It’s just ridiculous to hear some of you “ND” fans debating on whether we want in The Final 4 or if it is better to go to a bowl and get a win.

What? You have to be kidding. It is an absolute honor and accomplishment to make the final 4 and any athlete would kill for a chance to compete against the best teams.

Will be most likely get beat? Yes. But as athletes you always want to play the game. Maybe someone on Bama has an off day or gets injured and ND picks up an advantage . Maybe we convert TD’s on our first three drives like we should have against Clemson, and confidence carries us deep into the game. A strip sack or fumble.... like JOK against Clemson taking it to the house. Maybe Hamilton shows up big with a pick or our D-Line delivers as they can and Ian finds his best game again and our WRs make the plays they are capable of...it’s gonna take several of these thing for us to win.

A lot can happen and I for one will head into this game as I do every game, supporting ND and the young men who are representing ND.
The last 4 years have been fantastic, and win or loss to Bama, the next few years look extremely promising for ND to keep winning double digit games and close the gap with the 3 elite teams.

Go Irish!

There have been 6 years of the playoffs. So that means 18 games have been played.

Alabama has won 6 games
Clemson has won 6 games

So 2/3rds of the games (12/18) have been won by two teams. That's pretty remarkable.

I think we do. This isn’t if you want us to or not, just do you think we will. I say yes.

I watched my first game in the stadium in 1954 with my father and grandfather who were life long ND fans. I have lived and died with the Irish through the joy of the Brennan, Parseghian, Devine and Holtz eras and the depression of the Faust, Davie, Willingham and Weis tenures. I am lucky enough to have witnessed 5 National Championship teams.

There were ups and downs through the first 7 years of the Kelly years. But finally with the program reset after the 2016 disaster, I thought that ND finally had turned the corner.

My faith was shaken by Miami in 2017, Clemson in 2018 and Michigan in 2019. But this year, all I read and heard was that this ND team was different. This ND team could compete with the "big boys" and this ND team would not once again fall apart on the Big Stage. Then today, Notre Dame once more, in arguably the most important game of the season in front of likely their biggest television audience of the year, failed to compete.

Unfortunately, as I wrote on another board, 'this season has turned into the same old novel. It may have a new title and the characters may be different, but the plot and ending remained the same.'

I will still follow and root for Notre Dame and watch their games, unless I have something better to do. But I will no longer invest myself in their success and failure. I doubt if I will spend much time reading about Notre Dame on the various sports web sites. I am not sure that I will continue my subscription to this and other Notre Dame sites that I currently have. There is simply too much pain and not near enough joy following this program as it was for me in years past.

Of course I have gotten much more tired and inebriated as this night has worn on. Perhaps I will feel different in the morning or should I say more likely in the afternoon.

Watching the Chicago Bears and it is amazing how a bad offensive line has become a good one once they inserted Mustipher at center and Bars at guard. Both have been playing very well and their future in the NFL looks bright indeed.

Somebody needs to decleat this guy. Dirty player. Mayer gets a targeting call and Skalski relishes in it.

Highly recommended: don’t have to be a Bee Gees fan to enjoy this one.

FYI 8.3 on IMDB, 94% on Rotten Tomatoes

"It's not the X's and the O's but the Jimmys and the Joes." - Darrell Royal

Guys, Notre Dame has the best coaching staff in South Bend since the early '90's... and Alabama / Ohio State / Clemson have great coaches, too... Notre Dame has great Strength and Conditioning staff, as does Alabama / Ohio State / Clemson... But, at the end of the day, raw talent is an important difference... for example...

2016 Alabama #1 Recruiting Class (7 Top 100 Recruits); Notre Dame #13 Recruiting Class (3 Top 100 Recruits)
2017 Alabama #1 Recruiting Class (11 Top 100 Recruits); Notre Dame #13 Recruiting Class (2 Top 100 Recruits)
2018 Alabama #7 Recruiting Class (5 Top 100 Recruits); Notre Dame #11 Recruiting Class (4 Top 100 Recruits)
2019 Alabama #2 Recruiting Class (9 Top 100 Recruits); Notre Dame #14 Recruiting Class (2 Top 100 Recruits)
2020 Alabama #3 Recruiting Class (10 Top 100 Recruits); Notre Dame #22 Recruiting Class (3 Top 100 Recruits)

Similar tabulations would reveal the same gap between Notre Dame and Clemson / Ohio State... And we didn't close the gap this year... Alabama took 12 Top 100 Recruits, so far, and Notre Dame took 3. But, our depth is better from 1 to 85 than in 25 years, which is why we've won 10 or more games four straight years, and the staff is making good use of grad transfers to fill in gaps... this team is still recovering from some terrible years of DB recruiting, which we lived through last night and will again on New Year's Day...

I just want to remind folks after a tough day that Notre Dame's program is healthier now than at any time since the early '90's, and I'm thankful for that... at the same time, let's not get frustrated by the fact that we haven't reached the top of the summit again... there are three teams whose talent is consistently better than everyone else's, and about 8 teams working day-in and day-out to reach that level... let's keep our fingers crossed that Kelly, having learned through clear mistakes and tough experiences, can figure out how to give Notre Dame recruiting another bump that will further close the gap with Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson. I lived the days of Bob Davie, Ty Willingham, and Charlie Weis, and I have no desire to go back there... GO IRISH!!

ND has matched great with strength and power against NC and Clemson. Balis has done a great job with creating a great weight room culture. Now a true test against Bama! I am so pumped! I can’t imagine what lays ahead for the ND players in the weight room for the next two weeks... I believe Bali’s is a huge key in Irish success in the Rose Bowl. His off-season program is amazing! I wish I could see the bowl prep the Irish will go through.

After the 42-14 pasting in 2012, Bama's All American first round NFL tackle in an interview said" We knew exactly what ND was going to run when they lined up under the ball. " Notre Dame was entirely predictable and it will be the same this time around unless ND can install some variances, such as a quick slant pass, a quick pass to the Tight End, option runs, etc.
If they expect to hang with Bama with the same offense, they are going to get stuffed again

Any update on the injury?

On what planet does anyone think that Notre Dame won't get into the CFP over Texas A&M??? Try a few facts......

Texas A&M, 8-1, win over 1 ranked team (#11), beat 2 teams with a winning record
Loss Alabama 52-24 (11-0) ranked 1 final CFP
Win Florida 41-38 (8-3) ranked 11th final CFP
Win Auburn 31-20 (6-4)
Win LSU 20-7 (5-5)
Win Miss State 28-14 (3-7)
Win Arkansas 42-31 (3-7)
Win Tennessee 34-13 (3-7)
Win South Carolina 48-3 (2-8)
Win Vanderbilt 17=12 (0-9)

Notre Dame, 10-1, wins over 2 ranked teams (#2, #13), beat 4 teams with winning records
Loss Clemson 34-10 in ACC title game (10-1), ranked 2nd final CFP
Win Clemson 47-40, ranked 2nd final CFP
Win North Carolina 31-17 ranked 13th final CFP
Win Pittsburgh 45-3 (6-5)
Win Boston College 45-31 (6-5)
Win Louisville 12-7 (4-7)
Win Florida State 42-26 (3-6)
Win Georgia Tech 31-13 (3-7)
Win South Florida 52-0 (1-8)
Win Duke 27-13 (1-9)
Win Syracuse 45-21 (1-9)

The scheme leaves a lot to be desired.

Comparing performances against the top teams over the last few years, yesterday seemed like more of the same. ND is much better at beating teams they should beat. But the gap to the top teams seems as big as ever. It seems even the I, captain of the objective crew, drank a bit of kool-aid this time.

Began at noon ET on ESPN.

There is absolutely no paritiy in the sport anymore because of money and resources. This post has nothing to do with the butt whooping Clemson gave ND last night or what Bama will do to ND in 2 weeks.

If you're on this board, you love college football. We all love it and even with its number of flaws I think its still everyone's favorite sport.

Here are some things that would without quesiton make the sport more competitive:

1. Lower the scholarship limit to 77. The trickle down affect from every team having 8 less scholarsihp players would help even out the talent gap

2. Only allow teams to sign 22 players per recruiting class, no matter what. Giving schools like Bama the ability to sign 30 players every year and then "push out" players is bad for the game.

3. While i'm not a fan of the immediate eligible transfer rule, there is no stopping it, but there needs to be a limit on how many a team should be able to take. Set it at 4 total players a school can have transfer in per year.

4. Make sophomores elibigle for the NFL draft. This should have been done years ago anyway. These kids deserve an opportunity to make money and they are physically ready to play in the NFL. Heck, some are ready after their freshman year.

5. This is the one no one talks about, but there needs to be a limit on the off the field coaches. Bama literally has an army of coaches. I don't know a fair number, but something has to be done here and the easiest of the 5 changes to implement.

6. With the scholarsihp limit cut, teams will look to the walkon option to sneak in players. There would have to be a limit put here as well or Bama would simply start taking 20 walkons a year.

7. Headsets in the players helmets. The NFL has allowed one player on offense (and I think defense?) to have a headset in their helmet to call in plays for years. It's time for the college game to have this. This will help with sign stealing and get rid of all of these crazy ways to get plays into the players.

8. Scheduling. There will never be a fair way to do scheduling, but at worst can't we start with teams not playing FBS schools? Playing 10 conference games and then 2 games against teams out of the MAC, AAC and Independent schools just makes too much sense. Speaking of scheduling, can't a simple "preseason" system be setup in late August for some scrimmages against "local" teams with NCAA refs to prepare for a season?

Irish have a chance to knock off #1 twice in same season. That would be pretty sweet.

Seems to struggle on the big stage against the big names (Saban, Meyer, Sweeney). Reason I think this is because the games always seem to unravel as soon as the momentum changes.

Full newser on today's news with quotes from Kelly and Gary Barta

Brian Kelly talking about the Rose Bowl before the game


Notre Dame yet again on the big stage felt like this


Kinda had this feel to it


And this


While Clemson be like this


And I was like this

... can't use last nights game as motivation and come out firing on all cylinders, I'd be absolutely shocked. I wouldn't be shocked if we're looking at a 21-17 type halftime score. What happens in the locker room and how the team plays in the 2nd half should determine the outcome.