Excitement of Notre Dame Game

[wpgrad]

I have no idea because what do I know, but this feels like it is either going to be 2016 all over again....or 60 minutes of what we saw versus North Texas on that beautiful 14 minute drive.

I think it is one or the other. Either a close game/win or we lose by 4 touchdowns.

But again...what do I know

[Armyfaninpa]

Not for anything, but I took a look at ND's schedule this year and saw exactly one ranked team (T A&M) listed among some mediocre ACC opponents, a couple of "name" programs (Stanford, FSU) having terrible years in addition to a directional school in Illinois that handed them their only loss this year. Not exactly Big 10/SEC quality. Dare I say that Army may be a better caliber of opposition than many (if not most) of ND's victims this year?

A few things I'd like to see:
If Army wins the coin toss, elect to receive instead of defer. Getting on the board first would be critical in avoiding a Navy-style "deer in the headlights" start to the game. No need to play catchup from the very start.

Avoid kick returns (not a strength this year) - take the touchbacks and fair catches to prevent holding calls and possible turnovers.

Minimize blitzing - Navy was unable to pressure ND's QB regardless of how many they sent for pass rush. Better to trust LB's and secondary men to hold coverage for extended plays than to allow big yardage to uncovered receivers in wide open areas.

[WrekDivr]

Per Athlon Sports, ESPN FPI gives Army a 12.5% chance of beating ND. F that. No one seems to remember the Oklahoma and Michigan games. I really hope we kick ND’s a$$.

https://athlonsports.com/college/notre- ... n-saturday

[Oliphant]

Per Athlon Sports, ESPN FPI gives Army a 12.5% chance of beating ND. F that. No one seems to remember the Oklahoma and Michigan games. I really hope we kick ND’s a$$.

https://athlonsports.com/college/notre- ... n-saturday

We lost those games, so a 12.5% chance implies a fair chance of a close ending.

[PrideandDream]

I'm very hopeful for tomorrow. This is a very good Army Team. They play fairly mistake free. They are physical. They are generally healthy. This ND team is way overrated as stated above really no high quality wins. They caught A&M early before they really turned the corner. Lousiville isn't stellar and Navy gave them 6 turnovers. Then they beat the brakes off of Purdue, Stanford, and FSU who are combined 5-25.

But here's what really matters. The teams that outrushed ND were NIU and Louisville. They are 1-1and squeaked by Louisville. Louisville had 3 turnovers in that game to inlcude a 40 yard fumbler return that they gave to ND. But the point is this, teams that have run the ball and controlled clock without giving turnovers have given the Irish fits.

If we run the ball and don't turn it over we might very well break the curse tomorrow night. But this game is going to be won and lost by the O line and our inside run game. If that goes then everything else will go! Defense will only need one stop.

Praying tomorrow is the day and this becomes the first 10-0 Army team!

PD

[ARMORMAN]

SECOND best prognostication I've heard since Nov 4...

Make Army Football Great Again!!

[kfan12]

I'm very hopeful for tomorrow. This is a very good Army Team. They play fairly mistake free. They are physical. They are generally healthy. This ND team is way overrated as stated above really no high quality wins. They caught A&M early before they really turned the corner. Lousiville isn't stellar and Navy gave them 6 turnovers. Then they beat the brakes off of Purdue, Stanford, and FSU who are combined 5-25.

But here's what really matters. The teams that outrushed ND were NIU and Louisville. They are 1-1and squeaked by Louisville. Louisville had 3 turnovers in that game to inlcude a 40 yard fumbler return that they gave to ND. But the point is this, teams that have run the ball and controlled clock without giving turnovers have given the Irish fits.

If we run the ball and don't turn it over we might very well break the curse tomorrow night. But this game is going to be won and lost by the O line and our inside run game. If that goes then everything else will go! Defense will only need one stop.

Praying tomorrow is the day and this becomes the first 10-0 Army team!

PD

Game was lost on D. Not enough speed to play that bend but don't break. Defenders were never even close to ND receivers and couldn't get close to ND runners before they had first down for most of the game. Special teams were not so special for most of the game as well.

[PrideandDream]

Game was lost on offense and specifically between the guards. They clearly had more talent and great defensive speed. We needed Udoh and the inside run game to have a chance. 4 punts and a fumble in the first half were just a death knell. And those 4 punts were all 3 and outs. Brutal.

Bryson Daily had 39 carries. Udoh had 10. That's on average 1 carry per possession for doh. But 4 of the possessions Udoh had zero carries.

This is just odd. Unless they are worried about him fumbling. But no way we can compete when the Qb carries the ball 4 times as often as the fullback. Something is off.

PD

[Armyfaninpa]

We would be remiss if we didn't mention some of the coaching decisions. Like why was Daily still taking all those hits from the defense when Army was down by six touchdowns with 5 minutes left? Is there any rational explanation for this? How many times did Army elect to go for it on 4th down inside their own territory - outside of the normal analytics distance?

I'm not sure the offensive execution was that far off. A lot of their pitches looked pretty promising from the start but got shut down quickly by ND's defense. Plays that probably would've worked against all other teams on the schedule just didn't work last night. What was shocking to me is how many running plays ND ran where the RB was at 2nd and 3rd level before anyone was within 10 feet of the ball carrier. Just impossible to win when blown off the LOS so consistently.

[DoubleNuts]

Besides the mismatch on the field, the biggest drag of the night was the total shitshow trying to get into the stadium. Event staff had absolutely no clue how to direct foot traffic, there was no plan for the spectator flow, and there was lots of idle standing around by ticket takers and event staff as the logjam of fans got exponentially worse. It was without a doubt the worst event management I've ever seen. Took about 75 minutes to get in.

I don't know if Notre Dame hired the off-brand management company or if Yankee Stadium always sucks, but it was infuriating and probably somewhat dangerous too. Lots of lost revenue as fans were waiting around outside instead of buying concessions.