ND vs Stanford pre Game Thread:

[awclayton]

Hell, if any team has a complete meltdown, they are going to lose. Stanford will have to play well to beat ND. ND has been so inconsistent, you never not which team will show up. 3 wins over top 25 teams, looking for a 4th, yet 2 of the 3 loses to unranked teams, go figure. I guess if we were in the PAC 12, we could take the championship and go to the Rose Bowl huh Roy? If ND has a melt down like Pitt we have no chance. If we play without TOs, don't see why we couldn't win, should be a good one.

 

[jjc2009]

A blowout if Tommy doesn't go out? With 9 min gone in the 3rd with Tommy in up to that point you're up by 4 points. But you would have won in a blow out huh? LOL .

Um yeah. Since your boys had the ball inside our 50 like 4 times in a row and couldn't muster a single point it's a safe bet you were done scoring no matter who was out there. Rees didn't really have a problem moving the ball. Your defense certainly wouldn't be able to sellout and stop the run. Translation: we'd keep scoring + you wouldn't = blowout win.

Bonus argument (even though I hate the transitive property in college football I am invoking it due to your smug response) what did ASU do to you guys and who beat them?

 

[Lillyliverd]

That would include the vast majority of logical football fans living outside of South Bend that know Stanford is the better team. Regardless of the current spread the only way the Irish win tomorrow's game is a complete meltdown by the Cardinal. Ain't gonna happen so get ready for closing out the season with an 8-4 record.
Flame away.

USC was a 3 point dog to Stanford. I am sure most football fans believe Stanford is better than ND, but I am puzzled why the wagering fans would think USC would play Stanford close while ND will get whooped.

Kind of funny you didn't wait to mouth off here. ASU was a win for ND and loss for UCLA. ND beat USC and USC is gonna beat you today. If we beat Stanford too, that will be the 3rd team ND beat that beat UCLA.

UCLA has lost to every good team they have played this year. Get ready for your 8-4 season Roy.

 

[poewelch84]

The only thing UCLA could beat Notre Dame at is getting Eddie Vanderdoes on campus and I'm not sure they didn't break some NCAA rules to do it.

 

[bksballer89]

I don't appreciate all these trolls

 

[poewelch84]

Since 2002 Notre Dame have only lost to Stanford when Andrew Luck was QB, just saying nothing is impossible and those were the only three losses to Stanford that Notre Dame has had in 11 years.

 

[RoyHobbs]

Hopefully we have progressed beyond the point where beating anyone would "shock the world". I fully expect to win this game, and agree that it will be a great way to finish the season. I also agree that we should have beaten Mich and Pitt. When this game is over, I hope the "experts" aren't shocked that we beat Stanford, I hope they are all shocked that we lost to mich and Pitt.

But seriously, the only ones " shocked " are the ones who fully expected to beat a superior team on their turf. The experts picked Stanford for very good reasons, one of those being Tommy Rees. Just think, you still have Tommy for one more second tier bowl game.

 

[poewelch84]

But seriously, the only ones " shocked " are the ones who fully expected to beat a superior team on their turf. The experts picked Stanford for very good reasons, one of those being Tommy Rees. Just think, you still have Tommy for one more second tier bowl game.

even with a win against USC, UCLA are headed for a crummy bowl just like Notre Dame.

 

[poewelch84]

Also Roy, most Notre Dame fan's were hopeful that the team could beat Stanford and if Tommy Rees wasn't QB they would have had a great shot at it. Beating Notre Dame because of Tommy Turnover doesn't make Stanford special or much better than Notre Dame.

 

[RoyHobbs]

USC was a 3 point dog to Stanford. I am sure most football fans believe Stanford is better than ND, but I am puzzled why the wagering fans would think USC would play Stanford close while ND will get whooped.

Kind of funny you didn't wait to mouth off here. ASU was a win for ND and loss for UCLA. ND beat USC and USC is gonna beat you today. If we beat Stanford too, that will be the 3rd team ND beat that beat UCLA.

UCLA has lost to every good team they have played this year. Get ready for your 8-4 season Roy.

Good thing you don't make a living forecasting games there Lilly. Last time I checked the final scoreboard it read UCLA 35 and USC 14. So yea, better teams have beaten UCLA and worse teams ( Michigan & Pitt ) have beaten the Irish. So we end the season with a 9-3 record ranked in the top 25 and ND ends the season at 8-4 on the outside looking in.
But God Bless Tommy Rees who had the intestinal fortitude to put up with the little Napoleon blowing up on the sidelines after every losing effort. He had the wherewithal to stay for his senior season unlike Jimmy Pickle who thought he had a higher calling in the NFL.

But seriously, you should be proud that ND fields the best 8-4 team that money can buy in FBS. Must be nice that a player ( Everett Golshan ) can take a year off from college and workout with quaterback guru George Whitfield in San Diego to prep for his return to ND in 2014. I wonder who picked up the tab for those private instructions ? There is a silver lining in all this Lilly. At least you won't have to worry about extending your BCS losing streak any longer.

 

[RoyHobbs]

Also Roy, most Notre Dame fan's were delusional that the team could beat Stanford and if Tommy Rees wasn't QB they would have had a great shot at it. Beating Notre Dame because of Tommy Turnover doesn't make Stanford special or much better than Notre Dame.

Bad things happen when you place your whole teams future success on a player who gets himself expelled from the University. Brian Kelly has had three years to shape and mold Tommy Rees into his system. Tommy is and has proven to be a serviceable QB and if Kelly allows him to go beyond that then the HC has to take the blame for not keeping a tight leash on him.Tommy took you to a respectable 8 - 4 record, which to the Notre Dame faithful must be an underachieving season.
Stanford may not be special, but they are representing the PAC-12 North in the Championship Game. To lay ND's losses at the feet of Tommy Rees is a bit myopic. With an overall defense rating of 38th in the nation, there is lots of room for improvement.

 

[poewelch84]

Bad things happen when you place your whole teams future success on a player who gets himself expelled from the University. Brian Kelly has had three years to shape and mold Tommy Rees into his system. Tommy is and has proven to be a serviceable QB and if Kelly allows him to go beyond that then the HC has to take the blame for not keeping a tight leash on him.Tommy took you to a respectable 8 - 4 record, which to the Notre Dame faithful must be an underachieving season.
Stanford may not be special, but they are representing the PAC-12 North in the Championship Game. To lay ND's losses at the feet of Tommy Rees is a bit myopic. With an overall defense rating of 38th in the nation, there is lots of room for improvement.

Clearly you haven't seen many of Notre Dame's losses they usually involve Tommy Rees interceptions. He is an ok QB at best. Also if your UCLA Bruins lost Hundley during the summer for the season you would be struggling just as much and stop pretending your team wouldn't. With Tommy Rees at QB 8-4 is about as good as you can expect, it is underachieving but he isn't capable of doing any better. Those two throws were pretty bad as many but not all of Rees's interceptions are. Of course the defense could have played better all game long, but when push came to shove they stood their ground and stopped Stanford giving Rees two shots to tie the game and he threw picks, I'll lay that one at his feet.

 

[socaljim242]

Um yeah. Since your boys had the ball inside our 50 like 4 times in a row and couldn't muster a single point it's a safe bet you were done scoring no matter who was out there. Rees didn't really have a problem moving the ball. Your defense certainly wouldn't be able to sellout and stop the run. Translation: we'd keep scoring + you wouldn't = blowout win.

Bonus argument (even though I hate the transitive property in college football I am invoking it due to your smug response) what did ASU do to you guys and who beat them?

Bonus for you. What did USC do against Stanford that ND couldn;t? (win). Seriously with Tommy in there longer there was more of a chance he would throw a pic and USC could have won. The fact that he wasn;t in there probably saved that game for ND oh and the fact that Hidari missed easy field goals( another thing that was pretty consistent like Tommy throwing picks).
The truth is USC -ND _stanford are pretty close and can probably beat or lose to the others on any given day.

 

[Irish7478]

Bonus for you. What did USC do against Stanford that ND couldn;t? (win). Seriously with Tommy in there longer there was more of a chance he would throw a pic and USC could have won. The fact that he wasn;t in there probably saved that game for ND oh and the fact that Hidari missed easy field goals( another thing that was pretty consistent like Tommy throwing picks).
The truth is USC -ND _stanford are pretty close and can probably beat or lose to the others on any given day.

SoCal, any good news on the Orgeron front?

 

[socaljim242]

SoCal, any good news on the Orgeron front?

The UCLA loss sure didn't help his case with some. Word is Haden wants to know who would be OC and DC if O is hired. Despite the loss I've heard Haden is impressed with coach O but wouldn't commit to him unless he knows and likes the assistants. I've heard Kennedy Polamalu has been contacted for RBs coach. I think ed needs to find a top offensive coordinator to get the job. The Trojans were severely limited at QB with Cody K and if you're gonna succed in LA you need a high powered offense.

 

[Irish7478]

The UCLA loss sure didn't help his case with some. Word is Haden wants to know who would be OC and DC if O is hired. Despite the loss I've heard Haden is impressed with coach O but wouldn't commit to him unless he knows and likes the assistants. I've heard Kennedy Polamalu has been contacted for RBs coach. I think ed needs to find a top offensive coordinator to get the job. The Trojans were severely limited at QB with Cody K and if you're gonna succed in LA you need a high powered offense.

Yes, I was afraid that losing to both ND and UCLA was going to hurt his chances.

 

[matthstl]

I wish I had answers for Tommy's inconsistent play but I do not. At times he throws a great ball and manages great game and other times you shake your head and say where was he throwing the ball too. The first pick was a Tommy was throwing were the WR was suppose to be and be hones should have been a flag thrown on the play the WR was being hit before the ball got there illlegal contact. Either way he should have played that smarter.

As for the D play I was disappointed in first half but thought they played a lot better in second half next year they have to get better at basic takling too many big plays on third down that has to stop. A lot of injuries for Irish D down the stretch I thought did a very good job.