Deep thoughts
by SEE (2020-11-22 23:26:34)

Have we ever had a team with this much seniority? 9 seniors and 5th years on offense and 8 on defense. 9 5th year kids in total. It's like an old BYU team and I think this has to be part of the mix for ND going forward, which means ND has to always fill needs every year. Mature bodies and minds matter when you're playhing teams loaded with 5-stars.

Not sure where we'd be right now without Ben Skowronek and Nick McCloud. Neither will be an AA, but both are seasoned players who plugged big holes.

With Lenzy coming back and Avery Davis coming we have some lightning to match with Skowrenek and McKinley's thunder. Hopefully Book's downfield confidence is picking up.

If Simon/Kiser and Lewis can continue to improve we might just be able to hang with Clemson in the ACC title game. Anyone know who's in our nickel package?

Now that ND is in the ACC for one year, you get just how much of an advantage Clemson has had the last five years or so.

I sure hope ND doesn't make a decision at center based upon next year... if Lugg is the best guy, get him in there. All 6'7" of him... though as Mike Frank pointed out, that's a tall guy to throw over.

I wonder how Nebrasks if feeling about joining the B10 to give the finger to Texas and OU. Yeah, they might haave been #2 before, but now they're ???

Zeke Correll is small,but his highlight reel is. worth checking out. Baby Q.








Deep Thoughts on football
by DBCooper  (2020-11-23 15:23:51)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

by Jack Handey

Marta was watching the football game with me when she said, "You know, most of these sports are based on the idea of one group protecting its territory from invasion by another group." "Yeah," I said, trying not to laugh. Girls are funny.




I hope Williams and C'Bo are back to 100%
by TWO  (2020-11-23 12:49:32)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Williams didn't finish the BC game and C'Bo was crushed on his last carry and limped off the field.


Kyren Williams: Notre Dame’s biggest offensive weapon
by other_guy  (2020-11-23 14:24:51)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

who has scored ten touchdowns and 992 scrimmage yard this season didn’t play nearly the entire second half at Boston College. Kelly said Williams had a banged-up ankle against BC but called it “nothing major” and is set to prepare for North Carolina with no limitations this week and added that Williams “looked good in the weight room” Monday morning.

C’Bo Flemister: Suffered an ankle injury in the Boston College game but Kelly expects him to be ready to go Friday against North Carolina. Kelly added that he ran yesterday and is set to practice on Monday.


Here's a scary comparison of the QB/RB matchup.
by TWO  (2020-11-23 14:39:48)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


Ian Book: 134-for-216, 1,818 yards, 11 touchdowns and one interception
Kyren Williams: 137 carries, 777 yards and 10 touchdowns

Sam Howell: 168-for-248, 2,631 yards, 23 touchdowns and six interceptions
Javonte Williams: 120 carries, 868 yards and 15 touchdowns
Michael Carter: 116 carries, 807 yards and four touchdowns.


Ok, I will play
by Hatchet Man  (2020-11-23 18:31:48)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

NC similar to Clemson's numbers on offense. Not scared.


Look at their defensive stats. Look who they played
by drmurray  (2020-11-23 14:54:11)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

They lost to Virginia and FSU.

They won't be easy, but I like our odds.


Definitely have not played against a good defense, best was
by Voisman  (2020-11-23 17:10:53)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Ranking of Defenses for UNC Wins: BC-54, Duke-70, NC St-89, Wake-102, Syracuse-103, VT-105(wow!). In their two losses: VA-81, FSU-108!!


I do as well, but I'm thinking we'll need to score 40+
by TWO  (2020-11-23 14:56:20)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

to beat them and that they'll hang at least 30 on our defense.


ND released new depth chart:Correll starts at OC. Lugg at RG *
by Hanratty5ND  (2020-11-23 11:57:01)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


6-7 is an issue at center
by jt  (2020-11-23 11:15:08)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

if he can do it, more power to him but that's a tough one; those guys have to block nose guards and getting that leverage needed at that height is tough.


Pattersons long snaps have been perfect....
by Wolfetone  (2020-11-23 11:46:30)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

That's a concern I have with new man.....


Good niche opportunity for Colin Grunhard?
by bleedsgreen04  (2020-11-23 13:25:56)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

I'm assuming by long snaps you are specifically talking special teams and not just shotgun, right?

Colin Grunhard is a senior and I'm sure has had plenty of reps through the years.


Had shotgun in mind.... *
by Wolfetone  (2020-11-23 13:44:16)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


I was born a long snapper's daughter.
by SWPaDem  (2020-11-23 12:43:32)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Few people know this is the real truth behind Loretta Lynn's song and that movie about her. Kinda hard to raise eight kids on a long snapper's salary.


She told her first husband to take a hike *
by drmurray  (2020-11-23 14:54:54)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


Four kids (supposedly) by the age of 18.
by SWPaDem  (2020-11-23 17:56:45)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

He can take a big hike.


You know you’re from Kentucky if
by Homeboy73  (2020-11-23 19:08:12)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

your 12 year old daughter smokes at the kitchen table...in front of her 3 kids.


Makin' it real! *
by SWPaDem  (2020-11-24 05:43:49)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


Nebraska, fwiw
by DavidAddison  (2020-11-23 10:35:53)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

certainly made the right decision from a financial perspective. Their conference and TV money dwarfs the Big12 and the difference I think is about to increase. Texas got their own network but Nebraska obviously was never going to.

I do miss the OU/Nebraska rivalry. In the Osborne vs. Switzer days, those games were really something.


Devaney versus Fairbanks too!! *
by usmcirish  (2020-11-24 14:43:08)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


Outside a couple OU/Neb games, was it really something?
by ndgotrobbedin97  (2020-11-23 21:50:23)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

I just don't recall ever being interested in those two teams. It was just option left, option right the entire game and when one of them had to throw at the end it was a clown show.


I guess it depends what a person is into
by DavidAddison  (2020-11-24 11:47:02)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

I could make a case that it gets dull today seeing everyone run what is essentially the same offense. It was fantastic when it was innovative (Northwestern, 20 years ago), but now it's on every channel, every game.

Personally I loved seeing the kind of football Nebraska/Oklahoma played and loved that rivalry. And the option was entertaining as you'd see the QB pitch at the last minute to a halfback who was taking the corner at full speed.

That said, today's "marketplace" (read: NFL) has made (non-academy) colleges running that offense obsolete. Georgia Tech under Johnson wasn't much more than a curiosity compared to the powerhouses of the old days.


Nebraska should have stayed in B-12 for recruiting
by Hickster  (2020-11-23 13:44:30)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

When they were strong they recruited well in Texas, When they were winning they had access to elite recruits in the Big 8/12 states with teams they played from Missouri/Kansas/Colorado to Texas/Arkansas and also did well in NJ.

Now they are fighting Iowa & Minnesota for recruits in Illinois and dribbles out to the eastern Big Ten Geography. The lack of winning has not made them successful in the Midwest, whose talent level has less high quality recruits than in the past - Ohio St., Michigan, Penn St., Wisconsin and ND get most of the best recruits in the Midwest - with some elite teams cherry-picking some recruits.

IMO, the financial benefit from the Big Ten network was not worth the loss of their traditional recruiting base.


Can someone help explain this to me?
by naptown  (2020-11-24 08:53:27)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

I just don't fully understand this thinking, and maybe it's because we've always been independent.

Why does changing conferences change who they are compete with for recruits? The school didn't change, they didn't move to a new location, everything about them is the same except for their conference.

Why are they no longer competing with the Big 12 teams for recruits and only with Big 10 teams? Why weren't they competing with Big 10 teams for recruits before joining the Big 10?


With out-of-state recruits
by tf86  (2020-11-24 13:25:32)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Which Nebraska needed and was able to attract, sometimes the big motivator is playing against the in-state school. I think for most of them, it's either a road less travelled thing, or else they have some sort of chip on their shoulder if they think they weren't given a fair chance by the in-state school. For example, it's probably easier to get a would-be Texas recruit fired up at the opportunity to face Texas or Oklahoma than it is to get that same recruit fired up to play Ohio State or Michigan.


Recruits want to play close to home even for away games
by LuckyMcD  (2020-11-24 13:24:56)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

When Nebraska was in the Big 12 they could go to a 5 star stud in Texas and say our campus might be far away, but we're going to play in your state every single year. If there happened to be a blue-chip recruit from Iowa, Missouri, or Colorado they could guarantee a game not only in-state, but close to home (since they are much smaller than Texas) at least every other year. Now that they are in the Big 10, they have nothing to sell a recruit from Texas. Our campus is 600 miles away, we aren't a powerhouse, and we're never going to play close to you.

Despite not being in a conference, Notre Dame subscribes to this line of thinking to some extent in making schedules. One rationale for the Shamrock Series was bringing games to recruiting hotbeds. We close every season in California (and used to in south Florida every other year) so we can recruit players from talent-rich areas. We've always tried to schedule games in the NY metro area to be close to NJ's blue chip recruits. It's certainly not the only reasoning; those areas also have many alums, football history plays a part, and other factors; but access to recruits is indisputably part of the logic.

The common line of thinking is that Nebraska lost access to their major recruiting base when they switched from the Big 12 to the Big 10. The problem is the facts don't back that up. Nebraska had 164 players play on a team that won at least a share of a national championship (70, 71, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 93, 94, 95, 97, or 99) and made a pro roster (NFL, CFL, WFL, or USFL). Presumably these were the best players on the Cornhuskers' best teams. Of course Nebraska led the way with 58 of those players. The other top states were California (13), Texas (11), New Jersey and Iowa (9 each), South Dakota, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Arizona (4 each).

The Cornhuskers obviously play just as many games in Nebraska as they did in the Big 12 or Big 8. The second biggest recruiting hotbed for them was California. In their 12 national championship years they played 3 games in California. In their 10 Big Ten years they've played 4. The third hotbed, Texas has taken a hit, as they played six games there in their championship years and none since they joined the Big Ten. They played two games in New Jersey in their 12 championship years and one in their 10 Big Ten years. They played 7 games in Iowa in 12 championship years and 5 in the their 10 Big Ten years. Obviously they never played in South Dakota. Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Arizona had 10 games in 12 championship years and 9 games in 10 Big Ten years. So the only recruiting base they've lost access to is Texas. Texas wasn't nearly as important a recruiting base as many people make it seem though. It trailed California in difference-making players and New Jersey and Iowa were just behind despite being much smaller states.


With some of those recruits, TV may have played a role
by tf86  (2020-11-24 13:30:48)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Back then, California kids were watching Nebraska-Oklahoma on national TV every year. And more often than not, there was no competing game for them to watch. Now? They'll play Wisconsin or Iowa on national TV, but there will be a handful of other options, in terms of college games, instead. Same applies to New Jersey kids.


Nebraska, Rutgers, Colorado, and maybe Maryland made *
by Toronto parent  (2020-11-24 08:43:42)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

A mistake for recruiting. Why go to a school with zero chance of winning?


I don't see how they recover *
by SEE  (2020-11-23 14:04:22)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


I agree. Yet they somehow managed to get the #1 rated TE
by Hanratty5ND  (2020-11-23 14:25:45)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

in the 2021 class. Thomas Fidone from Council Bluffs IA.

ND tried to get that kid. So did Iowa-Stanford-PSU-Alabama-Michigan.

ND and all those others schools have a history of producing lots of NFL TE's.

Nebraska? Seriously, who have they ever produced at TE'?
I'm drawing a total blank.



I think that kid is going to regret his choice.


Johnny Mitchell. Otherwise I got nothin'. *
by Ryno  (2020-11-23 18:37:08)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


OU/Nebraska
by tf86  (2020-11-23 13:40:29)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Is where the Big XII missed the boat. They could have made that series the sole protected crossover rivalry (similar to Indiana/Purdue in the B1G or the California schools in the Pac-12), and preserved a lot of the old Big 8 tradition.


So, they're Rutgers
by SEE  (2020-11-23 13:33:40)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

No longer a powerhouse, but on the dole.


also...
by DavidAddison  (2020-11-23 14:15:21)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

I no longer recall the exact timeline/sequencing, but there was a time when Missouri (!!) looked like it was going to be left out of the Power5 due to conference shakeups, and there was a time when it looked like Texas was headed to the Pac12. So Nebraska was in a shaky, unstable conference before their move.

Point is Nebraska left for both $$ AND stability. For a period it looked like a game of musical chairs and the likes of Mizzou, Pitt and Louisville were on the outside looking in.


I don't recall...
by DavidAddison  (2020-11-23 14:11:48)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Rutgers ever having been a powerhouse.

Obviously Maryland left an arguably better setup for the Big10 $$ also.


'71 game was a classic.
by TWO  (2020-11-23 12:52:45)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Jerry Tagge, Jeff Kinney, and Rich Glover...Sooners had Jack Mildren, Greg Pruitt and Jon Harrison...that wishbone was a fine tuned machine.


Simon took a big step forward in the Clemson game.
by goldhelmethead  (2020-11-23 08:42:30)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

He was making plays and showed leadership. It was great to see him play with emotion. I hope this continues going forward.

I wouldn't consider Correll small. Especially by Center measurables. Patterson is a big college Center at almost 6'5 300 plus pounds. He was recruited as a Tackle. Zeke is now playing close to 300lbs and is listed at 6'3. What he lacks right now in experience he easily makes up with the natural nasty streak he plays with.


Bama, Clemson, OSU centers are 344, 305, and 312. *
by rkellyatrecess  (2020-11-23 09:27:05)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


Jeff Faine played in the NFL at the same size Zeke is now *
by athlete37  (2020-11-23 13:59:45)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


Not really sure what your point is.
by goldhelmethead  (2020-11-23 13:21:14)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

As a redshirt Soph he is within 5 and 12 pounds of two of the three players you mentioned, should those weights be correct including Correll's.
If he is a legit 6'3 300lb'er that is not small as SEE pointed out.

IMO the staff must see something they like. They do of course have options with Grunhard and Lugg. Correll has been the backup/understudy to Patterson this year. I don't know if he is physically ready to play a full game and maybe the staff rotates. Lugg did some snapping in the Spring and obviously has a better grasp of coverage's etc. with his time in the program at Guard and Tackle.

The Bottom line is it sucks to lose Patterson. Especially down the stretch in a season like this.




That’s true but our OL is also better than any of theirs *
by oneill3b  (2020-11-23 09:28:33)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


Being down 2 starters might change that *
by Hanratty5ND  (2020-11-23 09:43:32)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


True, but my point is merely that you don’t have
by oneill3b  (2020-11-23 11:01:12)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

to have a giant center to have an elite OL. It’s the position on the line where brains and technique arguably matter more than brawn, at least as compared to the other positions. Don’t get me wrong, losing Patterson and Kraemer at the same time is a real concern.