Anyone doubt that a 3 loss ND leaps…
- Thread starter NittanyChris
- Start date
Not sure about that but they are really playing well right now
They’re just 2 spots behind us and both you and I know how much the media loves sucking ND’s _____.
No worries on that front, Chris.
It's hard to see the Irish as a road underdog beating USC, but even if they did, I can't see them jumping us if we take care of business against Michigan State.
Only if OSU loses to Michigan and they need to prop the Buckeyes up.
Otherwise, ND is irrelevant in the rankings.
Don't think so. Beyond having 1 more loss on their record, they lost at home to Marshall and 3-8 Stanford. How they are ranked at all is a bit of a mystery.
ND also is helped by playing a de facto ACC schedule, because they almost never lose to those mostly underwhelming teams (see yesterday as an example).
It took them until mid-October for things to come together under the new staff. Blowing out Clemson was impressive. This Saturday -- USC on the road -- will tell the tale. But even if they win, which I doubt, no way will they pass us in the rankings...assuming of course that we beat the Spartans.
Believe me, I’m not saying it’s fair or makes any sense at all, but it will happen.
If ND finds a QB, they can be really good going forward into the next couple of years. Just took them awhile this year to figure things out. Their recruiting has been really solid
USC needed 4 turnovers and an opposing QB inury to squeak by UCLA and their highly PAC10-ish defense. They are not an impressive team, ranking notwithstanding.
USC reminds me of those teams Riley had at Oklahoma - bigtime offenses but their defenses were bad and let other teams stay in games
They will get a lot more respect than we did by winning a 2016 big 10 championship. A lot of the media starts Notre Dame in the top 5 until they prove how bad they are.
Agreed. They are being elevated by their QB. The USC defense is terrible and I wouldn't be surprised if they get beat by ND even though ND isn't that good.
Bur for a phantom offsides call that turned a missed ND field goal into a ND touchdown, Cal would have beaten them. That's right. Cal. I'm not a believer in ND this season.
That game happened over two months ago. Despite their loss to a bad Stanford team and close win against Navy, they've improved as the season has progressed, much like PSU has.
USC will score points against any team that they play, so that game is going to depend on whether ND's offense can slow the game down with their running game and limit the possessions, which I think that they can against USC's average defense. I think that ND can do to USC what Utah did against them, but most likely not score as many points.
ND also went into to Chapel Hill and beat the Tar Heals convincingly, and UNC has a very potent offense too, although they unbelievably lost to GT this past Saturday.
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USC does not have an “average” defense. The last five games USC is giving up an average of 35.4 points per game. USC’s defense is atrocious.
I didn't know that they were that bad. I really haven't watched them much this season; I watched the first half of their game against Colorado a couple of weeks ago, and the game was so bad that I stopped watching it before the first half ended. I also watched a lot of their Oregon State game, in which their defense only gave up 14 points.
If ND plays like they did at OSU and UNC, they definitely can win that game. Other than maybe Utah, ND will be the best and most complete team that USC has played this year.
ND is in a very weird boat right now. They've played their 3 highest ranked opponents super tough (and went 2-1 doing so), but lost 2 head scratchers that are just as bad and likely worse and unexplainable as our loss to Illinois last year.
My thought, the ACC is weak. Dabo is living off Lawrence more than putting a good product on the field. Brown is a solid coach and recruits well, but has he fielded a decent defense since Vince Young outlasted the Trojans? He's got a stud freshman QB, but can he maintain and or improve the talent around him? Howell was a stud as a freshman and was better rated as a sophomore, but dropped off as a junior without weapons.
I just hope that UNC proves how fraudulent this Clemson team is when they play them in the ACC Championship game.
I dislike the Toejams more than ANY other team in college football so, even though I am no Notre Dame fan and an SC loss to the Domers may be bad for the Pac 12, I will be rooting earnestly for the Domers this coming Saturday. I still believe, however, that the Toejams will come out on top. We'll see.
You wouldn't be surprised if one of the top teams in the country gets beat by ND but ND isn't good? Hmmm
The Buckeye defense probably wasn't *that* bad, but the offense was very likely better.
True to OU tradition, Riley is all gas and no brakes. Would love to see him forced to do a true turnaround without portal assistance. Talk about a guy born on third who thinks he hit a triple.
Not so sure about that. I read on their O-Zone site that OSU set an all-time record for points allowed per game in back to back seasons - 2020 and 2021. It was REALLY bad - hence they fired their whole defensive staff (minus Larry Johnson)
Eh, that's probably true for 30% of cfb teams in the past decade, perhaps more.
They still only lost 2 games in those 2 years. 99.5% of teams wish they had OSU's failure.
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