Never been more disappointed after a win

[Stealingshrimp]

That was ugly.
If the offensive coach for GT wasn't such a sucky play caller, we'd be drinking our misery away tonight.
Yet... our coaching was just as bad.
It's SOOO blatently obvious we need a hback with speed. This slow -east/west running only works against a much smaller defense(stanford) or a worn out defense.
If you REALLY think our defense won that game, then bury your head in the sand.
Quinn still overthrows the deep (20+ yards) receiver.
The shark + mcknight are amazing.
The officiating sucked at times, but the officials near-equally shat on both teams.
My thoughts

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

That was ugly.
If the offensive coach for GT wasn't such a sucky play caller, we'd be drinking our misery away tonight.
Yet... our coaching was just as bad.
It's SOOO blatently obvious we need a hback with speed. This slow -east/west running only works against a much smaller defense(stanford) or a worn out defense.
If you REALLY think our defense won that game, then bury your head in the sand.
Quinn still overthrows the deep (20+ yards) receiver.
The shark + mcknight are amazing.
The officiating sucked at times, but the officials near-equally shat on both teams.
My thoughts

I agree on ALL points... It was a tough win.

It is one to build on.

The team IS much better than this...they need to play that way the next 3 games or its lights out.

 

[Vince Young]

That was ugly.
If the offensive coach for GT wasn't such a sucky play caller, we'd be drinking our misery away tonight.
Yet... our coaching was just as bad.
It's SOOO blatently obvious we need a hback with speed. This slow -east/west running only works against a much smaller defense(stanford) or a worn out defense.
If you REALLY think our defense won that game, then bury your head in the sand.
Quinn still overthrows the deep (20+ yards) receiver.
The shark + mcknight are amazing.
The officiating sucked at times, but the officials near-equally shat on both teams.
My thoughts

Relax. Sleep on it tonight, then look at the numbers tomorrow morning. This wasn't pretty, but there were some excellent signs tonight. I'll agree the defense didn't win it for us, but more importantly, the defense didn't LOSE it for us either. When you shut down the best wide receiver in the country and hold the other team's offense to 2-of-10 on 3rd-down conversions, your defense is doing something right.

And always remember... it's Charles In Charge.

 

[NDFan78]

Yeah, it was disappointing to see the offense struggle but it could have been worse. Atleast the defense stepped up in the second half. The fact that ND gave up ten points and held GT scoreless in the second half gives me hope for the season.

 

[ralphwaldoemerson]

Are you nuts? I'm thrilled with this win. Any fan should be. This team should have lost tonight. They took the absolute best shot of every single GT person for the entire first half. Then talent won out, on the field and in the coaching. ND showed up in huge ways tonight. They were down 10-0 on the road in a VERY hostile environment on national TV, couldn't move the ball, were getting torched by a running QB and the best WR in the nation - and they won the game. Not only did they win it, but they won it with bold calls and brave plays on a night when maybe they didn't have their best stuff.

So no, I'm far from disappointed. We gained the most of the anyone in the top 10 in our opener. Now to survive Penn State.

 

[tgolden]

While it wasn't pretty, it was still a good win. That was a tough place to play, there were a lot of young guys out there who were surely pretty nervous. GT was pumped up to the nth degree. And we survived it and won.

Now Sam Young, Darrin Walls, and all the other freshmen have a game under their belts. They'll be better next time.

And despite you disliking our running game, Darius still had 99 yards rushing. He started out slowly, but he ended up pretty well. I don't think there are a whole lot of RBs in the country that I'd trade him for... he's not gonna break the big one very often, but he gets the job done.

 

[Óglaigh_na_hÉireann]

The more I think about it, I'm really proud of this win. We won in a dog-fight.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

I'll agree the defense didn't win it for us, but more importantly, the defense didn't LOSE it for us either.

That's a key. They did well. They did not do GREAT...but they held when needed. They kept the opponent to lower points than they normally get...

This IS an improvement over last year.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

The more I think about it, I'm really proud of this win. We won in a dog-fight.

Our boys never gave up and gave 110%. That is why we won. It was not only a dog fight...this was simply GT's BIGGEST GAME all year. They were up for this like no other.

In the end, we walked away with a win...at the end of the year no one counts up the points. They only count up the wins.

 

[marv81s]

I think we all need to give GT's defense a lot of credit for making our offense look bad, they had our offense rattled in the beggining and they looked timid and tight, but like some of you have said, they hung in there and played through it. GT had a ton of emotion in this game, and our defense did great I think. I am thrilled with this win, but we have a ton of work to do and a lot to build on.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

I think we all need to give GT's defense a lot of credit for making our offense look bad, they had our offense rattled in the beggining and they looked timid and tight, but like some of you have said, they hung in there and played through it. GT had a ton of emotion in this game, and our defense did great I think. I am thrilled with this win, but we have a ton of work to do and a lot to build on.

GT's Defense absolutely earns top honors in this game. They truly did a masterful job of keeping the Irish O reeling.

Tenuta is all that and a bag of chips...

 

[Ant4NDIrish]

Ga. Tech is a very talented football team! We should be thrilled to get out of Atlanta with a W!

 

[irishwavend]

I half-heartedly second Ant on this one. GT is not a bad football team...talented? Partially. But, we have to remember that when we are "Old Notre Dame" every team gets up for us more than any other team on the schedule, as evidenced not only by their first half intensity, but also by the ticket demand. ND is coming to the South to play avg GT...People in the South may love or hate ND, but there is one thing for sure...they Respect them more than any other team out there. When ND comes to town, it is a huge event, so GT has had all year to get prepared for us, to get up for us, and come out with everything they had. The only problem is that when you lay everything on the line and you aren't conditioned, you sputter out, as we saw in the 2nd half. They were DONE! Anyway, expect the crappy teams to get up for us and play us harder than they would the other teams...Ala Fresno State v. USC/ Memphis v. UT/ Minnesota St v. Colorado.

 

[Folsteam_Ahead]

yes it was an ugly win but at least we won the close one this time. we didn't win any of the close ones last year. you have to learn how to scrap for wins.

it was odd seeing the stat line after the game. it really wasn't bad at all. the officiating and the lack of any turnovers kept the score low. what was that first holding on rhema? he blocked the cb low without touching him with his hands. weak.

 

[Vince Young]

yes it was an ugly win but at least we won the close one this time. we didn't win any of the close ones last year. you have to learn how to scrap for wins.

Well, we lost 2 close ones last year: Michigan State and USC. But we also won 2 close ones last year: Michigan and Stanford. But we're getting better at scrapping out those close ones. We never could seem to "close the deal" in Ty's final 2 years, and that was a common problem on Davie's watch as well.

Is it just me, or did this year's Georgia Tech game feel a lot like last year's Michigan game?

 

[mlcspinner]

I think this win will pay of big in many ways. Look at who some of the top teams played this week.
Penn St. - Akron
Ohio St. - Northern Ill.
Oklahoma -UAB
USC - Arkansas ( an OK team )
West Virginia - Southern Miss.
Texas - North Texas
Auburn - Washington St
Other than Calif. that lost to Tenn. I don't think any team found out anything about there football team. We did. I think this win will only help ND next week, I don't know how a win against Akron helps Penn St. at all.

 

[nshope]

Alright, I'll give you that the GT playcaller sucks, but that is no fault of our's. ND played well enough to win and put GT on its heels in the 2nd half. Darius picked up big chunks in the second half and I believe he OUTRAN the GT defense to score, did he not? Speed? He's got it dude, it just took the line a little bit to get settled and it took Charlie a little while to open up the game with different calls.

Brady did miss Shark a couple of times, but still played well. He threw NO interceptions and had an important drop by McNight that cost them a 3rd down conversion. The only ill-advised throw he had was that crazy run-to-the-right-side throw across your body to the left pass that nearly cost him a pick. He should've taken off more on his feet. There were a couple times where he could've had 10-15 yards easily.

 

[St.Kittsnd]

I thought we dominated the game for the better part of three quarters. The first quarter and first part of the second quarter we had penalty problems which, I believe, lead to the Irish becoming nervous and thinking this may not be their night. Charlie and the coaching staff held their composure and that reflected throughout the team, from that point on.

Please pardon the golf analogy, but this game seamed like a golf game where you are hitting it really well but you just can't get the ball in the hole! We came out of the gate well and then the penalty to Rhema on the Sharks long gainer. Then penalties to Sam Young and Bob Morton put a halt to any momentum.

In my mind, the two key stats for the night were 11 penalties for 80 yards(alot seamed to come at terrible times) and 0 for 2 on field goals. I thought the rest of the night went quite well and I look forward to the Penn State game.

 

[nshope]

Penalties

Penalties

I thought we dominated the game for the better part of three quarters. The first quarter and first part of the second quarter we had penalty problems which, I believe, lead to the Irish becoming nervous and thinking this may not be their night. Charlie and the coaching staff held their composure and that reflected throughout the team, from that point on.

Please pardon the golf analogy, but this game seamed like a golf game where you are hitting it really well but you just can't get the ball in the hole! We came out of the gate well and then the penalty to Rhema on the Sharks long gainer. Then penalties to Sam Young and Bob Morton put a halt to any momentum.

In my mind, the two key stats for the night were 11 penalties for 80 yards(alot seamed to come at terrible times) and 0 for 2 on field goals. I thought the rest of the night went quite well and I look forward to the Penn State game.

Totally agree with you on the penalties end...Came at terrible times of play. How many big plays did we have called back? Tommy's nice punt return was nixed as well as some other nice gainers.

 

[tmacirish]

Also, a big thing that you guys havent stated which has alot of weight is that we had NO film on tenuta. I mean, weis went and got his DII tapes..but still we went into that blind and made the adjustments at halftime to win. I would have rather seen a win like this, then us blowing them out bc we would still be havin question about the D...etc. The D won us that game which makes me feel great, we can depnd on them. The O will come alive, the next 2 games are at ND which should allow us to shake some of those nerves.

The only worry I have, My God...the FG kicker. that could turn out to be a real problem.

 

[mirertobrooks]

Road games against Mich St and USC will be similar situations, I think it's helpful for the young guys to get this exposure. ND got alot out of this win, it's a much better victory then beating a MAC team at home. We've got a big bullseye and all the hype. ND will get everyones best shot all year long. You have to now respect what Matt L. and USC went through the past couple years. That's the shoes Brady and ND are in now.
1. GT played as good of D as you can and they never put the ball on the ground. So respect to GT.
2. Officiating was terrible, can't control that, the hold on the opening drive was a big momentum killer, terrible call too.
3. FG kicking scares the hell out of me, I think 20-10 everybody would feel a little better about this win.
4. I thought CW play calling was a little conservative at times, suprised by the third and 4 running play and then kicking then field goal, I was expecting 2 pass plays an go for the TD. I guess we know where we stand in regards to that type of situation the rest of the year.

 

[maison bleu]

A couple of things here:

--Just a thought: now that there's a year of film on CW as a college coach, is everyone going to have more effective schemes than last year?

--The worst news of the night was not the way ND played. It was the way USC played: 50-14 win on the road against an Arkansas team that was supposedly fired up and spoiling to avenge last year's 70-point shellacking (thus "Get a cLOU" Holtz picked the Hogs to win). Booty goes 24/36 for 260, 3 TDs, no picks. And their D looked like a vintage Miami unit.

I no longer think Michigan will be the toughest game on ND's schedule.

 

[Mare426]

The way I look at it a win is a win.

 

[mirertobrooks]

arkansas was bad last year and their just as bad this year, that was the easiest line ever USC -8

 

[grobelsk]

Just to respond to a point made on the first post of this thread by stealing shrimp (and your gonna recognize this criticism from a lot of other people too)........SHUT UP about how "we need an h-back with more speed" seriously........darius walker isnt slow........did you watch him beat the entire tech defense to the corner on his td (the same td that won us the damn game)?... he had the best game out of any other offensive player on sat (22 rushers for 100 yards A terrible almost 5yd per carry avg) and your ragging him?........darius walker may just become nds all time leading rusher (passing a guy named autry denson that wasnt a speed burner either).....I'm sick and tired of hearing people criticize darius walker.............if you know anything about football and your criticizing his performance last night, last season, or even the season before that its clear you dont know what your talking about..................if you wanna see speed so bad go to damn track meet..........if you wanna see one of the most solid backs in nd history have another solid year (that would be 3 in the last 3 seasons) watch number 3 on saturdays and SHUT UP about how he doesnt score 75 yard touchdowns every third touch...........

 

[NDgettysburg]

The more I think about it, I'm really proud of this win. We won in a dog-fight.

In the end, I think this was the best way for ND to win the opener.....MUCH better than if they dominated and blew GT out of their own stadium. This should make for a ball-breaking week of practice and a better focused/prepared team for PSU.

 

[isotopes]

I also think it was the best kind of opener you can have. Instead of playing N Texas, NIU, or Arkansas, you actually leave the game knowing what you need to work on and knowing that you need to come out to play week in week out. It's tough to cage how good your offense is when your receiver can take a hitch or a slant for 60 yards while breaking like 3 tackles a piece. I'd much rather have a tested criticized team that one that was able to breeze through.

Btw, Troy Smith is the luckiest qb in the world. His "perfect pass" to Ted Ginn for the long td was the worst pass I've ever seen and if Ginn didn't have 15 yards between him and the nearest defensive back it would have never happened.

 

[rontdtarchala]

Darius was the only bright spot in the offense last night...I have much respect for him this morning.

Basically the top ten played high schools and should have won by 50+ pts if they didn't they should be frantic this morning.

 

[ralphwaldoemerson]

A couple of things here:

--Just a thought: now that there's a year of film on CW as a college coach, is everyone going to have more effective schemes than last year?

--The worst news of the night was not the way ND played. It was the way USC played: 50-14 win on the road against an Arkansas team that was supposedly fired up and spoiling to avenge last year's 70-point shellacking (thus "Get a cLOU" Holtz picked the Hogs to win). Booty goes 24/36 for 260, 3 TDs, no picks. And their D looked like a vintage Miami unit.

I no longer think Michigan will be the toughest game on ND's schedule.

1. No. The worst offensive performance so far in the Weis era is probably @Michigan last year - in his second game as a head coach. That's the game last night was most similar to. It's a matter of schemes + personnel + shoddy offensive execution by ND. You're not going to get that perfect storm very often, IMO. The next two games will be interesting because you've got, arguably, the personnel + the schemes. It's a matter of how well the offense executes. If they do well, they should put up no fewer than 28. Then beginning with MSU there should be a string of 40+ point performances.

2. Eh, we'll see. USC looked all right. Arkansas is pretty terrible. Their stud running back, pretty much their only useful player, was badly banged up. They still hung around in the game for a hell of a long time, and the final score wasn't indicative of the game. USC is fine and still probably the best team on ND's schedule. But that's only because I think Michigan and Penn St aren't quite up to snuff. Any of the three could beat ND on a bad day for ND and a good day for them.

Now back home to play Penn State.

Interesting facts about Penn State:

-only outgained Akron by 70 yards
-failed to reach 300 yards total offense
-Morelli only 16/32, at home, against Akron
-2 fumbles, lost both
-defense was stout statistically, but still surrended 16 points to a MAC team

If the Irish get their heads out of their asses and learn from week 1, they'll win in week 2.

 

[adrena26]

I'm not thrilled about how ND played last night, but at the same point, we had to fight for everything. And after looking at how Penn State played yesterday, next week isn't going to be any easier. At least we're not walking into this with a big head and too much confidence.