ND and Football

[Lotus000]

OK...obviously we're not on track to go to a BCS bowl, or any bowl, and if we had cereal, we would have to have it on a plate, because we couldn't eat it out of a bowl.

But...I actually honestly believe that the Notre Dame game is winnable for us.

Call me crazy, but I do!

[Bob Green]

We are currently playing competitive football. There are seven winnable games left on the schedule. It all starts next week at home. We need to beat Wake Forest.

[wilson]

But...I actually honestly believe that the Notre Dame game is winnable for us.

Call me crazy, but I do!

I was in a bar last night with a bunch of non-Duke people (watching that amazing Auburn-flarduh game...but that's a separate matter), and several people kept telling me how we're going to beat Notre Dame (with totally straight faces). I definitely think we have a shot. At any rate, lots of folks are behind us.

[Channing]

At any rate, lots of folks are behind us.

uhoh ... has hell frozen over?

[JasonEvans]

On ESPN radio yesterday, they were discussing Notre Dame's upcoming schedule and wondering if the Irish might fail to win any games all season. They were going game by game and when they got to the Duke game, all 3 of the analysts said, "This is not the old Duke. This is a much better team than people think." One of the guys said he expected Duke to be a bowl team next season. All of them said a Notre Dame-Duke game was at worst a toss-up as far as they were concerned.

--Jason "after Wake, we have a brutal 4-game stretch, but I'd like us to at least be in some of those games" Evans

[Jfrosh]

uhoh ... has hell frozen over?

People hate Notre Dame Football like they hate Duke Basketball. If we can pull off a victory everyone will love Duke Football. During Basketball Season they would want to see the reverse.

[4decadedukie]

Notre Dame finishes with Navy, Air Force, Duke and Stanford (not in that order); this is their “get well” stretch, but I suspect they will be surprised, embarrassed, and enraged. At least one of those teams will defeat Notre Dame (probably two, in my opinion). The Irish's winning streak over Navy extends to the Starbuck era (I believe), which will certainly pump their players. Who wants to be known as the team that lost to the USNA after so many decades? I will not be entirely shocked if our Devils win, but the game is in South Bend and their ardent fans/alumni/students will be -- currently are -- desperate.

Beating Notre Dame is a worthy goal for our team and it would certainly "set the stage" for the Heels the following Saturday.

[Olympic Fan]

The "Starbuck era"?

I nominate that for the typo of the month. I LOL. I can't decide if you are a coffee freak or a Battlestar Gallactica fan. Such images aside, you're right -- Navy's last win over Notre Dame came when Roger Staubach was playing for the Middles.

It will be interesting to watch Notre Dame's season play out. I have no idea what kind of shape they'll be in when Duke visits South Bend on Nov. 17.

They are 0-5 right now with upcoming games at UCLA, BC at home and Southern Cal at home. That's probably 0-8.

Then they get a week off before Navy visits South Bend on Nov. 3. To me, that's the pivotal game for them ... if they can start their stretch run with a win, then follow with another home win over Air Force (which just lost a tough game to Navy), then they would be pretty pumped about turning around the program when Duke came into South Bend next.

Can they beat Navy?

Well, they have an extra week to prepare for Paul Johnson's offense and that helps. Also, if you watched any of their Purdue game, the moribund offense is showing signs of life. They still can't run the ball, but they threw for 377 yards -- and that was half Clausen and half Shirley (sp??) at QB.

There's still a long way to go and a lot could change -- Notre Dame could quit on Weis ... or Duke could quit on Roof. Notre Dame has a lot of highly rated young talent --they could get a lot better. Duke could get a lot ... well, not better, but they could learn to stop making so many mistakes.

At this point, I don't think it's easy to predict the Duke-Notre Dame game.

[johnb]

I think Duke has a good chance, but I'd say the odds get worse with every ND loss. Notre Dame has some of the best talent in the country, and, except for USC, they could win all the rest of their games. If they do lose a couple more, they will likely become even more focused on a win. I suppose they could just give up, but they all live on campus and none of those guys wants to be part of an 0-12 or 2-10 team.

Anyway, it is exhilarating to read/see anything positive about Duke football, and even if the team loses almost all the rest of this season's games, the team is pointed in the right direction.