So today I've been reading all the articles about the BCS game and ouch, are they rough on the once beloved Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
For years the media had a crush on this team but now it seems to have disappeared over night. Everyone loves a frontrunner right?
But listen to some of these harsh quotes from critics:
"Notre Dame proved to everyone that the gap between SEC and NCAA football is getting wider every year."
"Worst mis-match for the BCS Championship, ever."
"This is what happens when you play a cupcake schedule the whole year, then run up against an SEC team."
"The wasn't a game, it was total annihilation"
"There were 4 other teams in the SEC Notre Dame could have played against and lost."
"Te'o's stock just plummeted"
The last one's a little sad because I do feel bad for the guy. His girlfriend and grandmother passed away this season and he's still gone on the field and played football. Unfortunantley it was against an SEC team where he came to found what he real value was.
Consider to be the #2 (possibly #1) pick in the NFL draft this year, now analyst are even pondering whether he'll go in the first round at all. The man got embarrassed on national television, missing more tackles in one game than he has all season.
It's not his fautl, look at Notre Dame's schedule. Who did they play? The 7-5 Trojan's who were trounced by a terrible Georgia Tech team? Glorious 8-5 Michigan who got killed by South Carolina? Maybe 10-2 Oklahoma... who'd they lose to again?
My point is, when the caliber of teams isn't available on the schedule the chance to improve isn't there. Te'o shouldn't be embarrassed because he'd never played a team on such a level. Being independent, is hard for Notre Dame to schedule the quality match-ups their team truly needs.
I think Te'o in the SEC would've become a fine player but if you play in little league your whole life how to you expect to compete in the majors?
All said, I think the critics are being a little too rough here. It sounds to me as though they lost money on the game and are taking it out on the Irish in return.
And while I'm thinking about it, where were these critics when Oregon lost 2 years ago?!?
Phoneys!
8 comments:
Man, I think you're being nice at times, but totally wrong on others. First of all, at the end of the season, ND's schedule was rated tougher than Bama's. Your little-league comment is a joke. We beat Stanford, remember, a top 10 team, and Oklahoma was on the road, and their bowl game loss was to A&M, a Big 12 team who just joined the SEC and brought down your precious bama in Tuscaloosa. Give them some credit. Oh, by the way, Michigan basically beat SC, and gave up essentially a miracle pass at the end to a backup QB. Did you even watch the game? If not, maybe you should figure out the details before making these claims? Also, USC has a terrible record, but a ton of pro talent, which they always play best with against ND. Being independent actually HELPS us have a strong schedule year in and year out. Look, the fact of the matter is that people always overreact after a big game. The pendulum swings way too far. Te'o will impress at the combine and in interviews and will be a high draft pick. Just wait. He and the Irish had ONE bad game out of 13 - it was quite obvious they had stars in their eyes and weren't prepared. The coaches also called a horrible game offensively and defensively. I'm not saying we would have won - bama was going to beat us no matter what. But claiming that all these other teams cold have as well and that we didn't belong, blah blah blah is just idiots spouting off because they can. I think your "crush" on ND is totally inaccurate - they've been getting killed by the media for years, while the SEC gets glorified to help ESPN's pocket book (who by the way owns the rights to most of their games). Essentially, the whole team was a step slow, and I attribute that to rust after a 6-week layoff. Again, we would not have won, but I think the game could have been quite a but closer. Te'o didn't miss those tackles JUST because Lacy and Yeldon are some kind of supermen. He hasn't played like that in his entire career, and we have faced some talented running backs. This game was an anomaly, and unfortunately they picked the biggest stage on which to choke. But I firmly believe the talent is there and you will see that in a year or two. DOWN WITH THE SEC!!!!
Melton
A little off on your facts my friend. 5 SEC teams had a stronger schedule than Notre Dame. Alabama, Texas A&M, LSU, Georgia and Florida. Sure the Irish had some bumps in the road but nothing compared to the back to back grind of SEC football which only improves a players performance as the season goes on.
Te'o didn't have the same opportunity. He was outplayed by a better team and now everyone's acting like he can't hack it in the NFL which is silly. He got his first taste of what it's like playing with pros and he's only going to learn from that experience.
Did his stock go down? Yes. But I think he's still got more potential than these sports writers are giving him.
Also, the media's love affair with the Irish has been going strong this year. Everybody loves a winner and Notre Dame certainly was that. In fact, several writers had the Irish winning by a field goal in the game. ESPN's Lou Holtz couldn't stop talking about the power house that was ND.
Mike and Mike in the Morning called it a game Notre Dame would show the world they were the best team in college football and Colin Cowherd on both his radio and TV show picked the Irish to win!
What makes me mad is now Mike and Mike talk about how great Saban is, Cowherd how big a Dynasty Alabama and the SEC are and everyone else talking about Saban's "legacy" which honestly between that and RG3's knee I'm so sick and tired of hearing about!
Cowherd's two-face and Mike and Mike are hypocrites as well. Don't turn your back on a team just because they didn't win. NO ONE did that when Oregon lost in 2010. They only spoke about how the Ducks would win it all in 2011!?
I'll be honest, ND's getting a lot of hate from writers who were praising them only weeks earlier and that kind of behavior I can't stand. Yes the SEC's finally getting the respect they deserve but ESPN's crush on the PAC-12 is baffling.
I agree with the right to SEC games you'd think ESPN would turn into the pro-SEC channel but it hasn't. (though they love them some Saban right now)
Anyway, my hope is another SEC team take the crown next year before Auburn comes back and dominates the sport for the next 20 years.
You're so money and WAR EAGLE!
Matt, I'm right on my facts. All I claimed was that ND had a tougher strength of schedule than BAMA - which they did. You brought up the other SEC teams - I didn't.
Te'o had plenty of chances to go against good/great teams and good running backs. He had 48 other starts scouts can look at. Like I said, Monday was an aberration, and everyone will see that. He was rusty, he was tired from the awards circuit, and he was ill-prepared by his coaching staff. Plus, no one that actually knows anything has said anything about his draft stock tumbling. Sure, it dropped a touch, but that's a natural overreaction. Look at the draft "experts" - he's still predicted to go around 10-15. It will all come down to the combine. This game won't matter. I think your points about the "little league" and "big boys" are incorrect and a little naive to be quite honest.
Speaking of overreaction, your points about the "talking heads" are generally correct, but it's normal for them to spout off like they are - it's called drumming up ratings. Get used to it. As for your examples, I'm not sure you realize who you're talking about:
1.Lou Holtz - he ALWAYS picks ND, and is not a true example supporting your "love affair with ND". Everyone knows he's a homer. He's the exception to the rule, and a counter point to Mark May. I love the guy, but this year was just more of the same.
2.Mike and Mike - Mike Golic is the FATHER of 2 ND players! Of course he's going to pick the Irish!
3.Cowherd - just a loud idiot.
Remember, ND was UNRANKED TO BEGIN THE YEAR, and still wouldn't have made it to the NC game if Oregon and K-State wouldn't have lost. This is mostly due to them being under-ranked in the USA/ESPN poll most of the season. ESPN is always ranking SEC teams too high, protecting their interests. That's what I'm talking about when I reference their SEC love. It all gets a little nauseating, actually. I guess it's all about perspective - from mine, ESPN is pretty much a pro-SEC channel, a few of them just happened to make a mistake on ND (after pretty much trashing them the last 5 years). From what I saw, there were about 4-5 "experts" that picked ND...out of about 20! You are dwelling on the exceptions, which doesn't make any kind of legitimate point. You don't see it that way and that's ok...because you're so money and you don't even know it!!
-Melton
I'm looking at some legit polls and don't see where ND beat Bama on strength of schedule for 2012. Check out these sites:
Team Rankings is used by the FBS and FCS to determine strength of schedule
http://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/ranking/strength-of-schedule-by-team
Haven't heard of them? What about USA Today?
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt12.htm
Or the Massey Rankings which are used to determine rankings for the BCS?
http://masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=cf
Sorry man, the only guy who ranked ND's schedule #1 was a sports writer who has no impact in the BCS.
I just don't see it.
But I do agree Te'o will impress at the combine and grow into a decent player in the NFL. This game is being way overblown for him. Again I credit that to hurt feelings from all the media's "band wagon" fandom of the Irish. It all sounded like sour grapes to me. Te'o plays hard.
Amen to Cowherd being an idiot.
Plus I like your coach. He's smarter than Les Miles (then again who isn't?) and should be able to put together a good team next year. How many players are you losing this year? Not that many right?
Auburn on the other hand is in total rebuilding mode and I don't expect anything from them next year. I just hope to win an SEC game. I hate being the new "Vanderbilt" in our conference.
Here is the article I saw:
http://www.fbschedules.com/2013/01/final-2012-college-football-strength-of-schedule-rankings/
I guess strength of schedule can be weird and flip-flop a bit. So maybe we're both right and both wrong? There are a number of ways to calculate it. But according to the NCAA (you know, the organization that runs college football?) ND was 8, and bama was 33rd. But I guess it depends on who you listen to. Regardless, in most of the polls I looked at for SOS, ND was very high. So my ultimate point is (throwing out any comparison to bama): to say that they were playing in the "little leagues" and "being independent doesn't allow them to schedule tough teams" is quite incorrect. Plus, they were one of the only teams in the country NOT to schedule an FCS opponent. Another way of looking at it: in my honest opinion, the SEC is the best conference in the country...but overrated. The bottom half of the conference was AWFUL this year. So when bama beats Miss State, Auburn, Arkansas, etc. they are getting way too much credit. You can say the same thing for ND, but at least we didn't play cupcakes like Fla Atlantic and Ga Southern. We played NINE BOWL TEAMS out of 12! Bama was the best team in the country, I have no doubt. But they played only 4 tough teams all year, and only 3 before Monday, going 2-1. That's not that tough of a schedule.
I like Kelly too. Hope he doesn't go to the Eagles. At least you're honest about Auburn expectations :-)
-Melton
PS:
I really don't think there was any bandwagon fandom. There were like 5 people picking ND, and most of them were former coaches and guys with sons on the team. Lacey (who knows probably as much as Oz about college football) turned on the TV on Saturday and couldn't BELIEVE how many of them were picking bama (I, on the other hand, was not surprised). Everywhere you turned, another expert was talking about how ND had no shot to win, shouldn't even show up, SEC dominance, etc. (too bad for us, they were right...ugh). They were 10-point underdogs for crying out loud (first #1 double digit underdog ever)!
I just think it's really interesting that from your perspective everyone was in love with the irish, and from my perspective everyone was in love with bama. IMHO, you are focusing on a loud minority, but that's just me - I'm sure you feel the opposite. Anyway, it's kinda funny.
Looking forward to Survivor!
-Melton
All I know is that the game is over. It doesn't matter who each team played all season or what the facts are. What it boils down to is that they played each other and Bama won.
Yes it does matter. Of course alabama won, and they were obviously the better team. Thanks for pointing out the obvious - that wasn't under discussion, and I am not debating that. In fact, I'm trying to forget, despite sec fans' best efforts at twisting the knife. But you are missing the point of the original post:
"My point is, when the caliber of teams isn't available on the schedule the chance to improve isn't there. Te'o shouldn't be embarrassed because he'd never played a team on such a level. Being independent, is hard for Notre Dame to schedule the quality match-ups their team truly needs.
I think Te'o in the SEC would've become a fine player but if you play in little league your whole life how to you expect to compete in the majors?"
That's what we are discussing here. So, in fact, schedules/opponents DO matter. That's why we are having our little good-natured back-and-forth.
-Melton
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