Late to the discussion, a 6.5 hour drive after a bourbon binge of a weekend will do that to ya, followed by a FFB draft ln.
I think most are WAYYY overreacting. I'm not one to blow smoke up the team's ass; I thought the sky was falling after weeks 2 and 3 last year after we beat scUM.
This board tends to get knee-jerky. No way the Irish played well enough to earn that top 10 ranking, but they weren't the only team who came out sluggish to start the season. There was an excellent post detailing each game that was still in doubt with over 15 minutes having gone by. Duke down 7 at half to BAMA. scUM only beat MTSU by 19 points.
You're really going to imply that we can't beat them now, because we only beat L'ville by 18? After the first, we outscored those chumps from Louisville 21-3. Lea adjusted extremely well.
It wasn't the blowout we all wanted or some expected. It wasn't crisp. It was rocky and ugly at times. But to sit here and go from saying this is a 10-11 win team to a 6-8 win one after one game is a complete and utter joke. Especially against a new staff on the road. These things happen. We have plenty of time to work out the kinks and get ready for UGA. That's not to say we will win, but we can still be competitive in that one.
We all want answers after week 1. We seldom ever get them. BK made it a point in his presser last week that the ILB situation will continue to evolve as the season progresses. Let it progress.
Idk many fan bases who are feeling supremely confident after their first game outside of maybe Clemson. Even OSU looked weird in the 2nd half against FAU.
Our best players didn't play their best game, and some of our youngsters really showed up and played well in key situations. That to me says we have a ceiling we haven't scratched the surface of yet, with depth to overcome some issues.
We do this to ourselves every year as ND fans.
The hope every year is that we will come out and dominate, especially weaker opponents, like the best teams do.
When we don’t, it’s disappointing and we know disappointment more than success in this new era of football.
The fact that we made it to the CFP last season was not something that most ND fans were prognosticating. When we did, many of the doubters hopped on and now expect us to win a title.
The reality is that we’ve come a long way, but every year is different with Kelly and his players.
This squad will have to respond to a new level of pressure that most recent squads haven’t faced.
Last year, I was confident in our leadership that we would be a very successful football team. This year I am very uncertain.
Who are the true leaders of this team?
Freshmen showed up. Seniors, not so much.
But yeah, like I tell others, these guys are young men, but still basically young pups at life and everything.
Hopefully, the true leaders rise and the team develops positively. Improve every week. That’s my expectation for this team this year.