Question for you guys: can you or have you pictured this team as a national champion?
I haven't gotten there yet. Just been enjoying the ride and incredible turnaround of the last two years.
Don't mean this as a slight toward this year's team at all. Just a change in my mindset. In fact, after reading some of the retrospectives on the 2012 USC game this week (and re-watching the game) I've finally come around on how much stronger this team is than any since the Holtz years.
But in 2012 I really considered the possibility we'd win it. Maybe because it just took one game.
It seemed pretty unlikely in 2015 because of the defense but the way we'd played at Clemson gave me a sliver of hope.
I really thought about it last year going into Miami. They had so many dominant wins over good opponents and played a coinflip game against Georgia who seemed close to the best team in the country.
This year has been different and I have a few theories as to why:
1) Alabama is just so dominant it's hard to picture anyone else winning it.
2) Although the Michigan win should be a greater validator than a tight loss to Clemson or Georgia, I can't picture them as a national championship winner. They aren't dynamic enough on offense and I generally think they've been a little overrated.
3) Outside of Michigan, we have fewer wins over really strong teams than in 2012 or 2017. Just the luck of the scheduling draw.
4) I'm a little older now and past scars have left me more aware of how hard it is to win this dang thing.
Where are you guys on all this? My sense is most are just "enjoying the journey" as I have and maybe I'm weird for allowing myself to picture us winning it in the past.
This is only for discussion so please don't respond with "just beat USC." We're not players or coaches at ND. We're fans of an 11-0 football team that owns the best win of the season and has barely trailed all year. And it's a message board.
Either way I'm thankful for where the program is and that I've gotten to share the experience with all those on this board (even though I don't post much).
I haven't gotten there yet. Just been enjoying the ride and incredible turnaround of the last two years.
Don't mean this as a slight toward this year's team at all. Just a change in my mindset. In fact, after reading some of the retrospectives on the 2012 USC game this week (and re-watching the game) I've finally come around on how much stronger this team is than any since the Holtz years.
But in 2012 I really considered the possibility we'd win it. Maybe because it just took one game.
It seemed pretty unlikely in 2015 because of the defense but the way we'd played at Clemson gave me a sliver of hope.
I really thought about it last year going into Miami. They had so many dominant wins over good opponents and played a coinflip game against Georgia who seemed close to the best team in the country.
This year has been different and I have a few theories as to why:
1) Alabama is just so dominant it's hard to picture anyone else winning it.
2) Although the Michigan win should be a greater validator than a tight loss to Clemson or Georgia, I can't picture them as a national championship winner. They aren't dynamic enough on offense and I generally think they've been a little overrated.
3) Outside of Michigan, we have fewer wins over really strong teams than in 2012 or 2017. Just the luck of the scheduling draw.
4) I'm a little older now and past scars have left me more aware of how hard it is to win this dang thing.
Where are you guys on all this? My sense is most are just "enjoying the journey" as I have and maybe I'm weird for allowing myself to picture us winning it in the past.
This is only for discussion so please don't respond with "just beat USC." We're not players or coaches at ND. We're fans of an 11-0 football team that owns the best win of the season and has barely trailed all year. And it's a message board.
Either way I'm thankful for where the program is and that I've gotten to share the experience with all those on this board (even though I don't post much).
