Here for the Wins

2026 champs or bust.

That would be interesting to see - original schools versus transfers. And track those drafted thst originated at FCS schools.

Maybe he can wear number 8 in honor of Kobe Bryant.

I butt my head against the wall with you kids for several things but perhaps the biggest is a comparison of a player or a position group to a standard that really doesn’t , or certainly rarely, exists. Yes, Goosby is considered top flight. But Baker and Robertson have been there before. Then you have Siani with considerable experience and achievement. That is about as good as you’ll get. Nevermind we have two guys with starting experience for LG. Miami was the standard last year, but they lost 3 games, were fortunate to make the playoff and had a relatively weak schedule. As for Texas last year, the real problem was that the veterans had too many misses while the inexperienced guys were trying to grow up. The exception was the Brooks experience. Then the skills guys missed opportunities that were available. I do understand people’s hesitation to be comfortable, but we have balance and depth across the board that is unsurpassed, certainly to a material degree.

There’s always Spence. Play recognition, speed of the game, etc, he’s got it. This concept that we can’t run out guys with no experience is a bit off kilter. We ran Simmons and Hill out there once with no experience. We have promising freshman. Nevermind if you get 10 other guys on the field doing their job, that inexperienced guys job is much easier. Indiana 2025 has people convinced that experience is a must. But it’s not every player. Yet Charles Becker had 23 snaps the prior year. And only about 120 last year until week 10. Weve got 100+ years of college football with guys gaining experience and coming of age all within the same program but now we’re afraid to allow them to grow within our program.

How does stud and great equal good?

Then Burke if they got two more.

Does Notre Dame have any picks yet other than RBs?

Understood. It’s football. Sometimes you play better than others. I’m always a team guy. When a guy misses a play or has an off game, all others need to make a play to offset. I won’t blame guys. There are ample missed opportunities in a game, from different sources.

I approach it from a play by play perspective. So you refer to some Arch throws. Hill had a chance on 4th and goal versus OSU and whiffed. Ohio state was likely going to punt but Simmons had a hands to the face that ultimately led to the first OSU score. Poor play call on QB sneak from the 1. None of those throws from Arch were in the end zone so we still were presented with the challenge of scoring.

I’m not sure there’s a biggest reason. Ohio State. We missed opportunities. We had several critical penalties. Lost patience in our play call and throw after one resulting in an interception. UF. Problems everywhere. Offense, defense, special teams. Penalties that were parlayed into turnovers. UGa. Dropped balls. Huge special teams play. Big penalty that played a big part in falling apart. If you believe he played a part in any loss, he is a reason. Even if, he was the best player in every win.

So you’re saying Arch was indeed partly responsible for not making the playoffs? I agree, but that’s not really the narrative on the boards I read. This years team has more margin for error than last. The focus is largely on the portal, but it’s also because guys like Arch, Wingo, Goosby, Baker and Simmons are more mature and should cut down on the misses.

Arch and Goosby both could have come out and been first rounders. We added Moseley and had Moore and Wingo. It’s likely one of those would not have been happy. Plus Endries and some highly recruited high schoolers. There’s a good chance an additional WR does play out as it does in your mind. As far as guard is concerned, that’s an interesting discussion. I don’t recall any discussion about Hutson not being a starter. Generally speaking, we were ok letting Baker and Cojoe battle it out. Going back 12 months, it’s difficult to see Neto or Kibble or Hutson to guard not being viable options. None of us are there all the time, but you’d assume that a well thought of recruit in his 4th year would work out fine. And we had two choices - Neto or Robertson. There are a multitude of things that could have gone differently to make the playoffs. It is a little ironic that Arch was blamed early on but almost is blameless in today’s discussions.

Does honorable mention count?

That’s a reasonable measuring point for the preseason. It slightly highlights my point about UTSA/Texas St. If this were to hold, they are vastly better than the two Ohio State non-conference opponents once you remove Texas and OSU. The point about Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska is that they are likely to be similar to prior years. Iowa will likely be solid defensively and at Oline but likely fall to more talented teams with 1 upset mixed in. Similar for the other two. Michigan has a good but aging coach and has struggled offensively the past two years so it’ll be prove it in my opinion. I don’t believe our opponents are overwhelmingly talented, but they’re capable of presenting problems. Our opponents present more of a grind to the season.

Hampton is underappreciated. When you evaluate for college and pro career, he might have the best resume on the list. Believe he was an immediate impact player at both levels. 329 tackles, 54 tackles for loss. At Texas. Led the team in tackles two years in a row. 12 NFL seasons, 5 Pro Bowls. From afar, he was asked to play a different role in the NFL than what he played at Texas. And succeeded to a high degree. Mike Davis is the outlier on the list. Certainly, there’s no way he was better than Limas Sweed. Roy is 1. Shipley and Worthy are very close. Drop to #4. Ehlinger and Colt are underrated. Arch is TBD. The other 3 QBs is an incredible triumvirate if you needed a late score to win you the game. Of the RBs, I’m not sure how I rank the top 3 but Benson is 4th with a decent drop off from the first 3. Bijan and Earl had unique traits above Williams so maybe he’s 3. On that last column, Hill is a bit TBD, but the others are quite a choice. Thomas’s college career was more brief so maybe that sits him at the 3 spot.

How many blue bloods are there - 6, 8? And almost all those reside in two conferences, correct? College football isn’t just about my team so those teams from 10 to 25 scheduling each other in non-conference is important. I prefer home and home games in non-conference with smaller playoff pools. In this environment I don’t care for rematches in college football. The finality makes for more personal, intense games. That is a respectable schedule, but Illinois and Nebraska aren’t terribly difficult and Iowa has limitations. And Michigan the past two years has been rather pedestrian. I’d wager if you removed everyone’s toughest non-conference game, the Tx State/UTSA schedule would rank top 10 in terms of difficulty. They should not be threats but are better competition than we played last year.

I didn’t realize J Howe had that kinda power.

You’re looking at it from an Ohio State perspective. Teams that you expect to fall in the 10-25 range may lose out with an extra loss. For this year, it’s a decent chance that UTSA and/or Texas State are solid opponents. At least relative to SHSU, UTEP, etc. I would wager many strength of schedules give too much weight to the bottom quartile of the schedule.

Are you talking the horns or J Howe?

That was a lot of strikeouts. Finish them tomorrow

But I gotta say if Crossland only gets 1 batter let Walker try the next two guys.

The bullpens chance to shine. Walker? Uh ok.

Labor Day weekend is an ideal start.

Maybe. I think he rushed the passer on a higher percentage of pass plays in 2025 than 2024. He missed two games in 2025. It would require a deeper look, but the offense wasn’t as good in 2025 and likely our opponents offense in 2025 were better than 2024. We had more injuries in 2025 too. Again, it would require some drilling down but on a per game basis it could be his havoc rate was down in the run game, which could be that Collins/Broughton/Lole/Norton made that easier.