How much money we wagering Zorich?
I'm putting money where my mouth is. You posted a thread confidently saying ND would max out at 6-7 wins next year. I responded to THE TOPIC of the thread by posting a 2017 roster I would take a 7.5+ wins next year for $1000 (pending the DC hire)... As soon as someone challenges you, all-of-a-sudden you're no longer talking about next year, and now you want a "pick em" for games next week?... Grow the **** up child. Stop cowering from a challenge.
Perse chimes in with "your prediction about the defense this year was wrong, so you have no credibility."... For the record, Perse completely is completely exaggerating what I said pre season, when I stated that the DEFENSIVE LINE would be fine, despite the lack of an elite pass rusher. That was before our senior starting safety got kicked off the team right before the season. Before Brian Kelly decided to hold Nick Watkins out for the entire season, Before Devin Butler got suspended for the season and before Shaun Crawford tore his achilles in game two. My reasoning behind being ok with the defensive line this year was that I expected ND to have veteran players in their secondary. Not lose 4 experienced guys in essentially two weeks, leaving freshman back there (sometimes 4 at a time)...
But hey Perse... I'm a big enough person to say I WAS WRONG. Even know you and I both know that the D-Line "struggles" have had more to do with the 4 casualties in ND's secondary than anything else... Where is my of that you may ask? Look at how much better the line has looked the past 3 weeks, because the kids are starting to grow up a little bit on the backend and a scheme adjustment has helped them out considerably. 3 sacks and how many other hurries by the DL last week vs Stanford? When you're playing a 3-4 defense you rely on coverage sacks. That's not rocket science. ND's coverage is improving as they replace the crushing loses to the backend of the defense and their DL is "magically" playing a lot better because of it.
That's why I'm more confident in next year's defense. Because Hayes, Cage, Tillery and Bonner will all be back and Kareem, Hayes and Okwara will all have actually gone through a full season of strength-and-conditioning, making them physically ready to contribute much more... With Watkins and Crawford back (maybe Butler as well) and 5 contributing freshman DB's a year older and physically ready to play, I like ND's defense to be very "middle of pack" next year, which in my estimation, will be good enough to win 7.5 games, per the thread title.
