Rockne's Roundtable

As long as ND can maintain a solid running game, Everett will be fine. If Bama can make ND one-dimensional, either by taking away the run or by getting ahead by multiple scores, then we are going to be in trouble.

I think EG will be fine as long as he and the O line watch a great deal of Bama film, from the games played this year, recent/previous years, and championship games (both SEC & NCG). Learn what possible blitzes and coverages Saban will use in different situations and how he changes his game planning in the big games. EG has great ability, now is the time for him and the O line to study (preferably together), and practice against those defensive possibilities. In my opinion ND will win going away if EG and the O line can learn these concepts. Go Irish!

He's similar to Rees in terms of the moment not getting too big for him. Golson was playing his best football at the end of the season, and I thought he threw the football with a lot of authority and confidence against USC. It will be imperative for ND to run the football successfully to win this game.

Bring on Bama

Is there any player on the team that will benefit from the layoff more then Everett? All the extra film study and practices should have a very good impact, given the game plan is solid. I think back to the break he had before the Oklahoma game and how well he played in that game.

I really think we could see a much improved QB coming out of the long break.

I'm not expecting him to get rattled.

The question for me is whether or not Alabama's defense will pressure ND's offense to the point where Golson may either get beaten on plays or make mistakes.

I don't have the stats handy, but my sense is that the Stanford game was ND's toughest. In that game, Golson fumbled a number of times, including once in the end zone for what turned out to be Stanford's lone TD. Then, they banged him up pretty good and kept him out of the BYU game.

Is Alabama a better team than Stanford? Probably. Are ND and Golson better than when they played Stanford in October? Probably. Is Alabama the one team on this year's schedule that could conceivably beat ND two times out of three. Maybe. But it would certainly have the best chance.

My fear is that Golson doesn't get rattled, and it still doesn't matter. While we can win, if Alabama can just get to Golson enough, it will be difficult -- regardless of his mind set. They can throw off his timing, hurt him and/or force him into bad decisions.

He still has to be in a position to make plays. Offensive-wide execution will be at least as important as Golson's confidence and, in the end, could help expand it.

Internet badass right here ^.

Risk, you're comparing ND and Golson's experience to Stanford, which is reasonable, but let me bring up a couple other comparisons. What did Stanford do to Oregon's vaunted offense? Then, what did Bama's defense do against Texas A&M? And what did they do against Georgia? This is the thing about comparisons -- they don't provide a perfect context. In this case, there is conflicting data, suggestive of a number of possibilities. Nothing is congruent here. The match-up of ND vs. Alabama will provide its own context. I agree that to say that Golson is not likely to get rattled, does not mean he will necessarily be able to execute if Alabama's defense has the answers. However, their reputation of invincibility took some hits this year, so I think it will take their best effort to come up with those answers.