January 1 | Oklahoma State | Fiesta Bowl

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ab2cmiller

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Pops Freshenmeyer said:
Yes! I'm sorry for the band but whatever measures the team has taken worked.
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The band decision had nothing to do with protecting the team from getting COVID. Decision was made to minimize exposures to band members and therefore greater protect the ND campus community when they return to campus.
 
Huntr

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[TWEET]https://twitter.com/TJamesND/status/1476946435153154052[/TWEET]
 
chicago51

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Dizzyphil said:
I agree... I didn’t want to insinuate I was looking for an argument from you on the ‘star’ comparison. I have a feeling though Bama is going to ‘boat-race’ Cincy. Honestly, 40ish to 20ish. Same scores Bama put up against the Irish the last two times they have played. And it doesn’t have to do with the ‘stars’… I just think with three weeks of prep, Bama/Saban has a hell of an upper-hand.
And yes – I too believe if the Irish played Cincy today – the game would be much different. (Given everyone was healthy and the ones sitting out was playing)
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I think there is a lot to do this. Win or lose Kelly always seem to fare much better against Clemson and Georgia when both teams only had 1 week to prepare compared to his big bowl games and ACC title game off a 2 week gap. I feel like longer both teams had to prepare the worse off ND has been under BK. I feel like losing to Clemson in ACC title game in 2020 had more to do with teams getting 2 weeks to prepare more than Trevor Lawrence playing.

Hopefully Marcus Freeman making practice more competitive and all the good on good periods will mean ND doesn't come out flat.
 
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notredomer23

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IrishLax said:
[TWEET]https://twitter.com/isdupdate/status/1476942037437931527?s=21[/TWEET]
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this is a borderline miracle. In the last 4 days alone nationwide 1 in 150 people have tested positive. With enhanced and more frequent testing you’d expect at least a few.
 
Pops Freshenmeyer

Pops Freshenmeyer

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notredomer23 said:
this is a borderline miracle. In the last 4 days alone nationwide 1 in 150 people have tested positive. With enhanced and more frequent testing you’d expect at least a few.
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IIRC, vaccinated players only get tested if symptomatic or if there is a known exposure. I think the difference between a team that's 100% vaccinated vs. one that's 90% vaccinated can be pretty significant.
 
Irishize

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Pops Freshenmeyer said:
IIRC, vaccinated players only get tested if symptomatic or if there is a known exposure. I think the difference between a team that's 100% vaccinated vs. one that's 90% vaccinated can be pretty significant.
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You are correct & yes, the vax rate plays a huge part when it gets down to semantics.
 
Dizzyphil

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I sold some equipment and software for a company that makes the 'No Fog' face-plates that go into all size football helmets including the Hockey and Lacrosse helmets.

What puzzles me about the Covid concern in sports is that the NFL or any of the collegiate levels haven't enforced everyone wear or install one in their helmets. I have handled them and it is actually hard to even leave a smudge on them. And if you do, the film on the face-plates is EASILY wiped clear with a towel. It would actually serve two purposes as well possibly eliminating facemask penalties.
 
Dizzyphil

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Dizzyphil said:
I sold some equipment and software for a company that makes the 'No Fog' face-plates that go into all size football helmets including the Hockey and Lacrosse helmets.

What puzzles me about the Covid concern in sports is that the NFL or any of the collegiate levels haven't enforced everyone wear or install one in their helmets. I have handled them and it is actually hard to even leave a smudge on them. And if you do, the film on the face-plates is EASILY wiped clear with a towel. It would actually serve two purposes as well possibly eliminating facemask penalties.
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Also - they are non-glare.
 
chicago51

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Not sure if anyone mentioned this but Cam Hart is playing . Just a bruise. He practiced Thursday . Coach Freeman said he should be good to go.

Edit: Looks like it was mentioned already.
 
Whiskeyjack

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Here's a few random thoughts on the OL. The best ranking available for CFB OL is Football Outsiders. It isn't perfect, nor does it seem to be opponent-adjusted, but there's still a lot we can glean from it:
  • ND OL
    • ND ranks a perfectly average 65th in ALY, which isn't bad when you consider how we started the season. Since those early struggles are baked into that ranking, our present quality should be much higher than that.
    • Our Sack Rate ranks an abysmal 106th. Coan has been sacked 30 times this season, but 22 of those came during the first half of the season. Since our line started to gel after VT, he's only been sacked 8 times, which is much better. And I think Lugg was responsible for at least a plurality (maybe even a majority) of those pressures, so swapping him out for a healthy Blake Fisher should be an instant upgrade.
    • But these rankings aren't opponent adjusted, so how do we account for the differences in schedule? FEI is opponent-adjusted, so let's look at the quality of defenses we played: FSU (.24 / 43rd); Toledo (.41 / 31st); Purdue (.44/ 28th); Wisconsin (1.24/ 3rd); Cinci (.88/ 10th); VT (-.02 / 58th); USC (-.63 / 105th); UNC (-.29 / 84th); Navy (-.14/ 73rd); UVA (-.73/ 108th); GT (-.78/ 111th); and Stanford (-.38/ 92nd). That averages out to .24/ 57th ranked defense, and it includes two top-10 units.
  • OSU OL
    • OSU ranks 103rd in ALY. The only game of theirs I watched was the Big-12 championship against Baylor, so I can't say whether they should be better or worse than that heading into the Fiesta Bowl, but they aren't likely to have much success running against our front 7. Their top RB, Jaylen Warren, sat against Baylor with an undisclosed injury, which likely cost them the game. He's reportedly 100% now and available to play tomorrow. Not sure it'll make much difference if his OL can't run block for him though.
    • Interestingly, OSU ranks 14th in Sack Rate, only giving up sacks 3.8% of the time. Sanders has only been sacked 14 times this season. If our DL can get to him, he's likely to turn the ball over multiple times, but it's hard to say how likely that is. I'd bet on Elston's DL over their OL. Sanders threw 7 of his 12 INTs against Baylor, which is the only defense he faced that's remotely close to ours in quality.
    • How good were the defenses they faced? Tulsa (.22/ 45th); Boise State (.46/ 25th); Kansas State (.45/ 27th); Baylor (.61/ 15th); Texas (-.04/ 61st); (.45/ 26th); Kansas (-1.63/ 127th); WVU (.25/ 41st); TCU (-1.07/ 107th); Texas Tech (-.74/ 109th); and Oklahoma (-.04/ 62nd). That averages out to -1.08/ 119th ranked defense. They played a handful of decent defenses, but the bottom half of their schedule was atrociously inept. They faced Baylor, by far the best defense on their schedule, twice and split those games. And our defense is significantly better than theirs.
  • Takeaways
    • OSU should struggle to run on us. But Sanders isn't the sort of QB who can beat you with his arm. Their OL will need to give him time to hit intermediate throws to keep the chains moving. But if our DL can get to Sanders, he turns the ball over multiple times and we likely win off a couple defensive TDs.
    • Our OL vs. OSU's front seven is the real mystery. If we can keep Coan upright via protection and/or tempo, OSU will struggle to keep up with us offensively. I think the Cowboys will need to win in the trenches on both sides of the ball and get some TO luck to beat us tomorrow.
 
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Irishize

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Is Sanders more likely to throw it away or scramble for yardage? Some very mediocre to below avg QBs made ND look back when scrambling for yardage
 
Whiskeyjack

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Irishize said:
Is Sanders more likely to throw it away or scramble for yardage? Some very mediocre to below avg QBs made ND look back when scrambling for yardage
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Definitely more likely to scramble than to throw it away. His reluctance to throw it away is usually what gets him in trouble. When he can't escape, he forces throws into coverage and gets picked off. But we will have to have a plan for containing him.
 
Irishize

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Whiskeyjack said:
Definitely more likely to scramble than to throw it away. His reluctance to throw it away is usually what gets him in trouble. When he can't escape, he forces throws into coverage and gets picked off. But we will have to have a plan for containing him.
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Yeah I heard he’s more dangerous up the middle vs around the edges
 
Irishize

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Cincy playing very sloppy for having a month to prepare. Inexcusable
 
Whiskeyjack

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Sanders was OSU's 2nd leading rusher, running for 543 yards and 6 TDs on 129 attempts this season. But in their last two losses, Baylor and ISU bottled him up. That's definitely part of the recipe for beating the Cowboys.
 
AlaskanIrish

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From the first drive (no passes, minus the final TD pass), this game was a mess.
 
ulukinatme

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Irishize said:
Cincy playing very sloppy for having a month to prepare. Inexcusable
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Alabama coulda/shoulda hung 38 on them. Feel like Saban took his foot off the gas so they can get more G5 easy matchups in future playoffs.
 
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