New rankings out

[Praise thee]

I'm rooting for USF from here on out. If they keep winning it'll make our loss not look as bad(this would help in the BCS Rankings).

Also, when you say we're ranked 36th it sounds a lot worse than just unranked for some reason.

 

[blue in ohio]

USF's defense was ranked 45th in 2010. Michigan's was ranked 86th.

USF is poised to enjoy the 2nd season surge under Holtz. Michigan is learning an entirely new system under Mattison.

USF plays in the big east. Last years terrible Michigan defense held their champ nearly scoreless as I recall. Stats have something to do with who you play. I suspect playing in the big east we might have had a top 25 defense, lol. Our defense will be improved and may just knock one of your qb's out of the game as it did last year. I wouldn't go in there expecting to see as bad of a defense as we had last year. They are much more physical.

 

[blue in ohio]

I'm rooting for USF from here on out. If they keep winning it'll make our loss not look as bad(this would help in the BCS Rankings).

Also, when you say we're ranked 36th it sounds a lot worse than just unranked for some reason.

Wake up! You have no business going to a BCS bowl with your schedule. You play a few good teams and one possibly great one. You need to run the table and stop losing your cupcake games before you worry about BCS. Besides the last two BCS bowls your team went to they just got embarrassed which made your program look worse. A win in the Poinsetta or motor city bowl looks better than getting demolished by LSU. When you are routing every team on your schedule then talk BCS. The USC you play this year was nearly defeated by the weakest team on our schedule. They are nothing close to the USC that used to demolish you guys and everybody else. The schedules you guys played back when Lou was there was the real deal. What you have lined up now is weaker than most major conferences in the country.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Wake up! You have no business going to a BCS bowl with your schedule. You play a few good teams and one possibly great one. You need to run the table and stop losing your cupcake games before you worry about BCS. Besides the last two BCS bowls your team went to they just got embarrassed which made your program look worse. A win in the Poinsetta or motor city bowl looks better than getting demolished by LSU. When you are routing every team on your schedule then talk BCS. The USC you play this year was nearly defeated by the weakest team on our schedule. They are nothing close to the USC that used to demolish you guys and everybody else. The schedules you guys played back when Lou was there was the real deal. What you have lined up now is weaker than most major conferences in the country.

Have you seen the Notre Dame schedule in 2012?

 

[Whiskeyjack]

USF plays in the big east. Last years terrible Michigan defense held their champ nearly scoreless as I recall. Stats have something to do with who you play. I suspect playing in the big east we might have had a top 25 defense, lol. Our defense will be improved and may just knock one of your qb's out of the game as it did last year. I wouldn't go in there expecting to see as bad of a defense as we had last year. They are much more physical.

The stats I referenced come from Football Outsiders. They're opponent adjusted, so your issue with SoS is taken into account.

The rankings I quoted earlier didn't account for efficiency, either. The most complete ranking for 2010 has USF's defense as 29th and Michigan's at 115th. Yes, your defense was that bad last year (GERG!) But before you sneer at it, you should take solace in the fact that your offense was ranked 3rd. Shoelaces is legit.

I fully expect Mattison to get your defense up to an average level by the end of this season (with further improvement to come in the future), but they're not there yet. W. Michigan was moving the ball against your Wolverines much too easily.

 

[Rhode Irish]

I am not being a downer just being really. I think it is going to take 2 good wins for the voters to even consider us unless there are alot of upsets.

It doesn't really matter where we are ranked at the end of this week or next week. Take care of business from here going forward and we will finish the year in better position than we started it. Obviously it would be better to have won that game, but if we're going to have a clunker it is better to have it in the first week. Nothing we can do about it now. Just focus on what is ahead and take care of what we can control.

 

[BeatSC]

11-1

11-1

Lou said we are going to run the table. Believe it or not but without the mistakes and sh$tty punting I see a team that can compete with anyone in the country. We can control the line of scrimmage. We can run the ball. We have several players who can make plays and we all saw it at different times between some dropped passes last Saturday. I honestly think that ND will beat UM by at least 20 if not up to 40 points. Save this post as you will see it cut & paste into next weeks post game observations.

As far as USF goes; I would wager we will be higher ranked and have a better record than USF by the season end. Not sure what the BCS matchup rules are but I think an 11-1 ND team would bring alot to the table if USF could find a way to win the Big East. Rematch and then a total USF annilation. The question is can a 11-1 ND squad still make it into the BCS championship game? I would say yes as long as Ok and no SEC team are still undefeated. We have enough Marquee games in prime time to get us there and i think we will begin beating up on teams starting this week and the USF game will be shown as the fluke that it was. We now need to rely on an average team to perfrom in the average Big East so our loss doesn't look quite as embarrassing.

 

[ulukinatme]

11-1 is too generous I think given the number of mental mistakes we made. We could easily go 1-3 in September alone, Michigan has capitalized on similar mistakes the last two years to win and Michigan State is a hard nosed team. SC still has talent even if they're coaching has taken a step down, and I imagine they'll get up for an Irish game before Minnesota. We haven't handled Navy well at all the last 4 years either. I think we can still have a good season, but 9-3 may be the most realistic and thats only if we've corrected our turnover and penalty issues.

 

[irishff1014]

I love the positive thinking about going 11-1. But we ar going to play really tough games including Michigan, Michigan State, USC, Stanford. They are all really good teams. ANd I suspect MD is going to be pretty good as well. I actually feel very confident that this year is the year we shoow Navy a true A$$ whiping. I have said that 9-3 or 8-4 will be our overall record and i will stand by that Considering i had us winning against USF.

 

[Rhode Irish]

I love the positive thinking about going 11-1. But we ar going to play really tough games including Michigan, Michigan State, USC, Stanford. They are all really good teams. ANd I suspect MD is going to be pretty good as well. I actually feel very confident that this year is the year we shoow Navy a true A$$ whiping. I have said that 9-3 or 8-4 will be our overall record and i will stand by that Considering i had us winning against USF.

I'm confused where this idea is coming from that Michigan is good. They are the 9th best team we'll play this year. Only Army, Navy and Wake are worse. This is a team that got beat 52-14 the last time they played a real team, and since then they have adopted a new system they are trying to learn, playing that system with players not recruited to play it, and lost some key players off of that team. I don't buy Michigan as good. No excuse not to beat them handily this weekend. If ND plays a good, clean game we will win easily.

 

[SattyBull]

Just came by here for the heck of it and saw Great 8 being an idiot and felt the need to sign up. I'm sorry about him, he even gets into it with fans on our own board all the time. Don't let one village idiot make you think we're all the same way down here. I didn't expect to win last Saturday but it happened. It was a good game in the end and it was obvious your offense was taking it to our defense in the 2nd half. I'm just happy we didn't pull a Utah St and managed to hang onto this one.


Good luck the rest of the way, and I will be cheering for the Irish to go 11-1.

 

[NDinL.A.]

Just came by here for the heck of it and saw Great 8 being an idiot and felt the need to sign up. I'm sorry about him, he even gets into it with fans on our own board all the time. Don't let one village idiot make you think we're all the same way down here. I didn't expect to win last Saturday but it happened. It was a good game in the end and it was obvious your offense was taking it to our defense in the 2nd half. I'm just happy we didn't pull a Utah St and managed to hang onto this one.


Good luck the rest of the way, and I will be cheering for the Irish to go 11-1.

Annnnnnnddd, my faith in USF fans is restored.

Seriously Satty, the USF fans I talked to this past weekend were all cool and happy to be in SB. Didn't meet any a**holes and didn't see any fights or anything stupid all weekend. The "USF! USF! USF!" chants were annoying as hell LOL, but you guys were winning so of course you're going to cheer. I was more pissed that my team didn't do anything to shut the USF crowd up than I was at the fans for cheering for their team.

Nice post and most ND fans are cheering for you guys too, trust me. There is a ton of love for the Holtz family, as you can imagine...

 

[loomis41973]

Met some great USF fans myself this weekend. Here, all i get are troll USF fans who can't afford to travel and likely live in their parents basement.

 

[kmoose]

Oh yes, that you "outgained us 2-1" even though most of those yards were gained in the final 11 minutes of the 4th qtr when we were up 23-7 and in a prevent defense with many second teamers out there.

ND total yards after the score went to 23-7 = 179

ND total yards BEFORE the score went to 23-7 = 329

ND put up 65% of their yardage before the score went to 23-7. That's 35% AFTER. I don't know what they teach at USF, but in the rest of the world, 35% is not "most"?

 

[Whiskeyjack]

We're ranked 18th by Football Outsider's FEI.

Give this article a read if you have time. Focuses mostly on the USF game.

Interesting, educational, and painful.

 

[Little Brown Grotto]

USF should be ranked much higher. Seeing how they dominated us they might not lose a game this year. I'd rather we didn't be ranked and earned the respect. The fact that we get ranked early every year then go lay an egg asap brings too much national ridicule. If we win 7 straight then put us in the rankings but till then we don't belong there. I'd like to get away from the days of Jimmy and his 4 national championship prediction and go low key and get back to winning instead of just talking. Next time Lou makes some silly prediction he should have to come back and coach. We haven't been any good since Lou was our coach. If we win this year and go BCS I just hope it's not another blow out like the last two BCS games we have been to.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

USF should be ranked much higher. Seeing how they dominated us they might not lose a game this year. I'd rather we didn't be ranked and earned the respect. The fact that we get ranked early every year then go lay an egg asap brings too much national ridicule. If we win 7 straight then put us in the rankings but till then we don't belong there. I'd like to get away from the days of Jimmy and his 4 national championship prediction and go low key and get back to winning instead of just talking. Next time Lou makes some silly prediction he should have to come back and coach. We haven't been any good since Lou was our coach. If we win this year and go BCS I just hope it's not another blow out like the last two BCS games we have been to.

What game were you watching? ND dominated USF in every major statistical category. The only team that beat us last Saturday was ND.

 

[NDinL.A.]

USF made things happen with their defense and took advantage of every mistake. That is domination. Coulda Woulda Shoulda just won't get it done.

No, it's not. That's just winning. Winning a game does not equal domination. Granted, I'd rather win than dominate and lose as ND did, but that doesn't make your statement right. USF did not dominate ND...not even close.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

USF made things happen with their defense and took advantage of every mistake. That is domination. Coulda Woulda Shoulda just won't get it done.

No, in fact, they didn't "make things happen" with their defense. Their corners weren't jumping routes or dominating our WRs. We marched up and down the field on them at will, failing only due to completely unforced errors.

They benefited from two lucky bounces (after Jonas was stripped and off TJ's helmet), two terrible passes, and a muffed punt return. They get credit for playing TO-free, but that's about it.

 

[Rhode Irish]

USF made things happen with their defense and took advantage of every mistake. That is domination. Coulda Woulda Shoulda just won't get it done.

No way is this guy legit. Might as well get the banhammer out....

 

[NDinL.A.]

Nevermind, that loser is a troll, real name 'blue in ohio' who got banned yesterday. Damn, someone just shoot me straight in the head if I'm in THAT much need of a life where I have nothing better to do but to act like an *** and make up new user names on the daily just to create some human interaction which I cannot otherwise get on my own.

What a friggin' loser. Are all Michigan fans like that d o u c h e???

 

[Junkhead]

Are all Michigan fans like that d o u c h e???

No, just most.

 

[The Polish Irishman]

We should next a Who's Next? Banning Thread. I have banned more than in the past few days than my whole career.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I love our mods. You guys keep this board readable.

 

[NDinL.A.]

We should start a Who's Next? Banning Thread. I have banned more than in the past few days than my whole career.

Ha ha, no sh!t. I've been laying out like 4 bannings a day, many of whom most posters never get to even see (thank you to the posters who PM or report the posts!). My favorites are the losers who come back under new usernames, pretend they are cool at first (using 'we') and then their true colors show up, only it always happens like 3 hours after they were just banned LOL.

Get out of mommy's basement guys and go buy yourselves a life...

 

[NDMontana]

Maybe you guys should just have an open window to join from February through July so you mods can do a little more posting as opposed to babysitting.

 

[kmoose]

They get credit for playing TO-free, but that's about it.

I agree that ND beat themselves, but you do have to give USF credit for going on a 14 play, 80 yard TD drive at the end of the 3rd/beginning of 4th quarter, to put USF up 23-7. That was a pretty big nail in the coffin.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I agree that ND beat themselves, but you do have to give USF credit for going on a 14 play, 80 yard TD drive at the end of the 3rd/beginning of 4th quarter, to put USF up 23-7. That was a pretty big nail in the coffin.

You sort of have a point, but that was the only offensive TD they scored, and the only meaningful drive they put together all game. Does scoring that single TD mean anything if ND hadn't spent the first three quarters self-destructing already?

 

[kmoose]

You sort of have a point, but that was the only TD they scored, and the only meaningful drive they put together all game. Does scoring that single TD mean anything if ND hadn't spent the first three quarters self-destructing already?

It does, if you look at it from the standpoint that USF manned up, rammed it down our throat, and all but put the game away?

I'm just sayin'............

 

[Whiskeyjack]

It does, if you look at it from the standpoint that USF manned up, rammed it down our throat, and all but put the game away?

I'm just sayin'............

I'll concede that USF gets some credit for that, with the reservation that the above referenced drive still didn't put the game away. We weren't finished until they recovered the on-side kick.