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thrown out on this board, other than as pertaining to Chicago food.

Do you not like Pequods or something?

dramatically for UNC, particularly our defense. No offense to 0-3 GA State -- who was tied in the 4th quarter with UNC before falling 35-28 -- but N.D. has wee bit more on defense than they do.

UNC will undoubtedly load up to try to stop the run. We have to make them pay a few times. I'd like to see 22 personnel early and make them pay with some seam routes.

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offense, but they have sucked on defense and haven't been a good football team since the Return of the Mack (since before that, really).

Yet, the Heels seem to get quite a bit of respect from the national media and the ND beat.

We are, of course, very capable of losing this game. And I don't really have a beef with the line, I suppose. It's more just the overall conversation about this game even stretching back to the offseason.

so a 2.5 point swing since yesterday.

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"F--- everyone who isn't us."
#Team128

Benjamin Morrison?

I was pretty surprised when Freeman mentioned yesterday that he had been the starter against Cal. And the way Freeman described it, it was definitely in the context that Morrison had beaten out Lewis for the starting job.

punt late against Marshall. He came off the field with one of his arms basically hanging limp.

It will be because we gashed them with the run and our DL/pass rush played like it did against Cal.

Both are possible but not guarantees, IMO.

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"F--- everyone who isn't us."
#Team128

Hoopsters will remember him as the unassuming white dude (like a younger, taller Uncle Rico) who hit the game-winning jumper over Kentucky to send UNC to the Final Four a few years back.

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Bertrand is out in the first half, and Bauer seems maybe to be in the doghouse a bit (only played like 5 plays last game). Seeing what happened with DL, I don't think Freeman is blind to how the LBs are performing

Due to the first game fog-of-war, OSU probably attacked ND's defense inefficiently. In the first half, they seemed to really try to challenge our corners. In the second half, I felt like they did more to attack our LBs in coverage and got the points they needed to win the game. My gut tells me a mid-season rematch likely ends with OSU scoring closer to the 31-35 range.

I do agree that OSU's offensive talent is better than UNC's, but I'm worried that the tape on our defense will let UNC attack us more effectively over four quarters. That said, I think we agree that ND will probably have to score at 28 points to win.

Notre Dame needs to possibly score 30 points and how they go about that is my biggest concern.

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"F--- everyone who isn't us."
#Team128

The big question on everybody's mind as Marcus Freemen takes the Irish to Chapel Hill, North Carolina is simple: Does UNC actually suck? My neighbors mused last night, 'Are they actually good? Don't they use up all their cheating juju for their basketball program? Wait, Julius Peppers went there, didn't he?' Well, the answer I have for you is maybe.

My most hasty, initial comparison is looking at the 2019-2021 recruiting rankings. UNC is actually in striking distance of ND: 15 v 30, 18 vs 14, and 9 vs 14. In particular, the UNC 2020 and 2021 classes are comprised of a similar volume of 5 and 4 star players. ND really only beat UNC on the recruiting path in 2021 due to volume of 3 stars. Overall, UNC has some nice talent on their roster in terms of a pool for Mack Brown to draw from.

They're led on the field by redshirt Freshman Drake Maye (11 TD, 1 INT, 930 yards on 97 attempts). Maye was a top 50 type recruit and towers at 6'5" and 210 pounds. The kid has a rifle for an arm and is an occasional threat to run, acting as their second leading rusher on the season. The Tarheels are led on the ground by Omarion Hampton, another top 150 type recruit who is a true freshman. UNC is talented on offense and a threat to put points on the board quickly.

The good news for Notre Dame is that North Carolina's defense is really bad. So far they've played App St, FAMU, and Georgia Southern and they're #119 (out of 131 these days) in points allowed at 37.7. Those power programs have elected to attack on the ground, racking up 193 yards per game (#111) at a generous 4.67 ypc (#101). What UNC lacks in terms of defending the run, they also apparently lack in defending the pass where they're #112 giving up 275 yards a game at 8.3 YPA (#111).

At a meta-level, this will be a very uncomfortable game for the Irish. The good news for UNC is that ND has struggled to overcome defenders -- as well as tripping over its own feet on offense. This game will be the first real test in terms of presenting an offense that has its act together, featuring a QB that can comfortably challenge the intermediate portions of the field where ND's defense is the weakest.