Purdue Game Day Discussion Thread [Sept 27, 08]

[NDinL.A.]

I'm with you man. Kamara's a Domer, so I root for him. But right now he simply isn't playing well enough to warrant heavy minutes nor a lot of balls being thrown his way. Tate has turned into like Superman or something, and Floyd, like I said from his first catch, is already better than Kamara. And then you have Grimes as the 3rd man, who catches EVERYTHING thrown his way.

I don't know about you, but every time Kamara is thrown the ball I almost assume something bad is going to happen. If it's in my head, then you it's in his head. He watches the game film. He had another drop yesterday off a prefectly thrown ball by Clausen (off a scramble throwing across his shoulder). When you have 3 other receivers playing much better than you, then your playing time is going to drop, if your coach has any stones. Kamara needs to somehow get his mojo back, get back to work in practice, and prove himself in next week's game. Personally I hope we keep seeing a lot more of Floyd and Tate...

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

I'm with you man. Kamara's a Domer, so I root for him. But right now he simply isn't playing well enough to warrant heavy minutes nor a lot of balls being thrown his way. Tate has turned into like Superman or something, and Floyd, like I said from his first catch, is already better than Kamara. And then you have Grimes as the 3rd man, who catches EVERYTHING thrown his way.

I don't know about you, but every time Kamara is thrown the ball I almost assume something bad is going to happen. If it's in my head, then you it's in his head. He watches the game film. He had another drop yesterday off a prefectly thrown ball by Clausen (off a scramble throwing across his shoulder). When you have 3 other receivers playing much better than you, then your playing time is going to drop, if your coach has any stones. Kamara needs to somehow get his mojo back, get back to work in practice, and prove himself in next week's game. Personally I hope we keep seeing a lot more of Floyd and Tate...

Yeah, I kind of feel the same way about Kamara right now as I do about our field goal kicking. I kind of cover my eyes and watch through my fingers.

I wish the call on his touchdown catch would have been overturned. I think that would have been a big boost for him because that was a flat out great catch. By the way, I think his toe was down. I really want him to do good, but I just don't think he has that much time. Floyd and Tate are getting better every game and with Grimes back and now (and you are right, he just catches EVERYTHING), Rudolph getting some touches, there just won't be enough balls to go around. If he waits until next year, he miss out to some of the other young bucks waiting to play. Goodman is going to be a stud and I think Walker is going to be a player too. If we get Shaq, then who knows what will happen to Duval.

Somebody mentioned to me yesterday about George West. I had completely forgotten about him. He is another one that is a victim of the depth chart and the meteoric rise of Tate and Floyd. He is solely special teams now and he was pretty highly touted when he came to ND. If Kamara doesn't make a statement soon, I just feel he might see his touches, if not his minutes, really dwindle.

 

[NDMontana]

This is what you amd I argued about all week! You gave me a bunch of numbers about how there was no progress, and I told you that football isn't all about numbers, that as athletes we could see with our eyes that the progress the offense was making was huge. And you KILLED me for it. Remember, the numbers do not always tell the story.

And what about the zip on Clausen's throws now? Also got killed by you for defending him, while your NFL and college scouts in your family said there was nothing special about him. Do they still feel that way? Only a true soph, whereas most stud QB's are already juniors, and making every throw, even the DEEP OUT throw, the toughest throw in football, on a line (Grimes for 24 yards), which you doubted he could throw (I believe you said he was throwing 5 yard outs).

Back and forth we argued for 2 days, and I DEMAND AN APOLOGY!!!!

J/k

At least you seem to be all in on witnessing our progression. This year will still be a work in progress for our boys, especially Jimmy, but 2009 is going to be sick...

You have no apology coming. The boys put up 275 passing and 200+ rushing. That game was the first time I noticed improvement. The RESULTS are INDICATIVE of the stats!!!

The offense looked great and the defense looked serviceable. I think that offense hit their stride and it's on to bigger and better!!!

We're all happy with what we saw on the field!!!

 

[NDinL.A.]

You have no apology coming. The boys put up 275 passing and 200+ rushing. That game was the first time I noticed improvement. The RESULTS are INDICATIVE of the stats!!!

The offense looked great and the defense looked serviceable. I think that offense hit their stride and it's on to bigger and better!!!

We're all happy with what we saw on the field!!!

All those posts about how bad our offense was and how there was no progress whatsoever, and still I knew you wouldn't admit you were wrong. It's all good. The product on the field was reward enough. Still got a long ways to go though, but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel, just as I said last week...

 

[JeremyND07]

I agree that Tate/Floyd will get more looks but in the Red Zone Kamara is the biggest threat because of his size! Seriously, kamara improves and we have Floyd, Tate, Kamara, Walker, and Shaq on 5WR sets....I know I put Shaq in there but I can dream!!!

 

[Zorro50]

Can someone explain why they can't get a field goal kicked. This is 2 years now where you close your eyes and hope? It will end up costing a game this year.

 

[NDMontana]

All those posts about how bad our offense was and how there was no progress whatsoever, and still I knew you wouldn't admit you were wrong. It's all good. The product on the field was reward enough. Still got a long ways to go though, but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel, just as I said last week...

The stats did not back up your boasts the first three weeks. I don't need to admit I was wrong....I wasn't. If we had run and passed for what we were averging coming in than we wouldn't have won the game. What part of that do you not grasp?

It was a good win and leave it at that. The offense made progress (this week!) and the defense is servicable. Progress=Improvement. The first three games of the year were hardly progress. This week we saw sustained drives that led to TDs! Hell, we even had a 41 yard field goal.

It's funny how things even out, isn't it? Wisconsin really pissed away the game vs. Michigan this week.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

I noticed improvement during the first game when ND made the miraculous stop at the end zone, then proceeded to march down the field and shove it up their collective butts. Who cares what school they came from (that school played their butts off). Our team was about to fold, and they ROSE TO THE CHALLENGE. They learned to have faith in each other after that. Their confidence soared. And these ND guys are freegin 18-20 year olds, with a couple of 22 year olds. Goodness freegin grayshus. Look up BYU's average age. My project this week, if I can stay awake during my spare time, is to look up average ages of teams. Maybe some of you stat guys can look that up for us. I might fall asleep and post something stupid.

 

[NDMontana]

I noticed improvement during the first game when ND made the miraculous stop at the end zone, then proceeded to march down the field and shove it up their collective butts. Who cares what school they came from (that school played their butts off). Our team was about to fold, and they ROSE TO THE CHALLENGE. They learned to have faith in each other after that. Their confidence soared. And these ND guys are freegin 18-20 year olds, with a couple of 22 year olds. Goodness freegin grayshus. Look up BYU's average age. My project this week, if I can stay awake during my spare time, is to look up average ages of teams. Maybe some of you stat guys can look that up for us. I might fall asleep and post something stupid.

I don't think that information is readily available for college teams. That information is not as pertinent in college ,where everyone is young, as it is in professional football.

Give me a list of teams you would like that data on and I'll get it for you. Just some simple cut and paste and a few formulas in Excel will do the trick!

 

[NDinL.A.]

The stats did not back up your boasts the first three weeks. I don't need to admit I was wrong....I wasn't. If we had run and passed for what we were averging coming in than we wouldn't have won the game. What part of that do you not grasp?

It was a good win and leave it at that. The offense made progress (this week!) and the defense is servicable. Progress=Improvement. The first three games of the year were hardly progress. This week we saw sustained drives that led to TDs! Hell, we even had a 41 yard field goal.

It's funny how things even out, isn't it? Wisconsin really pissed away the game vs. Michigan this week.

Like I said from the very beginning, you're a stat-rat, and I'm not. What part of 'it isn't all about numbers' do you not grasp? I said it over and over all last week that the progress was there, beyond the numbers, and that I could see it with my own eyes (and many other people saw the same thing). I could see what was coming, because anyone could see what playmakers we had. You said there was no progress being made, and then you saw the performance on Saturday, and you were truly pleased (I read what you wrote during the game). Your numbers couldn't predict that, and you can't admit you were wrong.

We busted out for 38 points, after you threw out every stat in the book that said there was no progress. Ummm, I hate to break it to you, but you were wrong. You bagged on Jimmy Clausen, and now what? Not a word about him this week from you and your 'NFL friends'.

Listen, for many of your stats that you throw out, someone can throw out another stat contradicting it. Did your stats account for our field position during the Mich game? No. You know how many possible yards we lost because we had the ball so close to the goal line?

We're not over the hump yet IMO, and we have a long ways to go, but the progression, as what was stated above, has been evident for a while, starting with Tate and continuing with Floyd and Clausen. You didn't see it, we did. Sorry you missed it.

If you want to play with a calculator, go play Dungeons and Dragons and chess or something like that. Football is played between the lines, where stats do not tell the whole story. You were wrong, and it is painfully obvious to see that you can't admit that. Hell, I've been wrong millions of times, and I'll be wrong millions of times more (I thought Hughes deserved more carries than Allen, and Allen proved me wrong), but at least I admit it. All your stats let you down, and yet you can't admit it. Sad. We're all ND fans (I think), so we should be pulling for each other instead of sniping at each other with negativity (myself included).

Whatever, the Irish won baby!!!

 

[NDMontana]

Just did some quick Excel Work on ND's Roster:

Freshman:29
Sophmore:21
Juniors:30
Seniors:24

 

[NDMontana]

You know what man....whatever. I'm not going down this road with you again. You're unreasonable and what ND did this weekend was unexpected by most sportswriters, by my friends (95% of whom are ND fans) and the 100 people that I was with at our local ND bar didn't see this coming either. The sentiment of surprise was near universal but I should of told them that I knew it was coming because this guy I know, with an uncanny intuition, said it was going to happen. Hmmm....that makes sense. The difference b/t you and I is that if ND reverts to the team I saw in weeks 1-3 next week and loses I won't be here acting like a jack ass saying I told you so. That's not my style and I wouldn't be happy about it. It says a lot about you and confirms at least one of my suspicions.

I base what I believe on stats and what I see. In weeks 1-3 neither the stats or what I saw was good. There were hints of potential but nothing more. Take what you saw with a grain of salt; Purdue's defense is terrible. Even Joe Tiller said the team has only one LB worthy of D1 football. But I'll balance that by saying that we played some crap defenses last season and didn't execute....against Purdue the execution was beautiful. If you want to know why we won on Saturday a good place to start is right here:


1st Downs 23
Total Yards 476
Passing 275
Rushing 201
Penalties 6-44
3rd Down Conversions 6-14
4th Down Conversions 3-4
Turnovers 0
Possession 35:26

 

[NDinL.A.]

Yawn.

You're pretty unbelievable man. Sportswriters? You listen to them? Are you kidding me? ND fans? Have you been reading this board? There were plenty of us who saw the progress, and knew that the offense was heading in the right direction. I never said I knew this was coming, I just said that the progress was there, even if your pocket calculator couldn't predict it.

It's sad that you base everything on what your calculator tells you. For the first time, you try and say you base the game on numbers and what you see. Well then, you don't know the game, period. You couldn't see progress? Floyd? Tate? Clausen (way to ignore him again; go read what you said about him last week -- hilarious!) ? I mean, you really couldn't see that with your own eyes? Wow.

Like I said, I saw progress, you didn't. We argued, and then ND hung 38 on Purdue. Remember all your stats about how Mich gave us the game and the offense sucks and blah blah blah. 38 points, 24 in the second half. I'm not saying we're NC and we're never going to have another bad game, but I am saying that the progress we saw is real, and hopefully it will continue. I'm not trying to brag, I'm trying to show you that this game isn't only about stats. You want stats, play fantasy football, or Dungeons and Dragons, or Lord of the RIngs, or whatever. Watch the game with your eyes, not your pocket calculator. The sad thing is you were wrong, the progress bore itself right in front of you, and EVEN YOUR STATS TELL YOU THAT!!! How ironic is that?

I'm done with you. Socal, sorry if I crossed the line. Won't happen again, cause I won't reply. Enjoy the continued progress...