Expectations for 2012?

[BobD]

I'd rather have high hopes than low expectations.

 

[NDPhilly]

Listen. All I what us to go is 9-4. If we do that than I'll be happy

 

[Patulski]

I'm no expert on USC but this isn't the USC of the Carroll era where I could probably name almost their entire defense ( I can only think of Robey & McDonald from this team). We will be able to score on them. If Wood/Atkinson step up we can play with them IMO.

USC is returning 19 starters-including perhaps the best QB and receiver in the country- and will be better than last year. We have question marks at QB, WR, Cb, and Safety. USC may have some depth problems, but they don't face this magnitude of player development we do.

I think this is a rebuilding year, where there are two challenges: One is to lessen the turnovers. the other is to develop players.

This could be a year of growth. If we don't improve our turnover ratio, it could also be a nightmare season. We're really going to find out what kind of coach Kelly is this year.

 

[ACamp1900]

If anyone here thinks we just can't under any circumstances possibly lose to Navy, I'd ask where the hell have you been the last five years??????.... Syracuse, Navy, UCONN and USF are all laughing their arse off...

In many ways I do expect to see a better overall team... and hopefully to see the just pitifully cartoon-like turnovers and such see their end.

It might be a bit much to expect a BCS run for a team with no quarter back... a rebuilt and unproven secondary and this schedule... sorry if some don't like it... just my feelings at the present.

Overall, I'm expecting more of the same... lose to someone we probably shouldn't (I think Navy is a real possibility...) beat no one worth mentioning, and cash in a mid-level bowl bid.

 

[Grahambo]

All I want for Christmas this year is a Notre Dame team that fought their asses off all season. Fought, battle, and tore some guts from every opposing team. All the while limiting turnovers and boneheaded penalties. If I can look at my tv after a game and say to myself how proud of them I am, then I am happy.

To me, that will equal a high win total this season. Thus I still think 10 wins is a legit number.

 

[BobD]

Grahambo for President!

 

[returnofthemack]

It's definitely that time of the year again. And just when I thought most Irish fans had learned their lessons about getting their hopes sky-high. First, Niumatalolo fires up his team like no other and he has had ND's number. Yeah, we smoked them last year, but he'll have new schemes and we know how well ND adjusts to schemes they haven't accounted for, right (Navy 2010, USC 2011, FSU 2011)? Second, Tommy Rees is pretty terrible and Kelly will probably name him starting QB. Let's assume that he magically makes the jump that elite QBs with much more talent than him like Jimmy and BQ did - this elevates him from bumbling catastrophe waiting to happen to game manager. If one of the younger QBs gets the nod, they will also be prone to turnovers (but with some actual big plays too).

On defense, I read on here over and over that our front 7 is the best in the country. Based on what? Tuitt is a great talent, as is Nix. Kapron is a good player, not great. Prince Shembo has not shown good pass coverage skills - in fact, none of our LBs have, not even Manti! Dan Fox is decent in coverage, decent run-stopper, Carlo is a great run-stopper, terrible in coverage, and Manti is good in coverage, elite run-stopper. Ishaq has not proven that he can play at an elite level. They have some decent depth, nowhere near a level to be proclaimed one of the best in the country.

Now for the secondary: Zeke Motta has been mediocre throughout his career. It's possible for him to have a Harrison Smith-like jump, but I won't hold my breath. Watching him is like watching a clinic on horrible angles. Jamoris is pretty good, but not elite. Most damningly, the only CB who has experience in big games is Lo Wood. The rest are novices, none of whom are elite talents, some of whom didn't even come to ND at that position! Yeah, the coaches rave about Bennett Jackson. They all seemed to have a pretty high opinion about Gary Gray too.

As for our wide receivers, we have good talent, but they will not reach their potential unless a QB not named Rees starts. The offensive line and running game are stellar.

I also read earlier that ND will be revenge-minded against scUM and that should get them the win. Where was their revenge-mindedness last year, or the year before?

This team has the potential to have a top 25 season, and I would be very happy with that. But you guys are already succumbing to the hype.

 

[IrishAlum1997]

It's definitely that time of the year again. And just when I thought most Irish fans had learned their lessons about getting their hopes sky-high. First, Niumatalolo fires up his team like no other and he has had ND's number. Yeah, we smoked them last year, but he'll have new schemes and we know how well ND adjusts to schemes they haven't accounted for, right (Navy 2010, USC 2011, FSU 2011)? Second, Tommy Rees is pretty terrible and Kelly will probably name him starting QB. Let's assume that he magically makes the jump that elite QBs with much more talent than him like Jimmy and BQ did - this elevates him from bumbling catastrophe waiting to happen to game manager. If one of the younger QBs gets the nod, they will also be prone to turnovers (but with some actual big plays too).

On defense, I read on here over and over that our front 7 is the best in the country. Based on what? Tuitt is a great talent, as is Nix. Kapron is a good player, not great. Prince Shembo has not shown good pass coverage skills - in fact, none of our LBs have, not even Manti! Dan Fox is decent in coverage, decent run-stopper, Carlo is a great run-stopper, terrible in coverage, and Manti is good in coverage, elite run-stopper. Ishaq has not proven that he can play at an elite level. They have some decent depth, nowhere near a level to be proclaimed one of the best in the country.

Now for the secondary: Zeke Motta has been mediocre throughout his career. It's possible for him to have a Harrison Smith-like jump, but I won't hold my breath. Watching him is like watching a clinic on horrible angles. Jamoris is pretty good, but not elite. Most damningly, the only CB who has experience in big games is Lo Wood. The rest are novices, none of whom are elite talents, some of whom didn't even come to ND at that position! Yeah, the coaches rave about Bennett Jackson. They all seemed to have a pretty high opinion about Gary Gray too.

As for our wide receivers, we have good talent, but they will not reach their potential unless a QB not named Rees starts. The offensive line and running game are stellar.

I also read earlier that ND will be revenge-minded against scUM and that should get them the win. Where was their revenge-mindedness last year, or the year before?

This team has the potential to have a top 25 season, and I would be very happy with that. But you guys are already succumbing to the hype.

Not sure you can say anyone is succumbing to the hype, as the most positive of prognosticators have us as a low 20's kind of team, which to mean grades out to 8-4 or 9-3.

I would say, however, that most of us are succumbing to the "hope.". I, for one, would rather be the blind optimist that revels in our redemption, than the "realist" waiting for the sky to fall.

D@mn the torpedoes and win 'em all.

 

[returnofthemack]

Not sure you can say anyone is succumbing to the hype, as the most positive of prognosticators have us as a low 20's kind of team, which to mean grades out to 8-4 or 9-3.

I would say, however, that most of us are succumbing to the "hope.". I, for one, would rather be the blind optimist that revels in our redemption, than the "realist" waiting for the sky to fall.

D@mn the torpedoes and win 'em all.

Succumbing to the hope - that's cute. I was like that too. By hype, I mean the feeling "This could be the year they surprise us and win all the games what though the odds be great or small!" It hits all of us as the season gets closer. "Lou Holtz won the NC in a year nobody thought he could and that situation is analogous to ours!" Yeah, even the most ardent pessimists get that feeling as we approach the season. Then ND finds a way to lose and embarrass themselves and the fanbase on national TV and the feeling disappears.

 

[jdailey1981]

Part of what hurts ND also is, many of the fans expect another season of failure. The team hears "We expect a 9-3 and season, but will likely be another fail 7-5 or worse." How is the team to feel when the fan base doesn't stand behind them. It doesn't help that home games, ND stadium is pretty much quiet, except when a touchdown is scored. This is 2012, not the days of the 4 horsemen....it is time to get loud and make ND stadium a feared place to play again, instead of a place to come for an easy win.

 

[IrishAlum1997]

Succumbing to the hope - that's cute. I was like that too. By hype, I mean the feeling "This could be the year they surprise us and win all the games what though the odds be great or small!" It hits all of us as the season gets closer. "Lou Holtz won the NC in a year nobody thought he could and that situation is analogous to ours!" Yeah, even the most ardent pessimists get that feeling as we approach the season. Then ND finds a way to lose and embarrass themselves and the fanbase on national TV and the feeling disappears.

This year draws no comparisons to 88 in my opinion, other than a 3rd year head coach.

I, for one, will continue NOT to be the one that accurately predicts we lose a game we shouldn't. Oh, I'll pace the living room every 4th quarter for perpetuity, but I'll watch EVERY game believing We will win.

When the streak ends and there's a 0 in the loss column come January, we'll raise a beer at Beltline Bar, or perhaps Brann's?

 

[returnofthemack]

Part of what hurts ND also is, many of the fans expect another season of failure. The team hears "We expect a 9-3 and season, but will likely be another fail 7-5 or worse." How is the team to feel when the fan base doesn't stand behind them. It doesn't help that home games, ND stadium is pretty much quiet, except when a touchdown is scored. This is 2012, not the days of the 4 horsemen....it is time to get loud and make ND stadium a feared place to play again, instead of a place to come for an easy win.

I don't think the team gives a damn about what we say. And more toughness from them would make ND a feared place to play again. A lack of mental toughness is prevalent in the program as made evident by the past few scUM games. Every time I was in ND stadium, I cheered my heart out. I assure you it made no difference.

 

[returnofthemack]

This year draws no comparisons to 88 in my opinion, other than a 3rd year head coach.

I, for one, will continue NOT to be the one that accurately predicts we lose a game we shouldn't. Oh, I'll pace the living room every 4th quarter for perpetuity, but I'll watch EVERY game believing We will win.

When the streak ends and there's a 0 in the loss column come January, we'll raise a beer at Beltline Bar, or perhaps Brann's?

That's a much better view of it. I basically watch every game knowing ND can and usually should win, then watch as they show how they can not win. When the streak ends and there's a 0 in the loss column in January, the only way you could find me is six feet underground from a heart attack.

 

[jdailey1981]

Like I said in another post, this year Kelly will be on the hot seat, and won't tolerate the failure of what happened last year with the careless mistakes. If you make mistakes, you get benched, until you can prove you are ready to play. You have seen what Kelly could do @ Cincy, so why couldn't he at ND? I am optimistic of this season, because I believe next season, the Irish will be on the rise to prominence because Kelly will be on his 4th year, and will have "his own team", not anybody hanging around from when Charlie was there. Kelly won't be looking to get a championship this year, he will be looking to stack the wins, put on a good show foe possible recruits, so ND can start winning BCS bowl games and championships. ND has been at its lowest, and after you have been at the bottom, there is only one way to go.

 

[returnofthemack]

Like I said in another post, this year Kelly will be on the hot seat, and won't tolerate the failure of what happened last year with the careless mistakes. If you make mistakes, you get benched, until you can prove you are ready to play. You have seen what Kelly could do @ Cincy, so why couldn't he at ND? I am optimistic of this season, because I believe next season, the Irish will be on the rise to prominence because Kelly will be on his 4th year, and will have "his own team", not anybody hanging around from when Charlie was there. Kelly won't be looking to get a championship this year, he will be looking to stack the wins, put on a good show foe possible recruits, so ND can start winning BCS bowl games and championships. ND has been at its lowest, and after you have been at the bottom, there is only one way to go.

Well, I hope if Rees makes mistakes, Kelly will bench him, but I'll believe it when I see it. Rees has a leash so long you could lasso the moon with it.

 

[jdailey1981]

I am curious to see what Gunner has...

 

[mgriff]

I am sick of the "with this schedule".

Who do you see giving us a game outside of USC, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Michigan State.

Maybe throw Stanford into that group.

Either way, win the other 7 games, and then win 2 of the 5 mentioned and you're at 9-3.

The schedule is actually pretty navigable, it's just top heavy with two insanely tough games and a pretty tough game against Michigan and at MSU.

Well I'm sick of people pegging 9-10 wins every year when we haven't delivered the goods. We have a horribly weak secondary and do not have a quality QB. If someone steps up to fill the QB void then maybe we can talk, about 9-10 wins, but this is widely regarded as the toughest schedule in the nation. What about BYU, Pittsburgh, BC, Miami, Wake Forest, and Navy? Haha I don't believe you think we are going to be blowing everyone out! You can keep the blinders on, I'll stick with an objective analysis this year.

The team does not give a **** what we say, but if we are going with the majority opinion, it's usually 10 wins and a BCS berth setting us up for the NC the next year, and the realists sit in a corner being degraded at the beginning of the season for examining all the facts and not buying into the hype machine yet again. We are making progress, but it's going to be difficult to judge just how much with our weak secondary, lack of QB, and the brutal schedule this year. I'd normally demand 10 wins from Kelly this year since it's his third, but he gets a pass this year provided the team doesn't totally implode.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Well I'm sick of people pegging 9-10 wins every year when we haven't delivered the goods. We have a horribly weak secondary and do not have a quality QB. If someone steps up to fill the QB void then maybe we can talk, about 9-10 wins, but this is widely regarded as the toughest schedule in the nation. What about BYU, Pittsburgh, BC, Miami, Wake Forest, and Navy? Haha I don't believe you think we are going to be blowing everyone out! You can keep the blinders on, I'll stick with an objective analysis this year.

The team does not give a **** what we say, but if we are going with the majority opinion, it's usually 10 wins and a BCS berth setting us up for the NC the next year, and the realists sit in a corner being degraded at the beginning of the season for examining all the facts and not buying into the hype machine yet again. We are making progress, but it's going to be difficult to judge just how much with our weak secondary, lack of QB, and the brutal schedule this year. I'd normally demand 10 wins from Kelly this year since it's his third, but he gets a pass this year provided the team doesn't totally implode.

11 wins.

Tommy

(gleefully skips away...)

and yes.....I skipped.

 

[dshans]

and yes.....I skipped.

And may I say that your mane looked magnificent as you did ...

 

[NDinL.A.]

I'm no expert on USC but this isn't the USC of the Carroll era where I could probably name almost their entire defense ( I can only think of Robey & McDonald from this team). We will be able to score on them. If Wood/Atkinson step up we can play with them IMO.

You need to brush up on them then. Aside from those two, their other DBs (Wiley, Starling, etc) came on strong at the end of last year. Their LBs are all back, and two of them are NASTY, and they all have 3 yrs of eligibility left. Hayes Pullard and Dion Bailey were incredible last season. On the D-Line, they are thin on experience but uber-talented. Remember the name George Uko. Will be a redshirt freshman and should start inside. Met him last year at USC and he is a friggin' beast, and got great reviews last year on the practice squad. D Kennard will be a load off the edge as well.

Depth is the issue with them. The best chance we have is that we get them at the end of the year. I said the same thing 2 years ago when they didn't have a full roster of players, and we go them at the end. Other than that...good luck stopping Barkley, Lee and Woods. We have ZERO chance to guard those guys without opening huge lanes in the running game. Seriously...they are all 1st rounders, and we are thin as hell in the secondary. One injury and we are effed.

I am sick of the "with this schedule".

Who do you see giving us a game outside of USC, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Michigan State.

Maybe throw Stanford into that group.

Either way, win the other 7 games, and then win 2 of the 5 mentioned and you're at 9-3.

The schedule is actually pretty navigable, it's just top heavy with two insanely tough games and a pretty tough game against Michigan and at MSU.

MAYBE Stanford??? They've beaten us 3 years in a row, return a ton of their defense plus their best player that they didn't even have last year, and return a QB who has been in their system more years than ours and was higher rated. And they are comfortable as hell in that system. We have just as many if not more questions than they do, and you think MAYBE they'll give us a game??? Roles reversed, and a Stanford fan write that...you'd laugh your *** off.

They thing is...the schedule isn't played in a vaccuum. It's played week after week after week after week. Just look at our schedule after the Purdue game (hope we're not feeling jetlag!) - at MSU, Michigan, bye, Miami (don't care who they lost, they're Miami, they're athletic, fast, and they HATE Notre Dame), Stanford, BYU, at OU, and then get a 'breather' with Pitt LOL, who will be a MUCH tougher team with their new coach, and they'll want to kick our arses, especially after our slate of tough games (can you say let-down game?).

And then we finish it off with a rivalry game, a decent game against WF, and then our biggest rival who might be the best team in the country.

So yes, the schedule is THAT difficult. Don't look at each game indivisually - that's fools gold. Make no mistake, this schedule will be EXTREMELY difficult to navigate.

USC is returning 19 starters

Agree with much of your post, but I don't know about 19 returning starters. They lost Ellison and Kalil on offense, plus Tupou, Harris, Galippo (but he was starting off and on at the end), and Nick Perry on defense. Their D-line was weakened considerably. So they have 16, maybe 17 returning starters overall. Still loaded though LOL...

 

[gkIrish]

Expect the worst, hope for the best. Can't go wrong

 

[returnofthemack]

11 wins.

Tommy

(gleefully skips away...)

and yes.....I skipped.

Hey, Mr. Rees is back! Are you going to put your Tommy Rees signature back up? You know, the one you took down after his laughably awful performance in the spring game?

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Hey, Mr. Rees is back! Are you going to put your Tommy Rees signature back up? You know, the one you took down after his laughably awful performance in the spring game?

Like shooting fish in a barrel.


NEXT!!!

 

[returnofthemack]

Next what? It was an honest question. Somebody has to defend the poor kid as he's sucking it up. And you seem to relish the whole tranny cheerleader thing. Go for it dude.

 

[IrishMoore1]

We'll be lucky to win 6 games. There are too many question marks right now. There will have to be a lot of good answers to win 8 games (which i would consider a good season given the circumstances). I hope to Our Lady that we win 8 and keep our recruiting class.

If there's one team I cannot withstand losing to, it'd be Michigan. I'm okay with losing to SC cuz at least they're good. They were damn good last year when they whooped us and I give them credit for that. But Michigan!? GOD I HATE THEM!

 

[returnofthemack]

Like shooting fish in a barrel.


NEXT!!!

Are you trying to imply that shooting fish in a barrel is easy? It actually might be quite difficult for certain quarterbacks with questionable accuracy and proclivity for fumbling That was a very inconsiderate idiom.

 

[RDU Irish]

We'll be lucky to win 6 games. There are too many question marks right now. There will have to be a lot of good answers to win 8 games (which i would consider a good season given the circumstances). I hope to Our Lady that we win 8 and keep our recruiting class.

If there's one team I cannot withstand losing to, it'd be Michigan. I'm okay with losing to SC cuz at least they're good. They were damn good last year when they whooped us and I give them credit for that. But Michigan!? GOD I HATE THEM!

I disagree. Six would be very disappointing. I expect to win 8 but would not be surprised plus/minus one. Ten wins or more and I am a pretty happy camper. Ten or more also means we found a solution to QB for sure.

The more I think about it, a six loss regular season borders on inconcievable with our OL and DL. Trenches count for a lot in my book.

 

[ACamp1900]

Expect the worst, hope for the best. Can't go wrong

pretty much

 

[NDhoosier]

Met him last year at USC and he is a friggin' beast, and got great reviews last year on the practice squad.

So did Golson...

MAYBE Stanford??? They've beaten us 3 years in a row, return a ton of their defense plus their best player that they didn't even have last year, and return a QB who has been in their system more years than ours and was higher rated. A.

1) Their best player without question the past three years was Andrew Luck, teams do not replace #1 overall draft picks
2) QB has no experience on the field and as you would say ratings dont matter, perfect example (Dayne Crist)

 

[woolybug25]

1) Their best player without question the past three years was Andrew Luck, teams do not replace #1 overall draft picks

Funny... because the last three #1 overall QB's have been replaced by Kiehl Frazier, Landry Jones and Aaron Murray.

USC sure started slumping after Carson Palmer at the QB position too...

2) QB has no experience on the field and as you would say ratings dont matter, perfect example (Dayne Crist)

He played in 4 games last year and has been in Stanford's system for the same amount of time that Tommy has been in ours.