Are you a KICK, RECEIVE, or DEFER kind of guy (or gal)?

[solo]

I have always believed that if you win the coin toss, you put your strongest unit on the field first. So for ND this year, I say we should choose to take the ball when we win the coin toss.

What do you all think?

 

[scooper]

It depends on the situation. If weather and student section placement dictate as such, deciding who defends what when is a good idea. However, I also adhere to your thoughts of putting your best unit out there first. It can set the tone for the game.

 

[isotopes]

personally I say you take he ball and try to set the tempo early. If your a pound it kinda team you start drilling the defense... the more attempts the quicker you start wearing some people down.

If your a pass first team, you start getting into a corner's head. Let them know they are the weakness and you have got them.

In all get the ball put it in the endzone and make the D think.

 

[scooper]

There's something to be said for the no huddle blitzkrieg Weis put on Michigan last year. It was kind of like a quick punch to the gut to move the ball and score that quickly. It puts the fear of God into the defense.

Then again, were defense our strength, it would be just as effective to beat up on the opposing offense for three quick plays. Bloody them early.

 

[mirertobrooks]

Take the ball, what an insult to your offense if you don't

 

[domerforlife]

i say kick. if you are the visitor and you make their O go 3 and out, it rattles the crowd and shuts them up. Then let Weis pick apart their D. next thing you know, you're up 7-0 and the crowd is a little quieter.

 

[A2McGowan]

Always want to receive at the beginning of the second half........kick it.

 

[jiggafini19]

Always want to receive at the beginning of the second half........kick it.

Who are you playing?

Where are you playing?

 

[solo]

Who are you playing?

Where are you playing?

For me, location or opponent makes no difference. I want my best unit on the field to start the game.

However, for you, this question may be situation dependant. In what situation do you kick? receive? defer?

 

[irishfan]

Well I have a strategy in NCAA Football 07, and i think it would work well for Notre Dame this season: kick in away games, receive in home games. If we kick in an away game and the other team marches down the field for a score, then the fans would be pumped up, but would almost be expecting it because everyone thinks that our defense will be terrible and slow this year. If we receive in an away game, and we cant move the ball, the crowd would be so fired up, because they know that our offense is our strong point, and that if they stopped it once, they can stop it again. In a home game we should receive. The crowd at ND is always loud and pumped up, but if our offense is on the field, the crowd is even more in the game. If we fail to score, the fans dont think that we need to stop them on defense on the next possession, because even if they do score, our offense is coming back out onto the field after with a chance to take the lead or atleast tie the game. If we kick the ball, and we let up a score, the offense needs to score because if they dont then we could go down by two scores early. In order for us to go undefeated this year, we need to be down by one score at the worst after the 1st quarter, and then have lots of success in the 2nd quarter like we did last year.

 

[mirertobrooks]

Weis has said if they win the toss he will always take the ball

 

[jiggafini19]

I would think how each unit matches up against your opponent, plus wind/weather conditions and whether or not you are home or away would all matter a great deal.

It is a hypothetical question, but I think you have to take a lot of factors into account before you decide.

 

[NDAlumSon]

Opponent, weather conditions, wind direction, wind strength, strength of the kicking team's 11, health of the kicker himself. Too many variables to base an answer on. This is pre-game decision stuff on Charlie's part. Most Saturdays, especially this year, he'll take the ball if the other factors don't carry a lot of weight.

 

[A2McGowan]

Lou always deferred when winning the coin toss.........Weis is different in his approach which says a lot about the confidence of his system and the preparedness of his players. He wants to pick apart and attack the defense right from the start. Scripted plays, get into the rhythm of the offense etc......

 

[KMac151993]

I am big believer on putting your defense out their first no matter what kind of unit you have....plus I like to have the ball coming out of the half especially on the road because you can set the tempo for the second half that way.

 

[Óglaigh_na_hÉireann]

Definitely receive. Though, I used to think that deferring was bad-ass; I thought it was like, being too good to care.

 

[AlbuquerqueIrishFan]

With our current ND team, you receive it and score. Take the lead and never look back! Blow'em out with our point a minute offense!

 

[IrishThunder05]

defer, i want the other team to know that no matter what they do, they're still goin to lose.

 

[nshope]

We Want The Ball !!!

We Want The Ball !!!

I would always take the ball. There is nothing better to start off a game and run the ball down your opponents throat, steal the initiative, and put up 7 on the board on the first drive of the game. Each team is going to be stopped several times throughout the game, but there are important times in a game to score (first drive of each half, late in the 4th quarter, etc).

Especially with this year's team, WE WANT THE FOOTBALL. Score early, score often.

 

[tommy]

unless you have heard all year long that your d is suspect then nothin would be better then a kick off pic 6 the first play on defense

 

[punishment]

I agree with a mix of Scooper's post #2, and Jigga's post #8.

 

[BGIF]

I have always believed that if you win the coin toss, you put your strongest unit on the field first. So for ND this year, I say we should choose to take the ball when we win the coin toss.

What do you all think?

With this offense, I agree take the ball. As long as you have a one dominant side of the ball, use it as many times as you can. Currently it's offense. IF I had Zorich and company I'd kick off and gamble on 3 and out, and field position, forcing them to kick to Rocket.


As for am I a KICK, RECEIVE, or DEFER kind of guy?

I have to Defer.

I loved Holtz's approach. He was telling them. "Your choice. It doesn't matter to us. We're gonna beat you on both sides of the ball. Take your best shot right out of the gate. Because it isn't going to matter. Oh, and you can go first. We'll even give you that advantage and still beat you."

He sent that message every time he did that. He got in their heads before the referee teed up the ball to start the game!

 

[NDAlumSon]

Let me throw this idea out there.
A lot of the arguments made here between kicking off or receiving are 'Statement" arguments.
"We think our offense is unstoppable, so we'll take the ball first and show you how we roll !"
or
"Nobody's got respect for the pre-season #3 team in the country's defense ??!
Take the ball GT......we're gonna shove it right down your throat."

But there's also the argument that it's the first play of the game and thus a truely important play, not just a play made to make a statement for the next play.
Let's say all week long in practice your kickoff team is knocking people's heads off, causing fumbles and is as fast as all get out......and your scouting has revealed that your opponents kickoff return guys are, I don't know, freshman.... or fumble prone.... or have some other kind of weakness, then hey.....go with your best play call. A fumble recovery on the 15 yard line sounds like a good play call to me.
If, on the other hand, your scouting for that week's opponent revealed a weakness that you can exploit by receiving, then absolutely exploit it. See if you can't score on the very first play of the game. How's that for a statement?
I think it should be this idea, combined of course with the other kickoff factors like weather, wind, etc., that should be calculated before the first call of the game.

 

[jiggafini19]

FYI, Friday night after our game had been delayed because of lightning we won the toss and kicked off, putting our defense on the field first.

And was that ever the right decision.

31-7 victory. They scored on our twos and threes.

 

[scooper]

Congrats jigg. Rep points for the first of many wins this season.

 

[jiggafini19]

Congrats jigg. Rep points for the first of many wins this season.

Many thanks Scoop.

There were a couple of pretty good receivers on this team and our guys did a good job of locking them down. Our run defense was like a brick wall.

This weekend will be tough. We're playing another out of conference game against a pretty good program that won their opener against a perennial power 17-14. They have a tall, lanky, fast receiver that caught both TDs in their victory so we'll need to be ready.

All of our games are on Friday nights, so I won't miss any ND games since we have off on Saturdays and then do film on Sundays.

 

[KMac151993]

Many thanks Scoop.

There were a couple of pretty good receivers on this team and our guys did a good job of locking them down. Our run defense was like a brick wall.

This weekend will be tough. We're playing another out of conference game against a pretty good program that won their opener against a perennial power 17-14. They have a tall, lanky, fast receiver that caught both TDs in their victory so we'll need to be ready.

All of our games are on Friday nights, so I won't miss any ND games since we have off on Saturdays and then do film on Sundays.

Congrats Jigga....just curious what kind of offense and defense do you run down there?

 

[jiggafini19]

Congrats Jigga....just curious what kind of offense and defense do you run down there?

The offense runs the triple option. I pay attention to what they're doing, but I'm pretty zeroed in on the LBs and DBs.

We play a 3-4-4.

The team we beat Friday night had beaten us the previous two years.

 

[KMac151993]

How do you guys like the 3-4-4?

 

[jiggafini19]

How do you guys like the 3-4-4?

Love it. We jump into a 4-3 at certain points, but we go with our strength which is linebackers and defensive backs.

I helped scheme it by using pieces of the Baltimore Ravens playbook that I got on line.

We've got some linebackers that can move and they have size, so it works to our advantage.