Official College Football Thread

[Heads22]

oooooh

[WHarris1]

No we save that for first downs something I doubt you'll see much of Saturday

Maybe hang a banner in your bball arena everytime you get a first 1st down...at least then there will be SOMETHING in the rafters.

Edited September 20, 2006 by WHarris1

[SnB]

No we save that for first downs something I doubt you'll see much of Saturday

yay iowa.

[GaelicSoxFan]

Don't worry, Illini faithful. This Saturday, Memorial Stadium will be filled. However, most of them will be there to watch the team in the road white jerseys.

 

BTW, has Ron Zook elbowed anyone lately?

[IlliniKrush]

Don't worry, Illini faithful. This Saturday, Memorial Stadium will be filled. However, most of them will be there to watch the team in the road white jerseys.

 

BTW, has Ron Zook elbowed anyone lately?

BTW, have any of your basketball players raped anyone lately?

 

No we save that for first downs something I doubt you'll see much of Saturday

 

You just said that I will not see many Iowa first downs Saturday.

 

I love Iowa fans.

[GaelicSoxFan]

BTW, have any of your basketball players raped anyone lately?

Nope. That scumbag is now playing in the Iowa State Penal League. I wish his scumbag coach had gotten the Indiana job though. I would've gone to Iowa City and helped him pack.

[Brian]

Lets put these Illini and Iowa fans in a steel cage! It will be great!

[zenryan]

I like Drew, but the coaching staff that is here right now has him set up to fail. He has done nothing but regressed since coming here.

 

There's an article up on Warchant:

I doubt Bobby will make a change. Personally, I think he has something against Xavier and he won't get a shot. The kid was a 5 star recruit and could give the offense a spark it needs. Since the Oline sucks, at least have a scrambler back there.

 

Just give the kid a shot.

 

 

 

the kid deserves a shot. he has too much talent not to be given a legit shot at taking over the position.

[RockRaines]

Lets put these Illini and Iowa fans in a steel cage! It will be great!

Battle of the also-rans.

[GoodAsGould]

What kind of prospect is that LT on Michigan. I was watching the game and he was plowing down the DE's at times. Tait is naturally a RT and Fred Miller is old so was just wondering.

[Queen Prawn]

WOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO NC State!!!!!

[greasywheels121]

Nice fourth quarter for ND = understatement.

[whitesoxfan99]

MSU with an epic choke job. Stanton pissed himself down the stretch. What absolutely horrible decision making to go along with pathetic play calling by their coaching staff.

[Queen Prawn]

That shocked the hell outta me. If at 10PM, someone told me NC State was going to win and MSU was going to lose, I would have died laughing at them.

[IlliniKrush]

HELL YEAH IRISH

[Palehosefan]

We need to see an Illinois-UNC football game this year, that would be epic. The Illini fans on this board and myself would be the only one's watching, but that's ok.

 

As an aside, during John Bunting's "stellar" 6 year career at UNC, his defenses give up an average of 411.1 yards per game. This with NFL defensive players such as Julius Peppers, Ryan Sims, Sedrick Hodge, David Thornton, Tommy Davis, Chase Page, Jonas Seawright, Gerald Sensabaugh, and Michael Waddell.

 

10 NFL defensive players in 6 years with THOSE results. Oh the joy of being a Carolina football fan after Mack Brown's departure. Thanks Bunting!

[He_Gawn]

Notre Dame is amazing.

[Gene Honda Civic]

Notre Dame is amazing.

Nah. Michigan State is Michigan State.

[Queen Prawn]

Nah. Michigan State is Michigan State.

 

John L. Smith needs to go. He is terrible at keeping his team in the game/season mentally.

[Rex Hudler]

What kind of prospect is that LT on Michigan. I was watching the game and he was plowing down the DE's at times. Tait is naturally a RT and Fred Miller is old so was just wondering.

 

 

Jake Long is an All-American candidate and an excellent NFL prospect. He has had some problems with injuries, but this year has slimmed down some, gotten faster and moved from RT to LT.

[whitesox61382]

I am a huge ND fan, but I must admit that this is not a national championship calibur team. This team has so many holes that it isn't funny, and it is mostly because of two terrible recruiting classes back to back(current juniors and sophomores on the roster). This team has no veteran depth at any position because of these two recruiting classes.

 

On offense - The running game has been awful. Walker is a decent back, but he doesn't have great speed or the ability to consistantly break tackles. He needs a good line to create holes and maximize his strength which is his vision and patience. ND doesn't have a change of pace type backup that has the ability to break a big run on the outside, or a big back that can break tackles and get good yardage up the middle. The O-line has been terrible, especially the guards, and this was suppose to be one of the strengths of the team(with four returning starters). There are very few running lanes(always seems to be a D-lineman in the backfield) and Quinn is getting hit like his freshman year. Finally, they don't have a consistant third receiver.

 

On defense - The D-line has struggled to consistantly get pressure on the QB. They are also undersized up the middle, so there are often big running lanes in the middle of the field. The linebackers have been bad. Crum is the only decent LB that they have. Thomas is a good athlete, but at times looks lost which makes sense since he was just moved to LB. The other LB position has been none existent(I don't even know who the other starter is). Finally, the secondary has shown no improvement from last year. You still have two run stopping safeties that look lost in coverage, and two average at best CB that struggle to match up with good receivers. Every team the Irish have played have been able to consistantly move the ball(GT to a lesser extent), and only their own mistakes have slowed them down(see PSU and MSU).

 

Special teams - The most impressive player on ND this year has been the punter. The guy has got a real leg and consistantly averages 50+ yards a punt and minimizes returns giving him a great net average. It is sad to admit that, but he has been a nice weapon from a field position standpoint. The place kicker has been terrible. I have no confidence in him what so ever. He has missed a handful of FG, and missed an extra point at a critical time yesterday. The return game has been solid with Grimes and West on kickoffs consistantly averaging mid twenties on their returns, and Z is good although he seems to have a case of the fumbles/muffs of late.

 

I hope for the best for ND and would love to see them win out and slip into the national championship game(will need some help), but realistically I see this team losing one game in an upset(maybe Purdue or Navy) and losing at USC at the end of the season, and missing out on a BCS game. The good news is that help is on the way. ND has a very talented freshman class who should improve the overall athletism of the Irish, plus it appears that ND is in line for another top ten recruiting class with a good shot at a top five class. The end of this year might not end as pretty as hoped, and next year ND might go through some growing pains with a young team, but ND appears to be on the right track. Sorry about the length, but I just needed to vent and give a realistic opinion of the Irish from a true Irish fan.

[He_Gawn]

I am a huge ND fan, but I must admit that this is not a national championship calibur team. This team has so many holes that it isn't funny, and it is mostly because of two terrible recruiting classes back to back(current juniors and sophomores on the roster). This team has no veteran depth at any position because of these two recruiting classes.

 

On offense - The running game has been awful. Walker is a decent back, but he doesn't have great speed or the ability to consistantly break tackles. He needs a good line to create holes and maximize his strength which is his vision and patience. ND doesn't have a change of pace type backup that has the ability to break a big run on the outside, or a big back that can break tackles and get good yardage up the middle. The O-line has been terrible, especially the guards, and this was suppose to be one of the strengths of the team(with four returning starters). There are very few running lanes(always seems to be a D-lineman in the backfield) and Quinn is getting hit like his freshman year. Finally, they don't have a consistant third receiver.

 

On defense - The D-line has struggled to consistantly get pressure on the QB. They are also undersized up the middle, so there are often big running lanes in the middle of the field. The linebackers have been bad. Crum is the only decent LB that they have. Thomas is a good athlete, but at times looks lost which makes sense since he was just moved to LB. The other LB position has been none existent(I don't even know who the other starter is). Finally, the secondary has shown no improvement from last year. You still have two run stopping safeties that look lost in coverage, and two average at best CB that struggle to match up with good receivers. Every team the Irish have played have been able to consistantly move the ball(GT to a lesser extent), and only their own mistakes have slowed them down(see PSU and MSU).

 

Special teams - The most impressive player on ND this year has been the punter. The guy has got a real leg and consistantly averages 50+ yards a punt and minimizes returns giving him a great net average. It is sad to admit that, but he has been a nice weapon from a field position standpoint. The place kicker has been terrible. I have no confidence in him what so ever. He has missed a handful of FG, and missed an extra point at a critical time yesterday. The return game has been solid with Grimes and West on kickoffs consistantly averaging mid twenties on their returns, and Z is good although he seems to have a case of the fumbles/muffs of late.

 

I hope for the best for ND and would love to see them win out and slip into the national championship game(will need some help), but realistically I see this team losing one game in an upset(maybe Purdue or Navy) and losing at USC at the end of the season, and missing out on a BCS game. The good news is that help is on the way. ND has a very talented freshman class who should improve the overall athletism of the Irish, plus it appears that ND is in line for another top ten recruiting class with a good shot at a top five class. The end of this year might not end as pretty as hoped, and next year ND might go through some growing pains with a young team, but ND appears to be on the right track. Sorry about the length, but I just needed to vent and give a realistic opinion of the Irish from a true Irish fan.

 

 

I disagree on the back up running game statement. We have a young man named Munir Prince that is probably the fastest guy on the team. I dont understand why he isn't getting some touches with Walker struggling as bad as he is. Oh well, we shall see.

[Wedge]

I disagree on the back up running game statement. We have a young man named Munir Prince that is probably the fastest guy on the team. I dont understand why he isn't getting some touches with Walker struggling as bad as he is. Oh well, we shall see.

 

Prince isn't ready yet. He took a handoff in garbage time against Michigan where he ran the wrong way. On the plus side, Aldridge might get some PT against Purdue.

[whitesox61382]

I disagree on the back up running game statement. We have a young man named Munir Prince that is probably the fastest guy on the team. I dont understand why he isn't getting some touches with Walker struggling as bad as he is. Oh well, we shall see.

 

I know about Prince, but as Wedge mentioned he doesn't look ready to get semi-regular(consistant back-up) PT at this point. He does have great speed, but speed alone can only get you so far at the college level. A back-up with speed who isn't ready makes for a bad back-up at this point.

 

Aldridge might also be good, but we will have to wait and see how he comes back from his knee injury. As someone who has had two ACL surguries, I can tell you first hand that some athletes never fully recover unfortunately. Lets hope Aldridge isn't one of those guys because he has a good mix of power and speed, and has the ability to be a good every down back.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing some of Schmidt in the backfield as well. I am not sure how he is adjusting to the college game, but the kid can run for his size and dominated high school ball. He could be that big Mike Alstott type back.

 

Your comment plays into my overall point though, there are some talented freshman on the roster, but most aren't ready to contribute against top competition. Add that to the fact that the junior and sophomore classes are extremely weak, and you have a serious depth problem. However, back-to-back top 5 recruiting classes will likely help that. ND fans just need to be patient.

[RockRaines]

ND is bad for one reason - team speed. There is no speed on defense and will continue to get scored upon by any team with good speed.