OK, how do we look for next year?

[Golson5]

Do people not realize Riley Leonard had 295 yards of offense with 3 TDS and 0 ints against the best defense in the country. Do you also realize the kicker missed a chip shot.

Leading the offense to 26 points with limited possessions. The defense could not get off the field and give the offense the ball. Only 3 possessions in the entire 1st half

If the offense had the ball a bit more would have really helped. Getting off the field in 3rd down would have helped.

 

[Harpo Marxist]

I've had time to digest this and I think I've found my peace. This team over-achieved in some ways. The injuries created a mountain to climb while navigating this season. And still, winning two major bowl games was solid. One of the standard tags on ND is that "we are just a cut below the top tier (Bama, GA, OSU, etc....)....and are in the "second tier". That has been around for years. I would say "BS....and no more". ND is clearly in the top echelon of college football, now. We can thank this team and Coach Freeman. That is our launching pad next season. Only one team can win it all. But ND was right there, in spite of that mountain. Recruiting, working the portal with precision, and effective, competitive management of NIL is now the focus. I think ND can be even closer to a championship next year than we were this year; if we can stay healthy and develop this roster. In the big scheme of things.....Notre Dame will start next season in a stronger position than this one.

 

[Irish_Mutt]

Looking ahead to next year, I see an offensive power if the o line progresses. Adding fields to the wr room is going to be huge and if the o line gives qb1 time to throw, watch out. Defense should be solid even with a new coordinator

 

[sjb75]

Will Howard played better than I thought he would.

 

[NDinNJ]

The offense played well most of the year. The offense played better than the D last night.

The defense was the problem yesterday not the offense

outside of the 1st drive, the offense got all of 20 yards the rest of the 1st half, and they couldn't move the ball until OSU let off the pedal. It was 31-7 at that point.
The offense was one dimensional and it showed last night. You're not going to beat an OSU scoring 23 points. After that 1st drive, they pretty much challenged ND to pass, and they succeeded.

 

[NDinNJ]

Will Howard played better than I thought he would.

1st round talent

 

[NDinNJ]

Lol

LMAO at your Lol

 

[BGI User 756]

I don’t disagree but it takes magic for these seasons to happen, the odds are it will be another 5/6 years before this opportunity presents itself. Just look around at the the blue bloods

We are back as a top 6 program now…

Need to bump it into top 3

 

[BGI User 756]

As Eminem said, “you only get one shot.” Hard reality is we are unlikely to get back to this game for some time.

Disagree. We are back as a program. Need a seed like PSU had…

 

[motkaboo]

IF they get by the first 2 games....ND will make the playoffs again.

 

[Terry Jillery]

eminem is a singer who never played any sports so why you think that means anything is a mystery. The way Freeman is recruiting we will have the talent and he has shown he is the coach. Pretty dumb to think otherwise.

Ohio State recruits far better and this was their first title in a decade. These opportunities are very rare.

 

[Shakin' Down the Thunder]

Ohio State recruits far better and this was their first title in a decade. These opportunities are very rare.

I don't think opportunities are going to be rare anymore. OSU would never have a chance at winning the title if it was BCS or 4 team playoff. I expect OSU and ND to be in the playoffs on an annual basis.

 

[burmafrd1943]

Ohio State recruits far better and this was their first title in a decade. These opportunities are very rare.

coaching dude; something you keep dodging

 

[burmafrd1943]

Ohio State recruits far better and this was their first title in a decade. These opportunities are very rare.

they recruit better but the gap is closing.

 

[ZibbyQuinn]

The one play that puzzled me was when OSU was in the red zone and Gray was jumping up and down pointing at Smith. The ball gets snapped and Gray just left him. I get each player has to be on position, however if you see that a WR is going to be left alone when the ball is snapped, common sense would dictate I'm the closest to said WR, I'll just cover him.

OSU would have probably scored anyway, but that play just puzzled me.

He was calling out what he thought was a reverse, clearly ran to cover it

 

[ZibbyQuinn]

coaching dude; something you keep dodging

Ryan Day is in the Top 4 of all time in terms of winning percentage and a national champion. Have you seen his staff? Hartline, Chip, Larry Johnson. The belief that this opportunity isn’t rare is asinine

 

[Golson5]

outside of the 1st drive, the offense got all of 20 yards the rest of the 1st half, and they couldn't move the ball until OSU let off the pedal. It was 31-7 at that point.
The offense was one dimensional and it showed last night. You're not going to beat an OSU scoring 23 points. After that 1st drive, they pretty much challenged ND to pass, and they succeeded.

Ohio state played 16 games.

2 teams scored more than 21 points on them, Oregon and Notre Dame

Our offense put up 26 points (miss fg on st not on offense)

Defense didn't do their part. Not only did they give up 34 points, they couldn't get off the field at all to give the offense more possessions

Offense did their part, defense really struggled

 

[Golson5]

LMAO at your Lol

🤣🤣 at your LMAO and your bias all year. You were wrong all the way this year lol.

First he couldn't stay healthy. Then he couldn't complete a pass. Then we couldn't win a high scoring game. Then he couldn't be the qb to win a playoff game. Then it was a specific type of playoff team. They all got busted then it's another excuse after the last game against the number 1 defense.

Good try this year. Egg on face 🤣🤣

 

[NDinNJ]

Ohio state played 16 games.

2 teams scored more than 21 points on them, Oregon and Notre Dame

Our offense put up 26 points (miss fg on st not on offense)

Defense didn't do their part. Not only did they give up 34 points, they couldn't get off the field at all to give the offense more possessions

Offense did their part, defense really struggled

offense put up 23 not 26. You can't count a FG miss as 3 points. You're a complete idiot.

 

[NDinNJ]

🤣🤣 at your LMAO and your bias all year. You were wrong all the way this year lol.

First he couldn't stay healthy. Then he couldn't complete a pass. Then we couldn't win a high scoring game. Then he couldn't be the qb to win a playoff game. Then it was a specific type of playoff team. They all got busted then it's another excuse after the last game against the number 1 defense.

Good try this year. Egg on face 🤣🤣

This coming from Mr. can't assess players for sh1t. lol what a tool

 

[Telx1]

I get that, and understand you do your job, but in a game that big, I'm surprised he didn't call the timeout.

Totally with you on this. But why Golden didn’t bothers me more.

 

[Telx1]

Ohio state played 16 games.

2 teams scored more than 21 points on them, Oregon and Notre Dame

Our offense put up 26 points (miss fg on st not on offense)

Defense didn't do their part. Not only did they give up 34 points, they couldn't get off the field at all to give the offense more possessions

Offense did their part, defense really struggled

Really kind of amazing to think we had a legitimate chance to tie the game with four minutes left. Equally amazing to think this was because of our second half passing attack. But when a team known for its running game, gets their running game so thoroughly stuffed outside of Leonard’s runs, it’s hard to accept our offense did their part. Lack of any semblance of a rushing attack doomed our last drive in the red zone. But as you said, our inability to stop them on third downs, mostly passing downs, was our major weakness.

 

[Golson5]

offense put up 23 not 26. You can't count a FG miss as 3 points. You're a complete idiot.

Offense did their part to score 26 on the best defense in the country. Which only 1 team would have scored more on them all season. 16 games

Offense did their part. Defense was very poor

 

[Golson5]

This coming from Mr. can't assess players for sh1t. lol what a tool

Fickell and Deboer over Freeman guy right here 🤣🤣🤣

Aubrurns offense better than NDs

Should I go on? You go back to one thing over and over when you have nothing. That's all you got lol

 

[NDinNJ]

Totally with you on this. But why Golden didn’t bothers me more.

Golden might have been busy texting his agent on that play.

 

[NDinNJ]

Offense did their part to score 26 on the best defense in the country. Which only 1 team would have scored more on them all season. 16 games

Offense did their part. Defense was very poor

They scored 23. Learn to count. Are you that stupid?

Again the defense carried this team all year, and the one game they needed the offense, the offense failed.

 

[Irish_Mutt]

I thought this thread was about looking to next season

 

[christophero]

Making the playoff should be a yearly goal.

 

[Golson5]

They scored 23. Learn to count. Are you that stupid?

Again the defense carried this team all year, and the one game they needed the offense, the offense failed.

The offense was good all year and the D needed the offense against SC and they needed them again when they gave up 2 tds in the 4th to psu

The defense was better than the offense all year but the offense was still good. 37ppg.

The offense was the better part of the NC game where the Defense played their worst game all year and got destroyed

Yes you are very stupid

 

[burmafrd1943]

Ryan Day is in the Top 4 of all time in terms of winning percentage and a national champion. Have you seen his staff? Hartline, Chip, Larry Johnson. The belief that this opportunity isn’t rare is asinine

you are the ass

 

[NDinNJ]

The offense was good all year and the D needed the offense against SC and they needed them again when they gave up 2 tds in the 4th to psu

The defense was better than the offense all year but the offense was still good. 37ppg.

The offense was the better part of the NC game where the Defense played their worst game all year and got destroyed

Yes you are very stupid

Everyone knows ND was a run heavy offense with a very limited passing game. Your stupidity clearly can't comprehend that. After that 1st drive it was obvious OSU's defense was focused on stopping the run and forcing ND to throw. They successfully shutdown ND's offense first 2+ Quarters.

Just some quotes from those that clearly know more than you do, and they all allude to the same thing, lack of a legitimate passing game.

"The national championship game Monday night painted an obvious picture of the gap separating the Irish from the summit: They must become more threatening in the pass game."

“We couldn't run Riley every play,” Irish coach Marcus Freeman said. “It's not right for Riley, and it's not going to sustain the success we needed offensively.”
"Bingo. At some point, championship teams need a quarterback and wide receiver who can team up for a 56-yard chunk play."

"The last seven national champions started quarterbacks who averaged at least 199 yards passing. Four of those seven averaged more than 250 yards passing, including Howard.

Compare that to Leonard, who averaged 179 yards passing and a modest 7.1 yards per attempt.

And Howard? He threw for more than 4,000 yards, 35 touchdowns and hit at a clip of 9.5 yards per attempt. That’s the stuff of a champion."

It's obvious to everyone in college football except you, because you're a moron

 

[Get Nasty]

Ohio state played 16 games.

2 teams scored more than 21 points on them, Oregon and Notre Dame

Our offense put up 26 points (miss fg on st not on offense)

Defense didn't do their part. Not only did they give up 34 points, they couldn't get off the field at all to give the offense more possessions

Offense did their part, defense really struggled

We put up 23.. you don’t count missed fgs as points…. If you do that, takeaway our extra 2 points on two point conversions because that’s not normal either

 

[1Redrum]

Everyone knows ND was a run heavy offense with a very limited passing game. Your stupidity clearly can't comprehend that. After that 1st drive it was obvious OSU's defense was focused on stopping the run and forcing ND to throw. They successfully shutdown ND's offense first 2+ Quarters.

Just some quotes from those that clearly know more than you do, and they all allude to the same thing, lack of a legitimate passing game.

"The national championship game Monday night painted an obvious picture of the gap separating the Irish from the summit: They must become more threatening in the pass game."

“We couldn't run Riley every play,” Irish coach Marcus Freeman said. “It's not right for Riley, and it's not going to sustain the success we needed offensively.”
"Bingo. At some point, championship teams need a quarterback and wide receiver who can team up for a 56-yard chunk play."

"The last seven national champions started quarterbacks who averaged at least 199 yards passing. Four of those seven averaged more than 250 yards passing, including Howard.

Compare that to Leonard, who averaged 179 yards passing and a modest 7.1 yards per attempt.

And Howard? He threw for more than 4,000 yards, 35 touchdowns and hit at a clip of 9.5 yards per attempt. That’s the stuff of a champion."

It's obvious to everyone in college football except you, because you're a moron

Did you watch the Bills game vs the Ravens? Josh Allen....one of the best passing QB's in the game had only 127 yards passing and not a single 100 yard rusher .....the defense played well and won the turnover battle.

 

[Get Nasty]

Back to how we look for 25

I have concerns with our DL… our interior DL is not very talented, probably not one interior player will be drafted that will be in our 2 deep. I don’t mean drafted in 26, I mean drafted whenever they declare. I like young to become a monster at SDE but I’m concerned over wde with traore and botelho coming off major knee surgeries.

I have concerns over gray. He’s just not good enough.

On offense the only way we start a qb with any experience is starting our least talented one. Angeli is a very capable passer but has terrible pocket awareness and doesn’t move within the pocket. He’s not unathletic, he just takes tons of sacks.

 

[NDinNJ]

Did you watch the Bills game vs the Ravens? Josh Allen....one of the best passing QB's in the game had only 127 yards passing and not a single 100 yard rusher .....the defense played well and won the turnover battle.

College football and NFL are two completely different animals.

 

[sjb75]

College football and NFL are two completely different animals.

100.

 

[NDinNJ]

Back to how we look for 25

I have concerns with our DL… our interior DL is not very talented, probably not one interior player will be drafted that will be in our 2 deep. I don’t mean drafted in 26, I mean drafted whenever they declare. I like young to become a monster at SDE but I’m concerned over wde with traore and botelho coming off major knee surgeries.

I have concerns over gray. He’s just not good enough.

On offense the only way we start a qb with any experience is starting our least talented one. Angeli is a very capable passer but has terrible pocket awareness and doesn’t move within the pocket. He’s not unathletic, he just takes tons of sacks.

We shall see, maybe Carr will be ready. I believe Angeli starts the season, and Car takes over at some point midway through.

As for Gray, they say many college players make their biggest jump between their Sophomore and Junior years. Let's hope that plays out for Gray.

 

[sjb75]

We shall see, maybe Carr will be ready. I believe Angeli starts the season, and Car takes over at some point midway through.

As for Gray, they say many college players make their biggest jump between their Sophomore and Junior years. Let's hope that plays out for Gray.

Do you believe Marcus Freeman will publicly name a starter at QB during or just after Spring Football?

 

[rystaylo1]

It is unfair to Angelli and Minchey if you don’t name after spring. They should know by then

 

[savvyandsassier]

It is unfair to Angelli and Minchey if you don’t name after spring. They should know by then

In the age of the portal, how would you even do that? If you want to keep all three players around, even though the portal is just sitting right there, deliberately put in place to cater to spring position battles, you should be willing to pay up, because that definitely would help, and then be totally open about your intentions, and you want all three players to stay, even though only one can be a starter. And then just keep any competition going with a clean conscience, even if you're pretty sure it's going to be Carr or whoever.

But you can't be like, well we don't know who it's going to be, if you actually do more or less know. It's not just uncool, it's bad for morale, it's just bad. ND's got a good environment going, don't spoil it with some deceitful, manipulative shit like that.