Breaking down ND/OU

[IrishLax]

I didn't care about winning this game... because we shouldn't win this game... until I read this joke of an article:

NORMAN — Notre Dame has the history. Of that, there is no doubt. And I’m not even sure it’s as meaningless as Bob Stoops wants to believe it is, for there is comfort in past success, no matter how long ago it occurred.

Yet, even that being the case, what happened in 1957, ‘61, ‘62, ‘66, ‘68 and ‘99 remain less important than what happened three days ago, when Oklahoma took care of Kansas 52-7 and Notre Dame squeaked by BYU 17-14.

Lately, it’s not uncommon for any college football discussion to remain incomplete until the talking heads have commiserated upon the Irish’s BCS possibilities.

You know, should Notre Dame go unbeaten, will it reach the promised land of the national championship game?

But when I hear it, I wonder if everybody is like me, wondering why a program that beat Purdue 20-17, Michigan 13-6, Stanford in overtime and BYU by a field goal, is worth so much air.

If you’re going to peel the onion on that question, why not do it for Rutgers, Louisville and Ohio. They, too, haven’t done a whole lot the last 20 years and they, too, are unbeaten.

Part of it is those programs haven’t played anybody terrific, whether they’ve looked good winning or not. The other part of it is the Irish will always receive a free pass. They are like the Yankees, relevant even when they stink.

Everybody else must play themselves into the discussion. Only Notre Dame must play itself out.

About that, if you’re looking for a good reason why the Irish have no business winning Saturday night at Owen Field, and maybe no business staying on the field with the Sooners, simply familiarize yourself with each team’s offense.

The Irish are running and throwing the ball for almost 200 yards per outing and enter with a total offense number of 387.9 yards per outing.

It is good but not great.

It is efficient enough, yet Notre Dame has only run away from two opponents this season: Navy (50-10) and Miami (41-3). The Midshipmen turned it over four times and Miami is a team with a firm grasp on the concept of quitting when things become difficult.

It is a nuts and bolts story, too.

The Irish play two quarterbacks, which can mean a lot of things, yet never offensive dominance.

Cierre Wood is averaging 6 yards per carry, but he’s not an every-down back, and their leading receiver, T.J. Jones, is averaging exactly three catches per game.

The Irish may strike fear, for their long history is daunting. Unbeaten, however, they have not earned the right this season.

OU has.

The yards-per-carry averages among Damien Williams, Dom Whaley, Brennan Clay and Trey Millard range between 6.2 (Williams) and 7.8 (Millard). And that kicks out Roy Finch’s six carries for 61 yards.

Through the air, though Landry Jones has thrown for 300 yards only once, against Texas, he’s still been terrific ever since the Kansas State loss, and he’s been terrific to a buffet line of threats.

Six different Sooners have caught at least 11 passes, including Millard and Williams out of the backfield, and six Sooners have caught touchdown passes.

Only three Irish receivers have caught touchdown passes. Irish quarterbacks have only thrown six touchdown passes, half as many as OU.

Perhaps Notre Dame is like Alabama or LSU Midwest; the team that plays old-time football but with a defense capable of gutting a 21st Century offense, even one playing as well as it’s played in a long time like Oklahoma’s.

More likely, Notre Dame is a Big 10 program in independent’s clothing. Three of its seven opponents have been from the league time forgot, its offense is often stuck in the mud like so many Big 10 offenses and one might surmise that Saturday night will look a lot like it often looks when the Big 10 ventures out of conference to meet a very good foe.

Good luck to the Irish.

They’ll need it just to keep up.

The borderline moronic line of reasoning that goes "OMG ND GETS SO MUCH CREDIT JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE ND!!!! THEY TOTALLY SUCK YET THEY GET OVERRATED BECAUSE OF THEIR NAME!!!" is so f*cking stupid. It just shows an utter ignorance of literally everything to do with college football.

1. Notre Dame started off the year UNRANKED. There was absolutely nothing handed to ND to start this year.. can't say the same for the 25 teams who started with a headstart (Oklahoma included).

2. They didn't get gifted into the top 5 based on prior performance like every other team in the top 10 not named Florida or KSU. Alabama and Oregon don't have a tenth of the resume of Florida, ND, KSU to this point. 3 teams have earned their way in with wins, 2 teams hold their spots with "style points" despite cupcake schedules.

3. Notre Dame is the last ranked team of the 5 legit unbeatens. In what universe is that remotely "unfair" or "overrated?" Do you expect them to be behind LSU who escaped f*cking woeful Auburn 12-10??? And struggled with TOWSON???

4. The author uses two top 25 victories over Michigan and Stanford as a negative against ND. That is the most utterly ridiculous thing I may have ever read. A game in which Michigan was held to less points than almighty Alabama allowed... and a Stanford team that beat at the time #1/#2 USC... yet those are "bad wins"??? Because they were relatively close games? Here's a simple fact: those 2 wins... Michigan and Stanford... are better wins than any 2 wins any team not named Florida has... and ND is the ONLY SCHOOL of the top 5 who has not played a pure cupcake. Say what you want about Navy, they are 3-3 against FBS schools and likely finish the year with 8/9 wins.

No one gives Florida a hard time for struggling with BOWLING GREEN for 3.5 quarters. No one gives Kansas State a hard time for barely squeaking by Iowa State. Yet Notre Dame... with a SOS ranked #20 which is higher than EVERY SINGLE TEAM BUT FLORIDA.... yeah, that's the team that hasn't "proven anything" or "earned it yet."

Notre Dame loses this weekend because Oklahoma is better and at home. Oklahoma is currently #3 in Sagarin, for reference... even with a loss... and exceptionally close to Florida at #2. That's how good Oklahoma is.

ND sure as hell doesn't lose this weekend though because it was "overrated" to this point.

 

[Irish#1]

1. I didn't say BY sucked...but they ain't great this year.

2. How on earth does gloating over an injury to a player prove a point?

3. With the way the worm is already turning on this board, a banhammer would be a favor.

Their defense is pretty good as was Stanford's and MSU's, yet the Irish stil found a way to win those games. Last weeks win against BYU wasn't inspiring but they found a way to win against a decent opponent. That's what good teams do when it's a trap game.

 

[GoldenBoy3]

I think ND has to score 24+ to win. I believe our defense can keep them under that. Landry Jones is more of a name because he hasn't been anything spectacular this year. Their running game is a mute point because I believe we can defend that with success. It all boils down to the blitz schemes by Diaco. They are going to have try to get as much pressure on Jones because that's where he tends to throw games away. If ND can score 24 or more we come out of Norman 8-0 with our eyes on the ultimate prize

 

[Emcee77]

Ugh, that article is infuriating. You can tell the writer has not watched one game this season. Just trying to stir the pot.

 

[woolybug25]

I think ND has to score 24+ to win. I believe our defense can keep them under that. Landry Jones is more of a name because he hasn't been anything spectacular this year. Their running game is a mute point because I believe we can defend that with success. It all boils down to the blitz schemes by Diaco. They are going to have try to get as much pressure on Jones because that's where he tends to throw games away. If ND can score 24 or more we come out of Norman 8-0 with our eyes on the ultimate prize

I disagree as evidenced in my other post. I truly believe that we can't go in there and expect to outscore OU. I don't care what the total is, that isn't how we beat a team like OU. We have to keep their offense off of the field, create turnovers and play spectacular special teams. It's been our recipe all year long, so I have no idea why people think that we are going to get away from what got us here against our toughest opponent to date.

NDaccountant was dead on with his comparison of USC/Stanford. That is the recipe for beating teams built off of high flying offenses. We hold on to the ball, create turnovers and keep them off the field. The recipe is quite simple.

 

[Irish#1]

I didn't care about winning this game... because we shouldn't win this game... until I read this joke of an article:



The borderline moronic line of reasoning that goes "OMG ND GETS SO MUCH CREDIT JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE ND!!!! THEY TOTALLY SUCK YET THEY GET OVERRATED BECAUSE OF THEIR NAME!!!" is so f*cking stupid. It just shows an utter ignorance of literally everything to do with college football.

1. Notre Dame started off the year UNRANKED. There was absolutely nothing handed to ND to start this year.. can't say the same for the 25 teams who started with a headstart (Oklahoma included).

2. They didn't get gifted into the top 5 based on prior performance like every other team in the top 10 not named Florida or KSU. Alabama and Oregon don't have a tenth of the resume of Florida, ND, KSU to this point. 3 teams have earned their way in with wins, 2 teams hold their spots with "style points" despite cupcake schedules.

3. Notre Dame is the last ranked team of the 5 legit unbeatens. In what universe is that remotely "unfair" or "overrated?" Do you expect them to be behind LSU who escaped f*cking woeful Auburn 12-10??? And struggled with TOWSON???

4. The author uses two top 25 victories over Michigan and Stanford as a negative against ND. That is the most utterly ridiculous thing I may have ever read. A game in which Michigan was held to less points than almighty Alabama allowed... and a Stanford team that beat at the time #1/#2 USC... yet those are "bad wins"??? Because they were relatively close games? Here's a simple fact: those 2 wins... Michigan and Stanford... are better wins than any 2 wins any team not named Florida has... and ND is the ONLY SCHOOL of the top 5 who has not played a pure cupcake. Say what you want about Navy, they are 3-3 against FBS schools and likely finish the year with 8/9 wins.

No one gives Florida a hard time for struggling with BOWLING GREEN for 3.5 quarters. No one gives Kansas State a hard time for barely squeaking by Iowa State. Yet Notre Dame... with a SOS ranked #20 which is higher than EVERY SINGLE TEAM BUT FLORIDA.... yeah, that's the team that hasn't "proven anything" or "earned it yet."

Notre Dame loses this weekend because Oklahoma is better and at home. Oklahoma is currently #3 in Sagarin, for reference... even with a loss... and exceptionally close to Florida at #2. That's how good Oklahoma is.

ND sure as hell doesn't lose this weekend though because it was "overrated" to this point.

Haters gonna hate.

 

[OUMallen]

I think ND has to score 24+ to win. I believe our defense can keep them under that. Landry Jones is more of a name because he hasn't been anything spectacular this year. Their running game is a mute point because I believe we can defend that with success. It all boils down to the blitz schemes by Diaco. They are going to have try to get as much pressure on Jones because that's where he tends to throw games away. If ND can score 24 or more we come out of Norman 8-0 with our eyes on the ultimate prize

We do pass-as--a-run a lot, so it'll be fun to watch that chessmatch of y'all's LBs lateral movement and schemes against our blocking.

 

[IrishLax]

Ugh, that article is infuriating. You can tell the writer has not watched one game this season. Just trying to stir the pot.

It's pandering at its finest. The problem is that a lot of people follow that exact train of thought and get it validated by articles like that.

SVP said on the radio yesterday something I think could not be more true... Notre Dame might not be as good as the other teams in the top 5, but haters out there saying they haven't earned it or haven't played anyone need to pick something new to hate on them about... because it flat out isn't true, anyone who pays a little bit of attention to football knows that isn't true, and it's getting really old and he's tired of hearing it.

SVP is no friend of Notre Dame. He said they don't even belong in the discussion for "next best team" or getting into the BCS title game over Oregon or KSU if there are multiple unbeatens and you're picking the "best teams"... but even he realizes how idiotic people like that author are.

Starting 7-0 has brought out the haters full force from hibernation it seems... they haven't had much to hate on in a long, long time.

 

[woolybug25]

We do pass-as--a-run a lot, so it'll be fun to watch that chessmatch of y'all's LBs lateral movement and schemes against our blocking.

This is another reason why I think we go after you with the gameplan I listed above. The battle of OU's O-line against our LB's in space is a battle I think we win handily. OU's best chance is to simply air it out. We have an inexperienced secondary and OU will take ND out of its gameplan (T/O margin, run game, stop run) if they force us to play from behind.

 

[BarrySwitz]

A fantastic D? Texas Tech gave up 53 points to TCU on Saturday. Notre Dame hasn't given up 53 points in its last five games put together.
This'll be a tough game. We'll need our best offensive performance of the season and even then I worry about our ability to disrupt Oklahoma's quick passing game. But let's not get carried away about what OU has accomplished so far. They've beaten Texas and that's about it.

This game went into 3OT. They only scored 36 on Tech in regulation. I know that's not a great number by any means, but to say they gave up 53 points to them is pretty ignorant.

ND defense will be tougher than Tech's, who were unprepared for the Oklahoma attack brought to Lubbock. The Tech defense has played much better since.

 

[BarrySwitz]

BYU has a good defense because they knocked out Sam Bradford 3 years ago? Texas also knocked out Sam Bradford 3 years ago.. How did that defense look against Oklahoma in 2012?

Better call up the Rams and tell them to sit Bradford this week.. his shoulder probably needs to heal up some more.

 

[tadman95]

haha, we posted at the same time and you literally wrote the opposite of me. Read my post above yours and tell me if you still believe that getting into a shootout is a good idea.

LOL I saw that. I actually don't think we're that far apart. I definitely agree we get killed in a shootout. What I was trying to say is our offense has to score and I hope it takes 8 minutes per drive to score 7 points, and we need to do that by the run, 4-5 times.

If we score 28 points, we put on an offensive show for us.

 

[Jason Pham]

Dear OU fans: If you don't want to wait to have your posts approved by a moderator, please don't post links or quote posts with links because, as new users, you're being picked up by the spam filters.

EDIT: These restrictions end after 25 posts.

 

[CurtisCandy]

This game went into 3OT. They only scored 36 on Tech in regulation. I know that's not a great number by any means, but to say they gave up 53 points to them is pretty ignorant.

ND defense will be tougher than Tech's, who were unprepared for the Oklahoma attack brought to Lubbock. The Tech defense has played much better since.

This is my favorite line of the thread so far!... Saying that a team gave up 53 points is "pretty ignorant" when that team gave up 53 points???

So their defense wasn't good enough to contain an opponent in overtime, so just forget about those points?! ND went to overtime with Stanford but didn't add any points to The Tree's total... Maybe we should just throw out all overtime statistics because they really don't count anyway.

Awesome!

 

[clashmore_jon]

I've been thinking this morning...I'm not really a fan of historical stats such as OU only losing a few home games in the Stoops era in terms of actual impact on the coming game. Ive seen that tossed around quite a bit as evidence supporting an ND loss. (Sorta like how scUM and Stanford had streaks going on us.) Sure, OU plays great at home but its a new week this week. And this particular OU team is beatable at home (as shown by KSU).

Something similar that does interest me, and i think could be telling (and positive for ND) is big game experience/how the team handles itself. ND has played in several pretty big games this year--Stanford at home with Gameday in town, at then top ten MSU night game, high emotion/attention game at soldier field (granted miami was pretty meh), and even the opener in Dublin drew a lot of attention. In each case, our team seemed to respond well to the pressure.

I think it is reasonable to say that OU hasn't had that sort of pressure situation this year (or at least as many). Texas game was high emotion i'm sure, but Texas seems mediocre this year. KSU game probably the biggest in terms of attention, and OU got out of sync.

To get to the point of this: those of you most familiar with OU, how do you think your boys are going to respond to the hype this weekend? Unlike years in not-to-distant past, I think it's going to help ND, and I expect us to be cool and comfortable at gametime.

edit: can i just say how refreshing it is to have actual, informed fans of football from an opposing team posting here? SOS aside, Its almost enough to make a guy root for OU in the following weeks.

 

[Tylurrr]

I really don't think the players or coaches are going to be intimidated or affected by 80,000 hillbillies or all the pomp and circumstance or three ring circus, etc.

Remember, there were 110,000 people in the first ever night game at Michigan in an absolutely mesmerizing atmosphere and ND dominated that game to a 24-7 lead.

Like a wise old coach used to say, boys there are going to be a hundred thousand people in those stands who hate you and wish you harm. But not one of them is capable of doing anything to hurt ya.

And as for that mockery of an article, show me a college football team which has been more overhyped and overrated without winning ANYTHING over the last 10 years than the Oklahoma Sooners.

 

[OUMallen]

I really don't think the players or coaches are going to be intimidated or affected by 80,000 hillbillies or all the pomp and circumstance or three ring circus, etc.

Remember, there were 110,000 people in the first ever night game at Michigan in an absolutely mesmerizing atmosphere and ND dominated that game to a 24-7 lead.

Like a wise old coach used to say, boys there are going to be a hundred thousand people in those stands who hate you and wish you harm. But not one of them is capable of doing anything to hurt ya.

And as for that mockery of an article, show me a college football team which has been more overhyped and overrated without winning ANYTHING over the last 10 years than the Oklahoma Sooners.

Um. Six conference titles and BCS Title Game appearances in 2003, 2004, 2008. Pretty sure Notre Dame would love to have that kind of "failure".

As to the hillbillies comment- you're wrong again. We have a sort of gentle rolling hills. We're "rednecks" or "hicks" here.

Sweet sassy molassy, your smack is WEAK.

But if you want to make it interesting, we could make a small wager on the game. You're so confident and you're so insulting and dismissive, I'm sure you'd love to put a hick in his place.

 

[VadersbrOU]

This Game will be fun!

This Game will be fun!

ND Fans,
first of all my wife is Irish Catholic from Chicago and all her family and our Children are ND fans as well as OU fans.(my wife and I went to the game in 99, and I feel our fan bases are very much alike) we will attend the game this weekend! I have watched ND this year and you have my repsect!

my take on the game:
ND is solid and is undersold as a unit. NFL running backs and tight end. OU will make ND throw it, that is Mike Stoops M.O. OU's defensive issues early was DL . Casey Walker missed time and Stacy Mcgee is back this week. Mcfarland has played well the last 3 weeks. another name to watch Frank Shannon . he is a young linebacker that started getting time after the KState game because Wort had trouble on 3rd downs and pass coverage.
don't dismiss OU's defense cause it is the best you have played this year . Tony Jefforson, Aarron Colvin and Demontre Hurst will play on Sundays.
X-factor is Golson for the Irish, cause OU will make him beat them

OU's offensive emergence has come from moving Millard all over the field even using him as a tight end. they have slowed the heat on Landry with screens and draws.
there are weapons all over the field and if the MIami game is any indication, I do beleive ND cannot stop the pass. OU's has some excellent running backs that all catch the ball out of the backfield.

I think OU wins this game 35-14 and I am worried about South Bend next fall as I think ND has arrived a year early.

some intersting offensive ranks:
Total Offense per the USA Today
Tex Tech 11, Okla 17, Tex 31, Kst 41 , Kan 89 and Utep 96

Miami 51 , Mich 61 , ND 74 , BYU 84, Purdue 80, Navy 98 and Stanford 79

its going to be a Great game and a lot of fun!

 

[PraetorianND]

We do pass-as--a-run a lot, so it'll be fun to watch that chessmatch of y'all's LBs lateral movement and schemes against our blocking.

BYU hurt us with this early but we adjusted in the second half.

 

[olevet]

Dear OU fans: If you don't want to wait to have your posts approved by a moderator, please don't post links or quote posts with links because, as new users, you're being picked up by the spam filters.

EDIT: These restrictions end after 25 posts.

I didn't post a link , nor did I say anything out of line. I simply said that Mocking Sam Bradford getting hurt was classless. And here I am waiting on my posts to be approved

 

[koonja]

ND Fans,
first of all my wife is Irish Catholic from Chicago and all her family and our Children are ND fans as well as OU fans.(my wife and I went to the game in 99, and I feel our fan bases are very much alike) we will attend the game this weekend! I have watched ND this year and you have my repsect!

my take on the game:
ND is solid and is undersold as a unit. NFL running backs and tight end. OU will make ND throw it, that is Mike Stoops M.O. OU's defensive issues early was DL . Casey Walker missed time and Stacy Mcgee is back this week. Mcfarland has played well the last 3 weeks. another name to watch Frank Shannon . he is a young linebacker that started getting time after the KState game because Wort had trouble on 3rd downs and pass coverage.
don't dismiss OU's defense cause it is the best you have played this year . Tony Jefforson, Aarron Colvin and Demontre Hurst will play on Sundays.
X-factor is Golson for the Irish, cause OU will make him beat them

OU's offensive emergence has come from moving Millard all over the field even using him as a tight end. they have slowed the heat on Landry with screens and draws.
there are weapons all over the field and if the MIami game is any indication, I do beleive ND can stop the pass. OU's has some excellent running backs that all catch the ball out of the backfield.

I think OU wins this game 35-14 and I am worried about South Bend next fall as I think ND has arrived a year early.

some intersting offensive ranks:
Total Offense per the USA Today
Tex Tech 11, Okla 17, Tex 31, Kst 41 , Kan 89 and Utep 96

Miami 51 , Mich 61 , ND 74 , BYU 84, Purdue 80, Navy 98 and Stanford 79

its going to beat a Great game and a lot of fun!

Stanford and possibly BYU's defense is stronger than OU's, imo.

 

[OUMallen]

I've been thinking this morning...I'm not really a fan of historical stats such as OU only losing a few home games in the Stoops era in terms of actual impact on the coming game. Ive seen that tossed around quite a bit as evidence supporting an ND loss. (Sorta like how scUM and Stanford had streaks going on us.) Sure, OU plays great at home but its a new week this week. And this particular OU team is beatable at home (as shown by KSU).

Something similar that does interest me, and i think could be telling (and positive for ND) is big game experience/how the team handles itself. ND has played in several pretty big games this year--Stanford at home with Gameday in town, at then top ten MSU night game, high emotion/attention game at soldier field (granted miami was pretty meh), and even the opener in Dublin drew a lot of attention. In each case, our team seemed to respond well to the pressure.

I think it is reasonable to say that OU hasn't had that sort of pressure situation this year (or at least as many). Texas game was high emotion i'm sure, but Texas seems mediocre this year. KSU game probably the biggest in terms of attention, and OU got out of sync.

To get to the point of this: those of you most familiar with OU, how do you think your boys are going to respond to the hype this weekend? Unlike years in not-to-distant past, I think it's going to help ND, and I expect us to be cool and comfortable at gametime.

edit: can i just say how refreshing it is to have actual, informed fans of football from an opposing team posting here? SOS aside, Its almost enough to make a guy root for OU in the following weeks.

Thanks, it's nice to be here.

This level of hype serves to help us, in recent years. It's the "oh, we're gonna win that one - who cares?" games that nick us, it seems.

 

[VadersbrOU]

Stanford and BYU are not even in the same discussion with the Speed of OU

ND is also much faster than those 2

 

[OUMallen]

Stanford and possibly BYU's defense is stronger than OU's, imo.

BYU ranked 4, OU 15, stanford 34 in Total Defense.

While obviously solid, I don't think Stanford is in the conversation when talking ND, BYU or OU defense.

 

[BarrySwitz]

This is my favorite line of the thread so far!... Saying that a team gave up 53 points is "pretty ignorant" when that team gave up 53 points???

So their defense wasn't good enough to contain an opponent in overtime, so just forget about those points?! ND went to overtime with Stanford but didn't add any points to The Tree's total... Maybe we should just throw out all overtime statistics because they really don't count anyway.

Awesome!

Not sure if serious? OT is played by a totally different set of rules. Also, 3OT is a little different than 1OT. Not to mention a lot of people will tell you that Stanford did in fact score on ND in 1OT.

 

[koonja]

BYU ranked 4, OU 15, stanford 34 in Total Defense.

While obviously solid, I don't think Stanford is in the conversation when talking ND, BYU or OU defense.

Rankings at this point are useless because it really depends on who you play. Stanford/BYU's front 7> OU's, OU does have better DBs, imo. But a strong front 7 is a hell of a lot more important.

 

[PraetorianND]

ND Fans,
first of all my wife is Irish Catholic from Chicago and all her family and our Children are ND fans as well as OU fans.(my wife and I went to the game in 99, and I feel our fan bases are very much alike) we will attend the game this weekend! I have watched ND this year and you have my repsect!

my take on the game:
ND is solid and is undersold as a unit. NFL running backs and tight end. OU will make ND throw it, that is Mike Stoops M.O. OU's defensive issues early was DL . Casey Walker missed time and Stacy Mcgee is back this week. Mcfarland has played well the last 3 weeks. another name to watch Frank Shannon . he is a young linebacker that started getting time after the KState game because Wort had trouble on 3rd downs and pass coverage.
don't dismiss OU's defense cause it is the best you have played this year . Tony Jefforson, Aarron Colvin and Demontre Hurst will play on Sundays.
X-factor is Golson for the Irish, cause OU will make him beat them

OU's offensive emergence has come from moving Millard all over the field even using him as a tight end. they have slowed the heat on Landry with screens and draws.
there are weapons all over the field and if the MIami game is any indication, I do beleive ND cannot stop the pass. OU's has some excellent running backs that all catch the ball out of the backfield.

I think OU wins this game 35-14 and I am worried about South Bend next fall as I think ND has arrived a year early.

some intersting offensive ranks:
Total Offense per the USA Today
Tex Tech 11, Okla 17, Tex 31, Kst 41 , Kan 89 and Utep 96

Miami 51 , Mich 61 , ND 74 , BYU 84, Purdue 80, Navy 98 and Stanford 79

its going to be a Great game and a lot of fun!

I think you're undervaluing BYU and Stanford's defenses. BYU has allowed fewer PPG than OU.

 

[VadersbrOU]

I think the OU's front 7 will hold up better than you think

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

According to Notre Dame, only one FBS player has more takeaways this year than the six linebacker Manti Te'o has. Te'o is also the only player in the top 10 for both interceptions and fumble recoveries. The Irish defense still hasn't allowed a rushing touchdown this season, and 40 percent of drives against the team this year have been three plays or less. Notre Dame has rushed for more yards in its last three games combined than 15 FBS teams have in their entire seasons.

Surveying the Field: The coaching good, bad and the ugly - CBSSports.com

 

[goldandblue]

ND Fans,
first of all my wife is Irish Catholic from Chicago and all her family and our Children are ND fans as well as OU fans.(my wife and I went to the game in 99, and I feel our fan bases are very much alike) we will attend the game this weekend! I have watched ND this year and you have my repsect!

my take on the game:
ND is solid and is undersold as a unit. NFL running backs and tight end. OU will make ND throw it, that is Mike Stoops M.O. OU's defensive issues early was DL . Casey Walker missed time and Stacy Mcgee is back this week. Mcfarland has played well the last 3 weeks. another name to watch Frank Shannon . he is a young linebacker that started getting time after the KState game because Wort had trouble on 3rd downs and pass coverage.
don't dismiss OU's defense cause it is the best you have played this year . Tony Jefforson, Aarron Colvin and Demontre Hurst will play on Sundays.
X-factor is Golson for the Irish, cause OU will make him beat them

OU's offensive emergence has come from moving Millard all over the field even using him as a tight end. they have slowed the heat on Landry with screens and draws.
there are weapons all over the field and if the MIami game is any indication, I do beleive ND cannot stop the pass. OU's has some excellent running backs that all catch the ball out of the backfield.

I think OU wins this game 35-14 and I am worried about South Bend next fall as I think ND has arrived a year early.

some intersting offensive ranks:
Total Offense per the USA Today
Tex Tech 11, Okla 17, Tex 31, Kst 41 , Kan 89 and Utep 96

Miami 51 , Mich 61 , ND 74 , BYU 84, Purdue 80, Navy 98 and Stanford 79

its going to be a Great game and a lot of fun!

Exactly.... After they all played a very good ND defense...