Notre Dame vs USC

Discussion in 'Sports Board' started by Terry O'Keefe, Oct 7, 2019.

  1. Don Ballard

    Don Ballard Well-Known Member

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    Tim, Michigan continues to puzzle me thus far, defense not that great and their QB play is spotty, they can turn around and bite you in arse!:)
     
  2. Stu Ryckman

    Stu Ryckman Well-Known Member

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    Michigan offense has been sputtering.
     
  3. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    I agree Don, Michigan is Michigan. You know they have talent on that roster and you know that they have a huge home crowd. The Big House is a tough place to win at, unless you are Ohio State! :D Kelly has not won a game in Ann Arbor.
     
  4. IrishCorey

    IrishCorey Well-Known Member

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    As for Kelly being on the field, I just don't see it being THAT big of a deal. If they flag him, fine. If they don't, well, that's pretty consistent with the way they've been calling that over the past few years. Has anyone ever seen the poor 'get back' coach who is assigned to Brent Venables at Clemson? That dude is regularly losing a tug of war with that coach wandering out 10 yards onto the field. Like I said, I'm fine with it being a penalty. It's just the way they have been calling that recently, the no call is pretty much standard especially for a non-habitual offender.
     
  5. Bobdawolverweasel

    Bobdawolverweasel Well-Known Member

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    I’m glad our AD was not playing poker with Swarbrick when he scheduled this game as he would have lost our endowments and the North Campus. Playing ND a week after a trip to Happy Valley is not smart scheduling on our part.

    M has talent but some pretty obvious flaws. Our offense is still a mess. Patterson has not shown the ability to throw deep and bails too quickly under pressure. We are thin at running backs but our offensive line and defensive play have improved since the Wisconsin debacle. Overall, this team lacks confidence and I do not see that improving this week at our visit to Happy Valley.
     
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  6. IrishCorey

    IrishCorey Well-Known Member

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    just win Bobda
     
  7. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    I don't blame USC for being steamed at Kelly not getting flagged. It would have given them another shot at the onside kick. Admittedly a low chance of being successful, but not zero.

    Ian Book in some ways has been a disappointment. But I think mainly because everybody, including me, thought in his 2nd year with a lot of pieces returning on offense that we'd see a better Ian Book. But he's been pretty much the same guy who finished last year. Most every metric is about the same. But he's been good enough to get us to where we have a real shot at 11-1. I still have hope that he will play better, our OL is steadily improving, and we're getting Armstrong back, and we have a healthy group of WR's/TE who if the running game gets going will maybe get some more separation and we'll see some big plays in the passing game. Book is 14-2 as a starter. Michigan will be huge for him, play well and win at Ann Arbor and he'll be a hero.
     
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  8. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    When thinking about it ...Could last weekend have been any better? I guess it could..butttttt...

    Great Fall Weather, perfect game time weather. Campus full fall colors.

    Great win over our arch rival who had two weeks to prepare for us, exciting game that the Irish won the old fashioned way by ramming the ball down their throats. A clock killing final drive that pretty much put the game out of reach.

    Biggest recruiting weekend of the season, picked up two highly rated recruits. Lots of stories of how much recruits loved their visit.

    Irish Hockey won 2 games
    Irish Volleyball got 2 wins
    Irish Men's Soccer got the win
    Irish Women's Soccer got a win and a tie.

    Irish Men's Basketball had 2 big recruits in for the weekend, no verbals but reports are positive
    Irish Women's Basketball had 2 big recruits in for the weekend, no verbals but reports are positive
     
  9. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Bob...let me see if I can find some tissue, I'm tearing up here! ;);)
     
  10. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    "
     
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  11. Bobdawolverweasel

    Bobdawolverweasel Well-Known Member

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    Well...I think I found the right evening to finish off the rest of my bottle of Patron and American Spoon Margarita Mix
     
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  12. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    I did not know that American Spoon made a Margarita mix...they do everything really well. I love their products. How about a Texas State Fair Pecan Pie? :D

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Bobdawolverweasel

    Bobdawolverweasel Well-Known Member

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    Come at me with a BAPP and we can start negotiating.
     
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  14. Tim Gentry

    Tim Gentry Well-Known Member

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    I think a lot of the criticism about Book is unwarranted. Could he be a better passer? Yes. Does he help us win games? Absolutely!!
     
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  15. Sid

    Sid Well-Known Member

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    I agree, Tim, but it's a fact of life among the Notre Dame faithful. Of course, we should set the bar high. I do. But look at the competition. There never has been greater parity overall among college football's Division 1 teams. As much as I hate USC - no one hates them more than I - I respect them as a strong program with great players who always bring their A+ game vs. ND. Our win Saturday was a solid performance. Book's play was solid. We won the game. Be happy. Don't micro analyze the team's or the QB's performance. I know I'm speaking to deaf ears, but your sensible comment opened the door for me to express my minority-of-one opinion. :rolleyes:

    P.S. IMO this is the best assemblage of player quality, depth and winning attitude since the Holtz years, and based on recent recruiting news, it looks to continue. BUT so many more teams across the country have improved in these areas that, even with the improvements in our program, the challenges are greater than ever.
     
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  16. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Book is a very good college QB. But .... He is a notch below, Tua, Trevor, Justin Fields, Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts and even Jake Fromme. Just like in the NFL, if you don't have an elite QB it's going to be hard to win a championship. kp likes to say defense wins championships, that's true, but in 2019 you also need an elite QB.

    Book has a couple of limitations mostly he's not got the arm strength of the elite QB's. It doesn't help that he's short, but as we've all seen with Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield and of course Drew Brees you can be elite and not be 6'3 to 6'5".

    If we are able to beat Michigan, and run the table Book will be 20-2 as a starter at the end of the regular season. Hard to be very critical of him with that type of record. Sure he's been fortunate to play with a very good defense that has had a lot to do with some of those wins. I'll give Book a lot of credit, he's a gutty QB who will do anything to win, he's not afraid to run the ball and his running in the redzone has won a couple of game for us.

    Going forward I hope he has a great year and quiets his critics, but I also hope that we have some more games where Jurkovec can get in and run plays with the 1st team, or at least run the offense and not be in the just hand the ball off mode and run out the clock. Jurkovec has many of the physical characteristics of the elite QB's, He's tall, he's mobile, and he has a strong arm. There are questions about his accuracy, but that wasn't a problem for him as a HS QB, and only playing time will allow the game to slow down and let him show us his talent.

    It will be a tough situation next year if Phil gets in enough games and shows enough that as a Jr he can legitimately challenge and displace Book who will be a 5th year senior starter who possibly has only lost a couple of games in his ND career. Book clearly isn't a QB, no matter how strong he finishes, that is going to get drafted by the NFL. You'd hate to see him forced out and have to transfer to continue playing or to lose his job ala Kelly Bryant at Clemson.
     
  17. IrishCorey

    IrishCorey Well-Known Member

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    Aside from Tua, who are Alabama's elite QBs? Until this season, Hurts was viewed as limited and one-dimensional. I'd argue that every great Bama team, who have won far more titles than the rest of us mortals, since Gene Stallings had an average to good, "game manager" type QBs.
     
  18. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    That's true, and thus in the past kp's "defense wins championships"...was dogma. Great defense and great running game was the key. But the rise of the Spread and the various Spread offenses have changed that and going forward I don't think you can do the way Alabama did it in the past. Even Saban must see it that way, as he's clearly changed his offense and now emphasizes the passing game over the running game. He has some really good RB's, but prefers to utilize his WR's ( who are outstanding) and Tua.

    Dabo first with Deshaun Watson and now with Trevor Lawrence has embraced with huge success the QB centric offense, sure Dabo has good RB's but the passing game is why Kelly Bryant is now at Missouri.

    Both Dabo and Saban do still embrace the championship defense as a key factor, but not the only thing. I don't think Clemson wins the Natty with Kelly Bryant and a solid running game last year.

    Tua is likely gone to the NFL after this year, so it will be interesting to see if Alabama returns to a QB game manager like Jake Coker or Blake Sims ( who to be fair had a great season)
     
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    Last edited: Oct 15, 2019
  19. kp

    kp Well-Known Member

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    I think Saban is going with the passing game because of Tua and the receivers Alabama have. Our OL also is struggling with run blocking so the short pass or WR screens have filled in the gap. I agree with Corey though in that Alabama has had qb's that "do no harm", 2 running backs that could consistently get first downs and an outstanding defense that shut down opponents. This year we are missing the defense and the running game so we have to score a lot of points through the air. On offense I am fine with the passing game but I really think the defense is the key. That is why I am not so optimistic about this season. I know it sounds odd but I think Alabama would be a bigger threat to win the NC again if we had another qb and a shutdown defense.
    I think Clemson would have won the NC with Bryant and a running game last year because Tua had a bad day and Clemson's defense shut us down. To me that's the problem with the pass first offense. Dropped passes, inaccurate passes, and interceptions are all drive killers so just a bad day kills your offense and even the best quarterbacks have bad days.
     
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  20. gipper

    gipper Well-Known Member

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    A few comments on Book
    1. I think he plays with a fear of the turnover and this is from Kelly.
    2. I don't particularly like our passing attack. Yes we do not have much of a deep threat but so few of our passes seem to hit the receiver in stride and gain YAK.
    3. I don't think that facing a Clemson defense that had 2 DL who were taken in the 1st round of the NFL Draft and a 3rd in the 4th round did much for his confidence. (it would have been worse if another hadn't failed his drug test.) I don't think he's been as poised since that game.
    4. He's still a tough competitor and a winner.
     
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