The next in the "must win" games for the Irish. All the conversation nationally is about can the Irish win out, and if they do win out are they guaranteed that they are in, and what if they lose. I think if we lose the committee will leave us out and go with the Conf Championship and 13th data point argument to over rule the head/head should Michigan win out. So just win baby and it's probably all moot. 2 weeks ago the irish were on upset alert vs Northwestern but we won with an injured QB. Now we are back on upset alert with Syracuse and their high flying offense that I think is averaging 50 points a game. They also played Clemson close at Death Valley. But that was the week that Dabo made the switch to Trevor Lawrence and Kelly Bryant quit the team. Then Lawrence got injured and they had to bring on the 3rd string guy who had thrown like 3 passes. It's going to be another cold game and since Syracuse is in upstate New York I doubt if that is much of a factor even though they play all their games in a Domed Stadium. Kelly says Book will be ready to go, and apparently we didn't pick up any new injuries vs FSU. That's not to say the team is 100%, at this point in the season everybody (even Alabama) has players who are nicked up and not 100%. With Book and Dexter we should be able to keep up with Syracuse. I have read that Syracuse has a very good pass rush, they have 33 sacks this year which is more than the Irish. Dungy is a tough physical QB who can make you pay with his legs and runs it quite a bit in the red zone. I see that we are 9-10 point favorites. I am of course hoping for a 20+ point win, but a win as Corey would say. We got some backups playing time last week and I'd like to see that again get off to a fast start get a comfortable lead and see some young guys get playing time and no injuries of course. Esp to Book, tender ribs and all need to be kept clean by the OL.
ND <r>Terry,<br/> <QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> Agreed, 1 loss won't get it. They are looking for an excuse to keep us out. A win by 1 or 100 in both games and we are in. Just win Irish, just WIN!</r>
ND <r>If you're a Irish fan this will give you chills...<br/> <br/> <URL url="https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1062135108138885126"><LINK_TEXT text="https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/10 ... 8138885126">https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1062135108138885126</LINK_TEXT></URL></r>
I love that song, I forget when it originally came out, it's been awhile. This video is I think the original but somehow the video quality isn't as good as I remember it...but it still gives me chills. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oG63YiRufSI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe> Nice win by the Women Basketball on the night they unveil the Nat'l Championship Banner. Sellout crowd and a lot of important people from the Irish past are there for this.
ND <r>ICON does it again...<br/> <br/> <URL url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq098gNj9hc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq098gNj9hc</URL></r>
I'm very curious to see how the Irish handle this game. This Syracuse team lost close in OT to Pitt, who the Irish beat, and lost close on the road to Clemson, who the Irish would play if the season ended today. I'll be very interested to see how the Irish handle this November test in New York. I know the Syracuse fans have been trying to gobble up tickets to this game (thanks Shamrock series), but hopefully the ND Irish subways come out of the woodwork for the game to support this team. Fun fact: Perhaps my longest friendship is with Billy Baptiste. We've known each other since we were 7. Billy's nephew is an OL for the Orange. I'll be interested to see who Billy pulls for in this game.
I was at this game a few years ago when Uncle Rico was the DC. I think there were 60+ points scored.... in the first quarter. Those days are gone. Syracuse is a very good team and a wind by any margin will be sufficient this week.
Last time we played them in 2016 it was after BVG had been canned and we brought a former Irish LB who was a Analyst on the staff in to be the DCoord and I think it was Babers first year with them and he was just starting to implement the Air Raid offense. They put up 33 points on us but we won 50-33. Eric Dungy was the QB and he was 31-51 for 363 yards and 2 TD's. It was at Met Life Stadium. That offense will be a big test for the defense and we'll likely give up more points than our average, the most we've given up this year was 27 to Wake Forrest. I don't really know how good their defense is other than they are good at sacking the QB. Book is pretty good at getting rid of the ball quickly though so if he's 100% then hopefully we can out score them. I would imagine that in a lot of ways they will use the same defense though that Pitt threw at us and that Northwestern threw at us. In both those games we barely ran for over 100 yds.
This is pretty much everybody's pick for the upset of the weekend. No big news so far, weather for the game will be high 40's and windy.
ND <t>Terry,<br/> <br/> While I agree with you that it seems many are picking this as an upset for Syracuse, I think our D can hold them to under 30 and our O with Book should be able to score more than 30. If we have turnovers it could go their way but otherwise I think we can win this one. If we don't we'll drop out of the playoff top 4 for sure and be playing for a New Years 6 game. Let's hope they boys live up to their potential and win this one. Win by 1 or 100 it doesn't matter anymore....just win.</t>
ND <r>By the way just saw this:<br/> <br/> "A decade after sending his most well-known player to Notre Dame, Punahou head coach Kale Ane will be sending another one as 2019 Hawaii linebacker Marist Liufau†just announced his commitment to the Irish". <E></E><br/> <br/> Have to love it cause he picked ND over USC <E></E></r>
I think the kid has the frame to grow into an OLB position, at 6'3" and he has the speed to cover in space. He's looking like someone we're going to grow into that OLB position and let him flex in coverage when need be. I normally agree with darn near everything Dan Wetzel says, but this time he wrote about the Irish. While I don't agree with everything, I do agree with the bulk of his thesis here. https://sports.yahoo.com/notre-dame-smart-not-join-conference-181449737.html
Liufau is not very highly ranked by the recruting services, but I have read that most of the ND guru's think he'll zoom up the rankings when they update them after the season. Most are really excited for this kid, he's got a lot of upside and could play Rover or Safety and supposedly is a deadly tackler. I read that we have room for 1 more player, and everybody is hoping that is the Foskey kid from Calif. They really like him as the bookend to NaNa Osafo-Mensah on the DL. It's going to be tight getting down to the 85 player limit, there will be some transfers as always. It's also looking like for the first time in a long time there will be no freshmen in the 2019 class from the state of Fla.
No it was called "Roster Management". Now everybody does it. Grad transfers on the uptick, medical scholarships for those who can be declared unable to participate ( gray area), etc. Guys who are no doubt encouraged to continue their careers at other places. Saban is always a step ahead!
Terry, no "processed" was the cynical term thrown at Saban and Alabama. I'm sure it won't be used in Notre Dame's case. I figure something like "Humanitarian Administration" would be the term for y'all. :roll:
On the couple of ND boards I participate in it's called Roster Management...now it was still used in a sort of cynical way for sure when it came to Alabama of course. I get the point though, a lot of what Saban has done is totally legal, he might run one of the cleaner programs around. He's so successful I doubt if there is any need for the old time SEC bagman at Alabama. You guys win a lot and you have a lot of players drafted for the NFL, kind of makes kids who are highly thought of and want to go to the NFL want to come to Alabama. Might have to pay them to go to Auburn ( or Cam Newtons dad) . While what Gipper says is true, we of course still have one of the best grad rates. We have grad transfers of players who probably wouldn't play much if they stayed. Our QB, Brandon Wimbush, who beat Michigan probably will grad transfer, and there are some other players who might be encouraged to look elsewhere for playing time (nothing official of course) and the ever present Medical Redshirt.
Gipper, if it was graduation you wouldn't need to get "down" to 85. Notre Dame's graduation rate is not that much better than Alabama's. Alabama was only able to take 22 recruits last year to stay at 85.
We have kids who graduate in 4 years with eligibility left all the time. Some leave, some stay, some go pro, some transfer. We don't park incoming kids in JUCOs or smaller colleges until there's room like some schools did.