Chris "Belt To" Ash - Defensive Coordinator

[T-Boone]

Freeman and Golden also started slow in their initial seasons. Golden gave up 27 in a loss to Marshall (though that from memory was probably due to a bad offense). Ash needs to improve a lot over the next 10 games and it should be doable.

 

[Irish2155]

Helps me. Circus sideshow. Learn to swim.

 

[RipWheeler]

Freeman and Golden also started slow in their initial seasons. Golden gave up 27 in a loss to Marshall (though that from memory was probably due to a bad offense). Ash needs to improve a lot over the next 10 games and it should be doable.

Fair point, however Golden wasn’t handed a golden goose like Ass.

 

[Luckylucci]

While I do think Ash deserves a fair amount of criticism.

But…

What about Washington? Our DL has no difference makers on it, at least so far. The guys we were expecting to breakout, are not doing so. The pass rush is virtually non-existent through 8 quarters. And, TBH, there isn’t much of a history here of developing pass rushers. In ‘23 JJB had 5 and last year Mills had 7.5.

As others have pointed out, it’s not like the CB’s are good at anything so what is Ash supposed to do if Mickens guys can’t play Man or Zone.

At this point, I just think the entire staff grossly miscalculated the talent they had on the defensive roster. Or at least, how ready that talent was to perform.

 

[NDIrish88]

He needs to go. The zone defense was absolutely trash. Barely a blitz. Chris Ash has always sucked. Marcus needs to take control of the D asap.

 

[IrishLax]

While I do think Ash deserves a fair amount of criticism.

But…

What about Washington? Our DL has no difference makers on it, at least so far. The guys we were expecting to breakout, are not doing so. The pass rush is virtually non-existent through 8 quarters. And, TBH, there isn’t much of a history here of developing pass rushers. In ‘23 JJB had 5 and last year Mills had 7.5.

As others have pointed out, it’s not like the CB’s are good at anything so what is Ash supposed to do if Mickens guys can’t play Man or Zone.

At this point, I just think the entire staff grossly miscalculated the talent they had on the defensive roster. Or at least, how ready that talent was to perform.

At your job, if everything was going great and then your manager quit. And then they hired a new guy who came in and said "I know this is how you've been doing things, but here's how we're going to do things from now on." And then the company started doing terrible and all the employees started getting horrible performance reviews, would you say it's because all of the employees suddenly became bad at their job or would it be because of the manager?

Bottom line is that guys are uncomfortable/confused and being put in position to fail. It's mostly the same dudes that we have seen kick ass for a whole season.

 

[Dale]

Bottom line is that guys are uncomfortable/confused and being put in position to fail. It's mostly the same dudes that we have seen kick ass for a whole season.

We saw Karson Hobbs kick ass for a whole season? Shuler without Watts? Stroman/Johnson/Talich? Zackery?

 

[Dale]

According to PFF, Hobbs has been on the field for 46 passing plays. On those plays he’s been targeted 18 times for 9 catches and 157 yards. You’ve played two experienced OCs. Teams will play hunt the duck if you have one. Football can be uncomplicated. 40% target rate. They found it.

I almost think that # has to be wrong (they do update game grades throughout Sunday)

 

[NDFAN2008]

What I don’t get is Ash came out and said the defense wouldn’t be different it would be similar to what we had in place. Things don’t get easier. Ark, USC, Cuse, Navy are all top 20 offenses so this defense will get tested. Freeman can’t do what Kelly did and hold on like he did with BVG. He needs to take over play calling this week or make a switch and let Mickens do it. I wanna play a fast aggressive defense with different blitz packages .Golden was successful in the playoffs because he had guys moving all over the line. We don’t see that now

 

[stlnd01]

According to PFF, Hobbs has been on the field for 46 passing plays. On those plays he’s been targeted 18 times for 9 catches and 157 yards. You’ve played two experienced OCs. Teams will play hunt the duck if you have one. Football can be uncomplicated. 40% target rate. They found it.

I almost think that # has to be wrong (they do update game grades throughout Sunday)

Why? If I were the other team I’d throw at Hobbs every play too. Mix in a little Talich or Stroman for variety, and Zackery if he’s subbed in.

We thought we had the one of the best DB rooms in the country. Turns out we have one great DB. Two decent ones struggling with a different scheme, and a bunch of guys who can’t play at this level. Tae Johnson seems talented, maybe play him more.

 

[Dale]

Why? If I were the other team I’d throw at Hobbs every play too. Mix in a little Talich or Stroman for variety, and Zackery if he’s subbed in.

We have

Cause if he was actually targeted 14 times last night that’s fucking hilarious how many that is

 

[NDFAN2008]

Fair point, however Golden wasn’t handed a golden goose like Ass.

Why are people claiming Ash was handed a golden goose? Far from it. We lost 2 NFL DT’s, we are currently starting a guy who would struggle to get snaps on 75% of SEC teams. We have one starting DE playing at 75% do to coming back quickly from injury, Boubcar who was out all last year. Burnham is banged up. Young is only a SO still, we lost our captain at LB in Kiser who was a great tackler, we lost the best safety in college and Jordan Clark who was one of the best NB in college we are extremely young.

 

[irishff1014]

Freeman and Golden also started slow in their initial seasons. Golden gave up 27 in a loss to Marshall (though that from memory was probably due to a bad offense). Ash needs to improve a lot over the next 10 games and it should be doable.

It doesn’t matter at this point the season is over. They are playing now to help the recruiting and that’s it.

 

[NDFAN2008]

While I do think Ash deserves a fair amount of criticism.

But…

What about Washington? Our DL has no difference makers on it, at least so far. The guys we were expecting to breakout, are not doing so. The pass rush is virtually non-existent through 8 quarters. And, TBH, there isn’t much of a history here of developing pass rushers. In ‘23 JJB had 5 and last year Mills had 7.5.

As others have pointed out, it’s not like the CB’s are good at anything so what is Ash supposed to do if Mickens guys can’t play Man or Zone.

At this point, I just think the entire staff grossly miscalculated the talent they had on the defensive roster. Or at least, how ready that talent was to perform.

This is where I’m at. We should be hearing Young’s name all game causing havoc in the backfield I’ve barely heard it. How does Burnham have 2 sacks against Ohio State but I haven’t even heard his name called on TV? What about JT? Who was notorious for blitz last year. Don’t get me started on the interior

 

[Irish#1]

The bottom line is Ash messed with the D more than he said he would. I remember him saying he was going to adjust to allow the DE’s to get more pressure but that’s not happening. There are guys adjusting at the last minute and others correcting them right before the snap.

 

[stlnd01]

This is where I’m at. We should be hearing Young’s name all game causing havoc in the backfield I’ve barely heard it. How does Burnham have 2 sacks against Ohio State but I haven’t even heard his name called on TV? What about JT? Who was notorious for blitz last year. Don’t get me started on the interior

The only pass rusher with a pulse right now seems to be Traore. We’ve gone up against two good OLs but getting so little pressure is really not acceptable.

 

[Hautian Domer]

Let it go, my man. He is the coach.

No. I’m not going to blindly praise someone because he “is the coach.” If you suck, you suck. This was as awful hire and I called it then.

Here we are…three weeks in, 0-2, with the 83rd ranked defense.

 

[irishff1014]

No. I’m not going to blindly praise someone because he “is the coach.” If you suck, you suck. This was as awful hire and I called it then.

Here we are…three weeks in, 0-2, with the 83rd ranked defense.

Yup. @IrishLax said he wasn’t going to say anything. And with the connections he has that means well shit.

 

[IrishTusker]

OSU (which was basically the only team with a better defense than ND last year) lost their DC to an in-conference rival, not the NFL. They haven't missed a beat on defense, as far as I can tell.

 

[irishff1014]

10-2 will heal this wound. But at this point I’m upset that Chris Ash is getting paid human monies for coaching my favorite football team. He should be selling me beer.

What on gods green earth makes you think we can win 10 consecutive games?

 

[irishff1014]

We saw Karson Hobbs kick ass for a whole season? Shuler without Watts? Stroman/Johnson/Talich?

Stroman is trash. He is slow and looks like he has no idea where he is supposed to be.

 

[IrishTusker]

10-2 will heal this wound. But at this point I’m upset that Chris Ash is getting paid human monies for coaching my favorite football team. He should be selling me beer.

We don't know that. If we make the playoffs at 10-2, sure. A playoff appearance (and frankly a win or two) was the minimum reasonable expectation this year.

 

[Junkhead]

No. I’m not going to blindly praise someone because he “is the coach.” If you suck, you suck. This was as awful hire and I called it then.

Here we are…three weeks in, 0-2, with the 83rd ranked defense.

83rd? I'm surprised it's that high.

 

[IrishLax]

We saw Karson Hobbs kick ass for a whole season? Shuler without Watts? Stroman/Johnson/Talich?

Don't be dense. We replaced 2.5 total players:
-Watts
-Kiser
-Clark

We have tons of depth at LB, so it's really just Watts. Defenses every year replace more than one stud just fine. Are we seeing Penn State fall apart without Abdul Carter? Did Al Golden's defense fall apart when Rylie Mills got replaced during the playoffs?

You have to be kidding if you think a UDFA nickel is the sole difference between the defense being elite and total trash. That's a joke. If you can't scheme around a bad 3rd CB then you shouldn't be coaching.

 

[IrishLax]

According to PFF, Hobbs has been on the field for 46 passing plays. On those plays he’s been targeted 18 times for 9 catches and 157 yards. You’ve played two experienced OCs. Teams will play hunt the duck if you have one. Football can be uncomplicated. 40% target rate. They found it.

I almost think that # has to be wrong (they do update game grades throughout Sunday)

Have you ever played or coached football? If you have 1 out of 11 guys that is a weak link then you scheme to mask that. If you keep getting beat the same way over and over that is 100% on the coach.

 

[Dale]

Have you ever played or coached football? If you have 1 out of 11 guys that is a weak link then you scheme to mask that. If you keep getting beat the same way over and over that is 100% on the coach.

How does one scheme to get them to throw the ball at Moore and not the other 4 guys on every play?

Please enlighten me how you fix Hobbs ability to play man coverage. Because we both know you’re not gonna suggest zone. You have to double/shade a guy every single play?

I asked this last night and nobody can give an answer. How do you reconcile the compete dismissal of playing zone when Zackey and Hobbs can’t play man on their own (against who they’ve been tasked with)?

A&Ms best players play in the slot. Miami’s entire offense is predicated on the slot. We were just gonna scheme them out of those things? If you’re gonna drop the “did you play football” line I expect a world class answer here on how you would have taken Dawson/Klein out of their planned attacks.

Oh keep in mind your DEs aren’t getting ANY pass rush without blitzing and your safety play is suspect at best. Go on. Let’s hear it Lax.

 

[LifelongFan]

I'm going to repeat what I said last night but Freeman has to give up control of hiring coordinators. This was a total disaster hire and his second in 4 years. Denbrock called a good game but that feels like a slam dunk hire with his history with ND. He is a good motivator, good leader, good recruiter. He just sucks at this one major thing.

 

[stlnd01]

Have you ever played or coached football? If you have 1 out of 11 guys that is a weak link then you scheme to mask that. If you keep getting beat the same way over and over that is 100% on the coach.

Hobbs is terrible but there’s no rule that says we have to put him on the field.

 

[dang227]

Did Josh Burnham play? Devontae Smith? Anyone know what’s going on with those guys?

Even the most novice of fan can tell we are playing passive because we don’t know what we are doing. There is confusion all over the place.

We are running some really unsound defense. Blitzing Moore? Bowen in coverage? KVA not in on the last play? Ash is living up to my worst fears. Washed up, unemployed coach who can’t teach his coaches or players.

 

[irishff1014]

Did Josh Burnham play? Devontae Smith? Anyone know what’s going on with those guys?

Even the most novice of fan can tell we are playing passive because we don’t know what we are doing. There is confusion all over the place.

We are running some really unsound defense. Blitzing Moore? Bowen in coverage? KVA not in on the last play? Ash is living up to my worst fears. Washed up, unemployed coach who can’t teach his coaches or players.

Apparently Smith rolled his ankle.