Overachieving

[lattedatte]

OK, I have slept on it. I have come one conclusion, the current team we have is actually not underachieving but overachieving. If you go back just two short years, when we lost 20-17 to BYU for gods sake!! The offense looked exactly the way it did yesterday only it was to BYU for gods sake!! We finished 6-6 and lost to Purdue 41-16 and Oregon St. 38-21 and lost to USC for the third consecutive year by 31. Our recruiting class was putred, followed the next year by even a worse class because of the coaching situation. Our defense is not great. I'm pretty sure(correct me if I'm wrong) we only have one five star guy starting on defense, ABI and he was overated. And one of our LB's hasn't played defense since high school.

Now here we are in just two short years, we were ranked #2 in the nation, got a great recruiting class last year, have the #1 recruit in the nation(called the Lebron James of HS football) this year and a 2-1 start. Which included a blowout of 19th ranked PSU and a soon to be ranked GT. Is a NC in our future this year, no, but should we have really expected it based on the talent and depth we have? I fell in the hype trap just as everyone did. I would argure we should be closer to a top 20 team this year than NC team.

Putting things into perspective, I will be extatic if this team goes 11-1 or 10-2 and plays in another BCS game because I remember the 6-6 team just two short year ago. And look to 2008 as our year when we are loaded with talent and playing for a NC year in and year out.

Go Irish!! Beat Sparty!!

 

[Irish74]

Excellent points, I agree with all of them. I think in Clausen's sophmore - senior seasons this team will be in the NC hunt. Provided that Weis doesn't ignore defesive recruits.

 

[lattedatte]

Excellent points, I agree with all of them. I think in Clausen's sophmore - senior seasons this team will be in the NC hunt. Provided that Weis doesn't ignore defesive recruits.

Agreed we have to get some DT's, at this point I don't even care if they have a star, circle, smiley face or a corn dog by their name...

 

[marv81s]

I don't think CW is ignoring the Defensive guys, they just aren't choosing to come to ND. They are choosing the schools that have a rep for being great defensive schools. Hopefully that will start changing this year.

 

[maison bleu]

I don't think you should give up on this year. Plenty of years there won't be two undefeated teams, and this year is shaping up as one of those years. Look at teams that already have a lost: FSU, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, Cal, Tennessee, Miami. Plus, with twelve games, it's harder to go undefeated. If everyone finishes with one loss, and ND kicks ass at USC, why not ND?

It starts in Least Lansing. I wouldn't want to be Sparty this Saturday.

 

[NDAlumSon]

I don't think you should give up on this year. Plenty of years there won't be two undefeated teams, and this year is shaping up as one of those years. Look at teams that already have a lost: FSU, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, Cal, Tennessee, Miami. Plus, with twelve games, it's harder to go undefeated. If everyone finishes with one loss, and ND kicks ass at USC, why not ND?

If you read Beano this week he basically said a loss to Michigan would bode better for the Irish as opposed to a season ending loss to USC.
If we run the table from here on out, all is not lost. An NC is possible, though admittedly improbable.

 

[guff]

If you read Beano this week he basically said a loss to Michigan would bode better for the Irish as opposed to a season ending loss to USC.
If we run the table from here on out, all is not lost. An NC is possible, though admittedly improbable.

I'd agree with you if it wasn't such a horrible loss. Even if there are no undefeated teams ND is at the bottom of the one loss team after an ass beating like that.

 

[IrishCPA]

I'd agree with you if it wasn't such a horrible loss. Even if there are no undefeated teams ND is at the bottom of the one loss team after an ass beating like that.

I'm in no way saying that we are going to win the rest of our games and play for a national championship, but I do remember a certain team called the Sooners who got stomped 35-7 in the 2003 Big 12 Championship game and then still played for the NC that year.

 

[maison bleu]

I'm in no way saying that we are going to win the rest of our games and play for a national championship, but I do remember a certain team called the Sooners who got stomped 35-7 in the 2003 Big 12 Championship game and then still played for the NC that year.

Exactly. Whole lot of football left to play for everyone. One September loss, no matter how ugly, does not necessarily end chances of a NC.

 

[Golden_Domer88]

I believe that there will only be 2-4 undefeated teams this year. Louisville,WVU, OSU and maybe Michigan (if they beat OSU). I slept on the loss and I dont feel as bad as I did yesterday. Its a new week and new team to face. We need to come out pissed off and destroy MSU. If we can come out of E.Lansing with a win, we could easily go with a one loss year.

Dont worry, Charlie and the players will learn from the michigan team. Hopefully

 

[irishfan81]

I bet Charlie will put the boys through hell in practice this week and try and come out pissed next week. I never want to see that performance again.

 

[maison bleu]

College Football News rankings. ND is 15, but check out what they say...

15. Notre Dame (2-1)
L, Michigan 47-21
next game: at Michigan State
Sorry Irish haters; it’s not over. With a joke of a schedule ahead, a win at Michigan State will mean a 10-1 record going into the showdown with USC. Imagine this: Michigan loses along the way, probably at Ohio State, and the Irish blows everyone out of the water. USC is 11-0 and ranked No. 2, Notre Dame beats the Trojans and leapfrogs the West Virginia – Louisville winner, and all the one-loss SEC teams, to play for the national title.

 

[isotopes]

Golden Domer, maybe im just reading what you said wrong, but there's no way for all four of those teams to go undefeated... osu plays michigan and louisville plays wvu

 

[irishwavend]

I disagree with the first post in that our players actually understand an offense and know how to make adjustments based on reads. In the previous regime, the team was absolutely clueless, so any comparisons to a Ty Willingham team and a Charlie Weis team are pretty off-base. Overachieving is going 8-0 with ZERO offense. Our team performed horrifically yesterday in many aspects of the game. Calling that overachieving assumes that the standard for the team is to turn the ball over and make stupid mistakes repeatedly. If we look at an average day for our team, they should have at least been competitive with Michigan in that game. And, Michigan is arguably one of the Top 10 teams in college football. If we had an average day, we could have competed and won with any team in the country. We didn't have an average day. We had a day where we fell apart and self-destructed. Yes, we have talent deficiencies & depth issues, but we have enough players with enough talent, experience, and football smarts to beat anyone in the country. Ty's teams rode the short bus compared to this team, b/c he didn't provide them with anything relevant.

While we have depth issues, we haven't had many significant injuries; and the two classes that hold most of the positions on the field were chalk full of talent, both the Davieham class & Ty's first real class.

The loss was an awful one, but we are far from overachieving!

 

[nshope]

Golden Domer, maybe im just reading what you said wrong, but there's no way for all four of those teams to go undefeated... osu plays michigan and louisville plays wvu

Yeah, I read that and was like ?? I think the point was that there could be at least 2 undefeated teams from the 4 teams mentioned. I agree that any two of the 4 (OSU, Michigan, Louisville, and WVU) could go undefeated, but I see the other 2 undefeated teams coming from a weaker conference such as TCU from the Mountain West and Boise State from the Western Athletic Conference. So, I agree that there could be 4 undefeated teams at year's end.

 

[lattedatte]

OK, I have slept on it. I have come one conclusion, the current team we have is actually not underachieving but overachieving. If you go back just two short years, when we lost 20-17 to BYU for gods sake!! The offense looked exactly the way it did yesterday only it was to BYU for gods sake!! We finished 6-6 and lost to Purdue 41-16 and Oregon St. 38-21 and lost to USC for the third consecutive year by 31. Our recruiting class was putred, followed the next year by even a worse class because of the coaching situation. Our defense is not great. I'm pretty sure(correct me if I'm wrong) we only have one five star guy starting on defense, ABI and he was overated. And one of our LB's hasn't played defense since high school.

Now here we are in just two short years, we were ranked #2 in the nation, got a great recruiting class last year, have the #1 recruit in the nation(called the Lebron James of HS football) this year and a 2-1 start. Which included a blowout of 19th ranked PSU and a soon to be ranked GT. Is a NC in our future this year, no, but should we have really expected it based on the talent and depth we have? I fell in the hype trap just as everyone did. I would argure we should be closer to a top 20 team this year than NC team.

Putting things into perspective, I will be extatic if this team goes 11-1 or 10-2 and plays in another BCS game because I remember the 6-6 team just two short year ago. And look to 2008 as our year when we are loaded with talent and playing for a NC year in and year out.

Go Irish!! Beat Sparty!!

I feel the same way this morning as i did after the meechigan loss.... we are way better off now than anytime since holtz's yrs.