky football these days.
I hope you're right Corey. I think most of us average fans were just expecting more from the team, esp on offense. I thought the defense did well, with spread teams who have a QB who gets the ball out of there quickly it's tough to sack him and they make a lot of completions of the dink and dunk style. It's Texas Tech all over, no suprise since Lumpy was at OU and installed the spread for Stoops, which is where Chuck Long came from. And if it weren't for the fact that SDSU was so darn thin on defense and had just lost to a 1AA team, a good 1AA team, I wouldn't be upset with our offense.
Terry, I'm with you. I vented my frustration for not simply lining up, hat on hat, and pushing them back. I have no idea what we were trying to do by exploiting the perimeter and looking for cutback seams. I think that this team is going to throw the ball a lot and run when the defense gives it to us. I heard Charlie's take on the end zone INT. It appears that the right read was to pass right.. Kamara made the read correctly, but what he did was dog his route... so when Clausen lofts a beautiful fade to the corner of the end zone, we saw what we saw.. Kamara running like a bat out of hell, not looking for the ball and trying to swat it away. Hopefully that will teach him that on any given play, the ball may be coming to him...especially since he is such a physical mismatch with most corners... there will be times when the 'smart' read is one way but you can't pass up a one on one matchup when you've got the better athlete. Clausen was throwing BBs out there all night. I was quite happy with that. Grimes looked better, Tate was better.. like I said, I think we're going to throw it all over the place.
I think we'll be a passing team as well. We all forget that is what Charlie came from a NE team that did run the ball successfully but was looking to pass first to set up the run. They would not be confused with the old Steelers. Terry
I wish the we could dominate teams we have superior talent to like all the others do, like OSU, Alabama, West Virginia, Pitt.
C'mon now Gip, I like our record a whole helluva lot better than theirs.....but I'm with you on one thing - never b!tch about a victory. It's the only thing that matters.
I'll go with the OSU in that grouping...but Bama, WVA, and Pitt????? Bama may do that in the future but it wasn't that long ago they lost to UL-Monroe. That's what Lou did best, he beat the teams he should beat. He never lost to MSU, I don't think Purdue had much success either. And he was on the + side vs Michigan and USC. Miami gave him fits but he won 2 out of the last 3 from them. I think he might have a losing record to Penn State. Terry
Terry You don't think Pitt has more talent than Bowling Green? You don't think Bama struggled vs Tulane. It happens.
A few random comments: 1. Corey is a glass-is-half-full kind of guy. 2. Mike needs to put an IRONY tag after his posts so that the Houston member of the Irish glass-is-half-empty club can savor his dry wit. 3. TOK, I am very surprised that Michigan opened as a 1 pt. favorite. I like our defense and the bank breaking hiring of RR but I am absolutely serious is saying that the QB situation at Michigan is the worst I have seen at Michigan since the early 80s when a 6-6 Michigan lost to BYU in the Holiday Bowl resulting in BYU winning the national championship. There are certain aspects of this team that are superior to past Michigan teams--we defend against the spread better and we have not gassed out in the fourth quarter as some of Lloyd's less conditioned teams did-but for Rodriguez's offense to click, you need a QB who has the ability to run and some passing ability. We have 1 QB who can run but can has shown no ability to throw mid to long passes with any degree of accuracy and another who can pass fairly well but can't run. Unless U of M's medical college can surgically graft the good qualities of both into a single player before Saturday, our offense will struggle against ND. 4. BT, Glad to see the SB B10 solidarity foundation still holding although given the present state of our program, I suspect the F**K Michigan memorabilia is gathering dust on store shelves in Columbus.
correction <t>1. Corey is a glass-is-half-full-but-Michigan-always-sucks kind of guy.<br/> <br/> I fixed it for you.</t>
Thanks, Corey, I am starting to feel better. The matter of fact postings about this game were depressing the hell out of me.
It does happen and some of us are not happy about it at all. A win is a win but how your team performs is very important. Corey is encouraged by ND's performance against SDSU. I am not encouraged by Alabama's performance against Tulane. :? [/quote]
With the last two drives that JC led, if I were a ND fan, I would be very excited. Those drives and accurate passes would lead me to believe that things are looking up.