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This is the best the team has looked through the first half of the season during the BK era

chaseball

chaseball

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Sep 8, 2007
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In the current landscape of college football there are no "pretenders" or "statement games"

All games matter. All drives matter. We don't need to wait until a game vs USC, or Miami to get good data on the quality of this Notre Dame team.

ND is absolutely dominating teams, beating the spread consistently, etc. Only loss coming by 1 point to a team that's absolutely destroying all of their opponents as well. ALL of this data bodes well for this 2017 team's upside. This is what a playoff team looks like.

BIG point differential ... top 10 rankings in the S&P+/FEI/FPI rankings ... it doesn't matter if the wins are coming vs Miami OH, the way in which the team is winning is evidence that this team is for real.

This is the best the program has looked through the first 6 games of a season going back as far as I can remember.
 
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2 points:
1. These has been some of the weakest opposition I can remember ND playing against.
It is just an accident of scheduling combined with injuries to other teams.

2. This is by far and away the best conditioned ND team since Lou. They are obvious in their conditioning and strength. And take note of the fact that no starter has been lost this far into the season.
Balis is team MVP to this point.
 
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NDs sagarian strength of schedule rank is #30in the country. (They've played a top 30 schedule through the first 5 weeks).

ND just beat a P5 opponent with a back up QB freshman and its 3rd and 4th string RBs.

NDs point differential is +100 through 6 games.

NDs only loss coming to Georgia (by 1 point) who looks like one of the best team's in the country through 6 games.

NDs FEI ranking is #10 today before smashing UNC (FEI is a super granular statistical formula that takes the success failure of every play into consideration with an adjustment made for quality of opponent)

There hasn't been this much good data on the ND football team through the first 6 games in at least over a decade.

This is what an elite team in the nation/a real playoff contender looks like.
 
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I agree. The team is well conditioned, physical, and fundamental on both sides of the ball. Although weak opponents ND has broken their will and foot on throat in every game, leaving them no chance to come back. Georgia is murdering everyone. Now let's see if the team can be special by beating the best remaining teams on the schedule.
 
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justified1 said:
2 points:
1. These has been some of the weakest opposition I can remember ND playing against.
It is just an accident of scheduling combined with injuries to other teams.

2. This is by far and away the best conditioned ND team since Lou. They are obvious in their conditioning and strength. And take note of the fact that no starter has been lost this far into the season.
Balis is team MVP to this point.
Click to expand...
You're assuming those teams are bad because ND smoked them. Look a little closer.
 
chaseball said:
NDs sagarian strength of schedule rank is #10 in the country. (They've played one of the top 10 toughest schedules in the nation through the first 5 weeks).

ND just beat a P5 opponent with a back up QB freshman and its 3rd and 4th string RBs.

NDs point differential is +100 through 6 games.

NDs only loss coming to Georgia (by 1 point) who looks like one of the best team's in the country through 6 games.

NDs FEI ranking is #10 today before smashing UNC (FEI is a super granular statistical formula that takes the success failure of every play into consideration with an adjustment made for quality of opponent)

There hasn't been this much good data on the ND football team through the first 6 games in at least over a decade.

This is what an elite team in the nation/a real playoff contender looks like.
Click to expand...


Love the enthusiasm and I am there with you most of the way. We will definitely know if they are a Playoff caliber team after the USC game. I think there are some pleasant and some "interesting" surprises thus far:

  1. Rushing offense was expected to be strong but not necessarily THIS strong - great to see
  2. Our RB stable is impressive - all the way up and down the depth chart
  3. Our Passing offense has been a bit disappointing - I think coming into the season we expected to have an embarrassment of riches at the WR position
  4. I'm surprised that we haven;t seen more from the TE's - they've been pretty solid when called upon though
  5. Defense overall is much more consistent and solid than I thought - I did have confidence they'd be improved but very happy with them thus far
While there have been questions around Chip's play calling, I'd like to think (a) he's getting settled in, finding his way while finding out what he has and (b) we are likely saving some up for the second half of the schedule. The DB's continue to be the only concern for me on the Defense. They'll be tested vs. USC.

Very proud of the way the Irish have been playing - great effort all the way around. Go Irish - beat USC!!
 
The defense, the defense... there's been games that they've looked good in the past but they've never been this sound and this successful in causing turnovers. Not even in 2012.
 
I'm just worried about the trend of Kelly collapses in November. The last 3 seasons we've gotten progressively worse as the year went on.
 
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y2joey said:
I'm just worried about the trend of Kelly collapses in November. The last 3 seasons we've gotten progressively worse as the year went on.
Click to expand...

A lot of that might have to do with lack of depth/injuries/attrition that the program has had to deal with over the last few years.
 
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Look at the competition thus far though. I hope the team looks this good in the second half of the season. ND will have the toughest schedule in the nation, IMO, coming up.
 
The past three years we had problems with season ending injuries, players making bonehead decisions that negatively affected the team, only the players know how long the problems in the S&C took in developing, and the defense and special teams was South of terrible.
 
TOMMY_23 said:
Look at the competition thus far though. I hope the team looks this good in the second half of the season. ND will have the toughest schedule in the nation, IMO, coming up.
Click to expand...
Look at any other teams competition to date. Aside from some very good games sprinkled in, most teams have been playing cupcakes up to this point.

Everyone has been playing non-conf games for the most part. the wheat gets separated from the chaff once conference plays starts full force. This is starting now for most teams.

At least we've beaten the teams we're supposed to beat, whereas in years past, this wasn't the case. Much better to be 5-1 heading into the meat of your schedule then to be 1-5. Just glad we're not FSU. They have a tough road ahead if they want to be in a bowl.
 
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