Yeah, the bishops and cardinals would be pissed! Probably the pope too. Chicago is close to South Bend.

It's hard to draw any conclusions from the first game of the season. Sure, ND was facing a Top 10 team. But my takeaway from that game was that neither team looked all that great on offense.
Now, was that because they both have great defenses or was it because their offenses aren't all that?

Obviously, if our run defense doesn't improve, ND will run all over us. But so much of the issue with our run defense was more mental than physical. And I also think it will help to have Dalton Brooks back.

There will be much more to tell about us following this weeks game. If they can clean up the stupidity, I will feel a lot better about our chances against ND.

They'll be playing for their season so it's hard to count them out. This game is pretty much their Superbowl; if win, they'll be back in the playoff hunt, if they lose, they can kiss the playoffs goodbye. There's nothing in their schedule that suggests that they're going to rack up quality wins (now that Boise St has lost their first game).

The good thing is that we have a week to polish up our game and be ready for them. I'd rather play another game rather than sit at home for a week and then face a ranked team.

We gotta start fast against them and shut them down early. Our run defense has got to get better in a hurry.

The run defense absolutely CAN be better. If you watch the second half after the 75-yard run, the "adjustment" that was made was about 90% player effort. The safeties were being more physical instead of avoiding contact. Scooby and York were doing a better job taking on blockers. Our interior DL started resetting the LOS into the backfield, and our edge guys were actually holding the edge instead of crashing inside to try and make a tackle.

For whatever reason, we never start out our games playing with maximum effort. Guys take plays off in the first half, and we have to get punched in the mouth before our players finally wake up and realize the level of physicality they need to play with. But often it's too late. That can't happen against ND.

the most cool guy said:

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The run defense absolutely CAN be better. If you watch the second half after the 75-yard run, the "adjustment" that was made was about 90% player effort. The safeties were being more physical instead of avoiding contact. Scooby and York were doing a better job taking on blockers. Our interior DL started resetting the LOS into the backfield, and our edge guys were actually holding the edge instead of crashing inside to try and make a tackle.

For whatever reason, we never start out our games playing with maximum effort. Guys take plays off in the first half, and we have to get punched in the mouth before our players finally wake up and realize the level of physicality they need to play with. But often it's too late. That can't happen against ND.

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Take it for what its worth, but Elko said in his PC yesterday when asked how the massive player turnover factors into game 1 prep, that its definitely made it difficult to be prepared for what a team is going to do initially. He siad that once they figured it out and made adjustments, the scheme that was getting gashed in the first half was fixed and guys started playing a lot looser and flying to the ball better. Game film supports this.

Now do I wish we had an ability to not be completely wrong on what we prepped for and not get gashed for 2 quarters before figuring it out? Absolutely. But it's encouraging that we are able to make adjustments on the fly. Last year's defense was not great about mid game adjustments like Elko's defenses of prior years were.

I think the football machine needs them to win to remain in the playoff picture. So expect some missed calls on critical situations seemingly to go against us and FOR Notre Dame. It's just the way sports is unfortunately.

Some of these missed calls won't be shown on replay despite having a ton of cameras everywhere at their disposal.

Saw it first hand 2nd half
In the Miami game. Miami barely pulled it off.

But the fact that ND lost will make it tougher for us now.

TexasAggie81 said:

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I hate to say it, but Miami played a great game. They're good. Dominated the line of scrimmage on offense most of the game. Very few mistakes on defense. Showed ND's vulnerabilities, especially when it plays zone. We should be able to pick the secondary apart … if Elko sees that Miami gave us the game plan on both sides of the ball for our game.

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you are absolutely a lunatic to type that Aggies will "pick the Notre Dame secondary apart"

they LITERALLY have one of 11 preseason All Americans in their secondary and their team led the nation in turnover margin last year:

CB: Leonard Moore, Notre Dame
Marcus Freeman continues to bring in promising young talent to the program, and Moore was a prime example this past season. He returns for his sophomore season as one of the top cornerbacks in the country. Moore was the FWAA Freshman Defensive Player of the Year in 2024, when he led the Irish with 11 pass breakups and finished with two interceptions and two forced fumbles.

biglebowski said:

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I think the football machine needs them to win to remain in the playoff picture. So expect some missed calls on critical situations seemingly to go against us and FOR Notre Dame. It's just the way sports is unfortunately.

Some of these missed calls won't be shown on replay despite having a ton of cameras everywhere at their disposal.

Saw it first hand 2nd half
In the Miami game. Miami barely pulled it off.

But the fact that ND lost will make it tougher for us now.

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absolutely the refs were biased for ND on sunday night-

in the same play they did not call an obvious pass interference against Toney and instead called a phantom holding call on a Miami lineman

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Now do I wish we had an ability to not be completely wrong on what we prepped for and not get gashed for 2 quarters before figuring it out? Absolutely. But it's encouraging that we are able to make adjustments on the fly. Last year's defense was not great about mid game adjustments like Elko's defenses of prior years were.

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I'm thinking that was more due to personnel issues and us not having the kind of depth that we needed in order to continue to be playing at a high level. Hopefully we have more quality depth this year.

That being said, Sunday night's game came down to QB play and I am more confident about our QB than theirs. Their QB looked inexperienced and had a couple of intentional grounding penalties. When Miami dialed up the pressure, he was really careless with the ball. At this point, he's just a turnover waiting to happen.

GrayMatter said:

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Now do I wish we had an ability to not be completely wrong on what we prepped for and not get gashed for 2 quarters before figuring it out? Absolutely. But it's encouraging that we are able to make adjustments on the fly. Last year's defense was not great about mid game adjustments like Elko's defenses of prior years were.

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I'm thinking that was more due to personnel issues and us not having the kind of depth that we needed in order to continue to be playing at a high level. Hopefully we have more quality depth this year.

That being said, Sunday night's game came down to QB play and I am more confident about our QB than theirs. Their QB looked inexperienced and had a couple of intentional grounding penalties. When Miami dialed up the pressure, he was really careless with the ball. At this point, he's just a turnover waiting to happen.

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Oh he absolutely peed himself when any pressure broke through his o-line. You don't commit either of those grounding penalties if you are any sort of poised.

Problem is, I'm not sure we have anyone near the talent level of the pass rushers Miami was sending at him. That, and Elko has always been more of a contain guy. Letting an inexperienced QB sit in a pocket at home, after just showing he will **** down his leg a couple days ago, would be the worst mistake we could make. I expect to see some exotic Elko blitz packages in that game. They only have 1 receiver the QB really looks at. Lock him down with Lee, have one of the LB's and maybe a safety keep Love contained, and send someone every play after the QB.