ND's Path to the 2015 Playoffs

[Cackalacky]

This.

Bama stonewalled LSU and stuffed the best RB in the country. Their DL is the best in the country and nobody else comes close.

Well LSU is a power run traditional offense Alabama matched up real well with them. They absolutely struggle with spread teams. It's easy to key in on Fournette when you can't move the ball other ways.

The only success LSU had last night was when they went to pseudo option read and their QB kept it and they were able to get some play action going.

 

[Grahambo]

This.

Bama stonewalled LSU and stuffed the best RB in the country. Their DL is the best in the country and nobody else comes close.

Please do not take this other then just words...how difficult is it to stuff the LSU offense when they don't have a QB? Meaning..when Alabama can focus completely on Leonard and not sweat the weak pass game, stopping Leonard may not be as far fetched.

Obviously you still need the caliber of players that Alabama has but not all the surprising, to me anyway.

 

[GoldenDomer]

After yesterday, my top 4 is:

1. Clemson
2. Bama
3. OSU
4. ND/Stanford

I think the Top 3 run the table and the #4 spot comes down to our game vs. Stanford. Hopefully the Big 12 all beats each other in this little stretch of games.

 

[CoachB]

SIAP. This article sums it up pretty well for me.


Why Notre Dame Is the True Big Winner in College Football's Shake-Up Saturday | Bleacher Report

 

[CTIDANDREW]

Alabama has a top defense by pretty much all measures. They rate out a bit lower than Clemson, but by the end of the year they'll probably be equivalent. Alabama is the only team in the top 10 that I'm sure Notre Dame is not "better" than... we could beat them, but looking at their team and watching them play multiple games I'm comfortable saying they have a better team.

I really do think we're on par with Clemson and Ohio State. We proved it against Clemson on the field, and there is nothing Ohio State has done to impress me. I know we're better than Oklahoma State, because I saw them have to cheat their way to victories against Texas and KSU.

I think Baylor is a complete fraud. That is just personal opinion, but this window dressing BS where you run an up tempo offense to maximize possessions and beat the pants of TERRIBLE teams to look good is what Oregon did for years. And inevitably, Oregon would have to play one game a season against someone who could punch them in the mouth and win at the line of scrimmage... and all of a sudden their "unstoppable" offense was very stoppable. I think we'd beat Baylor by 2+ TDs.

Man I want to believe you...I really do. But ND vs the pass this year just leaves me unconvinced...and also to add Baylor would force us to play more Nickel and Dime packages because there is not way ND's base defense could cover their Air Raid attack...just my opinion. I'd like to avoid the Big 12 teams at all costs. I think it is fairly obvious the secondary is are Achilles heel this year, and feel those teams would expose it badly.

Just to add to your Alabama point, I also am convinced they're the only team I would admit should be favored vs ND....but I like ND's chances much more vs a Coker led to as compared to a experienced Mccarron.

 

[ickythump1225]

This.

Bama stonewalled LSU and stuffed the best RB in the country. Their DL is the best in the country and nobody else comes close.

Say what you will about LSU being one-dimensional. Bama held the best running back in the country to 31 yards on 19 carries.

Well LSU is a power run traditional offense Alabama matched up real well with them. They absolutely struggle with spread teams. It's easy to key in on Fournette when you can't move the ball other ways.

The only success LSU had last night was when they went to pseudo option read and their QB kept it and they were able to get some play action going.

Alabama has a top defense by pretty much all measures. They rate out a bit lower than Clemson, but by the end of the year they'll probably be equivalent. Alabama is the only team in the top 10 that I'm sure Notre Dame is not "better" than... we could beat them, but looking at their team and watching them play multiple games I'm comfortable saying they have a better team.

I think A) a lot of people are overreacting to Alabama's game last night. That was far and away Alabama's most complete and best game all season but there have been plenty of questionable games from Alabama all year long. B) football is about match ups and LSU is the dream match up for Alabama. They are one dimensional and play most of the game in a traditional "pro-style" offense which is what Alabama is built to stop. If you look back through the years at to what teams have given Alabama fits it is spread teams. I truly think our offense could create match up problems for Alabama and Kizer >>>>>than any LSU QB to play in Baton Rouge over the past decade. (Seriously why is it that LSU and Alabama to a lesser extent can't recruit a decent QB?)

Is this a guarantee that we would win? No, we could very realistically lose. That being said I'm not willing to concede that Alabama would roll us by 4 touchdowns again. The one thing I truly fear from Alabama is watching Henry making Joe Schmidt look like a special needs middle schooler out there.

I really do think we're on par with Clemson and Ohio State. We proved it against Clemson on the field, and there is nothing Ohio State has done to impress me. I know we're better than Oklahoma State, because I saw them have to cheat their way to victories against Texas and KSU.

I think Baylor is a complete fraud. That is just personal opinion, but this window dressing BS where you run an up tempo offense to maximize possessions and beat the pants of TERRIBLE teams to look good is what Oregon did for years. And inevitably, Oregon would have to play one game a season against someone who could punch them in the mouth and win at the line of scrimmage... and all of a sudden their "unstoppable" offense was very stoppable. I think we'd beat Baylor by 2+ TDs.

I agree with you on Baylor. I don't think they're even as good as those Oregon teams to be honest with you. That team just has Charmin soft written all over it. They've played the 108th toughest schedule in the country so far, I am not impressed. This always happens with uptempo high powered offenses though, the media falls in love with the points. While our defense isn't the greatest in the world I would love to play Baylor. Yeah they're offense could probably hang nearly 40 on us I think we could hang 50-60 on them.

 

[NDRock]

Alabama has had the top recruiting class the last four years and has one of the two best Head Coaches in college football. The only thing "mediocre" about them is that idiot they have calling plays.

 

[MNIrishman]

Alabama has had the top recruiting class the last four years and has one of the two best Head Coaches in college football. The only thing "mediocre" about them is that idiot they have calling plays.

That and their passing offense.

 

[Old Man Mike]

I believe that the selection committee goes into depth with the prime teams, and if they do, they will notice that KState simply bulled right through the middle of the Baylor "defense" creating almost ridiculously easy chunk yardage. Any committee member should see that as alarmingly bad for an alleged playoff team.

Due to that horrible flaw, I believe that in a universe where Notre Dame did not turn the ball over, did not have drive-stopping penalties or sacks, we would SCORE EVERY TIME. Then we'd only have to stop Baylor twice to win by two scores. --- Despite that people think that this would be fantasy, I find us not turning the ball over and playing "clean" quite imaginable and think that the Committee will believe that several football teams capable of run offenses can do it too.

My bottom line with this is: Baylor does not look like it would beat us without us helping it. Overall we have the better team-wide athletes, and the KState game should have proved that.

 

[ulukinatme]

Hope we play Bama and drop 40 on that mediocre defense. Love to see that rematch with this offense. SEC is overrated and I hope they all end up with 2 losses somehow. Frauds.

Alabama mediore defense? Listen I am drinking the kool-aid as much as anyone but if you think we would drop 40 on them you are absolutely stoned.

This, I feel like people are taking crazy pills when they say they want 'Bama. They absolutely bottled up Fournette. 31 yards on 19 carries! I expected 'Bama would sell out to stop the run, because Harris wasn't going to be good enough to beat them through the air. If we played 'Bama I expect they would do the same, and while Kizer is a better passer than Harris, I'm not confidant that our defense could hold 'Bama by enough. I hoped LSU would find a way to win, but my confidence level wasn't high. LSU isn't much better than when we faced them in the bowl, I would have loved to face them again in the playoff. 'Bama, not so much, they're still incredibly deep and that's not changing.

 

[ulukinatme]

With TCU down, we've got two Big 12 teams left to get cannibalized before it's down to us and Stanford. I'm glad TCU is out, because I thought they were probably the tougher team and had the better coach. Baylor's backup QB performed well, but they still have 3-4 tough games left to play in Oklahoma, OK State, TCU, and maybe Texas (They've been improving as the season goes, aside from a head scratcher against ISU). That's quite a gauntlet for them left to get through. On the other hand, Oklahoma State only has Oklahoma and Baylor left to really play, so I think you have to hope that the Cowboys are the next Big 12 team to drop since they got past TCU. OK State just moved past us in the AP. I don't expect them to move past us in the playoff yet, and with LSU losing by double digits they should be out of the Top 6 I would think.

 

[ickythump1225]

This, I feel like people are taking crazy pills when they say they want 'Bama. They absolutely bottled up Fournette. 31 yards on 19 carries! I expected 'Bama would sell out to stop the run, because Harris wasn't going to be good enough to beat them through the air. If we played 'Bama I expect they would do the same, and while Kizer is a better passer than Harris, I'm not confidant that our defense could hold 'Bama by enough. I hoped LSU would find a way to win, but my confidence level wasn't high. LSU isn't much better than when we faced them in the bowl, I would have loved to face them again in the playoff. 'Bama, not so much, they're still incredibly deep and that's not changing.

So you readily admit that LSU isn't that good, is an extremely one dimensional offense, their QB sucks, and a good match up for Alabama, but their being handled by Alabama makes you gun shy in playing Alabama in the playoffs despite the fact that our offense does not have any of those limitations?

Do I "want" Alabama again? I'd rather not but that has more to do with me believing Saban is an all time great coach and less to do with what they did to a LSU team they have owned for 4 straight years.

 

[D-BOE34]

I 100% do not want Alabama again. I hope they stub their toe one more time and remain out of the playoffs if we make it. I want anyone but Bama.

 

[Buster Bluth]

I think we should all be a bit worried about the resume Oklahoma could make if they finish by winning out. While they would ensure the Big XII doesn't have an undefeated team, they would have impressive wins over Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma State as well as what could be an eight-win Tennessee team.

 

[Cogs]

This, I feel like people are taking crazy pills when they say they want 'Bama. They absolutely bottled up Fournette. 31 yards on 19 carries! I expected 'Bama would sell out to stop the run, because Harris wasn't going to be good enough to beat them through the air. If we played 'Bama I expect they would do the same, and while Kizer is a better passer than Harris, I'm not confidant that our defense could hold 'Bama by enough. I hoped LSU would find a way to win, but my confidence level wasn't high. LSU isn't much better than when we faced them in the bowl, I would have loved to face them again in the playoff. 'Bama, not so much, they're still incredibly deep and that's not changing.

I look at Bama's resume and I don't see any impressive wins other than LSU's last night. LSU had played no one prior to this game and look what happened. Bama loaded the box against a 1 dimensional overrated SEC biased #2 ranked LSU (Not saying they didn't deserve #2 after having 0 losses). I agree, Bama is not mediocre on defense I was stirring the pot a little bit - but they aren't as good as people make them out to be. They haven't played shit all year - gave up 43 to Ole Miss? Their Georgia, A&M wins don't look impressive anymore. I agree I was dumb to say mediocre defense, was a little hyped last night but if you don't think ND's offense could drop 35-40 on Bama barring turnovers I don't know which ND team you've been watching. When they don't turn the ball over they can drop 40 on anyone... Played Clemson in a rainstorm and put up 432 yards with 4 TO's in one half. Clemson defense is a little better than Bama's in my opinion. Our defense worries me much more than Bama's defense. ND needs to put up points if they want to win big games. I want Bama in the play-off. It's redemption time! But yes cant look ahead. Need to destroy BC and Wake and beat Stanford and we're in.

Honestly LSU's most impressive win might actually be Western Kentucky. Florida would get pummeled by any team in the top 10 (not MSU) MSST is also a good win for them but they scraped by 2 points. I'm not sold on the SEC whatsoever. When a #6 SEC team beats a #2 SEC team they just flip flop places.

 

[ulukinatme]

So you readily admit that LSU isn't that good, is an extremely one dimensional offense, their QB sucks, and a good match up for Alabama, but their being handled by Alabama makes you gun shy in playing Alabama in the playoffs despite the fact that our offense does not have any of those limitations?

Do I "want" Alabama again? I'd rather not but that has more to do with me believing Saban is an all time great coach and less to do with what they did to a LSU team they have owned for 4 straight years.

Look at the games where the opposing defenses sold out to shut down Prosise: Clemson and Temple. In neither game were we ever able to get Prosise really running on the ground, although later we were able to get him outside on some passes and get him involved. In any case, while Kizer was able to find yards through the air (And in the case of Temple, use his own feet), both games remained very close. Virginia seemed less concerned with stopping the run as they were bringing pressure and disrupting our pass routes. In any case, we seem to be more effective offensively when defenses are playing honest and we're able to hit them in both the run and pass game. When they make us one dimensional we seem to find ourselves in close games. I could see Alabama selling out to stop Prosise, which would open things up for Kizer through the air, but you can't count on us getting drives every possession just through the air. We seem to operate better when Prosise is getting yards and we're keeping the other team off balance with effective passing. Maybe our defense could make Alabama one dimensional too and shut down their run game, but I'm not sure they could do it consistently.

 

[Buster Bluth]

If Ohio State loses to Michigan, they wouldn't play in the B1G Championship (assuming Michigan wins out).

So that's a pretty simple recipe for Notre Dame getting a playoff berth.

 

[jimmymac]

I think we should all be a bit worried about the resume Oklahoma could make if they finish by winning out. While they would ensure the Big XII doesn't have an undefeated team, they would have impressive wins over Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma State as well as what could be an eight-win Tennessee team.

What helps is our potential win over Stanford, and their loss to Texas, who we beat. I think the Texas loss should give us an edge over OK

 

[ulukinatme]

I think we should all be a bit worried about the resume Oklahoma could make if they finish by winning out. While they would ensure the Big XII doesn't have an undefeated team, they would have impressive wins over Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma State as well as what could be an eight-win Tennessee team.

Yeah, I was saying as much last week. Oklahoma definitely has the best resume among the Big 12 teams if they run the table now. They have a better schedule than the other 3, and while I'm not saying they would jump us if they won out, they would have an impressive November (More impressive than ours for sure). They'll have a string of ranked teams to end the year, more than us most likely when all is said and done. It all depends on how the committee views that Texas loss. I think beating Stanford would keep us ahead of them in that scenario though.

I want Bama in the play-off. It's redemption time!

“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”

'Bama just manhandled an LSU team we were lucky to beat in the bowl game last year. While Kizer has been very good, as has Prosise, we're a little banged up again. I think we're certainly better offensively than we were in 2012, but I can't say the same defensively.

 

[jakerbluegold]

Riddle me this?
This is the best Notre Dame team since _________?

 

[Booslum31]

I think we should all be a bit worried about the resume Oklahoma could make if they finish by winning out. While they would ensure the Big XII doesn't have an undefeated team, they would have impressive wins over Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma State as well as what could be an eight-win Tennessee team.

This has been my worry for the last two weeks.

 

[D-BOE34]

Riddle me this?
This is the best Notre Dame team since _________?

2012

 

[NDRock]

2012

Yep.

 

[Cogs]

Notre Dame has totaled at least 432 yards in every game this season.

 

[EifertPower]

1. If Clemson loses to Syracuse, Wake Forest, or South Carolina or in the ACC championship, would they still get in the Final 4?

2. If North Carolina beats Clemson in the ACC championship then no way Clemson can be rated higher than UNC, but how could ND get in over a 12-1 Clemson team that it lost to? That's the worst case scenario for us is a 1-loss UNC winning the ACC.

3. If Baylor or Oklahoma State goes undefeated they get in over then us. We can argue otherwise but it's not happening. They are lower than us now because they hadn't played anyone but their strength of schedule with improve drastically over the next 3 weeks and they will have 0 losses.

4. 3 Big 12 teams at 11-1 is actually better than only 2 teams at 11-1. 3 11-1 teams with each being 1-1 against the other 2 would be the worst possible scenario for the Big 12 as they cannot even determine a true league champ.

5. As far as the SEC, best case for us is LSU loses again, Florida State beats Florida and Florida beats Alabama in the SEC championship game. Otherwise, a 1-loss LSU, Alabama, or Florida team will get in over us if they also win the SEC title.

6. Stanford needs to win their next two games. It would be nice, too, if USC finished 9-3 (doubtful without JuJu though) and if Utah lost one more game.

So basically
ACC: we need Clemson to win out and probably good if UNC lost another game

and

SEC champ to have 2 losses or Big 12 champ to have 1 loss

If this happens and teams like Stanford, USC, Texas, GaTech, Pitt, and Temple finish strong then we have a good chance.

I'm not going to lose too much sleep on this because i'm still skeptical we are strong enough to go 11-1.

 

[Cackalacky]

Riddle me this?
This is the best Notre Dame team since _________?

1993.

 

[Cogs]

Committee might just leave Clemson out of the playoff at 13-0 for how ridiculously bad/embarrassing Dabo's post-game dance moves are.

Also, didn't really think about how UNC could still be in the hunt. Their loss to south carolina is bad but first game of the season jitters maybe? I knew UNC would be good - Marqise Lee will be a good NFL QB

 

[kmoose]

Riddle me this?
This is the best Notre Dame team since _________?

Temple

 

[GATTACA!]

2012

I would take 2015 over 2012 if they went head to head.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

ND's Path to the 2015 Playoffs

I would take 2015 over 2012 if they went head to head.

Absolutely, and IMO would be a laugher in a bowl type scenario with a month to prepare.

This opinion is taking into account:
-BK learning quite a bit from the disastrous bowl prep of 2012
-The generic look of the 2012 defense being easy to exploit with a month to study it (Bama noted how easy it was to know where everyone would be every play)