The logical leaps made in this thread blow my mind. Michigan and Michigan state are WAY better than the three ACC teams we barely beat and they scored a total in 9 points. The o e ranked team we played blew us out by 40 something points. Lets slow our roll here. Nd defense is just as good as FSUs. They have a stud TE which has killed us the last few years. They are definitely beatable but let's not start downplaying ND success this season. This is a good team
You have no clue what you're talking about. Actually watch the teams play and not just the rankings or provide a legitimate argument.
Mich has nothing outside of Robinson and when his running can be stopped, Mich struggles mightily. Fortunately ND has a great front 7 and could do just that. Same with MSU, they're replacing a three year starting QB and can't do anything outside run the ball. Both of those teams are completely one dimensional and play into ND's strength, it's defensive front 7. Purdue can win their division this year, but are not a good team. FWIW, Marve would be their starting QB if he hadn't been hurt again.
As for ND's secondary, scythecam is completely correct. They had 2 scholarshipped CBs coming into this year...2! That's Randy Shannon-esqu depth. They lost their best starting corner before the season and one of their starting safeties week 2/3. Their secondary is terrible, they just haven't played any team capable of passing, let alone any team with a balanced offense.
Offensively, ND doesn't have much going for them outside of their run game. Neither QB has been worth much and we're likely to see both of them Saturday. Rees can be an effective passer when given time, but when he starts getting hit, breaks down quickly. If I'm Coach D, I'm blitzing early and often, trying to hit Rees if he's in our stop Golson's running (b/c he's not shown much passing ability yet). By far, the biggest concern is their TE and the fact that we typically allow QBs to throw whatever they want under the zone.
