who you got? OU or ND?
- Thread starter OUSooners_75
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OU will win. Too many skilled players on offense for Notre Dame to contain. ND has trouble scoring. Golston will help athletically wise. I don't think he will be enough though.
The one stat that I saw today that bothered me was ND is 8-1 all time versus OU.
The one stat that I saw today that bothered me was ND is 8-1 all time versus OU.
I think it's 9-1 all time...
This is a tough one for me to pick. You commented in my possession stats thread... It's obvious my stats say OU should win with some room to spare even if they ND holds them around 24 (which I think they will).
My observations tell me Notre Dame's got a chance though. I have two reasons for this... (1) I think OU has a very good football team (top 10-top15), but I don't think they're as good as they've looked the past two weeks (top 3). (2) I still haven't seen Landry Jones play well in a game in which he is pressured more than a few times, and Notre Dame's front 7 is more than capable of disrupting OU's line, pressuring Jones and tipping passes. I think they have the best front 7 anywhere outside of Tuscaloosa.
If I had to make a pick on this I'd say OU wins about 20-13, but Notre Dame beats the spread (OU - 11.5 right now). I think you'd have to be crazy to pick the over on this (47.5).
This is a tough one for me to pick. You commented in my possession stats thread... It's obvious my stats say OU should win with some room to spare even if they ND holds them around 24 (which I think they will).
My observations tell me Notre Dame's got a chance though. I have two reasons for this... (1) I think OU has a very good football team (top 10-top15), but I don't think they're as good as they've looked the past two weeks (top 3). (2) I still haven't seen Landry Jones play well in a game in which he is pressured more than a few times, and Notre Dame's front 7 is more than capable of disrupting OU's line, pressuring Jones and tipping passes. I think they have the best front 7 anywhere outside of Tuscaloosa.
If I had to make a pick on this I'd say OU wins about 20-13, but Notre Dame beats the spread (OU - 11.5 right now). I think you'd have to be crazy to pick the over on this (47.5).
Oklahoma will expose Notre Lame's weaknesses and win this game by two touchdowns. The Whining Irish haven't played any really good teams...until now.
I figured it would be a close game going into the 4th quarter. I just figured Oklahoma would have the edge with home field advantage. Defense wins national championships. That's the bottom line. It's sort of like what you see in major league baseball. Teams like the Yankees can dominate during the regular season with all of their home runs against mediocre pitching. But when they get to the postseason they can't get very far because they have to face dominant pitching (baseball's version of defense). In college football, even if you have a dynamic offense, eventually you are going to find a defense that can slow it down. And if you don't have the defense on your end to back up the offense on a down day you're done. It's why the SEC has won the last 6 national titles. They win with defense (sans Auburn). Offense is for the circus. It sells tickets. But defense is how you win it all.
Yeah. Before that game started OU's defense looked just as good as Notre Dame's, or better.
Urban Meyer's Florida teams won their national titles (and dominated the SEC) with offense as much as anything. There is a narrative with regard to the SEC streak that says it's all about defense when in fact three of those titles were won by spread offenses, and both Alabama teams that won it had great offenses as well, even though they were a defense first team.
Urban Meyer's Florida teams won their national titles (and dominated the SEC) with offense as much as anything. There is a narrative with regard to the SEC streak that says it's all about defense when in fact three of those titles were won by spread offenses, and both Alabama teams that won it had great offenses as well, even though they were a defense first team.
Those Florida teams had great defenses as well:
2006 Florida
#6 scoring defense
#6 total defense
2008 Florida
#4 scoring defense
#9 total defense
It takes both, but if I am going to choose, I choose a great defense over a great offense. If you can keep your opponent out of the end zone it gives you a better chance to win. JMO. The only team to win a national title in the last 10 years without a good defense has been Auburn & they had to buy Cam Newton to do it. Plus they matched up with an Oregon team in the national title game that wasn't exactly a defensive juggernaut (strangely enough that game ended up being a defensive struggle).
Yes, they played great defense. My point was three of those teams played offenses similar to a Big 12 team or Oregon. Alabama and LSU are defense centered teams, but Florida played a wide open spread that we're currently told can't beat an SEC defense. Oklahoma State couldn't pass the media's "eye test" to even get a shot in that game (despite Weeden and Blackmon passing the NFL "eye test" on draft day). There is this belief that a spread offense is too gimicy to work against an SEC defense, when that's exactly what Aburn and Florida beat the whole SEC with.
The Auburn defense was very good in the front 7. Their secondary was awful. They're lucky the great spread offense they wound uP playing against was Oregon's and not a Leach-inspired system. Their big DT was able to really disrupt Oregon's run game.
The Auburn defense was very good in the front 7. Their secondary was awful. They're lucky the great spread offense they wound uP playing against was Oregon's and not a Leach-inspired system. Their big DT was able to really disrupt Oregon's run game.
Oh you can definitely win a national title with a spread offense. You just better have a good defense to back it up. Honestly, you pretty much have to possess both a good offense & a good defense to win it all. I think the perception nationally of the Big 12 is that there are some good offenses, but defense is an afterthought (because of teams like WVU & Baylor). However, Oklahoma (#16 scoring defense) & Kansas State (#13 scoring defense) both play pretty good defense this season. The problem for Oklahoma is that they just didn't play as well defensively as Notre Dame on Saturday.
The rest of the country has had a hard time comprehending the pace that teams in the Big 12 or Oregon play at and it's effects on conventional defensive numbers. Have you had a chance to look at either of the threads I started here discussing points/possession? The average Big 12 team, not KSU, ISU or Texas, has/faces 4-5 more possessions a game than Alabama does.
Adjusted for schedule, the Big 12 teams do pretty well in points/possession...
This doesn't include the games played this past weekend. OU and Tech are likely to move down a bit.
1. Oklahoma
5. Iowa State
20. Kansas State
31. Oklahoma State
36. TCU
37. Texas Tech
58. Texas
61. Kansas
88. West Virginia
115. Baylor
BTW, Oregon and Texas A&M, both spread teams, are #3 and #16 on that list respectively.
Forgot to add this the first time...
I think it's necessary to be at least good in both phases of the game. Usually great in at least one. Actually, good in all three phases to win a national title, and you have to be at least a littls lucky. Last year Oklahoma State was pretty lucky with regards to injuries. So far this year Kansas State has been very fortuneate.
This post was edited on 10/29 6:03 PM by TheRedSon
Adjusted for schedule, the Big 12 teams do pretty well in points/possession...
This doesn't include the games played this past weekend. OU and Tech are likely to move down a bit.
1. Oklahoma
5. Iowa State
20. Kansas State
31. Oklahoma State
36. TCU
37. Texas Tech
58. Texas
61. Kansas
88. West Virginia
115. Baylor
BTW, Oregon and Texas A&M, both spread teams, are #3 and #16 on that list respectively.
Forgot to add this the first time...
I think it's necessary to be at least good in both phases of the game. Usually great in at least one. Actually, good in all three phases to win a national title, and you have to be at least a littls lucky. Last year Oklahoma State was pretty lucky with regards to injuries. So far this year Kansas State has been very fortuneate.
This post was edited on 10/29 6:03 PM by TheRedSon
Yes, the pace definitely changes things. I agree 100% with that. The defensive numbers would change a little if SEC teams had to face something like that every week. However, you can still play good defense against it. LSU slowed Oregon down last season & the Ducks only scored 19 points on Auburn in 2010 (even though Auburn was not a great defensive team). When we played LSU last year our guys were able to rack up a bunch of yards, but they created a ton of turnovers with their speed and athleticism on defense & blew us out because we couldn't get into the end zone. Like you said, you have to play well in all 3 phases to win a national title (it's rare that the national title team doesn't do that). And you also need some luck. Unless your coach is Nick Saban & you field a 2 deep that probably rivals some NFL rosters.
We've gotten killed with injuries this season. Several defensive starters & our starting tailback have been out for a while. And a few contributors on defense have gotten knocked out with injuries as well. We couldn't afford 1 or 2 injuries & we got a lot more than that. That's why we are playing so many freshman on defense. The freshman in the secondary is what kills us. The offensive/defensive lines & secondary are the worst places to have freshman playing significant minutes. And we have multiple freshman logging significant minutes in the secondary.
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