We can still make the playoffs if we win out

I agree it’s not impossible, but people who keep bringing this up are ignoring one glaringly major issue….you’re assuming that Miami is going to win out. At this point, the way this team is playing, do you feel confident assuming that? Because I don’t.
 
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They keep acting like it’s unlikely, but if we win out we will be in. We do need style points, no doubt. Teams ahead of us have tough matchups and many will drop one or more games.

#3 TX A&M still to play at #22 Mizzou this week and at #11 Texas last game of the season.

#4 Bama still has LSU who is still talented AF and #12 Oklahoma

#5 Georgia has #11 Texas and 8-1 Georgia Tech who took them to 25k OT’s last year.

#6 Ole Miss plays no one

#7 BYU has #8 Texas Tech, 6-2 TCU, and 7-2 Cincinnati

#8 Texas Tech- see above - I think they beat BYU.

#9 Oregon has a gauntlet! #20 Iowa, 6-3 Minnesota, #19 USC, and #23 Washington.. do they drop 1?

#10 ND has nearly same road as us. Either 1 of us could lose to Pitt.

#11 Texas will drop 2 of their 3 remaining games.

#12 OU has #4 Bama, #22 Mizzou, and LSU, but only 1 game separates the two..

#13 Utah plays no one but strength of schedule is buns- we should pass them if they win out

#14 UVA plays Wake who SHOULD be 5-2 and Duke who can beat anyone in the ACC.

#15 Louisville plays SMU and Clemson even though Clemson sucks, they are still talented.

Our biggest concern is just winning games though. We haven’t done well in controlling our destiny..
I can appreciate your detail and optimism. But there’s a bigger set of issues to consider.

We see the lack of discipline with the penalty numbers game after game. Obvious to anyone who watches. Beyond the impact on the game, the ripple effect of the lack of discipline and corrective action, specifically as the o-line goes, has caused a lot of disdain on the other side of the ball. This is a championship caliber defense that given their performance, has done an admirable job considering their snap counts are indicative of a top team that’s played 10 games thus far instead of eight. The physical toll it’s taken is unacceptable and again I KNOW there’s some major animosity building over it.

I’ve been an advocate for Mario since before he got here. In part it’s due to his ability to acquire talent. But maybe just as big, for those who aren’t older or at least a middle aged man, is this program’s inability to retain or obtain competent staff for decades. The shine and luster of what we have in our hearts for this program has been misaligned with the appeal of working here no doubt. Hence a guy like Mario was appealing to be the guy to knock that rust off.

But the truth is he’s on the verge of losing this team because of HIS failures from a discipline and accountability perspective. It’s one thing to get penalized because the guy across from you is just physically superior. That’s not the case most of the time with this team. Yet there’s little to no sit your *** down the rest of the quarter or game or minimal adjustments to who gets the nod to start. For a guy who got to where he is as a coach and who he was as a player it’s stunning considering his grit and intensity. He has a huge disconnect at this point with marrying his traits with the accountability he NEEDS to have with those he leads. IMO there’s nothing more toxic of a trait for a leader in any walk of life than that.

I’ll close by saying this. Anything short of a “**** or walk” mentality from Mario immediately will result in this thing going down in flames. It starts with him having the balls or competence to take corrective action and let his guys, especially the ones who aren’t the principles in the problem, knowing it’s unacceptable and that he’s leading them first and foremost.

Buckle up because at this point the tail is wagging the dog. At this point I’d be concerned more about who aren’t principles in the problem sticking around another year or the guys we anticipate arriving on campus staying on schedule. That’s my concern.
 
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Look at where notre dame is ranked. Look at where we are ranked. Even with the head to head win and the same amount of losses. Tells you all you need to know
 
Wait NOWWWWWW we need style points?! :ibis-roflmao-sm3: :jordan:


That starts wayyyy back, there is no changing this BS offense midseason.. We efficient checkdown O now..

I mean...without style points, and scraping by ND, UF, and FSU all with unspectacular finishes, we were #2 in the country.
 
Look at where notre dame is ranked. Look at where we are ranked. Even with the head to head win and the same amount of losses. Tells you all you need to know
ND is on a win streak. We've lost 2 of the last 3. Lets finish the season on a 4 game win streak and then revisit.
 
I get what yall are saying but we play no one but Pitt. Pitt has a gauntlet before they get to us though. Even with how ****** we have been playing we only lost by one possession in each of the losses against some scheme gurus. There’s a chance we win out if changes are made and we stop running up the centers butt each play.
 
ND is on a win streak. We've lost 2 of the last 3. Lets finish the season on a 4 game win streak and then revisit.
You’re 100% correct. Better to lose early than late. It’s always been that way with the playoff. When humans are making decisions the recency bias is real.
 
The only path is getting insanely narrow.

For a non-acc championship bid, big margins of victory, nd loss to Pitt, usf making it, b12 with 1, B1G with 3, sec with 4, …

For acc, way too many teams to determine it at this point. Just look at Clemson 24. They were 6-2 and ranked much lower than us ‘25 but made it to Charlotte and the cfp. Is it possible, yes. Is it probable, no
 
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I mean...without style points, and scraping by ND, UF, and FSU all with unspectacular finishes, we were #2 in the country.
The style of play and philosophy of not stepping on teams is what gets us losses against smu.. And honestly I get it first game out the gate against an opponent like ND but the whole playing scared and shutting everything down for entire 4th qtr is what I said would happen, it gets you wins early on but gets you clipped against lesser opponents.
 
ACC is trash-It’s being proven every year-

We are a middle of the road ACC team right now-

We knew more than 1 loss would doom us-

With the way we look right now I doubt we win out.
 
I agree it’s not impossible, but people who keep bringing this up are ignoring one glaringly major issue….you’re assuming that Miami is going to win out. At this point, the way this team is playing, do you feel confident assuming that? Because I don’t.
i said the SMU game would be the season when we lost to Lville.

nothing changed in our approach since that loss. we havent learned a single thing from that loss. we looked lethargic against stanford. got out coached again against SMU. well win this weekend, but NCSU is a complete toss up and that game at Pitt to end the year is going to be tough. this team has the talent to finish 10-2 and sneak in possibly and make a run, but the coaching has to have a come to sky daddy moment.
 
Ole Miss will lose to UF

Trumpycane wants to know if you watched the UF/UGA game? UF had a 4th and 1 to win the game essentially
 
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They keep acting like it’s unlikely, but IF we win out we will be in.
if” — if = unlikely especially when involving the Canes, changes the meaning. Your sentence now reads:

“They keep acting like it’s unlikely, but unlikely we win out we will be in.”

That doesn’t make sense, one because the sentence itself doesn't make sense and two because the Canes will NOT win out.

We’re 29.5-point favorites against Syracuse, we should dog-walk Cuse and clown on Fran with a 77-3 type game. However, Mario and co will do their damnedest to make sure the best-case scenario is something similar to Stanford — a 7–7 (±3 points) game at halftime. ****, I would not be surprised to see Mario drop another game as a better than 4 TD favorite.

Our offensive stats and rankings don’t match what we actually are, much like our defense last year, when every metric suggested we were average to decent, despite what our eyes told us.
 
I actually think we could win out… or we could lose 2. The biggest problem is we play ourselves every week. To play this game, if we do stop the flood of mistakes and win 4 straight including two on the road our vibe will be different and we will be a lot closer to ND. Right now they’re treating us like we just lost our best starting players.
 
Y’all worried about the wrong thing. NC State and Pitt will beat us if we play the way we played our last 2 Ls. It’s 10 weeks into the year and we can’t clean up penalties. The truth is, our team isn’t disciplined in the two areas that matter most (penalties and turnovers). Unless something changes drastically we’re losing another game.
 
I agree, but I have zero faith we win out. Our staff has shown zero ability to adapt, and Mario isn’t all of the sudden going to not be a gaping ****** on gameday.

However, say we win out. In that case we would have won out and probably won’t at a ranked Pitt. The CFP says our issue is consistency. 10-2 to end the year and a ranked win means there’s zero chance 10-2 ND gets in over us. We’d have the head to head, equal records, and more ranked wins. Either we get in over ND, or neither of us gets in.
 
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