Anyone else impressed with it? I certainly am..I know they haven't faced an Oregon or a West Virginia type offense yet but these are impressive stats:
7.8 ppg- 290 ypg- 916 pass yds/ 534 rush yards...through 5 games.
They are second in the country behind Alabama in scoring defense and have not given up a rushing td yet this year..I repeat HAVE NOT GIVEN UP A RUSHING TD YET THIS YEAR! That's pretty damn amazing considering they've faced Navy's rushing attack, Leveon Bell and Sparty, Denard and Scum..teams known for scoring td's on the ground.
In comparison, here's our defensive stats through 6 games:
20.5 ppg- 386 ypg- 1592 pass yds/ 727 rush yards..through 6 games.
I know that many will bristle at the comparison, but Kelly, like Urban, really had an image of what he wanted his D to look like and recruited accordingly. His D-line haul a couple of years back was huge and even though Aaron Lynch ended up transferring, he saw action early (which recruits love) and brought a nastiness to the defense that was sorely missing. Now, guys like Nix and Tuitt and Williams are taking off. Having a real leader like Teo still around (like Simon for us) never hurts, either. Let's see how they weather these next few weeks, though vs. Stanford, BYU, and Oklahoma in consecutive weeks. Their O better show up big at least two of those weeks.
I will admit that those are impressive stats, and if this was any other team I might care, but it is ND and I will never give them their props, even if they beat Bama by 70 points in the NC game....just sayin
My buckeyeness won't allow me to complement ND.
(chappelle reference)
I know there's a game saturday, and my ass will be there.
I'm not impressed with anything ND does. Let's see them win a bowl game more than once a decade...
AND A +1 to ALL WHO CAN'T LIKE ND!!....I'll check back and continue dishing them out
In fairness, WE didn't give up a rushing touchdown to Leveon Bell and MSU either. We also held him to what, 50 rushing yards? But those are very impressive defensive stats for ND. Too bad they can't score very much.
Tuitt is a monster. Their defensive backs are weak but it hasn't mattered because of their pass rush.
Notre Dame hasn't trailed once this season for even a second. It kills me to say it but right now, this ND is playing some really, REALLY good fooseball.
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
I forget to mention I don't like N.D. either guys...
was just a little intrigued by how well they are playing on that side of the ball this year and wanted to get a little football chat goin.
Run_Fido's favorite word is strawman.
Notre Dame's front 7 is really strong, but I'm excited to see them play against Oklahoma and USC (especially if USC's All-American center is healthy again) later this year. Their secondary is average at best (as evidenced by the several times in the ND/Miami game when Miami receivers ran right past them and dropped easy catches--the drop by the UM receiver in the endzone at the beginning of the game seemed to kill a lot of their early momentum).
I think ND will only get better, though--their recruiting has really picked up steam this year. Once you start getting the recruits in place, look out. I don't have a lot of confidence in the ND Offense, though (or Brian Kelly as a coach that'll give any QB a long-enough leash to get better), but seeing as that's not the point of the thread I'll shut up on that haha.
Very true. It is more than solid.
Oh, this is about Notre Dame. Yawn. Never mind.
An angry fan...rooting for an angry team...led by angry coaches
They're Defense is much improved and I personally believe they could finish in the top 10...possibly with one or may be 2 loses. If and it's a big IF, but if they go undefeated...I can't wait to see Mark Moron May and Lou going at it about how ND is still overrated or not;-)
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987
If ND only loses once they are in the BCS picture. I hate ND, but have to admit their defense is legit (at least the front 7). They don't have any real cupcakes on their schedule, so if they make it through the next few weeks, get the bandwagon ready....sigh.
I wouldn't know who to root against in a ND vs. SEC showdown either.
I will not be impressed with anything ND does until they play Stanford, OK, USC and a good bowl team.
For Perspective - ND played Michigan, so did Alabama. ND played MSU, so did OSU - Stats below:
vs michigan - PTS, Total Yards, Rushing, Passing, YPR, YPP
ND 6, 299, 161, 138, 3.9, 5.5
Bama 14, 269, 69, 200, 2.4, 7.4
vs MSU
ND 3, 237, 50, 187, 2.0, 4.2
OSU 16, 303, 34, 268, 1.5, 6.4
In short ND definitely has a great D, but surprisingly their pass D was better than Bama vs. Mich and better than OSU vs. MSU.
Most of my OSU friends hate ND, not sure why. They don't pose a threat (until now I guess) and I would rather see them win a NC over any school outside of the Big 10.
Phoenix,
Note sure why you would say that, they have already played a tougher schedule top to bottom than any one else. Other than Purdue they haven't been within a touchdown. I'm not saying they are great but they aren't playing cupcakes.
When you have a great defense but an inept offense like ND you're gonna be in a lot of tight games. If you look at it I think OSU comes out on top against ND. They shut Denard down but Braxton doesn't armpunt the ball so we could probably avoid the 5 INTs. Michigan was close despite 6 turnovers, so I think we would beat ND. Not saying we should be ranked ahead of them because they have proven more than we have, but I think we win head to head.
unclebuck,
I definitely like our chances. IMO Our D < ND, Our O > ND, Our ST > ND ST, Meyer > Kelly
@CC: One of the reasons I'll always root for ND to lose is that when good, they do pose a legitimate recruiting threat here in the Midwest in the same way that Michigan does.
This year alone, they got 3 of our top targets: Jaylon Smith, Alex Anzalone, and Mike Heuerman (Heuerman being from outside of the midwest but looking to go to school here, and perhaps not a top target but someone we were seriously considering). Obviously there was no promise that if ND didn't land these prospects that we would have, but if ND continues to succeed, look for this to continue to happen. We'll still get our share, but w/ND it happened consistently in the 80s and 90s. ND's down years are frequently OSU's best because of our ability to draw even easier from Indiana and Illinois. OSU will always thrive, but a bad ND, Mich, and Penn State is good for OSU recruiting in the Midwest.
Playing ND is a lesser challenge than UM. I know they beat UM, but didn't earn the win UM gave it to them.
Screw ND and UM!
"Michigan and "huge mistake" are synonymous"
-Mark Titus
Hey DonkeyPunchannarbor - THEY EARNED THE WIN, you just can't accept defeat!
ND give them credit, they are playing good!
Have to admit i am surprised at ND's success so far this year with that schedule. My hatred for ND is right up there with TTUN, but if they run the table with that schedule i have no problem with them playing for a national championship, and watching Lou Holtz cream his pants.
21 posts into a thread on the ND defense and I'm the first to mention Manti Teo. If there's one defensive player in cfb this year that I'd love to have on the Buckeyes it's him.
Agreed. As much as I hate ND Manti Teo is an absolute beast. Can't believe I'm saying this but I actually love watching him play football.
Manti is easily the best LB in the country..but all this hesiman talk for him is silly. How many times has a LB got invited to New York? He reminds me of Laurinaitis a lot with his ability to defend the run and pass. JL had some great years but was never invited to New York for the heisman.
Run_Fido's favorite word is strawman.
it doesnt matter who gets invited, geno has already won the trophy.... the funny thing about teo is alot of notre dame guys thought he underachieved until this yr... furthermore i cant believe there is a notre dame thread on here
mark may wins douchebag of the year... again
Once ND plays a team who actually has a passing game (see: Oklahoma, USC) and WRs who can catch the ball (see: Oklahoma, USC) they're in trouble imo. The first 10 mins of this game NDvSU nothing but dropped passes and underthrows from Standford. And on plays where there was very little if any pressure on the QB.
Miami-Fl is 9th in the country in passing. 307 yards per game...so they have played a team that can pass the ball.
Run_Fido's favorite word is strawman.
What we didn't know is that ND has a few extra players on the field... the refs...
@BuckeyeJason: They (Miami) put up 14 points against North Carolina lol. That's not a passing attack. They (Miami) also dropped several wide-open passes, including two in the end zone against ND. Several times the Miami WRs ran straight past the ND secondary and they couldn't convert. Stanford was throwing at will today, just too many dropped and inaccurate passes. I'll come back to this thread and apologize if OU and USC don't light them up with their passing game.
ND has a great run D, no passing defense. Their two interceptions were on terrible passes (one dramatically underthrown, the second dramatically overthrown). The Michigan game was pretty much the same thing, DRob has a noodle for an arm. No need to give me a -1 for speaking my opinion about ND on an Ohio State forum haha.
I never said Notres Dames passing defense was all world or anything..I was more impressed with their scoring defense.
Run_Fido's favorite word is strawman.
I didn't do that.
Run_Fido's favorite word is strawman.
@BuckeyeJason: They definitely have a good defense, and a good scoring defense, I just think their passing defense is susceptible. Didn't mean to sound like I was trolling ND, just my 2 cents.
Lljjgg- I agree with your recruiting comments.
All,
Are we really arguing about their d? Let's look at it the other way, how bad are they? MAYBE the 5th best D in the country? If you can't acknowledge this you are not being objective. They have played more ranked teams than anyone else and haven't given up a rushing since early September. I rest my case.