Originally posted by CliffLandinWinning the Michigan game didn't get the Irish any respect in Vegas either; the books have opened Michigan State as an 8 1/2 point favorite.
It may be because they struggled against San Diego State, a team that lost to Cal Poly. They aren't consistent, but it is too early to really be sure. They may just play down to the level of their competition. Don't count out Washington. They lost by 1 point to a team that beat UCLA 59 - 0 (although they did get spanked by Oregon and a really good Oklaho ...[text shortened]... un to see. I really think both NC and BC will give them a good game, if not a little spanking.
Originally posted by no1marauderThere is only one way to earn respect which is to win, however, the Irish have yet to achieve this after their abysmal performance last year.
Winning the Michigan game didn't get the Irish any respect in Vegas either; the books have opened Michigan State as an 8 1/2 point favorite.
Originally posted by no1marauderIt may be because the general consensus is that Michigan isn't very good. They need to beat a good team in order to get some respect, especially from Vegas.
Winning the Michigan game didn't get the Irish any respect in Vegas either; the books have opened Michigan State as an 8 1/2 point favorite.
Originally posted by CliffLandinThe same books favored Michigan against both Utah and ND. Michigan State hasn't been exactly tearing it up; they lost to Cal (which just got beat by Maryland) before blowing out Eastern Michigan and struggling against Florida Atlantic.
It may be because the general consensus is that Michigan isn't very good. They need to beat a good team in order to get some respect, especially from Vegas.
I could see MSU being favored at home, but 8 1/2 seems a pretty big spread for this one.
There's a reason why the domers aren't getting respect. Look at the game's stats:
Michigan vs ND
1st Downs 21 vs 14
3rd down efficiency 4-12 vs 3-12
4th down efficiency 1-2 vs 0-2
Total Yards 388 vs 260
Passing 229 vs 147
Comp-Att 19-28 vs 10-21
Yards per pass 8.2 vs 7.0
Rushing 159 vs 113
Rushing Attempts 42 vs 34
Yards per rush 3.8 vs 3.3
Penalties 7-79 vs3-38
Turnovers 6 vs 2
Fumbles lost 4 vs 0
Interceptions thrown 2 vs 2
Possession 32:12 27:48
The reason why Michigan lost was that they lost the turnover battle. If ND gets lucky enough to play average to bad teams that want to give them the ball as much as Michigan wanted to give them the ball, then ND will continue to win. If ND continues to play average to bad teams that commit so many penalties, the ND will continue to win.
You've got to look at more than just 'who beat who'. You've got to look at how and why the games turned out as they did. Michigan outplayed the domers in every category except one very important category: turnovers. If you turn the ball over as much as Michigan did, you can't expect to win. That game was Michigan's loss, not ND's win.
Originally posted by EladarApparently you didn't watch the game; I did. ND jumped to a big early lead; in that circumstance, it's not at all unusual for the losing team to get a lot of yards playing catch up or for the team with the lead to play conservative. Someone claiming that the team losing by 18 points "outplayed" the winning team is someone who doesn't know very much about football. ND led by no less than 11 for the entire game after the first four minutes; the outcome was never really in doubt.
There's a reason why the domers aren't getting respect. Look at the game's stats:
Michigan vs ND
1st Downs 21 vs 14
3rd down efficiency 4-12 vs 3-12
4th down efficiency 1-2 vs 0-2
Total Yards 388 vs 260
Passing 229 vs 147
Comp-Att 19-28 vs 10-21
Yards per pass 8.2 vs 7.0
Rushing 159 vs 113
Rushing Attempts 42 vs 34
Yard ...[text shortened]... s Michigan did, you can't expect to win. That game was Michigan's loss, not ND's win.
You're right, I didn't watch the game, but I can see the play by play at ESPN.
How did the domers score?
First score-> Turnover on the Michigan 11. Of course the 15 yd penalty the play before helped set up this position. Turnover and big penalty sets up the first score.
Second score-> Turnover on the kickoff giving the domers the ball on the Michigan 14.
Third score-> Michigan turns the ball over on downs. That's something a team does when it is down. It is just as good as a turn over. Hey, what do you know, a big penalty, then a big pass.
Michigan drive scores. Something unique here, Michigan's drive was not the result of a ND turnover nor was it helped by a single penalty.
Domer's 4th score-> No turnover and a meaningless penalty. I'd say this is their first legitimate score which did not come as a turnover.
Michigan drive once again is successful without a helping penalty and without the aid of a ND turnover.
Domer's 5th score-> A direct result of a Michigan mistake.
3 out of the 5 domer TD's were the result of Michigan mistakes. Michigan holds on to the ball and they defeat ND 17-14.
I'll repeat myself, ND did not win that game, Michigan lost it.
I'll put it in chess terminology for you: ND won because Michigan made multiple huge blunders.
Your last post (as well as your others) just goes to show that you know next to nothing about football.
Notre Dame couldn't even defeat Michigan State. As a matter of fact, Michigan State defeated the domers by quite a margin. I think your misguided hopes at a BCS game have just died.
Face it. Notre Dame's defense sucks. The offense is young. This is not the domer's year. Perhaps they'll have a shot in a year or two.
From earlier:
Winning the Michigan game didn't get the Irish any respect in Vegas either; the books have opened Michigan State as an 8 1/2 point favorite.
It looks like the domers deserved even less respect than they got. Michigan State easily covered the 8 1/2.
Originally posted by EladarAgain you obviously didn't watch the game. ND missed a routine FG with 6 minutes to go that would have cut the lead to 6. ND's defense played pretty well; it was the offense that played poorly (a clue is that they only scored 7 points). It's pretty obvious you are clueless about football.
Your last post (as well as your others) just goes to show that you know next to nothing about football.
Notre Dame couldn't even defeat Michigan State. As a matter of fact, Michigan State defeated the domers by quite a margin. I think your misguided hopes at a BCS game have just died.
Face it. Notre Dame's defense sucks. The offense is young. This ...[text shortened]... domers deserved even less respect than they got. Michigan State easily covered the 8 1/2.
Originally posted by no1marauderI did watch the game. It was one of the sloppiest games I have seen in a long time. ND looked terrible until, what, 9 minutes left in the game. State was all over Clausen and Ringer looked like a Heisman contender.
Again you obviously didn't watch the game. ND missed a routine FG with 6 minutes to go that would have cut the lead to 6. ND's defense played pretty well; it was the offense that played poorly (a clue is that they only scored 7 points). It's pretty obvious you are clueless about football.
I hate to agree with Eladar, but ND's defense does suck.
I'm not going to claim that you don't know anything about football, but I think your opinion was clouded by emerald color glasses.
Originally posted by CliffLandinWhat game did you watch??? The only TD Notre Dame's defense gave up until the final two minutes was when MSU started on ND's 22 and the Spartans had to convert a fourth down to do that. Are you sure you had the picture on?
I did watch the game. It was one of the sloppiest games I have seen in a long time. ND looked terrible until, what, 9 minutes left in the game. State was all over Clausen and Ringer looked like a Heisman contender.
I hate to agree with Eladar, but ND's defense does suck.
I'm not going to claim that you don't know anything about football, but I think your opinion was clouded by emerald color glasses.