hoopsstar12 said:

If we didn't have the injuries to key players and Leonard wasn't annointed the starting QB, we clearly had an A+ lineup that would have competed for the title. No doubt about it. If we get into the playoffs we have an outside shot at winning. How would more NIL money solve the injury bug and the choice of QB by the coaches?

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Really? The offense is rolling. The QB choice was clearly the right one.

Telx1 said:

If I’m Vandy…smelling blood in the water. This could be a really interesting game. Does LSU rally and take out all their frustration on underdog Vandy, or does Vandy smell blood and exploit the LSU OL and pull off another upset? Kelly simply has to come out of this game with a win at home.

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Especially Clark Lea knows Kelly’s go to plays. Like the deep fade in the end zone.

sjb75 said:

I’ve followed Lane since he was an OC at USC and being fired as a head coach at USC.

Great comeback story, and IMO, a damn good head coach.

He’s perfect for a place like Oxford, Mississippi.

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I’ve never liked Kiffin, and add in his lying and firing as the Raiders head coach…his leaving Tennessee, his firing at USC…etc; but he’s always been a great offensive mind and play caller. I don’t know if he’s become a better character, but he’s definitely matured and become a damn good head coach. Mississippi is a great place for him, but doubt that’s his last gig. Some LSU fans are bitching that Kelly was hired instead of Kiffin. Kiffin at LSU would be scary.

THUNDERSTRUCK111 said:

I took a look at army’s roster. Do they get more scholarship players or something. I saw they had like 20 + running backs on the roster I was looking at.

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They are a service academy. Therefore there are no athletes on scholarship. Everyone is. Some guys are recruited specifically for football and they help them with the admissions/appointments. Others try out for the team. I'm interested to see how the 105 rule impacts them moving forward.

chaseball said:

This is why players should be earning millions of dollars as soon as they reach the FBS because this is a violent sport and all it takes is one hit to ruin your entire career all the while you are making millions to billions of dollars collectively for your school as soon as you're about 18 years old

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Not millions but something. Right now it's over the top.

I am glad Kelly is gone. He always made excuses why he couldn't compete. He leaves Freeman's staff has brought in top notch defensive backs. The roster seems to be deeper then in the recent past. Kelly turning purple on the side lines wore my ass out. Good luck down in the bayou...

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IU has big money behind the football program. Cig has never had a losing record as a head coach. IU has several underclassmen performing at a high level. Great continuity on the coaching staff. His new package included more money for his staff. The financial impact for the IU community has been substantial. I think it was a smart move. Cig wants this to be his last stop. Why not?

Telx1 said:

If I’m Vandy…smelling blood in the water. This could be a really interesting game. Does LSU rally and take out all their frustration on underdog Vandy, or does Vandy smell blood and exploit the LSU OL and pull off another upset? Kelly simply has to come out of this game with a win at home.

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Brian Kelly tends to have seasons where he's all in or all out (thinking of some of the up and down seasons during the first half or so of his ND career).

LSU literally has nothing to play for at this point. It wouldn't surprise me if they've collectively mailed it in and LSU has one of those seasons where the bottom just kind of falls out from under it only to return next year refreshed and better than ever.

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To add to my last post.

If I was NDs version of Larry Ellison i would give them a cool $30M restricted donation for just the '25 class to be used only on 5-star and high 4-star WRs, QBs, and Edge rushers to add to what they are fielding now to get them into that tier 1 of teams where they could reasonably have a chance to win a national title

**** Kelly and LSU.

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Golson5 said:

ND is still 9 and 1 while LSU is still 6 and 4

ND has Marcus Freeman as the head coach while LSU still has Brian Kelly

Advantage ND

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If I’m Vandy…smelling blood in the water. This could be a really interesting game. Does LSU rally and take out all their frustration on underdog Vandy, or does Vandy smell blood and exploit the LSU OL and pull off another upset? Kelly simply has to come out of this game with a win at home.

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hoopsstar12 said:

If we didn't have the injuries to key players and Leonard wasn't annointed the starting QB, we clearly had an A+ lineup that would have competed for the title. No doubt about it. If we get into the playoffs we have an outside shot at winning. How would more NIL money solve the injury bug and the choice of QB by the coaches?

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I dont think ND lacks warm bodies even with the injuries. They are stacked with a ton of good players. What they lack are great players though. And the tier 1 and tier 2 teams are loaded with them.

More NIL budget would allow ND to replace some of these good players with elite difference makers at the high end.

IrishMike409 said:

I think this ND team can play with anyone in the country.

Depending on how the bracket shakes out, we can certainly get into Rd 2 or the Final 4. At that point, we gotta play well, and win the 60 minutes in front of us.

ND is big, physical, can run the ball, plays great D, and takes the ball away at a high clip......there is no team out there that I look at, and think "we can't beat them".

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I agree. Depending on how the bracket shakes out we might not see one of those top 5-6 teams until the last round or two. But what value is there in winning a couple of rounds of playoff games only to be a major underdog at some point and predictably get beat ?

I guess i'd rather watch ND win some playoff games than not, but at what point does ND do what it takes to bridge the gap so that they have more of a 50-50 chance instead of a 30-70 chance when they inevitably run into a higher tier team?

And for the record here is how i would 'tier' the playoff level teams through week 12 (using F+):

tier 1: OSU
tier 2: Oregon, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss
tier 3: Georgia, PSU, Notre Dame
tier 4: Indiana, Miami, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Clemson

ND is a back end tier 3 team (and would be an underdog vs all the teams listed ahead of them to one degree or another).

If we didn't have the injuries to key players and Leonard wasn't annointed the starting QB, we clearly had an A+ lineup that would have competed for the title. No doubt about it. If we get into the playoffs we have an outside shot at winning. How would more NIL money solve the injury bug and the choice of QB by the coaches?

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