Our next 3 opponents

[Riddickulous]

Pittsburgh is the best team out of the three. Coming off of the high of Oklahoma scares me a little. As someone stated above, Pittsburgh's smash mouth running game plays directly into our strengths.

Boston College is ****ing terrible and Wake Forest has an absolutely awful defense, plus we will be motivated on Senior Day.

I'm expecting something like a 24-3 win over Pitt and two huge, huge blowouts against BC and WF. I'm talking like 30-40 point wins.

 

[IrishLax]

Pitt can score enough that there is a chance of an upset. Not a good chance, just a little tiny chance. Maybe 5% tops.

BC is an utter joke and if it weren't a rivalry game I'd say this is a 100% walkover of an FCS opponent talent level. Instead I'll say 99.9% with a .1% chance of utter crazy unlikely upset.

Wake Forest... eh, their offense isn't that bad but their defense we should toast. I could seriously see us running for 350+ yards.

 

[Me2SouthBend]

Right now, ND has 1 opponent. It's Pitt. One game at a time fellas. Lets talk about Future opponents after the next one.

 

[IrishLion]

I'm not on the team or part of preparations, I'll look ahead when I please

 

[tadman95]

Pitt can score enough that there is a chance of an upset. Not a good chance, just a little tiny chance. Maybe 5% tops.

BC is an utter joke and if it weren't a rivalry game I'd say this is a 100% walkover of an FCS opponent talent level. Instead I'll say 99.9% with a .1% chance of utter crazy unlikely upset.

Wake Forest... eh, their offense isn't that bad but their defense we should toast. I could seriously see us running for 350+ yards.

Wake has suspended several players in the last few weeks. Grobe has cracked down. He's a good coach but they are struggling.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

We need to run up the score drastically like what Kansas State is doing.

 

[texbender]

they all line up and play...as Coach says, stay focused and play 'em one at a time. Pitt and BC have a history of playing us tough.

 

[notredomer23]

We need to run up the score drastically like what Kansas State is doing.

I was just going to say the same thing. I want to drop 40+ every game and not allow more than 2 scores...

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

I want to run up the score on Boston College, like horribly. I want the President to come out and say, "We do not support such brutality" and consider overthrowing Brian Kelly. I want triple digits on them before we pillage their campus and take their women. I want to at least give the athletic director some thoughts on cancelling the rest of their season to recover.

I want to feel ashamed how badly we beat them to make up for 93 and 2002.

 

[peoriairish]

Y'all are too worried about these next 3 games. We have not been this focused or good in the recent future, and BC and Wake have not been this bad. We will handle them easily. As for Pitt, they run. We don't allow teams to run. It's as simple as that.

And this team is very focused. These captains won't allow the troops to take the week or game off. There is no doubt in my mind we roll into LA at 11-0

 

[ickythump1225]

None of these games particularly worry me but I guess they all "worry" me in equal amount. I would be shocked if we lost to any of them and they only way I see that happening is for our team to just come out completely unfocused and unprepared having overlooked one of them but CBK won't let that happen.

 

[NDGuam]

I'm kinda more worry about the next three opponent than Oklahoma.

I was confident the the Irish would prevail because OK never played against this current ND team. Compare that to the next three; they know what to expect (I know this team is much much different from the last two years), but they have some sense of familiarity. Plus, ND IS THEIR BOWL GAME. Win and they'd automatically be the talk of the town for the whole week. So a lot of incentives there!!!

GO IRISH!!!

 

[EifertPower]

For those who say don't worry about the next 3, i just don't get it. We needed a last second field goal to beat Purdue this year at home. Purdue is 3-5 and 0-4 in a supposed "weak" Big 10 conference.

Wake Forest beat UNC, Pitt beat Va Tech, and BC is a rivalry game and is at their stadium.

Just like we are capable of beating almost any team in the country, we also are equally capable of losing to one of these teams.

Go Irish.

 

[NDinMich]

For those who say don't worry about the next 3, i just don't get it. We needed a last second field goal to beat Purdue this year at home. Purdue is 3-5 and 0-4 in a supposed "weak" Big 10 conference.

Wake Forest beat UNC, Pitt beat Va Tech, and BC is a rivalry game and is at their stadium.

Just like we are capable of beating almost any team in the country, we also are equally capable of losing to one of these teams.

Go Irish.

Real talk. I feel similarly, crazier things have happened.

 

[Koreyirishkelly]

I honestly believe that we blow Pitt and Wake out of the water. But knowing BC's track record against us in November when we have the chance to play for a National Title, they scare me the most.

 

[ickythump1225]

For those who say don't worry about the next 3, i just don't get it. We needed a last second field goal to beat Purdue this year at home. Purdue is 3-5 and 0-4 in a supposed "weak" Big 10 conference.

Wake Forest beat UNC, Pitt beat Va Tech, and BC is a rivalry game and is at their stadium.

Just like we are capable of beating almost any team in the country, we also are equally capable of losing to one of these teams.

Go Irish.

That's true but that was the second week of the season. I feel as though our team has been through a lot and grown a lot since that point. A win like we just had can have one of two effects: it can permanently elevate your team's level of play as they are fully confident and believe fully in themselves or you can have a letdown. So it's possible for us to lose I mean it is college football but I trust our coaching staff and our senior leadership to have our team ready. This isn't Ty Willingham's team of Smoke and Mirrors or Cheeseburger Charlie's Mental Midget Cupcakes. This team is the real deal.

 

[Patulski]

It's time for some style points.

 

[RDU Irish]

Who has crappier "worst three" opponents?

Boston College, Wake Forest and Navy

Or

Western Kentucky, Florida Atlantic and Western Carolina? (Bama)

Maybe

North Texas, Towson and Idaho? (LSU)

How about

Arkansas State, Tennessee Tech and Fresno State? (Oregon) also Colorado but hard to fault a conference game.

Don't forget -

Missouri State and North Texas plus Kansas in conference? (K-State)

Big programs do this b/c showing up every Saturday is not easy.

And don't get me started on the confirmation bias w/in the SEC. Half the conference is Top 10 which validates not dropping much when you lose. 2 loss South Carolina in the top 10? Gimme a break.

 

[Buster Bluth]

I honestly believe that we blow Pitt and Wake out of the water. But knowing BC's track record against us in November when we have the chance to play for a National Title, they scare me the most.

Ummm Kelly has never beaten Pittsburgh by more than one possession.

That should scare you too, then.

 

[Black Irish]

I want to run up the score on Boston College, like horribly. I want the President to come out and say, "We do not support such brutality" and consider overthrowing Brian Kelly. I want triple digits on them before we pillage their campus and take their women. I want to at least give the athletic director some thoughts on cancelling the rest of their season to recover.

I want to feel ashamed how badly we beat them to make up for 93 and 2002.

Hahaha, I love it. Reps

 

[notredomer23]

Ummm Kelly has never beaten Pittsburgh by more than one possession.

That should scare you too, then.

And all those Pitt teams were actually good, or at least bowl eligible. This year's Pitt team might make a bowl, only because of the weakness of the Big East. This is the worst team they have fielded in some time

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

Here is the X factor with the next three games (and now even the USC game) - coming in undefeated and a #3 team, we are each team's bowl game. They know that beating ND will make their entire season. They will all hang their hats on the chance to beat ND and play the spoiler and they will ALL be playing inspired football. That is what scares me most. Team's with nothing to lose can be very dangerous.

It will be a challenge for Kelly and the senior leadership to keep this team motivated and focused for these next three games. I think they will do it, but they will have to put in the work each and every day from here on out.

Ultimately, I think we roll in these next 3 games because this coaching staff and the senior leaders are doing a great job. That level of focus will need to stay razor sharp.

 

[Black Irish]

Here is the X factor with the next three games (and now even the USC game) - coming in undefeated and a #3 team, we are each team's bowl game. They know that beating ND will make their entire season. They will all hang their hats on the chance to beat ND and play the spoiler and they will ALL be playing inspired football. That is what scares me most. Team's with nothing to lose can be very dangerous.

It will be a challenge for Kelly and the senior leadership to keep this team motivated and focused for these next three games. I think they will do it, but they will have to put in the work each and every day from here on out.

Ultimately, I think we roll in these next 3 games because this coaching staff and the senior leaders are doing a great job. That level of focus will need to stay razor sharp.

This. It's been the refrain all season from Kelly, Te'o, and company. 1 game at a time, don't let the BCS chatter go to your head. I don't see this team taking a game off. It's been an unbelievable season so far; this team isn't going to lay back down the stretch and ruin it.

 

[koonja]

I just want blowout, no injuries, and Romeo Okwara, Neal, Brown, Baratti, Shummate, Ferguson, and Day to get a lot of reps.

 

[tommyIRISH23]

I just want blowout, no injuries, and Romeo Okwara, Neal, Brown, Baratti, Shummate, Ferguson, and Day to get a lot of reps.

Add Golson. I want to see him perfecting what he knows about the playbook, and maybe expand a little bit. This team has grown and gotten better every week. I believe that the next 3 weeks could serve as the biggest jump in efficiency offensively for this team. Get some knowledge, and some confidence.

 

[RuntheBall]

I dont want to to give USC any good game film on what we will do vs. them. We need to KILL USC.

 

[phgreek]

Pitt scares me the most. Veteran QB, Veteran RB. Emotionally up and down, this is likely their bowl game...

If our kicking game falters, and they get some short fields, they could score. I they are still hanging around in the second half...watch out.

We need clean execution early, and the kickers to stay with us...

This is the kind of game where someone like Manti can get knicked up because you are playing a team desperate for a win...this win. I'd like to see the starters on the bench midway through the 3rd quarter.