So missing player power ranking based on who wouldve made the biggest difference this game: 1 BMo 2 Riley Mills 3 Traore 4 Bothello 5 Knapp 6 Flanagan
Not an ND fan but had fun watching this team. Would've been nice to see less conservative play calling at times and if Golden is responsible for a lot of the defensive stuff, well, maybe you're getting lucky.
I was wondering this, but can't imagine they threw him the screen on the final play of the game when we had 0.000% chance of winning knowing he's your team next season if he was risking a knee tear
Love definitely aggravated the injury. You can see it on the replay after his 3rd carry, I believe. He stood there for a second looking at his knee and moved it around like he was testing it. Morrison would not have made much of a difference. Not sure why that is getting said so much. Gray gets put in the absolute toughest assignment in defense constantly. Field corner in man to man coverage with no safety help. In 3rd and 11 against the best receiver in football you have to assume you are guarding a route to the sticks in that situation, especially when you are bringing an all out blitz. It was a ballsy call to throw deep and gray guessed wrong leaning toward the in route for a first down. We didn't get the pressure you want to impact a deep throw like that. The defensive issue this game was absolutely no pass rush and the LBs looking confused and late on every read for 75% of the game. We didn't see the LBs look so slow and flat footed all year. Hardly anyone firing through gaps with speed until the 4th quarter.
Considering how frequently I read this thread during the season, I have to thank everyone in here for the entertainment and opinions given throughout the year. Happy to report (with no actual proof, of course) that I was never fully despondent after the NIU loss as the team had so much potential and Freeman has made me believe we’re at least in good hands for the future. Great season overall and we just ran into the best team in the country tonight. One of these years, we’ll get ourselves a national championship again and I think this season more than any other in the last 30+ years proves we can beat prominent teams in the postseason.
Hello fellas - I haven’t read the game thread but wanted to say congrats on a great season. Leonard was a warrior tonight and that team fought like hell. No words will make you feel better but your team is in good hands. Cheers - JC
Three stats from Prister’s post game article that stand out: 7 combined carries for Love and Price 9/12 third down conversions for OSU No pressures recorded by our defense on Howard
No pass rush killed ND that made stopping OSU impossible Glad they fought back a little to make everyone sweat - that’s what we expect unlike a Brian Kelly team which would’ve folded for a 38 pt loss Fun season- now comes the hardest two weeks as ND will lose players to the portal and coaches- remember to stay calm through it.
I understand that these games ultimately have binary results and that’s all that really matters, but there have been a number of these games in my life where we’ve gotten our absolute doors blown off and I felt embarrassed after the fact. This game could’ve easily gone that direction, and it ultimately didn’t. I’m proud of what that team did to finish this football game. I’m proud of the direction of the program. I’m excited to roll it back next season. Good on those kids for fighting.
Difference with this game is that even if it did get ugly, we still beat Georgia and Penn State to get here. We weren't selected straight to this game so there is no questioning whether we belonged in the first place. If a game gets ugly that's one thing, but in these situations you would generally have people saying shit about being in a conference or getting lucky along the way.
Good thing we don’t need to debate it. look they played their d game in the first half and b+ game in the second half and lost by 11. In a year where the great debate was do you need to win one or two playoff games to find success. Onward and upward.
Sadly, I agree with this. And it's weird because it's so against his norm. Denbrock probably deserves some of that, too. I get not trusting the individual pieces on hand, but it's the national title game. This is when you should be trying to make things happen. Ohio State is extremely well coached. They won't give you the easy stuff unless you put some pressure on them. I have confidence in the staff, though. They won some big games down the stretch and held a beat up team together. Just not last night.
Marcus absolutely did stupid shit in the game honestly not sure it mattered- ND just didn’t have the dogs
Especially after the first drive, the offense until we were down 24 points was so disappointing. You can't win against a OSU if a single penalty blows up a drive every time.
You're a fun target in the back and forth because you've taken your shots, but it's all good, and in fun. And you know the saying...to victors go the spoils, and all that. Err, uh, poor wording there. Didn't mean to call you guys "the victors." I don't know what in the hail I was thinking. Seriously, congrats on a great season with a great team. There are actually a lot of likeable guys there. Hell, I can't dislike Ryan Day the more I learn about his passion around and efforts to support mental health issues. CFB coaches don't really have the time, energy, or focus to champion big causes like that, so good on him for being out there. And yeah, we're still pretty happy about our Buckeye HC, and all joking aside, you guys should actually be proud of the work he's doing and in a much more positive way than his old boss.
Teams have bad games. They have them against Michigan. I think it's psychological and there's a weird obsession with them. This isn't a personal knock on the posters here, but you see it in their fans. Like it's a real hate sometimes that goes beyond rivalry. Hell I don't like Michigan, and Ohio State is our boogie man and the team I'd like to finally beat more than any other, but some of my best friends are fans of either/or, and I can't act the same toward them as they tend to do each other. I really think they need to dial the importance back to embracing the size, history, and fun of the rivalry, buy let go of the life or death aspect of it a bit. Especially in the modern CFB landscape. The game used to literally decide the fate of the season. That clearly wasn't the case this year.
Was neat to slay one boogeyman in Georgia that was fun as hell ND is gonna be scary AF next year- let’s win it all
I can’t find his name now but some grad on Cincy who is pretty good was in the portal and went back to Cincy is now reconsidering.
I'm probably nitpicking to say flip Traore and Bothello. Traore has a better chance to get home on the pass rush, but Bothello brings some of that, as well, and is more proven making big stops in the run game. He got gashed on the edges a bit during the 2nd and early third quarters when we couldn't get off the field. But it's nitpicking. I'd love to have had either.
Corleone? If we could lure him with the Louisville kid and the guys returning, we'd be in good shape at DT.
This right here. Fans will stress, but adults are in charge and the administration is backing them. With the right pieces and the right moves, and some health, God willing, next year's team could easily be better than the one that just beat Indiana, Penn St., and Georgia to make it to the national title game.
the meltys last year over a bunch of kids who sucked in retrospect were uhh not strong moments by our group
Said it in the game thread, but you all have a gritty program that’s definitely trending up under Freeman. Not folding and coming back to make it a game definitely says a lot about the culture at Notre Dame. Congrats on a great season, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other in the future.
We've had some shining moments, haven't we? I'm sure there will be melties when Golden leaves, but three years from him was a pretty damned good deal. Teams win, assistants get poached. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Cold weather and Day opted to try and prove they could ground and pound instead of letting Chip Kelly do his thing. & weird shit happens in rivalry games.
I know fans like to take shots at him because of some of his comments, but he has a job to do in selling ND and that's part of the sell. But he's such a likeable, positive, and successful guy, all while being tough as nails. I'd be proud of him if I were a Buckeye alumn/fan. He still represents well. And the man would clearly walk through hell and back for Jim Tressell.
The size on the DL was glaring last night. Need to improve there. And like others have said ND needs to have and should have an elite Oline
Was the OL play that bad? Leonard had time to throw against a top 3 DL- I suspect it will be elite next year with everyone coming back. Those tackles are legit
To be fair, I think that's a minority take at this point. Most here would argue otherwise, and actually have, for that matter.