I am sick of this shit. Let's go out and kick some ass today and end this major bowl losing streak!

You took a scholarship to play football for the school. They developed you into the player you‘ve become. If they are playing in a bowl game - aren’t you ethically obligated to play?

Here are tonight's Lucky Charms... Stay safe tonight, everyone.

*** We are less than 48 hours away from Los Angeles Loyola cornerback Ceyair Wright announcing his college decision. He will do so as part of NBC's broadcast that replaces the All-American Bowl which was cancelled this year due to COVID-19 related concerns. It will essentially be a show for several prospects to announce their destination. In terms of which school Wright will be choosing, I haven't got a great deal of concrete "scoop," but the four schools I continue to hear it's coming down to is Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon and USC.

*** Other than a couple of FutureCast picks from Michigan writers who peg Wright to land at Notre Dame, everything is pointing towards Wright choosing USC. Where I'm at as of writing this update is that Wright won't be choosing Notre Dame unless he really wanted to throw people off the scent of him landing in South Bend. Those on the Irish side of things are not confident here, but this recruitment has been hard to read since the beginning, so nothing here would surprise me... I guess we'll just have to see which school Wright selects on Saturday, but USC makes the most sense here in terms of his after-football aspirations and the close ties he has with USC's 2021 recruits and coaches.

*** I'm more and more confident that Metairie (La.) Rummel running back Logan Diggs will be officially announced as a part of Notre Dame's class. As I reported before Christmas, Notre Dame hasn't been in contact with San Diego running back Byron Cardwell for a while now. LSU already has a couple of running back signees, and I'm not expecting them to be able to make a move here going forward.

*** I'm not reporting any names at this time, but there's been some chatter here and there about some names that the Irish are interested in the transfer portal. I don't expect anything to really heat up until after Notre Dame's season is completed though, whether that be after tomorrow or potentially the national title game. And maybe there's more high school recruits out there that Notre Dame is after. Who knows these days. Recruiting has been nuts this year. Here's to 2021!

Seems like the loss to Clemson in the ACCCG has carried over for the past 2 weeks on the board. Of course, playing Alabama isn't doing much for the confidence level here, and there were many threads started during that time on the elite players they have, and how many points they're going to score, and how will ND ever move the ball etc., but I took this attitude:

Sure, I probably missed out on a lot of good points made by some very good posters, but I chose to immerse myself in the Ginger vs Mary Ann, and the McRib threads instead. Being the biggest underdogs in the history of the college football playoffs doesn't leave much hope for us, but I can say that I've never turned on an ND game thinking they were going to lose.

Nope, I'm not crazy. I guess it started for me when I was a kid. I always felt that no matter who the opponent was, or how much they were down by in the 4th quarter that they would come back and win. I guess that has carried through to my adult life, and it's the reason why I turn the game on every week.

So what needs to happen for us offensively to put us in a position to win? Controlling the game on the ground and eating clock? Sure, that would be the way to go, but it's not realistic. ND needs to have success on first down because it's going to open up the playbook for them on second down. We don't need to gash them for 5 yards a pop in the run game, but we need to get positive yardage, and make 3rd down more manageable.
ND needs to try different things today. One thing that I'd like to see is throwing a quick out to our TE or WR and picking up 4 yards that way - sort of an extension of the run game. If their LB's are up, then hit some crossing routes and let our receivers run with it. Utilize the TE until they take it away, and mix in our backs in the screen game or releasing out of the backfield. But, ND still needs big plays, and there will be a time for it, and when it comes, they'll need to take advantage of it.

The offense needs to capitalize on every opportunity. I was watching Florida and Oklahoma the other day, and Florida was making a comeback and was down by only 4 and had the ball on the Oklahoma 40 on third down. Trask puts one right on the money for a nice gain and a first down, but his receiver dropped it. They try a 58 yard FG and missed and Oklahoma scores 4 plays later - game over. In order for ND to win they can't miss opportunities.

Defensively for ND they need to stop everything lol. However, it will be a little different than the second Clemson game. In the first game they could concentrate on stopping Etienne in the run game. Enter Lawrence in the second game and that opened things up for him because now ND needed to pay attention to 2 with the threat of the read option. Mac Jones won't be a threat in that regard, so containing Najee Harris becomes a bit easier - at least one would hope. Constant pressure is how I would approach things. ND can get to the QB, and they need to take him out of his rhythm and have him lock onto 1 receiver. That's how turnovers happen, and ND needs a couple.

At kick-off expect temperatures to be in the high 60's with no wind and no chance of rain. Conditions will be the same in the 4th quarter. As a matter of fact, conditions will be the same from here on out.

I'm feeling lucky today. The Christmas tree is down, and the recliner is now in it's proper spot to watch the game. I already have the corned beef, cabbage, potatoes in the crock pot for additional good luck in this new year. ND is in the playoffs, and it may have limped in, but that's ok. They have a shot, and that's all you need. Start quick, don't fall behind early, and take advantage of your opportunities. I haven't put away the weather instruments for the season as I expect to use them one more time.

Happy New Year and Good Luck Everyone

GO IRISH!

Is what book should be. It obvious that the QB is the key to the team and if you have an average QB in big games you will look like a average team

Out of MontZona, it can be confirmed that @cheta41 did wake up this morning so he's in the books for another year.

"Great moments come from great opportunity."
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/bgi-staff-predictions-notre-dame-vs-alabama

Grasping at straws here but there is a huge talent discrepancy between Cincinnati and Georgia yet Cincinnati is hanging with them. We should be able to hang with Alabama and give ourselves a punchers chance.

There was no middle ground when it came to Hawk Harrelson as a play-by-play man for the White Sox games. You either loved the Hawkaroo or you hated him.

He was famous for his Hawkisms like "put it on the board, Yes" for White Sox home runs, "grab some bench" after an opponent struck out, "can of corn" for a pop-up, "duck snort" for a soft flair or blooper hit, etc.

But I came across a Hawkism that I had not heard before. I was reading an article on Charley Finley and Catfish Hunter. In the article they were describing what a great pitcher Hunter was and that one of his attributes was his great control. The article quoted Hawk Harrelson's description of Hunter's great control: “he could dot a gnat’s ass.”

I have to admit that I laughed out loud. Hawk's description was colorful to say the least, but it certainly got the point across.

Like doubling them 40-20 minutes

While I expected it, I did not think it would be as bad as it has turned out to be. This media narrative that being a 20 point underdog somehow proves that ND is not deserving of a berth in the playoffs is ridiculous.

The con: just because Notre Dame is not as good as Alabama does mean that ND is unworthy. I am willing to bet that every single team not named Clemson or Ohio State would be 20 point underdogs to Alabama in this game. Alabama has simply separated itself from every other team in college football other than Clemson.

The pro: quite frankly, the history of Notre Dame in high profile games since Holtz is simply pathetic. When you have lost your last 8 major bowl games with many of them blowouts, you are not going to gain the respect of the media and the college football world until you win one of these games.

Notre Dame simply needs to win one of these high profile games to change the narrative. Unfortunately I do not think this game against Alabama is going to be the one.

Some notable data for today's showdown that would leave the winner one win away from a national title.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/notre-dame-vs-alabama-countdown-10-to-1

ND will be receiving the kickoff with the game tied at 0-0 and a chance to take the lead.

It’s science.

Lol, says Oklahoma would blow out ND because they beat Florida's jv and freshman team.

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We need all the positive thoughts we can get heading into this matchup with Bama. I've spent the last 12 days coming up with a reason every day for me and my fellow ND friends to be optimistic about our chances (despite all the overwhelming evidence against this being a competitive game). While I won't list them all, I am summarizing my Top 5 reasons, and I invite others to add to the list.

My Top 5, in no particular order:

1. Mac Jones is no Trevor Lawrence. His inability to use his legs plays directly into our defense's strengths. Our front 7 can (and needs to) be ferocious in relation to stopping Harris and making Jones uncomfortable. Jones' passing efficiency drops when he's under pressure. We can take advantage of that.

2. ND is the most complete team on BOTH sides of the ball that Bama will face this season. We're neck and neck with Georgia for the top defense they face, and we're the 3rd highest scoring offense they will face. The 2 other higher scoring offenses they've faced - FL & Ole Miss - have much weaker defenses. The combination on both sides of the ball will be new to Bama. ND is Top 22 in both offense and defense, while Georgia is Top 33 in both, A&M is Top 42 in both, and no other Bama opponent was Top 50 in both. By the way, conversely, Clemson is Top 11 in both while Bama is Top 33 in both, so ND has seen it already.

3. Bama losing All-American C Landon Dickerson is huge. They have yet to play a game this season without him, and to do so against one of the top defenses they'll face will be problematic for them. This is a huge opportunity for ND's defense to be aggressive pushing up the middle and causing disruption, which as previously mentioned in #1, will be an issue for Mac Jones.

4. Bama's #1 deficiency on defense is defending athletic TEs. Well, welcome to TE U! The Top 3 TEs Bama has faced this season put up big numbers: Pitt (FL) - 7/129/1; Yeboah (Ole Miss) - 7/181/2; Wydermeyer (A&M) - 8/82. Mayer and Tremble are the #4 & #6 best TE's individually (statistically speaking) that Bama will face this season. Combined, they're the 2nd best unit Bama will face after Florida's Kyle Pitts. Big opportunity for ND's offense to exploit Bama's defense, put them on their heels, and open up the running game.

5. JOK is the single best defender Bama will have faced this season. Their 2 lowest scoring outputs of the season (Mizzou 38pts & Georgia 41pts) came against defenses with a Butkus Award finalist. And yet, JOK was not just a Butkus Award finalist - he was the winner. He's likely a future Top 15 NFL draft pick, and he will bring a level of versatility to the defense going against this Bama offense that will be a game changer.

Again, let's stay positive in this thread. Might as well! Go Irish!

Watching ACC Network this morning. Luginbill is filling in for Wes Durham and just posted his All Rose Bowl team. Here it is:

Offense:
QB: Mac Jones (ALA)
RB: Najee Harris (ALA)
WR: Davonta Smith (ALA)
WR: John Metchie (ALA)
WR: Javon McKinley (ND)
TE: Michael Mayer (ND)
OT: Liam Eichenberg (ND)
OG: Aaron Banks (ND)
C: Zeke Correll (ND)
OG: Emiyol Eykior (ALA)
OT: AlexLeatherwood (ALA)

Defense:
DE: Christian Baramore (ALA)
DT: Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa (ND)
DT: Daylin Hayes (ND)
LB: Christian Harris (ALA)
LB: Dylan Moses (ALA)
LB: Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (ND)
CB: Patrick Surtain II (ALA)
S: Kyle Hamilton (ND)
S: Jordan Battle (ALA)
CB: Josh Jobe (ALA)

Was he always such an idiot and I didn’t notice or has the Florida Air just gotten to him? He has made one idiot statement after another all year and didn’t he show up to a press conference in a costume? Now he says his team “could’ve” opted out. Maybe they should have then someone more deserving could have played in the game and done better.

With the exception of the marvelous season our team had, take the rest of 2020, wrap it neatly up with a bow and toss it into the dumpster of forgettable years. My wish to all of you on this board is for a healthy, happy, safe and prosperous 2021. And here is a tip that is guaranteed to make you feel great....do something nice for an unsuspecting someone else. It's amazing how uplifting that is. Now let's go out and beat BAMA!

I say stuff the box and try and prevent Harris! He scares me more than any of them! Put it on our corners and Hamilton to step up. They have the ability I believe. Even if we give up a big one better than getting gashed all day!!

What’s everybody munching and drinking on today

Click Here for the gameday package

Date: Jan. 1, 2021
Site: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Kickoff: 4 p.m. ET
Television: ESPN
Radio: This game can be heard on Notre Dame’s IMG affiliates.
Series Facts: Notre Dame leads 5-2, but lost the last meeting 42-14 in the BCS National Championship Game in Miami on Jan. 7, 2013.
Head coaches: Alabama — Nick Saban (168-23, 14th season); Notre Dame — Brian Kelly (102-38, 11th season).

Tyrion Lannister for Georgia put up 24 against Bama. If Book is as good as some on here think he is, than ND should have no issues scoring.

Story: https://notredame.rivals.com/news/q...the-day-before-facing-alabama-in-the-playoffs

My heart says Notre Dame 38-35

My head says Bama 47-14

I’m going with my heart in this one, Notre Dame takes the upset!



What say you?