Wildcat

[jason_h537]

I did not like it the first week i saw it but it worked against MSU. 2TD's not to mention that it allowed our o to be effective while protecting Jimmy's toe in the second half

 

[NDinL.A.]

the wildcat is not ND football...

if that is charlie's answer...then God help us all. We got a great RB in AA and he puts in the wildcat. A complete gimmick offensive scheme, charlie weis is getting desperate. If he's gonna to copy the Dolphins completely, then take your QB completely off the field sub in with an extra RB or WR. Clausen lined up as a WR will only fool poor defenses like Wash St., Navy and Connecticut. Then again we have out hands full with Navy.

For the wildcat use AA, tate, parris, hughes and rudolph and if you really want to gimmick it up...remove clausen off the field and sub in McCarthy, get athletes back there huh, what, that's right...McCarthy was a QB for cardinal mooney too...hint hint...

It's obvious from your other posts that you don't like CW and you want Jon Gruden as our HC, which is fine; that's your opinion and your entitled to it.

HOWEVER, if you're going to rip CW, at least make sense. Lord knows there's a lot to gripe about, but his offense???? Did you really say he was getting desperate? Let's see, his offense is putting up nearly 500 yards per game, in the 30's in points every single game (and no, we're not playing JV teams like FL and TX), the passing game is tops in the country IMO, we finally have a running game, and you think he's getting desperate??? This is what kills me about some ND fans. Last year everyone is screaming for CW to get creative, and when he does, AND IT WORKS, he's being told he's being desperate. What the hell am I missing here? Can the man do anything right in your eyes? In a word.....no. He's not putting in the wildcat scheme as an offense...it's a wrinkle in the offense. Big difference.

BTW, the Dolphins didn't invent the Wildcat, and no, he's not copying them. Arkansas ran it exclusively during many games with Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, and nearly upset LSU with it. Lots of teams run it, the Dolphins made it popular in the NFL. But to make you happy, let's say he was copying the Dolphins. You must not have watched last year, because Pennington was in during the Wildcat plenty of times, and they used him in trick plays plenty of times. When you take the QB out, it allows the defense to change personnel as they KNOW the Wildcat is coming. With the QB still in the huddle, they have about 10-12 seconds to adjust, from the time they get out of the huddle to the time the ball is snapped.

And even if you don't like it, which I know many people don't (I even get a little antsy when it's called), 2 TD's vs MSU, and a 'W'...

 

[NDinL.A.]

Exactly. The fish just lost a game in which they had possession for 45 minutes out of 60, and are now 0-2.

Go Wildcat!!!!

You can't play it both ways. You say you can't win with it, but the Dolphins won with it, a lot last year, with a team with inferior talent (they were CRAPPY the year before). Yes, they had the surprise factor...at first. Teams adjusted, and they still won waayyyyyy more games than they should have. So you take one game tonight, in which they statistically dominated but lost, and you say scoreboard? Fine, then scoreboard last year, 'cause they won with it.

As for ND, they aren't using it as an offense, they use it a few times a game. And guess what, they scored 2 TD's last week vs MSU, and what do you know...they won! So, by your logic, scoreboard, the Wildcat works!

Bottom line, even if you hate it, which I don't necessarily blame people for disliking it, it has worked several times this year. It hasn't worked at times, but no play works EVERY time. If Jimmy throws an incompletion, does that mean passing doesn't work and we should abandon it? Of course not. With the Wildcat, throwing it in a few times a game, giving the defense something else to prepare for, and helping us score multiple TD's, it's a positive...so far.

But like Irishfan said, agree to disagree...

 

[no.1IrishFan]

I don't think the Wildcat had any result in my Phins losing last night. It was executed to near perfection and worked very well. We lost the game due to one of the worst final drives I've ever seen. We managed the clock horribly the last 2:30. Wasted to much time and eventually ran out of time. Not to mention Ted Ginn ( who by the way Cam Cameron picked 9th overall a few years ago instead of taking Brady Quinn) drops the winning touchdown pass that was in his freakin hands! The wildcat was not why we lost the game last night, it was the reason we almost won.

 

[BGIF]

Newsflash: We had a "wildcat" package in 1988 with Tony Rice being the RB that took snaps. It's called the option.

You should talk more with your 6-year old. He could explain to you that the Wildcat creates an offensive mismatch by forcing a DB on the QB effectively taking him out of the play. Then the reads come into play.

 

[notredomer23]

NDinLA, its blind hate that will never change. The wildcat on Saturday besides one time 'Mando ran into Tate averaged about 8 yards a play. Anyone wanting to abandon the wildcat because it is "Not Notre Dame" should step into the 21st century

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

This thread makes me want to watch the movie "Wildcats".

 

[JefMaj]

Last night: The Dolphins averaged 9 yards per play that they employed the wildcat.

 

[irishfan]

Q. Right. Why is the wildcat in general so difficult?

COACH WEIS: Well, there's different versions of it. Like if you are watching the Dolphins last night, they a lot of times motioned into almost a two-back set and were running a true option off of it. So, I mean, everyone has their different version of it.

In our version of it you got a lot of beef on one side right there. Do you want to overload to that side and expose yourself to the weak side where (Kyle) Rudolph is, you know, or do you want to respect the fact that he's there and then make yourself vulnerable to the other side. So it's a kind of pick your poison, mentality that you got to make.

You know a lot of people, their answer to it is to go ahead and bring pressure. But, you know, with -- you got enough guys to block everybody. You are not a man shy because the quarterback is standing out there about 30 yards outside right there and somebody's lined up on him. So you have one for one everywhere. You're never outnumbered.

Notre Dame Official Athletic Site

 

[Junkhead]

I'm not a big fan of the wildcat, but the Allen TD pass changed my mind. As long as that thought is there, it is worthwhile.

 

[tripsdad]

There's a lot of teams who a couple times a game will run the option out of the I formation or out of the shotgun but that doesnt mean they are option based teams.

I vividly remember MSU beating us in overtime a few years ago on an I-formation, "out of the blue" option. In fact, I still have nightmares about it.

 

[irishfan]

I vividly remember MSU beating us in overtime a few years ago on an I-formation, "out of the blue" option. In fact, I still have nightmares about it.

Yep. And in 2002 Willingham used it once against FSU for a TD...after vowing he would never run the option

 

[jason_h537]

I vividly remember MSU beating us in overtime a few years ago on an I-formation, "out of the blue" option. In fact, I still have nightmares about it.

AHHHHHHHHH i haven't thought about that play in a long time. Fucking hate MSU. They planted the flag in that game didn't they?

 

[BillyIrish]

I like the Wildcat. Dolphins are averaging nearly 9 yards per play over the last two years when in the Wildcat. The play is not the Wildcat. It is the name of a formation, i.e. shotgun, wishbone, ace, etc... An example would be "Wildcat, zone read on one"


As for its place in ND's offense. It fits because it gets the ball in AA or Golden's hands through a different formation. If nothing else it gives the opponent something else to talk about.

 

[tripsdad]

AHHHHHHHHH i haven't thought about that play in a long time. Fucking hate MSU. They planted the flag in that game didn't they?

I think so, but after seeing that option unfold right in front of me (about 25 rows up, in the endzone, right in line with the RB), the rest of my brain didn't work properly for about a week.