Tempted to think ahead...

If we beat Clemson on Dec 19th, we would have beaten them when they were ranked #1 and #3. Bama would have beaten #6 Florida and #5 TAMU. It makes plausible sense that we would be ranked #1 over Bama.

That #1 seed would be advantageous for several reasons.

1. The #1 seed gets to play TAMU or Cincinnati instead of #3 Ohio State.
2. We select where we would go (New Orleans vs Los Angeles). Would prefer that we trek out to the Bayou instead.

Go Irish, beat Clemson!

What will the ND/Clemson rematch look like from the outside world?

#1. Watch the ACC referees during the game. They will likely be making calls ALL in favor of Clemson. Why???? Because the ACC has a shot at getting 2 teams into the playoff and that DOUBLES the $$$$$ to the conference. But that chance is predicated upon Clemson beating ND. If ND beats Clemson, ND will be the ONLY team to make the playoff from the ACC. Thus, EVERY call will go for Clemson (pass interference will not be called on Clemson and will be called against ND, holding calls will be made whenever ND makes a play so it will be called back, the replay booth will give every edge to Clemson, ND needs to be very careful on targeting plays, etc.). There is not one referee in the ACC that wants to be the one that makes a call against Clemson that causes Clemson to lose and that will keep Clemson out of the playoff and allow close to $20m to go down the drain for the ACC. This puts ND in a precarious position I am sorry to say. We see this behavior of the refs EVERY year late in the season, giving the advantage to conference teams that have a shot at the big money bowl games and the playoff. ND will face it on the 19th. It only makes sense for the NCAA to go to a central referee commissioner like the NFL instead of conference affiliated referees. That would predominantly eliminate these conference bias calls.

#2. Many outside people (especially Ohio State fans, Texas A&M fans, Florida fans, Cincinnati fans, Big 10 fans, SEC fans, etc) will all be cheering for ND. If ND wins, Clemson will be out and that opens up a slot in the top 4 for teams like a 2nd SEC team, Ohio State (even if they have not played enough games to make the Big 10 championship game), Cincinnati if they stay undefeated etc ALL have a shot at making the playoff. If Clemson wins, there is a chance that both ND and Clemson make the playoff and with Alabama a lock, that leaves only one slot open. Flaws such as Ohio State not playing in the conference championship game since they will not have played enough games, Florida as a 2nd SEC team, Alabama if Florida beats them in the SEC Conference Championship game, ALL run the risk of being left out. So for one of the FEW times in our history, many people that normally HATE ND, will be cheering for ND to win.

Staff: what do you think about the QB from UCF, Milton.......forgot last name, as a grad transfer to ND ? Kid was lights out before his injury ?

He’s been great for the most part the last 2 years think usc last year and Clemson this year. He went 4/4 in both games and basically won both for us. And he’s had other very good games like the bowl game he was also 4/4 I believe, but I hope he’s not getting a case of the dreaded shanks. I know yesterday’s was from 50, but didn’t look good missing and the on against UNC was a straight shank from 28 chip shot range.

1. If you start ripping players and getting nasty, we'll do you a favor and take away your posting privileges for the day. No hard feelings, we just don't want that garbage on our site.

2.Please use the game thread. If you start a new thread that has no substance, then it will be merged to the game thread. If you have a topic that you believe should be discussed in its own thread, then feel free to post, but only posts with actual effort during the game will be allowed. Otherwise, just post in the game thread.

3. Be a good person. It's not that hard.

Wonder if the Clemson board is going nuts like ours

I watched the Washington-Stanford game today and thought that it was interesting to see how three big recruits that ND missed on are doing.

1. Foster Sarell - Former 5-star OL recruit, is in his senior season. He's a 2-year starter for Stanford at RT, and was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention last season. Looks like a solid career but nothing special.

2. Osiris St. Brown - He's in his senior season. Redshirted as a freshman. Caught 8 passes for 204 yards and a TD as a sophomore. Caught 27 passes for 263 yards and no TDs as a junior, only starting 6 games. He is currently a backup WR as a senior and has 1 catch for 7 yards. Of the three St. Brown brothers, he is having the worst college career by far.

3. Asa Turner - Started 5 games as a true freshman, playing in 12 out of 13 games. He has started every game this season as a sophomore. His recruitment was notable in that ND wanted him as a LB and he wanted to play safety. He struggled at LB during a late all-star game and promptly locked up his commitment to Washington. I follow Washington's program since I live in Seattle, and Turner has a rapidly growing reputation among Husky fans for being talented but extremely soft and not liking contact.

Edit: I would also add that I went to a UW game last season and sat about 30 feet away from Asa Turner. He was tall but extremely skinny. There’s no way that he would have played until next season had he come to ND.

Has Hamilton been banged up? Notice he only had one tackle and seems to get up slow off the ground the last couple of games.

I love the irish, but bama is just unbelievable. Hope im wrong.

Did anyone else think the ball was right in the sun on McKinley’s drop in the end zone on the first drive?

Lou and I dive into the idea of Lea to Vanderbilt:

30-3 career record with 3 (hopefully) more, to go for Ian Book

25-1 at home for this senior class..... With only a 1 point loss to UGA to blemish the slate.

24 consecutive wins at home...... 24!

16 game overall winning streak

? Forget the number, win streak over unranked teams

2 broken ankles
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What was Ian Books ceiling thought to be during his recruitment, I seem to remember the feeling being he would be a very good back up option feeling to it?

staff ..ask kelly ... who is our backup qb if book getrs hurt ?

Going forward! What a day to be an opponent of Michigan let’s all rejoice.

This is from a Michigan insider and let’s count how many excuses are in his post



News that Jim Harbaugh will continue on as the Michigan coach should be a good thing

he is a tremendous coach - the michigan program has done in his time very well

yep he hasn’t beaten OSU and the last two years have been dreadful 2nd half’s

well

not many have beaten OSU in that timeframe

and yes there have been bad losses to MSU and Wisconsin

But off field issues have been few - grades are up and young men are graduating and he is in top ten in wins in that time

as Has been posted here -the last bit from good to elite is the toughest - and not cheating - actually having kids go to class and actually get good grades - coupled with a perhaps overly quick to turn in you fan base - makes it that much harder at Michigan

Urban has had none of those issues at Florida or OSU so he can keep his check under the hood comments to himself and go to Texas and cheat some more

2020 has been a basket case on many levels - at the end of it all (and it is likely the season is over now) it laid bare that youth - some players sitting out - lack of heart and questionable coaching hurt this team

MSU become a steam roller of discontent and lack of confidence

but the Simple fact is

Jim harbaugh will get a multi year extension

he will be our coach for the foreseeable future

I for one am happy - and it is not for any personal reason - but because he is a great coach

I question why he would want to be coach here

Many michigan fans are frankly unworthy

he will stay in Michigan this winter working his ass off solely focused on fixing his team and program

his wife and kids will spend the winter elsewhere - partial to allow Jim the time to dedicate to Michigam - partially due to lock downs - but alot due to BS his family has received in and around Ann Arbor and the greater Michigan universe

really

is Michigan now as bad as Texas and USC or fod forbid OSU that a coaches family gets crap for how a group of 18 to 22 year old young men play

wow that is wrong

Same type of people that went after Ronnie Bell after the PSU game last year

we don’t need them as Michigan fans

we also don’t need players and parents that feel entitled to playing time - pay (one parent on that call commented how their kid could be paid at other schools - good turn them in) or anything more then has been committed to them by the school - a great education at a great school with the best coaches and facilities the school can provide - and michigan has facilities many pro teams do not have

the vast majority of the players and families get this and appreciate

some dont - those that don’t get it don’t appreciate michigan is a forty not four year plan

some easy and some hard decisions will be made over the next month

some players will need to focus on staying or going - I think it will be less in the end the some are saying

some coaches and coordinators will be replaced

Hope it is handled well (these are people with families) and their replacements are capable and up grades
people wanted the jackhammer back

seems they will get there wish

some parents have complained about the effort and work - well from a time perspective all schools spend the same (officially anyway) but jim does put more into a given amount of time

look for even more of that this winter and spring

seems Jims legacy is on the line and he is treating as such

we need to finish recruiting strong - if some kids leave - guess they took the easy way out - harbaugh leaving isn’t the issue

will need to go after transfers hard too starting ASAP

good to elite is the toughest step

we are handicapped by how we operate and the rules we follow

jim is going after it harder then ever

time for little Ralphie to knock that ugly Scott farkus off his perch

our coach is putting in the work to do it

Hope the fans stop the bs





LOL

I was very harsh on the WR group before. I still think it’s a weak group relative to teams with playoff aspirations. However, McKinney can play. I was wrong about him.

ND really needs to get Lenzy involved some way. Davis is over-rated by this board.

Does that mean IU would play Northwestern for Big10 championship?

Thanks

Even the guys who rag him on his throwing motion, not being able to win all his games against elite teams, not threading the needle on 75 yard sideline routes and not being an Elite 11 pretty boy.

You guys will miss him too.

Despite forcing a season high four turnovers, it wasn't Notre Dame's sharpest, up-to-standard defense, but there was too much firepower and strength on offense for a young but feisty Syracuse defense to overcome.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/notre-dame-syracuse-on-paper-revisited-2

Reaction from our own staff, local media and national media following ND's win over Syracuse

The Irish are 3-2. And to give you an indication of how blessed we are today, in the most recent game played on this day in 2003, Notre Dame lost to a 5-6 Syracuse team at the Carrier Dome 38-12 to finish a 5-7 campaign. (Maybe the worst single day in ND sports, as men's and women's basketball also lost on that date, the men to a three-win Central Michigan team at home, as did hockey and volleyball).

Bronze Medal, 1888: Believe it or not, the first victory ever for Notre Dame in football occurred on this day, 20-0 versus Harvard Prep (couldn't find any highlights).

Silver Medal, 1947: Notre Dame clinches its second straight national title under head coach Frank Leahy when it crushes No. 3 USC in the Coliseum, 38-7, with 104,953 in attendance. An astounding 42 members of this Irish team, considered the greatest in school history, played at the professional level. And that was when players lined up both on offense and defense, thereby limiting it to 11 starters on platoons. Emil Sitko had a 76-yard TD run, but teammate Bob Livingstone topped it later with a 92-yard scoring scamper.
Start at the 3:20 mark of this video to see the two long runs.
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Gold Medal, 1930: No one knew it at the time, but in Knute Rockne's final game as the head coach, he captured his second straight consensus national title (third overall, not including a shared one in 1919), with a 27-0 victory over favored USC. He won his final 19 games at Notre Dame to finish 105-12-5, a .881 winning percentage that still stands No. 1 in the sport's history.

The Orange came to play, but No. 2 Notre Dame gradually pulled away while finishing their third unbeaten regular season (10-0) in nine years.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/rapid-review-notre-dame-45-syracuse-21

Lou, do you think there is any chance Mike Collins will come back for one more year to announce games? I feel fans, as well as him, got screwed to not have one true final season with a stadium full of fans. I do hope someone encourages him to come back for one more swan song of a season.

Anyone know if he would be an early enrollee if he flips Irish? Does he otherwise intend to sign early even if not enroll early?
His frame is a plus for sure. If he is already 225, it looks to be pretty thin on his frame. Give him to Balis and maybe he turns into Ade.

Story: https://notredame.rivals.com/news/top-players-against-syracuse