Georgia Tech Post Game Thread

[FightingIrishLover7]

One thing I wanted to point out again was that we really needed to go for 2 to go up 17. Every chart I see online says go for 2 and I really don't see why you wouldn't. Georgia Tech would not have had a chance if we had converted 2 points. Instead they were an onside kick away from a hail mary to tie it.

But if you fail the two point conversion, a hail Mary and a two point conversion lose the game...

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Great win!!

Defense:

- Everyone knew their assignments, and were disciplined in execution.
- First three and out set the tone. GT confidence not as high and they looked a little deflated.
- Martini is a solid open field tackler. He had a good game.
- Everyone saw it. Everyone knows it. Jaylon is a beast. I'm starting to think he may be an alien...

Offense:

- Game plan was fairly vanilla, but it's nice to see Kelly has confidence in Deshone throwing the deep ball. He can chuck it...
- Josh Adams had a great block on a blitz. I think that kid is going to be good.
- I was hoping to see Justin Brent go in at RB. We need one more back in the rotation.
- I would let Will Fuller marry my daughter...

Special Teams:

- Not so special.


Did anyone else notice how calm BK looked throughout most of the game? First time I saw him agitated was when a ref made a bad call.

Justin Brent is redshirting.

 

[dmort]

New celebration rule - high five or fist bump only.

 

[sportallyr]

Don't know if anyone has singled him out yet, but Cage played a great game inside. In fact, all of the D-Linemen played well. They won't get the glory in these games, but they shut down the running between the tackles for most of the game and allowed the linebackers and safeties to focus on the game outside the tackles. I was extremely worried about losing Jarron Jones, but I think Cage, "Terry Jillery" and Co have done a tremendous job learning on the job.

I am not sure why the starters were still in the game at the end. Looking back, the game was essentially over when CJ had his long TD and the Irish went up 30-7 with a few minutes left. I understand that GT got back into the game, but I think that was a result of the starting defense being tired and having nothing left after a very emotional and physical game. I think if Kelly had let the reserves into the game late, The Irish might not have let them score again and would have had gotten some backups some good experience.

People are nervous about Yoon, but I gotta admit, most of his kicks are absolutely perfect. Yes, he's had a few miscues, which can be expected for a true freshman in an extremely high pressure position...but overall, I think we have a good kicker that will be great by the end of the year. He will likely be asked to kick a game winner at some point this year and I have confidence that he'll nail it!

This Irish team is special and I'm loving the way this season is setting up!!!

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Why not? He's the starting tailback. A starting tailback rushing 20 times a game is not unusual at all.

But he wasn't supposed to be the starting tailback. Or even second string for that matter.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Don't know if anyone has singled him out yet, but Cage played a great game inside. In fact, all of the D-Linemen played well. They won't get the glory in these games, but they shut down the running between the tackles for most of the game and allowed the linebackers and safeties to focus on the game outside the tackles. I was extremely worried about losing Jarron Jones, but I think Cage, "Terry Jillery" and Co have done a tremendous job learning on the job.

I am not sure why the starters were still in the game at the end. Looking back, the game was essentially over when CJ had his long TD and the Irish went up 30-7 with a few minutes left. I understand that GT got back into the game, but I think that was a result of the starting defense being tired and having nothing left after a very emotional and physical game. I think if Kelly had let the reserves into the game late, The Irish might not have let them score again and would have had gotten some backups some good experience.

People are nervous about Yoon, but I gotta admit, most of his kicks are absolutely perfect. Yes, he's had a few miscues, which can be expected for a true freshman in an extremely high pressure position...but overall, I think we have a good kicker that will be great by the end of the year. He will likely be asked to kick a game winner at some point this year and I have confidence that he'll nail it!

This Irish team is special and I'm loving the way this season is setting up!!!

Great post!

I didn't think that the defense looked overly tired. Even though a ground game like this is a gut check, ND rotated enough players, (yes, Cage, Onwualu, and even Nicki Baratti made significant contributions), but I still think the ending came down to a too little, too late gambit on the part of Johnson, (anywhere else on the field or at any other time in the game it would have been countered successfully, at least the second time), and a horrific call by the entire ref crew to make the onside recovery even possible.

The other amazing positive of this game was the fact that Tyler Newsome is coming into his own!

Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB
---------------------------------------------------
Newsome, Tyler 5 198 39.6 53 2 0
Totals... 5 198 39.6 53 2 0

What these stats tell me is that Tyler really has learned how to do more than just boom 'em! He brought down two inside the twenty, without one punt resulting in a touchback; this is a huge special teams improvement in helping to flip the field! And remember, he still hit two nice boomers that further helped with field positions.

And, he did nothing with low kicks to help the GeoTech returner; the refs did. By missing at least one flagrant block in the back on every punt return of GeoTech's during the game!

 

[Booslum31]

1. Day, Tillery, Cage did great at stopping the FB.

2. Want to see the "other CJ" return KO's...Amir seems a little tentative.

3. Alize is going to be fine. The game will slow down for him...freak athlete

4. Feel sick about Dru...get better fella.

5. O-line won their fair share of the battles...need to understand how those drive-busting penalties are occuring.

6. The last minute and half of that game erased the true story-line of the game. Need to finish.

 

[longliveautrydenson]

1. Day, Tillery, Cage did great at stopping the FB.

2. Want to see the "other CJ" return KO's...Amir seems a little tentative.

3. Alize is going to be fine. The game will slow down for him...freak athlete

4. Feel sick about Dru...get better fella.

5. O-line won their fair share of the battles...need to understand how those drive-busting penalties are occuring.

6. The last minute and half of that game erased the true story-line of the game. Need to finish.

We need to keep feeding Alize the ball, especially in a game like UMass where the margin for error is greater. This offense could be devastating if we have a TE that could consistently catch balls up the seam.

 

[irishandy]

Here are my postgame observations:
1) The defense showed up and they needed to.
2) Jaylon Smith is a bad@ss
3) Kudos to Bob Elliott's offseason research on the triple option.
4) Greer Martini played a solid game. Pencil him in the starting lineup vs. Navy.
5) No Max Redfield??
6) I would give Kizer's performance a B grade. I like the kid's confidence in himself, he seems like a leader like Malik, and he's going to get better weekly.
7) CJ Prosise is a beast.
8) Yoon and Aliz'e will be fine, they are only freshman.
9) Thoughts and prayers to Drue Tranquill.
10) Was anyone else at the game? I thought the crowd was louder than usual. It game me a USC game feel a little bit.

My game ball goes to CJ Prosise.

 

[kmoose]

But he wasn't supposed to be the starting tailback. Or even second string for that matter.

So Prosise should only carry the ball 10 times a game. Kizer wasn't supposed to be the starter, so we better limit him to 8 pass attempts a game. The other tailbacks are freshmen, so we should only allow them 2 or 3 carries a game. Do you really think that we should have < 25 offensive plays a game?

Next man in... Prosise is not only playing like a starter, he is playing like a potential All American. Feed him the rock! He's currently on pace for 1800 yards and 16 TDs. Now we all know he can't keep up that kind of pace, but he is the starter, and you need to get a starter's production out of him.

 

[koonja]

What's going on with Redfield? Will be be back to starting now that we're not playing the option? We cannot have Farley playing safety against Clemson or USC. They will put up madden numbers. Watching the USC/Stanford game right now and their speed at RB and WR is ridiculous.

Hoping this week off gave Max's hand some time to heal and he'll be back in their next week.

 

[Luckylucci]

Loved this game. The new theory of having a head coach-quality "non-coach" {Bob Elliot} scout vs a difficult offense for over a week seems as bright an idea as you can get. Thank you, "coach".

To be brief about the game as it might portend for the future:
Almost all our flaws in this otherwise dominating performance are not only fixable but are "logically" going to fix themselves --- Yoon's calmness in kicks, Kizer's ball security, Kizer and his receivers getting on the same page on routes, the OLine understanding Kizer's cadence, Alize Jones' drops --- imagine what that game would have been with those things cleaned up and us paying better attention in the last minute of play? 45-7?

Things could go well in our future, but CJ must not be banged up --- he was hurting a little bit during the game and we can't have that. Both frosh RBs must be used as significant breathers. We need to get a better kick-off returner [and NOT CJ --- give him a rest]. Maybe Adams. Straight up at the apparent gap, and get what we can.

We should get off the OLine's back. No one can defeat the opponents' front sevens every time, and we do it most of the time. CJ didn't gain all those yards on his own. Also note that a defensive front seven has "seven" and the front OLine has "five". Breakdowns are often not the mighty five's fault.

A win over a high quality opponent is great. A win over a high quality opponent when we show how far from our own ceiling we are is fairly thrilling.

We still have a chance at this thing, friends. Get past Clemson, guys.

Agree on the kick off return. Fairly frustrating how timid Carlisle is when receiving the ball. We need to get somebody back their that will act like he's being fired out of a cannon. I also agree that I don't want CJ back there. I think you're on the right track with Adams, I'd probably start will Dexter Williams due to What Adams now means to this offense.

 

[dmort]

I want a wide reciver back there,someone with good hands.

 

[Luckylucci]

I really liked Tillery at NT. Fom what I could tell yesterday, ND was primarily a 3-4 or 3-5, I guess we had Shumate and Tranquil/Farley on the field mostly though they played close to line most plays.

I loved the 3-4 look yesterday. And I completely agree that both Tillery and cage look good at NT. Unfortunately, I wasn't very impressed with ND's pass rush in obvious passing situations. We still can't seem to consistently create pressure out of 4 man rushes.

 

[koonja]

I loved the 3-4 look yesterday. And I completely agree that both Tillery and cage look good at NT. Unfortunately, I wasn't very impressed with ND's pass rush in obvious passing situations. We still can't seem to consistently create pressure out of 4 man rushes.

Where is Trumbetti? I thought he'd have a big year but I keep forgetting he's even on the team. Sort of the same with Jay Hayes, although I didn't have Trumbetti-like expectations for him.

 

[zelezo vlk]

Where is Trumbetti? I thought he'd have a big year but I keep forgetting he's even on the team. Sort of the same with Jay Hayes, although I didn't have Trumbetti-like expectations for him.

I think it was Irish Illustrated that said that missing spring hurt Trumbetti's development.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[Luckylucci]

Where is Trumbetti? I thought he'd have a big year but I keep forgetting he's even on the team. Sort of the same with Jay Hayes, although I didn't have Trumbetti-like expectations for him.

He only played 16 snaps against UVA and 26 versus Texas. So at least in those two contests he's just not getting much run time. In the time he's played I thought he's done fairly well but he is below my expectations at this point. Especially considering I don't think Okwara is playing that well, that he can't be taken off the field. Must be something in practice that we're not seeing.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Trumbetti's after-the-play personal foul vs Virginia may have put him in the doghouse.

 

[ulukinatme]

From Matt Fortuna

 

[koonja]

- Joe’s had 10 tackles, but there were a number of times where he’d go unblocked and the QB or RB would still turn the corner because Joe was too slow. These plays cost us a lot of yards.

- Kizer was pretty good. He’s staying in the pocket and appears to be going through his progressions, which makes me think we’ll see him get a little better each week.

- Nick Martin and Elmer overall are good, but they completely whiff a few plays each game it seems. Strong , but not great athletes.

- Not a lot of action for the CBs, but I’m not impressed with KVR so far. I thought he’d have left a mark on this defense by now. I hope he picks it up by Clemson.

- Shummate played really well last week, but was pretty bad this week. Gave up a couple of big plays by getting blocked and flipped upside down by the cut.

- Very impressed with Sheldon Day so far.

- Is Jaylon the best player in football this year?

- Amir Carlisle is so underwhelming, and CJ Sanders seems like the real deal. Why on earth can he not be our KR? I’d like to see Tori Hunter play slot every chance he can over Amir.

- Really don’t understand not using Josh Adams more. He’s been solid every chance he’s gotten. I’d love to see closer to a 60-40 split to help keep CJ healthy. Adams was even picking up the blocks well. CJ is so fun to watch, btw. Thank God we moved him to RB.

- Chris Brown makes some good catches, drops some easy ones. Physically not as gifted as we thought he’d be, I’m not a fan and wish someone else would step up take his spot.

- I do not understand how BK could call that game against FSU last year, which was beautiful, and then lay this shit on us. Love him as a coach, but I wish he’d stop calling predictable, head scratching plays.

- I hope Alize continues to get chances, and more down field. He got a poor pass on that seam route, but you can tell he’s going to attack the ball.

- OL and DL overall were great.

- Kudos to BVG and Elliot. Straight aces this week.

- We're going to be 4-0 after September, which is huge. We cannot have another big injury before USC. It's just disgusting how unlucky we've been.

- Yoon has to figure his kicking out, we can't afford to be missing extra points and/or short field goals.

- Whatever is going on with Redfield has to get fixed by USC. If Farley's back there, Juju Smith will win the heisman. Apparently Baratti is healthy and able to play? Hope he puts that 4.4 laser 40 to work back there if Redfield can't get it together/healthy.

- Kizer is staying in the pocket and the OL is giving him good time, but he's not finding anyone open. Is this a problem of our WR's not getting separation? Or Kizer not seeing them? Maybe someone at the game can chime in.

- Thought Drue and Martini played great, would like to see more of Martini going forward.

- I don't know what to think about not seeing Jay Hayes and Trumbetti out there. I thought Trumbetti would unseat Romeo by now, who's not playing well. I feel like we're going to have to use Jay Hayes at some point, so why not get him in the mix sooner rather than later to keep him engaged and the others fresh.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

All the Yoon questioning is making me sad. He passes the heck out of the eye test. His form looks great, and the ball comes off his foot so well, with great rotation.

He already looks like a more typical kicker than Brindza. Yoon will become consistent. I have absolutely zero worries with him.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

Tough crowd in here.

 

[koonja]

All the Yoon questioning is making me sad. He passes the heck out of the eye test. His form looks great, and the ball comes off his foot so well, with great rotation.

He already looks like a more typical kicker than Brindza. Yoon will become consistent. I have absolutely zero worries with him.

He spins it well, but he was an inch from missing back to back PATs. That's kind of scary. Hopefully he figures it out.

 

[kmoose]

- I do not understand how BK could call that game against FSU last year, which was beautiful, and then lay this shit on us. Love him as a coach, but I wish he’d stop calling predictable, head scratching plays.

Seriously, did your parents feed you a steady diet of paint chips as a child?

Notre Dame has played 3 games, all against Power 5 teams. In just about half of that time, we have been playing a QB who is getting his very first college reps. And Kelly's "predictable, head scratching" play calling has us averaging almost 500 (481) yards a game. You know who else called predictable plays all of the time? Lou Holtz. In fact, Lou would sometimes run the exact same play, out of the exact same formation, a half dozen or more times in a row, until the defense finally stopped it. You know who else called predictable plays? A guy named Jim Tressel. Being predictable is only bad if the defense stops you. And so far, everything has been working. So quit whining about what's working, already!!

 

[koonja]

Seriously, did your parents feed you a steady diet of paint chips as a child?

Notre Dame has played 3 games, all against Power 5 teams. In just about half of that time, we have been playing a QB who is getting his very first college reps. And Kelly's "predictable, head scratching" play calling has us averaging almost 500 (481) yards a game. You know who else called predictable plays all of the time? Lou Holtz. In fact, Lou would sometimes run the exact same play, out of the exact same formation, a half dozen or more times in a row, until the defense finally stopped it. You know who else called predictable plays? A guy named Jim Tressel. Being predictable is only bad if the defense stops you. And so far, everything has been working. So quit whining about what's working, already!!

Solid.

I'm not whining, I'm assessing the game. Yes, we're 3-0, but we're not perfect. You realize that almost every fan that's at least moderately tuned into ND football would agree that BK's play calling leaves a lot to be desired, right? You're whining that we should all be happy and not point out what we see. If you want to see that, start a 'happy place' thread where we're not allowed to be critical when it calls for it, and the children can go there when they need a mood boost. Post game observations is for the men to talk football, both the good and the bad.

 

[Cackalacky]

From Matt Fortuna

Very telling. It showed on the field. Too bad that can't be done for every team or could it?

 

[kmoose]

Solid.

I'm not whining, I'm assessing the game. Yes, we're 3-0, but we're not perfect. You realize that almost every fan that's at least moderately tuned into ND football would agree that BK's play calling leaves a lot to be desired, right? You're whining that we should all be happy and not point out what we see. If you want to see that, start a 'happy place' thread where we're not allowed to be critical when it calls for it, and the children can go there when they need a mood boost. Post game observations is for the men to talk football, both the good and the bad.

No. I don't realize that, nor do I accept it as true. I think that people who have very little familiarity with football are complaining. Those who understand the game are content to succeed, and that's exactly what Brian Kelly's play calling is doing. I criticize aspects of ND football all of the time, so I don't know where you get the "happy place" horseshit. But I don't make it a habit of criticizing what is working, just because it doesn't appeal to my personal taste. And you do that CONSTANTLY! It's very annoying. I am going to apologize for the pain chip comment as that was not cool, no matter how annoying the post is/was; but I am going to ask you to look at some data before you criticize something.

 

[koonja]

No. I don't realize that, nor do I accept it as true. I think that people who have very little familiarity with football are complaining. Those who understand the game are content to succeed, and that's exactly what Brian Kelly's play calling is doing. I criticize aspects of ND football all of the time, so I don't know where you get the "happy place" horseshit. But I don't make it a habit of criticizing what is working, just because it doesn't appeal to my personal taste. And you do that CONSTANTLY! It's very annoying. I am going to apologize for the pain chip comment as that was not cool, no matter how annoying the post is/was; but I am going to ask you to look at some data before you criticize something.

If I annoy you, block my posts. I do not care.

But get lost with the 'well it's working so why analyze individual components'. This is a message board, and many are critical of BK's play calling. If that's too much for you, I'd suggest reading ND related articles rather than ND discussion boards.

Back to my issue with the play calling, I feel like we have the best overall group of WRs/TEs, athletically, that BK has had in his tenure. But our offense is WR quick pass, WR quick screen, 8-10 yard hitches, or fly route to Fuller. I think we need to open up the field more and let our Tori Hunters/Will Fullers/Chris Browns spread out the defense rather than bunch everyone within 15 yards of the LOS. We have a lot of horsepower but the simple play calling gives them no room to gallop.

 

[FLDomer]

So good to have Koon back....adds soooo much value to the board. (Yall can judge if this needs italics)

 

[dang227]

I was at the game sitting about 10 rows up in the endzone. It was really interesting watching the game from this perspective.

CJ Saunders should have had a return TD on the one punt return in the second half. If he cuts in instead of out, he was gone.

Defense was really good when it attacked instead of waiting for the option. Biggest difference I saw from the past.

Jaylon was all over the place. For a long time in the first half it seemed they only ran the option away from him.

Offensive line had me worried for a while. Didn't seem like there was much of a push but wore them down. Tech defenders looked gassed in the 4th quarter.

Impressed by Kizer.

Pretty good atmosphere. Not as loud as Michigan last year.

We were directly behind the Procise 91 yarder. It was cool to watch it from that perspective.

Did Adams get any carries? Didn't see it but would like to see him get at least 5 a a game.

Great win by the Irish!