Game Week +1 – Nostrum Damas – UNO MAS DIA!
- Thread starter Godz40Acrez
- Start date
Here's the radio program today where Chip talks about the QBs (unfortunately, can't be embedded). It's cued up to the 13:24 mark. Listen until 19:36 then skip to 26:30.
Keep in mind this is Chip Brown, so who really knows how reliable his report is?
Then you have this from @Scholz above quoting OrangeBloods:
Keep in mind this is Chip Brown, so who really knows how reliable his report is?
Then you have this from @Scholz above quoting OrangeBloods:
QB Update: As of Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m., no official announcement has been made to the team regarding who will start versus Notre Dame. Numerous sources and indications to members of the OB staff continue to point to Tyrone Swoopes getting the opening nod at least.
Swoopes has received more first-team reps than Shane Buechele prior to Sunday’s game against Notre Dame. It appears Swoopes is going to start against Notre Dame on Sunday. If the starter will not have a short leash, which is what Strong said during his press conference on Monday, Swoopes will likely be given every opportunity to succeed in the season opener.
Obviously, we cannot discount a change of heart by the coaching staff at the midnight hour. Even though every indication we have received points toward Swoopes starting on Sunday, there is always a chance the staff has a change of heart. So far, it does not appear that is the direction we are headed in. From everything we have heard, Swoopes will receive the majority of snaps on Sunday. However, we are not willing to eliminate anything at this moment.
Swoopes has received more first-team reps than Shane Buechele prior to Sunday’s game against Notre Dame. It appears Swoopes is going to start against Notre Dame on Sunday. If the starter will not have a short leash, which is what Strong said during his press conference on Monday, Swoopes will likely be given every opportunity to succeed in the season opener.
Obviously, we cannot discount a change of heart by the coaching staff at the midnight hour. Even though every indication we have received points toward Swoopes starting on Sunday, there is always a chance the staff has a change of heart. So far, it does not appear that is the direction we are headed in. From everything we have heard, Swoopes will receive the majority of snaps on Sunday. However, we are not willing to eliminate anything at this moment.
His goal here is to say "don't use experience as an excuse". By framing it as "returning starters" it looks a lot more even than looking at starts and class.
The larger point to me though, is I'm tired of hearing excuses from fans, coaches, etc. I don't care if he is trying to bait a response that will give him "I told you so" points if we lose. ND did lose plenty of talent. And many of the players we count as stars/leaders didn't play at all in this game last year, or got very limited playing time. The talent gap has closed, and hopefully this year we have a coherent plan on offense. Although no one here seems to want to embrace it, we do have talent advantages in certain matchups. As I said earlier, if Texas can manage to slow down ND's run game and force them to pass, all of a sudden the matchups start looking very good for Texas.
Last edited:
I listened to Chip from 8-10 this morning. He reported Buchele is starting at least 15 times in that span (albeit with the usual "from a source" disclaimer). Surrounding details that were thrown in from time to time is that Swoopes may have struggled late in camp and this week, which supports the late change of heart scenario. He also said that one of the voices pushing for Swoopes was Bedford, which is completely asinine. Combine that with reports earlier this week that Swoopes was still lacking confidence, it starts to make sense. Then again, all of it could be made up.
Last edited:
thanks Horn for clearing that up
I have given up worrying about the offensive side of the ball....every analysis sounds like pee and vinegar to me....my hope is that the D backs can contain well enough that we can blitz the hell out of them....I dont care how good and big that O-line of theirs is, if we can out number em consistantly, we will be all right. If we had that one guy that would require a double team, so much the better. At this point I have no idea if we have such a guy though....
I have given up worrying about the offensive side of the ball....every analysis sounds like pee and vinegar to me....my hope is that the D backs can contain well enough that we can blitz the hell out of them....I dont care how good and big that O-line of theirs is, if we can out number em consistantly, we will be all right. If we had that one guy that would require a double team, so much the better. At this point I have no idea if we have such a guy though....
Scholz I asked a simple question to verify what has now been confirmed but to come to that conclusion I had to sit through a few of y'all doing your best Bill Clinton and debating me on what the meaning of "is" is. Good grief
It's true until it's not. It's like Schrodinger's cat. Both QBs are currently starting. You have to open up the box to see which one's dead. Or something like that.
A friend responded to the above quote with this:
With those type of key losses the only reason a team is still ranked in the top ten is off name recognition and program stature.
Typically teams lose a decent amount of starters. ND lost several stars and multi-year starters. Even worse, losses were clustered in position groups instead of spread around.
For example, they lost their most productive receiving RB, #1, 2, 4 WR's, and the top TE was disqualified.
Those 5 departed key receiving weapons accounted for 180 of 240 (75%) receptions...2,704 of 3,360 (80%) receiving yards...20 of 25 (80%) receiving TD's.
Then you flip to the defense and see 2/3 of the LB starters gone and 3/4 of the secondary replaced. 3 returning sacks on DL and 3 returning INT's in back 7.
With heavily clustered, high caliber starter losses...there's no way a top ten ranking is deserved off of actual merit of the current lineup.
15-20? Sure. But top 10 assumes a 2 loss season. ND won't absorb those heavy losses, exceed them, and finish higher than last year's (#11) plethora of NFL talent.
Typically teams lose a decent amount of starters. ND lost several stars and multi-year starters. Even worse, losses were clustered in position groups instead of spread around.
For example, they lost their most productive receiving RB, #1, 2, 4 WR's, and the top TE was disqualified.
Those 5 departed key receiving weapons accounted for 180 of 240 (75%) receptions...2,704 of 3,360 (80%) receiving yards...20 of 25 (80%) receiving TD's.
Then you flip to the defense and see 2/3 of the LB starters gone and 3/4 of the secondary replaced. 3 returning sacks on DL and 3 returning INT's in back 7.
With heavily clustered, high caliber starter losses...there's no way a top ten ranking is deserved off of actual merit of the current lineup.
15-20? Sure. But top 10 assumes a 2 loss season. ND won't absorb those heavy losses, exceed them, and finish higher than last year's (#11) plethora of NFL talent.
No you didn't. It's a loaded question from you per usual. You're trying to find support of why Charlie Strong has all of these returning starters and why he's such a bad coach if we lose. You're as transparent as a ghost.
And of course you ignored the reality that they have over twice as many upper classmen starting. You're just ignoring that. Like I said you would.
I'm not an ND expert, so I'm sure I'll get push back from ND fans on this, but here is my analysis of the matchups
ND Oline/Texas D line: ND has two NFL talents on O line. However, they are both on the left side of the line. The other three starters are new guys. So you crash the right side for pressure, and give the left side linebacker support. This ties in with...
ND receivers/Texas Secondary: I believe Texas has an advantage here. If we can get tight enough coverage with our corners, we free up the linebackers in run support. Kelly has flat out said he plans to run on Texas. From things I've heard, our guys are doing a lot better with assignment football. If we can take away what ND wants to do, which is run, we have flipped the biggest supposed advantage ND has in this game. This is a big if, but there are opportunities here.
Texas O line/ND D line. Again, a supposed advantage for ND because they have one, possibly two, NFL caliber players. However, I've heard reports that they don't have any true pass rushers. I've also heard that they can be taken advantage of with an outside running game...which ties into
Texas receivers/ND secondary. Clear advantage to Texas here. Two track athletes, Heard who is a matchup nightmare because of his combination of quick burst speed and size, and Johnson, who is a giant, vs a green ND secondary that struggled last year. If we get NDs secondary backed off the line, and ND's line backers running side to side, again, the advantage on the line is neutralized or flipped in Texas favor.
All these are big asks, but, there are opportunities here.
I'm picking Texas to win as they probably should in my opinion btw
Meanwhile in reality, we're an underdog at home. It'll be an upset if we win, your dishonest spin notwithstanding.
I totally agree....and having typed that I will now go and dip my fingers in acid for having to type that I agree with Bell...
Rangers Coach To Attend Son’s Longhorn Debut
Ranger bench coach Steve Buechele plans to attend his son Shane’s debut with the Texas Longhorns Sunday night. Manager Jeff Banister is going to make sure of it.
Shane Buechele plays his first game with the Longhorns Sunday night against Notre Dame in Austin. Although the Longhorns haven’t named a starting quarterback, Buechele has split playing time this August with senior Tyrone Swoopes. Both are likely to see action under center.
“If he’s here for the whole game I might fire him,” Banister said. “If he’s still here I might walk out there and tell the umpires to throw him out when I exchange the lineup card.
Banister said he’s insisting that Buechele take off for Austin before the Ranger’s 2 p.m. Sunday game with the Astros. Buechele could catch a flight to Seattle for the series with the Mariners out of Austin.
“It’s important to them but it’s also important to all of us, too,” he said. “We do life together in this craziness that we do. He’ll be there. Maybe he’ll have so much adrenaline after the game he’ll run to Seattle.”
[Star-Telegram]
Game Preview
Article from a nostrum damas site
Article from a nostrum damas site
nd Offense vs. TEXAS Defense
When the Fighting Irish have the ball early in the game, coach Brian Kelly is absolutely going to try to establish the run. With an experienced and huge offensive line that includes a couple preseason All-Americans on the left side and a stable of strong, fast, experienced running backs, the Irish look to be in good position to do just that against the Longhorns.
Add in the ND QBs’ running ability with Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer both expected to play and both very effective running the ball, and the Irish couldn’t look more ready to just eviscerate their opponent.
The Texas defense has other ideas, though, and their proposed resistance to the Irish’s powerful rushing onslaught will certainly be led by sophomore linebacker Malik Jefferson, an athletic freak who has both the size and the sideline-to-sideline speed to run Irish ball carriers down all over the field.
The defensive line for Texas has some experienced veterans, but their reserve depth is limited to a lot of young, still-green players.
The Notre Dame passing game should be interesting to see, as the Irish will certainly have the QB firepower and pass protection to enable a successful passing attack to complement the running game.
However, neither [starting receiver] has proven anything yet on offense, and the rest of the receiving depth is equally inexperienced and unproven, albeit also possessing lots of raw talent.
Texas’ pass defense appears to be a strong point, featuring a couple rangy, athletic cornerbacks in sophomores Davante Davis (35 tackles, 1 INT, 7 pass break-ups in 2015) and Holton Hill (49 tackles, 4 pass break-ups, 1 INT returned for a TD).
Senior Dylan Haines returns at safety after leading the team in interceptions with 5 in 2015 (and had 47 tackles), so Kizer/Zaire will definitely need to know where he is at all times. Sophomore PJ Locke could be another player to watch at the nickelback position.
If the Texas secondary is able to keep the young ND receiving corps in check, Charlie Strong’s defense may be able to sell out a little more against the run in order to counteract the Irish’s powerful line and backfield.
TEXAS Offense vs. nd Defense
The miserable Texas Longhorns offense that Irish fans saw in September of 2015 is a distant memory at this point. Head coach Charlie Strong brought in a new offensive coordinator, Sterlin Gilbert, from Tulsa this past offseason. Gilbert runs an up-tempo offense focused on keeping the defense on the field, out of breath, and unable to adjust on the fly.
What Gilbert will have to work with includes a quarterback “controversy,” if you will, as senior Tyrone Swoopes and freshman Shane Buechele have been battling for the starting job and Strong refuses to name a starter ahead of time as both QBs will likely see the field during the game.
Swoopes has had a rough career, but has shown serious potential in the rushing aspect of the offense, rushing for 6.1 yards per carry last year en route to scoring 12 touchdowns. Buechele, meanwhile, comes in as a highly-regarded freshman who can also run with it, but likely really excels when throwing the ball in comparison to Swoopes.
Texas boasts two big, strong backs who both possess the ability to turn on the jets and take a routine run up the middle to the house. D’onta Foreman and Chris Warren III are both very dangerous, powerful runners who will look to give the Irish defense fits.
Also, did someone say speed? Freshman receiver Devin Duvernay comes in as a heralded speedster who will bring an immediate impact to the offense in terms of big-play, game-breaking ability.
Mix in sophomore receiver John Burt (also very, very fast), senior tight end Caleb Bluiett, and a host of other receivers with all the right measurables but no proven production yet, and Swoopes/Buechele will have a lot to work with on Sunday, at least theoretically.
So looking at all of the skill position talent Texas has, and the two different QBs they’ll likely be tossing out there, how will Brian VanGorder’s Notre Dame defense measure up? VanGorder’s squad was not very impressive last season (38th in total defense, 34th in scoring) despite having at least one 2016 NFL Draft pick at each level.
The improvement has to be led by the defensive line, a group for the Irish that has plenty of talent and experience at the top level of the depth chart.
The Texas offensive line has been hit by the injury bug a bit (although their general health is expected to be okay by Sunday), and so if the Irish intend on slowing down Foreman and Warren and Swoopes/Buechele, it will be the responsibility of the defensive line to hold the point of attack and get a push. If they can do so, it will allow fast, sure-tackling starting linebackers Greer Martini, Nyles Morgan, and James Onwualu to fill the gaps and chase down the ball carrier.
If the Longhorns come out passing in Gilbert’s up-tempo offense, it could get dicey for the Irish. ND is breaking in two new starting safeties in junior Drue Tranquill and 6th-year senior Avery Sebastian, and both much more closely fit the profile of run-stopping safeties than ball-hawking coverage guys.
The Irish will start two very good cover corners in senior Cole Luke and sophomore Shaun Crawford, but with limited help over the top, a talented freshman like Buechele could complete a couple sizable passes early and gain the confidence he needs to unleash hell on the back end of the Notre Dame defense.
[One Foot Down]
Last edited:
