ND VS. BC

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Time to really lay the wood on BC–one of most irritating thorns over the years.

You can count on BC to play hard and not quit no matter what their record is. ND is a BIG GAME, BOWL GAME for them. ND cannot allow them to hang around.

I still don’t know what to make of Rees–he could really solidify his hold at QB if he has success in these last 3 games. If he does and Kiel commits I think Hendrix or Golson gone.

Defense–trying to think when the DL last had a sack–can’t remember. They should get this fixed this week as preparation for Stanford.

Luck will eat them alive if given time–whatever Oregon did we should imitate.

I look for a methodical grinding game with a lot of Gray–important for him to get to the 1,000 yd rushing in next 2 games.

Prediction:

ND 31 BC 14

ND 45 MARYLAND 21

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What’s not to like in a blowout game. Kudos to all the players in one of the best efforts of the year.

Jonas–where were you for past 3 years? wish you had a 5th.

Roby Toma–finally gets playing time and shines.

Lo Wood gets a pic 6–confidence booster going ahead.

Tommy Rees–great game just wish you could move–just a little bit and throw long.

MVP Offense—Toma

MVP Defense–Lo Wood–hey why not.

Oregon just showed ND how to beat Stanford.

Now let’s hang 50 on BC and shut them out.

ND VS MARYLAND

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This is a character game. If ND does not come out blazing then there IS a character problem with the players.

Against Wake–just went thru the motions for 1st half.
Against USC played scared and looked like they knew they would lose–despite new glitzy helmets.

Now they play a forlorn Maryland team that could easily upset them–just play the Pitt defense and run blitz entire game.

I don’t know which team will show up but wearing the green jerseys is a privilege and if they stagger around and not hammer Maryland they will be disgracing all the great players and teams that wore the green before them.

Maryland does have enough to beat them–this is their Bowl game. Randy Edsall brought a half ass UCONN team into ND stadium and won no reason why he can’t do it again.

Recruiting–they need Gunner Kiel. Get the best high school QB and you not only keep the recruits you have but may land a 5 star receiver similar to what Clausen’s commit did to that recruiting class.

So now Prediction. I think ND plays down to Maryland level but Maryland goes pedal to the metal.

ND 24 MARYLAND 17

Maryland Week

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I, for one, would not have fired Ralph Fridgen as head coach of Maryland–he did pretty well at a school that will never be top tier and he is a grad.

So they hire Randy Edsall(my pick for the ND job) who will just use this as a stepping stone for a bigger job.

Make no mistake Edsall is a good coach and I do not think this will be a walk in the park for ND. Consider 3 games Maryland played this year:

Miami W 32–24
West Virginia L 37–31
Clemson L 56–45

Clemson had to come from behind to win. So this is a classic trap game and if ND starts slow look out for this team can score points.

Still don’t know what to make of the QB deal at ND–with Rees we are surrendering roughly half the field since the long ball not there.

Get Gunner Kiel–should be top priority.

Injuries pile up:
Cave out for the year.
Riddick out with hamstring–replaced by Toma.
Teo and Lynch–ankles?
E. Johnson–ankle?

Next topic Penn State:

Paterno out at end of the year–he’s been there for 50 yrs and is winningest coach at over 400 wins although about half of the wins against
the Youngstown States of the football world.

State College is a small town and like all small towns hard to keep a secret and even harder in the Sports Dept. They must have known Sandusky a pervert yet he still has an office on campus.
I can understand the Grad Asst McQueary not knowing what to do-his word against the Defensive Co-ordinator but I am appalled about Paterno and the rest of the administration. This is child abuse which is a crime. Sandusky should have been banned from the school and the police notified immediately–coverup and Paterno had to have been involved.

ND 24 WAKE FOREST 17

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Lackluster game with 2 God awful announcers. Very unimaginative game plan for ND both offense and defense.

Lots of injuries–Cave, Teo Lynch and TJ Jones.

Rees 2 TD passes and 2 pics.
Jonas Gray & Cierre Wood ran for 180 combined yards. Mike Golic subbed for Cave–played extremely well and I hope he gets a 5th year.

Think ND just plays badly in Night Games but did comeback to win game down 17-10 at the half.

Watching this game–what went thru my head was–Andrew Luck!!!!!

Offense MVP’s–Golic, Gray & Wood.

Defense MVP’s–Tuitt & Lynch.

Next up :

Maryland 2W 7L–night game
Boston College 2W 7L

and then Stanford( currently undefeated) at Night.

So ND should be 8-3 when they play Stanford–let’s hope Standford has multiple injuries or a miracle happens to Rees’s arm.

ND VS WAKE FOREST

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Completely out of it since last Sunday—no power–thanks to the North Carolina crew that came to NJ and restored power after 6 days.

Anyhow, I know absolutely nothing about Wake except they have like a 32,000 seating capacity and good student athletes–graduation is important to them.

Good coach–Jim Grobe–forget where he made his name, but he is a big defensive guy.

Wake is severely undersized in this game–so expect blitzes galore–every which way. Key is getting to Rees!!

So the OL must dominate give Rees time to get passes out.

ND does not lose this game except for turnovers.

Prediction:

ND 49 WAKE 21

Monkey Off our Backs ND 56 Navy 14

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Notre Dame clearly shrugged off an embarrassing loss to USC and a ridiculous Twitter controversy to just absolutely manhandle a Navy team who at the time of the game was 3rd in rushing in the nation. Fired up from the get go Tommy Rees led the Irish to fast scores and the defense completely shut down Navy led by Manti Teo. Rees finally connected a long ball throw to Floyd who scampered away into the endzone. Good play by everyone all around especially the freshman on defense (Lych, Tuitt, etc.). It was great revenge against a tough Navy team that has had our number for the last two years. Here’s to never losing to another service academy team ever again.

My only gripe with this game was where were these guys last week against USC?
Hopefully we have turned the corner and now we can win out. This team can beat anyone in the country if they get it together. I think they can beat Stanford if they come in hyped with wins over Wake, BC, and Maryland.

ND VS NAVY

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You have to remember that Navy is not Army or Air Force and that only 2 games really matter the most to them–1-Army 2- Notre Dame.

I just cannot see the ND scoring machine we saw vs Air Force.

Year after year regardless of the coach we have had physically superior players get pushed around by jack rabbits.

My mind tells me we score at will but my gut tells me–it won’t happen.

I do not believe this ND team will be able to stop the Navy option attack–simply too quick and fast paced. Nix will sag by mid 3rd quarter if not earlier. The cut blocks will also negate our size advantage.

ND has to jump out fast to win and simply outscore Navy.

This is Diaco vs Navy head coach battle(can’t say or spell his name).

High scoring game decided in 4th quarter and ND staggers away with a FG win.

Just remember Navy only lost to South Carolina(6-1) by 3.

Prediction:

ND 45 NAVY 42

Final Final Comments on USC

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Everything was in place for the defining victory to catapult ND into BCS discussion and grab a few elite recruits along the way.

Didn’t happen on or off the field.

This was the year — USC banged up and less talented than ND for the first time in years.

The only problem, as I saw it, was that the ND players did not think they could beat USC and they didn’t.

First half the offense played scared and NON physical. Defense was bad. Gradually got into the game and then pissed it all away.

The ND defense did not quit (charitable) they just flat-lined and were physically worn out in the 4th quarter–despite all that Longo crap.

USC had injuries also–so losing E. Johnson should not have led to a defensive collapse.

That’s it folks–we may never beat USC again–the stars were aligned but team didn’t show up.