watched Nebraska hang with USC. They are pretty damn young on the defensive side of the ball. And they have less talent on the offensive side of the ball...
They put the game together i THOUGHT ND would. The difference was their Oline, and mental toughness...
If ND gets decent O-line play, and executes they will hang with LSU...their defense will give up 40...but they can still be in the game. If the Oline gets thrown around like blocking bags in the running game...and they start with miscues, and mental farts, this thing will be 28-0 by half, and on the way to 50...
The players that take the field need to look in the mirror and ask that guy if he expected to play when he chose ND...and when he envisioned getting his chance, did he expect to look like a backup filling in, or an All American. Did he expect to be overwhelmed by the moment, or to seize it? Coaches can scheme...but that matters very little against a team full of guys bought in to the team, and who sell out each and every play. Cliche', I know, but anyone who has coached has seen teams who on paper seem outmatched but each week they just PLAY, and just WIN. They are cohesive, accountable, and unrelenting, which on the field produces a resilient, mentally tough team. Somewhere beyond the Holtz era, ND's ability to produce teams that are resilient, and not susceptible to folding up have been sparse...ND has talent enough to be on the field with any football team...it is time for the players to assert themselves against talent = or greater than theirs.
