re: Notre Dame's defense/special teams: A detailed look

If the drop off from 1s to 2s on the DL is as noticible as you suggest, ND could be in for a very long night come Jan. 7.

Also you didn't beat Stanford they tied you on the final play of the game.

Notre Dame's front 7 has struggled to handle teams that are adequate at running the football. Alabama has the best O'line in the country, just compare how Michigan's Dline held up vs. Notre Dame compared to Bama.

Pitt, BYU, Michigan aren't capable of keeping the game close with Bama. Bama's weakness is pressuring the QB without bringing extra defenders, and defending the pass. Notre Dame's offense doesn't have the playmakers to exploit it. Their defense doesn't have the depth to sustain a major gap in time of possession and they their offense isn't going to be able to sustain drives.

For the record Alabama has been pretty awful in first and goal situations considering the rest of our execution this season. I wouldn't be surprised if we settle for FG's early much like first half of the BCS title game last year.

"If the drop off from 1s to 2s on the DL is as noticible as you suggest, ND could be in for a very long night come Jan. 7."

This will be the ball game. I expect a good first half. ND will look very tired in the 2nd. I'd also be very surprised if we saw much of ND's base defense. 3 down linemen vs. Bama's O-line? Ain't gonna happen. Do think the point spread is about right though with how much Alabama will be running. And once ND commits everyone, Cooper will go lights out. That's exactly what happened vs. A&M only we had a 20 point lead to work with.

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How do you know there's a difference between LSU and A&M and UGA and a team like Oklahoma? I don't mean that sarcastically. It's basically your opinion. Again, their schedule is more highly regarded overall than those teams.

Look at how A&M did throughout their schedule. They beat ONE top 25 team (Alabama). Lost to the other top 25 teams they played. Struggled mightily with La Tech, could have easily lost to Ole Miss. A two-loss team that beat ZERO other top-25 teams and struggled with two average at best teams won AT Alabama. But ND, who went undefeated and beat two top-11 teams can't win at a neutral site? What if OU just so happens to beat A&M in the Cotton? LSU also LOST two games, and struggled against Towson, Ole Miss, Auburn and Arkansas. How do we know that team is great? All I'm saying is you're using your opinion and putting it as fact. You have no clue ND wouldn't be in a BCS bowl if they were in the SEC.

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I know because we played them for umpteen years. Everything everyone said about the game in the SEC being different than what we were used to in the Big 12 was absolutely right. It truly is like comparing a school team to an AAU team. Doesn't mean the school team can't win a game but if they play 100 times, the AAU team is going to at least 95 of them.

And of course it is just my opinion but it's based on having played them all and seen them first hand. Oklahoma may very well beat A&M and you may very well beat Bama, but not a chance in hell I'd put money on either of you. Again, I ask you, who was Oklahoma's best win against? West Virginia? TCU? Iowa State? Oklahoma State? Not exactly like having to play numbers 7, 8 and 9 in the rankings.

QB - Bama > ND
RB - Bama > ND
Oline - Bama > ND
WR's - Bama > ND

Dline - Bama > ND
LB's - Bama > ND(Yes, you got T'eo but across the board, I'll take Bama)
DB's - Bama > ND

Depth - Bama > ND

I don't know enough about your special teams so I'll call it a push based on the info you kindly provided or heck, I'll even give the edge to ND. Please tell me where I'm wrong in the above?

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Again Bama's weakness on defense( secondary) is a weakness MD can't exploit.

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It may be a weaker part of their game, but lets not forget they have all-SEC caliber players back there too.

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LB's - Bama > ND(Yes, you got T'eo but across the board, I'll take Bama)

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Mosley > Te'o

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Again Bama's weakness on defense( secondary) is a weakness MD can't exploit.

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They can with Eifert. There are players there. Definitely have to step up, though.

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Again, Pitt's oline pushed ND's front seven around. What will the nation's best oline do?

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Well first of all, Nix didn't start that game because he was battling the flu. Second of all, that's simply not true. Pitt had 144 yards on 33 attempts for a 4.4 average. That also includes a 55 yard run near the start of the game by Graham on some missed assignments and one missed tackle. Take that away, Pitt had 89 yards on 32 carries, or a whopping 2.8 yards per carry. And third of all, even if we were full at full strength and Pitt actually did dominate our front seven, it's one game. Using that and discrediting 11 other performances is pretty stupid.

We could argue about this until the game is actually played but the bottom line is that Golson will have to play very well for ND to win. I do not think ND will be able to run the football with enough success to take pressure off of Golson. I actually think he has to play well enough to create situations to take pressure of the other skill players.

I just cannot see Golson playing that well in this big of a game against a defense like Alabama's.

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Mosley > Te'o

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No.