College Football thread

[Northern Star]

Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl? f***ing serious with this ********?

[Northern Star]

Close game...

[moonslav59]

My Domers took it on the chin, today.

 

Maybe next year.

[jacksonianmarch]

It was 3-3 at the end of the first quarter. Love and Okwara went out one after the other and we gave up 3 TDs in the 2nd quarter. That was the death of us for the most part. Love came back, but the animals were out of the barn by then. If we stayed full strength, I think we could have held their offense in check. Our offense was a different story. Clemson's strength was supposed to be the defensive line, then they lost their top 10 pick DT. The D line still got to Book. But the Tigers were only supposed to have 1 pro level DB, but their entire secondary shut down the Irish. Kelly and Long got outcoached on the offensive end. We tried the short stuff and seemed to do well, but every time we " took a shot", Book got sacked or had to throw it away. The DB's played off the WR's and wiped out all of our deep chances. I think we saw the difference between a good college offense and a pro speed style defense. Our offense is based on big WR's, possession slot guys and lumbering TE's. That's all well and good when you play most defenses and their short secondaries, but the Clemson secondary allowed no separation and bullied the Irish wide outs. I think we learned something great this year. An accurate QB who can run is far better than the athlete at QB with a big arm. But you can only ask a QB to do so much. You have to give him weapons capable of separating quickly. It is great to have Mack and Boykin, but those guys don't separate early. We need to take a page from Tom Brady and institute a quick passing game to go along with the power running game. Also, another year of experience for our green O line will be good. The biggest issue next year is we lose a lot of talent on the defensive end and clearly the second string will have to mature quickly

[moonslav59]

It was 3-3 at the end of the first quarter. Love and Okwara went out one after the other and we gave up 3 TDs in the 2nd quarter. That was the death of us for the most part. Love came back, but the animals were out of the barn by then. If we stayed full strength, I think we could have held their offense in check. Our offense was a different story. Clemson's strength was supposed to be the defensive line, then they lost their top 10 pick DT. The D line still got to Book. But the Tigers were only supposed to have 1 pro level DB, but their entire secondary shut down the Irish. Kelly and Long got outcoached on the offensive end. We tried the short stuff and seemed to do well, but every time we " took a shot", Book got sacked or had to throw it away. The DB's played off the WR's and wiped out all of our deep chances. I think we saw the difference between a good college offense and a pro speed style defense. Our offense is based on big WR's, possession slot guys and lumbering TE's. That's all well and good when you play most defenses and their short secondaries, but the Clemson secondary allowed no separation and bullied the Irish wide outs. I think we learned something great this year. An accurate QB who can run is far better than the athlete at QB with a big arm. But you can only ask a QB to do so much. You have to give him weapons capable of separating quickly. It is great to have Mack and Boykin, but those guys don't separate early. We need to take a page from Tom Brady and institute a quick passing game to go along with the power running game. Also, another year of experience for our green O line will be good. The biggest issue next year is we lose a lot of talent on the defensive end and clearly the second string will have to mature quickly

 

The replay killed us.

[Northern Star]

It was 3-3 at the end of the first quarter. Love and Okwara went out one after the other and we gave up 3 TDs in the 2nd quarter. That was the death of us for the most part. Love came back, but the animals were out of the barn by then. If we stayed full strength, I think we could have held their offense in check. Our offense was a different story. Clemson's strength was supposed to be the defensive line, then they lost their top 10 pick DT. The D line still got to Book. But the Tigers were only supposed to have 1 pro level DB, but their entire secondary shut down the Irish. Kelly and Long got outcoached on the offensive end. We tried the short stuff and seemed to do well, but every time we " took a shot", Book got sacked or had to throw it away. The DB's played off the WR's and wiped out all of our deep chances. I think we saw the difference between a good college offense and a pro speed style defense. Our offense is based on big WR's, possession slot guys and lumbering TE's. That's all well and good when you play most defenses and their short secondaries, but the Clemson secondary allowed no separation and bullied the Irish wide outs. I think we learned something great this year. An accurate QB who can run is far better than the athlete at QB with a big arm. But you can only ask a QB to do so much. You have to give him weapons capable of separating quickly. It is great to have Mack and Boykin, but those guys don't separate early. We need to take a page from Tom Brady and institute a quick passing game to go along with the power running game. Also, another year of experience for our green O line will be good. The biggest issue next year is we lose a lot of talent on the defensive end and clearly the second string will have to mature quickly

 

The animals were out of the barn?? Is that a quainter version of the horse had bolted?

[Northern Star]

I hate Alabama.

[moonslav59]

The biggest issue next year is we lose a lot of talent on the defensive end and clearly the second string will have to mature quickly.

 

We lose Dexter Williams (best RB) and Boykin Miles (best WR), but pretty much all the rest of the offense returns, including QB Book.

 

Yes, on defense, we lose some key talent, but only 3 starters on defense were seniors (Tillery, Coney and Asmar). Our whole Dbackfield returns. The Irish depth charts shows 10 of the 11 back-ups on D are under class men.

 

https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/depth-chart/notre-dame/91487

[jacksonianmarch]

Love is gonna declare. He is an absolute beast and a true shut down corner.

[moonslav59]

Love is gonna declare. He is an absolute beast and a true shut down corner.

 

That will hurt a lot, but I think we are going to be really good next year.

 

Here is our schedule for 2019:

 

09/02 - at Louisville

09/14 - New Mexico

09/21 - at Georgia

09/28 - Virginia

10/05 - Bowling Green

10/12 - USC

10/26 - at Michigan

11/02 - Virginia Tech

11/09 - at Duke

11/16 - Navy

11/23 - Boston College

11/30 - at Stanford

 

Only a couple patsies.

[Jasonbay44]

As I've been saying all season, I would be shocked if Alabama losses, that team is absolutely stacked.

[dgalehouse]

Alabama and Clemson have built dynasty football programs. Notre Dame , and the others, have a way to go to reach that level. It would help to have a big time quarterback. Ian Book did a nice job after taking over for the disappointing Brandon Wimbush , but he is not a big time , NFL caliber quarterback.

[moonslav59]

Alabama and Clemson have built dynasty football programs. Notre Dame , and the others, have a way to go to reach that level. It would help to have a big time quarterback. Ian Book did a nice job after taking over for the disappointing Brandon Wimbush , but he is not a big time , NFL caliber quarterback.

 

True, but maybe he gets batter for his senior year.

 

Alabama and Clemson do stand alone and have for a while.

[Northern Star]

Absolute garbage (what else?) from espn today telling us to take our fourth dose of Alabama/Clemson and love it. Nope.

[moonslav59]

Absolute garbage (what else?) from espn today telling us to take our fourth dose of Alabama/Clemson and love it. Nope.

 

Should be a good game, but you are right. This is horrible.

[jacksonianmarch]

Alabama and Clemson have built dynasty football programs. Notre Dame , and the others, have a way to go to reach that level. It would help to have a big time quarterback. Ian Book did a nice job after taking over for the disappointing Brandon Wimbush , but he is not a big time , NFL caliber quarterback.

 

He may be an NFL quarterback. He may end up a good NFL quarterback. He just doesn't have the tools of an elite NFL QB. Arm isn't big, doesn't run incredibly well, takes some time with decisions. The thing about him is his accuracy. It is hard to teach that. But my concern for him is weapons. Yes, he has some, but he needs to be transitioned into a quick decision scheme with guys who can take the top off the defense and then guys who can run routes out of the slot to be an effective safety valve. ND took advantage of a lot of defenses with their big WR's. They jumped over and outmuscled smaller guys. Book was the king of the back shoulder 20 yard pass. Well, that is fine when your O line is manhandling the D line. But if you're gonna beat Clemson or Bama, you have to be quick. Their D lines are frequently populated with top 10 picks and you wont have more than 3 seconds to decide before getting whalloped

[Northern Star]

I've been advocating for expanded playoffs, but this article is making me reconsider.

 

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/25664696/expanding-college-football-playoff-simply-create-more-blowouts

[Northern Star]

Wow, some really bad playcalling by Alabama. Not just that fake FG, but their final 4th down conversion attempt from the 2 yard line. Not that I think it mattered that much with how Clemson were playing.

[Jasonbay44]

I'm not entirely shocked Clemson won, but the fact they blew out Bama like that is mind blowing. Lawrence is going to be beast

[dgalehouse]

When Clemson trounced Notre Dame , people were quick to say that the Irish did not belong in the playoffs. Now they have trounced Alabama as well . The reality: Clemson is a really , really good football team. Number one without any doubt.

[moonslav59]

When Clemson trounced Notre Dame , people were quick to say that the Irish did not belong in the playoffs. Now they have trounced Alabama as well . The reality: Clemson is a really , really good football team. Number one without any doubt.

 

It's always hard to know how good some teams are, when they play a relatively weak schedule.

 

Look at UCF: nobody gives them credit, yet they almost pulled out a big bowl win without their MVP starting QB.

 

Conversely, everyone assumes that because Alabama plays so many very good SEC teams without ever losing, they must be the best.

 

College football is hard to figure out when everyone plays such a diverse schedule, and teams rapidly improve and decline over the course of a season

[Jasonbay44]

It's always hard to know how good some teams are, when they play a relatively weak schedule.

 

Look at UCF: nobody gives them credit, yet they almost pulled out a big bowl win without their MVP starting QB.

 

Conversely, everyone assumes that because Alabama plays so many very good SEC teams without ever losing, they must be the best.

 

College football is hard to figure out when everyone plays such a diverse schedule, and teams rapidly improve and decline over the course of a season

UFC also played an LSU team in the bowl game that was missing 9 defensive starters, including studs like Greedy Williams, who alone negates the QB being out, considering he is a top 10 NFL draft talent. UFC will still get no credit to me until they play a real schedule. It isn't impressive beating Community College level talents, and "almost" winning a bowl game against an LSU team who didn't even have a majority of their players, because they sat out to prepare for the draft and not risky injury.

[Jasonbay44]

Another absurd thing about Clemson - Dexter Lawrence, arguably their best player, didn't even play against Notre Dame or Bama because he was suspended... Clemson didn't miss a beat without him. I underestimated how good Clemson was this year, that QB they have is going to have NFL teams tanking for him.

[moonslav59]

UFC also played an LSU team in the bowl game that was missing 9 defensive starters, including studs like Greedy Williams, who alone negates the QB being out, considering he is a top 10 NFL draft talent. UFC will still get no credit to me until they play a real schedule. It isn't impressive beating Community College level talents, and "almost" winning a bowl game against an LSU team who didn't even have a majority of their players, because they sat out to prepare for the draft and not risky injury.

 

I hear you, but I wonder how many big teams would agree to play UFC. They'd have nothing to gain and everything to lose.

 

How easy is it for them to change into a better conference?

 

 

[Jasonbay44]

I hear you, but I wonder how many big teams would agree to play UFC. They'd have nothing to gain and everything to lose.

 

How easy is it for them to change into a better conference?

 

 

 

There really is no benefit for playing UFC. If they win, they were supposed to, if they lose, they'll never heard the end of it and UFC gains a lot from it. I doubt we'll see any good teams decide to play them, but that shouldn't mean UFC should be praised for going undefeated against literally nobody lol.

[moonslav59]

There really is no benefit for playing UFC. If they win, they were supposed to, if they lose, they'll never heard the end of it and UFC gains a lot from it. I doubt we'll see any good teams decide to play them, but that shouldn't mean UFC should be praised for going undefeated against literally nobody lol.

 

Maybe they need to try and play better but not great teams of get themselves into a legit conference.

 

Word is there is going to be a big conference shake up at some point- probably not this winter.

 

[mvp 78]

That time of year again.

 

Fight on!

[moonslav59]

My Domers may surprise, this year, but I doubt they have the horses to come close to winning it all.

[dgalehouse]

College football kicks off with its traditional " cupcake " weekend . Wherein the top teams enhance their rankings by destroying and humiliating thoroughly outmanned and inferior , albeit well compensated , opposition. All while trying, often in vain , to keep the games under four hours . And it most likely will end with yet another Alabama vs Clemson battle for all the glory . In between, there will be plenty of thrills .

[jacksonianmarch]

My Domers may surprise, this year, but I doubt they have the horses to come close to winning it all.

 

didn't know we rooted for the same squad. The Irish always have talent, but the game in Athens doesn't look promising IMO