1. 10-0. I didn't think it would happen. This season has been a fairy tale season already. But who would have believed that it would be possible for ND to go 10-3 this year, and have it be a HUGE disappointment?
2. This team is YOUNG..... There are underclassmen starting all over the place. There are some really important positions, though, that are senior *****. ILB, Tailback, and the Oline being some.
3. BC took advantage of our LBs, early in the game. They threw a lot of screens behind the D-Line, and a lot of quick hitters to the outside. It was a great game plan, until the D settled down and adjusted. That's something this team is doing SO much better than the Weis teams............ in game adjustments.
4. You know how we always say that the first BCS poll shouldn't come out until after about the 4th or 5th week? Well, some of you in the game day chat should STFU, until about the end of the 3rd, start of the 4th quarter. The defense was getting gashed a bit, in the first half. Especially in the 1st quarter. But they made the adjustments, settled down, and did not allow BC into the end zone. They gave up right at 300 yards, and only 6 points.
5. Having said that...... one could make an argument that starting off that slow against a team like, say, maybe........ Oregon........ might put you into a hole so deep that you can't get out of it. And there's a valid point to be made there. I hope that the coaching staff preaching this, every day.
6. Golson continues to just get better. But he still has a lot of work to do, to be great. He still throws one or two balls, every game, that I just cringe and wonder how the he!! the defender did NOT intercept that. But you can see the growth in him. He's playing very well, for a sophomore.
1.
Bite your tongue KMoose. Very fair point though (when you look at many of the comments now, even 12-1 may be a disappointment this year)
2. Didn't want to be reminded of this. But, don't worry, apparently some 2013 recruits or first year players can step-in and easily transition. Read the recruiting threads
3.
Yeah, ND was screened badly on several Pitt plays as well. Some of the D appear to be playing much to aggressively, and overpursue/play out of their responsibilities. Good thing is it was corrected in both games; assume Bob D (the Asst HC and DC, not the IE poster) got in several players' ears about being scheme responsible.
4.
LOL at this; the mods should lock the gameday threads from game start until the 2nd half. Would probably cause a multitude of posters to spontaneously combust. I do have concerns about he yards teams are gaining, but so far the philosophy of forcing teams to continually execute for small chunks has worked in terms of the most important defensive stat - pts allowed (and redzone efficiency against).
5.
Maybe I should be, but I'm not as worried about getting down big to teams like Oregon as I was last (or in previous years). Number one, this D has proven it has the ability to keep teams out of the end zone (won't be easy against Oregon, but so far ND has done well against other prolific scoring teams: OU, Miami, Michigan). Also, even if ND were down by a couple of scores in the 2nd QTR, I trust they still have the ability to run long, clock-consuming drives (just need to protect that damn ball) and score against Oregon - their defense has been suspect.
6. Really happy with Golson's improvements in all areas except one. The one you mentioned about him making some bad decisions or executing badly on throws is valid, but as a first year starter I think he is getting better here. The one area that concerns me is what DizzyPhil pointed out in post #26(??), about Golson surveying the field. He has had numerous situations where a VERY easy pass is available 10 yards in front of the line (often to Eifert), where there is virtually no coverage, yet he never seems to pick these up. Hopefully I am wrong, but I do have concerns that he struggles reading the middle of the field due to height issues. Hopefully it isn't a physical limitation, and just needs some coaching to go through his reads.
One other point: at the end of the 1st QTR and beginning of the 2nd, ABC outdid NBC by running something like 10-12 minutes of commercials around 2 or 3 plays. BC's drive stalled at the end of the 1st QTR. IIRC ABC went to commercial near the end of the 1st QTR, came back for one play, went back to commercials due to the QTR ending, BC kicked their FG on the first play of the 2nd QTR, back to commercials, BC kicked-off, back to commercials. I think that series of commercials lasted longer than my wife's labor for our first-born.
