This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

banmate6 said:

You are correct about BK getting ND back to top 15. But ND got routed in big games vs decent opponents all too often under BK...no way was he overcoming that. ND lacked composure, grit, and the most effective game plan relative to roster, all on BK.

MF has ND much more competitive relative to competition. Clearly the players bleed for him. Sure, he's doing it on a foundation built by BK, no argument...but to say MF is chasing is wrong, as MF has in this run surpassed BK, winning 2 playoff games where I believe BK would have choked.

Click to expand...

That's wrong, you are mischaracterizing ND's previous playoff defeats. They weren't 'decent' teams. All three of our playoff losses, including 2012 Bama. Dominant all year, and won the national title. You know who was a 'decent' team, the UGA team we just beat. They were merely decent, the other teams BK lost to were dominant. That's basically a matter of fact, and transcends any personal opinion. So that's just wrong. It's incorrect.

Smart got outcoached. Just admit it.

banmate6 said:

MF has the fortune of coaching during an evolving NIL & transfer environment better distributing talent. ND has improved while the factories, except Ohio State, for obvious reasons, have gone down. MF still has coached ND to be > the sum of the parts...which is the best a coach can do.

That said, Georgia is still a good team, a legit top 10. Perhaps a legit top 5, even without Beck and having to play Stockton.

Click to expand...

Do you believe NIL benefits Freeman and ND? I don't know what to believe, as I keep hearing ND is "competitive" but not as competitive as others and it appears ND may miss out on some top recruits because of this. But again I don't know how much of this is true. I bring this up, because while I think Freeman recruits very well, ND is still struggling to land some 5 star guys and that surprises me given how charismatic Freeman is. I would be very curious as to how well Freeman would have recruited pre-NIL era.

Interesting you bring up the portal. On one hand, I feel like ND is at a disadvantage as they don't take undergraduate transfers (not yet anyway). And seeing Bama lose a bunch of guys makes me think it may be harder for new coaches to build up their program and accomplish their vision. However, one can also make the argument that guys leaving is an addition by subtraction, so it does require nuance. The point I'm making is, ND seldom loses its top players to the portal. We rarely see a guy transfer to be an All-American elsewhere. The culture/bond at ND I think is much stronger than other places and that is where the portal is actually advantageous for ND. Freeman won't have to worry about losing his top guys.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

Golson5 said:

Tossup before the game smart guy. And yes it was a tossup game. 1.5 point spread. So is PSU. You are using hindsight

Yes. Are you saying you would turn down an extra day or 2 of rest for Love,Cross, KVA, Spindler and Schrauth ? Let's see how honest you are here

If you had the option, you could have 6 days between games or 8. Are you going to try to say that you or MF would say nah I'd rather my guys not have the extra couple days to try and get to 100 percent

Any sane person could obviously see that. It's as obvious as can be

Click to expand...

Once again, spread means nothing to me and has nothing to do w/ this conversation. Meaningless points there.

And how in the world is a 13 point win a toss up? No one is saying ND got lucky here. They won in a convincing fashion. That ain't no tossup man. Yeah, I am using hindsight. Kinda have to, since the game happened in the past. So what?

I noticed you ignored my question about you speaking for Freeman's preferences. Be honest here. LOL.

Once again, I don't give a crap about how many days rest I get. I don't worry about things I can't control such as rest or seeding. I actually think 7 days to prepare could be advantageous here, as it keeps them in their regular routine. I'll use evidence to support my point once again. Freeman said before the playoffs started he talked to Holtz about how to prepare and Holtz told Freeman you must keep the players in a routine. Also, back when I was coaching JUCO ball we had two back to back seasons where we had to play 10 straight weeks of games before the playoffs and everyone else on our schedule had a bye week at some point. And we played in a very competitive conference. Reflecting on that, the coaching staff and I actually felt like the 10 straight weeks toughened our guys up and we had successful years back to back. And yeah we were banged up at times, but our guys sucked it up and played through it.

If you have a legit injury such as an ankle sprain, which usually takes 4-6 weeks to heal from an extra day or two ain't gonna help ya. An extra day or two just allows some bumps/bruises to reduce in swelling, which is another reason why I think rest advantage is overblown.

Back to the point of the thread, the question is whether or not it's advantageous to have an extra day of rest. Once again, there is too much evidence to say that rest gives you wins. It's the preparation that matters and I have now referenced Freeman, Holtz, and my own coaching experience in supporting my opinion.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

Franklin is a goober. He's a legitimate dork. But he's been a good coach for them. Not only could it be worse for PSU with someone else, but it probably would be.

He does win the games he is supposed to but repeatedly falls short against the Ohio States and Michigans. They did beat Michigan this year I believe.

christophero said:

I do think we were somewhat fortunate to catch Georgia without their QB and in a somewhat down year for them. They did win the SEC but seem more inconsistent than their recent dominant teams. Still a great victory on a big stage. We really took it to them from the start.

Click to expand...

MF has the fortune of coaching during an evolving NIL & transfer environment better distributing talent. ND has improved while the factories, except Ohio State, for obvious reasons, have gone down. MF still has coached ND to be > the sum of the parts...which is the best a coach can do.

That said, Georgia is still a good team, a legit top 10. Perhaps a legit top 5, even without Beck and having to play Stockton.

My non ND friends made fun of me whenever ND would play a big game and get exposed, so yes I remember that well.

christophero said:

Franklin has a well deserved reputation for not winning big games. I have a friend who is a PSU fan who can't stand him.

Click to expand...

Yeah but I will say that PSU fans are a very fickle bunch. lol.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

savvyandsassier said:

BK made it to the championship game once, and the semifinals twice, so MF has a lot of catching up to do, he hasn't shattered anything.

After BK handed him, nay gifted him, an already annually playoff contending program, with which MF took the obligatory couple steps back first before returning us to where we already were before.

Click to expand...

You are correct about BK getting ND back to top 15. But ND got routed in big games vs decent opponents all too often under BK...no way was he overcoming that. ND lacked composure, grit, and the most effective game plan relative to roster, all on BK.

MF has ND much more competitive relative to competition. Clearly the players bleed for him. Sure, he's doing it on a foundation built by BK, no argument...but to say MF is chasing is wrong, as MF has in this run surpassed BK, winning 2 playoff games where I believe BK would have choked.

HDK said:

They didn't exactly race out onto the field. There was a pause before they trotted out. It took them a few seconds to line up. I'd imagine in the future, teams will respond to a mass substitution like ND pulled by sauntering out to the field to try to force a delay of game.

Click to expand...

I would hope/guess the refs would just let the offense snap the ball at some point. Tall task to figure out just how much time they get, but I think it’s easily defendable if everyone can see the other team is purposely trying to get a delay penalty against the offense.

OK... aside from the bickering... there is some thoughtful posts here.

I just got finished watching Freemans presser and he was asked about the "short" week and his answer was, pretty much perfect. Its not much different than any other 7 day turn around during the season and its not like PSU was on a bye.

The other noteworthy comment was that we came out of the Georgia game pretty healthy. GOOD NEWS.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

sjb75 said:

Well, I was stunned that the first roughing the punter call early was only 5 yards. Young took the punter apart.

That stuff goes both ways, IMO.

Click to expand...

The ole nd hater still here. Why?

Shakin' Down the Thunder said:

Oh no don't remind me of Willingham. Mr. I prefer to golf than recruit. Those were some dark times.

Click to expand...

It still pains me too. Especially because some of these Brian Kelly excuse makers would lobby to keep him on longer.