Amos Alonzo Stagg first said that after the University of Chicago's game against Wabash in 1905.” “Statistics are for losers and assistant coaches. ... Just a month earlier, the other pro coach in town, the Giants' Allie Sherman, was quoted as saying, “Statistics are for losers.
100 percent of Dudes hate the Eagles.
Or is it even worth distinguishing between them anymore?
You forgot that. And several had an off week before they played us. Oh, and Navy uses chop blocks.
at least the "Political Philosophy" section.
FSU, Toledo, Vtech. Oh, Cincy was more than a one score loss too. Look at all the respect they are getting on the national stage.
Compared to all of the FBS teams ND is of course not "terrible". But is that the standard? Definitely not. We should be elite, and compared to the elite teams we are nowhere close. That's truly all that matters here. It's great that Kelly is better than his predecessors, but it's not good enough.
I'll simplify your "info" for you - ND failed against the one team on the schedule worth a damn. Sounds familiar.
If all posts on this board were critical of the football program and coach in this fashion, I would have no problems whatsoever with the board. It's when people stretch hyperbole to the point of ridiculousness (e.g., "Kelly is the worst coach ND has ever had," or posts to that effect) that the board starts to go off the rails.
This team would get completely exposed in the playoff and we'd have another data point proving why they didn't belong.
...than to have lost to Cincinnati.
Unless it's the ACC champ.
It's probably going to be the ACC champ. If Cincinnati ends up being blackballed from the CFP again, they'll be going to the Fiesta Bowl because they were in the Peach last year, and they're not going to arrange a rematch.
It would only be natural for the ACC champ to go to the Peach (the Orange being a semifinal this year), so there you go.
If ND matches up against UGA, Alabama, or OSU, then I'll agree with you. Anyone other than those three, I think ND would hold its own just fine.
True, only if we continue to improve.
I guess I'm just not impressed with any other teams outside UGA, Alabama, and OSU this year. My comment is really not so much praise for ND as it is an indictment against the rest of the college football field.
Could ND lose a NY6 game against Okie State? Sure. Will ND get "housed" -- I really doubt that.
But they'll get the 4 spot barring something flukey, like a bedlam loss.
UM will have another loss, we won't be rematched with Cincy, maybe we'd get Bama if they lose to UGa?
They'll wind up in the Sugar Bowl if they win their CCG. The Sugar Bowl is contractually tied into SEC vs. Big XII, so we have no shot at that game. The only possible way we face OU in a bowl game is if they don't win the Big XII.
For my money, Oklahoma State is the most likely Big XII opponent in a bowl game. Even that is somewhat unlikely, though. Most likely, they would have to beat Oklahoma at Bedlam and then lose in the CCG. IF they beat Oklahoma twice, they'll win the conference and get the Sugar Bowl bid. If they lose twice, they'll probably fall far enough to be out of the running for a NY6 bid.
with that same QB like two weeks ago?
We don't belong this year.
We still hover between suck and mediocre against a pathetic schedule.
given that the average ranking of the teams they've played won't be 25 or less.
I'm the opposite.
should be the title of your post.
Wisconsin as an example of a #2 defense when they have padded their stats against: Eastern Michigan, Army, Illinois and Purdue is not an achievement. When Wisconsin has played decent teams: Notre Dame (41), and Michigan (38) they have not looked good on defense. Iowa and Penn State have proven to be mediocre at best.
Toledo has played absolutely no one and they just gave up 52 points to Eastern Michigan.
None of this matters by the way. If we were to play any of the following teams: Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, and probably Ohio State and Oregon we would lose and most would be blowouts if the opposing team had time to prepare, e.g. a playoff. Winning the stats battle is nice I guess but I am unmoved by year 11 of Camp Kelly.
As Chuckles used to say...“You are what you are folks"
Right now, we're a football team that beats up on weaklings/mediocre teams and wins the stats battle. When we play anyone with a pulse in a game that matters we have enough evidence to know the most likely result. For people who know Notre Dame's historical place at the table it won't and can't be good enough. No lipstick on the stats pig will change that.
against mediocre teams. You could also probably find a dozen ( random number selection) that do so on offense. My point was intended to show that while the "offense" has not been lights out, you have to play whomever is in front of you. Navy has a terrible defense and we should score at will. Similarly their offense ( run, run and run) is not the juggernaut of past years.
Play the game and let's see how the cards shake out. And yes this team is not to our usual level. Go Irish..beat Navy.
I don't think you're going to get much disagreement there. Because your position is not particularly bold. When you look at our opponents teams against .500 or better ACC opponents, our performance is toward the top end of a bad conference, but it isn't by any means impressive.
Against teams with a pulse, Va. Tech has given up 10 to UNC, 27 to WV, 32 to ND, 28 to Pitt, 41 to Syracuse. So we're better than average in the teams with a pulse category.
FSU has given up 35 against Wake, 38 (in regulation) against ND, 31 against Louisville, 30 against Cuse, 25 against UNC, 30 against Clemson. In the teams with a pulse we are tops but well within the range of how others have performed. Again Clemson has had a dogshit offense.
UNC has given up 17 to Va Tech, 39 to UVA, 35 to FSU, 42 to Miami. It also gave up 45 to 3-5 Ga. Tech. Our 44 is at the top end of what they've given up, but still in the range of what they've given up to 4-4 and 3-5 teams.
Also, we scored a non-offensive TD against Purdue. Our 20 points compares with Oregon State's 21, Minnesota's 20, Nebraska's 23. Wisconsin's 13 isn't surprising; their offense blows.
Wisconsin is the main outlier. Our 24 offensive points is better than PSU's 16, Purdue's 13, Iowa's 7, and worse than Michigan's 38. There's actually a reasonable gap between what we've done and what those below us collectively have done. Though we're still well below Michigan.
In short, this exercise doesn't tell us anything we don't already know. Our scoring offense is a little above average. Meanwhile, our yards per game and ypp are right about average or a little below average. These are trailing indicators for how our scoring performance might change over a full year.
The other 21 points came from return touchdowns.
I didn't see it accounted for in the original post. So obviously my Purdue summary should be adjusted accordingly.
That surely would have occured had spme other QB started
In the first part of the season, Jack Coan looked awful running the offense. The plays being called for him did not maximize his strengths.
The choices, it would seem, would be to either change the quarterback (and both Buchner and Pyle showed some affinity for the offense being run) or make major changes in the offense.
If you foresaw Rees making those major changes, congratulations, because you're probably the only one who did.
And I'm assuming those stats from the opponents even include an FCS team as an opponent of our opponent in one of those games.
Not sure why it's supposed to be impressive we're outperforming the average opponent. FYI, if people on here complain we're "terrible", nobody means it compared to the average college football team. They mean it compared to ND's historical standards and/or the top current programs. ND is currently in the top 10% of FBS teams percentile-wise. That'd be nice if you're Oklahoma State and reason to throw a parade if you're Wake Forest. But not ND.
Also, claiming we scored 41 on Wisconsin offensively (as you allude with your "#2 defense" notation) is disingenuous at best. And that "more solid team than you thought" Toledo is currently 4-5 in the MAC and lost to Eastern Michigan at home last night.
Most of those teams suck. Who cares if we score more than the average a team allows if that team is terrible?
Oh, and, Toledo is a more solid team than you thought? They're 4-5 and just lost to Eastern Michigan.
my need to put in proper grammatical sentences. I am properly chastised.
My bad.
Upon opening the post: Nope. Not going to do it.