Oct 26 | Air Force

[yankeehater]

Has anyone been to the AFA? Any suggestions on what to do?

I was there years ago for a Colorado State/Air Force game that was played in a blizzard (temp. was something like the lowest game temp in 30 years) and it turned out to be one of the best games I have ever seen in person.

Based on my experience, bundle up and get ready for the altitude. We were out of breath just getting to our seats. I am sure the -17 to -25 wind chill had something to do with it. We had planned on tailgating, but that did not happen.

 

[yankeehater]

Nix is not making the trip to Colorado.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

...Call ESPN and the rest of the networks and make sure they clear this mishap up! It's obvious that they, and everyone else, have it all wrong!!! What were we thinking???

This comment is hilarious in its stupidity.

 

[pkt77242]

This comment is hilarious in its stupidity.

It is Irishpat what did you expect?

 

[KPENN]

It is Irishpat what did you expect?

 

[kmoose]

Has anyone been to the AFA? Any suggestions on what to do?

Pikes Peak
Cheyenne Mountain
Garden of the Gods
Royal Gorge
All kinds of good stuff in and around the Springs!

 

[irishpat183]

This comment is hilarious in its stupidity.

It's hilarious when we have to reach for crazy statistics to justfiy deficences in our game.


Homerism 101. Our running game sucks. So lets find some saber-metrics to refute that...when, if you just watch the games, you can see we're not very good at running the football.


Not saying we can't run against AFA, but I was simply sayiing that if I had to pick 250 or more rushing yards, I'd take the under. There has been NOTHING that tells me we are capable of that so far this season.

Temple (we ran for under 200) and Air Force have very comparable rush D's (both around 1500 yds and 4.8 a carry). Why are we all of a sudden going to rush for 250 yards? In fact, Purdue is pretty bad as well and we managed under a 100 yards.


So am I the ridiculous one here???

 

[rocket66]

It's hilarious when we have to reach for crazy statistics to justfiy deficences in our game.


Homerism 101. Our running game sucks. So lets find some saber-metrics to refute that...when, if you just watch the games, you can see we're not very good at running the football.


Not saying we can't run against AFA, but I was simply sayiing that if I had to pick 250 or more rushing yards, I'd take the under. There has been NOTHING that tells me we are capable of that so far this season.

Temple (we ran for under 200) and Air Force have very comparable rush D's (both around 1500 yds and 4.8 a carry). Why are we all of a sudden going to rush for 250 yards? In fact, Purdue is pretty bad as well and we managed under a 100 yards.


So am I the ridiculous one here???

I agree with this to an extent, but it's also important to point out that ND currently ranks low on most offensive stats simply because the schedule was front loaded with the better teams they will face this year. A lot of the schools near the top have loaded up stats vs several early cupcakes. It's not apples to apples.

I think this teams continues to get better and show progress each week and it will be interesting to see where they are 4 weeks from now, statistically speaking. I'm not ready to throw the towel in on the offense just yet.

 

[NDWorld247]

So am I the ridiculous one here???

Yes. You're always the ridiculous one here.

 

[kmoose]

Homerism 101. Our running game sucks. So lets find some saber-metrics to refute that...when, if you just watch the games, you can see we're not very good at running the football.

The running game doesn't "suck", but neither is it elite. We are averaging about 30 carries per game, as a team. That's enough to say that we have not been a pass happy offense whose rushing numbers are skewed. We've actually had very balanced play calling (229 rushes, 235 passing attempts). As a team, we have averaged 4.1 yards per carry, which is respectable. Again, it's not elite; but it doesn't "suck" either. So, while watching may show that we are as good at running the ball as you would like, it does NOT show that the running game sucks.

 

[Irish#1]

We win by 4 touchdowns, we beat air force 2 years ago by 26 with a less talented team and thats with air force scoring garbage touchdown or 2.

I agree. I usually have some level of nervousness, but not this time. This team knows it needs to run the table to get to a BCS game and will be up to the task. Our D has been getting better and better every week. This is Air Force, not Navy. They may run similar offenses and use the same blocking schemes, but IMO Navy does it much better. It will be close for a quarter and then we roll.

GO IRISH!

 

[ACamp1900]

We're gonna rush for a billion, gazillion yards...

in the first quarter alone...

it might actually be some kind of record.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Homerism 101. Our running game sucks. So lets find some saber-metrics to refute that...when, if you just watch the games, you can see we're not very good at running the football.

Gah! What was I thinking? Trusting objective data over Pat's "eyeball test"...

 

[irishpat183]

I agree with this to an extent, but it's also important to point out that ND currently ranks low on most offensive stats simply because the schedule was front loaded with the better teams they will face this year. A lot of the schools near the top have loaded up stats vs several early cupcakes. It's not apples to apples.

I think this teams continues to get better and show progress each week and it will be interesting to see where they are 4 weeks from now, statistically speaking. I'm not ready to throw the towel in on the offense just yet.

I'm not throwing in the towel either. I just stated that I don't thinki they'll run for 250 yards, because they've done nothing, against simliar teams, to show me they can do that.

 

[irishpat183]

Gah! What was I thinking? Trusting objective data over Pat's "eyeball test"...

Thank you. LOL.



But how is my position not "objective"? They haven't run for 250 yards yet this season. Against opponents that are just about the same against the run as AFA.

I'm just using what's actually been the product on the field as my barometer.

 

[irishpat183]

The running game doesn't "suck", but neither is it elite. We are averaging about 30 carries per game, as a team. That's enough to say that we have not been a pass happy offense whose rushing numbers are skewed. We've actually had very balanced play calling (229 rushes, 235 passing attempts). As a team, we have averaged 4.1 yards per carry, which is respectable. Again, it's not elite; but it doesn't "suck" either. So, while watching may show that we are as good at running the ball as you would like, it does NOT show that the running game sucks.

Fair enough.

And I"m not putting it all on the backs either. It's that we are not committed to it. And with all these guys rotating, it's hard to get consistancy.

It's a number of things.

 

[BGIF]

It's hilarious when we have to reach for crazy statistics to justfiy deficences in our game.


Homerism 101. Our running game sucks. So lets find some saber-metrics to refute that...when, if you just watch the games, you can see we're not very good at running the football.


Not saying we can't run against AFA, but I was simply sayiing that if I had to pick 250 or more rushing yards, I'd take the under. There has been NOTHING that tells me we are capable of that so far this season.

Temple (we ran for under 200) and Air Force have very comparable rush D's (both around 1500 yds and 4.8 a carry). Why are we all of a sudden going to rush for 250 yards? In fact, Purdue is pretty bad as well and we managed under a 100 yards.


So am I the ridiculous one here???

Yes

 

[IrishLax]

It's hilarious when we have to reach for crazy statistics to justfiy deficences in our game.


Homerism 101. Our running game sucks. So lets find some saber-metrics to refute that...when, if you just watch the games, you can see we're not very good at running the football.

The fact that you actually believe that vanilla stats with no context are more accurate/descriptive/valuable than adjusted efficiency stats says everything we need to know about your knowledge on this subject Pat.

I'm fine being the "ridiculous" one if that means measuring pitchers by zone contact percentage, WAR, etc. instead of their W-L record.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

But how is my position not "objective"?

Because you're not accounting for the quality of the run defenses we've faced.

They haven't run for 250 yards yet this season.

That's true. And our running game hasn't been consistently great. But rushing for 250 yards in a single game is a pretty arbitrary standard for competence.

According to S&P+, these are run defenses we've faced this year:

Temple - 100th
Michigan - 67th
Purdue - 41st
MSU - 4th
OU - 98th
ASU - 33rd
USC- 8th

Our YPC against Temple and OU (5.4 and 7.6 respectively) was fine. Same with Michigan (5.1 YPC) but our defense couldn't get a stop, which ruined our offensive balance. Purdue was inexplicably bad (hangover from Michigan?), and we should have done better against MSU, despite their quality.

But we rushed well against ASU prior to the last couple drives where we salted the game away. And we rushed very well against USC before Rees was injured.

Look at this way, Pat: were you unhappy with our ground game against ASU and USC? We've obviously gotten better since the start of the season.

 

[ACamp1900]

Guys, we have a white running back...


no. hope.

 

[GowerND11]

Because you're not accounting for the quality of the run defenses we've faced.



That's true. And our running game hasn't been consistently great. But rushing for 250 yards in a single game is a pretty arbitrary standard for competence.

According to S&P+, these are run defenses we've faced this year:



Our YPC against Temple and OU (5.4 and 7.6 respectively) was fine. Same with Michigan (5.1 YPC) but our defense couldn't get a stop, which ruined our offensive balance. Purdue was inexplicably bad (hangover from Michigan?), and we should have done better against MSU, despite their quality.

But we rushed well against ASU prior to the last couple drives where we salted the game away. And we rushed very well against USC before Rees was injured.

Look at this way, Pat: were you unhappy with our ground game against ASU and USC? We've obviously gotten better since the start of the season.

The bolded part is a huge reason we could not win that game (obviously). Our offensive balance to begin the game was very good. We were certainly gashing them especially after the first two drives failed to materialze very well, but without any kind of defensive help the run game was the victim of having to play catchup.

 

[calvegas04]

everyone one of our starters will get a touchdown on saturday... even defense

 

[Rudy89]

We're gonna rush for a billion, gazillion yards...

in the first quarter alone...

it might actually be some kind of record.

See remember how you gotta predict you gotta say we won't rush for any yards

 

[ACamp1900]

See remember how you gotta predict you gotta say we won't rush for any yards

I didn't say we were gonna win... 152 fumbles inside the ten yard line... all recovered by AF as scoop and scores...

 

[ThePiombino]

I didn't say we were gonna win... 152 fumbles inside the ten yard line... all recovered by AF as scoop and scores...

Seems reasonable.

 

[Irishnuke]

I hate these games. Granted I know we need them but if we win who did we beat? If we lose then it's a humiliating loss thrown in our faces for years to come. I just wanna stay healthy and win but I could see this getting to close for comfort. Always nervous before a game but especially these because we have more to lose than to gain.

You...nervous about a football game? Where have I heard that before? Oh...every week.

 

[ThePiombino]

You...nervous about a football game? Where have I heard that before? Oh...every week.

lmao

 

[BGIF]

You...nervous about a football game? Where have I heard that before? Oh...every week.

... for the past 4 years.

 

[KPENN]

Anyone know a place for a possible stream?

 

[dublinirish]

Anyone know a place for a possible stream?

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