Half way point of the regular season.

[Bodizephax]

Time flies !! I am disappointed the Irish are not undefeated but I can accept 5 and 1. I have enjoyed all the games so far. A lot of offense and the Defense has played great when they need to.

All the remaining games are winnable and I expect the Irish to win out and make the playoff.
It is easier to get to the playoff since four teams are included. 2012 was an unbelievable season because the only way we could get in was by going undefeated and we did.

Losing early in the season is good in that ND had 7 weeks (actually 8 with the bye) to move up the Playoff voters eyes. Ohio State did it last year. Alabama does it all the time.

Controlling your own destiny is all you can ask.

I expect the Irish offense to do their thing against USC Saturday and I expect BVG and the rest of the defensive staff are working on ways to get to Kessler. That is the KEY in my opinion. Hurry or sack Kessler and you win the game. I expect Trumbetti to start.

Go Irish !!
One game at a time!
Beat USC !

 

[Toby Smart]

Making the play-offs is going to be a rough one. ND is not the only one loss team. Not to mention all the undefeated teams currently that will eventually also be one loss teams. Plus, no 13th game or conference championship. There is not one single win so far that the selection group can hang their hat on for ND. Their best game might have been a loss. What's disappointing is ND needed to take care of their own business and they failed to do that last week. IMHO, style points will count. 30-7 is better than 30-22. So, all BK and the guys can do is try their best to win out and try to create a little separation in their victories. Anything is possible.

 

[Bodizephax]

Making the play-offs is going to be a rough one. ND is not the only one loss team. Not to mention all the undefeated teams currently that will eventually also be one loss teams. Plus, no 13th game or conference championship. There is not one single win so far that the selection group can hang their hat on for ND. Their best game might have been a loss. What's disappointing is ND needed to take care of their own business and they failed to do that last week. IMHO, style points will count. 30-7 is better than 30-22. So, all BK and the guys can do is try their best to win out and try to create a little separation in their victories. Anything is possible.

The conference championship could backfire on some teams as the loser may end up with two losses.

I will bump this thread every week to mark how much ND has moved up in the polls.

Today ND moved up in the polls 1 place in the AP to #14 and 2 places in the Coaches poll to #13.

Navy could win out and end up with only 1 loss (to us) (11 and 1) Pitt could be 7 and 1 when they play us. Stanford could be 11 and 1 when they play us and they could still get to the PAC 12 Championship game and knock off Utah for instance.
Not all is lost. Just need to win out and get ranked #4.

 

[88ND]

Why would trumbetti start? He has been MIA but I didn't think it was injury related...

 

[Java65]

I was expecting a 6-0 start too but it is what it is Bodi. We are staggering right now because Georgia Tech and USC are underwhelming to this point. We still have Stanford in front of us and hopefully they win out until they face us. If Texas turns it around and continues to win then that will help our cause too. We'll know more when the first meaningful poll is released later this month.

Yea, this could what keeps ND out assuming we win out. Stanford might end up being our only good win and I'm not sure that's enough. Either way I'm not ever going to complain about 11-1.. playoffs or no playoffs.

 

[tkirish]

Honestly, I really think talking or worrying about ND making as playoff spot is ridiculous. Talking about what record other teams have and how that affects strength of schedule is also ridiculous. I don't say that in a mean spirited way. Right now ND is 5 and 1. They lost to the only good team they played. This is not a great Irish team. They are good. There are no easy wins on the second half of the schedule. Southern Cal can very easily beat ND and beat them bad. For all of their issues, they still are loaded with top tier players all over the field. If they show up to play, look out! The Irish need to play there very best game to beat the Trojans. I've seen enough ND/ SC games to know no other team has ruined more seasons for Notre Dame than Southern Cal. ND has a bye following this game. They can really get focused and put all their eggs into this game. They will need to in order to get the victory. This is the only game that counts. Forget the rest. Forget the playoff. It's pointless to discuss. When the final whistle blows at the end of the year, hopefully ND can be in that discussion. For now I want nothing more than to see the Irish beat the Trojans.

 

[rgc7]

Honestly, I really think talking or worrying about ND making as playoff spot is ridiculous. Talking about what record other teams have and how that affects strength of schedule is also ridiculous. I don't say that in a mean spirited way. Right now ND is 5 and 1. They lost to the only good team they played. This is not a great Irish team. They are good. There are no easy wins on the second half of the schedule. Southern Cal can very easily beat ND and beat them bad. For all of their issues, they still are loaded with top tier players all over the field. If they show up to play, look out! The Irish need to play there very best game to beat the Trojans. I've seen enough ND/ SC games to know no other team has ruined more seasons for Notre Dame than Southern Cal. ND has a bye following this game. They can really get focused and put all their eggs into this game. They will need to in order to get the victory. This is the only game that counts. Forget the rest. Forget the playoff. It's pointless to discuss. When the final whistle blows at the end of the year, hopefully ND can be in that discussion. For now I want nothing more than to see the Irish beat the Trojans.

 

[rgc7]

TKIrish,
Good post ! The SC game is the only game that I am concerned with at this time. As I watched the first 6 games, I
saw an ND team with a lot of talent, but we still were lucky against VA
for the last seconds heroics, We made UMass look really good for the whole first half. GT gave us fits at the end of that game.
If Navy does not give us those turnovers, that game would
have also been very close.
In short, we are a good team and may go undefeated the rest of the way, but we are not a great team, therefore, we may also loss a few more games. ?
One game at a time, and we will see how things play out.

 

[88ND]

Yea, this could what keeps ND out assuming we win out. Stanford might end up being our only good win and I'm not sure that's enough. Either way I'm not ever going to complain about 11-1.. playoffs or no playoffs.

Since it seems to be the theme to be hypothetical today on the board....how about this scenario

we win out until stanford....Stanford wins out until we show up...
So that means the only loss for stanford is to a non conference team.
Should we beat them, and if they had won out...they will still be playing in the pac 12 title game. If they win that title game ....oh what a mess it becomes for the committee..

We just beat the Pac 12 winner, our only loss was to clemson team on the road in a monsoon....in which we turned it over 4 times...and still could have won the game.

Alabama gets a pass for losing to an ole miss team at home with 5 turnovers..a game in which they still could have won....
ole miss turns right around and falls on its face against florida....

Notre Dame MUST be extended the same pass that Alabama is getting.

Having said all this ridiculous stuff...

I firmly believe if Notre Dame wins out they will be in the mix.

 

[kellyirish35]

TKIrish,
Good post ! The SC game is the only game that I am concerned with at this time. As I watched the first 6 games, I
saw an ND team with a lot of talent, but we still were lucky against VA
for the last seconds heroics, We made UMass look really good for the whole first half. GT gave us fits at the end of that game.
If Navy does not give us those turnovers, that game would
have also been very close.
In short, we are a good team and may go undefeated the rest of the way, but we are not a great team, therefore, we may also loss a few more games. ?
One game at a time, and we will see how things play out.

If we don't turn it over vs Clemson we are 6-0

Beat USC !!

Losing Zaire and Folston was a bitch -- USC is all that matters right now . If we win on Sat it will help recruiting -

In all honesty guys after losing Golson , Zaire , Folston , Bryant , JJones , Tranquill, Crawford and Smythe I think an expectaion to be in the final four goes into the pipe dream category .

As much as anyone I would love to see it ( playoff ) -- but its a stretch now - because of injuries we could lose 3 games .

IMO if expectations aren't altered some after major injuries it leads to the pissing contests we see re kelly and staff -- toxic nonsense really

 

[Toby Smart]

If fans on a free message board can't talk about play-off scenarios, what are fans to talk about? I don't think the Irish make it to the final four but it is still fun to imagine all the different scenarios that could possibly make it happen. None of this is under our control so we might as well discuss and debate it as fans for fun. There's a lot of football to be played so anything is possible. In my mind, two things are important for a Notre Dame play-off possibility. Win out and style points . That's what happens when you lose a game that you shouldn't have. And don't look now. Michigan is creating style points and still have to play current #1 OSU and #7 MSU along with one loss PSU. They are creating buzz. When you shut out three opponents in a row, that makes people notice. Their play off destiny is in their own hands.

 

[DillonDomer]

I like how some people throw out the standings from the prior week and pick the new top 4. Just updating the previous weeks rankings when basically a team can't drop unless it loses is a joke - particularly early in the year when you need to weed your way through the garbage games.

I think ND is in about the right spot - I can see them being in the 10-15 range. But, as the season goes forward, if they keep winning they will continue to inch up. With Navy only having 1 loss, that would seem to help us, but they really have a bad schedule - they really need to be Houston to help us. There are not any top-tier games on our schedule, but certainly a bunch of pretty good teams (Stanford, Pitt, BE, maybe even Temple).

The teams above us will be playing each other and will start to knock each other down - Big12, SEC, PAC - it will either be enough or it won't and it is our fault by losing the Clemson game if we don't make it. But first we need win out.

There isn't a team in the rankings that we can't hang with for 60 minutes. Baylor and TCU would certainly put pressure on our D, but I would not dread playing any of them.

 

[tkirish]

If we don't turn it over vs Clemson we are 6-0

Beat USC !!

Losing Zaire and Folston was a bitch -- USC is all that matters right now . If we win on Sat it will help recruiting -

In all honesty guys after losing Golson , Zaire , Folston , Bryant , JJones , Tranquill, Crawford and Smythe I think an expectaion to be in the final four goes into the pipe dream category .

As much as anyone I would love to see it ( playoff ) -- but its a stretch now - because of injuries we could lose 3 games .

IMO if expectations aren't altered some after major injuries it leads to the pissing contests we see re kelly and staff -- toxic nonsense really

Kelly, this is true. I would like to say that all 4 Irish turnovers were caused by the Clemson defense. You have to credit their defense. They made plays when it counted and that's why they won. Expectations should be lowered due to injuries. However, that doesn't mean they can't or shouldn't win the rest of their games. They can win out but they must play at a high level each week. It won't be easy. It can be done.