BTF

I always thought it was academics. But Marcus Freeman seems to have gotten over that hurdle............so far. Notre Dame's class of 2022, ranked #2 at the moment, is expected to land in the Top 5 when it's all said and done.

Whether or not they push the needle for you is probably the least of their concerns. Those within the program are pretty excited about the direction in which their team is heading.

Pump your own brakes. Irish fans have reason to be excited.

Damn Temp, you stumped me. Struggling a little bit here on the "defense wins championships" since only in 2018 was that the case since the inception of the playoff. But defense was the reason Northwestern had a pretty good team last year.

I'll take a great defense with an average offense over a great offense with an average defense any day of the week and twice on Sunday. I couldn't disagree more on this one.

I wouldn't bet against a group of smart hard nosed kids. Athleticism only gets you so far. Northwestern wins that game 7 times out of 10 in my opinion. That gap between the SEC and Big Ten is slim.

I was in the process of quoting DT when you wrote this. I get your point, and what DT said was valid. I made that claim on Homestead's behalf when they barely got by Noblesville (not that I want to engage on that topic for the next 24 hours). But here's a question for both you and DT. What was different about Auburn in 2018 when they wasted the Boliermakers 63-14? I mean, they were pretty jacked up for that game! In defense (no pun intended) of Northwestern. Defense wins championships. Last year they had the highest defensive rating among Power Five schools. Only Georgia and Alabama held Auburn to less points than Northwestern did. The wildcats aren't fancy, they sure as heck weren't last year. But they sure as heck got the job done. The 17-7 win over Wisconsin was impressive. And the 22-10 loss to the Buckeyes wasn't exactly embarrassing. I stand firm that they beat Auburn last year because they were plain and simply the better team.

I agree with your comparison of Wisconsin to Center Grove. But I think Northwestern deserves a little more credit. They've done pretty well against outside competition including going 4-0 over the past four years in bowls games. The wasting of Auburn last year was never in doubt from the beginning.

Wisconsin is a machine. I agree with the "more with less" comment. Northwestern's done a pretty good job of that as well. Two mediocre years before last. Was last year's 9-1 record a sign of what's in store for the future? I wouldn't bet against it.

Points given for qualification of College Football Playoff and where teams stood in the final AP Poll. Any surprises or head scratchers? I was surprised Michigan came in at #12.............two Top 10 finishes in the last 5 years. 1. Clemson 125 2. Alabama 113 3. Ohio State 100 4. Oklahoma 94 5. Georgia 68 6. Notre Dame 55 7. Penn State 47 8. Washington 43 9. LSU 42 Wisconsin 42 Next up: Florida, Michigan & Auburn Best of the rest: Texas A&M Consideration: Oregon & Baylor

Yep, thanks DE. Happy 4th to you as well.

I just think any one of those guys could have led the Irish to a championship with the right players around them. Were any of those guys Trevor Lawrence? No. But there's no reason Tyler Buchner can't be.

What makes him different? Well, he's not Phil Jurkovec, Ian Book, DeShone Kizer, Brady Quinn, Jimmy Clousen, Ron Powlus, or Rick Mirer. But to be fair, they were all pretty darn good quarterbacks. Having the right supporting cast isn't a bad thing either when it comes to winning a championship.

I agree that I'd rather see Notre Dame dubbed as a Top Ten program with great student athletes than a Top 4 with no standards. But I wouldn't say they are "light years" behind the "big 3." To me light years means getting wasted by 4 or 5 touchdowns. If we're putting a score on it, I'd say they're 14-17 points behind.

The only thing ND is missing right now is the athletes. That's about to change with Marcus Freeman there. Look at what Kelly has done with 3 and 4-star athletes. Increase the 4's and add a few 5's and ND is easily in the same conversation as Bama, Clemson, and Ohio State. Don't worry, Temptation will be keeping tabs. We'll revisit this conversation in a few years. But the whole key to this thing is Marcus Freeman staying a few years. Have faith DE! The Irish are coming and it's about to piss a lot of people off.

With the help of new defensive coordinator and recruiting expert Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame's class of 2022 has just moved into the #2 position behind Ohio State. It's still early, but at a minimum, the Irish are expected to hold onto a Top 5 spot. Notre Dame already has 11 four star athletes committed for 2022 and just got one from a 5-star for the class of 2023. Recruiting services are saying the Irish haven't had an influx of this kind of talent in a long time and that Notre Dame is teetering on Bama, Clemson, and OSU status. Freeman's 1.6 million dollar salary is already paying dividends. Go Irish!

It depends on how long Marcus Freeman stays at Notre Dame. If he stays 2 or 3 years, then yes. Notre Dame will catch Alabama.

Good stuff DT.................thanks!

I'm not quibbling. Indy can be as big as they want to be. I hope Fort Wayne's 'Road to a Million' plan is a total failure. We don't need traffic to get any worse. For the record............I had Indy at 2.1 million and Fort Wayne at 450,000. Depends on the source I guess.

City limits is three times the size, metro is four. Anyways. But yeah, it's a pretty good city for football. The 7 on 7 national championship at IMG was epic.

Just seed it. Who cares how they do it. I like the all-in format, but there has to be some kind of reward for having a good regular season.

Good question. It's hard to put any stock in it after 4 or 5 weeks, but I like the Sagarin Ratings after the entire regular season is played. Although the SAC is hard to gage since it's an island conference. The state of Indiana is lucky to have a sophisticated rating system like this, it could certainly be utilized in a positive way by the IHSAA.

They could lose to Snider, Homestead, and Carroll and still be a Top 12 team in 5a.

Historically, Fort Wayne has sent 30 players to the NFL. By comparison, Indianapolis is just shy of 90. I know this was an SAC thread, so that number will vary. The thirty players noted identify as being born in Fort Wayne. But on the flip side of that, I'm sure there were some SAC kids in the NFL who were born outside of the city.

Rensselaer School Corp is getting a great leader. I can tell by the way you ran this forum. Blessings to you!