Drinking The Green Koolaid said:

Maybe this is a Rohrschach test and we all see the ink blots differently. RL's teammates have spoken highly of his leadership skills. This past summer RL invited all the receivers (along with CJ Carr and Deuce Knight) to his home in Alabama so that they could all train with Philip Rivers for one week. That isn't something RL had to do, but speaks of his leadership qualities. As for the "bland rich kid" comment, I don't know much about RL's parents, but I read somewhere that his mom was a teacher that works with the developmentally disabled. Doesn't sound like silver spoon stuff to me. He is a nice kid and you want to hold that against him?

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I'm not ripping him, he seems great. But he doesn't have a strong, independent personality, very visibly. That's all I meant to say. He seems like a good guy, and a solid trooper, happy go lucky most of the time, and a bit disappointed or chagrined if something goes wrong. Maybe it's because as a QB, it's hard to assert 'leadership', as it were, in a really impactful way, if you're too much of a liability as a passer. He's more like, a solid cog in the machine of this offense. A running QB, who's asked to complete very makable throws in comfortable situations, and help keep the offense moving. And so he plays his role. As opposed to some QB who the offense centers around and really leads the team in a more alpha fashion and they'd be lost without him.

And so I don't hold anything against him. I just don't shower him with inappropriate praise. I'm not in the habit of doing that. I live in reality.

chaseball said:

After I posted this thread I ended up not finishing the game and going out for the night

I checked the score a few hours later and I'm shocked to see that LSU got completely ran over in the second half.

I think LSU is a really good program with some really good players incoming in 2025. I think they're going to be a legit force going forward under Brian Kelly

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LOL I'm sure you do

mva5580 said:

I love how this happens every single year when “Insert average ND QB name here” has a run of games against mediocre talent.

Good for him; he’s had a decent run against teams competing for the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripes Bowl. And yes, that’s a real name.

That’s what he SHOULD be doing. Excuse me if I don’t jump up and down that he plays well against Navy. There’s no “Think how good he could be next year” scenario; it’s 1 year and that’s it. I thought ND fans expected to compete for championships? I’ll express excitement when they get a QB that is the reason they win against the big teams. Anything else is the floor for expectations. Not the ceiling.

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Like Texas A&M ?

Pennick4 said:

He is playing really well! Seems like a great leader.

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Only a few tentative passes yesterday- big improvement

sjb75 said:

The narrative by some posters matters. Posting that Army’s defense is ranked #11 in the country isn’t worth a direct response.

Notre Dame’s 12 game schedule isn’t as soft as some say; however, there is nothing tough about this schedule. When you play Florida St., Virginia, and Army after Navy, consider the schedule pedestrian.

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Isn't USC Ped states best win ?

ZibbyQuinn said:

Where’s Chase

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After I posted this thread I ended up not finishing the game and going out for the night

I checked the score a few hours later and I'm shocked to see that LSU got completely ran over in the second half.

I think LSU is a really good program with some really good players incoming in 2025. I think they're going to be a legit force going forward under Brian Kelly

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mrwigglesby21 said:

No way could Jimbo be considered a politician. He was definitely referring to Kelly with that one word. I assume he was talking about both throughout.

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When you are paid 77,562,500.00 to not work, you’re a politician in the truest sense of the word.

raulduke_007 said:

Its either Jimbo or Kelly either way shots fired
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Jimbo Fisher.

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IrishMike409 said:

I think he's tough and gritty as hell.

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Why, exactly? What blood and guts situations where our backs were against the wall, and he had to limp out there against all odds and rally us back to victory or something. Nothing, nothing even close to that. It's just been easy smooth sailing. Fairly effortless, almost like practice games. It's nothing against him as a human being, but where would the grit and toughness come in? He's good natured, and boyish, and not arrogant or flaky or anything like that. And thanks to Denbrock he's being well utilized and not asked/forced to do things he can't. Or be in a situation where grit and toughness would even be applicable.

mva5580 said:

I love how this happens every single year when “Insert average ND QB name here” has a run of games against mediocre talent.

Good for him; he’s had a decent run against teams competing for the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripes Bowl. And yes, that’s a real name.

That’s what he SHOULD be doing. Excuse me if I don’t jump up and down that he plays well against Navy. There’s no “Think how good he could be next year” scenario; it’s 1 year and that’s it. I thought ND fans expected to compete for championships? I’ll express excitement when they get a QB that is the reason they win against the big teams. Anything else is the floor for expectations. Not the ceiling.

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Really well said.

I love how this happens every single year when “Insert average ND QB name here” has a run of games against mediocre talent.

Good for him; he’s had a decent run against teams competing for the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripes Bowl. And yes, that’s a real name.

That’s what he SHOULD be doing. Excuse me if I don’t jump up and down that he plays well against Navy. There’s no “Think how good he could be next year” scenario; it’s 1 year and that’s it. I thought ND fans expected to compete for championships? I’ll express excitement when they get a QB that is the reason they win against the big teams. Anything else is the floor for expectations. Not the ceiling.

Drinking The Green Koolaid said:

Maybe this is a Rohrschach test and we all see the ink blots differently. RL's teammates have spoken highly of his leadership skills. This past summer RL invited all the receivers (along with CJ Carr and Deuce Knight) to his home in Alabama so that they could all train with Philip Rivers for one week. That isn't something RL had to do, but speaks of his leadership qualities. As for the "bland rich kid" comment, I don't know much about RL's parents, but I read somewhere that his mom was a teacher that works with the developmentally disabled. Doesn't sound like silver spoon stuff to me. He is a nice kid and you want to hold that against him?

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Really well said.

savvyandsassier said:

Really, what leadership and mojo does he have? I see nothing of the sort. He seems like a generally good natured, bland rich kid, who likes to blend in, and who does his thing well enough, in this case that means playing QB at ND, and distinctively not being a charismatic or bold type person at all. He couldn't be any more of an ideally non-threatening, milktoast ND type person.

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I think he's tough and gritty as hell.

savvyandsassier said:

Really, what leadership and mojo does he have? I see nothing of the sort. He seems like a generally good natured, bland rich kid, who likes to blend in, and who does his thing well enough, in this case that means playing QB at ND, and distinctively not being a charismatic or bold type person at all. He couldn't be any more of an ideally non-threatening, milktoast ND type person.

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Maybe this is a Rohrschach test and we all see the ink blots differently. RL's teammates have spoken highly of his leadership skills. This past summer RL invited all the receivers (along with CJ Carr and Deuce Knight) to his home in Alabama so that they could all train with Philip Rivers for one week. That isn't something RL had to do, but speaks of his leadership qualities. As for the "bland rich kid" comment, I don't know much about RL's parents, but I read somewhere that his mom was a teacher that works with the developmentally disabled. Doesn't sound like silver spoon stuff to me. He is a nice kid and you want to hold that against him?

NDinNJ said:

That ranking is skewed.. Look at their schedule and who they've played. Let's be realistic here, ND should beat Army the way they did Navy. We need to seriously stop playing up this schedule as something it's not. Like with Navy, the talent disparity between ND and and Army is enormous.

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The narrative by some posters matters. Posting that Army’s defense is ranked #11 in the country isn’t worth a direct response.

Notre Dame’s 12 game schedule isn’t as soft as some say; however, there is nothing tough about this schedule. When you play Florida St., Virginia, and Army after Navy, consider the schedule pedestrian.

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christophero said:

Other than Georgia, Texas, and Oregon I think we can compete with anyone. And our defense could slow those teams down. Ohio State and Penn State have looked vulnerable. LSU looks good. Texas is only up 7 on Vandy.

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Don't forget that O$U was a botched last play away from beating Oregon on the road. Georgia lost to Bama who seems not as good as usual and Texas was manhandled in the trenches by Georgia. What am I saying? ND may be able to compete with anyone this year... or they could lost at home to Northern Illinois.

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FightingIrish44 said:

I think ND will still be #12 or perhaps #11. Everyone else won. LSU will drop behind ND but Indiana will probably jump ND.

I just don’t want to see A&M jump ND. Outside of a 12-1 record, A&M has no business being ahead of ND.

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I wouldn't be surprised if A&M jumped us and moved into the top 10. A few weeks ago, LSU did that very thing, after beating Ole Miss.

Some of these voters seem to want a certain number of SEC teams in the top 10, no matter what.

So we're unlikely to move up much today.