Stanford Sucks
- Thread starter edub72
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ND lost to them at home 2 seasons ago when they (Stanford) were a one win team going into the game and finished the season 3-9 with wins over Colgate, ND, and ASU..
All of our games will be difficult
Stanford is downright terrible. It’s confusing what they’re doing about NIL. They’ve clearly fallen off in getting quality players. They’re in the ACC.
I live in the Bay Area and used to enjoy them as my #2 team. They might be one of earlier casualties of massive change. I don’t know how they will recover, being maybe the best overall academic U in the world.
I live in the Bay Area and used to enjoy them as my #2 team. They might be one of earlier casualties of massive change. I don’t know how they will recover, being maybe the best overall academic U in the world.
They aren't terrible but a team we should easily beat. They will be ready to play against us
F, if anything Stanford could be NIL kingpins. But they're worse than ND. It's' beneath them to sully themselves by bidding on prospects. At least in their case they suck in football anyway. They're good at 'olympic sports'. That's their pride and joy. They want to win the director's cup! But there's no school richer and with bigger coffers and deeper pockets than Stanford, in Silicon Valley, if they wanted to buy themselves a good roster of players. And they can just limit themselves to dudes who qualify, and then easily price out the market. And they can be back to the glory days of David Shaw. Just get old boys from google to foot the bill.
But for some sorry ass reason they buy into the whole 'student athlete' mythology even more than ND. But as I said, since they care more about swimming and women's volleyball, I guess maybe that holds water. Nobody cares about these sports anyway. There's just sort of there. Sponsored and maintained by the nation's vast university system. And every once in a while a Stanford athlete actually makes the Olympic team.
Virtually every University, public ones that is, fund their entire athletic department with revenue from their football program.
It’s been awhile now but I read an article that stated about 15-20 major college basketball programs also make more revenue than they spend but nothing like CFB.
Unfortunately, I think ND is content to be just good enough that they remain in the conversation but don’t really care about winning a title.
How does a team that is in the top 5 of CFB programs in total revenue earned not competing in NIL with other universities?
OSU is reported to have spent between $15-$16 million on their roster this year, Miami reportedly spent $3 million on Cam Ward, Oregon has supposedly made a commitment to fund their football team (through NIL) at $20 million a year in the future. ND has to pony up until some restraints are put on this circus.
I think the money war is disgraceful but that’s the reality of the sport now. ND hasn’t had a legit Five Star guy in a long time (unanimous across recruiting services). A lot of really good players but virtually no freshman that absolutely go off ever. Every single year it seems Bama, OSU, UGA, Oregon, etc. have a few freshman that light it up or makes significant contributions.
Facilities are great but everyone has great facilities now. Hell, I walked through the Bowling Green facilities a year ago during a club VB tournament being held there. It was nicer than OSU’s from 20 years ago. They had a huge players lounge, giant hot tubs, massage chairs, etc. That doesn’t win kids anymore, money does.
True. The thing is the football team is actually popular with the students. Pretty interesting social culture around academics and sports.
Like you said, nobody has deeper pockets. If they wanted to do this, I also think they could, more or less the right way, compromising on some academic rigor...same I say about ND.
Something is really amiss with west coast athletic and academic leadership. The demise of the PAC speaks volumes. It isn't just do gooders, but greed and well disguised incompetence.
I watched Miami steal 1 from Berkley late yesterday. The fans were into it and distraught. Stanford and Berkeley could do this if they wanted.
My take remains that NIL and associated transfer windows might be the straws the breaks their backs committing to 1st class football at least. Other sports are easier to maintain and compete in. Most top Olympic athletes in various sports prefer going to college...unlike world soccer, rugby, and some major American sports.
Great post.
I agree ND needs to pony up the NIL $$$.
But...sorry to bring this up incessantly...that is not enough.
1) Great coach and staff.
2) Most importantly...an easier academic path: doesn't have to be a joke degree, but something remedial to progressive academic development.
Most great athletes just do not want deep academics.
Yeah, the demise of the PAC 10 was a nightmare. And a disgrace and a crying shame or whatever. It really is humiliating to the sport, and does speak volumes, with respect to, avarice I suppose, and the grotesque lengths teams are willing to go and subject themselves to for money, and their helpless inability it would appear, to somehow avoid taking such an extreme step in the continued pursuit of their CFB programs. Obviously they must be desperate for the funds, but it's still almost unconscionable they voluntarily scuttled their own illustrious conference with all its history and unique geographical identity or whatnot, to join the homely ass Big Ten, in flyover country. And there were no wiser or cooler heads who could figure anything else out, or who cared enough about the good of the sport.
And now Stanford, a PAC-10 football also ran is in the ACC, a school where I believe you can behold the waters of the Pacific Ocean from the premises of the campus. Cal too. Colorado was able to limp back to the Big 12, which admittedly is a better geographical fit. And ASU, Zona and Utah joined them in the most tolerable of the new conference affiliations of the erstwhile PAC 12.
In any case, Stanford will do what they do. If they're too good for CFB, that's one program that won't be missed. ND on the other hand not only would they be missed, of course, it would be disastrous and almost fatal to their own fortunes if they dropped football or deemed themselves too righteous or rarefied or whatever to fully embrace what is nothing more than a proper and just order of affairs, as well as whatever at least perceived unseemly accommodations are required to remain fully competitive and vying for championships. It would be tragic.
"Stanford Sucks"
Yet, they will come into ND Stadium and play like it is the Super Bowl.
Look what I was meaning when I said that was that since the guy said "Stanford sucks", that means the game will end up being relatively close.
Notre Dame could play a high school flag football team and I wouldn't assume victory. Those days are loooooooooooooooong gone.
I NEVER take the Stanford game for granted. Too many times we have been favored only to lose or have one hell of a fight on our hands. Their head coach is damn good, as is their regular starting qb; and their offense is creative and difficult to defend. Taylor is recruiting talent in his skill positions, and I expect they’ll be contending for the ACC championship in another year or two. But for this week, we should grind them down and win by a comfortable margin, but I don’t expect a cakewalk. Hate bye weeks, but know these are terribly important for the players and team, but I need my ND game fix! Go ☘️
No, they are not very good. But as is always the case it seems, ND will find a way to make them look like playoff contenders and take this to the fourth quarter. Until proven otherwise, thats pretty much ND's MO for years now. I personally take no opponent lightly... ever.
Case in point... NIU ran off three straight losses after they beat us... smh
Case in point... NIU ran off three straight losses after they beat us... smh
I know, and with NIU they didn't look like world-beaters against us. They looked like a pretty normal MAC team. And they had this very specific, conservative game plan and one in a million they could maybe get the win if everything went according to plan. And all we could score was 14 points. That old saying 'everyone has a plan until they take the 1st punch' or however it goes, that didn't apply in this game. They never had to take any punches from us. Their plan just kept working and working and they eventually won the game.
Upshot being Stanford is easily good enough to beat us, and they're not going to be intimidated. If anyone won't be it's them.
For the thousandth time on this board NIL money does NOT come from any university or their pot of revenue. Period. It comes from collectives that raise and distribute funds hopefully in conjuction with the protocols in place by the conferences and schools and the laws in states that have enacted NIL legislation.
He doesn't mean that, obviously. He doesn't mean that ND the institution, formally and officially needs to pay and procure the money of out ND's bank account, and have them sell off some of their assets out of their vast endowment, and then use the proceeds to directly pay for and defray any NIL obligations. He just means the ND football community, ie boosters, fans, whoever. You understand?
Is there much interplay between collective and the university?
Have read reports that Notre Dame's scholarship number (>85) was offset by use of NIL money. Is this doubtful? Or can be organized by request from university/football program?
You could repeat it to me 10,000 times, and I'll never understand how any of it works. I do know I don't care half as much as I did 20 years ago, knowing that players are getting 7-figure deals and then opting out of bowl games; rosters are filled out by rental players, and coaching staffs get contracts rivaling those of movie stars.
What's interesting is I'm a Notre Dame graduate, and I don't know a single fellow alumnus who really cares about whether the football team wins or loses, and most of them wouldn't really care if there wasn't a football team at all.
When I was in school football was a big deal from a social perspective because there was so little to do in South Bend or on campus. But it was surprisingly small potatoes.
If you have ever watched video of the 1973 Sugar Bowl, there's a scene where Howard Cosell makes some ridiculous comment, "At Notre Dame, football is a religion; at Alabama, it's a way of life." A more accurate statement would have been, "At Alabama, football is a religion; at Notre Dame, it's a popular sport that provides the student body with something to do on fall weekends."
Last year is not this year, them or us. At the rate we've played this year, I honestly don't see any game being a gimme. As I said somewhere else here, ND has made a habit out of making inferior teams look like title contenders for years now.
My aplogies for the NIU comment, they lost to Buffalo and NC State.. lol. Thank goodness neither of those teams our on our schedule...
Some people get pedantic to score a point.
As you said, of course the institutions and alumni and boosters find ways to work together. I don't pretend to know details. But I know how one can use institutional money to bolster marketing, communications, and partner teams to outsource certain things...did this across various professions.
I image ND can and does...to some degree, maybe not enough!
They don't care. Did you see the crowd for their game vs VaTech? I refer to Stanford people as Wine and Cheese Crowd.
I go to games. I was at last year's ND game in Palo Alto. Cool crowd actually, students especially.
They're not rabid. But are clearly supportive. Tail gating too. Yes, wine and cheese!
Stanford is high pressure high demand high performance for the students. Not all can attend every Saturday game. They still do...including alumni. And they're normal...wanting to win, getting mad when they don't.
"Unfortunately, I think ND is content to be just good enough that they remain in the conversation but don’t really care about winning a title."
BRAND MAINTENANCE.
And it's a Win-Win-Win. Golden Dome. Gold helmets. Gold. And with no other alchemy or PHILOSOPHER'S STONE required.
Cash keeps flowing in, academic standards get met and FANS STAY SUFFICENTLY HUNGRY as an NC is always at least "PLAUSIBLY" just around the corner if only for the NEXT GREAT COACH or RECRUITING HAUL.
It's the NARRATIVE that keeps giving, yet NEVER QUITE DELIVERS.
Like the Jews used to say: NEXT YEAR, JERUSALEM. They at least MADE IT BACK.
ND should be so LUCKY.
And LUCK'S exactly what it will take.
X2.
That said, Golson pointed out that Northern Illinois beat UMass recently, so maybe the NIU loss in South Bend now looks pretty good.
I hope its intentional and not the university incompetently going about their business thinking they have a realistic shot.
They literally had nobody at the game.I go to games. I was at last year's ND game in Palo Alto. Cool crowd actually, students especially.
They're not rabid. But are clearly supportive. Tail gating too. Yes, wine and cheese!
Stanford is high pressure high demand high performance for the students. Not all can attend every Saturday game. They still do...including alumni. And they're normal...wanting to win, getting mad when they don't.
I go out of my way to attend the ND games in Palo Alto. I try to watch marquee games, more so when Stanford is doing well. Again, my perception is attendance is better when the Cardinal are doing well.
As discussed, they are pretty bad right now and in a bleak situation as perhaps the best overall school in the world.
This might be their final adventure...I wouldn't be surprised if they capitulate and wind down football. Maybe Ivy? Maybe lower division?
NIL, transfers, even more big $$$? Demands for a really easy degree? There might be limits to what Stanford can commit to here.
No exaggeration, Stanford is a force multiplier for the USA: GDP, defense, health, overall ROI. Not sure if they want to or can do the new football normal.
Hasn't that been the $64,000 QUESTION?
My opinion -- AND I HAVE NO FACT BASE, SO I'M PURELY GUESSING -- is that ND has been seeking to maintain a RESPECTABLE BALANCE.
For me, the three legs of the stool are FINANCIAL STRENGTH, ACADEMIC RANKING AND FOOTBALL RANKING. The last time I looked, ND ranked 11th in endowments, 19th in academics as per US News & World Report, and 11th in this week's AP CFB rankings.
If I'm ND's ADMIN, what part of this picture DON'T I LIKE? Frankly, it all looks GOOD. And the key is -- and this is the BALANCE FACTOR -- it looks good not only vs. other institutions but also on an internally consistent ACROSS THE BOARD BASIS.
THERE'S NO WEAK LINK.
But, of course, if you're a RETURN-TO-GLORY ND football fan, the first two categories are often mindlessly DISMISSED while the ranking in the third -- football -- is viewed as UNACCEPTABLY SECOND-RATE.
Yet, even as I don't see ND moving to TOP FIVE STATUS in endowments or academic ranking, I don't see it doing so in FOOTBALL either. In all three respects, IT HAS A CEILING. It's an elite university without either a) the history or generational resources (broadly defined) of the Ivy League or b) the less academically focused advantages available in places like Tuscaloosa or Columbus.
As it now stands, Alabama has more championships than ND. Michigan, Alabama, Ohio State and Texas (by one) have more victories, and Alabama, Ohio State and Michigan have a higher winning percentage -- with all three tied at .734 percent vs. ND's .730. So, if ND can, OVER TIME, average 10-3 seasons which equates to a .769 winning percentage, it can, in all likelihood, remain within CFB's alll-time TOP-FIVE and certainly within its top 10.
I'm not saying that this IS ND's strategy, but if I were running the place -- ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL -- it VERY WELL MIGHT BE MINE.
And who knows? Maybe one year, you luck out recruiting the next BO JACKSON or CARSON PALMER and he wins the Heisman and the team takes the championship. Even that I could see.
But is it NC or bust?
DON'T THINK SO.
I understand. You''ll argue the color of the sky.. have a good one... go Irish.. lol
