State of the Irish

[Veer option]

. Winning is a mentality.

When you Google search "winning" this is the first hit that pops up.

 

[4irishnation]

There is a difference from being favored (Vegas standards) and actually knowing if you will win. Sorry dude Vegas knows all they're n the business of knowing who is gonna win.

 

[Green Goblin]

Listen we handled MSU, who proved tonight that they could play with anyone. We have all the talent in the world and if more than 10% of ND fans were scared of an upset at the hands of USF I'd be shocked. Furthermore, you're justifying mediocrity by saying that losing to bad teams last year doesn't count and every team on ND schedule is better than what they are.

Yeah but what else have we seen?

We've seen we lost all 3 of our games with critical turnovers and critical times. That's something not likely to last. Its a mental thing that just needs to be shaken and it can be shaken. We'd win all three without the turnovers and in the case of USC and USF, the returns for TDs were especially damning.

Michigan just had a total miracle. There is a TON of progress inbetween the lines though. We aren't getting blown out. We are beating ourselves. When we stop doing that, we'll be pretty damn good.

 

[military_irish]

Listen we handled MSU, who proved tonight that they could play with anyone. We have all the talent in the world and if more than 10% of ND fans were scared of an upset at the hands of USF I'd be shocked. Furthermore, you're justifying mediocrity by saying that losing to bad teams last year doesn't count and every team on ND schedule is better than what they are.

I am the biggest backer of ND that you will ever talk to. So I make no excuses. But why would anyone in there right mind believe ND would win a national championship this year with how they have performed these last 15 years. I will never jump off the bandwagon ever and every game they play they can win in my mind. But they are capable of being beat by ANYONE, until they prove otherwise. Just facts not opinion.

They have good talent but young at the same time. Things will turn up, and they will prevail in the end. Just not over night.

 

[Epitome]

Yeah but what else have we seen?

We've seen we lost all 3 of our games with critical turnovers and critical times. That's something not likely to last. Its a mental thing that just needs to be shaken and it can be shaken. We'd win all three without the turnovers and in the case of USC and USF, the returns for TDs were especially damning.

Michigan just had a total miracle. There is a TON of progress inbetween the lines though. We aren't getting blown out. We are beating ourselves. When we stop doing that, we'll be pretty damn good.

Tell that to the last 18 years of my life.

 

[WaveDomer]

There is a difference from being favored (Vegas standards) and actually knowing if you will win. Sorry dude Vegas knows all they're n the business of knowing who is gonna win.

Vegas doesn't give a rip who is going to win. They give a rip about who the public thinks is going to win. They want even amounts of bets on each side so they can make money.

 

[military_irish]

There is a difference from being favored (Vegas standards) and actually knowing if you will win. Sorry dude Vegas knows all they're n the business of knowing who is gonna win.

Oklahoma was favored by 29 but lost by 3. Vegas knows everything?

 

[Epitome]

I am the biggest backer of ND that you will ever talk to. So I make no excuses. But why would anyone in there right mind believe ND would win a national championship this year with how they have performed these last 15 years. I will never jump off the bandwagon ever and every game they play they can win in my mind. But they are capable of being beat by ANYONE, until they prove otherwise. Just facts not opinion.

They have good talent but young at the same time. Things will turn up, and they will prevail in the end. Just not over night.

I certaintly didn't have expectations for an NC this year either. I did however expect to throttle USF and beat up on a Michigan team that is full of undersized kids that were recruited to play the spread.

 

[military_irish]

I certaintly didn't have expectations for an NC this year either. I did however expect to throttle USF and beat up on a Michigan team that is full of undersized kids that were recruited to play the spread.

But sh!t happens and it didn't work out. Doesn't mean they are bad or poorly coached. They were just beat. Plain and simple. Mental mistakes by the players lost the game. But it can be fixed. Not the end of the world.

I will always have faith.

 

[Epitome]

2000 Oklahoma 13–0 8–0 1st (South) W Orange † 1 1
2001 Oklahoma 11–2 6–2 2nd (South) W Cotton 6 6
2002 Oklahoma 12–2 6–2 T–1st (South) W Rose † 5 5
2003 Oklahoma 12–2 8–0 1st (South) L Sugar † 3 3
2004 Oklahoma 12–1 8–0 1st (South) L Orange † 3 3
2005 Oklahoma 8–4 6–2 2nd (South) W Holiday 22 22
2006 Oklahoma 11–3 7–1 1st (South) L Fiesta † 11 11
2007 Oklahoma 11–3 6–2 1st (South) L Fiesta † 8 8
2008 Oklahoma 12–2 7–1 T–1st (South) L BCS NCG † 5 5
2009 Oklahoma 8–5 5–3 T–3rd (South) W Sun
2010 Oklahoma 12–2 6–2 T–1st (South) W Fiesta † 6 6
2011 Oklahoma 6–1 3–1 (South

Oklahoma losing would be considered the occasional upset. They win 10 games+ almost every year. They beat the teams that they should 95% of the time.

 

[Epitome]

I'm tired and stressed MILITARY IRISH. Thanks for the positive perspective. GoIrish!

 

[AllGoldEverything]

This team could easily beat any CW team. This defense is very good. They started shaky but gave up only 7 points, only after a TO, in the second half.

If they don't turn it over, this team wins without a doubt.

They are better coached than CW teams. It takes time to develop a championship team. Sorry but it really does, especially when morals and grades come into play. I mean Tuitt was suspended for a game for missing class. Do you think any other school would do that?

So be patient this team will prevail. I believe wholeheartedly

agree completely...good post

 

[Chicago Irish Fan]

2000 Oklahoma 13–0 8–0 1st (South) W Orange † 1 1
2001 Oklahoma 11–2 6–2 2nd (South) W Cotton 6 6
2002 Oklahoma 12–2 6–2 T–1st (South) W Rose † 5 5
2003 Oklahoma 12–2 8–0 1st (South) L Sugar † 3 3
2004 Oklahoma 12–1 8–0 1st (South) L Orange † 3 3
2005 Oklahoma 8–4 6–2 2nd (South) W Holiday 22 22
2006 Oklahoma 11–3 7–1 1st (South) L Fiesta † 11 11
2007 Oklahoma 11–3 6–2 1st (South) L Fiesta † 8 8
2008 Oklahoma 12–2 7–1 T–1st (South) L BCS NCG † 5 5
2009 Oklahoma 8–5 5–3 T–3rd (South) W Sun
2010 Oklahoma 12–2 6–2 T–1st (South) W Fiesta † 6 6
2011 Oklahoma 6–1 3–1 (South

Oklahoma losing would be considered the occasional upset. They win 10 games+ almost every year. They beat the teams that they should 95% of the time.

Coach Kelly isn't several years into his regime either. Give him some time. Lou Holtz was 13-10 in his first two years. You think he was beating all the teams he should have beat those first two years? Allow him to get his own players in and put his stamp on this program before everyone starts jumping on him.

 

[military_irish]

2000 Oklahoma 13–0 8–0 1st (South) W Orange † 1 1
2001 Oklahoma 11–2 6–2 2nd (South) W Cotton 6 6
2002 Oklahoma 12–2 6–2 T–1st (South) W Rose † 5 5
2003 Oklahoma 12–2 8–0 1st (South) L Sugar † 3 3
2004 Oklahoma 12–1 8–0 1st (South) L Orange † 3 3
2005 Oklahoma 8–4 6–2 2nd (South) W Holiday 22 22
2006 Oklahoma 11–3 7–1 1st (South) L Fiesta † 11 11
2007 Oklahoma 11–3 6–2 1st (South) L Fiesta † 8 8
2008 Oklahoma 12–2 7–1 T–1st (South) L BCS NCG † 5 5
2009 Oklahoma 8–5 5–3 T–3rd (South) W Sun
2010 Oklahoma 12–2 6–2 T–1st (South) W Fiesta † 6 6
2011 Oklahoma 6–1 3–1 (South

Oklahoma losing would be considered the occasional upset. They win 10 games+ almost every year. They beat the teams that they should 95% of the time.

They also schedule non BCS schools that they know they can beat.

Navy and Air Force do NOT fall in that category. Air Force almost beat Boise St and Navy almost beat South Carolina.

Notre Dame schedules teams that can actually play in BCS games without going undefeated.

I will not make excuses because I love ND. But stuff happens and they will lose. Sucks but it is the truth. Notre Dame has a rivalry with half of the teams they play. Oklahoma does not.

Like the saying goes, "anything can happen in a Rivalry".It is the truth too. Oh well, sucks they lost but guess what I will wake up tomorrow. I will be free tomorrow. I will do whatever I want tomorrow. This game does not effect my life.

Although I do feel sorrow when they lose.

 

[military_irish]

I'm tired and stressed MILITARY IRISH. Thanks for the positive perspective. GoIrish!

I agree we love out team Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It sucks when they lose, I hate it. All we can do is keep our head up and move forward ya know.

 

[Buster Bluth]

This is f*cking dumb.

That is all.

 

[Veer option]

My advice on fixing the situation is having someone fly to Urban Meyer's home, throw him a checkbook containing blank checks across the dinner table and say "Write whatever you feel appropriate in there and we'll see you at work on Monday."

I cannot tell if you are serious or not as my sarcasm meter broke and is away on repair.

 

[Irish Houstonian]

The collective frustration in the team almost shows how close ND is to greatness. In '02 when Carson Palmer, et. al., kicked the crap out of us I didn't really mind, because it was expected and you saw early how much better Southern Cal was.

But tonight, we should have beat one of the top teams (at least in terms of talent), who was led by an upper-echelon QB and got to play with literally nothing to lose, and didn't have a single turnover.

But we didn't. Get over it.

Bottom line: frustration is a function of expectation. And expectation is the residue of hope. So disappointment aside, I'd much rather have seen tonight's game than 02's.

 

[IrishandColts]

Where is the ban button? Some of these idiots don't deserve to be fans.

 

[Bigpetunia]

State of the Irish?

State of the Irish?

.....well, fair to partly cloudy. Yes, we have some decent talent out there, and BK is a decent (not great) coach. We're obviously not ready for prime time, nor are we awful. We're just a middling decent football team in a college football landscape that is so fundamentally changed from those days when we could actually and realistically contemplate national championships that we've become masters of self-delusion. Just look at the top 25...OK, we must agree that we don't currently belong there....but even among that group, the gulf between the teams at the top and those in the high teens and twenties (witness what LSU did to Auburn!) is enormous! The top SEC teams, who, week in and week out, play the most brutal schedules in the country, and maybe a few teams like Oklahoma, are now playing a level of college football (with a commensurate level of talent) that is, to be fair, light years beyond our capabilities now. We can hope....but this reality ain't changing anytime soon, if it ever does. We can't match them in recruiting, coaching talent, resources, or in any way that would return us to competitiveness on that lofty level. We've won a grand total of one game this year against even a fairly realistic opponent...MSU. So, what should we do about this? How 'bout we just chill out, enjoy ND football on our beautiful campus for what it is, enjoy perennial "winning" seasons against hand picked opponents, and stop tearing our collective hair out over rankings and national championships. Ok, we've lost a few....big deal. But, in the big picture, we're mostly having a lot of fun, aren't we? Just a matter of attitude...

 

[Grahambo]

2000 Oklahoma 13–0 8–0 1st (South) W Orange † 1 1
2001 Oklahoma 11–2 6–2 2nd (South) W Cotton 6 6
2002 Oklahoma 12–2 6–2 T–1st (South) W Rose † 5 5
2003 Oklahoma 12–2 8–0 1st (South) L Sugar † 3 3
2004 Oklahoma 12–1 8–0 1st (South) L Orange † 3 3
2005 Oklahoma 8–4 6–2 2nd (South) W Holiday 22 22
2006 Oklahoma 11–3 7–1 1st (South) L Fiesta † 11 11
2007 Oklahoma 11–3 6–2 1st (South) L Fiesta † 8 8
2008 Oklahoma 12–2 7–1 T–1st (South) L BCS NCG † 5 5
2009 Oklahoma 8–5 5–3 T–3rd (South) W Sun
2010 Oklahoma 12–2 6–2 T–1st (South) W Fiesta † 6 6
2011 Oklahoma 6–1 3–1 (South

Oklahoma losing would be considered the occasional upset. They win 10 games+ almost every year. They beat the teams that they should 95% of the time.

I would like to point out that before this decade, they weren't exactly stellar:

1988 9 3 0
1989 7 4 0
1990 8 3 0
1991 9 3 0
1992 5 4 2
1993 9 3 0
1994 6 6 0
1995 5 5 1
1996 3 8
1997 4 8
1998 5 6
1999 7 5

From 1988 until 1999 they went through Barry Switzer, Gary Gibbs, Howard Schellenberger, John Blake, and finally Bob Stoops. They also went 2-3 in bowl games, were ineligible in two years and didn't qualify for another two seasons.

 

[NDOM]

BK will win a NC before Kiffin!

Seriously... team will be fine. Let's leave BK the time to put his team in place.

Look at recruiting rankings... Even with the sanctions... USC has more talent than we do.

You are on crack. ANYONE who thinks ND is going to win a championship anytime in the future is SERIOUSLY blind. ND will NEVER amount to anything better than a 9-3 8-4 team year in and year out. Brian Kelly when he said how many National Championships we would win "Multiple" was just blowing smoke up your a s s e s just like when Charlie Weis said we would have a tough, nasty, intelligent football team.

Face it fellas, We will NEVER EVER be better than a 9-3 or 8-4 team.

Kelly is 0-2 against Michigan, 1-1 against Michigan State, 1-1 vs Usc! and dare I say about to be 0-2 against Navy.........OH and he lost to Tulsa.

Brian Kelly is NO better than Charlie Weis at this point. LOL

ND football is just not the same since Lou Holtz left. GET OVER IT!

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

I am the biggest backer of ND that you will ever talk to. So I make no excuses. But why would anyone in there right mind believe ND would win a national championship this year with how they have performed these last 15 years.

Only delusional people expected a title, so forget that. But many did expect us to make a BCS run, including the head coach. Listen, its not losses, is HOW WE PLAY THE GAME that is pissing so many people off. I can take 4-3 if we played really hard and just lost to the better team. But we SHOULD BE 6-1 at worst. There are long stretches in games where we just sleepwalk. Is how we are playing and how we are losing that is feeding the fan animosity. Its no different that how things were under Weis and Willingham.

 

[ubet49]

turn overs

turn overs

The Irish would be 7 and 0 instead of 4 and 3 if they did not have any turnovers.

This team could easily beat any CW team. This defense is very good. They started shaky but gave up only 7 points, only after a TO, in the second half.

If they don't turn it over, this team wins without a doubt.

They are better coached than CW teams. It takes time to develop a championship team. Sorry but it really does, especially when morals and grades come into play. I mean Tuitt was suspended for a game for missing class. Do you think any other school would do that?

So be patient this team will prevail. I believe wholeheartedly

 

[NDOM]

You are on crack. ANYONE who thinks ND is going to win a championship anytime in the future is SERIOUSLY blind. ND will NEVER amount to anything better than a 9-3 8-4 team year in and year out. Brian Kelly when he said how many National Championships we would win "Multiple" was just blowing smoke up your a s s e s just like when Charlie Weis said we would have a tough, nasty, intelligent football team.

Face it fellas, We will NEVER EVER be better than a 9-3 or 8-4 team.

Kelly is 0-2 against Michigan, 1-1 against Michigan State, 1-1 vs Usc! and dare I say about to be 0-2 against Navy.........OH and he lost to Tulsa.

Brian Kelly is NO better than Charlie Weis at this point. LOL

ND football is just not the same since Lou Holtz left. GET OVER IT!

 

[PJWhitfield]

BK's career record shows without a doubt that he is a better college coach and a more experienced college coach than CW. There's really no comparison.

 

[Nothingman]

Inconsistency is the word that best describes this team. They are a total Jekyl & Hyde, and I never know which is going to show up.

The most glaring inconsistency in my opinion is the QB play. I think we all agree that BK still doesn't have his "guy" running the offense yet. Dayne and Tommy seem like great guys and I like them both, but they are not the answer.

With the exception of the final drive of the first half, the offense managed 54 yards in 5 drives. Even with the final drive you're looking at only 122 yards and 3 points. Like it or not the majority of the blame falls on the QB and it should not take the entire first half to get the offense going. The defense did not play well in the first half, but they shouldn't have been on the field for 20 minutes because of the lack of offensive production.

I'm hoping Hendrix or Golson is BK's guy because once we get consistenly good to great QB play is when we become an elite program again. I know I'm beating a dead horse with this post, but it just seems so obvious that this is our biggest flaw.

 

[phork]

The Irish would be 7 and 0 instead of 4 and 3 if they did not have any turnovers.

And if pigs could fly we wouldn't have bacon for breakfast. We did turn it over and we did lose 3 games. Sorry dood, turnovers are part of the game.

BK's career record shows without a doubt that he is a better college coach and a more experienced college coach than CW. There's really no comparison.

Even Weis went 10-2.

 

[JoeyGetherall]

You are on crack. ANYONE who thinks ND is going to win a championship anytime in the future is SERIOUSLY blind. ND will NEVER amount to anything better than a 9-3 8-4 team year in and year out. Brian Kelly when he said how many National Championships we would win "Multiple" was just blowing smoke up your a s s e s just like when Charlie Weis said we would have a tough, nasty, intelligent football team.

Face it fellas, We will NEVER EVER be better than a 9-3 or 8-4 team.

Kelly is 0-2 against Michigan, 1-1 against Michigan State, 1-1 vs Usc! and dare I say about to be 0-2 against Navy.........OH and he lost to Tulsa.

Brian Kelly is NO better than Charlie Weis at this point. LOL

ND football is just not the same since Lou Holtz left. GET OVER IT!

Cool. So what's you game plan? Contine to "LOL" and come on here a stick it to everyone who does believe in BK and ND football going forward? I don't get people who come on after the fact give the "I told ya so" blasts. Hindsight is always 20-20. No one can predict the future. We can only continue to make the correct the decisions in the present hoping that the dots will properly connect. I think BK is the right decesion. What's your answer?

 

[CarrollVermin]

Step off the ledge folks...