Concerns About the Stanford Game?

[Yes]

I'm not concerned at all. I think Stanford is the 3rd best team ND will have played this season. Just another game with the Irish stuffing the running game and not letting the opposing offense score a TD.

 

[choo choo]

my son and i have a saying we use after everyone of his baseball games (or prcatices), good or bad, and that is "tomorrow is another day"...same applies here, those first five wins dont mean **** come saturday...if we come out ready to play and drop their asses then it's six wins and a climb in the poll positioning...if we get caught up in the circus and get beat then it will be a huge setback...its very important to continue to get better every week which i think we've done an awesome job of so far...alot of things are starting to come together for us, but there are many areas we need to improve on...to me thats gonna be the real test

 

[choo choo]

btw...im going irish 26-6

 

[Kansas Irish]

Montgomery may be out.

http://http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8484832/stanford-cardinal-wr-ty-montgomery-unlikely-play-notre-dame-fighting-irish

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

I hope Diaco has a defensive package ready when Stanford brings in that Jumbo package and runs Power I. Last thing I can handle is a repeat of 2010 where we got the snot kicked out of us up front

 

[johnnykillz]

Montgomery may be out.

http://http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8484832/stanford-cardinal-wr-ty-montgomery-unlikely-play-notre-dame-fighting-irish

When will this be confirmed?

 

[BleedBlueGold]

I hope Diaco has a defensive package ready when Stanford brings in that Jumbo package and runs Power I. Last thing I can handle is a repeat of 2010 where we got the snot kicked out of us up front

Coach Longo and the entire front seven should smack you for saying this...

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

For pointing out something that really happened? Oh well. I'm not predicting anything. Just want to see ND prepared for that goal line/ jumbo package and be ready schematically to go beef vs beef

 

[CarrollVermin]

My concern is in which Stanford team we see...do we see the one that struggled with Washington and San Jose St. or do we see the one that rolled USC and lit up Arizona.

Kelly made some valid points yesterday in this presser, how to stop their tight ends, making sure you stop the run. I think the challenge is evident to everyone. I hope that this year we don't get pushed around the way that we did in the three previous meetings. If we can physically stay with them, we have a chance to win the game.

 

[RDU Irish]

I'm not concerned at all. I think Stanford is the 3rd best team ND will have played this season. Just another game with the Irish stuffing the running game and not letting the opposing offense score a TD.

Yet we haven't played any of the three so far. If we were facing Stanford after OK and USC I may understand your stance, to me this is our biggest challenge to date and a great precursor to how we handle Oklahoma at the end of the month.

 

[koonja]

I'm a bit worried about Mike and Mike having the Mike and Mike show at 6am. It's going to be mighty cold at that time.

 

[Veer option]

My concerns against Stanford:

Being a top ten team puts a target on NDs back. Which means ND will have to play that much better in order to beat the Trees

Stanford would like nothing better than to knock ND out of the Top Ten.

I have no doubt that ND offensively has better athletes than Stanford. As others have said, I hope the game plan is to get these athletes in space.

NDs offensive line. As others have said Stanford's has the best front seven the oline will have faced. IMO other teams have better front 4s (Purdue, MSU) but Stanford definitely has the most complete seven. That last two seasons Stanford has owned the line of scrimmage against ND and has got a lot of pressure on NDs qbs. The oline needs to exert their will on the Stanford D for ND to win.

NDs WR corp. I hope at least one of them can have a breakout game. They have done a good job blocking and catching balls thrown to them.

 

[NDBoiler]

My top concern: How many more games until there isn't a sequence or two of plays where a timeout (or 2) is burned from either a play coming in late, or EG not understanding the play, or the Juicyfruit poster being held upside down, or...this seems to me to have still happened at least once every game so far this season and if this is (and if others) to be a close game as some are expecting, will it come back to bite ND in the *** with lack of timeouts? Can anyone give me a good explanation of what causes these hiccups? is it all EG, or play calling, or a combination of things? All in all, it's a luxury to have only this minor concern.

 

[irishtrain]

Stay home if you dont want to cheer cheer for old Notre Dame-the gray haired alums just need to hang with 'em and let people stand, yell, go nuts. Its a must that this stadium rises to the level that this football team deserves and has earned. It must be a factor against Stanford. Oh by the way- Stanford is going to come out and try to hit you in the mouth and score early to rattle the cage. Notre Dame has got to let them know early in this game that this is not the bunch of kids you played the last 2 years. I'm picking Stanford and hope to be 0-6. This is the best team to date Notre Dame will play. Make a statement with this game. Go Irish.

 

[kmoose]

Stanford's rush D is as good as ours. Their pass D is not--almost 100 ypg more. Read option will allow for more passing this week--create challenging mix of pass & run. not steady diet of just run.

I Hear the Thunder !!! Here Come the IRISH !!!!!

Stanford is a Top 20 Defense, in sacks, and a Top 5 Defense, in Tackles for Loss. While they may not be able to cover, they can certainly disrupt things behind the line. Don't presume that we will have success throwing the ball.

 

[Fbolt]

I don't think we're going to be able to do much between the tackles until (maybe) the fourth quarter. We simply cannot line up man-for-man with a good front seven and run consistently up the middle. We need to get creative as far as running is concerned. I want to see George Atkinson III on some jet sweeps and those quick pitches that work so well.

If there were ever game where we needed to stretch the field vertically and connect on some deep routes, this would be it.

what would be nice is a quick pitch PA fake hitting WR on the go route on the same side.

 

[UmphreakDomer]

how is stanfords secondary?

 

[Grimm]

My main concern really comes from the fact that in many ways the ND team hasn't been tested fully. What happens if we get down 10-0 or 14-0 against a team with a very solid defense like Stanford. Does are offense have the ability to accelerate and start putting points on the board in a hurry. I would love to see Golson in a full out mode to see what this offense can do. BK has had the choke collar on it, particulary in the second half of each game. On the defense, we have played bend don't break much of the time. Let the opposition take short gains get a few first downs until they make a mistake or until they are in our redzone and we bear down. But can this defense dial up the risk a bit and get us some three and outw on three conecutive series in a row? Can they just dominate if they need to. Finally, how will this team react with the real pressure is on. The only time it has been in a real pressure situation was on that last drive against Purdue - and that was a strange drive, with Rees at the helm and a couple breaks.

In some ways, I think ND has alot more potential then they are showing, which is why I think some still don't know whether to count ND as a real power. Now, of course, I hope we just methodically roll-over Stanford and don't need to find out until OK.

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

My main concern really comes from the fact that in many ways the ND team hasn't been tested fully. What happens if we get down 10-0 or 14-0 against a team with a very solid defense like Stanford. Does are offense have the ability to accelerate and start putting points on the board in a hurry. I would love to see Golson in a full out mode to see what this offense can do. BK has had the choke collar on it, particulary in the second half of each game. On the defense, we have played bend don't break much of the time. Let the opposition take short gains get a few first downs until they make a mistake or until they are in our redzone and we bear down. But can this defense dial up the risk a bit and get us some three and outw on three conecutive series in a row? Can they just dominate if they need to. Finally, how will this team react with the real pressure is on. The only time it has been in a real pressure situation was on that last drive against Purdue - and that was a strange drive, with Rees at the helm and a couple breaks.

In some ways, I think ND has alot more potential then they are showing, which is why I think some still don't know whether to count ND as a real power. Now, of course, I hope we just methodically roll-over Stanford and don't need to find out until OK.

I completely agree with your first part about the offense. I think Kelly has kept the reigns pretty tight and he has kept it rather vanilla in my opinion. I think he has held back some of what this offense can do, or is supposed to do, until he really needs those bullets in his gun. I think he is going to start turning this offense loose more - especially EG.

I don't completely agree with your assessment of the defense. "Can they dominate if they need to?" I would say no touchdowns in three games is pretty dominant. Yes they do play a lot of "bend don't break", but the results have been pretty amazing. I think that style of defense can continue to work against Stanford on Saturday. If they play their style of defense and if there is any way the d-line can get consistent pressure on the QB, Stanford could be in for a long afternoon.

 

[Grimm]

I completely agree with your first part about the offense. I think Kelly has kept the reigns pretty tight and he has kept it rather vanilla in my opinion. I think he has held back some of what this offense can do, or is supposed to do, until he really needs those bullets in his gun. I think he is going to start turning this offense loose more - especially EG.

I don't completely agree with your assessment of the defense. "Can they dominate if they need to?" I would say no touchdowns in three games is pretty dominant. Yes they do play a lot of "bend don't break", but the results have been pretty amazing. I think that style of defense can continue to work against Stanford on Saturday. If they play their style of defense and if there is any way the d-line can get consistent pressure on the QB, Stanford could be in for a long afternoon.

Agree that d has been awesome. My real question is what if a couple of touchdowns are given up and we need the ball back without eating up the clock. You can't play bend don't break at that point. You need to shut off your opponents time of possession. I have no doubt the D can respond, but I would like to see it try to dominate in the sense of where opposition can't even move the ball.

 

[Mr. McGibblets]

My concern, for now, is the weather. Anything can happen in sloppy conditions.