Scenarios are fun.

[mick2]

I hate speculating because usually what i think could happen often never does, but i've looked at our schedule and the schedule of some of our opponents and there is a few teams that have a real possibility of being ranked by the time they play us.

Now keep in mind this is all speculation, but if we win up to the usc game id say we may be around 16-20 depending on what teams ahead of us do.

the usc game wont make or break the season but a loss would bump us back out of the rankings and force us to scrape our way back up the polls again, while a win will definately put us in the top 10 considering usc is still undefeated at that time.

Now the week after we have bc which has a very realistic shot at being ranked when we face them, another top 25 victory would be huge for our bowl possibilities.

lastly there are two more teams that have a shot at being ranked when we play them.

1.pitt who has probably the best chance to be ranked out of all the teams we face outside of usc. if so a win on the road against a ranked pitt team would give the team confidence as well as a much needed boost in the rankings.

2. uconn, they have an outside shot if they can manage to navigate without frazer for a couple weeks, they have no. 17 cincy right before they play us they pull the upset and we could be looking at another top 25 team on the schedule.

So to conclude, obviously not all of these scenarios will play out, one team is a sure thing to be ranked and thats sc, we have to win that game. if just one more of those teams is top 25 it could go a long way for our case in the bcs.

gosh dang i want it to be saturday so bad!!!!!!!!!

 

[AlumniHall98]

I like the way you think....scenarios are obviously just that, but are fun to consider nevertheless, and are what give us eternal hope and optimism....after all, if we don't have that, then why bother turning on the TV set every saturday afternoon in the fall??

I have been going through all the same thought processes in my mind, ever since the disappointing loss last weekend, and I think you are right - I would add that, given how Navy came ever so close to beating OSU on the ROAD, there is an outside chance the Middies will see the top 25 this season...for whatever thats worth

 

[mick2]

i guess if we just keep winning everything will hopefully figure itself out.

 

[GoldenDomer21]

Here's the scenario I like.

And I hate to say this, but... Michigan goes 11-1 and looses to tOSU...again...

But, ND also goes 11-1. Beats USC by a narrow margin.

Clausen wins the Heisman.

We have two recievers and AA over the 1000 yd mark.

And we play Michigan in a BCS bowl, where there aren't Big ten "officials" and we smoke them like yesterdays pig.

This is what allows me to sleep at night.

 

[AlumniHall98]

Here's the scenario I like.

And I hate to say this, but... Michigan goes 11-1 and looses to tOSU...again...

But, ND also goes 11-1. Beats USC by a narrow margin.

Clausen wins the Heisman.

We have two recievers and AA over the 1000 yd mark.

And we play Michigan in a BCS bowl, where there aren't Big ten "officials" and we smoke them like yesterdays pig.

This is what allows me to sleep at night.

lol....amen my brother....finally, someone else who gets it!! love the post.

 

[ant80]

Here's the scenario I like.

And I hate to say this, but... Michigan goes 11-1 and looses to tOSU...again...

But, ND also goes 11-1. Beats USC by a narrow margin.

Clausen wins the Heisman.

We have two recievers and AA over the 1000 yd mark.

And we play Michigan in a BCS bowl, where there aren't Big ten "officials" and we smoke them like yesterdays pig.

This is what allows me to sleep at night.

The D has to step up massively for that. You DL is not at all that good, and couldn't even get a good push against the scUM OL. USC's OL is tremondous. With all our depth at DL, we only battled their OL to a standstill. And even then, they burned us when our D tired during the last drive. On top of that, the secondary must step up.

Even if you can score at will against USC, which I doubt, you won't be able to stop them. Their D is good enough to get through your OL as well. But that being said, USC always lays an egg against one team every year. It might as well be ND.

Sorry to be the party pooper.

 

[RyanS]

The D has to step up massively for that. You DL is not at all that good, and couldn't even get a good push against the scUM OL. USC's OL is tremondous. With all our depth at DL, we only battled their OL to a standstill. And even then, they burned us when our D tired during the last drive. On top of that, the secondary must step up.

Even if you can score at will against USC, which I doubt, you won't be able to stop them. Their D is good enough to get through your OL as well. But that being said, USC always lays an egg against one team every year. It might as well be ND.

Sorry to be the party pooper.

We got plenty of push against scUM......but we can't tackle QBs yet. Our DL is not required to make the play.....in Tenuta's system the DL needs to take up blocks and let our blitzing packages hit home. Having a solid push from the DL is great......but far from required.

I have to wait to see how our D does against a non-spread offense.....but I am really excited to see how a pocket passer handles our rush. USC doesn't have a QB that poses much of a running threat, so our blitzing "in theory" should be pretty successful in doing what we couldn't do against Michigan (rattle a TF QB and force mistakes).

USC has a good defense that will likely be great around the time they roll in to SB.....but I can't find a single team in the nation that has the talent to keep Tate, Floyd, and Rudolph in check.....in short, I believe our offense will move the ball. However, USC is going to run A LOT and that has me nervous.

 

[GoldenDomer21]

We can tackle QBs just fine. Forcier is FAST, elusive, and a dynamic QB. He isn't a stay in the pocket and wait to get hit type. Matt Barkley is. I'm not worried about getting a push against USC, our Lbs will get to the QB.

And as for the scenario...we've proven that 10-2 is good enough for a BCS bowl. And it is likely that scUM loses anouth game as well. So, We can still rematch them in a BCS bowl.

Plus, the heisman would be a win in my book.

 

[RyanS]

We can tackle QBs just fine. Forcier is FAST, elusive, and a dynamic QB. He isn't a stay in the pocket and wait to get hit type. Matt Barkley is. I'm not worried about getting a push against USC, our Lbs will get to the QB.

And as for the scenario...we've proven that 10-2 is good enough for a BCS bowl. And it is likely that scUM loses anouth game as well. So, We can still rematch them in a BCS bowl.

Plus, the heisman would be a win in my book.

I am hoping that you are right and that we can tackle QBs......but I lost count of how many times a QB stepped out of an arm tackle or made a small move to avoid a tackle (due to the crazy amount of over pursuit).