Sept 3 | Ohio State

[Irish#1]

This game can’t get here soon enough..

I get feeling the anxiety of going up against a team this loaded but if Buchner can use his legs & make the throws (a loaded phrase) then this goes down to the wire.

I’m honestly surprised at how many people have given this game away..

You’re just going to fade this DL like it’s not the best fu*^ing group we’ve rolled out in decades??

Liafu will be flying around.. Cam Hart will hold it down.. there’s some questions but plenty of talent to emerge.. Joseph is a proven leader, playmaker..

Do we just forget that MF was the premiere DC in the nation?? He’s had the entire offseason to gameplan with his coaches..

Does he strike you as the type that under prepares or gets outworked?

Everyone just imagines Buchner throwing ducks around under pressure while completely ignoring the fact that we have a Top 5 OL GROUP WITH THE BEST FUGGING OL COACH IN THE COUNTRY..

Speed - Tyree
Power - Estime
All around - Diggs

Ohio St. Is just going to suffocate all of that?

And if they try? Maybe Tommy has drawn up a few plays for the best TE in the country?

“oUr WrS cAnT gEt seParaTioN”

Go watch Styles tape from last year.. Xavier Watts is phenomenal on his feet.. he’ll get separation.. Thomas, Colzie, Lenzy & Merriweather.. all duds? Cmon

And Buchner can run.. there’s no denying this.. and that fact can mask a ton of deficiencies on offense, should they become a factor.

Everything changes when they know QB1 can scurry for 1st downs.

This comes down to the wire.. I think we see the type of ND Football we’ve been waiting for.. and Marcus will be the reason why.

99	Rylie Mills	6-5	292	Jr./Jr.
31	Nana Osafo-Mensah	6-3	250	Sr./Jr.
90	Alexander Ehrensberger	6-7	267	Jr./So
91	Aiden Gobaira	6-4	241	Fr./Fr.

Isaiah Foskey	6-5	265	Sr./Jr.
9	Justin Ademilola	6-2	253	Gr./Sr.
12	Jordan Botelho	6-3	250	Jr./Jr.
40	Joshua Burnham	6-4	233	Fr./Fr.
34	Osita Ekwonu	6-1	235	Sr./Jr.

Defensive Tackle

No.	Player	Height	Weight	Year
57	Jayson Ademilola	6-3	285	Gr./Sr.+
54	Jacob Lacey	6-2	280	Sr./Sr.
98	Tyson Ford	6-4	275	Fr./Fr.
41	Donovan Hinish	6-2	280	Fr./Fr.

Nose Guard

No.	Player	Height	Weight	Year
56	Howard Cross III	6-1	276	Sr./Jr.
65	Chris Smith	6-1	310	Gr./Sr.+
97	Gabe Rubio	6-5	295	So./Fr.
47	Jason Onye	6-5

I'm optimistic, but not at your level. Here's some more.

 

[Hammer Of The Gods]

This game can’t get here soon enough..



Ohio St. Is just going to suffocate all of that?

Most likely

 

[RDU Irish]

Let's not forget, OSU lost two first round WRs and a third round TE plus two OL (RD3 and RD7) - 5/11 of their offense is getting their first start. CJ Stroud is good but he had three elite NFL WRs last year which tends to make QBs look good. Smith Njigba is in that same class so he still has one proven stud but the next three WRs had 12,11 and 9 receptions. Very unlikely they come out firing on all cylinders. Stroud was likely propped up a bit by the insane WR talent surrounding him - IMO he needs to be better than just good against us.

They a very good but also very beatable team. Oregon and Michigan beat them last year putting up 35 and 42 points. Utah put up 45 points in a loss. Their defense has great athletes but frustrate their fans by getting scorched by not always amazing offenses (cough, skunkbears, cough). They got obliterated by Bama in the title game two years ago. Returning a lot of talent on defense so I expect them to be improved over last year. That 2021 class should be playing a bigger role so good to get them early.

End of the day - you beat OSU by putting up some offense and playing good enough defense to slow them down. Crazy we are their toughest game of the season and they are 85/15 favorites. I would put it more at 75/25. MMFF pulls this off and easily has a better best win than BK and saves our playoff mulligan for later in the season.

 

[WaveDomer]

didn't know who he was talking about. Had to look him up. I'll take AJ's dish over Bronny.

It's on ABC, right? So with their ESPN ties, and ESPN's ties to LeBron, I would expect them to show Bronny a ton. He is on their Instagram page every other day.

 

[Valpodoc85]

ND is always best as underdog...

 

[ThePiombino]

ND is always best as underdog...

On the contrary, the last 5 seasons have been about beating the teams we should and rarely the ones we shouldn't.

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[ulukinatme]

What makes you think Styles or even Colzie can’t get separation? Lol

I agree it all hinges in Buchners ability to distribute the ball..

But he’s had the same offensive coach for a while now.. it’s normal to assume a kid with his talent will take a leap forward.

I think he's referring to the fact for some time our WR group as a whole has had trouble with separation, but you're right. Styles is a different breed, and hopefully Colzie is too. Styles was the only receiver that didn't get shut down 2nd half against OSU. Hopefully he continues to kick ass and Colzie takes the next step too, cause we need that group to succeed.

 

[Irish8248]

The one thing we're overlooking is it's no longer Del, it's Chansi. ND pays him to recruit AND coach. Hopefully he brings a little extra swag and elusiveness to the room.. the fastest way to hit the field and make a name for yourself is to be a route technician, especially in college

 

[AgentJ]

Ian Book was not a passer, but he was one thing: a playmaker.

He would often be too quick to tuck and run, but he did ball. He was a guy you could trust to make plays. He didn't just play in a box and formulaic. The unknown about Buchner is whether he has this trait that separates a team from being serviceable and champions. He has all of the tools... But can we just call pass play X and let him go ball out by making a throw, getting out of the pocket, extending the play, scrambling, etc.?

It will be tough if we find ourselves in a position where we can only move the ball by scheming guys open. That's great, but you can't scheme 90 plays that move the ball against Ohio St on the road. You need a QB that has that IT factor and can make things happen. We will know by Sep 4th whether or not we have that in TB12

 

[Irish#1]

One thing overlooked is Tommy now knows what adjustments OSU will play on defense if he comes out with a similar plan that he used against OkSU.

 

[fightingirish26]

One thing overlooked is Tommy now knows what adjustments OSU will play on defense if he comes out with a similar plan that he used against OkSU.

Well Knowles didn't coach that game so that's not really true, plus I expect the offensive game plan to be significantly different than the plan with Coan against Ok St.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

For those that think we will get rolled by OSU, I have a question.

Do you think this ND team is better than scUM or Oregon were last year?

I cannot answer that right now, but I can say playing a sleepy, upset ripe noon kick was a more manageable task for UO and UM than a prime time under the lights tilt.

We are essentially attempting to kill a king in broad daylight, instead of a sneak attack in the middle of the night. (I know that is the opposite of the time slots, but you get the point)


Also, both UO and UM had over 270 yards rushing. If you think we can put up 200+, then this might be a game. If we have to abandon the run, lord help us.


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[Hammer Of The Gods]

I cannot answer that right now, but I can say playing a sleepy, upset ripe noon kick was a more manageable task for UO and UM than a prime time under the lights tilt.

This can't be preached enough...I've been to a ton of live 'events' sports, concerts, name it. Ohio State at Night is LOUD and actually very intense. Their fans literally think every offensive series should be 7 and every defensive series should be 3 and out or a turnover. Literally no exceptions, they are delusional.

Buchner will have to be flawless at the line of scrimmage. Because that was what killed Penn State last year. They were in complete disarray from a communication stand point. They couldn't hear.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Ian Book was not a passer, but he was one thing: a playmaker.

He would often be too quick to tuck and run, but he did ball. He was a guy you could trust to make plays. He didn't just play in a box and formulaic. The unknown about Buchner is whether he has this trait that separates a team from being serviceable and champions. He has all of the tools... But can we just call pass play X and let him go ball out by making a throw, getting out of the pocket, extending the play, scrambling, etc.?

It will be tough if we find ourselves in a position where we can only move the ball by scheming guys open. That's great, but you can't scheme 90 plays that move the ball against Ohio St on the road. You need a QB that has that IT factor and can make things happen. We will know by Sep 4th whether or not we have that in TB12

Agree with everything except your first statement, and maybe I'm just splitting hairs, but Ian Book was a solid passer. He was extremely accurate in the short and intermediate routes. Was he a gunslinger, a la Quinn or Clausen? No. And he certainly had his limitations with running the concept of the playbook as the plays were designed, but as you pointed out, he had an uncanny ability to make plays on his own. He was very creative after the snap.

But he took over for Wimbush because Wimbush wasn't a passer, and it helped that Book still had enough athleticism to create plays on his own. We needed someone who could consistently hit those short/intermediate routes to set up our offense and Wimbush struggled there.

I agree on Buchner and it sounds like, at least in camp, he has a pass-first mentality and is looking to throw the ball with solid pocket presence, but we all know things can change quickly under the lights. I hope he isn't quick to bail on the play, because it's hard to set up your offense when you're not running the play as it's designed.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

I cannot answer that right now, but I can say playing a sleepy, upset ripe noon kick was a more manageable task for UO and UM than a prime time under the lights tilt.

We are essentially attempting to kill a king in broad daylight, instead of a sneak attack in the middle of the night. (I know that is the opposite of the time slots, but you get the point)


Also, both UO and UM had over 270 yards rushing. If you think we can put up 200+, then this might be a game. If we have to abandon the run, lord help us.


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Some of these examples are better than others, but there's plenty of evidence to suggest they're beatable at home regardless of a 3:30 or a primetime kick:

• 2013:
  • won 31-24, 8:00 PM kick, against No. 23 Wisconsin. They finished 9-4.
  • won 34-24, 3:30 Kick, against Iowa, who finished 8-5
• 2014:
  • Well-known loss to VT at home, 21-35, under the lights at 8PM. This was a week after a rune up game vs. Navy. VT finished 7-6 that year.
• 2015:
  • Mighty Northern Illiniois came to town at 3:30, and lost 20-13. They finished 8-6.
  • Minnesota at 3:30: OSU won 28-14 against a 6-7 Gophers team.
• 2016:
  • Northwestern, 3:30PM: won 24-20, against a NW squad that finished 7-6.
• 2017:
  • Lost 31-16 under the lights against No. 5 Oklahoma.
  • Won 39-38 against No. 2 PSU, 3:30PM kick.
• 2019:
  • Beat No. 8 Wisconsin 34-21 during an 8pm kick.

All of these provided examples have ND at least beating that absurd, insulting spread. It's one thing to suggest that ND has struggled on the road in these premiere games, but BK is also gone. I don't thing the Shoe is as daunting as people make it out to be. Tough task? Absolutely, 100%. Undoable? Absolutely not, as evidenced above by far lesser or equal teams.

 

[Irish#1]

Well Knowles didn't coach that game so that's not really true, plus I expect the offensive game plan to be significantly different than the plan with Coan against Ok St.

Agree that the plan will be different with Buchner under center, but what adjustments OkSU made had to be from the defense that Knowles had been utilizing, right? There wasn't time to put in a new D.

 

[Irish#1]

This can't be preached enough...I've been to a ton of live 'events' sports, concerts, name it. Ohio State at Night is LOUD and actually very intense. Their fans literally think every offensive series should be 7 and every defensive series should be 3 and out or a turnover. Literally no exceptions, they are delusional.

Buchner will have to be flawless at the line of scrimmage. Because that was what killed Penn State last year. They were in complete disarray from a communication stand point. They couldn't hear.

VT was pretty damn loud the last two times we played there. The Show will have more fans, so it will be louder, but enough to make a difference? MF played there so he'll have these guys aware. I don't see these guys folding like what happened at Miami.

 

[Hammer Of The Gods]

VT was pretty damn loud the last two times we played there. The Show will have more fans, so it will be louder, but enough to make a difference? MF played there so he'll have these guys aware. I don't see these guys folding like what happened at Miami.

Its that damn DJ that they have playing. He's constantly yapping about something to get the crowd fired up and then will play something with a ton of bass Its horrible distracting. He's so loud and obnoxious and won't STFU Then add on top of that 100k plus drunk and pissed off because they didn't score in 2 plays.

 

[Rack Em]

Some of these examples are better than others, but there's plenty of evidence to suggest they're beatable at home regardless of a 3:30 or a primetime kick:

• 2013:
  • won 31-24, 8:00 PM kick, against No. 23 Wisconsin. They finished 9-4.
  • won 34-24, 3:30 Kick, against Iowa, who finished 8-5
• 2014:
  • Well-known loss to VT at home, 21-35, under the lights at 8PM. This was a week after a rune up game vs. Navy. VT finished 7-6 that year.
• 2015:
  • Mighty Northern Illiniois came to town at 3:30, and lost 20-13. They finished 8-6.
  • Minnesota at 3:30: OSU won 28-14 against a 6-7 Gophers team.
• 2016:
  • Northwestern, 3:30PM: won 24-20, against a NW squad that finished 7-6.
• 2017:
  • Lost 31-16 under the lights against No. 5 Oklahoma.
  • Won 39-38 against No. 2 PSU, 3:30PM kick.
• 2019:
  • Beat No. 8 Wisconsin 34-21 during an 8pm kick.

All of these provided examples have ND at least beating that absurd, insulting spread. It's one thing to suggest that ND has struggled on the road in these premiere games, but BK is also gone. I don't thing the Shoe is as daunting as people make it out to be. Tough task? Absolutely, 100%. Undoable? Absolutely not, as evidenced above by far lesser or equal teams.

I could very easily transport you back in time to 2017:

Miami - 41 Notre Dame - 8

We got absolutely dick punched repeatedly that game....on the road....at night.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

I could very easily transport you back in time to 2017:

Miami - 41 Notre Dame - 8

We got absolutely dick punched repeatedly that game....on the road....at night.

I remember vividly, and as I said at the end of my (albeit lengthy) post, I would agree more with an argument that ND struggled in these big primetime games at night than "can't win at the Horseshoe."

I could also transport you back to 2019 when we gave UGA all they could handle and had a shot to win the game in the last couple minutes. I could transport you to Clemson in 2015 when we almost took them down. I can transport you to several games against Mark Dantonio's Spartans that I was personally at and we won. We could do this all day, my main point was that I don't think the Horseshoe is as daunting as people make it out to be.

Tough task, absolutely. But there's evidence that lesser teams than the 2022 ND product have succeeded.

 

[du Lac]

No chance The Shoe is substantially louder than VT. Louder? Sure. To the point that it’ll drastically change the game? No. What will be difficult is playing against possibly the 2022 national champs right off the bat.

 

[Hammer Of The Gods]

College football's 9 most intimidating stadiums in 2022, ranked

...

247sports.com

 

[stlnd01]

College football's 9 most intimidating stadiums in 2022, ranked

...

247sports.com

"This is not always the loudest stadium in the country..."

I'm sure the crowd will be fired up but Ohio State's only #2 because they have a bunch of big home games this year. They're nothing out of the ordinary for big-time stadiums.
Like the Bloke says, we've gone into Georgia, Clemson, FSU and given them all they can handle. Sparty Stadium is a steep erector set that can get pretty pretty loud. The crowd's not going to win this game.

 

[ndfanatic78]

I could very easily transport you back in time to 2017:

Miami - 41 Notre Dame - 8

We got absolutely dick punched repeatedly that game....on the road....at night.

Thats the game that turned me against Kelly and showed me even if he got the talent he would never win it all at ND. Miami had Ed Reed in their locker room pre-game hyping the hell out of the Miami guys. Talking about the history of the ND/Miami rivalry talking about disrespect and everything that goes into the hatred that there is between Miami and ND. Brian Kelly treated it like it was just another game. He didnt do shit to get his guys prepared for the environment they were about to walk into. There was no excuse for that loss or the beat down that ensued. ND had more talent and was the better team. We just had a sociopath robot as a head coach who has no idea how to inspire a team to play above their potential and win a big game they should have won let alone one they shouldn't.

 

[fightingirish26]

Thats the game that turned me against Kelly and showed me even if he got the talent he would never win it all at ND. Miami had Ed Reed in their locker room pre-game hyping the hell out of the Miami guys. Talking about the history of the ND/Miami rivalry talking about disrespect and everything that goes into the hatred that there is between Miami and ND. Brian Kelly treated it like it was just another game. He didnt do shit to get his guys prepared for the environment they were about to walk into. There was no excuse for that loss or the beat down that ensued. ND had more talent and was the better team. We just had a sociopath robot as a head coach who has no idea how to inspire a team to play above their potential and win a big game they should have won let alone one they shouldn't.

The Miami game was the ultimate BK "business trip." The ND socials were posting about it incessantly, showing Josh Adams and the rest of the team in suits looking stoic as hell. There's probably countless more examples of the business trip approach working out for Kelly, but maybe let's not do that on the road against top ten teams.

 

[clashmore_mike]

No longer Ohio Stadium

 

[Armyirish47]

No longer Ohio Stadium

That's perfect, they'll need some repair and replace after the Irish burn the place down.

Notre Dame by 50.

 

[INLaw]

 

[arahop]

I could very easily transport you back in time to 2017:

Miami - 41 Notre Dame - 8

We got absolutely dick punched repeatedly that game....on the road....at night.

'Choked on applesauce" Valenti,
Favorite rant ever. Sounds like me after every big game since 93

 

[greyhammer90]

No longer Ohio Stadium

Probably still Ohio Stadium, it's the field that had its name sold.