Notre Dame blows

[Razz]

Numbers lie - not that they are very much in favor of Hawk to begin with. The Ohio St. defense is designed to funnel ball carriers to AJ Hawk, and you could really tell the difference when Bobby Carpenter was hurt on the first play against Michigan. I'm not saying AJ Hawk isn't a great player, but he is not head and shoulders above Carpenter or Schleigel.

[mbow324]

mbow, are you in the Chicago area? If you tell me you are a Hoosiers fan you will be my new favorite poster.

Right now i'm in Iraq, but i'm from Indiana, and i'm absolutely a Hoosier fan. There doing pretty good this year, I think they're 4-1 in BB. Lost a close one to Duke.

[moses millsap]

Numbers lie - not that they are very much in favor of Hawk to begin with. The Ohio St. defense is designed to funnel ball carriers to AJ Hawk, and you could really tell the difference when Bobby Carpenter was hurt on the first play against Michigan. I'm not saying AJ Hawk isn't a great player, but he is not head and shoulders above Carpenter or Schleigel.

I'd still say he's better than those two, but those two are also stud LBs.

[BuddyBear]

okay let's calm down...i meant "mbow" that was a spelling error I swear.

First off, I'll confess as much as I despise teams like Notre Dame and scUM it seems like I watch most of their games so I have a pretty good handle on those teams. Second, if any team in the nation deserves some ounce of credit for scheduling teams year in and year out it is Notre Dame. Bar none, their schedules are most often tougher than anyone elses. They get criticized for not being in a conference (and i have my reasons for thinking they should be) but they aren't like Kansas St...they usually play quality teams from each conference. When I looked at their schedule at the beginning of this year I was wondering how they were going to win 4 or 5 games let alone 9. They had a really great year overall....bready quinn developed, Maurice Stovall finally came through after a few years of disappointment, Jeff Smurja (???) established himself as one of the best receivers and their defense came up with a lot of big plays this year....but when you look at the teams they played while very good last year they just really underperformed. You look at Pitt BCS team last year sitting home this year....Purdue Sun Bowl last year no bowl this year.....scUM Rose bowl last year Alamo Bowl this year....MSU no bowl...Tennessee was a huge disappointment...Stanford only 5 wins...Syracuse arguably the worst Division 1 school thsi year....i mean something needs to be said about this. This isn't ND's fault....they can only play who is on their schedule and when you look at that schedule you have to wonder as to how good ND really is. The USC, rightfully so, seems to be salient for a lot of people but I am wondering if ND was just playing above their normal level or whether that was the true ND.

Second, I am sorry Jim Tressel is a great coach. He has a national title to his credit, another Fiesta Bowl win, a bowl win last year with a belaugured team...beats his arch rival 4 out of 5 times...I just don't think it is fair to compare to Weiss Tressel or let me put it this way...why is everyone underestimating Tressel in favor of Weiss....all I am hearing is "what is Weiss going to do with a full month to prepare." Sorry guys but Tressel is more than capable. Quite frankly, I would be very suprised to see ND moving the ball on this defense like they did against Stanford or Syracuse.

Nobody is saying Weiss isn't good or is going to be good but Jim Tressel winning a national championship is something I think that is being overlooked a lot. The guy can plan.

Now...to ease your pain do you really think my friends and I attacked a Notre Dame fan and poured beer all over him? :an_roll_l

Come on man this is an internet forum...i am doing this to rile you up knowing you would react in such a way. Trust me if you ever see me you'll know what I can't beat too many people up. As much I love college football gamedays i despise the way visiting fans are treated on college campus....i am embrassed by my own university the way they treated Michigan fans this past September when they came here even though I hate them.

Anyway....my diagnosis is that we are both strong fans of our schools so i guess no need for any personal attacks so don't be offended by my nonesene as I am hoping you and others continue to post.

But I am sorry I'll be laying the points with OSU hoping it gets down to -3...i really think OSU is a bargain.

Anyway...sorry if I offended you or others that is not the buddybear way. I guess we'll have to wait about a month to really resolve this one. I hope things work out well for you in Iraq and I like the Lions as my team...but I don't mind the Bears though. For all i konw i might be rooting for GB this week against DET. I really don't get into NFL like I do for NCAAF or NCAAB.


Good luck :an_cheers

[moses millsap]

I think Tressel blew the biggest game of the year, and if his team had defeated Texas like they should have, they or Penn St. would be playing for the national championship.

Tressel is a great coach, IMHO. On that Texas game, OSU wins that game if Smith had played the entire game. Perhaps Tressel should've been more aggressive inside of Texas territory, but he still put his team in position to win that game and if not for the TE dropping a wide open touch pass for the TD in the endzone and having Zwick log as many minutes as he did, there is no comeback.

Also, have to give props to Vince Young and Texas for going down the field and scoring the winning TD in a hostile environment, that can't be pinned on Tressel. That's on the OSU defense for not stepping up at the right time, but after that, I think they stepped up well beyond what people expected out of them (and people expected a lot out of this defense).

[mbow324]

I completely agree with the fact the fact that ND looked like crap from the TN game on. But a win is a win. It's hard for the voters to justify dropping a team in the top ten down even one spot when they win a game. Even if it is ugly. I think that game, for some reason, just took alot out of them physically. But we can all expect both teams to be physically well rested for the bowl game, so we can lay that to the side.

I never said anything negative about Jim Tressel. I only said poisitives for Charlie Weis. Tressel is a great coach, no doubt. Almost any Div 1A coach is gonna be able to come up with a good scheme with a month to prepare. So in short i'm not saying over look Jim Tressel just because his opponent is Charlie Weis. The media is the reason you keep hearing about this "what is Weis gonna be able to do with a month thing." They just want to generate interest in their stories. So please don't come down on a ND fan for what the media is saying.

The only reason I would even consider giving the coaching advantage to Weis is the fact that he has come up with Offensive schemes to beat the Eagles, Panthers, and Rams in the Super Bowl with much less time to prepare. The Rams were definately the weakest defense they faced, but the other two had very good defenses. That's why I think ND will be able to move the ball just fine against OSU. ND defensively is a cause for concern. They are argueably the weak link of this team. And with the offense that OSU generates, it is gonna be a shootout, in my humble opinion. I think turnovers will determine the winner. I think it might be a better game than the Rose Bowl. I think the Fiesta Bowl is going to look strikingly similar to the USC vs. ND game.

Thank for your best wishes while i'm over here. No offense taken, and I hope you realize my comments were all in good fun as well. It's nice to get into a good debate every once and awhile.

[Senator7]

This game is a classic matchup of a great offense vs. a great defense. Its also a matchup of two great coaches, but I do give Weis the edge in that category. Weis has four Super Bowl rings and is possibly the brightest offensive mind in football.

Great discussion here so far, but BuddyBear seems to be the ultimate Notre Dame hater and Mbow the biggest Irish fan. Because of this, I think that both of you have blinders on in this discussion. Both of you do make good points and good arguments at times. I think this will be a great game that either team could win outright. I, personally, will probably be passing on this game unless I find a line that I just can't pass up.

[pags11]

I'm hoping they cover tonight in hoops...

[BuddyBear]

Anyone remember this thread :an_roll_l

[newb411breaker19]

haha i think i do

[isetcap]

This one was before my time but oh how well the games bear out the truth.

ND was exposed. It was all a fluke.

They didn't even have the best offense of the two teams in the game.

[pags11]

ND was exposed, especially defensively...

[BuddyBear]

Anyone remember this thread....lol

[bigboydan]

I remember it well double B.

[jjgold]

lousville would of beaten LSU, they are the team that got screwed.

[blittydeuce]

Anyway....you need to understand who you are challenging here. You are a newbie and you are confronting one of the most esteemed posters in the gaming forum scene so you need to be really careful of what you say and how you say it.