As much as I love the Irish, I do not believe we belong in the top 4. We do not dominate inferior teams like
Bama and Clemson do (barely beat Ball State, Vandy and Pitt). We beat Michigan barely before they began to put things together.
Not sure we would beat them today. We beat Stanford handily but they turned out subsequently to be average. I fear
if we end up in the top 4 we will again be blown out by Bama..... or Clemson for that matter. I guess we will find out how good we really are in November if we go undefeated!
If we win out we're in.........if not we're out. That's about 50/50
minus 18!!! best yet. Cheers
When the going gets tough....the tough get....
We will all find out soon enough.
In the meantime try to enjoy being undefeated and in the conversation.
Even if we do not end up in the playoffs I will sure as hell take this over losing to Navy after a pass bounces off Michael Floyd's back.
we're better than the other teams out there. OSU should be 4, but Urban is distracted right now.
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checked, our record is the same as Bama and Clemson. Just win, baby.
Just wanted to see who are realistic and who are the dreamers! I believe we will have 2 challenges. Syracuse and Northwestern. If we lose one of those two games we will not be in the final 4. I do not think USC or FS will be much of a challenge this year. Be realistic BAMA will be national champs this year.....again! Does not please me but I am realistic.
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on offense or defense as after Book took over and they surged.
Very, very good team but the schedule has been in their favor.
win; Vandy—solid win. It’s not ND’s fault that what initially looked like a rough slate of games has not panned out as such, with a few teams having bad seasons. However, with FSU, NW, USC and ‘Cuse remaining, they are all formidable and would LOVE to derail our season.
I’m not sure what you are wanting to see out of ND for them to validate a #4 rating. Clemson and Bama are the lone dominant teams and their schedules look less formidable than ours—-and their records are the same. We’ve had a few high and low performances so far but who hasn’t? It’s a long grind and injuries play in also on performance. The key this year has been consistent play at QB. If he stays healthy, the sky is the limit for this team.
So what is your point....the fact that they arent is all that matters....not what they might have been
I agree at this point, go 12-0 and we should be in top 4....
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We have Michigan, CLemson has NC State, Alabama really hasnt beaten anyone
My gut tells me Alabama would beat us by 2-3 TDs and Clemson would beat us by 10 right now
We are #3 but there is a wide gap between the top 2 and us.
Alabama gets LSU this weekend so we will see, Clemson really doesnt have anyone left of note
It's been a down year for the ACC....that reflects on our schedule as well since we play 5 or 6 times right? Down year for the Pac 12 so USC and Stanford are both average teams
Really we have Michigan and until they play OSU I dont think we know how really good they are.
It's Alabama and Clemson and then everyone else
Up front when I say this, I'm assuming we are at our A game (ie, D is flying around like they are still interested in playing and Kelly keeps the offense mixed... basically what we saw against Stanford and for 3 quarters against VaTech and 2 quarters against Navy). If it's that team I think we are very close to even with Clemson...they may still beat us but in close competitive fashion ala GA last year. Bama, not sure they beat us by that much (2-3 TDs) if it's our A game, but they probably beat us like Miami did if we bring anything less than A game.
But if you are going to say we get to bring our A game, I assume Alabama is always on it's A game, and if Clemson is as well they will beat us by at least 10....QB is every bit as good as Book, better WRs and a far better RB....
Their Defense is lights out....everyone on DL will play on Sunday's in NFL
I dont think we are far off.....just dont feel we are in either one of their leagues......
We have to get through next four games.....I dont think any of them are givens based on our history of shitting the bed in November and believing all the hype
Not saying we won't and we definitely should....
But we deserved to be in that game, and it was good for the program to go undefeated and be in that game, and I would still go to that game again if I knew the outcome. We deserve to be where we are, and if we win out, we will deserve to be in the playoffs. And no matter what happens, that will be good for the program.
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ND is one of 4 unbeaten teams and has the best win of the unbeaten teams. Will ND prove to be one of the best 4 when it’s all over? Different question. Based on what has happened so far, the answer is clearly “yes.”
When you say 'we'...who are you referring to?.. What is missing in your life that you have to attempt to rain on other people and their accomplishments?The limits of your life...Lol...
That's not to say that on a good day we might not upset them.
Their offense could only scored 10 points. They scored a late TD to even look like a one score 7 point game while we were playing clock drain. We also kicked their ass with our back up QB and without our starting RB both of whom are our best offensive weapons.
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with Book.
The Michigan Oline is worse than our second string Oline.
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Do "we belong in the top 4" is different then "do we belong in the top 2." If ND deserves to be ranked ahead of LSU, Michigan, Georgia, OU, OSU, UCF ..., which I think is the relevant question, then how can it not belong in the top 4?
It seems you regard the possibility of a blowout as disqualifying "belonging." Then would not your fear of a blowout mean that ND did not belong in the 1973 Sugar Bowl against Alabama, since I understand it went into that game as a big underdog?
cause this one was a total waste.
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