Thoughts on the UM game

[johnnd05]

I know that Coach Weis has said that the team has put this game behind them and they're not going to watch tape or think about it any more, but that doesn't mean we can't. So let's stop ranting about things in general and talk about what happened on the field yesterday. This is based on going over the box score as well as what I can recall from memory; I'm certainly not going to sit and watch that fiasco again.

The good

• Golden Tate's kick returns (five for 133 yards, with a long of 40) were simply excellent. This kid is going to be something special.

The okay

• It's hard to be too happy when you get hit for 289 (!!!) rushing yards, but our defensive line play seemed to be pretty good once again. There were times when we got some nice pressure on Mallett, and the box score shows eight tackles (four solo, four assisted) by Justin Brown, seven (four solo, three assisted) by Trevor Laws, six (three each solo and assisted) by Pat Kuntz, six (five solo and one assisted) by Dwight Stephenson, and also four (all solo) by Ian Williams. John Ryan, who I take it was basically playing as a defensive end for much of the day (though correct me if I'm wrong on this), had seven tackles (six solo) as well. Not bad, at least numbers-wise.
• Jimmy Clausen didn't play badly, but he didn't look great either. He clearly looked down his receiver on that one interception, and there were times when he overthrew guys or hung onto the ball too long under pressure. But it's hard to criticize him given the utter inability of our offensive line to protect him. That said, the way he failed to fall on that one fumble was completely unacceptable, and an average of 4.4 yards per completion just isn't enough (though this is the area where the bad o-line play hurts him the most).
• Given the aforementioned badness of our offensive (ha!) line, it's hard to be too tough on our running backs, either. If sacks are left out, the box score shows a total of 90 rushing yards, though 13 of those came on the punt fake to Travis Thomas. Armando Allen, who is clearly the #1 tailback and has even stopped returning kicks, had nine carries for only 26 yards, and while the way he went down on that one hit was an illustration of how hard it is to be an every-down guy as a freshman, he showed some toughness by getting back in there. James Aldridge also had 51 yards on ten carries, though many of those came against UM's second- and third-string defenses, when the outcome of the game was no longer in doubt.
• Finally, our kick coverage was much more solid than last week, as UM was held to an average of six yards on punt returns and only returned the ball 17 yards on our one - ONE! - kickoff.

The bad:

• For the first time this season it seemed to me that tackling was a big issue. Guys would have a shot at making a tackle in the backfield or a few yards from scrimmage, and would sometimes even have their man all but wrapped up, and would fail to bring him down. To some extent this can be attributed to the fact that the game was just so completely out of hand, but it's still inexcusable.
• Our secondary looked pretty bad as well, as they got turned around or flat-out burned a number of times and a freshman QB hit us for three passing touchdowns in his first career start. Naming David Bruton, whose only highlight I can recall was getting flat-out run OVER by Branden Minor, the "player of the game" for ND was simply a joke.

The awful:

• Judging by the box score, anyway, our linebackers had a simply dreadful game. When EACH of your starting safeties has more solo tackles (5 each by Bruton and Zbikowski) than your middle linebackers COMBINED (one for Crum (who also had six assists) and two for Brockington (three assists)), that's an awful day. The box score shows one total tackle each for Steve Quinn, Anthony Vernaglia, and Morrice Richardson, and two tackles (one solo, one assisted) for Brian Smith. It doesn't look like Toryan Smith saw the field at all. [EDIT: I am told that he did and that the boxscore was a mistake, but obviously it doesn't look like he did much.]
• As has been repeated ad nauseam, the offensive (ha!) line was an embarrassment once again. It is hard to see how we will EVER get this offense going if our line can't even get a tiny bit of push so as to enable us to convert a third-and-one, provide enough pass protection to enable Clausen to find his receivers when they're more than three yards from the line of scrimmage, or open up a running lane big enough for a full-sized person to get through. There is no doubt that they're the biggest problem on this team (though they're clearly not the only one). Our fullbacks and tight ends get some of the blame for this, too: and note that Luke Schmidt apparently saw the field some yesterday, as he had two catches for eleven yards.
• There was also an absolute plethora of mental mistakes yesterday: Sullivan's bad snaps, Clausen's failure to fall on his fumble, Travis Thomas's clipping penalty on a nice return, and Ambrose Wooden - or was it Terrail Lambert? - blatantly shoving a receiver out of bounds on an uncatchable ball are the ones that jump to mind right now. Moreover, the team seemed to come out with no focus whatsoever, and was unable to get anything going once they'd dug themselves into that hole. If 90% of this game is half mental, then we scored a 55 at BEST yesterday.

Overall: this game was an absolute embarrassment, and a huge step back after the progress that was made between the GT and PSU games. If Weis wants to make good on his promise never again to lose to MSU, he'd better pull some serious rabbits out of his hat, and quick.

All eyes on you, Charlie.

 

[johnnd05]

Here's a GREAT breakdown of the game from Michael Rothstein, who apparently DID manage to watch through the game tape. He does an excellent job picking up on a bunch of key problems.

Breaking Down the Tape - ND/Michigan

We'll preface all of this by saying what sticks out after a second time watching this -- it is ugly. Really, really ugly. We hear at Insights don't have rooting interests in games (except that they end in a reasonable amount of time) but we do enjoy good football and competitive games. This one had none of that.

Some thoughts on a Monday after watching the game again. First negatives. Then, um, positives:


Negatives:

• We'll start here. The offensive line still can't block. Not at all. Although they aren't as bad as the sack total would say. More on that later. While there was some competitive nature to the game, Charlie Weis put in freshman tackle Matt Romine and sophomore guards Matt Carufel and Eric Olsen. So more guys played. Here's the bad thing...Romine, not surprisingly, really struggled. He was often beat off the edge -- although so were starters Paul Duncan and Sam Young. The Irish are no where with their offensive line right now.
• Quarterback Jimmy Clausen had a bad day. When he'd look downfield, he overthrew his receivers. He also locked on to his targets if he threw over seven yards and threw into double coverage more than once. Also, on a sack by safety Brandent Engelmon, Clausen didn't even see him sneak up. Then he was untouched and crunched Clausen on the blind side. Clausen also held on to the ball way too long on some sacks and some scrambles. This makes the offensive line look worse than they already are. Plus, this might seem like a small thing and we know Notre Dame was getting pummeled, but Clausen didn't look like he was having fun playing football once. Not even at the beginning of the game. The only time we've seen him smile is right before he came in against Georgia Tech. Since then, nothing. Then look at Ryan Mallett. Sure, Michigan was winning big but even before that, he just looked like he enjoyed playing football.
• The running game still had nothing -- but that probably has to do with the porous line. John Sullivan botched snaps and also found himself split with the guard on runs up the middle -- including a 3rd and 1 run that ended up with Junior Jabbie crushed for a loss.
• We're not sure if it is blocking schemes or what, but on screens and short passes, the offensive line doesn't seem to get downfield to block. The one time they did -- early on with a screen to Allen, they missed the backside linebacker who darted in and tripped up the freshman.
• Tight end John Carlson, while a magnificent pass catcher, can't block. At all. He was responsible for two sacks on Clausen.
• Not all of this is on the offense.
• For the second straight week, the defense didn't blitz much at all. Rarely did Corwin Brown send more than the linemen and one linebacker (linebacker was either John Ryan up or John Ryan down). Due to this, Mallett had time for his receivers to work and the Irish failed to put any pressure on a freshman quarterback in his first start.
• Part of the reason for no blitzing is the coverage in the secondary and with linebackers. When the Irish did blitz, Mallett picked them apart. Of course, the blitz didn't really get sufficient pressure either.
• The lack of pressure also allowed Michigan's offensive line to do two things -- get into the second and third tier when MIke Hart ran the ball and also get out in blocking lanes when there were screens and flat passes.
• That said, even when the defense had chances they missed tackles. Every defensive player on the field missed at least one tackle, most often on Hart.
• Ambrose Wooden, while a nice guy, shouldn't be on the field. He was called for pass interference in the red zone or end zone for the second straight week. On this one -- a pass to Adrian Arrington, all Wooden had to do is look back and PI might not have been called and he might have actually broken up or picked off the pass. Instead, he only looked at Arrington and got flagged. Arrington also beat him badly for a touchdown in the second quarter and he missed on a tackle on Hart badly.
• Terrail Lambert also had a bad day. He was flagged for pass interference for chucking Mario Manningham to the ground and was eventually pulled for Raeshon McNeil.
• On Michigan's final touchdown there was either a bad scheme call, a missed assignment or Darrin Walls just didn't do anything. Manningham blew by Walls when Mallett pump-faked and was wide open for the touchdown reception.

Positives:

• Evan Sharpley didn't look horrible. Yes, he was in during mop-up duty but at least he recognized when to throw the ball away. James Aldridge also was able to get positive yardage -- but again, against backups.
• Notre Dame's offense actually moved the ball a little bit when it ran three-step drops and then threw slants.
• Freshman Duval Kamara made a nice read on a bad ball by Clausen to make a catch.
• If he's ever able to get good wedges consistently, Golden Tate will break off more long kickoff runs.
• Charlie Weis said he's looking for a niche. The only thing that looked positive offensively came from the quick slants. And Robby Parris is probably the team's best receiver at this point. But Clausen doesn't have time or doesn't recognize looking off receivers yet.
• Michigan seemed to be bothered by Trevor Laws. For the first quarter-and-a-half the Wolverines ran away from Laws. Yet Laws still seemed to be in on tackles. If there is one player the Irish could least afford to lose, it is the fifth-year senior from Minnesota.
• Linebacker Maurice Crum's injury looked bad at first (and second) glance, but he returned to the game later.
• ABC mentioned that Dayne Crist is coming next year on its telecast when talking about the quarterbacks.

We plan to look at Michigan State/Pittsburgh tape later today.

 

[Tennesseeirish]

I know that Coach Weis has said that the team has put this game behind them and they're not going to watch tape or think about it any more, but that doesn't mean we can't. So let's stop ranting about things in general and talk about what happened on the field yesterday. This is based on going over the box score as well as what I can recall from memory; I'm certainly not going to sit and watch that fiasco again.

The good

• Golden Tate's kick returns (five for 133 yards, with a long of 40) were simply excellent. This kid is going to be something special.

The okay

• It's hard to be too happy when you get hit for 289 (!!!) rushing yards, but our defensive line play seemed to be pretty good once again. There were times when we got some nice pressure on Mallett, and the box score shows eight tackles (four solo, four assisted) by Justin Brown, seven (four solo, three assisted) by Trevor Laws, six (three each solo and assisted) by Pat Kuntz, six (five solo and one assisted) by Dwight Stephenson, and also four (all solo) by Ian Williams. John Ryan, who I take it was basically playing as a defensive end for much of the day (though correct me if I'm wrong on this), had seven tackles (six solo) as well. Not bad, at least numbers-wise.
• Jimmy Clausen didn't play badly, but he didn't look great either. He clearly looked down his receiver on that one interception, and there were times when he overthrew guys or hung onto the ball too long under pressure. But it's hard to criticize him given the utter inability of our offensive line to protect him. That said, the way he failed to fall on that one fumble was completely unacceptable, and an average of 4.4 yards per completion just isn't enough (though this is the area where the bad o-line play hurts him the most).
• Given the aforementioned badness of our offensive (ha!) line, it's hard to be too tough on our running backs, either. If sacks are left out, the box score shows a total of 90 rushing yards, though 13 of those came on the punt fake to Travis Thomas. Armando Allen, who is clearly the #1 tailback and has even stopped returning kicks, had nine carries for only 26 yards, and while the way he went down on that one hit was an illustration of how hard it is to be an every-down guy as a freshman, he showed some toughness by getting back in there. James Aldridge also had 51 yards on ten carries, though many of those came against UM's second- and third-string defenses, when the outcome of the game was no longer in doubt.
• Finally, our kick coverage was much more solid than last week, as UM was held to an average of six yards on punt returns and only returned the ball 17 yards on our one - ONE! - kickoff.

The bad:

• For the first time this season it seemed to me that tackling was a big issue. Guys would have a shot at making a tackle in the backfield or a few yards from scrimmage, and would sometimes even have their man all but wrapped up, and would fail to bring him down. To some extent this can be attributed to the fact that the game was just so completely out of hand, but it's still inexcusable.
• Our secondary looked pretty bad as well, as they got turned around or flat-out burned a number of times and a freshman QB hit us for three passing touchdowns in his first career start. Naming David Bruton, whose only highlight I can recall was getting flat-out run OVER by Branden Minor, the "player of the game" for ND was simply a joke.

The awful:

• Judging by the box score, anyway, our linebackers had a simply dreadful game. When EACH of your starting safeties has more solo tackles (5 each by Bruton and Zbikowski) than your middle linebackers COMBINED (one for Crum (who also had six assists) and two for Brockington (three assists)), that's an awful day. The box score shows one total tackle each for Steve Quinn, Anthony Vernaglia, and Morrice Richardson, and two tackles (one solo, one assisted) for Brian Smith. It doesn't look like Toryan Smith saw the field at all. [EDIT: I am told that he did and that the boxscore was a mistake, but obviously it doesn't look like he did much.]
• As has been repeated ad nauseam, the offensive (ha!) line was an embarrassment once again. It is hard to see how we will EVER get this offense going if our line can't even get a tiny bit of push so as to enable us to convert a third-and-one, provide enough pass protection to enable Clausen to find his receivers when they're more than three yards from the line of scrimmage, or open up a running lane big enough for a full-sized person to get through. There is no doubt that they're the biggest problem on this team (though they're clearly not the only one). Our fullbacks and tight ends get some of the blame for this, too: and note that Luke Schmidt apparently saw the field some yesterday, as he had two catches for eleven yards.
• There was also an absolute plethora of mental mistakes yesterday: Sullivan's bad snaps, Clausen's failure to fall on his fumble, Travis Thomas's clipping penalty on a nice return, and Ambrose Wooden - or was it Terrail Lambert? - blatantly shoving a receiver out of bounds on an uncatchable ball are the ones that jump to mind right now. Moreover, the team seemed to come out with no focus whatsoever, and was unable to get anything going once they'd dug themselves into that hole. If 90% of this game is half mental, then we scored a 55 at BEST yesterday.

Overall: this game was an absolute embarrassment, and a huge step back after the progress that was made between the GT and PSU games. If Weis wants to make good on his promise never again to lose to MSU, he'd better pull some serious rabbits out of his hat, and quick.

All eyes on you, Charlie.

Great post

 

[johnnd05]

Great post

Thanks ... too bad it wasn't a better game.