Couple of Things.....week 2 edition

[irishpat183]

I will be surprised if Rees doesn't relieve Golson before, or after halftime this week. Why? I think it is quite possible that Kelly will have a similar, pass heavy game plan. MSU will confuse Golson with many defensive looks and run and pass blitzes. We will struggle offensively, and Kelly will turn to Rees who reads defenses and coverages better.

I think Rees may start this week. And I hate it. I think Golson needs to be in there. People talk about building confidence in a guy...what do you think this is doing to Golson? Yes, Rees gives you some experience over Golson, but I thought we moved past that and wanted to get some fresh, exciting, athletic play at the QB position.

And if our line plays like they did last week, you can bet Tommy won't be able to escape that like EG did. 5+ sacks.

 

[Irishman77]

I am still curios why ga3 wasn't utilized more,,,,especially when Tyler was out. We seemed very limited. I truly love how conservative Golson is and how he takes care of the football, but I hope we open it up as the season goes on. With Tyler,theo,and maybe wood gone next year we have got to develop or find who the young playmakers are on our offense. I guess what I am saying is send Neal and george deep and throw it deep once and awhile. 8 men in the box against a spread offense should be a joke. Overall I am so impressed with our defense and taking care of the football on offense. That is why we are 2-0 . I hope we have everyone back full speed against msu. I gotta think there is a lot of our playbook we haven't shown yet.

 

[Buster Bluth]

That inexperienced secondary held Purdue under 200 yards passing, and as a unit held them under a 100 rushing. This defense is playing very WELL with the injuries and lack of experience. Things aren't bad as they seem sometimes...just remember this team is 2-0 and last year 0-2 and we all had the feeling of damn this team is a good. This year we are talking about a 2-0 team that is getting their 2nd best offensive player back this week.

Completely agree.

I expect a bounce back from the OL in a big way.

It cannot be understated how much familiarity with opposing coaches matters. Purdue's DC is new to the scene, and Kelly and them didn't have him figured out--nor could they have. Remember that Navy stomped the Irish 35-17 (in part because of unfamiliarity), and Kelly's staff came back the next two years and completely dominated 56-14 and 50-10. The same thing happened with Michigan State last year. This staff gameplans very well.

Remember how many times Notre Dame went through defenses on the opening drive last year? This staff scouts weaknesses and gets gameplans in place soooo much better than recent prior staffs.

 

[josejose4482]

I forgot which announcer it was, but they compared EG to a young Charlie Ward. IMO, I see him as a Marcus Vick.

 

[Buster Bluth]

On the other hand, our Oline isn't as good as advertised and Golic is just plain bad. We're not terrible, but just not as excited about them as I was after Navy....we shouldn't be man handled like that against Purdue. Golic needs to man up or we need to get him help. Cause teams are gonna go after him.

Golic would be considered mediocre, he was just matched up against a top-20 NFL pick. That doesn't make him "just plain bad," it makes him "just plain not All-American."

Cave, Watt, and Martin are all studs. They are all on the "all-conference" level.

Linebackers....not impressed. Of course #5 isn't who I'm talking about. Fox and Carlo are just not good enough. They just aren't. They're slow and miss too many tackles. And the "well, they're there to play the run" isn't gonna cut it with our schedule. Sorry. We play teams that are too fast and are gonna throw the ball. I'm happy with our recent LB recruiting, as we're getting more versatile guys...but watching Carlo dive at guys and get smoked constantly is just sad.

Not impressed by one position out of four? Shembo and Te'o have played terrifically. Fox actually covers pretty well, I think you're taking too much out of Purdue's early boot plays. You know, teams can have good plays too. You can't stop everything. In the second half, when adjustments were made (kudos to Diaco/Kelly), Fox shut 'em down on those plays. Keep in mind that Fox played safety in high school, he's not that slow. You were perhaps watching him against Purdue's #4 (the B1G 60m champion). He's not fast, but he's certainly not slow. I would bet he's faster than Manti.

Carlo is a run stopper. We play teams that are too fast? How about this: just take him off on third downs? That is going to be what happens. You would absolutely want him on the field against teams like Michigan State, Stanford, Pittsburgh, etc and on short yardage downs.

He fills holes with force, there is a use for that:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SYhCVn0UJ6U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Secondary played pretty good. I'm actually pleased. Motta was much better than he was against Navy. Schumate is a stud in the making. And Jackson/Russell held their own. I really don't have many complaints. Which suprised the hell outta me after the god awful Navy game.

Perhaps the Navy game wasn't "god awful," like people who know football said all week? You cannot stop everything. Repeat, you cannot stop everything. Diaco took away the run, and dared them to throw and minimal success. There's a reason Navy has had the highest completion percentage of any team for two years in a row.

 

[Veer option]

Golson will do fine. Personally, I would rather have him stay in the pocket or get just outside the pocket and make improvisational plays with his arm rather than his legs. He shows remarkable pocket presence for such a young kid, especially when you consider that most qbs his age bail out of the pocket at the first sign of pressure.

I think the problem we have is that we are so used to seeing the read option running qb rather than the spread passing qb. We are saturated with highlights of qbs tucking and running getting big chunks of yardage with his feet (Taylor Martinez, Denard Robinson come to mind.) Unfortunately, what they don't show are the injuries these players get. Running qbs have a very high attrition rate.

 

[Irish#1]

Golic would be considered mediocre, he was just matched up against a top-20 NFL pick. That doesn't make him "just plain bad," it makes him "just plain not All-American."

Cave, Watt, and Martin are all studs. They are all on the "all-conference" level.



Not impressed by one position out of four? Shembo and Te'o have played terrifically. Fox actually covers pretty well, I think you're taking too much out of Purdue's early boot plays. You know, teams can have good plays too. You can't stop everything. In the second half, when adjustments were made (kudos to Diaco/Kelly), Fox shut 'em down on those plays. Keep in mind that Fox played safety in high school, he's not that slow. You were perhaps watching him against Purdue's #4 (the B1G 60m champion). He's not fast, but he's certainly not slow. I would bet he's faster than Manti.

Carlo is a run stopper. We play teams that are too fast? How about this: just take him off on third downs? That is going to be what happens. You would absolutely want him on the field against teams like Michigan State, Stanford, Pittsburgh, etc and on short yardage downs.

He fills holes with force, there is a use for that:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SYhCVn0UJ6U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>



Perhaps the Navy game wasn't "god awful," like people who know football said all week? You cannot stop everything. Repeat, you cannot stop everything. Diaco took away the run, and dared them to throw and minimal success. There's a reason Navy has had the highest completion percentage of any team for two years in a row.

Short had his way with Golic and Cave. I expected a better game out of Cave. Can't remember the guys name, but MSU has someone on the D-line that is supposed to be as good if not better than Short. MSU d-line overall is better than Purdue's, who by the way are going to sueprise some teams this year. I expect the O-line to make amends for this week as we will need to run the ball to keep MSU off the field. You win big road games by running the ball and controlling the clock.

 

[Veer option]

He fills holes with force, there is a use for that:

I still dont think Marecic crossed the line and got the first down on that play. ND got jobbed on that call.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Short had his way with Golic and Cave. I expected a better game out of Cave. Can't remember the guys name, but MSU has someone on the D-line that is supposed to be as good if not better than Short. MSU d-line overall is better than Purdue's, who by the way are going to sueprise some teams this year. I expect the O-line to make amends for this week as we will need to run the ball to keep MSU off the field. You win big road games by running the ball and controlling the clock.

William Gholston. But, Gholston is a DE not a DT.

 

[no.1IrishFan]

Was I the only one that was surprised that Vince Vaughn is a Notre Dame fan? Or that he was in Rudy? Never knew that all these years. (18 second mark of the video)

Huge ND fan!
He even works it into his movies. In 'The Break up' Jennifer Aniston talks about them going to Ann Arbor to see them play scUM and watching the leprechaun do flips. They also have ND cups all over the kitchen in the scene .

In Wedding Crashers, one of the crash rules is "no excuses, play like a champion."

Love me some Vince Vaughn!

 

[arrowryan]

I think Rees may start this week. And I hate it. I think Golson needs to be in there. People talk about building confidence in a guy...what do you think this is doing to Golson? Yes, Rees gives you some experience over Golson, but I thought we moved past that and wanted to get some fresh, exciting, athletic play at the QB position.

And if our line plays like they did last week, you can bet Tommy won't be able to escape that like EG did. 5+ sacks.

Kelly said it himself that Golson is his starter and that is final. He wanted to put any rumors/controversy away

 

[irishpat183]

Golic would be considered mediocre, he was just matched up against a top-20 NFL pick. That doesn't make him "just plain bad," it makes him "just plain not All-American."

Cave, Watt, and Martin are all studs. They are all on the "all-conference" level.

They are? Could've fooled me by their play. The Oline was very underwhelming. Under 60 yards rushing and being pushed into the backfield on nearly every play? You can sugar coat all you want.



Not impressed by one position out of four? Shembo and Te'o have played terrifically. Fox actually covers pretty well, I think you're taking too much out of Purdue's early boot plays. You know, teams can have good plays too. You can't stop everything. In the second half, when adjustments were made (kudos to Diaco/Kelly), Fox shut 'em down on those plays. Keep in mind that Fox played safety in high school, he's not that slow. You were perhaps watching him against Purdue's #4 (the B1G 60m champion). He's not fast, but he's certainly not slow. I would bet he's faster than Manti.

Carlo is a run stopper. We play teams that are too fast? How about this: just take him off on third downs? That is going to be what happens. You would absolutely want him on the field against teams like Michigan State, Stanford, Pittsburgh, etc and on short yardage downs.

He fills holes with force, there is a use for that:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SYhCVn0UJ6U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I could be nitpicking. But yes, get Carlo off the field. And I said Teo has been great, dont' need to go there. I wouldn't call Shembo, "terrific"....he's been, well, there. Shembo has potential, which doesn't mean anything right now. Still waiting for that big game...we'll see, he's had a total of 2 solo tackles (6 total) in his first two games and 2 QB hurries....if that's terrific, then you need to raise your expectations.

Now, Tuitt has been what I'd call terrific.

And while you can't stop everything, it's the same guys getting burned each time we don't. Fox or Carlo. They are the weak links.

I think Carlo is just overmatched in any situation. Athletically, that is.

Perhaps the Navy game wasn't "god awful," like people who know football said all week? You cannot stop everything. Repeat, you cannot stop everything. Diaco took away the run, and dared them to throw and minimal success. There's a reason Navy has had the highest completion percentage of any team for two years in a row.

Yes, the Navy game was god awful for our secondary. What makes it worse, is it was against their 2nd string WR's. Now, was it a case of first game rust? Maybe. But it wasn't good. Of course you can't stop everything...but is there a legit excuse for Navy scoring on a 3 play, all passing, drive to open the second half?

And it wasn't just Diaco's scheme, guys were blowing assignments all over the place and gettin out run by inferior athletes. Motta looked outta place on a handful of plays.

Again, I'm pleased this week, so maybe it was just a rusty game and they got it figured out. Or maybe they all learned not to underestimate your opponent?

 

[theclassickiller]

I think Rees may start this week. And I hate it. I think Golson needs to be in there. People talk about building confidence in a guy...what do you think this is doing to Golson? Yes, Rees gives you some experience over Golson, but I thought we moved past that and wanted to get some fresh, exciting, athletic play at the QB position.

And if our line plays like they did last week, you can bet Tommy won't be able to escape that like EG did. 5+ sacks.

There's no way. Kelly has been talking trust all year. And if you read his quotes after the game he addresses it again. If his QB's can't trust him then we have nothing. He said EG is the starter and I guarantee he will be if he's 100% (which Kelly said he is).

From the Washington Post article:

“He’s going to know that what we tell him is what we mean,” Kelly said of his relationship with Golson. “We are not going to be sending mixed messages. There’s got to be a trust factor here. .... I think if you only talk to him once a week, yeah, you probably have those concerns, but we eat dinner together every day. So there’s constant communication.”

Golson will be fine against MSU. In my opinion, MSU would have lost that game against Purdue. Purdue's D-line is fast and aggressive and they have a lot of experience in the secondary. MSU has a good defense, but I think Purdue's D just matched up with our offense very well. Plus Kelly hardly ran a balanced offense, so Purdue knew what to expect. That would be a hard gameplan for a second year starter to manage, let alone a second game starter.

 

[MrIrishCanadian1]

Purdue's D-line was Quantity not Quality

Purdue's D-line was Quantity not Quality

Oline...communication is correctable. Sure, they struggled as a whole yesterday, but that was one of the better Dlines we gonna face combined with good CBs. It may be a blessing in disguise that it happened vs purdue.

I've really wondered why Purdue had such a good D-line. I wondered 'is their D-line really better quality than our own? If given the chance, would I trade any of my beloved D-liners for their own?'

But, after reviewing the film, it seemed clear that it wasn't the quality of their D-linemen that made their front great, it's just that they had soooo many guys pinned up against our O-line, that they were difficult to manage in the trenches. None of their d-liners were really that awesome. One-on-one, our O-line would (almost always) be able to handle the D-linemen fairly well. Whereas, our own D-linemen were nightmares against their O-linemen when matched up one-on-one. Pound-for-pound, Purdue's D-line looked weak/slow compared to ours. But when Purdue puts so many people in against our O-line, they are gonna look strong against us.

Do you guys agree? was their D-line great because of their quantity rather than their quality? Or am I missing something here?

 

[Sherm Sticky]

I've really wondered why Purdue had such a good D-line. I wondered 'is their D-line really better quality than our own? If given the chance, would I trade any of my beloved D-liners for their own?'

But, after reviewing the film, it seemed clear that it wasn't the quality of their D-linemen that made their front great, it's just that they had soooo many guys pinned up against our O-line, that they were difficult to manage in the trenches. None of their d-liners were really that awesome. One-on-one, our O-line would (almost always) be able to handle the D-linemen fairly well. Whereas, our own D-linemen were nightmares against their O-linemen when matched up one-on-one. Pound-for-pound, Purdue's D-line looked weak/slow compared to ours. But when Purdue puts so many people in against our O-line, they are gonna look strong against us.

Do you guys agree? was their D-line great because of their quantity rather than their quality? Or am I missing something here?

I mean they put 8 in the box, so I hear what you are saying. Though Short is a baller and handful though.

 

[Old Man Mike]

In my opinion, Purdue has both Quality and Quantity on their D-Line. They have 7 of their top 8 guys back. Every commentator that I've heard rates both tackles extremely high [one DE too]. I believe that the difference that you saw was the difference between our O line and their O-line. We have better players there who can block most people given a fair chance.

Would I "trade"? No, but mainly because I am emotionally invested in "my" guys. Would I like to field a team with Short as a DT? Absolutely. He and Big Lou could play side-by-side.

 

[Patulski]

There's no way. Kelly has been talking trust all year. And if you read his quotes after the game he addresses it again. If his QB's can't trust him then we have nothing. He said EG is the starter and I guarantee he will be if he's 100% (which Kelly said he is).

I don't doubt that Golson will start the game, but Kelly has made it very clear that if he feels like Rees can help win the game, or come in in a situation where Kelly believes it's the right fit, then Rees will be prepared to go in the game and Kelly will pull the trigger.

To be prepared to come in at MSU, I'll bet Rees gets 50% of the snaps this week.

 

[RDU Irish]

Two minute Tommy.

Plus a change up if communication and reading defense becomes a problem at night in a hostile environment.

 

[Irish#1]

William Gholston. But, Gholston is a DE not a DT.

Thanks, let's hope our tackles are up to the task.

 

[Irish#1]

In my opinion, Purdue has both Quality and Quantity on their D-Line. They have 7 of their top 8 guys back. Every commentator that I've heard rates both tackles extremely high [one DE too]. I believe that the difference that you saw was the difference between our O line and their O-line. We have better players there who can block most people given a fair chance.

Would I "trade"? No, but mainly because I am emotionally invested in "my" guys. Would I like to field a team with Short as a DT? Absolutely. He and Big Lou could play side-by-side.

I agree, Short is a beast and the others were pretty good. While Purdue did fill the box, there were several instances where Short simply beat his man one on one.

IMO I think this was a good stout test and probably prepared us mentally for MSU as well as anything could have.

 

[bigedefense]

Two minute Tommy.

Plus a change up if communication and reading defense becomes a problem at night in a hostile environment.

I sure hope thats not the nickname Tommy's girlfriend gave him!

 

[pkt77242]

Golic would be considered mediocre, he was just matched up against a top-20 NFL pick. That doesn't make him "just plain bad," it makes him "just plain not All-American."

Cave, Watt, and Martin are all studs. They are all on the "all-conference" level.



Not impressed by one position out of four? Shembo and Te'o have played terrifically. Fox actually covers pretty well, I think you're taking too much out of Purdue's early boot plays. You know, teams can have good plays too. You can't stop everything. In the second half, when adjustments were made (kudos to Diaco/Kelly), Fox shut 'em down on those plays. Keep in mind that Fox played safety in high school, he's not that slow. You were perhaps watching him against Purdue's #4 (the B1G 60m champion). He's not fast, but he's certainly not slow. I would bet he's faster than Manti.

Carlo is a run stopper. We play teams that are too fast? How about this: just take him off on third downs? That is going to be what happens. You would absolutely want him on the field against teams like Michigan State, Stanford, Pittsburgh, etc and on short yardage downs.

He fills holes with force, there is a use for that:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SYhCVn0UJ6U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>



Perhaps the Navy game wasn't "god awful," like people who know football said all week? You cannot stop everything. Repeat, you cannot stop everything. Diaco took away the run, and dared them to throw and minimal success. There's a reason Navy has had the highest completion percentage of any team for two years in a row.

I mostly agree with what you said except the bolded parts.

Watt is a good road grader for run blocking but I think he is just average in pass protection (not shocking for a guard).
The other one is Shembo, I think he has been a little bit of a disappointment so far especially against Purdue. I didn't see him getting much pressure and he ineffective against the run. I actually think Ishaq has played much better (maybe not great against the pass but he was solid against the run before getting hurt against Purdue).

 

[Irishman77]

I mostly agree with what you said except the bolded parts.

Watt is a good road grader for run blocking but I think he is just average in pass protection (not shocking for a guard).
The other one is Shembo, I think he has been a little bit of a disappointment so far especially against Purdue. I didn't see him getting much pressure and he ineffective against the run. I actually think Ishaq has played much better (maybe not great against the pass but he was solid against the run before getting hurt against Purdue).

I was disappointed in shembo as well, but his second half was better. He contained well in the second which allowed tuitt to finish the sack. The first half was like watching Fleming again...diving inside and getting blocked every play. Shembo was able to make some plays mostly because our secondary gave him 4-5 seconds to get pressure. Watch the coverage on the tuitt,shembo,nix highlights...great coverage and light years beyond last year.

 

[irishpat183]

Kelly said it himself that Golson is his starter and that is final. He wanted to put any rumors/controversy away

Good deal.


But this is what he gets for making a switch when the game is on the line. It raises questions.

 

[FLDomer]

Good deal.


But this is what he gets for making a switch when the game is on the line. It raises questions.

He explained his reasoning for having Tommy come in and that EG was his starter in the post game interview with Alex Flannigan and in the post game presser he said EG was his starter for the MSU game...I feel like he did a good job putting a end to the controversy VERY quickly.

 

[Who'saWildManNow]

I agree, Short is a beast and the others were pretty good. While Purdue did fill the box, there were several instances where Short simply beat his man one on one.

IMO I think this was a good stout test and probably prepared us mentally for MSU as well as anything could have.

Agreed..

 

[arrowryan]

He explained his reasoning for having Tommy come in and that EG was his starter in the post game interview with Alex Flannigan and in the post game presser he said EG was his starter for the MSU game...I feel like he did a good job putting a end to the controversy VERY quickly.

I think every single Notre Dame fan had a WTF!? moment when number 11 ran onto the field. Haha

 

[Patulski]

But, after reviewing the film, it seemed clear that it wasn't the quality of their D-linemen that made their front great, it's just that they had soooo many guys pinned up against our O-line, that they were difficult to manage in the trenches. compared to ours.

Their base defense, which they played 80% of the time was a standard 4-3, Cover 1 defense. This is how 90% of defenses defend spread offenses. So, it is simply not true that they had so many guys pinned against our O-Line. If you want photos showing their alignment, where there are never more than the 7 of the 4-3 in the box, I'll provide them.

Secondly, their defensive end and tackle manhandled our right guard and tackle. And when Golic pulled, he got stopped in his tracks. Even Cave had problems at times handling their tackle's strength and quickness. I'll show you video of Golic getting overrun like a rag doll in pass protection and stopped in his tracks when pulling, bottling up what is supposed to be a hole he's opening, if you need proof.

 

[goldandblue]

just show the damn videos...

 

[irishpat183]

I think every single Notre Dame fan had a WTF!? moment when number 11 ran onto the field. Haha

And that's what I was thinking. And it does raise questions about Kelly's faith in EG whether people choose to admit that or not.