WolvesOnTheProwl

Brian Kelly doing his best Matt Nagy impersonation and naming Jack Coan the starter (or #1 on the depth chart) vs. VTech

Bama and Georgia should just play a best of 3 series, they’re by far the cream of the crop. 
Can’t wait to see how the big 10 shakes out. Could they get 2 into the playoffs? ACC PAC10 and BIG12 could be on the outside looking in with Oregon Clemson and Oklahoma looking very pedestrian. Is cincy really good enough to be a top 4 team? 
I agree with @temptation the polls should be released the first week of October 

Cincinnati was (by far) the better team yesterday. A combo of turnovers, bad OL play, bad QB play, and big plays given up on defense finally caught up with the Irish and it finally showed up on the scoreboard. Kudos to the bearcats. 
 

Can’t turn the ball over 3 times and expect to win. Hope to see drew pyne in the 2nd half. Or anyone who can provide a spark on offense 

Glad to see Mishawaka senior QB Justin Fisher return to the field last night. Great kid from everything I’ve read about him.  

3 hours ago, NLCTigerFan07 said:

Some really big time games this week in Northern Indiana. The best of those games in my opinion:

#1 - Merrillville (6-0) at Valparaiso (6-0) : Huge game for the DAC in what is a defacto conference championship game with the winner most likely getting a share at worst. Also a game that was cancelled last year thanks to COVID19. The Pirates are 0-5 against the Vikings under Coach Seiss.

#2 - FW Luers (6-0) at FW Dwenger (4-2) : Battle of the Bishops in Fort Wayne. Will the Knights continue to roll and hand the Saints their 3rd consecutive loss at home? Dwenger has won 5 straight against Luers and outscored the Knights 90-6 the last 2 seasons.

#3 - Homestead (4-2) at FW Carroll (5-1) : Staying in the SAC, two underrated teams in class 6A if you ask me. The Chargers have won 5 straight after losing to Luers by 7 points in the opener, while the Spartan's two losses (to Luers and Snider) are by a combined 5 points. Homestead has won 7 straight games in this series, including a 70-41 shootout last year.

#4 - Churubusco (4-2) at Central Noble (6-0) : How about some love for the Northeast Corner Conference? The Eagles are ranked in both polls currently, and the Cougars have started 6-0 for the first time since 2003. 1A 'Busco's losses are to 4A Columbia City and to 2A state ranked Eastside. Get the buggies ready in Albion!

#5 - NorthWood (4-2) at Mishawaka (4-2) : A tale of two NLC teams going in different directions. The Panthers have won 3 straight games, and their losses were by a combined 4 points. Meanwhile the Cavemen have lost 2 of 3. Will NorthWood continue to streak? Or will Mishawaka right the ship?

Looking forward Valpo/Mville. Will the scoreboard explode with all the points put up or will the defenses step up and find a way to slow down the other team? IMO the top 2 programs in the region who did not get to meet on the field last year. Should be a great game. 

On 9/26/2021 at 7:16 PM, Footballking16 said:

What a massive game for both teams. Winner of this game may be in the driver seat for the playoff. Cincinnati’s schedule is a joke after this and ND’s once thought tough stretch a few weeks ago now doesn’t look all that daunting. 
 

You're right. I was really surprised at the outcome on Saturday vs Wisconsin, especially the 2nd half in how ND made some changes to help their offense while Wisconsin did not alter much and it really showed in the 4th quarter. I think Cincy brings a much more attacking defense with some guys in the secondary who can ball. The Qb has started like 30 games at Cincy so he'll be much better than what they played against vs Wisconsin. Still early in the week but depth chart at QB is 1. Jack Coan 2. Drew Pyne 3. Tyler Buchnar... we'll who's all healthy enough to go on Saturday. 

9 hours ago, WolvesOnTheProwl said:

The new starting quarterback has been average at best, I thought he was Going to be really good replacing Trevor Lawrence and they wouldn’t miss a beat. I don’t see anyone beating them from the ACC so if they finish 12-1 with only loss to Georgia would they make the playoff? Lot of games to play between now and then so we’ll see what happens. 

and Clemson loses in 2ot to NC State so goes to show what I know haha

The new starting quarterback has been average at best, I thought he was Going to be really good replacing Trevor Lawrence and they wouldn’t miss a beat. I don’t see anyone beating them from the ACC so if they finish 12-1 with only loss to Georgia would they make the playoff? Lot of games to play between now and then so we’ll see what happens. 

Saw that Tom Allen says Penix is still the starter and should be able to play this weekend vs WKU

No one is as bad as UConn, not even Illinois. I see Purdue being favored vs Illinois, possibly Nebraska, and northwestern. Hopefully David bell does not miss any games. 

Thoughts after 3 weeks? Oklahoma barely gets past Nebraska, Clemson barely gets past Georgia Tech, Florida stands toe to toe with Alabama. Penn st and Michigan off to good starts too.

And it’s a bummer the game vs Wisconsin is not at Camp Randall.  Probably a blessing in disguise for the Irish 

9 hours ago, temptation said:

I too am now unsure if Coan is the answer but I also tend to be very anti “two platoon/rotation guy.”

I guess I get it but I’ve never been in love with it honestly.

Me neither. Tyler Buchner had a hamstring issue that’s why he didn’t play 2nd half. He makes the running game so much better and keeps the defense honest. 

Purdue had a couple calls that did not go there way, especially that no call for pass interference in the 4th qtr. Should have given them a first down and kept their drive alive. When asked after the game about max protection Brian Kelly said if they didn’t do some of the things they did George was going to wreck the day and they didn’t want George to wreck the day. After the first 2 series on offense I thought GK and the Purdue front were going to wreck the day. But the Irish offense did enough to win and the defense didn’t allow any big plays by David Bell. 
 

34 minutes ago, temptation said:

Upcoming stretch (Wisconsin, Cincinnati and Virginia Tech) will go a long way in determining Notre Dame’s season.

Have not watched any Wisconsin or VTech but saw some of the IU/UC game yesterday. Wouldn’t be surprised if ND goes 1-2 in the next 3, especially if the hamstring issue lingers for TB. We shall see

1 hour ago, gonzoron said:

More fans, or more empty seats? 

Sorry forgot to type the word fans. I think there will be more fans. 

On 9/15/2021 at 2:41 PM, gonzoron said:

There were empty seats. Big patches of them.  I was kinda shocked.

lowest crowd since stadium capacity was increased 1997 season. Assuming there will be more tomorrow with Purdue in town

1 hour ago, temptation said:

Had Toledo not scored so easily and left too much time for ND to drive the field, it'd have ended differently.

And had ND not fumbled (kyren williams) at the Toledo 30 or whatever it was they score to make it a 2 score game and the game ends differently as well.

Regardless they should have handled Toledo with ease and until I see otherwise, they will have close games with Purdue, Wisconsin, Cincinnati,Virginia Tech, N Carolina and most likely USC depending on the direction they're headed by then. 
 

On 9/12/2021 at 10:10 AM, temptation said:

But the other team “not making plays” also helped.  Norvell froze his own kicker and Toledo scored too quickly and decided to get flagged 6 times in the final 2 minutes. 

 I agree with what you’re saying but IMO that’s the case for every game, some teams make plays and some teams take advantage of others misfortunes. I really thought that Toledo QB would go down around the goal line to take more time off the clock. On to Purdue, should be a good game. 

46 minutes ago, Irishman said:

Just like in most situations, it's the guy that retaliates that gets caught. If reviews are in place, and if the goal is to get calls right, things like this should be reviewed; just like the "roughing the passer" call on Zadarius Smith yesterday; even Aikman said the goal of review is to get things right, and that one was not.........in college, every play is reviewed automatically. 


On another note, the NFC West teams all won their games. That division will be interesting to watch this year.

So the opposite of the NFC North?? 
 

Purdue @ ND 

GK is going to be a problem for the Irish. David Bell is going to be a problem for the Irish. I’m anxious to see who plays QB for ND this week or if they go to a (gasp) 2 platoon quarterback system to help the run game. 

15 minutes ago, temptation said:

Two plays away from 0-2…anyone see the ending to the FSU game last night?

Yes but they made the plays and are 2-0. Normally they don’t make those types of plays and find a way to lose a game they shouldn’t.
And yes, how the heck does FSU let that guy get behind them?!! And then they can’t tackle him or push him out of bounds? 
 

17 minutes ago, PHJIrish said:

Well, the Irish win another ugly one 32-29.  It hasn't been much fun watching the Irish the first two games.

BTW, the same punting situation just happened in the Navy/Air Force game.  The punter was in the air and hit and a personal foul was correctly called.  The punter, as much as the QB, should be protected.

I would say it’s been a little fun considering ND usually finds a way to lose these types of games they let the other team hang around. 
Lets be honest here, this offensive line is not good. We have a grad transfer qb who can’t sense pressure or see a blitz coming in front of him. I didn’t believe this before the season but with their inability to run the ball Tyler Buchner may need to play now to give them a chance to keep the defense honest. He looked pretty good today and Jack coan did not. But the OL, down to LT #3, needs to get much much better to help the qbs out. 

Rough Start to season for the Irish on the injury front...

Black Fisher OT -out 8 weeks

Paul Moala LB - out for season

Shane Simon LB - out for season

Those linebackers missing the rest of the year on top of starting/most athletic LB Marist Liafau out for the season is really going to test the depth of the defense, especially at LB. Freshman LB Prince Kollie is now going to look at taking some #1 snaps at ILB and soph WR Xavier Watts is moving over to help the defense, I think at Rover. Next man in, but wow if they suffer another injury to that LB crew it's gong to be tough to overcome. 

2 hours ago, ASJCPUMA said:

I was just informed that Elkhart will be playing a team from Michigan this week.

 

Byron Center. All I know is it’s in Michigan somewhere 

2 hours ago, Bobref said:

Someone said they picked up a game with a Michigan team.

Byron Center (MI) at Elkhart per Elkhart football Twitter