2012 Season--Optimistic?

[Irish YJ]

Very good thread.

Honestly, I think next year's success is more about settling the QB situation than anything else. If someone can step up, I think we're BCS ready. Yes, we have holes in several places, but I believe we have 3 incoming DBs, and one incoming WR that will contribute from day one. I believe 2 or 3 of those 4 will be starting by the 3rd of 4th game. If Angholor signs, add another... Our D-line will be amongst the best in the nation, our O-line will be fine. With the change at O-Coord, we'll finally see what Kelly's O should look like. Nothing against Rees, but with the coaching changes, he's seen his last days as a starter. Add in several upgrades on Special Teams, and things start to look not so bleak. We're adding speed for a second year in a row, which pardon the pun, start to catch up....

If however the QB situation remains the same, or gets worse,,,, well then Kelly will be out, and we'll all have something else to debate a year from now. I do believe Golson or Hendrix will step up, so my bet is on 10 wins.... that is assuming Diaco let's his dogs hunt, unlike the 2nd half against FSU....

 

[IrishinSyria]

Here is an honest question, why does anyone assume Golson will be an improvement on Rees?????...

on what evidence is this based other than wishful thinking?

There is none. The biggest reason this year was such a disappointment is that we are at, essentially, square one at the most important position on the field (and safety!) It's certainly possible Hendrix or Golson or Rees or Massa or whoever steps up and plays like a stud, but at this point anybody who assumes it will happen is being over-optimistic.

 

[Chicago Irish Fan]

In my opinion, the season hinges on the Michigan game. We should be 3-0 heading in and a win over Michigan would put us at 4-0 and really set the tone for the rest of the season. If we lose, I expect about an 8 win season. If we win, I could see 10 and a BCS bid.

 

[BeauBenken]

I believe in being optimistic. Hell, I'm one half-full "Half-full? No, that **** is full. It's got all the damn water you need." glass mother ****er, but why doesn't everyone take a step back and look at the situation.

Do you see how many question marks we have on our roster? QB, Safety, CB, RG, RT, #2 RB, etc. Guys we have never seen play or we have seen play but were not extremely impressed will be filling in these spots. BCS teams don't typically have that **** at the beginning of a season.

Now check out the schedule. It's a beaut, ain't it? And I mean that in the worse way possible. It's a bitch. There's for sure some tough sledding ahead.

Now like I said, I'm optimistic, but if you honestly EXPECT a BCS bowl, you're out of your mind.

I don't expect for everything to just ****ing click and for us to win it all. It won't (unless God loves me...yea, I'm talkin' to you big man) happen. I do expect however, some good and some bad. I expect the media to absolutely hound Kelly if we lose one of our first 3 games. I expect us to win those games (God willing). I expect to see some very promising things and some bad play. I expect at least 7 wins.

I HOPE for all our prayers to be answered and for people to finally say, "okay, ND is most certainly relevant" after we whoop some tail and win a BCS game.

I guess my moral of the story is: don't set the bar too damn high. We need to not have half our fanbase commit suicide when we lose to USC or Michigan.

 

[PLACforever]

Did Mulvey leave?
If so, I'm all for Rees being captain of the Red Army... Game manager that he is.

 

[georgia irish]

Our secondary will look better when we press the qb.I hate when we back off like we did against fsu.I would also like to see Kendal Moore with Manti sending 1 or both of them on the pass rush.Kendal hits like Manti and that puts fear in the other team.

 

[phork]

Infact, I will put 100,000 Vbucks that ND will win atleast 9 games next season, counting a bowl.

I'll give you 100,000,000 if we win 9 games next year.

It's simple. It comes down to quarterback play. If golson lives up to the hype then we will do very well. If Rees is the quarterback expect similar results

New QB, tough schedule, questions at WR, CB, LB.... More than just QB.

I am a heart and soul lifer... but also a dead set realist... i expect 7-8 wins until ND proves it can do otherwise...
simple as that

You can't be a realist on here, otherwise you are a negative nancy. Even though we are right every time.

 

[kmoose]

Did Mulvey leave?
If so, I'm all for Rees being captain of the Red Army... Game manager that he is.

Please stick with the topic at hand. If you just want to take shots at Rees, there are a couple thousand other threads that appear to be devoted to that.

 

[Sweetness34]

In 2012 I can see ND going 10-2 at best and 8-4 at worst. I still feel ND should be Michicken and MSU. Miami is rebuilding and the other teams SHOULD be wins. USC and OU are the only teams I see ND losing to for sure.

 

[stlnd01]

In my opinion, the season hinges on the Michigan game.

Always seems to be that way, doesn't it? Michigan and MSU set the tone for the rest of the year. I think 8 regular season wins is realistic (and may represent progress, given the schedule and experience issues) with 9 certainly attainable. Ten gets Kelly some votes for coach of the year. Seven and it'll be a very restless winter of 2013.

The thing I'm looking for most is how well we play the best teams on our schedule. This year we came out flat against USC and Stanford and never recovered. Kelly's done a good job beating the teams he should beat, but he needs a win, or at least a very close loss, against a truly good team to show the skeptics he's getting somewhere (remember how much mileage Weis got out of the '05 USC game?). He'll get his opportunities in 2012.

 

[woolybug25]

There is none. The biggest reason this year was such a disappointment is that we are at, essentially, square one at the most important position on the field (and safety!) It's certainly possible Hendrix or Golson or Rees or Massa or whoever steps up and plays like a stud, but at this point anybody who assumes it will happen is being over-optimistic.

I disagree. There is evidence of Golson being an improvement. For instance, he was voted scout player of the year. He also looked AWESOME in the spring game, better than all of the other QB's in my opinion. Physical tools wise, he has more than any QB on our roster. He also now has an entire year of learning the offense and getting physically prepared. Those are all real, tangible reasons to assume we have something in Golson.

I am super confident in Golson, I am just concerned on what we are going to do if he were to go down. I am not confident in any of the other QB's on our roster. I mentioned before, I really feel that not taking a QB this class would be a HUGE miss. We have a serious deficiency in talent beyond Golson.

 

[NDinL.A.]

You can't be a realist on here, otherwise you are a negative nancy. Even though we are right every time.

Whoa...slow down there chief. You have not been right every time.

And being a realist does not make one a negative nancy. I've been saying we're not going to get recruit X, Y, and Z, and no one comes down on me as a negative nancy.

Being an a$$hole and going on every thread shooting down any optimism makes one a negative nancy.

I think next year will be extremely tough (pretty much penciling in losses to USC and OK unless they get some serious injuries - possible with USC only having 75 schollies that depth will hurt them). 8 wins as a ceiling wouldn't surprise me - 10 wins would surprise me but it's not necessarily out of the equation. I'm not a negative nancy - I'd like to think of myself as a realist but with a touch of insane fandome inside me.

I personally welcome differing opinions to the board. I just can;t stand it when guys act like a**holes and go on every single thread reminding us of things that they believe no one else knows (as if we don't know that we've been sh!tty for the better part of 2 decades)...

 

[notredomer23]

New QB, tough schedule, questions at WR, CB, LB.... More than just QB.



You can't be a realist on here, otherwise you are a negative nancy. Even though we are right every time.

LB? Not sure if serious. All we lose is Flemming who had a good season but is replaceable, hopefully by Ishaq. CB will be better than expected, aided by great pressure to the QB and solid safety play from Slaughter and hopefully Motta.

Phork please point out the losses to me. Even worst case I can't see more than 5, and you've chimed in many threads saying 6-6.

Navy
Purdue
Michigan State
Michigan
Miami
Stanford
BYU
Oklahoma
Pittsburgh
Boston College
Wake Forest
USC

Please tell me who we lose to and please provide your reasoning.

 

[ACamp1900]

I agree with phork about the LB core... it is not that strong, even with our best player being a member of it...


also, this is Notre Dame football... I would say, explain to me how they lost to Syracuse, UCONN, USF, UNC, BC, Navy... and so on... all while winning exactly zero big games that they could hang their hat on...

The problem is so many of our fanbase still see "ND" and see a top tier program that should always just beat these teams... simply not the case anymore...

hopefully BK is changing that, clearly he has not done so yet.

I see 7-8 wins

 

[IrishRed92]

LB? Not sure if serious. All we lose is Flemming who had a good season but is replaceable, hopefully by Ishaq. CB will be better than expected, aided by great pressure to the QB and solid safety play from Slaughter and hopefully Motta.

I figured after such a strong game Slaughter would remain at linebacker next season?

Edit: In which case I'd say it's strong because you will have the hefty rotations of Fox/Calabrese, Shembo on one side and Ishaq/Slaughter on the other (with of course Te'o the clear front runner in the other spot) which is a pretty formidable set of guys who can drop into coverage and pass rush

 

[ACamp1900]

One thing that cocerns me about next year is that whoever is behind the center... will we still be asking them to throw redzone shots to endzone despite the amount of INT's that said QB may have already thrown???

I believe my biggest unease about Kelly and Co. is the complete abandonment of the run at times... especially in the red zone... how many of Rees' INT's were thrown there anyway??? It felt like a lot.

 

[irish1958]

Good QB play=8-9 wins; great QB play=11-12 wins; QB play same as this year=6-7 wins.

 

[tommyIRISH23]

LB? Not sure if serious. All we lose is Flemming who had a good season but is replaceable, hopefully by Ishaq. CB will be better than expected, aided by great pressure to the QB and solid safety play from Slaughter and hopefully Motta.

Phork please point out the losses to me. Even worst case I can't see more than 5, and you've chimed in many threads saying 6-6.

Navy- W
Purdue-W
Michigan State-W
Michigan-Toss. I think UM takes a stepback this year. But who knows.
Miami- Win
Stanford- Toss---who knows what theyll look like without luck
BYU-Win
Oklahoma--Loss
Pittsburgh--Win
Boston College--Win
Wake Forest--Win
USC--Probable Loss

Please tell me who we lose to and please provide your reasoning.

I'm with ya. The defense is going to be respectable. Anytime a Dline is dominant as ours will be, good things will happen. Secondary will probably be average, Landry Jones and Matt Barkley will give us fits, but still...we'll be in EVERY game.

The QB situation can only get better. Ive got to believe that Hendrix/Golson have a solid grasp on the playbook, and what they don't know can be improvised by running the ball. Something Rees couldn't do. If Rees dropped back, the play was dead if noone was open, or he was confused.

 

[woolybug25]

I am hopeful for a rebound year, but I think a lot of you are underestimating MSU, scUM, Miami, BYU and Miami. Those are all tough games.

Also, I am not going to shrug off scUM as anything but one of our toughest games until we can consistently beat them. Over the last 5 years, they have dominated us. Close wins or not, they have consistently beat us.

 

[tommyIRISH23]

I think George Attkinson will play a HUGE roll in the offense next year. He's got it, the kids got the skill, and confidence to be a gamebreaker.

 

[gkautz10]

I believe in being optimistic. Hell, I'm one half-full "Half-full? No, that **** is full. It's got all the damn water you need." glass mother ****er, but why doesn't everyone take a step back and look at the situation.

Do you see how many question marks we have on our roster? QB, Safety, CB, RG, RT, #2 RB, etc. Guys we have never seen play or we have seen play but were not extremely impressed will be filling in these spots. BCS teams don't typically have that **** at the beginning of a season.

Now check out the schedule. It's a beaut, ain't it? And I mean that in the worse way possible. It's a bitch. There's for sure some tough sledding ahead.

Now like I said, I'm optimistic, but if you honestly EXPECT a BCS bowl, you're out of your mind.

I don't expect for everything to just ****ing click and for us to win it all. It won't (unless God loves me...yea, I'm talkin' to you big man) happen. I do expect however, some good and some bad. I expect the media to absolutely hound Kelly if we lose one of our first 3 games. I expect us to win those games (God willing). I expect to see some very promising things and some bad play. I expect at least 7 wins.

I HOPE for all our prayers to be answered and for people to finally say, "okay, ND is most certainly relevant" after we whoop some tail and win a BCS game.

I guess my moral of the story is: don't set the bar too damn high. We need to not have half our fanbase commit suicide when we lose to USC or Michigan.

I am as optimistic as the next person on here, hell i get made fun of by my non-ND fan friends for having predictions like Lou Holtz for the season. But overall I think that kind of optimism is what plagues coach after coach and the team year after year. We as fans need to be patient and supportive instead of expecting NC teams every year. Our time was in the past and ALSO IT HAS YET TO COME! BK is building this team to win year in year out not just for 1 season 3 years from now. You can tell the passion he has for the university and the team. Go Irish!

 

[clashmore_jon]

Here is an honest question, why does anyone assume Golson will be an improvement on Rees?????...

on what evidence is this based other than wishful thinking?

Number of interceptions thrown by tommy rees in 2011 alone: 12
Number of interceptions thrwon by Golson in his ENTIRE NCAA CAREER: 0

q.e.d.

 

[tommyIRISH23]

I am as optimistic as the next person on here, hell i get made fun of by my non-ND fan friends for having predictions like Lou Holtz for the season. But overall I think that kind of optimism is what plagues coach after coach and the team year after year. We as fans need to be patient and supportive instead of expecting NC teams every year. Our time was in the past and ALSO IT HAS YET TO COME! BK is building this team to win year in year out not just for 1 season 3 years from now. You can tell the passion he has for the university and the team. Go Irish!

I dont think caling for 8-9 wins is being "overly" optimistic. Our team is loaded with a bunch of bums, or totally unbalanced. I think we have the players, and enough expierence to win 8-9 games, which would be HUGE with this schedule. Im in no way preciting a 10-12 win season. I don't think well lose the game we should win, I think well split SC and Oklahoma. Win a toss up or two between UM,Miami, and Stanford.

 

[ThePiombino]

I think the schedule is "soft" enough in the front end to allow for some growth in our "questionable" positions, namely QB. If all things work out and there is a steady, natural progression at these positions (this is on our coaches!), then I can definitely see is rolling into SC with a 9-2 record. This would setup two things: 1) play spoiler to a potentially perfect SC season (and potential NC run) and 2) BK FINALLY getting his sifnature win!

 

[jimmymac]

Number of interceptions thrown by tommy rees in 2011 alone: 12
Number of interceptions thrwon by Golson in his ENTIRE NCAA CAREER: 0

q.e.d.

I'm sorry but thats stupid as hell, Golsons never played a game in his NCAA career. I believe golson will succeed but c'mon man.

 

[Kak7304]

I'm sorry but thats stupid as hell, Golsons never played a game in his NCAA career. I believe golson will succeed but c'mon man.

I believe he was using sarcasm...

 

[ThePiombino]

I believe he was using sarcasm...

Sarcasm font was not used, therefor he is fair game!

 

[jimmymac]

I believe he was using sarcasm...

:embarrass: my bad. sometimes its tough to tell between the irrational tommy haters and sarcasm.

 

[clashmore_jon]

I believe he was using sarcasm...

no i was being serious. numbers don't lie.

 

[Kak7304]

no i was being serious. numbers don't lie.

Stop trolling me. I know where you live.