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Notre Dame favored by 11.5 vs Purdue

Tough call. A&M put up 13 with a bad QB. NIU put up 16 with less talent but a good QB and gameplan.

Maybe ND runs the ball more this week keeping Purdue off the field. ND’s DB’s can lock down Purdue I’d imagine, but I’m not sold on the linebackers or the defense as a whole.

17.5 is a crappy number but I’d favor Purdue covering that. Not sure I’d bet it though but would pick PU to cover if I had to pick.

Leonard’s Shoulder Injury

OK, now being reported that Leonard damaged his left shoulder labrum. I’m sure we all can remember the play in the first qtr where he was thrown down such that he landed on his left shoulder and got up wincing. It’s not his throwing shoulder and he reportedly had a shot into that joint during the game? This clearly explains why he was no longer part of the running game after his first TD drive success. Take away his running, and you have an average Passer, at best.

I’ve had multiple shoulder labrum tears, and they hurt like hell with certain movements, and the pain shuts down your involved muscle. If this was to Leonard’s throwing shoulder, we would then have an obvious answer for his poor and weak throws. But this is to his non throwing shoulder. I said in an earlier post that his weak throw that led to his second interception which gave them the game, was inexplicable because it was ten to fifteen yards under thrown. Perhaps the left should injury explains the inexplicable!

Take away Leonardo’s running ability and threat, and our entire offensive game plan changes, and defenses once again will stack the box to stop the run. This is a critical week for Freeman and Denbrock to decide which qb gives us the best chance to win, irrespective of post college career implications.

High Praise for ND from an Aggie Podcaster

Good posts throughout and I always enjoy reading your thoughts and analysis on ND football.

I do however disagree with the Texas A&M win being a "confirmation that ND is a very good team"

Texas A&M is ranked 21st according to latest F+ ranking (through week 2).

Texas A&M recruited really well under Jimbo Fisher and there are still some really highly rated players on their roster, but that whole program has been in disarray for years now, and they are under an entirely new regime with tons of roster attrition, learning a new scheme, new culture, etc.

They are more of a program we should beat in year 3 under MF to confirm that ND isn't a bad team .. but that's probably as far i would go with it.
To add to this post: here's the measuring stick I like to use when I'm trying to determine how good a win is, a recruiting class is, a talent ranking, a position group, etc.

I call it " how would a current tier 1 team (we'll go with OSU, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas in 2024) fans' feel if "
  • ....They lost to NIU by 2 points at home
  • ....they brought in a former 3 star ACC transfer QB
  • ....beat this present A&M team by 10 points on the road
  • ....qb, rb, wr, etc. room looked like the current one at Notre Dame
  • ....if they finished with a #12 ranked recruiting class
  • ....ceased all of the best prospects in a class to their competitors
  • ....brought in XYZ coordinator from XYZ program, or lost XYZ coordinator to XYZ program
  • etc. etc. etc.
You get the idea...

This is the measuring stick I like to use when seizing up the program.

High Praise for ND from an Aggie Podcaster

European soccer couldn't be any more popular and they have the same model and always have and the best, richest clubs have always dominated. They implemented some sort of spending limit regime in some leagues not that it's made any difference. And it's been ever thus in CFB with dominant powers always being dominant, always hoarding the best players and always monopolizing the MNC, and it's seemingly gotten even more popular in the last ten, twenty years when it's become even more one-sided. So I think that this article is stupid. What they say made CFB popular is not what makes it popular. It's just high level tackle football, it's a popular spectator sport. There's nothing like it in the world. If anything supercoferences might make it even more popular, with more substantial matchups and less throwaway games. I do wish they could find a way to keep the conferences regional and still find a way to make everyone happy financially.
As the game changes, enough older fans will ADAPT while younger ones WON'T KNOW FROM ANYTHING DIFFERENT.

And I agree that as long as the PRODUCT ON THE FIELD suits peoples' appetites, there will remain a MARKET.

It's been said and I'll say it again the 2nd and 1 play call was absolutely HORRIBLE

I blame Denbrock and Riley

Bad call. Awful throw

2nd at 1 at the 50 with the lead and the clock moving. Get the first down
And if the result of that second down and one play is a Touchdown, you would never say after the game...... "bad call..."

The only reason you do is because Riley Leonard missed bad.
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It's been said and I'll say it again the 2nd and 1 play call was absolutely HORRIBLE

But hes your golden boy. Reilly the dude with so much talent/potential, LOL. Are you going to continue to tell us he how great he is? Or admit once in your fricking life that you were wrong and the guy stinks
He does have talent/potential. It's 2 games into the season. 1 solid game. 1 terrible game.

Is the season over? Are we forfeiting the rest of the season?

I didn't hear that yet

High Praise for ND from an Aggie Podcaster

Interesting info in this link . . .

Unfortunately, THINGS CHANGE. And as more time elapses, no no knows -- OR EVEN CARES -- if it was for the better or not.

The CFB world you're born into is the one you know and measure the game by. That and to a lesser extent perhaps, the worlds of your father and grandfather.

If you were born in the pre-BCS era, the game has already changed dramatically, even as it continues to do so. For those born after that point, change, though it's been material, hasn't covered nearly as much ground nor has it veered away at all from its MUCH MORE SLICKLY MONETIZED post-BCS paradigm.

I can remember listening to Noam Chomsky once -- no, I'm a CENTRIST, not a RADICAL LEFT PROGRESSIVE -- who kept going on about how there had been a THRIVING WORKING CLASS PRESS in the 1930's. Who expects to see THAT again, or maybe even a THRIVING PRESS OF ANY KIND?

Football, along with everything else that SURVIVES in this country, follows the ALMOST IMMUTABLE LAWS of capitalism.

And what's rule number one?

FOLLOW THE MONEY.

Where's Golson5?

Quit listening to Brian Driscoll. Read actual scouting reports, what most NFL scouts think of Leonard, and not some weird exception. Even his report coming out of HS was that he didn't have a strong arm. You are complete tool. You know nothing about evaluating talent, you sir are a fraud.
He won the strong arm competition at the Manning camp. His arm is fine. That throw had nothing to do with arm strength

You said we were going to win that game by 50. Great evaluation of talent. I told you they were better than that

Nick Saban & Urban Meyer both available

Texas - before beating USC in 2005, previous natty was 1969 (I'm not giving them 1970 after we beat them in the Cotton Bowl)...46 years

Michigan - before 1997, previous natty was 1949...48 years...

It happens till the saviour comes along...we're waiting for the saviour, and being Catholic, we're used to it....
People been saying the same thing about Notre Dame post Rockne era until a coach comes along and maximizes the football program and ND goes on a dominant tier 1 run *yet again*. It's a story that spans the test of time and one of the reasons why people love & hate this football program so much.

This fan base is already supporting ND to a sales-and-ratings topper in a prodigiously wealthier industry while the product has been largely stale & subpar since at least the start of the 21st century.

Can you imagine if ND actually went into a season as a bonafide tier 1 team favored to win it all, with a heisman QB, and some first round CBs and edges all on the same defense?

ND is a sleeping RHINOCEROS. When we get the right leadership in here, with our rabid national fanbase, prestige, old-money, power, increasing academic reputation, etc. ND is going to go on a run like we've never seen. I just hope to still be alive when it happens.

Nick Saban & Urban Meyer both available

Last NC, 1988. Nuff said.
Texas - before beating USC in 2005, previous natty was 1969 (I'm not giving them 1970 after we beat them in the Cotton Bowl)...46 years

Michigan - before 1997, previous natty was 1949...48 years...

It happens till the saviour comes along...we're waiting for the saviour, and being Catholic, we're used to it....

Where's Golson5?

Riley has a good arm but has zero confidence in his throwing and reads (rightfully so) which is why he’s aiming the ball at times and his arm looks average.

It’s why he needs benched. Your qb in this game has to be confident.

He won’t even stay in a good pocket, so that shows where his mind and instincts are. He’s thinking about failure and getting hit vs stepping up and making a really good throw.

He’s clearly thinking about… don’t take a sack, don’t throw a pick, don’t make a mistake…. Vs seeing your self stepping up in the pocket and trusting protection (vs niu). Both sacks he could have stepped up and avoided
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