Post Game Observations Rice '14

[NDinL.A.]

Because they ARE bigger, faster and stronger than ND. And we will experience this in mid-October. That is all I am saying.

I never said they were the best team in the country. That is what someone else said.

So why are you confused? It is a pretty simple point.

I'm confused bc someone said that an unranked team was taking it to FSU, and you said THAT was your point.

Really? Please show me where you made that point. Because all I saw was you expounding the virtues of FSU. Never once did you say OSU could hang with them.

 

[wizards8507]

LOL. Come on bro. Your bias against Golson knows no bounds. Dude plays a lights out came and you still find something to criticize smh.

BTW, he did a great job of going through his progressions today for the most part. Re-watch the game and you'll see what I mean...

I'm not anti Golsen by any means. I'm just anti "crown him with the Heisman after one game."

Remember what Tommy "Heisman" Rees did to Temple?

Also, there were some ridiculous "put in Malik" guys in my section as early as the first quarter. I'm not in that camp at all.

 

[koonja]

Somebody get Wizard some kool aid.

 

[PANDFAN]

Nice to see ESPN saying how spectacular Golson was and ND putting a beat down on rice

 

[wizards8507]

T. Rees (ND) - 346 YDS, 3 TD

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 4

 

[koonja]

Everyone who was on campus and didn't come away with at least rumor-fuel for the 5 suspended can take a lap. Pitiful. I would never let that happen.

 

[NDinL.A.]

I'm not anti Golsen by any means. I'm just anti "crown him with the Heisman after one game."

Remember what Tommy "Heisman" Rees did to Temple?

Also, there were some ridiculous "put in Malik" guys in my section as early as the first quarter. I'm not in that camp at all.

Well, maybe it was someone else, but I swear you were the one ripping him after the spring game and praising Zaire to no end, even saying that a throw by Zaire in the friggin spring game (with no pressure and no fear of being touched) was better than any throw Golson ever made (better than his bomb to Brown in the 4th quarter of a tie game on the road as a huge dog, or better than his p-rod to Eifert in the end zone against Stanford against another top 10 team. LOL).

If it wasn't you, then I apologize profusely. I just remember it as you.

 

[Kingbish01]

A few things that really stuck out to me.

1.) The stadium experience was the best it has ever been. They played music LOUD and often. We really had fun in the stands, and the old peeps didn't complain much (a few people kept plugging their ears and rolling their eyes) it felt like I was sitting in Athens at a UGA game.

2.) Kyle Brindza was warming up and hitting from 60/65 yards, and then misses his first kick..smh

3.) Offensive line played great, especially with Golson running around back there.

4.) Jaylon is a leader, one of the biggest cheerleaders on the sideline when the offense is out.

5.) Michigan is obviously the real test, but I'm not loving our secondary. It could be a long day or a flat out shootout!

6.) Serious question here...Did we have more punt return yards yesterday than the last two years combined?

 

[South Jersey Domer]

Mark May is a tool.

Between you and me, I do hear that he cries during "Rudy"

 

[irish#underground]

I'm not anti Golsen by any means. I'm just anti "crown him with the Heisman after one game."

Remember what Tommy "Heisman" Rees did to Temple?

Also, there were some ridiculous "put in Malik" guys in my section as early as the first quarter. I'm not in that camp at all.

Are you serious, Tommy Rees??? That's funny dude.

 

[South Jersey Domer]

For any of you that were watching College Football Final, did any of you, like me, notice Chris Fowler getting annoyed when Lou Holtz was talking about how well Notre Dame did yesterday? Seems like ESPN only wants to give us minimal amount of credit.

 

[wizards8507]

Well, maybe it was someone else, but I swear you were the one ripping him after the spring game and praising Zaire to no end, even saying that a throw by Zaire in the friggin spring game (with no pressure and no fear of being touched) was better than any throw Golson ever made (better than his bomb to Brown in the 4th quarter of a tie game on the road as a huge dog, or better than his p-rod to Eifert in the end zone against Stanford against another top 10 team. LOL).

If it wasn't you, then I apologize profusely. I just remember it as you.

I did say that Zaire's spring game was better than Golson's spring game, but I wouldn't compare Zaire's spring game to Golson's live action. Similarly, I put zero stock in Zaire's garbage time yards yesterday, other than that his size is impressive.

Are you serious, Tommy Rees??? That's funny dude.

I'm not saying Tommy is better than Golson. I'm pointing out that even a mediocre QB can look fantastic against inferior competition.

That's the problem posting about something people are so passionate about. A moderate position gets attacked for being anti-whatever. My point is not "Golson sucks" or "start Malik," it's "cool your jets. He tore up Rice, which isn't that hard."

 

[UmphreakDomer]

This throw and the one that CJ dropped were the 2 best passes I've seen a Notre Dame quarterback make since Jimmy Clausen.

i agree its nice to see the "bomb" again--and this was the longest pass since Crist to Floyd against WMU for 80.

but clausen couldn't have even made the throw to Prosise. that was legendary stuff right there.

moving out of the pocket, to his left, throwing across his body and ~70 yards in the air. #fap

 

[Bogtrotter07]

I just needed to chip in because I don't understand many of the posts in this thread :

Golson was 14 out of 22 for a whopping 21 plus yards per catch! With three on the money drops, from a young receiving corps, he would have been out of this world, superhuman. Those three could have added up to 130 yards additional, and two more touchdowns to his total.

Any criticism of Golson is unwarranted. He did everything right yesterday. If you re-watch the game his feet were a triumph of conservative motion. His feet were quiet on the three plays he completed where the ball traveled over 50 yards in the air, and the other two (one to Prosise and one to Fuller) that should have been caught!

Golson moved well to avoid sacks and extend the play. The offensive line played an incredibly fast defensive front. A couple of those young guys, especially the guy over Stanley and Elmer may be as fast as anyone the Irish face this year. Were they the best? No, I am not saying that. But they moved and finished well. Better than anyone I say against OSU, UM, MSU, USC, or Stanford.

Speaking of which. Not only did the offensive line play better in all phases of the game than I could have imagined, they did specific things that they may not have done as well last year :

Christian Lombard is 10 times the player he was last year. I can't remember the last time we had such a great right guard.

He kept that kid quiet all day over him, and that will be the only time that will happen this year.

Christian and the whole middle of the offensive line held their blocks at the point of attack and moved well to the second level.

There were more trapped, walled off linebackers yesterday than at any point last season.

Hanratty was great. The five worked as a unit.​

This was particularly significant in my opinion, because Rice's defensive front was explosive fast! Most may not have been up to the level we will face later in the season, but Covington was. And those guys over the tackles were really quick and pretty solid. This, to me is a significant positive test for the first game with a young line. It shows much more than if we had played a team with real hogs, and not so good of movement.

Greg Bryant will never be the number 1 running back until he learns to pick up the blitz, and learns the play book. He left Everett with his dick in his hand yesterday, and Everett still scored! And a lot of the shortcoming in pass protection yesterday, wasn't with the five interior linemen! Most of it was with the running backs.

As far as linebackers, I am almost ready to call this years the best set ever, with two caveats, they fit a 4-3 not a 3-4, and Joe Schmidt is the most unusual case. The kids understand, sees, and can translate everything, instantly. Smith and Onwualu. aren't far behind, either. There anticipation was great. Bobby Elliot deserves some kudos with his coaching of this group. He really knows his players. And finally as far as the linebackers, Joe Schmidt had some awesome hits yesterday! Just like at the end of the SC game last year, he was layin' on the wood.

I will take no criticism of the two defensive backs that gave up touchdowns, other than they were out of position. Next week is different there is no excuse. But Collinsworth's injury came at the end of Thursday's practice, and no one that played had any first team reps; all in all they did pretty well.

And finally, the drops that would have improved Golson's passing attempts, looking at the replay, it looked to me that the receivers were not ready for the velocity with which the ball was being delivered! I believe both were in the air over 50 yards; WOW!

 

[gkIrish]

CJ's drop was a duck that was very slightly under thrown. Hell of a play to even get the throw off and reach him, but it wasn't "top two passes since Clausen" caliber. Obviously should have been caught though.

Dude that was a 50 yard pass with zip and hit CJ in stride. Golson was on the run and about to get hit. Doesn't get any better than that. Don't know why you think it was underthrown. Certainly wasn't a duck.

And yeah that Koyack pass over the middle was really nice too.

 

[greyhammer90]

Film room for the O Line is going to be rough this week.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Dude that was a 50 yard pass with zip and hit CJ in stride. Golson was on the run and about to get hit. Doesn't get any better than that. Don't know why you think it was underthrown. Certainly wasn't a duck.

And yeah that Koyack pass over the middle was really nice too.

Both passes to Prosise were phenomenal. The first one had so much zip, I think that is why it got away from him. There was a pass from the left side, Golson rolled left, to Fuller along the right sideline, where Golson led him perfectly. That ball had to be in the air over 55-60 yards, and it looked the same to me. Fuller wasn't ready for the velocity.

When a quarterback passes for 21+ yards per reception, almost hits three hundred yards, and half of his incompletions were on WR's for drops, oh, and he rushes for forty, scoring three red zone TD's, that isn't all about competition. That is about a guy balllin' out of his mind!

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Film room for the O Line is going to be rough this week.

It is going to be much rougher on running backs.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Shouldn't continue the debate, but I have to stick up for my Big Boys. I don't get the put-downs of the O&D lines. Why:

We had 576 yards yesterday, and 281 on the ground [6.7 ypcarry]. I suppose some people either think that the backs did all the work themselves, or that the defense never makes a good play and stuffs something, or that you're not good unless you average 10 ypc. The team gave up only 1 sack. "1" seems pretty close to "zero" to me --- maybe my math is antiquated. One [maybe two] instance in pass protection of clearly being beaten also seems pretty close to zero to me. Rice's DLine was supposed to be a strength.

Defensively, it should be admired that Rice had only a 3.6 ypc average and NO runs over ten yards except for one QB scramble. And again, running was supposed to be their strength. Yeh, we were getting killed on the DLine. We also sacked their QB twice. And, this was probably true with Van Gorder holding a LOT back in terms of scheme. There were NO defensive penalties.

I don't get the crap being lain at the feet of our monsters. Is there room for improvement? Duh... it was first game. Hopefully most of us watched Michigan and Ohio State's "vaunted lines" stumble around a heck of a lot more than ours did. App State stuffed Michigan's running a lot. If they had any secondary players who could walk and chew gum at the same time, UofM would have had a MUCH harder day. As it was, their receivers could stroll out, eat a quick sandwich, and catch a ball before any oddly colored uniform entered the area.

 

[UmphreakDomer]

I just needed to chip in because I don't understand many of the posts in this thread :

Golson was 14 out of 22 for a whopping 21 plus yards per catch! With three on the money drops, from a young receiving corps, he would have been out of this world, superhuman. Those three could have added up to 130 yards additional, and two more touchdowns to his total.

Any criticism of Golson is unwarranted. He did everything right yesterday. If you re-watch the game his feet were a triumph of conservative motion. His feet were quiet on the three plays he completed where the ball traveled over 50 yards in the air, and the other two (one to Prosise and one to Fuller) that should have been caught!

Golson moved well to avoid sacks and extend the play. The offensive line played an incredibly fast defensive front. A couple of those young guys, especially the guy over Stanley and Elmer may be as fast as anyone the Irish face this year. Were they the best? No, I am not saying that. But they moved and finished well. Better than anyone I say against OSU, UM, MSU, USC, or Stanford.

Speaking of which. Not only did the offensive line play better in all phases of the game than I could have imagined, they did specific things that they may not have done as well last year :

Christian Lombard is 10 times the player he was last year. I can't remember the last time we had such a great right guard.

He kept that kid quiet all day over him, and that will be the only time that will happen this year.

Christian and the whole middle of the offensive line held their blocks at the point of attack and moved well to the second level.

There were more trapped, walled off linebackers yesterday than at any point last season.

Hanratty was great. The five worked as a unit.​

This was particularly significant in my opinion, because Rice's defensive front was explosive fast! Most may not have been up to the level we will face later in the season, but Covington was. And those guys over the tackles were really quick and pretty solid. This, to me is a significant positive test for the first game with a young line. It shows much more than if we had played a team with real hogs, and not so good of movement.

Greg Bryant will never be the number 1 running back until he learns to pick up the blitz, and learns the play book. He left Everett with his dick in his hand yesterday, and Everett still scored! And a lot of the shortcoming in pass protection yesterday, wasn't with the five interior linemen! Most of it was with the running backs.

As far as linebackers, I am almost ready to call this years the best set ever, with two caveats, they fit a 4-3 not a 3-4, and Joe Schmidt is the most unusual case. The kids understand, sees, and can translate everything, instantly. Smith and Onwualu. aren't far behind, either. There anticipation was great. Bobby Elliot deserves some kudos with his coaching of this group. He really knows his players. And finally as far as the linebackers, Joe Schmidt had some awesome hits yesterday! Just like at the end of the SC game last year, he was layin' on the wood.

I will take no criticism of the two defensive backs that gave up touchdowns, other than they were out of position. Next week is different there is no excuse. But Collinsworth's injury came at the end of Thursday's practice, and no one that played had any first team reps; all in all they did pretty well.

And finally, the drops that would have improved Golson's passing attempts, looking at the replay, it looked to me that the receivers were not ready for the velocity with which the ball was being delivered! I believe both were in the air over 50 yards; WOW!

i will say, from listening to the post game presser on und--im not 100% positive that bryant is the one that went the wrong way. BK was a little too cryptic to make me believe it was bryant who f'd up. and thats not a criticism as I'm not sure we'll ever know.

 

[CanadalovesND]

Cool little fact about yesterday's game: We had 12 total possessions on offence, with 8 of them resulting in either a FG or a TD. Would have been 10 if Brindza made that FG and CJ didn't drop that pass.

But still, 8 out of 12 is a good way to start off the season

 

[irish#underground]

I did say that Zaire's spring game was better than Golson's spring game, but I wouldn't compare Zaire's spring game to Golson's live action. Similarly, I put zero stock in Zaire's garbage time yards yesterday, other than that his size is impressive.






I'm not saying Tommy is better than Golson. I'm pointing out that even a mediocre QB can look fantastic against inferior competition.

That's the problem posting about something people are so passionate about. A moderate position gets attacked for being anti-whatever. My point is not "Golson sucks" or "start Malik," it's "cool your jets. He tore up Rice, which isn't that hard."

i agree its nice to see the "bomb" again--and this was the longest pass since Crist to Floyd against WMU for 80.

but clausen couldn't have even made the throw to Prosise. that was legendary stuff right there.

moving out of the pocket, to his left, throwing across his body and ~70 yards in the air. #fap

I just needed to chip in because I don't understand many of the posts in this thread :

Golson was 14 out of 22 for a whopping 21 plus yards per catch! With three on the money drops, from a young receiving corps, he would have been out of this world, superhuman. Those three could have added up to 130 yards additional, and two more touchdowns to his total.

Any criticism of Golson is unwarranted. He did everything right yesterday. If you re-watch the game his feet were a triumph of conservative motion. His feet were quiet on the three plays he completed where the ball traveled over 50 yards in the air, and the other two (one to Prosise and one to Fuller) that should have been caught!

Golson moved well to avoid sacks and extend the play. The offensive line played an incredibly fast defensive front. A couple of those young guys, especially the guy over Stanley and Elmer may be as fast as anyone the Irish face this year. Were they the best? No, I am not saying that. But they moved and finished well. Better than anyone I say against OSU, UM, MSU, USC, or Stanford.

Speaking of which. Not only did the offensive line play better in all phases of the game than I could have imagined, they did specific things that they may not have done as well last year :

Christian Lombard is 10 times the player he was last year. I can't remember the last time we had such a great right guard.

He kept that kid quiet all day over him, and that will be the only time that will happen this year.

Christian and the whole middle of the offensive line held their blocks at the point of attack and moved well to the second level.

There were more trapped, walled off linebackers yesterday than at any point last season.

Hanratty was great. The five worked as a unit.​

This was particularly significant in my opinion, because Rice's defensive front was explosive fast! Most may not have been up to the level we will face later in the season, but Covington was. And those guys over the tackles were really quick and pretty solid. This, to me is a significant positive test for the first game with a young line. It shows much more than if we had played a team with real hogs, and not so good of movement.

Greg Bryant will never be the number 1 running back until he learns to pick up the blitz, and learns the play book. He left Everett with his dick in his hand yesterday, and Everett still scored! And a lot of the shortcoming in pass protection yesterday, wasn't with the five interior linemen! Most of it was with the running backs.

As far as linebackers, I am almost ready to call this years the best set ever, with two caveats, they fit a 4-3 not a 3-4, and Joe Schmidt is the most unusual case. The kids understand, sees, and can translate everything, instantly. Smith and Onwualu. aren't far behind, either. There anticipation was great. Bobby Elliot deserves some kudos with his coaching of this group. He really knows his players. And finally as far as the linebackers, Joe Schmidt had some awesome hits yesterday! Just like at the end of the SC game last year, he was layin' on the wood.

I will take no criticism of the two defensive backs that gave up touchdowns, other than they were out of position. Next week is different there is no excuse. But Collinsworth's injury came at the end of Thursday's practice, and no one that played had any first team reps; all in all they did pretty well.

And finally, the drops that would have improved Golson's passing attempts, looking at the replay, it looked to me that the receivers were not ready for the velocity with which the ball was being delivered! I believe both were in the air over 50 yards; WOW!

Finally someone that knows alil about football, thanks Bogs. But you know Schmidt was getting the wood layed on him lol.

 

[connor_in]

Run offense - We looked great most of the day. A bit of a slow start. Three headed RB was fine, especially trying to find out how each play on gameday. GB fantastic running the ball today. TF pretty good too. Cam didn't get the yards but I feel he did better on pass protection. The line was doing a good job of opening holes.

Pass offense - The line was kind of scary here. Golson did stand in the pocket sometimes but had to bail and scramble around too much for my taste...especially against Rice. However, Golson made pretty tasty lemonade from most of it. Fantastic accuracy mostly even on long balls. After the first quarter was under his belt, felt like he didn't have the urge to bolt upfield too soon and let things play out and receivers get open. Receivers did well. I loved Amir and CJ (minus the huge drop) and feel they will be a great part of the WR rotation. I think Cory not getting looks will change and was partly because of his hand. Personally, I didn't miss DD. He has the potential, but has been inconsistent. I hope he comes back and proves me wrong.

Special teams - Best we've seen in a long time. Just teach GB how to signal fair catch and figure out what Brindza's glitch was.

Run Defense- Pretty good but bigger teams scare me right now. But this was first game with new scheme and major replacements up the middle. Schmidt knows what he is doing but gets pushed a bit. Can the pre-med guys get his brain in Morgan's body?

Pass Defense - Scariest part of the team right now. Riggs, Luke, and Redfield were good. I felt Farley was much improved. However, we deeply missed KR and AC's brain and heart. We got lucky that Rice dropped their fair share. The line did start getting some penetration but I would have wished for more. Once again, I will be patient and chalk it up to some really young guys and a new scheme.

Overall, a very good game that we needed against an OK but overmatched opponent to tune things up. Coaches, I know you guys are good at teaching, so keep it up and we should have a decent year.

I still guess 3 losses with a chance of getting it down to 1 if we gel quickly enough and get guys back.


EDIT
A couple of additions...I wanted to say Golson did way better at deciding to throw the ball away when necessary, much improved over 2012. Also, props to the OL for keeping Rice's biggest weapon on D nearly invisible. One other thing, were we not executing well on offense or are we saving up tempo for scUM? Muck Fichigan BTW.

 

[kmoose]

Any criticism of Golson is unwarranted. He did everything right yesterday.

I don't have any criticism of him, myself. But I would bet that the coaching staff would disagree with your position, here.

No one is perfect.

 

[Irish Insanity]

Somebody get Wizard some kool aid.

Someone tell him it's GOLSON

I'm not saying Tommy is better than Golson. I'm pointing out that even a mediocre QB can look fantastic against inferior competition."

True. But many are complaining about our Oline play. If they were that bad, or even iffy, do you think Rees could've got off even half his throws?

 

[CoachB]

I completely agree with you OMM. I think both lines played well. I'm not sure the criticism being given to them. While watching the game I was thinking how good the defensive line looked. I thought they were a pleasant surprise. Admittedly, we did not get much of a pass rush, but I thought the run defense was really good.

On the offensive line, we put up good numbers and good balance. Elmer got beat once and Stanley got beat some, but like was previously stated that will happen at times with 240 pound speed rushers, but you will be able to run at them all day.

I also don't think the secondary will be the biggest weakness on the team. If KVR gets cleared, big if, I would move Riggs to safety. However, I thought they played really well except for the Shumate and Baratti blunders.

My biggest concern coming out of this game is it seemed like the receivers didn't get much separation except on the long balls. Everett had time on some, but had nowhere to go with it. Good thing he can scramble some. Should be a great game with Michigan this week.

 

[UmphreakDomer]

I don't have any criticism of him, myself. But I would bet that the coaching staff would disagree with your position, here.

No one is perfect.

fandoms criticism and coaching points are completely unrelated. bogs is right--Golson played a perfect game from a fans perspective (even educated and smart fan base like ours). minus 1 throw that should've been picked but wasn't.

 

[irish#underground]

i will say, from listening to the post game presser on und--im not 100% positive that bryant is the one that went the wrong way. BK was a little too cryptic to make me believe it was bryant who f'd up. and thats not a criticism as I'm not sure we'll ever know.

It was a drawn up play called the statue of Golson lol. I mean did u see that DE?

 

[kmoose]

fandoms criticism and coaching points are completely unrelated. bogs is right--Golson played a perfect game from a fans perspective (even educated and smart fan base like ours). minus 1 throw that should've been picked but wasn't.

Make up your mind; he was either perfect, or he made a mistake. He could not have been both.

 

[irishfan]

Shouldn't continue the debate, but I have to stick up for my Big Boys. I don't get the put-downs of the O&D lines. Why:

We had 576 yards yesterday, and 281 on the ground [6.7 ypcarry]. I suppose some people either think that the backs did all the work themselves, or that the defense never makes a good play and stuffs something, or that you're not good unless you average 10 ypc. The team gave up only 1 sack. "1" seems pretty close to "zero" to me --- maybe my math is antiquated. One [maybe two] instance in pass protection of clearly being beaten also seems pretty close to zero to me. Rice's DLine was supposed to be a strength.

Defensively, it should be admired that Rice had only a 3.6 ypc average and NO runs over ten yards except for one QB scramble. And again, running was supposed to be their strength. Yeh, we were getting killed on the DLine. We also sacked their QB twice. And, this was probably true with Van Gorder holding a LOT back in terms of scheme. There were NO defensive penalties.

I don't get the crap being lain at the feet of our monsters. Is there room for improvement? Duh... it was first game. Hopefully most of us watched Michigan and Ohio State's "vaunted lines" stumble around a heck of a lot more than ours did. App State stuffed Michigan's running a lot. If they had any secondary players who could walk and chew gum at the same time, UofM would have had a MUCH harder day. As it was, their receivers could stroll out, eat a quick sandwich, and catch a ball before any oddly colored uniform entered the area.

I felt the O-Line did a great job in the run game, and the DL held up very well against the run (and Rice was a very strong rushing team last year). My concern is with the inconsistent pass protection, and with the lack of any sort of pass rush from the DL.