A recap of the sports media evaluation of ND 2012 (long)
by mohoward78 (2012-11-17 10:13:36)

I just thought I would try to provide my synopsis/compilation of all of the expert analysis that has flowed out of ESPN and the many other unbiased CFB experts about Notre Dame’s schedule and season.

Preseason:

Whoever created this schedule for Notre Dame should be drawn and quartered. What the heck were they thinking? That is the toughest schedule in the nation by far, and they will be lucky to be 7-5 at the end of the season…can you say "Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl" boys and girls? And the Irish better watch out. Navy went to a bowl last year and the Irish have had trouble in the recent past defending that Navy option attack. With all the distractions of a game in Ireland for the Irish, Navy will be all business and are definitely good enough to ambush the Irish in their first game.

ND 50 Navy 10

Ok, so big deal, Notre Dame crushed Navy just as we knew they would. Navy is simply not very good and are just the typical first game patsy Notre Dame always puts on their schedule. But watch out for this week. Purdue’s not Navy, the Irish just played a game in Europe and will have to overcome jet lag. Purdue is one of the stronger teams in the extremely strong and talented B1G and could challenge for the title. Purdue is undefeated, and has an experienced senior QB who will pick apart ND’s inexperienced secondary…those 5 losses we predicted could end up being 6.

ND 20 Purdue 17

Ok, we were wrong. Purdue just isn’t a very good team and frankly they just don’t know how to win. It is also crystal clear that the Irish are luckier than they are good. But watch out for this week. Michigan State’s not Navy or Purdue and this game’s in East Lansing. Everyone knows MSU is a good team in a strong conference. They are ranked ahead of the Irish, crushed Boise State by 3 points at home in the opener and have an experienced QB who will pick apart ND’s inexperienced secondary. Here comes the first of those 5 losses.

ND 20 Michigan State 3

Ok we were wrong. Michigan State’s offense clearly is not any good – Navy scored more points against the Irish than they did. But watch out this week. The luck of the Irish will run out. The Wolverines have something to prove after losing to the number one team in the country, Alabama in the opener. Look for Robinson to strike “the pose” more than once in this game and get back in the Heisman race. The Irish defense has no answer for him. Manti Te’o you say? Be serious! Robinson vs T’eo…I’ll take Heisman candidate Robinson every time thank you very much. Look for Michigan to crush the Irish on their home field (not that home field has been an advantage for the Irish for years) and don’t expect to see the Irish in the top 25 the remainder of the year.

ND 13 Michigan 6

Ok, we were wrong. That 2 loss Michigan team just isn’t very good this year, and this is clearly a down year for the B1G. That beating the Wolverines took at the hands of the SEC superpower Alabama, a team that could probably defeat a few NFL teams and is destined for a berth in the BCS championship game clearly took a lot out of them and ND was lucky to get them after that game and on their home field. But watch out this week. Some people may be saying that the Irish have a great defense this year, but we experts know better. The Irish have only played anemic offenses up until now. Wait until that high powered Miami offense starts attacking that weak Irish secondary. The Hurricane’s coaches must be drooling over this opportunity. On top of that, the Irish have a major quarterback controversy and neither one of them can run an offense. The Irish will not be able to keep up with Miami’s scoring machine.

ND 41 Miami 3

Ok, we were wrong. The whole ACC is terrible this year especially Miami. We did not take into account that Miami has no defense – a high school team could score against them, and ND had the advantage of having a week off. It does appear, however, that the Irish have a pretty good defense –but it’s not going to be good enough next week against Stanford. And this is not Miami’s defense ND will be facing. Stanford is the real deal. The PAC 12 is the real deal (ok, maybe we slightly misjudged SC, but we were dead right about Oregon). The game is in South Bend and the Irish simply lose to Stanford at home all the time. Don’t be fooled by the rankings – the Irish have no offense and their defense will be exposed this week.


ND 20 Stanford 13

Ok we were wrong. The Irish did have the home field advantage- how else do you explain that lousy call? Don’t be fooled by the score and don’t be fooled by the game officials or any unbiased analysis. They won’t get credit for it but Stanford won that game; they got screwed by that PAC 12 replay official. We’re going to totally discount this win by ND. This is another smoke and mirrors season like 2002, you wait and see. And by the way, watch out for BYU next week. They are catching the Irish after a physically and emotionally draining win, and the Irish will be looking past them to Oklahoma. BYU is a good team and the Irish are playing at home – classic trap game. This week it’s not “Here come the Irish;” it’s “Here comes the upset.”

ND 17 BYU 14

See, we were right! Notre Dame sucks and do not deserve their current ranking. Really...beating big bad BYU by just a field goal! What a joke. Ok, so they are undefeated, but they are undefeated against a pathetically weak schedule. However, that changes this weekend in Norman. Oklahoma is the really real thing and has something to prove this week after that loss to Kansas State. Oklahoma never loses at home. Stoops vs Kelly? Landry Jones vs Everett Golson? Give me a break –not even a contest. Oh, and ND, your illusory Heisman Trophy candidate’s on the wrong side of the ball…he’ll have no chance of going to New York in December after this debacle. Kelly is going after his first “signature” win at Notre Dame. The offense sucks and the defense, especially that secondary isn’t that good…sorry Brian, you’re just not going to get it in Norman.

ND 30 Oklahoma 13

Ummm, well, maybe, possibly we were wrong. Granted, the Irish got a little lucky on offense and it took a career game by their redshirt freshman quarterback, but the Irish beat Oklahoma, Kelly outcoached Stoops and that Manti Te’o guy – maybe he really is legit. But one thing we are still right about is that second only to Louisville, Notre Dame is by far the worst undefeated team in the country. Why? Because we say so, and do not attempt to confuse us with facts about strength of schedule. Notre Dame is not in the SEC so they have no case. The B1G is terrible (and they played three of those crappy teams), and, frankly, maybe we overestimated how good Oklahoma is. Oh, and don’t forget, we’re counting that Stanford game as a loss. The true measure of how good the Irish are this year will be by how much they blowout Pitt, BC, and Southern Cal in LA. Regardless, it’s a two team race to see who plays Alabama in Miami, and there is no doubt based on the future SOS (past SOS is meaningless), when Oregon and Kansas State win out they will be ahead of Notre Dame.

ND 29 Pitt 26 (3OT)

We were wrong about being wrong last week. Notre Dame really does suck. How can we say that after a win? Because Pitt really, really sucks. I mean these guys lost their cupcake opener to Youngstown State and only SEC teams get better as the season goes on! How do the Irish let a team like Pitt take them to 3 overtimes? And the Irish did not so much win that game as Pitt lost it by missing a chip shot 33 yard field goal, so in reality (our reality) it’s Notre Dame’s second loss of the season. The Irish looked sick in this game. And don’t give me that crap about the flu, or this being a classic trap game at home after a huge win in Norman and don’t give me that crap about a win is a win. It’s not about whether you win but how big you win and this was the smallest of victories. Expect Oregon to leapfrog the Irish in the standings and stay there. No question about it - you can take this to the bank. More than ever it is now a 2 team race to see who gets to lose to mighty Alabama in Miami, and Notre Dame is not one of the 2 teams (hell, the way the Irish played against Pitt they may not even get past BC).

ND 21 BC 6

What!? Alabama f*cking lost? Shit! We’ve been preaching Alabama is unbeatable like the Pope preaches dogma. This could jeopardize our image of infallibility. Hmmm, Pope. Infallibility. Well, it’s a long shot but desperate times call for desperate measures. “Hey you, brainwashed intern soon to be expert talking head. Get the Vatican on the phone and find out how the Pope handled that Galileo – the earth is the center of the universe screw up." Man, I can’t believe it. How could we all be wrong? Freaking Texas freaking A &…wait a minute! Cancel that call. What’s wrong with us? A&M is in the SEC now. Alabama lost to another SEC team and playing any SEC team is like playing the Patriots every week. We can spin this. Hell, a loss to another SEC team shouldn’t even count as a full loss – maybe only half a loss…or, not even a loss. It’s, it’s just… a non-win. Yeah, that’s the ticket! We can’t screw with the stupid computer poll, but we can screw with the stupid human polls. That’s how we get our credibility back. We’ll just pretend it didn’t happen and start saying how even a one loss – oops, make that a one “non-win” - SEC team is better than any other conference’s unbeaten teams, and they are sure as hell better than Notre Dame considering that pansy schedule they played this year. Ooooh the Irish are playing Wake Forest this week. You don’t see SEC teams playing cupcakes like that this late in the season. I guess they couldn’t schedule an SEC team. What did you say brainwashed intern soon to be expert talking head? Alabama is playing Western who this week? Hey dude, that’s totally different. And, by the way, if your expert opinion cannot overwhelm stupid little facts like that then you’re never going to make it in the business.

Damn you Notre Dame, hurry up and lose. You’re making us all look like we don’t know what we’re talking about.