The Official Notre Dame Football Thread

[Atlas]

The Irish will be 8-5 and ranked in the final AP Polls = yes

quoted b/c it will never happen... :smug:

 

[ram29jackson]

The Irish will be 8-5 and ranked in the final AP Polls = yes

who cares about 8-5 in college football LOL ?

top 4 means something.

top 25 means nothing

 

[FirstTimer]

There's quite a bit of talk now that the Irish might turn down the Champs Sports Bowl because you can only go once every 3 or 4 seasons or some noise like that so we might take a less bowl to "save" the Champs Sports Bowl spot for seasons down the line....

 

[ram29jackson]

There's quite a bit of talk now that the Irish might turn down the Champs Sports Bowl because you can only go once every 3 or 4 seasons or some noise like that so we might take a less bowl to "save" the Champs Sports Bowl spot for seasons down the line....

thats a little too much pride.

a games a game and the players want to play.

even when you are losing, you play for personal pride and/or the chance for something to happen for a memory or story to tell.

 

[Sportsbuck]

There's quite a bit of talk now that the Irish might turn down the Champs Sports Bowl because you can only go once every 3 or 4 seasons or some noise like that so we might take a less bowl to "save" the Champs Sports Bowl spot for seasons down the line....

Not sure what the rule is... but I seriously doubt they turn down the bowl bid. Unless your job is on the line, or its the BCS title game, the extra practices are more important than the bowl game itself especially for a first year coach.

 

[ram29jackson]

What team do you even like?

I am a sports fan in general.

Penn State is a primary favorite followed by Wisconsin and Nebraska.

I usually root against ND but that is also why I like them. They have a rich history.

 

[FirstTimer]

Not sure what the rule is... but I seriously doubt they turn down the bowl bid. Unless your job is on the line, or its the BCS title game, the extra practices are more important than the bowl game itself especially for a first year coach.

I'm not saying we would turn down all bowls....Just that one. We would/should/could/will have other options. Notre Dame is going bowling. I don't doubt that. I just don't know which one.

 

[FirstTimer]

http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20101127/SPORTS13/101129359/1001/Sports

The absurdity of Notre Dame's bowl situation was underscored by the fact that both Boise State's upset loss to Nevada and a game between two hyphenated Louisiana schools on Saturday (UL-Monroe and UL-Lafayette) actually tinkered with their bowl picture.

Of course, the score that mattered most in the equation was the one the Irish were directly involved with - their rivalry renewal with USC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum late Saturday night. Win, and the Irish were logically headed to the Champs Sports Bowl, Dec. 28 in Orlando to play an ACC team.

Lose and a 6-6 ND team was faced with sifting through leftovers of conferences who couldn't fill their designated allotment - many of which were games that were bad fits for the Irish.

Now imagine the same scenario with an 8-4 or 9-3 Irish team. That could happen sometime in the remaining three years of this bowl cycle. Once the Irish play the Champs Sports chip, they cannot return there during the length of the contract, which runs through the 2013 season.

In other words, it's BCS or dumpster dive.

The leftover bowls most likely to have been in play for a 6-6 Irish team or with a Champ Sports snub when regular-season play ends next weekend:

# The Texas Bowl, Dec. 29 at Houston vs. a Big 12 team.

# The Sun Bowl, Dec. 31 at El Paso, Texas vs. an ACC team.

# The Las Vegas Bowl, Dec. 22 at Las Vegas against a Mountain West Conference team, most likely a Utah team the Irish already have played.

# The BBVA Compass Bowl, Jan. 8 at Birmingham, Ala., against a Big East team.

# The New Mexico Bowl, Dec. 18 in Albuquerque against a WAC team, and an option the Irish would surely turn down since their exams run through Dec. 17.

A Houston upset against Texas Tech late Saturday night would close the door on the Texas Bowl. A Georgia win over Georgia Tech would do the same with the BBVA Compass option.

 

[Atlas]

they want the sun bowl...

 

[FirstTimer]

they want the sun bowl...

That seems to be the trendy "underdog" pick. I'm hearing they'd face Maryland or Miami in it.

 

[padman59]

Yeah. Kelly has been adamant about the need for 15 more practices this season. I don't really understand the reasoning behind declining a Champs Sports Bowl invite. Assuming ND continues to improve their record, they should have more prominent bowl invites coming in, right?

I'd definitely go to the Sun Bowl though...

 

[FirstTimer]

Yeah. Kelly has been adamant about the need for 15 more practices this season. I don't really understand the reasoning behind declining a Champs Sports Bowl invite. Assuming ND continues to improve their record, they should have more prominent bowl invites coming in, right?

I'd definitely go to the Sun Bowl though...

You would hope. But those bowl already have tie in's to the conferences. So even though the team might improve their options would be limited. Like that article points out we could go 9-3 next season miss on the BCS and end up back in the Sun Bowl or some other shitty bowl game. You hate to assume anything but it's a neat piece of strategic planning now.

 

[FirstTimer]

From IrishSportsDaily..

It seemed simple.

If Notre Dame could find a way to beat USC on Saturday night, the Irish’s 7-5 record seemed to make them a lock to play in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando on Dec. 28.

Most bowl projections currently have the Irish in the Champs Bowl, but it’s not that simple and as Notre Dame Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick said following the 20-16 victory over the Trojans on Saturday night, absolutely nothing has been decided yet.

First of all, if Connecticut and West Virginia both win next week, they would share the Big East championship with matching 5-2 conference records. UConn, at 8-4 overall, would go to the BCS based on its victory over the Mountaineers during the regular season and it’s very unlikely the Champs Bowl would pass up a 9-3 West Virginia squad for Notre Dame.

So if UConn and West Virginia win, the Irish will probably be headed elsewhere. Even if the Huskies or Mountaineers were to stumble, there’s still a good chance Notre Dame’s postseason destination wouldn’t include a trip to Disney World.

The Champs Sports Bowl is allowed to take the Irish once every four years and there’s some thinking that this might not be the year either side wants to use up that chance. For the Champs Bowl, it’s easy to envision the Irish as a more attractable option in 2011 should Notre Dame improve, but not reach the BCS.

From Notre Dame’s point of view, accepting an invitation to the Champs Bowl this season could be risky and possibly leave the Irish scrambling for a spot in future seasons. Notre Dame currently has no other direct tie-ins other than the Champs Bowl.

It makes sense for the Irish to look elsewhere this season, when there are plenty of other options.

With USC (7-5) ineligible for postseason play, the Pac-10 has just three teams currently bowl eligible, Oregon (11-0), Stanford (11-1) and Arizona (7-4), for its six bowls. It’s likely Oregon and Stanford both end up in the BCS, meaning the Pac-10 only has one team for its other five bowl tie-ins, minus the Rose Bowl, right now.

Oregon State and Washington can both become bowl eligible with wins this weekend, but both are facing rivalry games. The Beavers will play the Ducks on Saturday with Oregon playing for a spot in the national title game. The Huskies are the most likely of the trio to get to six wins as they face Washington State (2-9) on Saturday, but you know what they say about rivalry games.

Arizona seems poised to play a Big 12 opponent in the Valero Alamo Bowl, but if neither Oregon State or Washington State get wins this weekend, Notre Dame could scoop up an invitation to the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 30. If one of two qualifies, the Irish could end up in the Hyundai Sun Bowl on New Year’s Eve. Miami (7-5) is a possible opponent for Notre Dame in El Paso, but the Sun Bowl would have to pass up Maryland (8-4) for another Catholics vs. Convicts matchup.

If both Pac-10 teams win, Notre Dame could find a spot in the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 22 or the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco on Jan. 9.

Notre Dame will have other options as well, but the Pac-10 bowls may be the most attractive and the Irish can’t count on having those in 2011.

 

[FirstTimer]

USC


The Good

- We beat SC! Eight straight losses to this school are finally over. I don't care that it was while USC was having a down season or that Barkley was out. We went on the road while missing our starting QB, TE, RB, and NT and came out a winner. I was pumped on Saturday night. Happy all day yesterday and thinking about the win still makes me smile today.

- The defense. I know the stat has been thrown around and it's been pointed out by numerous sources but this defense since the Navy debacle has given up two touchdowns in the last four games. Two! Credit to Bob Diaco for making what adjustments needed to be made and credit the team for keeping with it and buying into what the coaches were preaching late in the season. The defense over the last few games, especially Saturday night, has been playign tough, fast, and nasty. Brian Smith and Harrison Smith have stepped up their games tremendously and it's been an absolute pleasure to watch this defense play over the last month. At times I'd still like to see more of a pass rush but at this point that's getting nit picky. I pray this is a sign of things to come from this defense in future seasons.

- Robert Hughes. Easily his best game since the 2007 season. He put the team on his back on that final drive of the 4th quarter and ran tremendously well all game. USC looked like they wanted no part in tackling him and Hughes looked like he was a man possesed. Seniors like Hughes and Kamara stepping up on offense along with the defensive seniors stepping up have helped pave the way for this winning streak.

- Michael Floyd. The USC secondary was beat up and he did was he needed to do. Dominated. he made every catch he had to and showed no fear going over the middle. He also demonstrated great blocking as he has all season long. he's really turned into a leader. A prime example of this is after a Ree's interception in the second half he came over to Rees, told him not to worry about it, and that Rees would lead the team to a win.

- Cierre Wood. Another tremendous story of the second half of this season. He continued his excellent play on Saturday night. Notre Dame fans have to be very excited about Wood's future with this team with the way he has performed since Allen went down for the season.

- The offensive line. Not getting near enough credit from me or other writers about how they have stepped up their play and allowed a freshman QB to flourish behind them and allowed running backs like Wood and Hughes to become major factors.

- David Ruffer. Still perfect...missed extra point be damned.

- Tommy Rees(The First Half Version). Even though he had an early interception he never looked rattled by the stage or by the situation. He lead the team on some very nice drives and threw two very nice touchdown passes in the first half. This kid reall ylooks unflappable at times.


The Bad

- Tommy Rees (The Second Half Version). Credit the USC defense with doing something differently to help confuse Rees. They dropped into some zone coverages a few times after disguising it as man and it resulted in the Rees interception where he missed Eifert down the seam. The fumble down near the goalline was bad but that stuff will happen in rainy weather. Rees was young and it showed at times in the second half, but to his credit he kept his head up and pulled out of it. Rather than showing growing pains for an entire half and possibly costing us the game he made some adjustments, Kelly adjusted the play calls, and as Rees has since Crist went down he responded very well to adversity. He will learn alot from this game during film study.

- The missed extra point. Yuck. Thankfully it didn't come back to haunt us.


The Ugly

- Our return game. We need to get something out of this next season. I'm sick and tired of watching nothing but fair catches. A point of emphasis for this team next year has to be better production out of the return game. If you can give this offense a shorter field to work with the results could be scary. I'd love to see a guy like Roby Toma get a shot at punt returns and Bennet Jackson has some potential as a kick return guy as does TJ Jones.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7-5. Wow. After Tulsa I really doubt many fans thought this was possible. I'm not going to get into the entire bevy of bowl scenario's that could play out as that will be covered again and again over the next week. What matters now is that this team is going to a bowl and playing very solid football. The defense has made a dramatic improvement and the offense has performed well behind a freshman quarterback. When was the last time you saw a Notre Dame offense run the ball this well?

Kelly and his coaching staff deserve a ton of credit for what has occurred here over the last month and this kids and the sneior leadership of this team deserve a bunch of credit as well. My hope that the Utah win was the first in line of 4 wins in a row that would turn the program around now is one victory away from happening. Even still, barring this team laying a complete turd in the bowl game, this program is looking to be moving in the right direction at a rapid pace. Hopefully this helps steal a few recruits for us and the ball has begun rolling towards the rising back to power of this program. There is still a lot of work to be done but for the first time in a long long time the work seems as though it can and will get done.

Go Irish.

Beat who's next.

 

[Irish]

Yeah I saw that couple hours ago.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Fn7_NKrOw&feature=player_embedded[/ame]

They want him to play slot.

 

[FirstTimer]

Also Florida DE Anthony Chickillo is looking all Irish after Shannon got fired and he is coming for a visit this weekend. Also, Alford says it looks like Everett Golson is soon to commit to ND. What a huge turnaround!

You have links or articles or anything?

Golson is nice and has been swinging our way since Utah. Chickillo is news to me. I always thought he'd stay near Florida or end up at Tennessee.

 

[FirstTimer]

Read it over on IE

Apparently Chickillo is visiting this weekend and Alford is paying him a visit this week.

That board is full of lulz. The recruiting info is decent but anytime a recruit visits or whatever the entire board goes nuts and acts like he signed a LOI.

Chickillo from everything I've heard is going to take a quite a few visits. ESPN quoted him as saying he woke up with 50 missed calls.

The UM commit I'd like to see us go after is Albert Louis-Jean. We need DB's pretty badly. If we can get another DE/OLB commit that'd be really nice as well but with Shembo's emergence lately it's not as a desperate need as it was when Lynch initially bailed.

 

[Irish]

QB Everett Golson Decommits from NC and is on with the Irish.

Notre Dame is back with the black quarterback.

 

[Atlas]

QB Everett Golson Decommits from NC and is on with the Irish.

Notre Dame is back with the black quarterback.

ive seen this guy play... he is a smaller version of pat white with a stronger arm, but far less accurate... if Kelly can polish him up, he'd be a viable QB in that offense...

 

[FirstTimer]

QB Everett Golson Decommits from NC and is on with the Irish.

Notre Dame is back with the black quarterback.

Kevin MacDougal FTW

ive seen this guy play... he is a smaller version of pat white with a stronger arm, but far less accurate... if Kelly can polish him up, he'd be a viable QB in that offense...

Expected move but still nice to see it happening.

It will be a blast to watch the QB camp battle between Rees, Hendrix, Golson and Massa next spring. Not sure if Crist will even be healthy enough to be a part of it. Honestly wouldn't surprise me if he transfers and takes the transfer season as a chance to get fully healthy. I'm not predicting he will, but I wouldn't be shocked if he did.

With Rees going to be a Sophmore next season, Hendrix(who Kelly really likes) and Massa still having four years of eligibility, Golson coming in this season(I believe he is going to early enroll), and Maty Mauk more than likely being a part of the 2012 class it's looking less and less likely that Crist will be able to win his job back.