The rest of our schedule and the rest of Notre Dame's schedule.
So Notre Dame first. Anyone else feel their only two "challenges" left are USC and Stanford? I feel they can easily go 8-4 and possible 10-2 if they play mistake free.
Their schedule:
Pitt
Purdue
Air Force
USC
Navy
Wake Forest
Maryland
Boston College
Stanford.
Michigan wise and how weak the B1G is looking. I can see these games as almost for sure wins(depending of course if our O can be consistent as well as D) SDSU, Minnesota, North Western, Purdue, and honestly Iowa.
The other games are coin flips. But there are no team so far on our schedule that I think is going to destroy us. Which is a relief compared to how good OSU, Nebraska, Iowa, and MSU were predicted to be going into the season.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:19 PM ^
I only see Minnesota and maybe Purdue as the only sure wins for the rest of the season. I like our chances against all those schools you listed, but I think our passing attack needs to improve before we can declare ourselves sure-fire favorites.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:20 PM ^
Yes. This is exactly why I can't respect ND anymore. Either go back to the old days of scheduling Nebraska and Tennessee, or join a conference. I really hope they get their sweethart deal with the BCS revoked at the next contract negotiations.
September 17th, 2011 at 11:26 PM ^
from what I've seen. For instance, Phil Steele had ND as the #14 toughest schedule and UM was #17. By win percentage, ND had the #6 toughest schedule. Both of these were before the start of the season.
While I love to watch our ND friends suffer from losses, I can't say that I share the sentiment that they don't play tough teams this year.
September 18th, 2011 at 10:48 AM ^
They, along with Nebraska, only tried to join the Big Ten on about five different occasions, only to be turned away each time. I can see where an argument could have been made for the continuous votes against NU due to geographical disparity and their applications came at a time when trains were used as the normal mode of transportation for then "lengthy" trips. This, coupled with NU's admissions standards and university ranking not being on par with the rest of the conference made this decision understandable.
However, ND has always been a first class university and its location makes it the only logical conference to consider joining. The reason against their continued rejections for admission was probably more political in nature, given the fact their admission standards would have been the most stringent in the conference, along with their reputation as an outstanding university.
There was a lot of animosity toward ND due to Rockne basically creating the AP NC system on the heels of a ND undefeated season and having them declared NC the very first year the system was put in place. The continued unfair voting practices displayed by the writers in regard to NC votes, Heisman winners, AAs, etc., did not play well, so the reasoning of conference members is somewhat understandable. They may be able to lay claim to producing the most Heisman winners, but along with that comes the indisputable realization they have also produced the highest number of undeserving winners. To say the writers flagrant display of favortism toward ND caused a lot of dislike toward them by a large number of conference members is a significant understatement.
Conference members somehow failed to realize allowing ND's admission into the conference would have basically eliminated such practice by the writers based on nothing more than ND being forced to win the conference championship before becoming eligible for all the post season honors.
But looking at it through the eyes of ND, this continued rejection did them no favors in terms of travel budget etc., so it was definitely a two-way street. And their popularity on the national level just continued to increase and the numerous rejections by the Big X actually helped place them in a position to cut their sweet "all ours" Television deal.
Let's face it, we're only going to be rejected by the same girl so many times prior to moving on to those more receptive. So when history of continued rejection is added to the above together with the inarguable increased parity in college football as displayed by the likes of Boise State, UT and many others, ND's s reluctance to forego its lucrative independent status becomes more and more understandable. It's all about the dead presidents' today.
September 18th, 2011 at 10:54 AM ^
ND is the third most profitable (TV wise) football program in Indiana and rejected a Big Ten bid on two occasions.
September 18th, 2011 at 7:06 PM ^
ND hasn't always been a top-notch school. Its academic standards were pretty shaky for a long time. Over the second half of the 20th century, it gradually became more selective and began to model itself after Georgetown and the like. Even today, it's considered a fine undergraduate school, but its graduate/research programs remain weak.
By the time ND became a selective university (thanks in large part to the publicity generated by its football program), it was no longer interested in Big Ten membership. We extended them an invitation in the 1990s and they said no.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:20 PM ^
I think if Shoe stays healthy we have a decent shot at the Legends division. Nebraska is going to be tough but the rest of the Legends teams are showing their not as strong as I previously thought. I don't think we'll go undefeated but neither will any other team in our division except possibly Nebraska.
<br>
<br>I don't really care about NDs schedule since I don't think we'll be in a position to have to worry about strength of schedule down the road.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:20 PM ^
MSU lost another lineman today and they were already thin.
Iowa is looking very average. Illinois is looking like a tough game for sure.
NW looks worse than I expected as does Nebraska.
I have some friends who are ex Husker players......they are very worried at how the team is playing and they think UM wins right now.
September 18th, 2011 at 12:34 AM ^
I'm surprised to hear that Nebraska's worried about us. Granted, they had a slow start today against Washington, but nobody slow-plays the 1st half on offense AND defense like we do! Here's hoping their fear is warranted :-).
September 18th, 2011 at 1:26 AM ^
This is true. It'll be a horrible first half for both teams, but the craziest second half you've ever seen.
September 18th, 2011 at 1:29 AM ^
..killed themselves in that game with 3 turnovers. They handed the Huskers 7 points on the botched kick off return and then the terrible call that would have given the Huskies a first and goal on that punt.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:22 PM ^
Maryland has looked good thus far... Maybe need to account for them in ND's schedule and they have lost to Navy 2 years in a row now. Nebraska CAN destroy any team they face. OSU and MSU have not looked good this week at all.
September 17th, 2011 at 10:56 PM ^
You work for UnderArmor
September 17th, 2011 at 9:22 PM ^
Ask South Carolina if Navy is a gimmie.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:26 PM ^
themselves if Navy is a gimme
September 17th, 2011 at 9:28 PM ^
They're a pretty good team, but that just doesn't seem like a realistic expectation.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:32 PM ^
It's a sliding scale. "Mistake free" in 2011 ND terms means 3 turnovers and a minus 1 turnover margin.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:30 PM ^
I still have a hard time projecting UofM. I feel like they have held back vs WMU and EMU, and got several gifts from ND.
<br>And, they have yet to go on the road. I really don't think anyone can have a good idea until we see them beat MSU.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:32 PM ^
For us, Northwestern is not going to be easy. And I'm not yet sold that we can walk into Kinnick expecting victory.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:31 PM ^
This could be the worst I have ever seen the big ten. Let Denard do his thing and who knows what happens. I really think we should be able to beat all 3 rivals.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:47 PM ^
Honestly the B1G has lost its mojo since 2006. 2009 was a great year, with four 10-win teams and all of them winning their bowl games. But otherwise, we've been more often a two-team-league - Ohio and someone else. This year, we look like Wisconsin - and they've yet to play a real game.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:32 PM ^
is beating a solid Wash State team right now, so let's not count those chickens...
I like the fact that Hoke knows that team so well, but they're good, make no mistake.
I see at least 3 more tough games for ND. I hope they lose every game they ever play...
September 17th, 2011 at 9:43 PM ^
solid washington state team? remind me how many games they won the last 2 years combined.
3 is the answer , heck they only won 5 games total in the last 3 years combined lol. I would'nt call them even solid.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:45 PM ^
It goes both ways, too - remember that SDSU's coach, Rocky Long, was the D coordinator and saw Al Borges' offense every day in practice.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:57 PM ^
So you think that prepares him to scheme against Denard in this offense?
The big advantages our coaches have is in their knowledge of the SDSU players. We're never going to have another game where we know that much about our opponent.
September 17th, 2011 at 11:10 PM ^
Borges isn't running his SDSU offense at all.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:34 PM ^
My second most favorite team on any given week is whoever is playing against ND.
If the Taliban had a football team and they were playing ND, I would be cheering for the Taliban that week.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:39 PM ^
Amen!
September 17th, 2011 at 9:54 PM ^
September 17th, 2011 at 10:33 PM ^
This is so wrong! After all, ND may play tsio sometime!
September 17th, 2011 at 9:37 PM ^
and think they can lose every game they have remaining. Pitt almost beat Iowa today. USC and Stanford are good as you note. The armed forces schools always are up for ND, same for BC and Purdue. Maryland's uniforms are disorienting enough to make ND think they are playing Oregon (and Maryland has been playing reasonably well). Okay, maybe Wake Forest is one they'll win.
ND seems to have an insatiable desire to lose. Seriously, they have a huge stop against MSU today and then on the punt have it bounce off their returner. If MSU scores (their receiver shouldn't have broken off that route) then I think there's a good chance MSU wins.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:47 PM ^
BC is turrible. Did you see them today? Pioneer could beat them.
September 18th, 2011 at 12:33 AM ^
beat BC.
but BC does appear terrible vs other FBS teams
September 17th, 2011 at 9:38 PM ^
That guy has 4 rushing TDs this Saturday and it is still 4th Quarter.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:40 PM ^
They also have given up 24 points to a bad Washington State team.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:45 PM ^
Wazzu is much improved over last season. Granted, they still aren't that good, but they are not a total pushover like in the past.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:47 PM ^
Lost 3G on the Droid app right as I hit send so I didn't think the post went through. Obviously I was wrong.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:45 PM ^
Wazzu is much improved over last season. Granted, they still aren't that good, but they are not a total pushover like in the past.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:50 PM ^
I now see it is 42-24, Aztecs. Wazzu, you just made me look stupid. I will never forget this day.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:38 PM ^
I thought 7-5 in pre-season, and so far, I haven't seen anything to change my mind. As expected, the defense is a little better than last year, but still not strong. The offense, as expected, is not as good as last year and not as good as I had hoped. We still don't have a running attack (except DR) and Robinson doesn't look comfortable in this offense. I am disappointed in his lack of improvement in the passing game. They do play hard and seem to have the right attitude and chemistry, so maybe they will improve before we hit the hard part of the schedule.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:44 PM ^
Exactly.
September 17th, 2011 at 10:03 PM ^
That is.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:51 PM ^
I agree that we haven't looked great thus far, but we still have a few games we have no business losing (SDSU, Minnesota, Purdue) and I have a hard time believing we go 2-5 against the rest. The B1G also looks weaker than I expected, and challenges against Ohio, Nebraska, Iowa, and Michigan State look less bleak than they did in August. Illinois is the only team that I am more afraid of now than before the season and that's still a coin flip type game.
Personally, I think we go 9-3 with the losses to MSU, Illinois, and Nebraska, but anything from 8-4 to 10-2 (still possible if we improve and stay healthy) wouldn't surprise me.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:52 PM ^
The defense will be better, but they won't be good until a they have a couple years of improved coaching and recruiting.
Heck let's be honest the D couldn't stop anyone for anything last year. The fact they held EMU to 3 points is encouraging to me. Recall we couldn't even slow down Massachusetts. At least this year we stopped someone we should have.
Hoke & Co. want to run a more pro style offense but it's obvious that Denard is not used to running this offense after 2 years of the spread. At least Borges has kept the main parts of that offense intact, loved seeing the fake Denard / throw to Dileo play today. I missed that play.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:57 PM ^
this was not exactly a pretty 31-3 game. Robinson needs some quick improvement in the passing game. I think our defense is capitalizing on their given opportunities, hopefully this continues. I say 8-4. maybe 9-3. nw is no cupcake.
September 17th, 2011 at 10:13 PM ^
but going 7-5 means that we beat the teams we should definitely beat (SDSU, Minnesota, Purdue) and go 1-4 the rest of the schedule. The Big 10 looks horrible this year, as we are now someone in that group is going to get Denarded, someone is going to get RPS'd by Mattison. 8 wins seam much more likely than 7, 9 isn't that unreasonable (add Northwestern, Iowa and one more to get to 9).
edit: More reason for optimism; the D's going to look better once Hagerup comes back and the oponents stop playing on short fields
September 17th, 2011 at 10:20 PM ^
Great point about Hagerup. Somehow that slipped my mind, but his return could be huge.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:38 PM ^
Notre Dame certainly isn't going 10-2. They won't play a game error free, and USC and Stanford have QBs that are better than Rees and Crist.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:42 PM ^
If I sit and play the schedule game with just the slightest bit of optimism, I think Michigan can beat almost any team they play this year. Too bad, I know in my heart they won't. Weird thing is, most of the teams I thought would be toughest are either currently losing today, lost earlier today, or lost to us last week. I can say with some certainty that Michigan will lose at very least 2-3 games this year, but I can't figure out who to.