Sept 6 | Wisconsin

NDohio

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The 2025 Miami team was and is MILES better than what ND will face on Sunday.

I read that post and didn't understand the comparison between miami and wiscy myself for this game.......
It’s not about comparing Wiscy and Miami - it’s about my ND fandom paranoia. I NEVER go into a season as confident as I went into last season - I was even talking trash and it bit me.

The reality is this ND team should be better than last season’s team - our opening day opponent is a much lesser opponent that last season’s opening opponent - I am trying not to get over confident like I did last year. Doesn’t matter who we are playing.
 

Irishcop

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It’s not about comparing Wiscy and Miami - it’s about my ND fandom paranoia. I NEVER go into a season as confident as I went into last season - I was even talking trash and it bit me.

The reality is this ND team should be better than last season’s team - our opening day opponent is a much lesser opponent that last season’s opening opponent - I am trying not to get over confident like I did last year. Doesn’t matter who we are playing.
After forty years of being an ND fan, I know exactly how you feel.
 

Huntr

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From @statsowar

HRJ4W8Ob0AEnPhW
 

IrishLax

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It’s not about comparing Wiscy and Miami - it’s about my ND fandom paranoia. I NEVER go into a season as confident as I went into last season - I was even talking trash and it bit me.

The reality is this ND team should be better than last season’s team - our opening day opponent is a much lesser opponent that last season’s opening opponent - I am trying not to get over confident like I did last year. Doesn’t matter who we are playing.
I remember having conversations with people in the same boat where I was telling them they needed to pump the breaks because *if* Miami fixed their trash bag defense then they were probably the toughest game on the schedule AND we were breaking in a rookie QB on the road.

In general, I am not a fan of playing big games Week 1 because there are too many unknowns. Too many teams pick up weird upsets because there is no film or they haven't set their roster or they are still experimenting with scheme or whatever. I think the saving grace for ND this year is that (hopefully) the returning production on defense is such that we can just go out there and set the tone with that side of the ball.
 

zelezo vlk

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I remember having conversations with people in the same boat where I was telling them they needed to pump the breaks because *if* Miami fixed their trash bag defense then they were probably the toughest game on the schedule AND we were breaking in a rookie QB on the road.

In general, I am not a fan of playing big games Week 1 because there are too many unknowns. Too many teams pick up weird upsets because there is no film or they haven't set their roster or they are still experimenting with scheme or whatever. I think the saving grace for ND this year is that (hopefully) the returning production on defense is such that we can just go out there and set the tone with that side of the ball.
And sometimes Alabama is just charmin soft and gets manhandled by FSU
 

Jiggafini19Deux

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I remember having conversations with people in the same boat where I was telling them they needed to pump the breaks because *if* Miami fixed their trash bag defense then they were probably the toughest game on the schedule AND we were breaking in a rookie QB on the road.

In general, I am not a fan of playing big games Week 1 because there are too many unknowns. Too many teams pick up weird upsets because there is no film or they haven't set their roster or they are still experimenting with scheme or whatever. I think the saving grace for ND this year is that (hopefully) the returning production on defense is such that we can just go out there and set the tone with that side of the ball.
Same. Open at home against Rice. That's it. You don't have to play four cupcakes in September like Cignetti is doing, and hell I don't fault that at all, but get a couple of games under your belt before you start doing full installs on offense and opening up the playbook. Conference or not.

Freeman openers:

At Ohio State
Navy at Dublin, Ireland
at TAMU
at Miami

It's bonkers on paper and he's 2-2.

From the looks of current future schedules, it won't get any easier.
 

MeanGreenBeans

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Same. Open at home against Rice. That's it. You don't have to play four cupcakes in September like Cignetti is doing, and hell I don't fault that at all, but get a couple of games under your belt before you start doing full installs on offense and opening up the playbook. Conference or not.

Freeman openers:

At Ohio State
Navy at Dublin, Ireland
at TAMU
at Miami

It's bonkers on paper and he's 2-2.

From the looks of current future schedules, it won't get any easier.
That list of MF's openers is wild. Drives me nuts that we schedule this way.
 

rtrn2glory

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Looked at the box score and was like damn why couldn’t we run the ball at all.

LT: Baker
LG: Correll/Kristofic
RG: Madden
RT: Lugg

Then I puked
Pretty sure they were using Joe Alt as a extra lineman with an eligible number that day.
 

DONTH8

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Looked at the box score and was like damn why couldn’t we run the ball at all.

LT: Baker
LG: Correll/Kristofic
RG: Madden
RT: Lugg

Then I puked
And yet here we are, with the bed-wetters on this board and the beat losing their minds because our RG, a guy who started last year for a team averaging 42 a game, might be a hole in the line.

Short-term memories, all of us. We've had it way worse up front and every other position on this team in recent years, and still made it work. Nobody's saying "can we beat 2021 Notre Dame," I know that's not the question anymore. The question is "are we a national championship team," and that question is clouding what's actually standing in front of us: a 2026 Wisconsin team that would take our starter at every position if you let them.

Freeman preaches the importance of taking each game at a time. Because no matter how we perform Sunday, we wont know the answer to are we a national championship team. What we do know, this roster is loaded. Go execute. Put the diapers away and watch the game.
 

IRISHDODGER

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Everybody assumes the D will be the main strength of ND…would be wild if the offense (wish is more of ?) bail the D out.
 

arrowryan

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I think it’s kinda funny that the offense shows a little success against the defense, and people assume it means bad news for the defense. Meanwhile, for multiple seasons in a row, the defense had the offense locked in a box and no one seemed all too concerned about the offense.
 

IRISHDODGER

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I think it’s kinda funny that the offense shows a little success against the defense, and people assume it means bad news for the defense. Meanwhile, for multiple seasons in a row, the defense had the offense locked in a box and no one seemed all too concerned about the offense.
Not saying you’re getting that impression from my post, but let me be clear: Thats not at all what I was saying. Just the fact that nobody truly knows shit about either team as it pertains to the matchup & that it’s funny how fans can get led into thinking one way going into a game/season & the opposite happens. Doesn’t always happen but chalk doesn’t always happen either…especially in openers.
 

arrowryan

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Not saying you’re getting that impression from my post, but let me be clear: Thats not at all what I was saying. Just the fact that nobody truly knows shit about either team as it pertains to the matchup & that it’s funny how fans can get led into thinking one way going into a game/season & the opposite happens. Doesn’t always happen but chalk doesn’t always happen either…especially in openers.

No not about your post. Sorry if you got that impression.
 

Crazy Balki

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Looked at the box score and was like damn why couldn’t we run the ball at all.

LT: Baker
LG: Correll/Kristofic
RG: Madden
RT: Lugg

Then I puked
It's wild that sans Patterson, Absher would be the best starting OL in that unit. And he might not even start for this year's unit.
 
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