Do you think Notre Dame was the second best tean in the nation and played a bad game or were they overrated and shouldn't of been in Miami dispite the undefeated season?

Based on potential talent on the field? No, they weren't the second best team in the country.

Based on who was hot at the end of the year? No, they weren't the second best team in the country.

Based on body of work throughout the season and the ability to go undefeated? Yes, they were the best TEAM entering the national title game and after it was over they were the second best TEAM.

And I think the implication of your question is if we think ND deserved to be there. The answer to that is, yes, without a single doubt.

After watching and rewatching the game ND would have had to play its best game and Alabama would have had to play a subpar game to have been close. With that in mind the were not the second best team in the country.

In terms of talent, depth and coaching, ND was not the 2nd best team in the nation on Jan 7th, but they absolutely deserved to be there.

IrishfromA2 wrote: In terms of talent, depth and coaching, ND was not the 2nd best team in the nation on Jan 7th, but they absolutely deserved to be there.

Why you gotta say **** better than me?

Haha sorry didnt see your post.

Also, I think ND played their D game and Bama played their A game.

No team in the country would come within 14 points of Bama if Bama plays their A game.

If ND brought their A game and Bama their C game, it would have been close. That's what happened when Texas A&M played them.

amruther24 wrote:

IrishfromA2 wrote: In terms of talent, depth and coaching, ND was not the 2nd best team in the nation on Jan 7th, but they absolutely deserved to be there.

Why you gotta say **** better than me?

IrishfromA2 wrote: Haha sorry didnt see your post.

Also, I think ND played their D game and Bama played their A game.

No team in the country would come within 14 points of Bama if Bama plays their A game.

If ND brought their A game and Bama their C game, it would have been close. That's what happened when Texas A&M played them.

amruther24 wrote:

IrishfromA2 wrote: In terms of talent, depth and coaching, ND was not the 2nd best team in the nation on Jan 7th, but they absolutely deserved to be there.

Why you gotta say **** better than me?

Couldn't agree more and I'd only give ND a D based on the fact that they were able to produce some offense. The defense played an F game or a Z or whatever is worse than F. They were awful in pretty much all respects outside of some solid D-line play.

Its like everyone on ND's defense regressed 3 years in one game. They went from being the stingiest and possibly the most fundamentally sound defense in the country to the defense that played Navy in 2010.

I honestly think it all had to to with confidence. In terms of talent and depth, ND's defense shouldnt have been close to as productive as they were, but their confidence grew over time and they eventually believed that if they executed and played smart football, they could be a great defense. After that first drive, I think the defense realized just how good Bama was and their confidence was out the window. After that they played frantic and over-agressive.

amruther24 wrote:

IrishfromA2 wrote: Haha sorry didnt see your post.

Also, I think ND played their D game and Bama played their A game.

No team in the country would come within 14 points of Bama if Bama plays their A game.

If ND brought their A game and Bama their C game, it would have been close. That's what happened when Texas A&M played them.

amruther24 wrote:

IrishfromA2 wrote: In terms of talent, depth and coaching, ND was not the 2nd best team in the nation on Jan 7th, but they absolutely deserved to be there.

Why you gotta say **** better than me?

Couldn't agree more and I'd only give ND a D based on the fact that they were able to produce some offense. The defense played an F game or a Z or whatever is worse than F. They were awful in pretty much all respects outside of some solid D-line play.

you forgot an option: that nd had the best team in the nation, but was outplayed in one game.

i'm not saying that it's what i think, but it is possible.

BridgeportBamaFan1988 wrote: Do you think Notre Dame was the second best tean in the nation and played a bad game or were they overrated and shouldn't of been in Miami dispite the undefeated season?

i think that if bama and nd had both played their best game in that game, it'd be hard for me to say who would've won.

no matter how talented the teams, when one team plays well and one team plays badly, the better-playing team can always make the badly-playing team look bad.

ND absolutely deserved to be there, but there were a few other teams that were better than they were at the end of the year, imo.  However, I don't think that anyone really had a chance at Bama by the end.  Bama would have beat anyone, anywhere that night.

For one, Watch the game. Manti was not in that game, His body was but his head wasn't which affected the team as a whole, Guys even said that he was not the same in the locker room before the game.

I give all the credit to Bama for beating us but I have to believe that if the Manti that showed up weekly played in that game things would have been different, maybe not the outcome but at least the score.

I would like to ask you a simple question in return. Do you think Alabama was made up of supermen from another galaxy, or do you think it was just their heavy ingestion of PEDs?

Thanks for your kind and thoughtful response.


.

BridgeportBamaFan1988 wrote: Do you think Notre Dame was the second best tean in the nation and played a bad game or were they overrated and shouldn't of been in Miami dispite the undefeated season?

manti's performance was shocking at the time; not as much so, in retrospect.

rbiddie wrote: For one, Watch the game. Manti was not in that game, His body was but his head wasn't which affected the team as a whole, Guys even said that he was not the same in the locker room before the game.

I give all the credit to Bama for beating us but I have to believe that if the Manti that showed up weekly played in that game things would have been different, maybe not the outcome but at least the score.

The one thing I do know they played awful. Everything that could have went wrong went wrong.

They saved their worst game for the title game

---------------------------------------------
--- BridgeportBamaFan1988 wrote:

Do you think Notre Dame was the second best tean in the nation and played a bad game or were they overrated and shouldn't of been in Miami dispite the undefeated season?

---------------------------------------------

Oregon would have smoked Notre Dame. Oregon is the only team in the country who would have given Bama a game with the Natty on the line.

JelaniMcBlunted wrote: Oregon would have smoked Notre Dame. Oregon is the only team in the country who would have given Bama a game with the Natty on the line.

We will never know since Oregon didn't take care of business against Stanford.  GO home sonny troll and play with your Chippy Kelly dolls.

I believe that Notre Dame deserved the invite. Nobody else went undefeated. You can't leave an undefeated BCS school out of the National Championship. Period!

EDIT: Nobody else who was eligible for postseason play went undefeated. Just thought I'd clear that up before Ohio State fans lurking on our board flew off the handle.

EDIT 2: Oh, and by the way, Ohio State would have gotten smoked by 'Bama also.

Irish73 wrote:

JelaniMcBlunted wrote: Oregon would have smoked Notre Dame. Oregon is the only team in the country who would have given Bama a game with the Natty on the line.

We will never know since Oregon didn't take care of business against Stanford.  GO home sonny troll and play with your Chippy Kelly dolls.

I'm a UCLA fan. Everyone in the country other than ND knows that Oregon would destroy the Irish

wow. you're psychic.

JelaniMcBlunted wrote: Oregon would have smoked Notre Dame. Oregon is the only team in the country who would have given Bama a game with the Natty on the line.