Stanford is Good Now Where Are We?

Think more of 5 and 7. No bowl. Navy and Pitt will be tough losses.

I think we have the next two games.

One thing I’ve taken away so far is that we probably won’t beat teams with good balanced offenses. And let’s be real, the last three losses came against teams that are very good offensively.

We need to pick ourselves up and punch BC and Pitt in the face.

As tired as I am of home losses, last second losses, and losses overall, I saw some improvement, but areas that need correcting Where was the OL that we had seen? 4-13 3rd down conversions. Our rushing offense seemed to disappear.

The defense held Stanford to 110 yds less per game than their average (132 vs 242). We had better containment on the outside. Slaughter was an upgrade for the secondary.

Too many mistakes and inability to capitalize on those Stanford made.

I hope we remember Harbaugh kicking a field goal with a twenty point lead and 1:47 left in the game.

“Navy is Navy. Keep the mistakes to a minimum and you win comfortably.”

That’s why ND is 1-2 against the Middies over the last three years.

Hope Navy runs it down your throats.

Valpo I hope that you are incorrect. I think ND’s defense matches up well against both of those teams and thus like our chances.

Eric, I concur on those next two games. Those are both big ones.

Michael I didn’t give Stanford’s front 7 enough credit. They pushed our OL around pretty good and also created a lot of confusion schematically. They were very well coached.

MD resident I appreciate your perspective but I wasn’t trying to be smug about it. I am very aware of how good Navy can be. Without writing a full game preview a month early I just think this ND team matches up very well against the Mids and should win the game. With that I can tell you that I respect the hell out of all our Service Academies and root for Navy every other week of the season.

Can’t see how you can take anything for granted vs. BC, Pitt, or Navy. Not after having watched this team for the past few years. Their confidence levels vs. ND are higher than ours. Could we win these games? Sure. Should we win them? Don’t know anymore. I can’t believe a Stanford team could physicaly dominate us like that. Are you so sure that BC and Pitt won’t be able to?

TLNDMA from my perspective Stanford is on a different level than those other three teams. Believe me, saying that just feels wrong but I think that is the case. There is a ton of football yet to be played but I think Stanford is going to have a very, very good season.

Having watched both BC and Pitt more than once this season I feel good about both games. While they each attempt to employ their own physical brand of football neither is anywhere near as good as Stanford is at the point of attack. They both also have very mediocre QBs. As for Navy they just really haven’t looked quite as good this season as they have in the recent past. The Mids lost a ton on defense and it shows.

So yes, I would classify all three games as “should” win.

I feel you on the confidence thing but the only state of mind that really matters is the mental state of the Irish. That’s what BK gets paid the big bucks for and where he is really supposed to be better than his predecessor. This trip to BC will tell us a lot.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stanford is a really good looking team. They’ve got the projected top pick in the draft (if he chooses to go) leading their balanced offense, and I agree with Whiskey – if they continue these ways, they should be in the Rose Bowl come January. From what I’ve seen of BC and Pitt, they look pretty bad, especially compared to Stanford. Definitely don’t think either of those teams can push ND around like Stanford did.

Brutal day for the Horns and the Irish. Personally I am applying Glenlivet. I’m just sick..

Let’s face it. This team was not well prepared by the coaching staff to compete, on offense and defense and special teams. Secondly, the offense must score 30 points a game to win, and Kelly does not appear to want to win with his calls. Three games have shown this, but yesterday you really had to question his calls — going to the wildcat twice, when Crist had been successful, only to settle for 3 pts — weak calls in the last drive before halftime, giving Harbaugh a chance with 48 secs to score 3! — and at MSU, not even attempting to get close to a 50 yard field goal but happy to go into overtime!!
Yesterday we all saw the same thing, a team not prepared for the opposition, and with little preparation for a defense that would stymie our offense — and absolutely no adjustments at half time.

what we are seeing is the virtual ending of winning n.d football teams that we had on and before 1988. all the years of mismanagement by the university, the subpar football coaches and the athelic dept have finally taken their toll. davie, willingham, o’leary, weiss, and now a coach from a minor university have finally taken their combined toll. recruitment will begin to suffer as the luster fades and southbend remains the pit it is while there are plenty of really cool places to play with competitive teams and excellent coaches. only slim hope is that the irish join a conference. get ready for the n.d. to go the way of tulane, rice, duke, harvard, yale, stanford, etc. great schools but dont count on competitive football and glory any longer. very sad. dan, n.d.’67

Whoa Dan, whoa.

I think the defense has been the best part of this team. They are playing hard and not missing nearly as many tackles as last year. They are on the field way too long and are dead at the end of the game. My only concern is the failure to seal the edges. The outside linebackers are getting caught inside and not containing.

As for the Offense, I HATE the spread option. To put it politely, it is a soft (in the vanacular I would use the word p***y, but this is a family site.) scheme. By that, I mean it is not designed to hit the other guy in the mouth. The scheme itself takes the aggression out of offensive linemen. It’s a gimic for those schools that can’t get superior players. I much prefer Weis’ scheme (not how he always employed it.) It was a pro style designed for balance. If properly employed it is more of a fit to an aggressive run game.

Stanford is a very good football team, certainly in the top ten in the nation right now. This is Harbaugh’s 3rd or 4th year at Stanford’s helm. He now has his sysem in place, his players, and has instilled a toughness in that team that did not exist before. Kelly is in his first year. I expect that the 2012 season will be the watershed year for the Irish under his leadership. His system will be in place, he will have many of his players. As he has said many times, it is a process. We need to have patience.

Re: Dan/ND ‘67 – I pray you are wrong, but must confess I fear the same. Wishin’, hopin’ and prayin’ it’s not so……..Mike/ND ’73

Thanks for a good realistic article. Im so tired of reading these ND ‘fans’ who are already yelling for Coach Kelly’s head. Gimme a break. Lets remind ourselves hes a proven winner, its his first year, we got a new starting qb in a new system, etc. Please, fellas, losing is tough for everyone, ESPECIALLY the players and coaches, but all is not lost. Like he said, by season’s end we could be looking pretty decent. Its always better to start slow and finish strong than vice versa. lets show our support for Coach Kelly and our team before burning them at the stake.

To all,

It is sad till this day we still talk about the same thing over and over.During Weis era we couldn’t run the football, defense wasn’t all that great and play calling was susspect and these are the same issues that we are still seeing. Wouldn’t it make sense to run the football more since out qb is new to the system? What ever happened to Hughes,Jonas Gray and Cierre? If there were used properly we would be fine. I like Armando but we need big power backs there to compliment him. I hope the running game gets fixed otherwise we will have a long year. Last but not least if someone that has been playing for the past 4 games and hasn’t done much should be benched. There are alot of players that would love to have that their spots.
Go Irish

To Dan:
            Are you a general fan of just undefeated football? You give off a somewhat stale wisdom of the ages type of mentality regarding the “down the drain” evaluation of Notre Dame.
     Dan, take a sound moment or two and consider: Notre Dame lost to three teams with unbeaten records of four straight each. These three teams will be in the fight for several weeks; they are all champion teams. So, Notre Dame loses to two of them by a total margin of seven points. Stanford is big, tough and likely a BCS contender; they played extremely well and earned three hard touchdowns.
 Now, Notre Dame will beat those they are likely to beat and two of them, Utah and SC, will be cliffhangers. Try not to be quite so depressing, Dan. There is still lots of good football left in the Irish.

Throughout many of the decades, Notre Dame, when they have most been successful, has dominated on defense. Dan went to school when that happened with Ara coming in 1964. From 64-66, the Irish won one outright NC (66) with another partial credit for ’64. The scoring totals for those three years – 919 to 188 – and the Irish won 23, lost 3, tied 2. Wow!

While offenses have changed and it’s much harder to dominate on defense that way, many of us have his perspective in wanting the Irish to play the way that produced those results. I’m not giving up on Kelly or this team after only four games, but there is a precedent for winning.

I have seen smashmouth football from this team this year. I am ready for some hard-hitting dominant football, too – something that makes a verb from a name – “He’s been Te’oed.”

Having spent the past 17 years with out the Irish competing for a NC and 10+ years of “roller coastering” between signs of hope and rock bottom, I just don’t believe it’s realistic, at this point, to assume any game on this years schedule is a win except for WMU, Tulsa and Army.

Given Kellys response to several questions, i.e. repeatedly answering with "execution, making plays, or the most recent shot in the heart: “fitting the ball into tight seems”, I see the potential for the offense to really struggle due to the fact that it doesn’t appear that Kelly wants to develop his offense to his teams strengths. Instead, its “here is my offense, we’ll go as far as the qb can take us”. Therefore, I see the possibility of 1. not DEVELOPING an adequate running game and 2. Crist having good games, and Crist having bad games, leaving me to believe that several of the games on the schedule are a 50/50 draw at this point.

I hope that I am wrong.

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