Marcus Freeman New DC

[Cackalacky2.0]

In today’s CFB if you want to beat the big boys you have to outscore them. Defense is secondary. Holding any team to under 30 points should result in a win most of the time. Look at Bama losing. If you want to beat Bama you just have to outscore them and have a few TOs because you are not going to stop them defensively. Saban said this himself. Same with OSU and Clemson. I’d say our offensive output is what’s holding us back. Any serviceable Dthat generates TOs will be sufficient to win in CFB.

 

[Irish#1]

Even given offenses of today, there’s no reason you can’t have a good defense.

Tackling has been terrible. I wonder how much time is spent on basics during practice? Freeman’s D puts guys in one on one situations in space. That’s when you better be able to tackle.

 

[Dale]

Wel then how about 2019? Held Georgia pretty much in check.

2020? The ACC championship game held Clemson to 30 some odd points. Same with Bama in the bowl game. The problem in all those games was not the defense. Unless your expectation is to hold those teams to a field goal in order to win.

Anyhow, seems to me like that’s good enough to win a championship level of play on that side of the ball.

I don’t understand how this isn’t clear from my original post. Again that is the point. My post started with talking about Lea leaving Freeman with lesser talent. Does the lag of Lea recruited a kid in 2019 now is on our roster in 2021 not clear?

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

Even given offenses of today, there’s no reason you can’t have a good defense.

Tackling has been terrible. I wonder how much time is spent on basics during practice? Freeman’s D puts guys in one on one situations in space. That’s when you better be able to tackle.

I’m saying you can’t have a good one lol

 

[Dale]

In today’s CFB if you want to beat the big boys you have to outscore them. Defense is secondary. Holding any team to under 30 points should result in a win most of the time. Look at Bama losing. If you want to beat Bama you just have to outscore them and have a few TOs because you are not going to stop them defensively. Saban said this himself. Same with OSU and Clemson. I’d say our offensive output is what’s holding us back. Any serviceable Dthat generates TOs will be sufficient to win in CFB.

A&M also has you know one of the best defenses in the country. Without it they’re O isn’t even in the position to pull off the upset, see Ole Miss. First round talent at CB on the last couple national champions isn’t a coincidence, and the current national title favorite has 2.

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

A&M also has you know one of the best defenses in the country. Without it they’re O isn’t even in the position to pull off the upset, see Ole Miss. First round talent at CB on the last couple national champions isn’t a coincidence, and the current national title favorite has 2.

Not sure what metric you are looking at but just looking at NCAA stats AM is 40th. Ok…. We have NFL talent on our team too. Like I said. Your D has to be serviceable and generate TOs which AM was and did. IDK why this is controversial lol.

Am Is 28th in defensive 3rd down conversion. VT is 14th.

AM is 22 in passing yards allowed. Not even in the top 50 for rushing yards allowed.

13th in Rz which is great and very important and in scoring they were only giving up 13 or so game I think. Bama hung over 30 on them. Plus they have multiple losses already as well and were Unranked so the d can’t be GREAT. In this game AMs offense was able to outscore Bama who has a comparable defense to AM. Again…not sure what I said was in any way untrue.

This is not a top d in my opinion but it is very good and their play against the Bama juggernaut is what I’d consider serviceable.

 

[Dale]

Not sure what metric you are looking at but just looking at NCAA stats AM is 40th. Ok…. We have NFL talent on our team too. Like I said. Your D has to be serviceable and generate TOs which AM was and did. IDK why this is controversial lol.

Am Is 28th in defensive 3rd down conversion. VT is 14th.

AM is 22 in passing yards allowed. Not even in the top 50 for rushing yards allowed.

13th in Rz which is great and very important.

This is not a top d in my opinion but it is very good and what I’d consider serviceable.

I don’t think your opinion is controversial but I think it’s also way simplifying what is needed to stop a Bama, OSU, 2019 LSU etc. “Serviceable” versus a elite O needs elite talent. C’mon you know the A&M D is way more talented and one of the best defenses in the country compared to Va Tech that’s just silly. A what you’re calling a serviceable D is actually filled with elite NFL talent, anything less it doesn’t matter what you’re O is. Look at Florida last year. If your swap Surtain II and a UF CB does UF get 2-3 more stops in the SEC championship game and beat Bama?

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

I don’t think your opinion is controversial but I think it’s also way simplifying what is needed to stop a Bama, OSU, 2019 LSU etc. “Serviceable” versus a elite O needs elite talent. C’mon you know the A&M D is way more talented and one of the best defenses in the country compared to Va Tech that’s just silly. A what you’re calling a serviceable D is actually filled with elite NFL talent, anything less it doesn’t matter what you’re O is. Look at Florida last year. If your swap Surtain II and a UF CB does UF get 2-3 more stops in the SEC championship game and beat Bama?

Any D is good at certain things and not great at others hence even with talent they have to be serviceable. They have to be able to get stops and generate TOs. You think Clemson versus OSU last year had anything to do with talent? Did the UC vs ND game have much to do with talent? I’m not negating talent clearly as it matters but ultimately it’s performance and execution and manufacturing Offense and Defense.

It’s actually pretty simple. Lol. If you outscore your opponent then you win. If your defense only gives up 10 points you better score 11. If you average giving up 20 points to conference opponents. You better be a able to score way more than that against the big boys because they are gonna find out ways to score on you which is what we saw with Am vs Bama. It’s pretty simple. The onus is on the O to score and the d to do what they can to slow down the O of the other team. It’s literally a quote from Saban who has completely changed his outlook on D in CFB.

Look at OU and UT. There might as well have not even been a defense on the field for all the good it was doing n

 

[Irish du Nord]

I don’t think your opinion is controversial but I think it’s also way simplifying what is needed to stop a Bama, OSU, 2019 LSU etc. “Serviceable” versus a elite O needs elite talent. C’mon you know the A&M D is way more talented and one of the best defenses in the country compared to Va Tech that’s just silly. A what you’re calling a serviceable D is actually filled with elite NFL talent, anything less it doesn’t matter what you’re O is. Look at Florida last year. If your swap Surtain II and a UF CB does UF get 2-3 more stops in the SEC championship game and beat Bama?

I think there were deeper issues for that Florida team than poor CB play, but point taken.

 

[Dale]

Any D is good at certain things and not great at others hence even with talent they have to be serviceable. They have to be able to get stops and generate TOs. You think Clemson versus OSU last year had anything to do with talent? Did the UC vs ND game have much to do with talent? I’m not negating talent clearly as it matters but ultimately it’s performance and execution and manufacturing Offense and Defense.

It’s actually pretty simple. Lol. If you outscore your opponent then you win. If your defense only gives up 10 points you better score 11. If you average giving up 20 points to conference opponents. You better be a able to score way more than that against the big boys because they are gonna find out ways to score on you which is what we saw with Am vs Bama. It’s pretty simple. The onus is on the O to score and the d to do what they can to slow down the O of the other team. It’s literally a quote from Saban who has completely changed his outlook on D in CFB.

Look at OU and UT. There might as well have not even been a defense on the field for all the good it was doing n

Yes and the talent needed to have a D that can even slightly slow down the O IN THE PLAYOFF is talent Freeman can recruit, and Lea could not. That’s how this started. I think we’re agreeing you’re just calling it a serviceable D and I’m saying that D you call servicable needs elite talent.

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

Yes and the talent needed to have a D that can slow down the O IN THE PLAYOFF is talent Freeman can recruit, and Lea could not. That’s how this started. I think we’re agreeing you’re just calling it a serviceable D and I’m saying that D you call servicable needs elite talent.

I am not arguing that there aren’t difference makers. There are and they make differences. We had enough talent and serviceability to hold teams below 15 ppg under Lea. Our offense could only manage 25ish ppg. That was good enough for some very good years but our fault Dear Brutus was not with our D but with our O against more stout defenses. Against Bama we only need to score 35 points and couldn’t/didn’t .

 

[Dale]

I am not arguing that there aren’t difference makers. There are and they make differences. We had enough talent and serviceability to hold teams below 15 ppg under Lea. Our offense could only manage 25ish ppg. That was good enough for some very good years but our fault Dear Brutus was not with our D but with our O against more stout defenses. Against Bama we only need to score 35 points and couldn’t/didn’t .

Yeah and if we had the O to score with Bama, Bama would have had the ball more and scored more too. Clarence Lewis isn’t suddenly tackling Devonta on the extra possessions created because our O is better.

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

Yeah and if we had the O to score with Bama, Bama would have had the ball more and scored more too. Clarence Lewis isn’t suddenly tackling Devonta on the extra possessions created because our O is better.

Eh I’ll have to disagree with this. I’ll wager most scoring drives take up more time than three and outs. My expectation would have been we would have shortened the game as much as possible which is something Kelly loves to do and something you should do against offensive juggernauts. We also out of all the teams Bama faced last year held them to their lowest point total of the season…. We just couldn’t manufacture points to counter.

 

[N_D_Fighting_Irish]

I’ve said from Day 1 I’d caution expecting Freeman to come close to Lea as a DC in the coaching aspect. BUT, in the comparison, you have to remember Lea left Freeman with, not a lot. The DL is the only position group that is at the talent level it should be. A 2021 ND Lea D would likely be better than this one, but would have also likely been worse than last two years directly because of Lea.

Looking at Playoff aspirations, Lea was never going to land the type of talent that would be needed to stop Playoff caliber offenses. Freeman can. From there you hope the talent + the Xs and Os is better than less talent with better Xs and Os

You can make excuses for Freeman, but please be at least factual. This year's defensive personnel is as deep and athletic as we have had in quite sometime. Name me a team we have played so far that our defense lacked the personnel to match up. You can't. You write about the talent level to compete against playoff caliber offenses, but fail to ponder why his defense with noticeable talent advantages is inconsistent against sub par offenses this year. ?

 

[Dale]

You can make excuses for Freeman, but please be at least factual. This year's defensive personnel is as deep and athletic as we have had in quite sometime. Name me a team we have played so far that our defense lacked the personnel to match up. You can't. You write about the talent level to compete against playoff caliber offenses, but fail to ponder why his defense with noticeable talent advantages is inconsistent against sub par offenses this year. ?

What exactly is the fact about the defensive personnel I misspoke on versus fact you quoted? Are you saying our defensive roster is as deep and athletic as we’ve had is a fact?

 

[Dale]

You can make excuses for Freeman, but please be at least factual. This year's defensive personnel is as deep and athletic as we have had in quite sometime. Name me a team we have played so far that our defense lacked the personnel to match up. You can't. You write about the talent level to compete against playoff caliber offenses, but fail to ponder why his defense with noticeable talent advantages is inconsistent against sub par offenses this year. ?

Did you watch the UC game? Didn’t see any personnel issues on UCs TE vs us? None? Don’t think a higher level of talent at Rover or S could have helped not have Bertrand covering in space?

If you’re going to call out facts, look up the team talent roster on D on 247sports.

 

[irishandy]

In Freeman's first year at Cincy the overall national ranking for his defense was #72 and his last year was #12. After 6 games we are ready for Lea back? I don't foresee him coming back.

I think Freeman's defenses at ND will improve like they did at Cincy. Plus it will be interesting to see how his defense looks when the guys he recruits come in.

In Freeman I trust.

 

[irishff1014]

In Freeman's first year at Cincy the overall national ranking for his defense was #72 and his last year was #12. After 6 games we are ready for Lea back? I don't foresee him coming back.

I think Freeman's defenses at ND will improve like they did at Cincy. Plus it will be interesting to see how his defense looks when the guys he recruits come in.

In Freeman I trust.

Look at the teams he coached against. They are not the same level that ND is on. I understand that he did well against the team they played week in and week out. But Tulsa is not VT nor is it UNC. UCF is the best team they play in conference and they are good not great.

 

[Bluto]

Did you watch the UC game? Didn’t see any personnel issues on UCs TE vs us? None? Don’t think a higher level of talent at Rover or S could have helped not have Bertrand covering in space?

If you’re going to call out facts, look up the team talent roster on D on 247sports.

There were defensive coaching issues as well in the Cinnci game.

 

[irishandy]

Look at the teams he coached against. They are not the same level that ND is on. I understand that he did well against the team they played week in and week out. But Tulsa is not VT nor is it UNC. UCF is the best team they play in conference and they are good not great.

I agree with your response. ND's schedule vs Cincy's schedule are different levels. The same with recruiting- the recruits that have committed to the 2022 class do you think they commit to Cincy? I don't.

We are 6 fricking games into Freeman's career and Mario was supposed to save Princess 4 games ago!?!? WTF are people thinking.

It took time with Lea, it is going to take time with Freeman.

Freeman will be fine at ND...patience!

 

[N_D_Fighting_Irish]

What exactly is the fact about the defensive personnel I misspoke on versus fact you quoted? Are you saying our defensive roster is as deep and athletic as we’ve had is a fact?

Factually, your remark that "BUT, in the comparison, you have to remember Lea left Freeman with, not a lot." is demonstrably false. Our DL is competently two deep. LB core has depth to weather multiple injuries, and a secondary with enough numbers to play dime.

For years, our defense has lacked depth. Typically, we had four-five solid DL starters and a decent drop in quality back ups. LB depth was non existent with a couple of starters as question marks. Secondary had been so depleted that Lea didn't have the personnel to field a decent nickel package forget about a dime package. Freeman in fact has been blessed with a full cupboard. His struggles have nothing to do with personnel...especially considering the opponents we have faced. Lea, and even Bob freakin Diaco, for a time had to scheme to mitigate our personnel issues. Given what I have seen, I do not think Freeman has the capacity to scheme up our weaknesses, so he better recruit.

 

[Dale]

Factually, your remark that "BUT, in the comparison, you have to remember Lea left Freeman with, not a lot." is demonstrably false. Our DL is competently two deep. LB core has depth to weather multiple injuries, and a secondary with enough numbers to play dime.

For years, our defense has lacked depth. Typically, we had four-five solid DL starters and a decent drop in quality back ups. LB depth was non existent with a couple of starters as question marks. Secondary had been so depleted that Lea didn't have the personnel to field a decent nickel package forget about a dime package. Freeman in fact has been blessed with a full cupboard. His struggles have nothing to do with personnel...especially considering the opponents we have faced. Lea, and even Bob freakin Diaco, for a time had to scheme to mitigate our personnel issues. Given what I have seen, I do not think Freeman has the capacity to scheme up our weaknesses, so he better recruit.

I think we have different threshold for the word factual. I was speaking to Lea’s recruiting as of said from post #1 and invite you to look up those recruiting rankings. The above is all just a weird spin on your opinion of the roster.

 

[Redbar]

In today’s CFB if you want to beat the big boys you have to outscore them. Defense is secondary. Holding any team to under 30 points should result in a win most of the time. Look at Bama losing. If you want to beat Bama you just have to outscore them and have a few TOs because you are not going to stop them defensively. Saban said this himself. Same with OSU and Clemson. I’d say our offensive output is what’s holding us back. Any serviceable Dthat generates TOs will be sufficient to win in CFB.

I don’t entirely agree. If you want to beat anybody you have to outscore them, but that doesn’t mean defense is a secondary phase of the game. The old adage of “offense brings the crowd but defense wins the game” may be a little dated maybe CFB has even flipped the adage in favor of offense but IMO it is still true that among two basically even matched teams, bet on the team with the better defense. A great defense will disrupt a great offense more than a great offense will run up the score on a great defense.
The problem with the statement that “any serviceable d that generates TO’s is sufficient to win in CFB” is that it should also say, “if you have a decent O line, a first round talent at QB, and gamebreaking skill players, provided the other team also doesn’t have those same offensive attributes and if they do…go back to the team that plays better D will win.”

 

[Irish#1]

Did you watch the UC game? Didn’t see any personnel issues on UCs TE vs us? None? Don’t think a higher level of talent at Rover or S could have helped not have Bertrand covering in space?

If you’re going to call out facts, look up the team talent roster on D on 247sports.

In the second half Cincy was spreading the D out forcing Hamilton to play one on one close to the line, effectively removing him from the defense. Not sure what adjustment Freeman could do in that situation, but I didn't see any. I think Freeman's biggest shortcoming at the moment is making adjustments sooner.

I'm not sure Lea left the cupboard bare for Freeman. In general, the D returned a lot of talent for this year. Lea's recruiting vs. Freeman's is another matter.

 

[rtrn2glory]

In the second half Cincy was spreading the D out forcing Hamilton to play one on one close to the line, effectively removing him from the defense. Not sure what adjustment Freeman could do in that situation, but I didn't see any. I think Freeman's biggest shortcoming at the moment is making adjustments sooner.

I'm not sure Lea left the cupboard bare for Freeman. In general, the D returned a lot of talent for this year. Lea's recruiting vs. Freeman's is another matter.

I saw the same thing.....Really the only adjustment with his scheme is to recruit studs that will allow us to not have to waste our elite guys like hamilton to do things like that. I'd love to have enough playmakers available that would let them scheme up a way for him to be a constant free hitter or safety playing the middle robbing and being a ball player. We just don't have the Jimmy's and Joe's that allows him to do that.

 

[irishff1014]

I saw the same thing.....Really the only adjustment with his scheme is to recruit studs that will allow us to not have to waste our elite guys like hamilton to do things like that. I'd love to have enough playmakers available that would let them scheme up a way for him to be a constant free hitter or safety playing the middle robbing and being a ball player. We just don't have the Jimmy's and Joe's that allows him to do that.

This what happens when they kept Lyght for to long and leaf Polian as the recruiting coordinator. We have no game changers other than Kyle back there.

 

[Free Manera]

I saw the same thing.....Really the only adjustment with his scheme is to recruit studs that will allow us to not have to waste our elite guys like hamilton to do things like that. I'd love to have enough playmakers available that would let them scheme up a way for him to be a constant free hitter or safety playing the middle robbing and being a ball player. We just don't have the Jimmy's and Joe's that allows him to do that.

Yep. I think if you give Freeman 3 years, he is going to have dudes all over the field. His scheme will look totally different when his pieces are a better fit. It just looks like a lot of square peg round hole situations out there right now, and I don't think he necessarily has the answers.

 

[irishff1014]

Yep. I think if you give Freeman 3 years, he is going to have dudes all over the field. His scheme will look totally different when his pieces are a better fit. It just looks like a lot of square peg round hole situations out there right now, and I don't think he necessarily has the answers.

If they can't tackle is doesn't matter if the entire defense is 5 stars.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

I think some people have also forgot about Marist and Moala being out. That was a lot of talent / pre-season "wasted" reps that required reshuffling bigly.

 

[Dale]

FWIW PFF gives ND the 14th best tackling grade in the country and pretty sure it’s mainly just based off stuffs and missed tackle count. I can say from this Saturday’s watching there are a lot of teams that are way worse at tackling, mainly the entire Big 12 conference. Every miss just seems to result in minimum 20 yards when we do.