Comments on: That light Irish schedule? Not so much

By: tooz72

tooz72 — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 22:32:53 +0000

everyone rags on the Irish about their schedule but every single team in the BCS plays patsies throughout their schedule but no one is laughed at more than ND.. it’s a joke.. look at Ohio St and Penn St every year, their first 4-5 games are against jokes but no one says a word.. hypocrites

By: dochrd

dochrd — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:33:25 +0000

Great post, Keith. This is my go-to space for the latest Irish news, and I hadn’t seen the NCAA report on toughest schedules. Some good water cooler info for the defense of the Irish!

By: papadec

papadec — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:13:44 +0000

Put the points on the board – and take the lump sum option.

By: tradertrik

tradertrik — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 19:33:02 +0000

Well, so much for some of the comments I’ve read about the BCS National Championship game with the SEC saying they play the toughest schedules week in and week out. Each SEC team plays at least two, if not more, “gimmies” during their schedules, as do most conference teams. If you’re gonna be the best, then play the best.

I remember the ’88 season and it was one tough game after another. Same for ’89. Every week was a big dog, with the exception of Navy, at the time. In ’88 even Air Force was undefeated when we played there. They weren’t when the Irish left. Just for conversations sake, if ND (especially the defense) improves at the same rate as they are starting to now, who’s to say we won’t be undefeated in 2012? How funny would that be – we are undefeated and the world comes to an end. Nah, you’ll know when it comes to an end. It will be the day after I won the lottery………….and took the annuity option.

By: bradwins

bradwins — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 18:58:06 +0000

One thing I don’t understand about my fellow Irish fans is the constant complaining about the schedule. I do understand the desire to see good teams and, to a certain extent, the idea that the Irish are too storied of a program to share the field with certain teams (i.e. Tulsa). But where is that approach going to get you, realistically? 9-3, 10-2 in good years? Look at some of the schwag scheduled by the National Championship contenders. Auburn played Arkansas State, Chattanooga and Louisiana Monroe. Oregon played New Mexico and Portland State. The reality is that you can’t expect your team to beat 12 teams that all rank between good and great without a slip up. If all other teams were trying to run a gauntlet, too, then maybe you would have a case for it because you could win a Nat’l title with a loss or even two. But in today’s college football world you have to give yourself some easy wins to allow you to be be in the best physical and mental condition to win the really, really big games.

I’m excited about the 2012 schedule, for instance, but I am already resigned to the fact that we probably have no shot of getting through that minefield unblemished. So even if this program progresses at the rate we all hope we are still at least 3 or 4 years away from a legit chance for national championship.