Jan 20 | National Championship

[NDPhilly]

2012 was great leading up to the game bc I didn’t know what a spread or moneyline was, or what FPI / Sargarin were. Blind optimism was more fun.

 

[IrishLax]

2012 was great leading up to the game bc I didn’t know what a spread or moneyline was, or what FPI / Sargarin were. Blind optimism was more fun.

I deadass remember thinking there was no way Bama would score more than like ~21 points because of our "elite" defense.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

2012 was great leading up to the game bc I didn’t know what a spread or moneyline was, or what FPI / Sargarin were. Blind optimism was more fun.

What stuck with me leading up to the game was someone posted an article or a quote or whatever it was from that season.

A guy who refereed both an ND and Bama game that season said “ND has absolutely no idea what is coming, it’s gonna be bad”


This cartoon kind of summarized the general perception outside of the IE bubble:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Irish#1]

2012 was great leading up to the game bc I didn’t know what a spread or moneyline was, or what FPI / Sargarin were. Blind optimism was more fun.

Blind optimism indeed. I thought we had a shot, but It only took a few minutes to realize that it wasn’t going to be pretty

 

[DCDomer]

Blind optimism indeed. I thought we had a shot, but It only took a few minutes to realize that it wasn’t going to be pretty

Eddie Lacy had a run early where he cut back an outside zone and killed Dan Fox, and I knew.

It's a whole new world now.

 

[stlnd01]

What stuck with me leading up to the game was someone posted an article or a quote or whatever it was from that season.

A guy who refereed both an ND and Bama game that season said “ND has absolutely no idea what is coming, it’s gonna be bad”


This cartoon kind of summarized the general perception outside of the IE bubble:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Another advantage of the 12-team playoff: We have recently gone toe-to-toe with Georgia (one of the few teams with comparable talent to Ohio State) and Penn State (which may be better on the DL). We know what’s coming.

 

[IAIrish]

Of course they did. The South will rise again

And the North will provide a reality check.

 

[domer13]

I deadass remember thinking there was no way Bama would score more than like ~21 points because of our "elite" defense.

I had the chance to ride to the game on a near-empty bus with Vince Vaughn and his dad, and we all talked ourselves into a 10-14 point win. "Just had to play our game!"

 

[Riddickulous]

Eddie Lacy had a run early where he cut back an outside zone and killed Dan Fox, and I knew.

It's a whole new world now.

That opening drive was one of the most deflating things I've seen as a fan. Completely effortless. Knew they were cooked immediately.

 

[IrishLion]

I deadass remember thinking there was no way Bama would score more than like ~21 points because of our "elite" defense.

I figured the extra prep time for BK was gonna result in Golson having a true coming out party… thought we were winning at least two titles during Golson’s four years as a starter.

 

[Irish4life]

I figured the extra prep time for BK was gonna result in Golson having a true coming out party… thought we were winning at least two titles during Golson’s four years as a starter.

In fairness, Golson did make a couple incredible plays in the first half of that game

 

[irishu]

Old video of Freeman talking about the spread against Ohio State in 2022. Same mindset he will bring to this game, and the that’s the same mindset instilled in our boys. They will be fired up for this game

 

[NDPhilly]

Alright I laughed

 

[Rocketman84]

I keep thinking back to the team we’re currently modeled after: the 2002 Ohio St Buckeyes.

With nothing more than Clarett and a great defense they upset the Miami Hurricanes. The Canes had like 15 first round draft picks on that team.

Freeman has been following Tressel’s advice all year and it pays off next week.

Anything can happen in one game.

Believe.

More like Miami was blatantly robbed, remember being out with half my teammates watching that game. Seems they definitely had an agenda and UM going B2B was top priority.

 

[Bishop2b5]

I deadass remember thinking there was no way Bama would score more than like ~21 points because of our "elite" defense.

What stuck with me leading up to the game was someone posted an article or a quote or whatever it was from that season.

A guy who refereed both an ND and Bama game that season said “ND has absolutely no idea what is coming, it’s gonna be bad”

Blind optimism indeed. I thought we had a shot, but It only took a few minutes to realize that it wasn’t going to be pretty

As a Bama fan, I felt confident about us winning, but even I was surprised by that first half. I'll freely admit I never saw that coming.

 

[BilboBaggins]

I deadass remember thinking there was no way Bama would score more than like ~21 points because of our "elite" defense.

Who knew that nonstop Cover 2 zone would get eviscerated by Nick Saban with six weeks to think about it..

I watched that game from a bar in Columbus and was so upset I think we went home and watched Breaking Bad or something for the second half.

 

[stlnd01]

Interesting to go back through the 2012 team unit-by-unit and compare with this year. Only a couple of units I'd trade for that version.

QB: 2024. Golson at his best was pretty good but Leonard is more consistent
RB: 2024. Love Theo Riddick but this is a tough comp.
WR: Tie? 2024 by a nose? Neither group is elite. TJ Jones was solid but this year's probably deeper.
TE: 2012. Tyler Eifert tops Mitch Evans. He was the one guy my Bama neighbors at the title game were impressed with.
OL: 2024. Looking back, 2012 was not one of the stronger OLs of the Heistand era. I guess it was his first year.
DL: 2012. Tuitt/Nix/KLM carried that team on their backs.
LB: 2024. And Te'o of course. He was phenomenal, but top to bottom this year's group is better. I mean, Calabrese? Fox? Spond?
DB: 2024. And it's not close.

It's not Peak Saban Bama walking through that door, either. We may not win, but this'll be a ballgame next week.

 

[Irish#1]

Next Tuesday newspapers will look something like this.

 

[Irish8248]

I've always wanted to see a SI commemorative commercial for my team after the game and experience what it would be like to subscribe as a result lol

 

[Hautian Domer]

Blind optimism indeed. I thought we had a shot, but It only took a few minutes to realize that it wasn’t going to be pretty

I thought we had a shot until the two teams crossed paths in the tunnel pregame.

 

[NDRock]

I thought we had a shot until the two teams crossed paths in the tunnel pregame.

I thought we would need to play our A game and Bama play their C game for us to win a close one. Unfortunately, the opposite happened.

 

[Huntr]

I remember my brother texting me in the 2nd quarter "Kelly ain't the guy. He will never win a championship at ND."

That always was in the back of my mind when they got blown out in post-season games.

 

[Irish#1]

I remember my brother texting me in the 2nd quarter "Kelly ain't the guy. He will never win a championship at ND."

That always was in the back of my mind when they got blown out in post-season games.

Your brother sounds like a smart guy. Kelly is a program builder, but not a program winner.

 

[Kingbish01]

My whole family did that for the championship game in 2013, and the trip was definitely worth it even with the terrible game. I think that's a great plan, but I will admit there is a difference between Atlanta and South Beach.

If you don't have tickets Atlanta is a way better option. Hard Rock is 45 min from South Beach and the only thing around there is a casino. Atlanta will have a million options around the stadium, not to mention Marta if you wanna hop on and hop off to check out other parts.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Starting to feel like there are too many distractions with PSU DC and now NFL Network reporting the Freeman-Bears stuff. I don't think there is any merit to any of it and I think whatever happens Monday both Freeman and Golden are going to be at ND in 2025 but it's distracting regardless of whatever I think and whatever the eventual outcome of those job hires are.

As long as that team is locked in from the top on down, that's all that really matters, but you know how this stuff can start to turn heads. People are people, and these are college kids.

If there is one thing they've learned this year, it's to refocus and block out the noise. I hope they can do that for six more days and get this thing done.

 

[Huntr]

Your brother sounds like a smart guy. Kelly is a program builder, but not a program winner.

Maybe right for not all the right reasons at that particular point in time. The talent disparity was huge, too.

But, then, who was responsible for that?

 

[IrishTusker]

Your brother sounds like a smart guy. Kelly is a program builder, but not a program winner.

In fairness to BK, he was here during the reign of the SEC/OSU/Clemson superteams. And he left just as the NIL and transfer rules were changing in a way that helps ND by making the talent disparity smaller than it was in the superteam era.

It's possible that his leaving also caused the administration to focus more on resources for football, I'm not sure. I guess I assumed he would leave for an NFL job, not another college job.

 

[TheProspector]

In fairness to BK, he was here during the reign of the SEC/OSU/Clemson superteams. And he left just as the NIL and transfer rules were changing in a way that helps ND by making the talent disparity smaller than it was in the superteam era.

It's possible that his leaving also caused the administration to focus more on resources for football, I'm not sure. I guess I assumed he would leave for an NFL job, not another college job.

It doesn’t matter what era BK was here for, he’s not a good enough coach. A few items:

1. BK was always too arrogant and insecure to go out and hire stud coordinators. He surrounded himself with GVSU lackeys and inexperienced OCs. It took him 8 years and a 4-8 season to go outside his DC comfort zone and grab Elko/Lea. Ditto replacing Longo with Balis. He could bever bring himself to do the same on the offensive side of the ball. Charley Molnar, Chuck Martin (who had never coached offense in his life), Mike Sanford, Chip Long, Tommy Rees. That’s such a rough list of offensive coordinators.

2. He totally disregarded ST which is a pattern at LSU. Look at how awesome our ST have been under Freeman and how important that has been to the team.

3. Freeman has more motivational skills in his pinky than Kelly does.

 

[Irish#1]

In fairness to BK, he was here during the reign of the SEC/OSU/Clemson superteams. And he left just as the NIL and transfer rules were changing in a way that helps ND by making the talent disparity smaller than it was in the superteam era.

It's possible that his leaving also caused the administration to focus more on resources for football, I'm not sure. I guess I assumed he would leave for an NFL job, not another college job.

I have come to the point that I think BK was the reason more resources weren't put into the FB program. Due strictly because of his personality. The admin has a long history of taking their time in making changes and knew they needed to be made, yet MF becomes HC and these things start happening? Why? Because of his personality and commitment to ND. We rarely saw BK at basketball games, hockey, La Crosse, Soccer, etc. He's embraced ND, where it's now very apparent that BK looked at ND as just a job.

 

[irish4ever]

In fairness to BK, he was here during the reign of the SEC/OSU/Clemson superteams. And he left just as the NIL and transfer rules were changing in a way that helps ND by making the talent disparity smaller than it was in the superteam era.

It's possible that his leaving also caused the administration to focus more on resources for football, I'm not sure. I guess I assumed he would leave for an NFL job, not another college job.

Fuck that back-stabbing bastard!