8-1

[purguy12]

Really nice win beating a good team. I have to admit I was worried that we might lose this one. The defense continues to underachieve relative to talent.

Whats great is some of the teams that we already beat had some nice wins.

 

[Lillyliverd]

at least be a bend but don't break kind of D that gets turnovers.

They seem more like a don't bend but break defense.

 

[purguy12]

They seem more like a don't bend but break defense.

Yes they bend a lot and break. They let up way too many TD's. I can live with FG's.

 

[whywork2]

let's go to the urban dictionary on this ...

definition GET OVER YOURSELF:

patronizing phrase used to tell someone that you believe they hold too high an opinion of themselves, or are behaving in a conceited or pompous manner.

i hold too high an opinion of myself because i called nd lucky in the temple game, or fight for my right to suggest it? pompus? i don't see it. sounds like a phrase you use when you have nothing else to say. so, how does it lighten your burden to say that? just curious.

just having fun at someone else's expense, if it's a friend is fine. someone you don't know .... not so nice, or smart.


ok, i'm through.

Everybody has their own opinions and we all see things through our own eyes from different focal points. Everyone's opinion is welcome. Sometimes we argue over semantics but in the end we all have a love for the Fighting Irish and take all the losses hard. I think we have a pretty good group of guys here, everyone included. In fact I miss @Microwahevo too, hope he comes back.

 

[whywork2]

Does anyone remember that @NdLonghorns poster- probably got the name wrong but I don't think anyone cares. That guy was a real trip. Never really understood just what his end game was, seemed like he was sort of luny tunes to say the least. I also recall a KNute something or other from CBS , I disagreed with him a lot but still enjoyed his posts. I apologize for my poor memory. I'm certain it's not the @KnuteRoc from this board. Maybe @jjc2009 may recall.

 

[purguy12]

I want to give Props to Okawara. What a season he is having for ND. He has been our only real pass rusher. No one talks about him. He has been Top 3 most important player on the D. 1)Smith, 2)Day 3) Okawara.

 

[poewelch84]

The frustrating part with the defense is they show signs of being a good defense but then let up a big play. I actually thought for most of the game the defense played really well yesterday, though Pitts offense isn't spectacular.

 

[Irish7478]

The 2012 team was far luckier than this years team, with the Pitt game the Stanford goal line stand and so on. This years team hasn't played their best at times and kept teams in games that shouldn't be in the game but have also made the plays they needed to to win most games. Personally I don't consider that lucky but that is me. Lucky is the Pitt kicker missing a a field goal or the Michigan State blocked Punt TD or Miami's win over Duke (bad officiating as well).

I would guess that a goal line stand in overtime versus Stanford in 2012 would be considered a great play by talented players. While a long TD pass to our most talented receiver against Virginia this year is luck. A Pittsburgh kicker missing a chip shot field goal in 2012 is a young kid getting rattled in a hostile environment while a long TD pass to a great receiver versus Temple is luck. Of course, Stanford considered that their RB got into the end zone, and we were lucky. And Pitt fans think we were lucky the refs didn't call a penalty for two #2 on the field at the same time. I guess luck versus skill is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[idseer]

The frustrating part with the defense is they show signs of being a good defense but then let up a big play. I actually thought for most of the game the defense played really well yesterday, though Pitts offense isn't spectacular.

i agree with what purguy said. i think the players have the talent. it's the coordinator that's the problem.

 

[poewelch84]

I agree Van Gorder isn't doing a good enough job getting the players to understand his defense which is a big problem. Like I mentioned before at Notre Dame you will get guys to stay longer than most places but he needs to do a better job to simplify things.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

you don't? maybe it's because YOU, you clown, brought it all up again? you made several references to last weeks 'discussion' in this thread to egg me on so why are you so surprised i reacted?
the point HERE was that you freaking lied to purguy when you said "" You missed @idseer's rant that we're just a lucky team?"" when i never said any such thing. and you don't have the balls to admit it.
and "everyone else" did NOT disagree with me. what, it takes one person who agrees with you to make "everyone"? you don't think much of yourself do you?

Actually, everyone disagreed with you

 

[bksballer89]

If Stanford continues to win there is no way they can keep us out if we beat a 10-1 Stanford in their place.

 

[idseer]

Actually, everyone disagreed with you

actually, no they didn't.

KnuteRoc said:

"""I agree with both sides here. We have moxy. Whatever you want to call it... luck, wherewithall, determination, unflappable, clutch... we have some of that. """

 

[poewelch84]

I don't think they were lucky to beat Temple myself I think they played poorly for stretches in the red zone but their talent won out with key plays that got them the victory. If they had played a more complete game like they did against Pitt the Temple game probably isn't as close.

 

[idseer]

seriously, i think we should move on now.

 

[jjc2009]

Does anyone remember that @NdLonghorns poster- probably got the name wrong but I don't think anyone cares. That guy was a real trip. Never really understood just what his end game was, seemed like he was sort of luny tunes to say the least. I also recall a KNute something or other from CBS , I disagreed with him a lot but still enjoyed his posts. I apologize for my poor memory. I'm certain it's not the @KnuteRoc from this board. Maybe @jjc2009 may recall.

Yep. Longhorns was a troll. He had numerous Alts and handles but he pretended to be a fan. Knute who I don't think is on these boards was a bit of a delusional fan, his expectations were always perfection or bust and he tried too hard to show how smart he was.

I'm with @whywork2 I am all for spirited debate and I wouldn't advocate silencing anyone's opinion. And I don't think @idseer is a troll. He's obviously very cynical, but a quarter century of what this program has done will do that for some people. In the end, we all want them to do well and succeed. What a boring place it would be if we all agreed about everything. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't have a little fun either.

 

[KnuteRoc]

Agreed for the most part. What I said last week was a bit 'political' in that I expressly said what I said to acknowledge that yes we do get a li'l lucky sometimes and while that's true we also have to admit that we have resilience which is also a very good trait. Luck we have no control over, like a flag that helps keep a drive alive... resilience though might be referenced by the two late TDs passes from Kizer to take the lead. Both of those drives were must-need and the boys delivered.

When I criticize the coaches it's because I feel like they're not putting their players in a position to be successful or to win by-way of their calls, either on the whole or in particular. But I hope it's never construed as I hate this University or the players or coaches associated with it. It's my personal opinion sometimes, sometimes that opinion is echoed or backed up, sometimes it's not. You guys have turned my opinion at times, sometimes I'm not swayed either. But I don't begrudge any of you your opinion.

P.S. No it wasn't me at whatever site. I'm not a troll and I'd been away from Message Boards for quite a long time before getting on board the CBS or ESPN boards right before they stopped theirs. I've always been KnuteRoc, well, except for my first moniker ever which was GoldenDomerKnute, which was just too damn long to have to spell all the time. :P

As for yesterday, my boy spent all day on the laptop so I didn't come on and post. I was really impressed for the most part, we did address Red-zone issues and we had no FGs, which I didn't expect, I was guessing for at least one, which was evidenced in my Guess the Stats thread for this week. No FGs is awesome.

My negatives were that until Adams came in, we didn't look to be doing much different play-wise, which did disappoint me a touch. I think Jones can be a much bigger part of the offense. Conversely though, Carlisle gave us a clutch first-down at one point, Hunter had a nice grab on the slant for a TD and Robinson had very little involvement yet again.

The killing the clock offense is not favorable to me ever. Under 5m to go in a game, you don't take your foot off the pedal as far as running your offense. Once you get into FG range, yeah sure, run up the gut three straight times; if they stop it, kick the FG or run the clock from there, but when you're in your own end of the field and there's that much time, don't be cute, run the ball or at least run your offense. That silliness allowed Pitt to score 14 points late that they arguably wouldn't have scored had we acted normally.

I thought the D was decent but again our % of getting home on the blitz is so low that it allows a lot more chances for big plays and first down conversions to creep in than I'd like to see. On the other hand though, I did not like what I saw when we didn't blitz and dropped back, Peterman was picking us apart as any decent QB should. It's an issue that either won't be resolved until players come in that can execute Van Gorder's scheme, or we get a different D coordinator. We'll have to accept, begrudgingly, what we get from this year. Now if we were playing LSU, then I wouldn't be worried, he doesn't yet have the skill to beat us consistently, but a guy like Watson or Hogan... they do. We'll see how it plays when it comes to the big game(s).