ND week on ESPN

[NDinL.A.]

There was not one thing they said the entire week that I did not already know. NOT ONE!!!! It makes you wonder what really does ESPN bring to the table on some of these shows. I am sure that ND is not the only school this spring that they busted out with the generic media guide info. The only thing they had of their own was their lousy ass opinions which were about as predictable as the sun rising in the east. I mean think about what they said.
1. ND has a soft schedule. DUHHHHHH
2. USC will be the judgement game. OMG shocking.
3. CW better win this year. You are kidding, I thougt they would give him another 4 years of 6-7 wins!!!!
4. JC will look real good if the running game works. Balanced offense is important??????
5. We have all our offense returning. OMG, i thought they graduated after the soph year???
6. Most talented unit is the secondary. OK, this one I really did not know. I mean McCarthy, leading tackler and three 4 star returning CB's who the NFL covit and finally a safety in H. Smith who runs like a deer. I was thinking this was our weak spot and the kicking game would be the strength?????????

I really don't see what all the fuss is here. Did you guys really expect something different? It's ESPN, and since most everyone here hates ESPN, what did you expect?

Here's the thing. The regulars on this board, including me, follow ND football religiously, almost to a fault, hell, like an obsession. Did you really expect ESPN to give us info that we don't already know? They didn't gear the show to the die-hard, obsessed ND fans like us. And why would they? They wouldn't get near the ratings. They geared it to ND fans, and also the many anti-ND fans. I don't blame them; they're out to make a buck, and ND brings ratings, but finding super-inside info that WE don't know is not going to bring ratings. It's just not.

Now, I Tivi'd every one and watched it at night. On Monday, I realized that it was NOT really ND week, that only half the show would be devoted to ND but the rest of the time would be devoted to other football news. I was disappointed but I scolded myself for thinking otherwise. After that, I got through the shows in 10 minutes, fast-forwarding the junk. Now, last night's show was a complete joke though. After watching my Lakers get throttled, and watching The Office, I watched the ND show, and it was minute 22 before they finally got to ND. Now that was pathetic. The new Syracuse point guard, errrrrr, quarterback took up much of the show that I think would have otherwise gone towards ND stuff.

Anyways, I'll watch today's show sometime this weekend, and be glad that ND got a football 'week', and happy knowing that our football program is on the rise and still very much relevant. And yeah, I'm disappointed at the 'week', but not outraged whatsoever...

 

[ARALOU]

I am not outraged either. I knew it would be a joke. ESPN is the bandwagon network. They used Irish fans this week, the show reminded me of the evening news where they save the lead story for four or five commercial breaks.

 

[PADOMERNUT]

I dont really consider it a joke. I consider it basically what I expected. Like NDinLA said, there is nothing they are going to tell us that we don't already know. I was just trying to get my Irish fix in May.

 

[IrishAlum1997]

College Football Live is a throwaway garbage show anyways. I agree with many that I went in with low expectations. Expectations met!!!!

That said, I watch the show frequently during CFB season. It's garbage, but its CFB.

 

[jonesman]

OK folks, so you are telling me that the multi-billion $$$ network does not have any more info than myself. Further, if they can call themselves the sports information source, then shouldn't they have something new. This horse is beat to death. Goodnight!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bubba]

Gillman - ND will go 9-3, with losses to MSU, USC and a season ending loss to Stanford.

Reece Davis - believes we lose an extra one somewhere along the line that we should have won to go 8-4.

They aren't real high on Jimmy either and don't believe he has the skill or leadership ability necessary to take this team to another level.

Hope Jimmy and ND can prove them all wrong this year...

 

[Dacian_Irish]

ESPN sucks a@@!!!

Infact I would rather have them say we will not play well and we will lose 3 to 4 games than say we will go 11-1. This is what the players need to keep hearing. I think that we will play out of our minds and much better than the most recent years. I believe our players are sick of hearing how they are not good enough. Because of this they will get extra motivation and play out of their minds.

 

[NDinL.A.]

OK folks, so you are telling me that the multi-billion $$$ network does not have any more info than myself. Further, if they can call themselves the sports information source, then shouldn't they have something new. This horse is beat to death. Goodnight!!!!!!!!!!!

Jonesie, let me ask you this: Do you think there is anyone at ESPN knows more about ND football than Mike Frank or Steve Wiltfong? I've been a subscriber of their's for a while now, so because of them (and other sources of info) I know a lot about ND football. There was nothing those guys at ESPN were going to tell me that Wiltfong and Frank haven't already told me. Yes, there's guys that know a ton about college football on ESPN, but they haven't hired someone to do solely ND football, you know? So I knew going in that I was not going to get any NEW knowledge. But casual fans did get some new knowledge, and it's obvious that was who they were going after...

 

[PADOMERNUT]

My question to those that were disappointed.....what did you want/expect to learn from ND week on ESPN?

 

[Bubba]

I didn't go into it expecting anything special, but I did expect at least some sort of effort on their part. An actual interview, more than 5 minutes of coverage during the 30 minute show, something to think about even if it is generic information.

I will say that I was reminded of our turnover issues during today's show. That is something we need to improve that most of us haven't discussed. (that I'm aware of)

 

[TDHeysus]

They aren't real high on Jimmy either and don't believe he has the skill or leadership ability necessary to take this team to another level.

questioning JC's leadership is a valid point.

 

[Riddickulous]

I found it sad that Clausen was just about the only player ever mentioned by name the entire week. Golden Tate and Michael Floyd were mentioned in passing a few times ("they have an excellent corps of receivers with Golden Tate and Michael Floyd"), but most of the time it was the "experts" talking about Clausen's 17 picks and the offensive line's suckiness and how Charlie Weis hasn't met expectations and how Notre Dame sucks and blahblahblah.

 

[BGIF]

questioning JC's leadership is a valid point.

Based on his freshman and sophomore years that is a valid point. But a QB exerting leadership as a freshman, as an underclassman, is rare.

And I'm distinguishing between gaudy stats and leadership.

The 17 picks which is high doesn't include all bad decisions. Sometimes he does look to long at a receiver. Somethimes he throws into traffic. Sometimes his throws were errant. Sometimes inexperienced receivers read the coverage wrong and broke the wrong way. I recall a couple of ball bouncing off receivers hands and into defender's hands. That wasn't a judgement nor an execution mistake on Jimmy's part but the INT went in his stats.

In the snippet I heard, Brian Smith noted that ND lacked upperclassmen the past two seasons but that has now changed. Those lowerclassmen that were setting freshman records (statwise and PTwise) are now becoming upperclassmen. Smith added that that painful experience gained on the field will show this year. Add Verducci coaching the line, Charlie calls Plays, (and Tenuta calling Defensive plays) and Clausen's "leadership" should improve. QB's look better when they aren't sacked 58 times a season or when they have to complete a pass against a 9 man secondary while the 3 man rush is getting a sack.

Improved play by his teammates is going to improve his leadership. We all make better decisions when we're not running for our lives.

 

[BGIF]

ESPN sucks.

Isn't that redundant?