Dec 29 | College Football Playoff Semifinal | Clemson

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notredomer23

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I think some weird type of play is gonna happen on Clemson's opening drive in favor of us that is gonna set the tone for the game. Like Tillery bats a ball in the air and picks it off himself or something like that.
 
Irishize

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Irish YJ said:
Personally I don't want them to totally abandon the run (I don't think LAX is saying that either). We're just saying our traditional mix/balance is not going to work. Use the short pass early and often, and that will open up the run and longer pass later. Make it easy on the OL, and let Book get comfortable and in a rhythm. Let the DL wear down a little trying unsuccessfully getting after the quick release, and then run. When we do run early, don't do anything that takes long to develop, and attack the perimeter, or use a bit of misdirection.
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If ND could go up-tempo or at least feign it by having the offense look to the sideline as if changing the play & catching CU in between, I think they could disrupt what Venables wants to do. Clemson’s D is used to moving & trying to get the OL to jump. Lessen their time to set their defense & it’s advantage ND. As far as the run game, I think Driskell, Prister, Sampson, et al; have stated that Long will still run the ball w/ hopes of getting at least a yard or two to keep Clemson honest. To succeed though, they can’t afford a 1st down run for minus-2 yards.
 
AKRowdy

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notredomer23 said:
I think some weird type of play is gonna happen on Clemson's opening drive in favor of us that is gonna set the tone for the game. Like Tillery bats a ball in the air and picks it off himself or something like that.
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Please... I’m trying not to get overly optimistic, but with these thoughts in my head, it’s not helping.
 
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ND88

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Did Notre Dame play a team this entire season that we legit thought could beat us? I’m being honest here when I say maybe Michigan, but other than that, I would say no. Even the games that were close never really felt out of hand. USC stirred up some bad feelings, but that was really the only game when the consensus was hyping us to win (outside of FSU, but they were horrible). The boys finally get some healthy competition with Clemson. They get a chance to play up to the level many of believe they can play at.
 
Irish YJ

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Irishize said:
If ND could go up-tempo or at least feign it by having the offense look to the sideline as if changing the play & catching CU in between, I think they could disrupt what Venables wants to do. Clemson’s D is used to moving & trying to get the OL to jump. Lessen their time to set their defense & it’s advantage ND. As far as the run game, I think Driskell, Prister, Sampson, et al; have stated that Long will still run the ball w/ hopes of getting at least a yard or two to keep Clemson honest. To succeed though, they can’t afford a 1st down run for minus-2 yards.
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Would definitely love to see up tempo. Not allowing them to substitute would be huge.

I agree we need a token run now and then early to keep them guessing. Just saying it shouldn't be a 50/50 balance. It needs to start out like 75pass/25run or even less . Once the D is warn down, and they start to cheat out and up on the WRs, Dex is more likely to hit a big run, or Book more likely to hit a longer pass. Getting closer to balance later in the game perhaps when we get a lead. We need to stay aggressive the entire game though on both sides of the ball IMO.
 
Irish YJ

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ND88 said:
Did Notre Dame play a team this entire season that we legit thought could beat us? I’m being honest here when I say maybe Michigan, but other than that, I would say no. Even the games that were close never really felt out of hand. USC stirred up some bad feelings, but that was really the only game when the consensus was hyping us to win (outside of FSU, but they were horrible). The boys finally get some healthy competition with Clemson. They get a chance to play up to the level many of believe they can play at.
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we were pretty good favorites in every game after scUM.

During the Book games....
We were down to Pitt for a decent portion of the game.
VT was ugly early. USC was a handful. NW wasn't easy.

Stanford, Navy, and Wake were easy and the only truly comfortable games to me.

And of the Book game opponents, none were well rounded legit.
 
IrishLax

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Random stat. Make of this what you will.<br><br>If Notre Dame had shut out all 12 opponents this season, it would still have a worse scoring margin than Clemson. <br><br>Tigers are +412 in scoring margin this season. Notre Dame has scored 405 total points.</p>— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteSampson_/status/1078738192986263553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I mean.... yikes.
 
Irish YJ

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IrishLax said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Random stat. Make of this what you will.<br><br>If Notre Dame had shut out all 12 opponents this season, it would still have a worse scoring margin than Clemson. <br><br>Tigers are +412 in scoring margin this season. Notre Dame has scored 405 total points.</p>— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteSampson_/status/1078738192986263553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I mean.... yikes.
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Pretty ugly lol... so ugly I had to go back in look at our game by game scores.
The good news is, BW's first 3 games were in the 20s. Book's point average was pretty darn good pre-injury aside from the Pitt game (which was his first go against a Narduzi exotic front).

I'd also add that he didn't drop off until Long started calling more of the playbook (longer passes, slower developing runs and passes). That's why I've said "keep it simple" or "do what works" the last half of the season. I understand you have to insert variety and grow, but it seams like Long tried to flip a switch starting in the VT second quarter.
 
IrishLion

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arrowryan said:
A random stat and also an extremely irrelevant stat.
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Not totally irrelevant... it supports the high rankings of both their offensive and defensive efficiency, and shows that ND is about to see their biggest test of the year, period. They’re about to play a team that knows how to get up and then demoralize.

The good thing, though, is that ND started to learn some of that themselves this year, and will present Clemson’s biggest test of the year.

Also, ND wouldn’t be too far behind in efficiency had Book played the first four games, probably.
 
Irish YJ

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IrishLion said:
Not totally irrelevant... it supports the high rankings of both their offensive and defensive efficiency, and shows that ND is about to see their biggest test of the year, period. They’re about to play a team that knows how to get up and then demoralize.

The good thing, though, is that ND started to learn some of that themselves this year, and will present Clemson’s biggest test of the year.

Also, ND wouldn’t be too far behind in efficiency had Book played the first four games, probably.
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Clemson is the best ND has faced all year long, and ND is the best Clemson has faced all year long (unless you buy into the SEC / TAMU or uSCe crap).

IMO, not irrelevant at all. It shows they handle their business efficiently and don't often "play down" to every team that sees them as their "superbowl"... I hate that excuse coming from ND....
 
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arrowryan

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IrishLion said:
Not totally irrelevant... it supports the high rankings of both their offensive and defensive efficiency, and shows that ND is about to see their biggest test of the year, period. They’re about to play a team that knows how to get up and then demoralize.

The good thing, though, is that ND started to learn some of that themselves this year, and will present Clemson’s biggest test of the year.

Also, ND wouldn’t be too far behind in efficiency had Book played the first four games, probably.
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Pete's tweet about scoring margin doesn't really do much for me because I don't look at the whole season when I think of head-to-head matchup between Notre Dame and Clemson. I don't care that how bad Clemson beat GA Southern and Furman; those games shouldn't even count IMO.

I look at how each team fared against ranked/good opponents. Not only did Notre Dame not lose this season, they have yet to even trail against a ranked opponent. Syracuse wasn't ranked at the time, but they had Clemson real nervous the same way Pitt had ND. They also briefly trailed against BC and A&M had them on the ropes. Notre Dame basically dominated every ranked team they played.

I agree that both teams will be each other's stiffest challenge yet and that Notre Dame has gotten better each and every week (for the most part). Clemson's margin of victory doesn't mean anything to me; they can thank Furman, GA Southern, and the rest of the ACC for deciding to be the worst Power 5 conference this year.
 
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BabyIrish

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arrowryan said:
Pete's tweet about scoring margin doesn't really do much for me because I don't look at the whole season when I think of head-to-head matchup between Notre Dame and Clemson. I don't care that how bad Clemson beat GA Southern and Furman; those games shouldn't even count IMO.

I look at how each team fared against ranked/good opponents. Not only did Notre Dame lose this season, that have yet to even trail against a ranked opponent. Syracuse wasn't ranked at the time, but they had Clemson real nervous the same way Pitt had ND. They also briefly trailed against BC and A&M had them on the ropes. Notre Dame basically dominated every ranked team they played.

I agree that both teams will be each other's stiffest challenge yet and that Notre Dame has gotten better each and every week (for the most part). Clemson's margin of victory doesn't mean anything to me; they can thank Furman, GA Southern, and the rest of the ACC for deciding to be the worst Power 5 conference this year.
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I’m with you. Who cares. As Rick Mirer said “They’re a great team with great players but they haven’t played any Notre Dames till today.” Go Irish!!
 
gkIrish

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Flight cancelled....fml

Going to try and make an early flight tomorrow in time for the game
 
Circa

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IrishLax said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Random stat. Make of this what you will.<br><br>If Notre Dame had shut out all 12 opponents this season, it would still have a worse scoring margin than Clemson. <br><br>Tigers are +412 in scoring margin this season. Notre Dame has scored 405 total points.</p>— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteSampson_/status/1078738192986263553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I mean.... yikes.
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Ir's all a mentality. Means nothing head to head.
 
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