Jan 7 | BCS National Championship | Alabama

[GoIrish41]

Bama Bloggers View on the Irish D-line.

Breaking Down Notre Dame: the Defensive Line - Roll 'Bama Roll

A little tilted toward the Tide as you would expect from a Bama blogger, but a pretty fair assessment.

 

[Irish#1]

This is something I was thinking about last night. Hindsight is always 20/20 and after some games we always wonder how we could have ever thought it would go any other way. We see one team totally dominate the other and realize all the signs were there that it was going to go down that way, and realize we'd been looking at all the wrong things and should have known.

I really don't know how this game's going to go. I "think" both teams are very good and are at about the same level, but there are so many things with both of them that make me wonder if we're about to see two very similar teams slug it out in a game that could go either way or if 10 days from now we'll all wonder how we could have ever believed Bama's exceedingly young D was really all that, how we didn't see this coming after the A&M game, how we could've ever believed Bama's O could move the ball on ND's D (or vice versa), not realized Vegas and the experts knew all along that ND wasn't quite there yet, etc.

I think we're going to see a nail biter that could go either way, but it's also possible we could see a beatdown that leaves all of us wondering how we didn't see it coming with so much evidence staring us in the face all along. The problem is not knowing which evidence is relevant at this point.

Not to rain on your parade, but if you don't know what evidence to look for, how can you say that? To me that's more of a gut feeling.

Maybe some of that comes from some of the close games that have been played this year, but it's not uncommon for good teams to have some clunkers yet still win. Here's what you need to know. In the big games the Irish have either dominated or controlled the game and won. This team has a strong mental makeup and simply found a way to win every game and that's all that matters. They have the "IT" factor going for them.

A little tilted toward the Tide as you would expect from a Bama blogger, but a pretty fair assessment.

I thought it wasn't too bad, but he had to keep putting his little digs in there which shows he struggled to be completely unbias.

 

[chicago51]

Not to rain on your parade, but if you don't know what evidence to look for, how can you say that? To me that's more of a gut feeling.

Maybe some of that comes from some of the close games that have been played this year, but it's not uncommon for good teams to have some clunkers yet still win. Here's what you need to know. In the big games the Irish have either dominated or controlled the game and won. This team has a strong mental makeup and simply found a way to win every game and that's all that matters. They have the "IT" factor going for them.



I thought it wasn't too bad, but he had to keep putting his little digs in there which shows he struggled to be completely unbias.

That final paragraph about LSU having the more talented front 7 urks me. Why is it so hard for people in the south to see Notre Dame has a better defense than LSU? What happen in past seasons doesn't matter in this season. There is no stat from 2012 that justifys LSU being better than Notre Dame.

 

[GoIrish41]

That final paragraph about LSU having the more talented front 7 urks me. Why is it so hard for people in the south to see Notre Dame has a better defense than LSU? What happen in past seasons doesn't matter in this season. There is no stat from 2012 that justifys LSU being better than Notre Dame.

If it was a ND blogger he'd day the same about the dominant Stanford front 7 and it would **** the Tide faithful off. I give him some slack since he's a Tide blogger. I don't agree with him either, but he was wearing his SEC hat when he wrote it.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

That final paragraph about LSU having the more talented front 7 urks me. Why is it so hard for people in the south to see Notre Dame has a better defense than LSU? What happen in past seasons doesn't matter in this season. There is no stat from 2012 that justifys LSU being better than Notre Dame.

They're using draft projections to compare talent, and there are probably more NFL prospects among the LSU's front-7 than ours; their DL, in particular, is absurdly deep. So it's accurate in that sense. But as USC proved this year, talent doesn't guarantee success.

According to FEI, ND's defense was significantly better than LSU's. The gulf in quality between ND and LSU was as great as that between LSU and Virginia Tech.

 

[chicago51]

They're using draft projections to compare talent, and there are probably more NFL prospects among the LSU's front-7 than ours; their DL, in particular, is absurdly deep. So it's accurate in that sense. But as USC proved this year, talent doesn't guarantee success.

According to FEI, ND's defense was significantly better than LSU's. The gulf in quality between ND and LSU was as great as that between LSU and Virginia Tech.

Going totally off topic here. I can't believe Virginia Tech's defense was as bad as they were this year. VT is usually very good on defense; well at least good as far as the ACC goes.

 

[Bishop2b5]

That final paragraph about LSU having the more talented front 7 urks me. Why is it so hard for people in the south to see Notre Dame has a better defense than LSU? What happen in past seasons doesn't matter in this season. There is no stat from 2012 that justifys LSU being better than Notre Dame.

I don't have a problem saying ND has a better D than LSU this year. You have better stats and looked better in the eyeball test. LSU has a lot of talent, but some of it is still raw, and they didn't play with enough discipline and consistency sometimes - too often they looked like 11 individuals instead of 1 team. ND's defense probably has about the same overall level of talent, but seems much more consistent and disciplined, and plays better as a unit.

 

[Bishop2b5]

Are you familiar with the Fremeau Efficiency Index? It's an opponent-adjusted possession-based model that measures efficiency on offense, defense and ST. Its projections have been pretty accurate this season (75% straight up), and it's predicting a toss-up:



And keep in mind that Vegas lines are set to generate an equal amount of action on either side; so they're more reflective of public perception than some all-knowing football guru's expectations. The current line doesn't surprise me, given 'Bama's proven track record in the title game, and ND's last two decades of mediocrity.

I've looked at the Fremeau Efficiency Index a couple of times, but have never taken a really deep look. I get the idea though and think it's probably a lot more useful and accurate than most other stats. I thought some of their stats on offensive effeciency depending on the down were very interesting.

 

[johnnykillz]

Anyone heard anything on Jones today?

Is he practicing today?

 

[Bishop2b5]

Not to rain on your parade, but if you don't know what evidence to look for, how can you say that? To me that's more of a gut feeling.

Maybe some of that comes from some of the close games that have been played this year, but it's not uncommon for good teams to have some clunkers yet still win. Here's what you need to know. In the big games the Irish have either dominated or controlled the game and won. This team has a strong mental makeup and simply found a way to win every game and that's all that matters. They have the "IT" factor going for them.

I'm pretty good at handicapping CFB games and knowing what to look for in most cases (paid for a year of college betting on football and playing poker, and finished well into the 99th percentile this year in ESPN's College Pick'em), but sometimes these supposedly close games just leave me scratching my head wondering which of the factors for either side are truly going to be important, and which are just meaningless fluff that will seem silly in retrospect. I can easily come up with 10 reasons Bama should beat you soundly and should be a no-brainer to pick, but I can also come up with 10 reasons to not even consider picking against ND and to expect you to win handily. I probably won't know which reasons were actually legit until late on the 7th.

 

[ARALOU]

I may be wrong but in my opinion LSU has been the most consistent winner in the last decade plus. Bama acts like they have been dominant for years. Actually they have for the last 3 years. Bama has had their "down years" in recent memory. The 92 Bama team that thumped Miami was the last relevant Bama team until a few years ago, wasnt it? By the way I loved it when Bama drilled the Canes that game. Bama was heavy dogs if I recall correctly.


Bama may win this game. They may not. I wish it we didnt have to wait so long to play it.

 

[gcashwell]

Anyone heard anything on Jones today?

Is he practicing today?

Nope. They said yesterday he will be in a boot until Monday.

 

[arrowryan]

That's like having the most teeth in a trailer park. Not much of an honor.

There are some really attractive women at Notre Dame. You just have to go to the right halls

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Nope. They said yesterday he will be in a boot until Monday.

Here's the boot in question:

 

[ND NYC]

Anyone heard anything on Jones today?

Is he practicing today?

what Jones are you referring to?

 

[Bishop2b5]

I may be wrong but in my opinion LSU has been the most consistent winner in the last decade plus. Bama acts like they have been dominant for years. Actually they have for the last 3 years. Bama has had their "down years" in recent memory. The 92 Bama team that thumped Miami was the last relevant Bama team until a few years ago, wasnt it? By the way I loved it when Bama drilled the Canes that game. Bama was heavy dogs if I recall correctly.


Bama may win this game. They may not. I wish it we didnt have to wait so long to play it.

You have a point about LSU. They've been near the top for about 10 consecutive years now. Bama has only been back among the elite for the past 5 years. We've had 60 wins in the last 5 seasons with 10-3 being our worst year during that time, and if we win next week's game, will break the NCAA Div 1/FBS record for wins in a 5 year span.

As for being irrelevant until 5 years ago, we definitely were. For most of the 10 years before 2008, we were mediocre at best and often just plain bad. Too many bad coaching hires, too much interference with the program by rich & powerful boosters, probation, and a dozen other problems. We spent a decade or more lost in the wilderness and understand why you guys are so excited to finally be back.

 

[Bishop2b5]

By the way I loved it when Bama drilled the Canes that game. Bama was heavy dogs if I recall correctly.QUOTE]

We were indeed heavy dogs in that game. Miami had been #1 most of the year and hadn't had a close game, IIRC. We were undefeated, but had struggle mightily the first part of the season and had to win some ugly games. Miami had the Heisman winner Torreta at qb and he'd put up gaudy numbers, but they were against weak opposition. He was slow of foot and mind, and couldn't read coverage for jack. He just had a strong arm and could hit a wide open receiver, but against a good D who could pressure him and cover his receivers, he was confused and flippin' awful. Miami had played a lot of average teams with only a fraction of their talent and hadn't been tested. Against inferior teams, they could bully and intimidate people, and they had lots of speed, but I didn't think they had much mental or physical toughness. I think most of the prognosticators bought into the flash and hype without looking a little deeper and seeing that they were all show and little substance.

They set themselves up for a big fall. In the weeks leading up to the game, their players talked more trash than you can imagine, insulted our players, acted like thugs, and predicted an embarrassing blowout of us. To watch them get humiliated and demolished like they did was a bit enjoyable, to say the least.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

By the way I loved it when Bama drilled the Canes that game. Bama was heavy dogs if I recall correctly.QUOTE]

We were indeed heavy dogs in that game. Miami had been #1 most of the year and hadn't had a close game, IIRC. We were undefeated, but had struggle mightily the first part of the season and had to win some ugly games. Miami had the Heisman winner Torreta at qb and he'd put up gaudy numbers, but they were against weak opposition. He was slow of foot and mind, and couldn't read coverage for jack. He just had a strong arm and could hit a wide open receiver, but against a good D who could pressure him and cover his receivers, he was confused and flippin' awful. Miami had played a lot of average teams with only a fraction of their talent and hadn't been tested. Against inferior teams, they could bully and intimidate people, and they had lots of speed, but I didn't think they had much mental or physical toughness. I think most of the prognosticators bought into the flash and hype without looking a little deeper and seeing that they were all show and little substance.

They set themselves up for a big fall. In the weeks leading up to the game, their players talked more trash than you can imagine, insulted our players, acted like thugs, and predicted an embarrassing blowout of us. To watch them get humiliated and demolished like they did was a bit enjoyable, to say the least.

George Teague was a man among boys in that game.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

We were indeed heavy dogs in that game. Miami had been #1 most of the year and hadn't had a close game, IIRC. We were undefeated, but had struggle mightily the first part of the season and had to win some ugly games. Miami had the Heisman winner Torreta at qb and he'd put up gaudy numbers, but they were against weak opposition. He was slow of foot and mind, and couldn't read coverage for jack. He just had a strong arm and could hit a wide open receiver, but against a good D who could pressure him and cover his receivers, he was confused and flippin' awful. Against inferior teams, they could bully and intimidate people...

So many parallels between this game and the 2013 title game.

 

[Bishop2b5]

George Teague was a man among boys in that game.

Yes he was. I had no idea he was that fast until that game. Heck, I don't think HE knew it until he ran Thomas down in full panic mode. I still can't believe he caught him. Had a heck of a game that night.

 

[Bishop2b5]

So many parallels between this game and the 2013 title game.

There are. I thought about that when I was typing that message. Some major differences though. Neither of our teams are flashy. I don't think either is overrated or has skated by on hype or by beating weak opposition. Both are dirt tough, old school teams, and have been tested several times. Neither wins by intimidation - they win by playing smashmouth, sound, fundamental football. I think both are supremely confident, but I haven't seen any cockiness or arrogance from either. Definitely no trash talking from either team.

 

[johnnykillz]

Here's the boot in question:

It goes with his hobbit hair.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

It goes with his hobbit hair.

He's about to run into the most fearsome orc in all of Middle Earth. (Yes that was nerdy, but I've been drinking)

 

[Whiskeyjack]

He's about to run into the most fearsome orc in all of Middle Earth. (Yes that was nerdy, but I've been drinking)

Nix is more Tulkas than Azog.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Nix is more Tulkas than Azog.

I was thinking this guy, but just learned his name is the dubious "cave troll"

 

[gcashwell]

Kenny Bell practiced today.

Jones will get 5 practices.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Kenny Bell practiced today.

Jones will get 5 practices.

Good news for Bell. We all knew nothing short of an amputated leg would keep Jones off the field.

 

[Bishop2b5]

Kenny Bell practiced today.

Jones will get 5 practices.

I think Jones will play and as IrishSteelhead said, nothing short of an amputated leg will keep him off the field. He played through the injury and pain during the SECCG and I can't imagine he'd let it stop him next week.

I'm not sure about Bell. He just broke that leg Thanksgiving weekend. He may surprise me, but I don't expect him to play. It would be nice to have him back, though.

 

[BGIF]

what Jones are you referring to?

UA's injured Center Barrett Jones.

 

[scUM Hater]

We are finally in the single digits before game day. GO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!