Sep 15 | at Michigan State

[Cali_domer]

Line is up to 5 now

 

[Irishbounty28]

I am just trying to figure an angle for why Carlo played will, and Foxy played outside. Any ideas?

Anything is speculation at this point. We didn't play the run the entire game, but rather played defense favoring the pass. Normally, you wouldn't think that three inside linebackers would be adequate in this situation. What I think, which doesn't count for much, is that Coach Kelly felt Fox and Carlo were "good enough" in coverage, and would provide great run-support.

Ultimately, the issue is fairly mute because Purdue wasn't that successful through the air. They averaged a paltry 5.4 yards per attempt and 198 yards. Carlo and Fox were our deficiency in pass coverage though. Russell and Jackson faired pretty well in this game, giving up only 46 total yards passing, on 6 passes threw in their direction.

 

[West Coast Domer]

If we played at home I would feel a lot more confident. Night games at Sparty are tough. From the opening kickoff we need to decide the tempo and hit them in the mouth from the start like last year. No turnovers and we should have success we stuffed their run last year so i am expecting the same GO Irish!

 

[rikkitikki08]

Its going to be tough game. Im expecting a very similiar game to last week.


Where is college game day going this week?

 

[Irishbounty28]

Its going to be tough game. Im expecting a very similiar game to last week.


Where is college game day going this week?

Florida vs Tennessee

 

[peoriairish]

Its going to be tough game. Im expecting a very similiar game to last week.


Where is college game day going this week?

Tennessee for the Tenn/UF game. 18 v 23 I think.

 

[rikkitikki08]

Tennessee for the Tenn/UF game. 18 v 23 I think.

Ahhh i figured, thought this game might have a chance to host.....guess i was wrong

 

[peoriairish]

Ahhh i figured, thought this game might have a chance to host.....guess i was wrong

It would have a chance if it was the SEC

But there is a good chance that it will be there for Mich/ND the next week. 2-1 Mich v 3-0 ND. Not sure how they could pass that up. Someone did say there was FSU/Clemson that day I think though, so who knows.

 

[Buster Bluth]

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mlHzjbIR6Rw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This is worth remembering. What a game!

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Florida vs Tennessee

That's so stupid. Why would they not go to their primte time game? Herbstreit now has to take a flight to East Lancing in the middle of the day.

 

[koonja]

Just watched ND vs. Purdue for the 2nd time (first time sober). After watching that, I feel more confident in our chances this week.

Golson is a stud. He has so much poise for a 2nd start QB. Also, some of the sacks weren't so much of him not getting the ball off, but the Dline penetrating so quickly from missed blocks that the best move he was left with was to tuck is and live to see another down. Golic obviously needs to improve, and I expect him to have a hell of a week of practice knowing his job has to be on the line.

Teams are afraid of GAIII in the return game.

Hercules might be the best blocking TE in the country (I say this with no knowledge of any other great blocking TEs, but he's an absolute monster at blocking).

Our 2ndary is better than I thought. Quite a bit better.

Our Dline gets to the QB on passing downs.

Riddick has been a beast. Runs so hard for his size. Him and Cierre are going to make us hard to stop.

Rees was far from perfect in the final drive. He made two good passes, one to Toma and the one where he threw it up to Goodman. He should have gotten a delay of game on that one play, and IDK why he spiked the ball with 11 seconds to go, rather than run it down to 3/4 to avoid a kick off. But well done by the offense on the final drive. I'm very glad Kelly is sticking with Golson.

Tuitt is going to see a lot of double teams.

This game isn't that close if it's not for that one drive where we missed every tackle, Golson's fumble, and Martin's hands-to-the-face penalty. Very correctable mistakes.

 

[Irishbounty28]

Hercules might be the best blocking TE in the country (I say this with no knowledge of any other great blocking TEs, but he's an absolute monster at blocking).

Niklas is one of my favorite players on the team, but in no way is he one of the best blocking TE in the country. IMO, he isn't even the best blocking tight end on our team, if we are speaking in terms of blocking technique, and not their position on the field. This would be conceded to Eifert, who has shown vast improvement in his blocking game this year. Niklas was responsible for at least one sack that I remember in the Purdue game, where he blocked down, when he should have turned the defender out.

He definitely has the potential to be a beast in terms of blocking, but has not done enough yet to be considered one of the best in the country.

 

[koonja]

Niklas is one of my favorite players on the team, but in no way is he one of the best blocking TE in the country. IMO, he isn't even the best blocking tight end on our team, if we are speaking in terms of blocking technique, and not their position on the field. This would be conceded to Eifert, who has shown vast improvement in his blocking game this year. Niklas was responsible for at least one sack that I remember in the Purdue game, where he blocked down, when he should have turned the defender out.

He definitely has the potential to be a beast in terms of blocking, but has not done enough yet to be considered one of the best in the country.

The play you're talking about was an obvious miscommunication between Niklas and the OT, so I don't know who's fault that actually was. And IMO, he's better than Eifert (who, like you said, is vastly improved). Eifert had some nice blocks, but Niklas is man-handling linebackers.

 

[Irishbounty28]

The play you're talking about was an obvious miscommunication between Niklas and the OT, so I don't know who's fault that actually was. And IMO, he's better than Eifert (who, like you said, is vastly improved). Eifert had some nice blocks, but Niklas is man-handling linebackers.

I can see your point from a strength perspective, but Eifert has much better technique. There was one play in the game when Eifert pancaked a defender, which is one of those plays that coaches will replay to show how to properly block.

In this offense, Eifert has been asked to block more in space while being split out, whereas Niklas is more of the in-line tight end. Without a direct comparison between the two, in the same position, I guess it is hard to make the call.

Agree to disagree i guess.

 

[koonja]

I can see your point from a strength perspective, but Eifert has much better technique. There was one play in the game when Eifert pancaked a defender, which is one of those plays that coaches will replay to show how to properly block.

In this offense, Eifert has been asked to block more in space while being split out, whereas Niklas is more of the in-line tight end. Without a direct comparison between the two, in the same position, I guess it is hard to make the call.

Agree to disagree i guess.

You're probably right that I'm jumping the gun on calling Troy the best blocking TE in the country. I should have mentioned that he's dominating in the trenches (primarily as a run blocker), whereas Eifert is much better in space. That block Eifert had was against a small corner, but yes, it was a great block.

 

[peoriairish]

This was from a depth chart that Fortuna got a hold of. Also had KLM, Tausch, DD and Eifert on the injured players list.

Brian Hamilton ‏@ChiTribHamilton
At tailback, Theo Riddick as expected listed as #NotreDame starter with George Atkinson III and Cierre Wood separated by an "OR" at No. 2.

 

[irishfanjho15]

Rees was far from perfect in the final drive. He made two good passes, one to Toma and the one where he threw it up to Goodman. He should have gotten a delay of game on that one play, and IDK why he spiked the ball with 11 seconds to go, rather than run it down to 3/4 to avoid a kick off. But well done by the offense on the final drive. I'm very glad Kelly is sticking with Golson.

Because if the offense commits a penalty in the last minute, it's an automatic 10 second run off. So if we line up to kick a field goal with 3/4 seconds and we happen to commit a penalty as was the trend of the game, they run off and we have to go to overtime. It was a genius coaching decision by Kelly to have him spike it with 11 seconds left. Probably told him to snap it with 13 seconds left.

 

[koonja]

Because if the offense commits a penalty in the last minute, it's an automatic 10 second run off. So if we line up to kick a field goal with 3/4 seconds and we happen to commit a penalty as was the trend of the game, they run off and we have to go to overtime. It was a genius coaching decision by Kelly to have him spike it with 11 seconds left. Probably told him to snap it with 13 seconds left.

Ahhh, touche. Didn't even cross my mind.

 

[DSully1995]

I think this game well see the expansion of the RB\Slot hybrid role, we could go from 4 receivers (eifert,jones,daniels, riddick,) and 1 back (wood) to 5 Receivers, then to 3 receivers 2 RB's , wood gives us alot to work with

 

[Black Irish]

What kind of offensive tempo should the Irish shoot for? Fast and run a lot of plays to keep the MSU D off balance? Or slow grind ball control?

 

[DSully1995]

What kind of offensive tempo should the Irish shoot for? Fast and run a lot of plays to keep the MSU D off balance? Or slow grind ball control?

With our players versatility, hurry up would be great, get mismatches from MSU not being able to substitute

 

[elboricua]

ND needs to run at a fast tempo all the time and teach it to the players as a mentality. It would also make it easier for Golson to run the offense, not harder. I do not understand why Kelly has gone away from what has made his offense so successful in the past, but he has and he has suffered mightily for it. It would help ND so much if they played like this and used it to pull away a little bit from teams like UM and a few others. But for some reason he has not instituted it and he can't do it now at the speed he was going at Cincy because they aren't used to it.

 

[irishff1014]

ND needs to run at a fast tempo all the time and teach it to the players as a mentality. It would also make it easier for Golson to run the offense, not harder. I do not understand why Kelly has gone away from what has made his offense so successful in the past, but he has and he has suffered mightily for it. It would help ND so much if they played like this and used it to pull away a little bit from teams like UM and a few others. But for some reason he has not instituted it and he can't do it now at the speed he was going at Cincy because they aren't used to it.

I don't really like the under center look we had last week.

 

[TheSunIsRising]

Because if the offense commits a penalty in the last minute, it's an automatic 10 second run off. So if we line up to kick a field goal with 3/4 seconds and we happen to commit a penalty as was the trend of the game, they run off and we have to go to overtime. It was a genius coaching decision by Kelly to have him spike it with 11 seconds left. Probably told him to snap it with 13 seconds left.

This is not actually correct. The 10 second run-off only occurs if the penalty occurs with the game clock running, which it was not due to the spiked ball. See the text from the NCAA rule:

ARTICLE 4. a. With the game clock running and less than one minute
remaining in either half, if a player of either team commits a foul that causes
the clock to stop, the officials may subtract 10 seconds from the game clock at
the option of the offended team. The fouls that fall in this category include but
are not limited to:
1. Any foul that prevents the snap (e.g., false start, encroachment, defensive
offside by contact in the neutral zone, etc.);
2. Intentional grounding to stop the clock;
3. Incomplete illegal forward pass;RULE 3 / PERIODS, TIME FACTORSAND SUBSTITUTIONS FR-53
4. Backward pass thrown out of bounds to stop the clock;
5. Any other foul committed with the intent of stopping the clock.
The offended team may accept the yardage penalty and decline the 10-second
subtraction. If the yardage penalty is declined the 10-second subtraction is
declined by rule.

b. The 10-second rule does not apply if the game clock is not running when the
foul occurs or if the foul does not cause the game clock to stop (e.g., illegal
formation).

Now, Kelly may have asked for the extra time to be on the clock because he 'thought' the 10 second run-off applied.

 

[Black Irish]

ND needs to run at a fast tempo all the time and teach it to the players as a mentality. It would also make it easier for Golson to run the offense, not harder. I do not understand why Kelly has gone away from what has made his offense so successful in the past, but he has and he has suffered mightily for it. It would help ND so much if they played like this and used it to pull away a little bit from teams like UM and a few others. But for some reason he has not instituted it and he can't do it now at the speed he was going at Cincy because they aren't used to it.

I've been hearing this logic over and over and I don't get why Kelly will not go this route. The Irish plays come in so slow they are constantly in danger of running out of play clock time. So they have to burn timeouts to avoid penalties. Kelly is a smart guy and a good coach, so who am I to judge his end game. But I know that it is hard to run a dynamic spread offense when the play calling is slow as molasses. It was a problem last season and still is a problem now (with Kelly's ideal spread QB playing, no less). Maybe it's time to stop trying to force a round peg into a square hole and change direction.

 

[Meacon Irish]

Actually it was fourth down. The first spike. The lay down. And then the second spike.

 

[TheSunIsRising]

Actually it was fourth down. The first spike. The lay down. And then the second spike.

yeah, had edited the earlier post to remove that comment; had forgotten his first spike

 

[ACamp1900]

If you believe in trends this game doesn't look good... but to get back to where we all want, ND has to bust a bunch of trends anyway... Should be a very physical game either way.

 

[koonja]

Streaming Online - WatchESPN

Link to MSU/Boise St if anyone cares to watch. Their defense plays fast and their O-line looks solid.

 

[Buster Bluth]

ND needs to run at a fast tempo all the time and teach it to the players as a mentality. It would also make it easier for Golson to run the offense, not harder. I do not understand why Kelly has gone away from what has made his offense so successful in the past, but he has and he has suffered mightily for it. It would help ND so much if they played like this and used it to pull away a little bit from teams like UM and a few others. But for some reason he has not instituted it and he can't do it now at the speed he was going at Cincy because they aren't used to it.

You've demonstrated a shocking lack of understanding the last few days.

It would be idiotic to run the hurry-up with this squad. Golson can't handle it and running the hurry up would lead to an exponential increase in mistakes/turnovers on his part. And even if Golson was ready to go, only 1/2 of the receiving corp is.The offense is too complicated and the players are too young to use the hurry up. You'd see Neal, Brown, Niklas, Atkinson and others missing assignments (hello injuries) and running wrong routes (hello turnovers) and standing in wrong formations (hello penalties).

There are two ways to attack a defense effectively. Go with the hurry up with a smaller group of guys and a simpler playbook (e.g. Oklahoma, Oregon, etc), or use a barrage of different personnel packages (e.g. Ohio State, LSU etc). One is not superior to the other, and when you have young players with unbelievable talent and want to use them early and as often as possible, the hurry up is just a stupid way to go about it.

Kelly deserves lauding, not criticizing, for his ability to completely change his philosophies to adapt to his players.

I've been hearing this logic over and over and I don't get why Kelly will not go this route. The Irish plays come in so slow they are constantly in danger of running out of play clock time. So they have to burn timeouts to avoid penalties. Kelly is a smart guy and a good coach, so who am I to judge his end game. But I know that it is hard to run a dynamic spread offense when the play calling is slow as molasses. It was a problem last season and still is a problem now (with Kelly's ideal spread QB playing, no less). Maybe it's time to stop trying to force a round peg into a square hole and change direction.

Again, read above.

To the bolded part: this isn't a true spread offense anyway. This is now a "Multiple Offense," with Golson operating in a Look format for much of the Purdue game. I'm not sure of the Look aspect was planned or not, I didn't see it int he beginning.

Here's how it works: ND changes personnel (e.g. takes out Toma and Goodman, and puts in Niklas and Koyack) and immediately lines up in ____ formation. The defense will possibly hurry to substitute guys in to fit that package, or line up as is and make the best of it. Kelly and Martin analyze the defensive formation and quickly call the best play in. It takes about six seconds for that part to happen. It's what you do if your quarterback is young and thus doesn't audible well.

I suspect that if they want to stay with this philosophy, you will see playbook wristbands in the future. They did burn too many timeouts, and at times ran the clock too low. But a lot of that was planned to chew clock.