Jan 1 | Citrus Bowl Notre Dame vs LSU

[IrishLion]

I'm thinking it's going to be a 28-24 type of dogfight.

Predicting 41 bowl games and College Football Playoff national championship

Prediction: LSU 28, Notre Dame 24

Nice.

 

[snoopdog]

I'm actually with IrishfanJMercy...

I saw an early projection that had ND vs Oklahoma State in a bowl game, and immediately said "oh no."

LSU is a much better matchup than some other teams, especially stylistically... both ND and LSU are teams that will lean on the run, both teams have some nice wins on their resume, both teams have some real stinkers on their resumes, and both teams have glaring issues holding them back.

It should be a nice battle. Whoever fixes their issues the best over the next four weeks will win.

I thought LSU has pretty much have got their issues fixed...hence the good finish

 

[Irishize]

I'm actually with IrishfanJMercy...

I saw an early projection that had ND vs Oklahoma State in a bowl game, and immediately said "oh no."

LSU is a much better matchup than some other teams, especially stylistically... both ND and LSU are teams that will lean on the run, both teams have some nice wins on their resume, both teams have some real stinkers on their resumes, and both teams have glaring issues holding them back.

It should be a nice battle. Whoever fixes their issues the best over the next four weeks will win.

Agred wuth the first part but not your last statement. LSU started the season with two embarrassing losses before righting the ship and playing competitive P5 football. ND ended the season with two embarrassing losses and have some major issues to “fix”. I’m no LSU expert, but am curious what you define as their “glaring issues”.

 

[tko]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yXhRFnUn72E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[beryirish]

What have you seen in the month of November to give you confidence that ND will keep this close...much less win? It’s not pessimism, it’s realism.

Nothing - but a month to rest and 15 additional practices before the game makes me not worry what I saw in November and prepared to see what I saw in September and October.

 

[Irishize]

They only get 15 practices over those four weeks.

To clarify they are still under the 20-hour rule.

 

[RDU Irish]

I'm actually with IrishfanJMercy...

I saw an early projection that had ND vs Oklahoma State in a bowl game, and immediately said "oh no."

LSU is a much better matchup than some other teams, especially stylistically... both ND and LSU are teams that will lean on the run, both teams have some nice wins on their resume, both teams have some real stinkers on their resumes, and both teams have glaring issues holding them back.

It should be a nice battle. Whoever fixes their issues the best over the next four weeks will win.

Losing to #10 Miami, #3 Georgia and #13 Stanford count as stinkers? I'll give you LSU's loss to Troy as a stinker - that definitely qualifies. Well 37-7 to MSST probably counts too. But I didn't see any of those games so I can't say for sure.

 

[IrishLion]

Agred wuth the first part but not your last statement. LSU started the season with two embarrassing losses before righting the ship and playing competitive P5 football. ND ended the season with two embarrassing losses and have some major issues to “fix”. I’m no LSU expert, but am curious what you define as their “glaring issues”.

Glaring Issue = Ed Orgeron. Dude holds them back, IMO. He is there to be a CEO/recruiter/motivator, but he's only really good at 1.5 of those things. LSU improved once he got out of the way and stopped trying to be involved as "CEO," and started letting his coordinators work without his interference.

Losing to #10 Miami, #3 Georgia and #13 Stanford count as stinkers? I'll give you LSU's loss to Troy as a stinker - that definitely qualifies. Well 37-7 to MSST probably counts too. But I didn't see any of those games so I can't say for sure.

Miami was a stinker regardless of their ranking, because ND got thoroughly manhandled by a team that isn't better than them in terms of talent; Stanford was a stinker for how quickly things fell apart, and for how ugly it was once they did.

LSU's blowout at the hands of MSU was similar to ND/Miami, and their loss to Troy was on another level of bad.

 

[BGIF]

Do you know this to be true or just think so? Do you have a cite?

Do you know this to be true or just think so? Do you have a cite?

They only get 15 practices over those four weeks.

To clarify they are still under the 20-hour rule.

The 20 hour rule applies when school is in session for the student-athlete.


According to the ND Academic Calender:

DEC. 11-15 Final Exams

DEC. 16 Undergraduate Halls close at 2pm


As for the "15 practices":

Debunking the '15 practices for a bowl game' myth as Rutgers awaits its postseason matchup | NJ.com

By Dan Duggan | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on December 04, 2014 at 8:31 AM, updated December 04, 2014 at 10:47 AM

One of the greatest benefits of earning a trip to a bowl game is the additional practices afforded to a team. And contrary to popular belief, bowl practices aren't capped at 15.

"(It's) a common misconception that's been around for years," NCAA spokesman Christopher Radford said. "There is no specific limit on the number of practices a team may hold while preparing for a bowl game, but standard NCAA rules apply for participation in practice or other athletically related activities. Same as the regular season, these rules limit practice and other athletic activities to a maximum of four hours per day and 20 hours per week."

The myth is likely tied to the rules for spring practice, as teams are limited to 15 practice sessions in the spring. With no limit on the amount of practices, there's added benefit to playing in a bowl later in the calendar.

Here's what I found on the NCAA site. N.B. There are guidelines and recommendations NOT regulations.

Year-Round Football Practice Contact Recommendations | NCAA.org - The Official Site of the NCAA


Postseason practice recommendations

NCAA Championships (Football Championship Subdivision/Division II/Division III), owl (Football Bowl Subdivision)

• If there is a two week or less period of time between the final regular season game or conference championship game (for participating institutions) and the next bowl or postseason game, then inseason practice recommendations should remain in place.
• If there is greater than two weeks between the final regular season game or conference championship game (for participating institutions) and the next bowl or postseason game, then:
• Up to three days may be live-contact (two of which should be live contact/thud).
• There must be three non-contact/minimal contact practices in a given week.
• The day preceding and following live contact/tackling should be non-contact/minimal contact or no football practice.
• One day must be no football practice.

 

[Irishize]

Glaring Issue = Ed Orgeron. Dude holds them back, IMO. He is there to be a CEO/recruiter/motivator, but he's only really good at 1.5 of those things. LSU improved once he got out of the way and stopped trying to be involved as "CEO," and started letting his coordinators work without his interference.

Sounds like he remedied that after starting 3-2. He’s got two damn good coordinators in Aranda & Canada. LSU trailed Auburn 20-0 before coming back and pulling the upset. In the past, a 20-0 lead was close to insurmountable for such a one-dimensional LSU offense. With their D, I believe their opponents completed less than 50% of their passes. That doesn’t bode well for Wimbush who can’t complete 50% of his passes vs defenses less efficient than LSU. Hope he can improve in one month after ebbing/flowing over three months.

 

[Old Man Mike]

A few idle observations:

A). LSU played six teams with pretty bad offenses (BYU, Chattanooga, Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee, and A&M --- ending their season with the last three.) One might wonder if they "fixed" anything late or the schedule just fixed it;

B). That said: this defense seems to usually be able to target one half of what the other guy does and stop it They stopped Troy's rushing attack but lost anyway by giving up bigger passing yards; in some kind of mystery, they stopped both sides of Auburn and won; they stopped Ole Miss' passing game and won; and they stopped Alabama's running game but lost. They could not stop Mississippi State's running game and lost. It seems that we must get ready for a stop-the-run slanted defense, which means Wimbush MUST be effective;

C). LSUs passing stats seem inflated by poor defenses, especially on the road, and from their non-conference schedule (BYU, Chattanooga, Syracuse, Troy). The big difference in the wins vs the losses is when the opponent shut down their runners by 85 ypg (Troy, Miss State, Alabama.) The passing game does not seem to be able to make up the gap. They have run for 175 ypg vs ranked opponents, so holding that in check is not impossible to imagine. They have averaged 412 ypg vs their schedule, while we have averaged 455.

D). This game seems to me to rest almost entirely (barring stupid stuff like turnovers) on the rushing attacks. LSUs CAN be stopped or at least significantly slowed. Can WE get back healthy and energized to be ND vs the first nine opponents?

E). Looking at these guys over their season, they look like they are A LOT better defensively when they get EXCITED. (Auburn/Alabama.) Will they be in the bowl? If they're not up, then we win. If they're not up and we have our running game back, then we win comfortably (barring Wimbush having deer-in-headlights problems.) If they're up and Wimbush is impersonating Bambi, we lose.

 

[Luckylucci]

Hoping that the several weeks in between now and the bowl game allows us to heal up and refocus our energy. The boys need to finish this season with a bang. This idea of playoffs or bust seems to be terrible for the team because once they know they aren't going, they check out mentally. It cannot be that way. They need to play for God, Country (Family/Team), and Notre Dame.

Said the same exact thing to my buddy prior to the Stanford game. I do think some of it was physical, seems a few very important pieces just didn't have it towards the end of the season. But a majority of it was, they didn't seem to be playing for anything.

 

[ulukinatme]

Hoping that the several weeks in between now and the bowl game allows us to heal up and refocus our energy. The boys need to finish this season with a bang. This idea of playoffs or bust seems to be terrible for the team because once they know they aren't going, they check out mentally. It cannot be that way. They need to play for God, Country (Family/Team), and Notre Dame.

Time to fully join the ACC. We can make the schedule easier and at the same time not hurt our chances at getting into the playoff.

 

[BobbyMac]

Time to fully join the ACC. We can make the schedule easier and at the same time not hurt our chances at getting into the playoff.

What's the point?

Yearly schedule:

MAC team
SC
Navy
UM/MSU/Pur/NW
2 from: Clemson, FSU, Miami
2 from: NC State, Va Tech, Louisville
2 from: BC, Cuse, Pitt, UVA
2 from: GT, Duke, Wake, UNC,

 

[ulukinatme]

What's the point?

Yearly schedule:

MAC team
SC
Navy
UM/MSU/Pur/NW
2 from: Clemson, FSU, Miami
2 from: NC State, Va Tech, Louisville
2 from: BC, Cuse, Pitt, UVA
2 from: GT, Duke, Wake, UNC,

We could probably have a Conference Championship every 3-4 years when Clemson and/or FSU is having a down year. Something more for the players to play for, motivation.

 

[GATTACA!]

We could probably have a Conference Championship every 3-4 years when Clemson and/or FSU is having a down year. Something more for the players to play for, motivation.

Or another opportunity to lose and eliminate ourselves.

 

[stlnd01]

We could probably have a Conference Championship every 3-4 years when Clemson and/or FSU is having a down year. Something more for the players to play for, motivation.

Whoop-de-fucking-do.

 

[snoopdog]

Still don’t know why every elite team in college football wants to play football with a conf championship. But it’s beneath ND

 

[dad4aa]

I'm thinking about it. I'm heading to Minneapolis for Christmas, flying from Orlando. I get back the 31st.

I'm going. Heading down the 30th and staying through the 5th. Spending the 30th through the 1st in Orlando and then heading to in-law's after the game to do a late Christmas. Already have parking pass and tickets. Hopefully more from IE are heading down.

 

[stlnd01]

Still don’t know why every elite team in college football wants to play football with a conf championship. But it’s beneath ND

They want to play football with a lucrative TV contract and access to bowl games. Which we have.

 

[snoopdog]

They want to play football with a lucrative TV contract and access to bowl games. Which we have.

Citrus bowl?

 

[ND88]

Still don’t know why every elite team in college football wants to play football with a conf championship. But it’s beneath ND

Every game is a championship game for Notre Dame.

We don’t have the tradition of a conference championship, so it doesn’t mean much to us.

Just like those in a conference scoff at the traditions in our independence.

It’s whatever. No one is really wrong.

I think a conference championship is meaningless when compared to the national title,

but it must be exciting for the conference homers.

 

[GATTACA!]

Citrus bowl?

We lost 3 games and still got chosen for the most prestigious and lucrative non NY6 bowl. I'd say we're doing okay without a conference.

 

[snoopdog]

We lost 3 games and still got chosen for the most prestigious and lucrative non NY6 bowl. I'd say we're doing okay without a conference.

So did SEC also ran LSU

 

[stlnd01]

So did SEC also ran LSU

What is your point here?
You think if we’re full members of the ACC this year we go 10-2 and make an NY6 bowl? Maybe. But we’d still have been boatraced by Miami and finished 3rd in the conference. Don’t have our second-best win (MSU). It’s hardly a slam dunk that we make a better game. And if we do, then what, we get trounced by Ohio State?

 

[Old Man Mike]

I'm willing to admit naivete here but I think that others might be the naive ones. Don't we lose huge amounts of money if we join a conference? Not just TV, but simply not having to share any of the gate etc out? Isn't this the real elephant in the room? Follow the money is the modern American mantra ..... all the talk about wouldn't this be better for ND football seems baloney/fantasy in the face of "profit."

 

[Rack Em]

I'm willing to admit naivete here but I think that others might be the naive ones. Don't we lose huge amounts of money if we join a conference? Not just TV, but simply not having to share any of the gate etc out? Isn't this the real elephant in the room? Follow the money is the modern American mantra ..... all the talk about wouldn't this be better for ND football seems baloney/fantasy in the face of "profit."

It's also harder to keep an identity when you're a member of a conference. ND, BYU, and the Service Academies, arguably, have the most "identity" to lose by joining a conference. And really, Navy and Air Force haven't lost much so far.

Notre Dame was built on this identity, so yes the profit may not be there because of revenue sharing but also downstream philanthropy that's lost on alumni who view Notre Dame as indistinguishable from Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Stanford, etc.

 

[IrishLion]

So did SEC also ran LSU

LSU is decent but flawed, just like ND.

Also, quit trolling. I don't believe you're so dense as to not realize why the Citrus bowl had to pick LSU as their next best option. Or are you?

 

[ulukinatme]

We could probably have a Conference Championship every 3-4 years when Clemson and/or FSU is having a down year. Something more for the players to play for, motivation.

Whoop-de-fucking-do.

Still don’t know why every elite team in college football wants to play football with a conf championship. But it’s beneath ND

They want to play football with a lucrative TV contract and access to bowl games. Which we have.

We lost 3 games and still got chosen for the most prestigious and lucrative non NY6 bowl. I'd say we're doing okay without a conference.

It's unrealistic shooting for a national championship every year though. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a great goal, but it's a pipe dream. Even Alabama, who has probably the most stacked roster year in and year out, doesn't win it every year. Given our roster handicap /w academics and the scheduling it's a long shot every year that we can even get into the playoff, and the odds of actually winning are going to be bad pretty much every year. The fact is we may never win another national championship again, too much has to happen for us to run the gauntlet, and luck hasn't really been on our side since '88 other than a crazy 2012 season that ended in disaster.

However, a conference championship gives the players another goal to shoot for when the ultimate goal fizzles out. Believe it or not, there's some pride in being a conference champion in a P5 conference. It says you're typically one of the 5 best teams in the country. Not only that, but it gives you an extra game/practices for the season and can improve your team's chances at getting into the playoff. Had Wisconsin not tripped up against tOSU they would have been in on that awful schedule. That's kind of my point, we wouldn't need to schedule a ridiculous gauntlet if we had a conference championship to play for, we could play a more manageable schedule and make the path easier. Let's face it, it's not the 40s or the 60s. We aren't the college football royalty we once were. What does independence really get us in the end? I think at this stage in modern day football we stand to benefit more from joining a conference (Any one that isn't the Big 10) than remaining out.

 

[Black Irish]

Would being in the ACC have helped ND get into the playoffs this season? I doubt it. If ND is in the Coastal division, they play Miami. Let's leave that loss there but take Stanford and Georgia off the table and replace them with beatable Coastal foes (say Duke and UVA). So 11-1 Notre Dame doesn't go to the ACC championship because of the Miami loss.

Or, ND is in the Atlantic and plays Clemson instead of Miami. Again, replace Georgia and Stanford with Atlantic cupcake games. Raise your hand if you would have rather played Clemson instead of Georgia, Stanford, or Miami this season.

The ACC path doesn't sound significantly easier than what ND faced this season. You still have to go at worst 11-1 and then win the ACC. So maybe we get a somewhat easier regular season but then we play a tough team for the ACC.