Minter needs help

[sblxdoc]

I hate to drag the river on this subject, but our D has been awful in the first half. I give some credit to Minter for the great half time adjustments, but what the hell is going on in the first half of these games. I am going to put alot of the blame on Minter for not having this D more prepared for these offensive schemes of the opposing teams. If something doesn't change soon, not only will we get waxed by USC, but Minter needs to go. If this were the pros, there would definitely be some coaching changes made at the end of the season.

 

[Pinoy QB]

I truly agree with you, but when your defense is below average, it's hard to do anything!!! We have some talented freshmens but they are all pretty much GREEN!!!

 

[Óglaigh_na_hÉireann]

I don't even know whether Minter deserves credit for adjustments. I think sometimes our defensive players just adapt to the opponent's offense.

But really, who do you blame in this situation? The coordinators, or the players themselves? If you go after the latter, well, you've got a long wait ahead.

Honestly, I don't know what the hell's going on.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

I don't even know whether Minter deserves credit for adjustments. I think sometimes our defensive players just adapt to the opponent's offense.

But really, who do you blame in this situation? The coordinators, or the players themselves? If you go after the latter, well, you've got a long wait ahead.

Honestly, I don't know what the hell's going on.

We all saw Lewis chewing the hell of Ndukewe.

I REALLY doubt that Minter is teaching them to miss these guys...

Seriously, Lewis is the real deal and he is having issues getting the D to play really well.

Honestly though, we have a lot of guys playing who have not played a lot...

 

[isotopes]

I think there are better d schemes out there, but his isnt too bad, what kills is a lack of penetration by the d line and just flat out failure to wrap up

 

[ShivaIrish]

I'm not saying Minter has to go, but a lot of people have been using the excuse that the personnel does not match up with the abilities of the opponents's players. That cannot really be used for today against Stanford. I was not impressed with the way the defense played (although they were better in the 2nd half), especially since the Cardinal receivers dropped some key passes to help out.

 

[marv81s]

i'm not saying too many things negative about minter till they get some of "their guys" into the mix. However, if I see one more halfback pass go for a TD this year, I'm gonna kick my damn TV in.

 

[Aerosmith777]

I think the defense is definetely gonna get better when the personel improves, but I have to agree that Minter's scheme isn't the best in the world. Its too conservative. He doesn't blitz enough, the corners play too deep and the safeties too shallow.

I love defenses that play zone w/ DB's that have speed and good hands, and then just blitz the hell out of the other team on passing downs. That's how you create turnovers (and return them for TDs), and I think that just works better than sitting back in coverage all the time and expecting your front 4 to get all the pressure on their own.

But like I said, when the personel improves, I think it'll work ok.

 

[Irish Envy]

i'm not saying too many things negative about minter till they get some of "their guys" into the mix. However, if I see one more halfback pass go for a TD this year, I'm gonna kick my damn TV in.

Biting on that is not on Minter... it's on Duke. Soon as I saw the pitch to the back and Duke let the receiver go, I said "Uh oh." Duke has to have more patience and let the play develop before dropping the receiver like he did.

That said, it's on Minter to make Duke run until he pukes his guts up for biting on it for the 2nd time this year. That's just not acceptable.

 

[Steve]

I truly agree with you, but when your defense is below average, it's hard to do anything!!! We have some talented freshmens but they are all pretty much GREEN!!!

this has nothing to do with the defense, but are you filipino?

and yeah, sometimes i just don't know about the defense.

 

[BGIF]

I hate to drag the river on this subject, but our D has been awful in the first half.

Was I watching a different first half?

Stanford got 3 points in the first half.
Stanford had 87 yards of TOTAL OFFENSE
Stanford had the ball for 11:34 seconds of the First Half
6:34 seconds of that TOP was on their first drive
They had one nice drive. 14 plays, 71 yards, TOP 06:35 3 points
Drive 2, 3 plays, 9 yards, TOP 01:29
Drive 3, 3 plays, - 6 yards, TOP 01:03
Drive 4, 3 plays, 9 yards, TOP 02:27
Drive 5, 1 play -8 yards, Top 0:29
They converted ONLY 1 of 5 Third Downs.


In 4 of 5 drives in the First Half ND held Stanford to 3 plays or less. In the First Half Stanford ran 14 plays on the First Drive for 71 yards and a total of 10 plays for 16 yards after that.


AsI recall due to injuries ND started a one scub at WLB, Brockington, a second scrub at CB, Terrail, and a third scrub at SS, Herring replacing ND's best defensive player. And this was on a much maligned defense that was giving up 26.4 ppg and 372 yds of Total Offense. For the game Stanford was got 10 points ( -16.4 point differential) and 226 Total Offense ( -146 yard differential)

If this were the pros, there would definitely be some coaching changes made at the end of the season.

IF this were the pros there'd be quite a few players that would not have been on the roster at the start of the season. IF you're going to drag the river and use pro comparisions due it realisticly. ND can't fire players and replace them by signing free agents, nor by trading for established players, nor get mature talent ready to play through the draft. ND has to recruit 17 and 18 year old athletes than can make it as ND students and NO JUCOS need apply.

 

[marv81s]

I'm with you BGIF, I don't have a problem with Minter too much, I think he is doing a good job with what he has right now talent wise. I didn't see anyone calling for the man that calls the plays on the offense side of the ball earlier this year when the offense was in a rut. The same rule should apply to Minter, give the man time to get their recruits in the mix.

 

[BGIF]

I had no illusions going into this season that the defense would look like the '88 team that gave up 135 points in 12 games. Many of us hoped the defense would improve up to about a 40th ranked defense but all knew we had huge holes at LB and a secondary that lacked depth and a good track record. Then there was the DLine.

I still see people posting about what Mario Manningham did agasint ND. Anyone notice he made the highlight reel again torching MSU's DBs twice on big play scores. Calvin Johnson had another big game today. Seems the same receivers that burned ND are still burning people and some of the receivers that ND keep in check are burning other people.

I'm neither a Minter supporter nor am I his detractor. He hasn't had the luxury of opening the season against Div1AA teams or the likes of Central Michigan, Temple, and Vanderbilt. He's faced prolific QB's and prolific receivers week after week along with some pretty fair coaching staffs. MSU had to face Hart today and he rolled up rushing yards like he did against ND but UM didn't have to face Caulrick AND Ringer. Ringer's out for the season so UM had the luxury of defensing a one back team. Caulrick was held to 29 yards rushing but still builldozed his way to the first rushing TD of the season against the Skunkbears.

ND's Defensive stats should improve over the next 5 games and we get to play the calibre of opponents teams that Georgia fatten their defensive stats on. Is Tennessee the wonderkind offense of Div 1A? Or did they simply feast on a defense facing a decent offense for the first time and an turnover prone Georgia offense that had looked terrible against even the minor league competition on their schedule. ND could have hung the same score on the Dawgs that the Vols did - on both sides of the ball.

 

[sblxdoc]

We're still ranked around 92nd in the country in defense. I know we've played some better teams compared to the other teams out there that have been able to pad their stats, but when I watch ND's defense compared to some of the teams for example in the SEC...not even comparable. The reason the stats in the first half of the Stanford game looked so good was not from our defense making plays, but from Stanfords offense making mistakes.

If our defensive schemes don't get better in the first half, any team with an ounce of offensive ability will beat us. Our offense is great, but we will not be able to continue to come from behind on a team that puts up big numbers against us in the first half due to the unexciting, weak schemes that Minter is pulling out of his ass in the first half.

 

[marv81s]

We don't have the athletes YET like most of the teams in the SEC, but they are coming, so be patient. We have small LBs, an average DL, and put those two together and you have a inconsistent pass rush, you have that in the mix, and you put your DBs in a terrible spot, not to mention our secondary is not all that quick, and you make that even worse when you blitz every other down, like the michigan game.

Like BGIF said, most of us were expecting way too much out of the D at that start of the year, like CW worked that much magic in the off season and the D was going to be a top 25 defense all of a sudden. They are better, but its going to take time. The personel are coming and in a couple years, the D should be every bit as good as those teams in the SEC, as good as Texas, etc. You gotta get the athletes first, and right now we don't have enough of them on the D.

While our D has looked pretty bad at times, they have done a pretty good job against some pretty damn good teams. They have done a lot of bended, but not broke, except for the Michigan game. I think when Minter starts working with some of these 5 and 4 star rated kids and we are still having this discussion in a couple years, then yeah, CW should start looking for a new D coordinator.

 

[knute]

IF this were the pros there'd be quite a few players that would not have been on the roster at the start of the season. IF you're going to drag the river and use pro comparisions due it realisticly. ND can't fire players and replace them by signing free agents, nor by trading for established players, nor get mature talent ready to play through the draft. ND has to recruit 17 and 18 year old athletes than can make it as ND students and NO JUCOS need apply.

I've been thinking this a couple of times myself over the course of the season. This is probably the biggest difference for Charlie Weis. He's done player development and talent evaluation, but recruiting is a different beast. It can take a while to get top of the line players into the system and then you have to wait several years until their size, strength and experience are up to par.

I was really happy to see Toryan Smith and James Aldridge crack the lineup yesterday. I may be wrong, but I see them playing a BIG part of our wins over USC and our bowl opponent.

 

[ND_Ownz!]

AsI recall due to injuries ND started a one scub at WLB, Brockington, a second scrub at CB, Terrail, and a third scrub at SS, Herring replacing ND's best defensive player.

Since when did Lambert & Herring become scrubs?

 

[rdrdreamer]

As an Irish fan, I too am prone to impatience at times. But as it has been mentioned, we are dealing with young talent that have yet to reach their potential, and for the most part...learning to play in a system that will maximize all this talent into one cohesive unit. I am also very excited as a fan to see the quality of talent not only considering ND, but that are already in uniform now (Smith, Alridge, Walls, West, Prince, Young), ready to step in.
As for Minter alone needing help, I feel the help is right there...with more on the horizon!

 

[cclanofirish]

Honestly, with the talent that is at Notre Dame on the defense side of the ball, we just need to keep winning, no matter how ugly the score. If we keep doing that, the recruits will come, period.

 

[sonomairishfan]

I hate to drag the river on this subject, but our D has been awful in the first half. I give some credit to Minter for the great half time adjustments, but what the hell is going on in the first half of these games. I am going to put alot of the blame on Minter for not having this D more prepared for these offensive schemes of the opposing teams. If something doesn't change soon, not only will we get waxed by USC, but Minter needs to go. If this were the pros, there would definitely be some coaching changes made at the end of the season.

i am not at all impressed with minter's style of defense. i think that if it doesn't improve by years end, cw should go a different direction. the basic stuff like tackling and footwork are lousy on this squad. if we get beat on one more halfback/receiver pass, i am going to puke. how hard is it to get our safeties to have some disipline back there?

 

[jiggafini19]

They were without three starters.

Stanford will not win a game all season, but even they can manage to score 10 points by accident.

I'm not a big Minter fan either, but the first drive and a trick play was all Stanford could muster against a patched up unit.

 

[bigdon]

This defense is the one we will live with this year. It is awful and we can blame it on the coaching or the talent or a combination of these.

I am very concerned about 2007! Abiamiri, Landri, Laws, Frome, Stephenson, and Leitko are all SR's. Hand and Talley are the only DL left unless some these guys can take a 5th year ( and Weis has already said he does not particularly like the idea). Our inability to recruit Interior linemen last year will come back to haunt us. Johnson went to Kentucky, McCoy to OK, Lewis to USC, and Kates ( I hate to bring up that name again) to Mich.

The Offense looks secure and the D backfield should be OK with Walls, McNeil,etc. There are some better LB'S coming along but who, pray tell, is going to rush the QB? Who is going to plug the middle?

I think we will be looking at a "patch work" DL with little or no experience.

 

[mirertobrooks]

I'm with you on 2007, if we think the D is bad this year, well next year, I can't think about it, I'll ruin the rest of my day.

 

[marv81s]

next year is a going to be a rebuilding year in every aspect of the team, offense and defense and special teams. I don't have any high hopes for next year, just to give the young guys some experience and playing time.

 

[irishfan]

next year is a going to be a rebuilding year in every aspect of the team, offense and defense and special teams. I don't have any high hopes for next year, just to give the young guys some experience and playing time.

i think a 8-9 win season and a gator bowl win would be amazing for next year

 

[ShivaIrish]

People keep on talking about "not having the players." But a talent deficit is not an excuse against Stanford, one of the worst BCS conference teams this year. Stanford was helping out the defense left and right yesterday. They dropped one td pass, and there were other drops too. We're not talking about difficult balls either. I'm not saying Minter has to go, but it is not just the players that make the defense bad. Maybe I'm wrong, and the injuries to Z. and TT. had a bigger effect than I'm accounting for. Maybe the d. just had an "off" day. If that is so, then my comments can be disregarded.

 

[BGIF]

Since when did Lambert & Herring become scrubs?

They've been scrubs since they and Brockington came to ND and weren't starters. They've are only starters now due to injuriers. When the First Team player is back, they return to the sideline. That's a scrub.

Travis Thomas started the 1st 4 games at WLB. He got hurt at the end of the MSU game creating an opening for Brockington.

Lambert had 17 minutes of position PT primarily at Nickel Back before this season, he didn't see the field as a freshman. He was behind Ferrine last year but Ferrine was injured early in the season and Lambert's made the most of his opportunity to play. Wooden and Richardson are the regular CBs. Richardson started all 6 games. Wooden started the first 3 but was injured in a violent hit on a Michigan player. Lambert and Walls started along with Richardson against MSU in game 4 in a base Nickel Defense. Walls got taken to school. Lambert started last week and again this week at CB due to the continued absence of Wooden.

Zbikowski had a string of something like 26 straight career starts that stopped Saturday when Herring started in his place. Herring had 5 minutes of non Special Teams PT before this season. That's a scrub.

CW acknowledged at his post game press conference that they all could have played but with a bye next week and an non Top 25 team on Saturday he could afford to rest them to aid the healing process. He wants them ready for UCLA and the second half of the season.


Here are there Bios from UND.com. It's got scrub all over them. Someday they will/may be the regular starters but as long as the guys they filled in for are healthy, they'll still be scrubs.

Minter's defense played against Stanford without 3 of his better defenders. Even with the scubs they did pretty well except for Ndu biting on the halfback pass.

 

[jiggafini19]

I thought Herring did a tremendous job. That kid is about as sure of a tackler as this team has on defense from what I've seen thus far.

 

[domerfor life]

I'm sorry, but I thought Charlie said that Ambrose could play, but because he is impressed with Lambert he decided to continue to rest Ambrose. That doesn't sound like a scrub to me. Herring actually played pretty well. It looks like he is one of the best tacklers on the team. He wrapped up and brought the ballcarrier down. Brockington, hasn't played that bad.

 

[jiggafini19]

Saturday we saw a lot of Lambert, Ferrine, Herring, Brockington, Mitch Thomas and Vernaglia.