Notre Dame Game Reviews: "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly"

[IrishTimer]

I'll post game impressions here.

I'll copy over my posts from another board I frequent for the first three weeks.

 

[IrishTimer]

Purdue

The Good

- Mike Mayock in the booth. He did an amazing job breaking the game down and really did an excellent job overall.

-Shorter commercial breaks. Thank God.

- The running game. Granted Purdue is known for having a crappy run defense but even still Notre Dame's run game hasn't looked this good since Week 2 of last season..regardless of how bad some of the teams they were playing were in run defense. Allen looked faster than last season and Cierre Wood earned himself a ton of playing time and looks to be a real big play threat.

- Dayne Crist. For his first start he didn't look shaky, only really forced one pass, and took what Purdue gave him. I was actually impressed to see him not force the ball into Floyd all game but hit him when he needed to. He missed Floyd on one pass over the top in the end zone and air mailed a throw to Rudolph, but overall he look good and the knee looked great when ever he had to move around.

-Gary Gray and Darrin Walls. Both played great games. Gray played great against the run and both played well in pass coverage. Walls almost got beat deep once but that was mainly because the Purdue WR almost made a spectacular catch. Neither was really out of position at all.

- 2nd-4th Qtr Manti Te'o. Looked fast, strong, and to be a sure tackler.

- Kyle Rudolph. Made plays whenever he was called on...especially on 3rd down.

- Coaching staff. That game could have very easily turned against Notre Dame after the Floyd fumble and Purdue score. But credit this staff with instilling some mental toughness with this team.

- Bennet Jackson. Meet this years Mike Anello. I swear he had roughly 150 special teams tackles.

The Bad

- Brian Smith. The guy just seemed to be out of position all game long. Whenever you saw a replay involving him it was him over pursuing a play or getting beat underneath in coverage. The adjustment back to OLB is going to take some time but it's really clear why Kerry Neal beat him out for the job.

- Pass Rush. We got some sacks, yes. But we never really generated any consistent pressure. Which is a concern. Thankfully Marve sucks so he wasn't able to do much with the extra time but as the season moves on we are going to need more pressure generated in the pass rush.


-1st Qtr Manti Te'o. I think he missed about 3-4 tackles on one drive that would have either stopped the drive on 3rd down or made it 4th and 5 or 6 and a punt rather than putting Purdue in position to go for it on 4th and 1 or 2. Seemed to be leaving his feet way too much and launching himself at ball carriers rather than wrapping up.

- The Notre Dame's backup QB's red hats. I know it's so Crist can get the calls but.....sweet Jesus...Couldn't they be like Gold or Kelly Green or something?

The Ugly

- Floyd's fumble.....Could have been REAL ugly had Purdue come all the way back...but you HAVE to hold on to that football.

---------------------------

Biggest concern for next week: Denard Robinson's mobility. Notre Dame had a real tough time defending the roll out plays by Purdue and Robinson's ability to tuck and run with those rather than just throw could cause some big problems. Hopefully Kelly and Diaco can scheme something up.

 

[IrishTimer]

Michigan

The Good

-The running game. Once again the Notre Dame running game looked really good. Allen and Wood both had very nice games.

-Michael Floyd. Floyd again had another very good game. Made some big catches, blocked really well(even if he got called for a BS holding call). He's really bought into to working hard for Kelly and giving max effort.

-Kyle Rudolph. The guy shows up every week and has been a real solid player for Crist.

-Manti Te'o. Had another really good game this week. Dropped an interception that he should have had but other than that one play he was always in the right position and didn't miss many(if any) tackles.



The Bad

- The defense on the final drive. The entire second half the defense played out of it's mind and on the final drive they let it get away. You need to hold them to three points. Create a turnover...something...anything. You HAVE to finish that game off. They did it last week...couldn't do it this week.

- It's really odd...I'm sitting here after a loss and can't think of a ton "bad" things....really....odd odd game.

The Ugly

-Notre Dame's back up QB's. Montana played a little better as time went on..but it wasn't really encouraging when he did...It was more like a cute white knuckle thrill ride and praying that he channel his dad.

-Notre Dame's QB's throwing balls into the crowd. This drill needs to be cancelled at all further practices. Montana did it to end the 1st half. Crist did it to end the game(and once last week). WTF?!

-Tai-ler Jones TD. Hey kid. Hold onto the ball. That TD should have been overturned but I guess the refs figured they owed us one from the called back Armando Allen TD last season.

-Tom Hammond.......

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REALLY odd game. I know Denard Robinson put up over 500 total yards..but other than one play did it feel like he was controlling the game to that extent? I mean outside of Hammond blowing his load over him something about the "eye test" seemed off. Robinson had a tremendous game and lead the winning drive but Michigan was shut down the entire 2nd half outside of one drive and Robinson was essentially held in check the entire game except for his long run for the score.

I knew as I was watching he was accumulating stats but it the 500 yards number blew me away when I saw it because I didn't think he had put up that much. It just seemed like he accumulated all that as a function of him being the only Michigan player on offense that was worth a damn. I've seen Notre Dame get lit up by quite a few QB's over the years and as I was standing there watching the game it didn't feel like I was seeing that with Robinson. For some reason I just think a lot of those yards seemed empty as until the last drive Notre Dame had only given up 21 points and none in the second half. Typically when QB's are lighting up the Irish they are moving the ball up and down the field and scoring at will on us. It didn't feel or seem like that was happening(because it wasn't). I know Michigan and ESPN and everyone is going to cream over Robinson for the next few weeks(Mark May I'm looking at you) but I'm not sure it's a great sign that the "most dominating offensive performance in Michigan history" netted the team only 28 points and the game had to be won with 27 seconds left.

I mean the Notre Dame defense gave up 500 yards of total offense to ONE player and outside of the last drive of the game I'm not even really mad/sad/or disappointed by them....

If Crist plays the entire game Robinson's 500 yards are for naught and Notre Dame wins this game.

 

[IrishTimer]

Michigan State

The Good

-Theo Riddick. Kelly said he was going to get him involved and did.The kid is going to be electric

-Armando Allen. Another solid game from him. Still not a homerun hitter but a VERY good all around back.

-Dayne Crist passing. Outside of a lull here or there Crist had an excellent game overall. Didn't step up and make a play on the most important drive of the game(More on that later) but it doesn't erase the overall performance.

-Kyle Rudolph. He's the best tight end in the nation...and it's not close.

-Michael Floyd. Got into the endzone twice and showed why he had All-American hype around him.

-Manti Te'o week in and week out this kid impresses me. Yeah he will miss a play here or there but he's young and always around the ball.

-Ethan Johnson/Ian Williams. I thought both these guys played very good games for the Notre Dame defensive line.


The Bad

-Zeke Motta. As already covered by padman...seems to always take bad routes to the ball. He's pretty good in run support but if a play gets to the outside he's not that good.

-Kapron Lewis Moore. Disappearing act this week. He needs to be WAY more consistent.

-Dayne Crist running. On that 4th and 1 he needs to attack down field rather than worry so much about maybe making the pitch. He looked tentative and it allowed the Spartan defense to recover and make the play. You can complain about Kelly going for it, but the play was there....Crist needs to attack the LOS on that play and make the defense react to him rather than trying to react to the defense. Maybe Kelly shouldn't run that play with a guy who hasn't run the option once but at the end of the day it's on the players to execute the play...especially if it's there.

-The WR's and TE's not running routes deep enough. 2-3 times alone in the 4th quarter Notre Dame WR's or TE's(I'm looking at you Kyle Rudolph in OT on 3rd and 3 running a 2 yard out.) ran routes SHORT of the marker. You HAVE to get to the spot. That's basic football. It cost Notre Dame drives, possibly points, and very possibly the game.

-The team's ability to finish games. It's STILL not there. Last week it was the defense. This week it was the offense. The drive that lost this game for Notre Dame IMO was the drive after the ND touchdown that put them up 28-21. The defense comes out and makes a stop and the offense gets the ball back. You HAVE to move the ball in that situation. You have to make some sort of a drive and milk some time off the clock. You have to. It's clear Michigan State is completely inept at running any sort of offense in a rushed situation and you had a chance after a big stop by the defense to come out and step on MSU's throats and didn't do it. Hell, move the ball 30 yards...take some time off, swing the field position. Something..anything...the offense did nothing and it helped cost us the game.


The Ugly

The officials......Other than missing massive amounts of obvious holds on Ethan Johnson two plays stick out the most late in the game. First and foremost was the "block in the back" on Lo Wood...complete and utter BS. Lo Wood maybe should have bailed out but the official also needs to actually make the correct call...Lastly..the obvious fact that there was no time left on the play clock when MSU snapped the ball for the fake FG. Maybe the officials will dig up an explanation of the play clock not being accurate there or something but even still the play needs to be blown dead and the clock reset. There's really no excuse for that.

*EDIT*...Apparently last night's crew was from the Big East(?)..here's the explanation.

Notre Dame fans saw :00 on the play clock when Michigan State ran its game-winning fake field goal in overtime Saturday night. Now they're bound to see red, because the Big East says its officials acted properly in not assessing a delay-of-game flag.

The conference released a statement Sunday that said football officiating coordinator Terry McAulay reviewed the final play and determined it was not an actionable call.

"After review, the Conference believes that the game officials correctly applied the proper mechanics and guidelines that are in place to determine, in a consistent manner, when a flag should be thrown for delay of game," the statement read.

The league went on to explain the mechanics, as they saw it, at the end of the Spartans' thrilling 34-31 win:
"The responsibility is assigned to the Back Judge, who in this situation was standing beneath the upright. Proper mechanics dictate that his focus be directed to the play clock as it approaches zero. When the play clock display reads zero, he must re-direct his attention to the ball. At that time, if the snap has not started, a flag will be thrown for delay of game. If the snap has begun, no flag will be thrown.

"Under these procedures, there will always be a small amount of lag time between the time the clock reads zero and the time the Back Judge is able to see the football.

"On the play in question, this lag time created the situation where it appears the play clock expired just before the snap. We believe the snap occurred well within the normal lag time for the Back Judge to make this determination.

This play is not reviewable under current NCAA rules."

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I'm really starting to think Notre Dame is heading to a 1-5 start. However I think towards the end of the year with wins over CMU, Tulsa, Army, Navy, and USC that Notre Dame can still salvage a 6-6 season. Maybe we steal one from BC or Pitt along the way(I think we stand no chance against Stanford) and finish 7-5 but I think there are way to many early season tests for a young team in transition to expect them to do anything of real note.

 

[IrishTimer]

Stanford

The Good

-The defense. I thought again Notre Dame did an excellent job on defense against the run. Never gave up anything big and they didn't get pushed around at the point of attack. The 3rd down conversion stat looks really bad but I thought the pass defense was improved as well. Robert Blanton, Darrin Walls, and Jamoris Slaughter all played good games and Diaco did some good things scheme wise with coverages. On both Luck interceptions coverage was rolling over late and dsiguised very well. Having Slaughter back makes a heck of a lot fo difference. Gary Gray was quiet...but he didn't get beat either.

At the end of the day the defense played well enough to win this football game had the offense done ANYTHING at all.

-Manti Teo. 21 tackles. That's ridiculous.

-Armando Allen. His stat line didn't show it but he played very good game and ran angry. He got hurt on what looked like it was going to be a bad injury and came back in. He hasn't turned into the big play guy we thought we were getting when he came in but he has turned into one hell of an all around back and a great leader.

-Michael Floyd. Seemingly caught everything that was thrown his way.

-David Ruffer. Still perfect.

The Bad

- The offense. The offensive line played it's worst game of the season. They didn't run block well and they let Crist get hit WAY too much. Dayne Crist played his worst game of the season. He looked confused, shaky, and really wasn't throwing the ball well. He got hit a few times early and I'm not sure if it rattled him or he was just having an off day but for the first time all season Crist looked like a first year starter for an entire game.

- Ben Turk. This guy has been bad all season. He seemingly has no leg strength.

- Kick off return team. I know Cierre Wood was the "hot button" guy for this and he had to run harder but this week what stuck out to me was how bad the blocking was up front on kick returns. Wood was getting to the 10 or 15 yard line and there was already 5 or 6 Stanford coverage guys on top of him.

The Ugly

- Kyle Rudolph's stat line. 1 catch 1 yard. Yikes. I'm sure Stanford schemed for him to take him out of the game but still. Yikes.

- The officials. The missed spot in the first quarter was ugly. Like really ugly. Armando Allen got the benefit of the doubt by about a full 1/2 yard as well in the first half but the Stanford 3rd and 1 "first down" run was ridiculously bad. Did it effect the outcome of the game? No. But it was still a hideous call. What makes it even worse is the fact that they went back and took a second look at it and upheld the call on the field......How? The fullback barely crossed the 30 yard line before he was stood up and pushed back. The yard line to gain was the 31. Not only did he most likely not even make it to the front side of the 31 but the officials actually had the ball spotted PAST the 31 with the back tip of the football just beyond the 31. Seriously? How the hell did they get that spot? What the hell did the officials in the booth see to actually uphold that spot? That drive ended up giving Stanford a lead they would not relinquish. Notre Dame wasn't winning that game no matter what happened on that call but it was still so utterly awful it needed to be mentioned here. Oh yeah..and Jonas Gray was actually tackled BY HIS HELMET and there was no flag. Again, not a game changing call but the defender actually had both of his hands on Gray's helmet/facemask and took him down and there was no flag.

-Oh yeah...and Harabugh going for two points while up 25-6 with 7:50ish left in the 4th quarter. **** move.

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1-3. 1-3. 1-3. Another really odd game. Out of 4 games this season 3 of them have been weird games. I was talkign with my friend after the game and the only comparison I could make was this. It felt like I had just watched a 15 round boxing match. One guy was in control the entire fight. Never really knocked the guy out but won on points in each round. You were hoping the other guy could maybe land a haymaker and get a miracle win but at the end of the day you basically just watched a guy smother the other guy into submission over the long haul. Even when the game was only 16-6 and 19-6 you never really felt like Notre Dame had a chance because they could do nothing offensivly.

We go to Boston College this Saturday where we haven't played well in what feels like about 20 years. Then we come home to face a Pitt team that is reeling a little bit. 1-5 still looks like a very real possibility before Western Michigan comes to town October 16th.

 

[IrishInColumbus]

I strongly agree with that boxing comparison. Stanford didn't knock Notre Dame's socks off like they were Southern Cal circa every year but 2005 but they slowly and methodically were a better team than Notre Dame across the board.

Let's be honest, Notre Dame did about as well as we could have expected without being unrealistic. Stanford, as odd as it sounds, is a legitimate darkhorse (oxymoron?) for the national championship game. They are 4-0 and have the game of the season this week, win that and they'll be cruising to the Rose Bowl and a possible National Championship berth once the SEC gets the best of Alabama.

Brian Kelly has outcoached and his teams have outplayed three of the teams on the schedule. Talent and grasping the system have this team at 1-3, coaching and effort have been 3-1. That's fine by me, for now. Kelly needs to beat Boston College and get this show on the road though, it is time. I can't see a legitimate reason for Notre Dame to lose with game without a major letdown.

 

[jmurphy75]

Very good post, accurate and fair I like reading constructive post like this no arguing or unrealistic expectations!

 

[lookingdeadred]

Stanford

Stanford

If the Cardinal wins in Eugene Saturday, they certainly should be the favorite to win the Pac 10, but it is absurd to say they "will be cruising to the Rose Bowl". They still have USC, U of A, ASU, UW, Cal and Ore St yet to play. Any one of those teams could beat Stanford.

I strongly agree with that boxing comparison. Stanford didn't knock Notre Dame's socks off like they were Southern Cal circa every year but 2005 but they slowly and methodically were a better team than Notre Dame across the board.

Let's be honest, Notre Dame did about as well as we could have expected without being unrealistic. Stanford, as odd as it sounds, is a legitimate darkhorse (oxymoron?) for the national championship game. They are 4-0 and have the game of the season this week, win that and they'll be cruising to the Rose Bowl and a possible National Championship berth once the SEC gets the best of Alabama.

Brian Kelly has outcoached and his teams have outplayed three of the teams on the schedule. Talent and grasping the system have this team at 1-3, coaching and effort have been 3-1. That's fine by me, for now. Kelly needs to beat Boston College and get this show on the road though, it is time. I can't see a legitimate reason for Notre Dame to lose with game without a major letdown.

 

[IrishInColumbus]

You give those teams too much respect in my opinion.

 

[IrishTimer]

I strongly agree with that boxing comparison. Stanford didn't knock Notre Dame's socks off like they were Southern Cal circa every year but 2005 but they slowly and methodically were a better team than Notre Dame across the board.

Let's be honest, Notre Dame did about as well as we could have expected without being unrealistic. Stanford, as odd as it sounds, is a legitimate darkhorse (oxymoron?) for the national championship game. They are 4-0 and have the game of the season this week, win that and they'll be cruising to the Rose Bowl and a possible National Championship berth once the SEC gets the best of Alabama.

Brian Kelly has outcoached and his teams have outplayed three of the teams on the schedule. Talent and grasping the system have this team at 1-3, coaching and effort have been 3-1. That's fine by me, for now. Kelly needs to beat Boston College and get this show on the road though, it is time. I can't see a legitimate reason for Notre Dame to lose with game without a major letdown.

BC on the road will be tough. Chesnut Hill is a very difficult place to play. While I think this is a winnable game for the Irish I think it's very possible we lose. We are a young team coming off a disheartening loss at home. Hopefully it was just Stanford being very good and not so much a sign of this team going into a lull.

Very good post, accurate and fair I like reading constructive post like this no arguing or unrealistic expectations!

Thanks!

 

[IrishTimer]

Boston College



The Good:

- Armando Allen. I'll say it again. This guy has beent he MVP of this team. He's been running like a man possesed. His truck stick move at the goalline on Saturday night was painful to watch for the BC defender. He's quietly moved up the ranks to be one of Top 10 yardage guys in Notre Dame history.

- The defense. I know BC's offense sucks. I don't care. Outside of one double move the Notre Dame defense did what it was supposed to do. They didn't let a crappy offense or crappy team hang around more than they should have. Do I think they are a new unit now? No. But it was nice to see them take care of business when they were supposed to.

-The first quarter offense. The running game looked great. The passing game looked in sync and it resulted in points, points, and more points. It was great to see. At times(Mich 2nd half, Mich St second half, and BC 1st quarter) you get to see glimpses of what this team can and will become.

- Manti Te'o. All over the field. Another very good game.

- Michael Floyd. No fumbles! Yeah! In all seriousness he played great football. Caught everything thrown his way and is still an impossible match up for teams.

- David Ruffer. Still perfect.

- Prince Shembo. Limited action but looked really good while he was out there.

- Ian Williams. Played a great game inside on rush defense. Was very stout at the point of attack.

- Bennett Jackson as the KR. Great to see some field position for the offense. If he can keep this up I like Kelly's offense on a short field with Allen, Rudolph, Floyd, Jones, and Riddick.

- Brian Kelly shouting. Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. This is not a great football team. They don't have the luxury of making mistakes and playing bad football and getting away with it. I love how they are held accountable and Kelly goes after anyone and everyone. Turk, Crist, Stewart, Ruffer, Goodman etc. Doesn't matter who it is. Do your job and you won't get your *** chewed out.



The Bad:

- The pass rush. Outside of Shembo...where the hell was it. Where has Kapron Lewis-Moore been since the 3rd quarter of the Michigan game?

- The offensive line. Allen looked great but at times the line gave him nothing to work with. Crist was hurried too much. Not a great game for them even in the win.

- Crist's accuracy. Seemed spotty at times. Seemed like he was trying to throw the ball way to hard when he didn't have to.

- The offense in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters outside of the Riddick TD drive. They looked out of sync and just off. Just way off. It was bad. Like 2007 bad.

- Cierre Wood. This kid looks like he has lost ALL of his confidence.

- Brian Smith in pass coverage. Does this guy ever NOT looked confused?


The Ugly:

- Boston College. They suck. Easily the worst team I have seen all season.

- Kirk Herbstreits comments about the Notre Dame defense. Not saying I disagree or agree here. Just rough comments to hear. I'd actually really like to have heard expanded comments of his on it because I felt like the Notre Dame defense was the only thing that kept them in that game against Stanford. Just would like to hear his take and why he thinks that. I don't think Notre Dame's defense is a track team but I don't think they are bad as Herby makes them out to be(a high school team). I repsect Herby's opinion a lot so it'd be interesting to hear from him.



- The Boston College women. We have Taylor Swift....they have..trolls..

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All in all a win is a win. Especially against BC...especially at Chestnut Hill. I was joking with my dad though that even though they won I'd hate to be in the film room because they are going to get their asses chewed out. Like Kelly said after Purdue though..he'd rather be correcting things after a win than after a loss.

2-3. So my 1-5 feeling won't come true. Pitt comes to town next weekend and while I could see it being a win Kelly needs to make sure that they don't get too big for their britches after this BC win. Pitt has something that BC didn't. Playmakers in Baldwin and Lewis. Pitt is having a down year but still has dangerous players. Notre Dame needs to be ready. That being said...they should win. These next four games(Pitt, WMU, Navy, Tulsa) are all "should wins" so now all of a sudden 6-3/5-4 going into Army, Utah, USC seems possible. That's still leaves us realistically looking at 7-5/6-6 for the season. I don't think this team is experienced, confident, consistant, or good enough to pull off an 8-4 season but maybe if they get rolling who knows.

Was very interested to hear the stat that ESPN had that Notre Dame is the only team in the country to have played 3 Top 25 teams to this point in the year. For a team in a "down year" as far as SOS goes and with Utah and USC still on the schedule coming up that's an interesting stat to see.

 

[tommyIRISH23]

Boston College



The Good:

- Armando Allen. I'll say it again. This guy has beent he MVP of this team. He's been running like a man possesed. His truck stick move at the goalline on Saturday night was painful to watch for the BC defender. He's quietly moved up the ranks to be one of Top 10 yardage guys in Notre Dame history.

- The defense. I know BC's offense sucks. I don't care. Outside of one double move the Notre Dame defense did what it was supposed to do. They didn't let a crappy offense or crappy team hang around more than they should have. Do I think they are a new unit now? No. But it was nice to see them take care of business when they were supposed to.

-The first quarter offense. The running game looked great. The passing game looked in sync and it resulted in points, points, and more points. It was great to see. At times(Mich 2nd half, Mich St second half, and BC 1st quarter) you get to see glimpses of what this team can and will become.

- Manti Te'o. All over the field. Another very good game.

- Michael Floyd. No fumbles! Yeah! In all seriousness he played great football. Caught everything thrown his way and is still an impossible match up for teams.

- David Ruffer. Still perfect.

- Prince Shembo. Limited action but looked really good while he was out there.

- Ian Williams. Played a great game inside on rush defense. Was very stout at the point of attack.

- Brian Kelly shouting. Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. This is not a great football team. They don't have the luxury of making mistakes and playing bad football and getting away with it. I love how they are held accountable and Kelly goes after anyone and everyone. Turk, Crist, Stewart, Ruffer, Goodman etc. Doesn't matter who it is. Do your job and you won't get your *** chewed out.

The Bad:

- The pass rush. Outside of Shembo...where the hell was it. Where has Kapron Lewis-Moore been since the 3rd quarter of the Michigan game?

- The offensive line. Allen looked great but at times the line gave him nothing to work with. Crist was hurried too much. Not a great game for them even in the win.

- Crist's accuracy. Seemed spotty at times. Seemed like he was trying to throw the ball way to hard when he didn't have to.

- The offense in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters outside of the Riddick TD drive. They looked out of sync and just off. Just way off. It was bad. Like 2007 bad.

- Cierre Wood. This kid looks like he has lost ALL of his confidence.

- Brian Smith in pass coverage. Does this guy ever NOT looked confused?


The Ugly:

- Boston College. They suck. Easily the worst team I have seen all season.

- Kirk Herbstreits comments about the Notre Dame defense. Not saying I disagree or agree here. Just rough comments to hear. I'd actually really like to have heard expanded comments of his on it because I felt like the Notre Dame defense was the only thing that kept them in that game against Stanford. Just would like to hear his take and why he thinks that. I don't think Notre Dame's defense is a track team but I don't think they are bad as Herby makes them out to be(a high school team). I repsect Herby's opinion a lot so it'd be interesting to hear from him.



- The Boston College women. We have Taylor Swift....they have..trolls..

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All in all a win is a win. Especially against BC...especially at Chestnut Hill. I was joking with my dad though that even though they won I'd hate to be in the film room because they are going to get their asses chewed out. Like Kelly said after Purdue though..he'd rather be correcting things after a win than after a loss.

2-3. So my 1-5 feeling won't come true. Pitt comes to town next weekend and while I could see it being a win Kelly needs to make sure that they don't get too big for their britches after this BC win. Pitt has something that BC didn't. Playmakers in Baldwin and Lewis. Pitt is having a down year but still has dangerous players. Notre Dame needs to be ready. That being said...they should win. These next four games(Pitt, WMU, Navy, Tulsa) are all "should wins" so now all of a sudden 6-3/5-4 going into Army, Utah, USC seems possible. That's still leaves us realistically looking at 7-5/6-6 for the season. I don't think this team is experienced, confident, consistant, or good enough to pull off an 8-4 season but maybe if they get rolling who knows.

Was very interested to hear the stat that ESPN had that Notre Dame is the only team in the country to have played 3 Top 25 teams to this point in the year. For a team in a "down year" as far as SOS goes and with Utah and USC still on the schedule coming up that's an interesting stat to see.

I like your analysis. KLM has been, for the most part, MIA since Michigan. Itll be interesting to see if Shembo get shuffled into the mix getting a decent amount of time, he's more athletic then Fleming and bring some much needed speed to the edge, Imo. I wonder why Filer is not in the game more often, he is a freak apathetically, maybe he is just not picking up his assignments.

Yeah we are far from a great team, but are better then what our record shows. It sucks that our schedule played out the way it did, we had to have lost some confidence with that murders row, and momentum is HUGE in CFB. Losing momentum his hard to shake, and winning momentum is hard to stop. I firmly believe that, if we win saturday, we will be a different team by the time Utah comes to town. Winning 4 games in a row, getting positive reps, and just playing the game at a controlled pace will do so much for this team. They'll be a better team, and have a better grasp on the concepts because they'll beable to execute.

7-5 should be expected, but 8/9 wins is more then possible, especially with the way SC is playing, and how Kiffy is running the trojan program into the ground at a record setting pace.

ND will beat Utah to get BK his first signature win. I guarantee it! The stretch of game in the next month are going to do wonders for this team in every mental/physical aspect of the game.

 

[Old Man Mike]

generally-speaking your analysis/opinions are readable. Your wisecrack about BC girls cheapens you and us.

 

[Dizzyphil]

Something else to add to your Good for the BC game:

BC only had 5 yards rushing.


Diz

 

[IrishTimer]

generally-speaking your analysis/opinions are readable.

Well it is English. Thanks I guess?

Your wisecrack about BC girls cheapens you and us.

You mad? They're hideous.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Notre Dame men are gentlemen. Why are you slamming girls on a football blog? Especially one with some relationship to the University that i honor as a maker of men.

 

[youngblood24]

I was at the game - They're not the best looking girls but there were surely some very good looking females at the game.

 

[IrishTimer]

Notre Dame men are gentlemen.

yeah, Clausen and Floyd sure are gentlemen...when was the last time you were on campus at a party?

All those XC runners I party with standing on beer pong tables shirtless...my first thought..."What a gentleman"

Why are you slamming girls on a football blog?

Because ESPN showed them during a football game.

Especially one with some relationship to the University that i honor as a maker of men.

Free speech?

 

[IrishTimer]

I was at the game - They're not the best looking girls but there were surely some very good looking females at the game.

Blind squirrel finds a nut everyonce and a while

 

[IrishTimer]

Pitt

The Good

- Armando Allen. This guy seems to be a mainstay here. He ran fast, quick, and hard yet again. His vision seems much better this year as well. He seems to be finding creases much better and it's helping him make larger gains.

- Cierre Wood. Good to see him have a nice bounce back game. Showed good vision and burst and did a good job of taking what was there and making the most of his runs.

- David Ruffer. Love this kid. I know he is a senior..but he's also a transfer. He has to have a season or two of eligibility left right?

- Kapron Lewis Moore. Where the hell has he been? Seemed to be MIA after the 3rd quarter of the Michigan game but bounced back real strong with this one. Made lots of plays in the run game and did a great job with pass rush.

-Ian Williams. The bandwagon is getting fuller with this guy but he yet again played excellent. Ian is a great example of what the new training tables, strength and conditioning program have done for this team.

-Prince Shembo. He always seems to be around the ball(quarterback) when he's in.

-Robert Blanton. Played an excellent game and he will need to keep coming up big with Gary Gray and Darrrin Walls being a little nicked up.

-Michael Floyd. Lots of big catches including what could have been the game sealing TD.

-Theo Riddick. Turning into a real electric player. His double juke move on the Pitt defenders was sick.

-Harrison Smith. All of the field making plays. Loved it. About time.

-Ben Turk. Holy cripes! Where the heck has that been?


-The offensive line. Namely the tackles. Gave up an early sack but for a couple kids getting their first real extended action against a very good Pitt DLine they protected Crist well and opened nice lanes in the running game.

-The teams mental toughness. This a game this team loses last year but they hung in and finished the ball game right.


The Bad

- Dave Wannstadt. Why the hell wasn't he running the ball more?

- The two Pitt touchdowns. Notre Dame made two mistakes all day on defense and it resulted in 14 points. Two undicisplined mistakes. And it cost them.

- Mike Ragone. That drop could have been REAL costly.

- Kyle Rudolph. I know the kid was playing really hurt but he still has to make that catch inside the 10.


The Ugly

- Kyle Rudolph injury. This is really all I could think of for here. Losing Rudolph hurts...a lot. Ragone and Eifert need to step up big time and hopefully they can. Alex Welch won't see the field this season so it comes down to these two. It's about time Ragone turned into the player he was supposed to be coming out of high school. He could make himself an NFL draft pick with a strong showing over the remaining games. Hopefully Rudolph heals and we have him back next season.


-----------------------------------------------

Sorry for the lateness of this but I'm getting married tomorrow and the last week has been absolutely crazy. I most likely won't have a review up for the WMU as my wedding being at 2pm CST will not allow me to watch the game live and I'll be in Mexico for a week for my honeymoon. So I guess I'm taking a one week vacation from this.

Hopefully we win these next three games like we are supposed to. That would make us 6-3 heading into Utah, Army, and USC. 7-5 seems likely at this point and I think that's a solid showing from a team that started 1-3. At some point they will need to start winning games against top teams but this year is clearly a building block towards what Kelly wants to do over the long term. I can see the progress and am liking it thus far. I'd rather have a slower build back to the top then what we saw with Willingham and Weis, a metoric rise...then a soul crushing crash.

Take care fellow Irish fans.

Go Irish.

 

[zemaniak]

thanks for the post, eapecially given the circumstances. Always an enjoyable read...

And best wishes to the groom and bride !!

 

[IrishTimer]

Navy



The Good

......

- Duval Kamara I thought he did a good job of filling in for Floyd. We all know he isn't Floyd but he made some nice catches played physical and did what he was asked to do.

- TJ Jones. Had one drop late in the game when it didn't matter but otherwise played a very good football game. Seemed to be one of the few Irish players who played with any sense of urgency.

- David Ruffer. Still perfect.

- Armando Allen. Ran hard and still had a nice game on offense despite most likely playing at less than 100%

The Bad

Where to even begin....

- The entire team outside of those mentioned above. We came out and played flat uninspired football. For whatever reason this team came in to town with the attitude that they were 7-0 rather than 4-3. We looked almost disinterested in being on the field at times and seemed bored playing against Navy. Not that "fire and passion" would have made a hell of a lot of difference but the teams attitude was a bit scary to say the least.

- The defense just looked awful. Pathetic. Ian Williams did nothing for the first time all season. Te'o had one good play and then got manhandled the rest of the way. The OLB's looked completely lost. Brian Smith overrunning an OBVIOUS screen play on the first Navy TD was ridiculous but par for the course with this kid. I guess I don't have much to say about the secondary because Navy rarely passed and they had to deal with fullbacks running full speed at them nearly untouched but the front 7 of Notre Dame today looked terrible.

- The coaching staff. I really saw no major adjustments in the game plan and it seemed our kids had never seen a cut block before. I wasn't at the practices or at the meetings all week but our defense looked ridiculously unprepared and not "uncoached'

- Dayne Crist. Wow. Amazing how a loss really starts to brings out all his weaknesses even more so. He had a nice scramble or two but his accuracy was again off and something needs to be done about his throwing motion. He has an odd hitch in it and he takes too long to get rid of the ball. I'm not suggesting a large change but he seems to have a bit of a looping throwing motion and we need to do something to quicken his release. Any pass over 10 yards seems to float and his down the field accuracy is really bad. The interception at the end of the first half was a huge mistake. Getting to the half down 14-10 or 17-10 after a punt and keeping it a one score game at the point would have made a huge difference rather than being down two scores walking out of the locker room. Maybe it winds up not mattering at all because the defense couldn't stop Navy all day but you can't turn the ball over there. You jut can't.

The Ugly

- Navy 35 Notre Dame 17.

- The CBS announcers. Holy hell was it bad. David "Ruffner", John "Goodwin", etc. Seriously? Maybe have it happen once and have the producer get in your ear you're saying the kid's name wrong....Nope. All game. It's like this crew showed up after an all night bender sat in the booth with a roster card and just raved about Notre Dame's "size" and Navy's "heart".

- CBS's wide camera angle. We get it. Notre Dame runs a spread but having a camera angle for them on offense that seemingly puts you in the nose bleed section is terrible presentation.

-----------------------------------------------

The most embarrassing loss I can remember in my 20+ years as a Notre Dame fan. That includes the 2007 debacle season that we all really saw coming to some degree. I mean even in 2007, our worst season, it took Navy three overtimes to beat us. If someone has a more embarrassing loss I'd like to hear about it. This team, even in transition, had more expectations. We were one play from beating the #7 team in the country. One play from beating Michigan, and beat a solid Pitt team. This is a team that many saw as possibly winning 8 games all of a sudden with the way we had played recently after a 1-3 start. We got dominated by a service academy. Pathetic.

I almost turned off the game about 5 times but stuck it through. For what reason? I don't know. But in some odd way I expect this team, program, and school to not give up so I'm not going to.

Brian Kelly's honeymoon/new coach/new coach grace period is officially over. How this team and this staff respond from this next week will show a lot. I think we all expected to have a "thud" game on the schedule at some point....but not to Navy.

Hold on to your hats Notre Dame fans.....here we go.

 

[Easton Pa ND Fan]

End zone thoughts...

End zone thoughts...

Seated on the opposite end from Navy:

1st: The "new" stadium is not an improvement over
the old one. Sound is distorted and maybe 50% of what
was said was understood. The place did not look any
different from the old stadium. It still is a cheap-
appearing venue.

2nd: The ND subway alum love fest happened in the
parking lot but not in the stadium. Despite at least
85% of the paid attendance clearly ND fans, the play
announcements in the first half only named the Navy
players. Only when ND scored was credit given.

3rd: Crist kept throwing into traffic despite
signaling wide-open receivers.

4th: ND backs kept running into line clutter
when holes were avaible to their immediate left or
right.

5th: The defense, to a man, kept looking to the
sideline for guidance before each Navy formation.

6th: Linebackers too far back to stop Navy in
unfolding plays.

7th: Pass coverage not aware of ball, they only
tracked the receivers. It hurt.

8th: $90 face ticket value for a crappy stadium
and game...Tom

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[phgreek]

The Good

......

- Duval Kamara I thought he did a good job of filling in for Floyd. We all know he isn't Floyd but he made some nice catches played physical and did what he was asked to do.

- TJ Jones. Had one drop late in the game when it didn't matter but otherwise played a very good football game. Seemed to be one of the few Irish players who played with any sense of urgency.

- David Ruffer. Still perfect.

- Armando Allen. Ran hard and still had a nice game on offense despite most likely playing at less than 100%

The Bad

Where to even begin....

- The entire team outside of those mentioned above. We came out and played flat uninspired football. For whatever reason this team came in to town with the attitude that they were 7-0 rather than 4-3. We looked almost disinterested in being on the field at times and seemed bored playing against Navy. Not that "fire and passion" would have made a hell of a lot of difference but the teams attitude was a bit scary to say the least.

- The defense just looked awful. Pathetic. Ian Williams did nothing for the first time all season. Te'o had one good play and then got manhandled the rest of the way. The OLB's looked completely lost. Brian Smith overrunning an OBVIOUS screen play on the first Navy TD was ridiculous but par for the course with this kid. I guess I don't have much to say about the secondary because Navy rarely passed and they had to deal with fullbacks running full speed at them nearly untouched but the front 7 of Notre Dame today looked terrible.

- The coaching staff. I really saw no major adjustments in the game plan and it seemed our kids had never seen a cut block before. I wasn't at the practices or at the meetings all week but our defense looked ridiculously unprepared and not "uncoached'

- Dayne Crist. Wow. Amazing how a loss really starts to brings out all his weaknesses even more so. He had a nice scramble or two but his accuracy was again off and something needs to be done about his throwing motion. He has an odd hitch in it and he takes too long to get rid of the ball. I'm not suggesting a large change but he seems to have a bit of a looping throwing motion and we need to do something to quicken his release. Any pass over 10 yards seems to float and his down the field accuracy is really bad. The interception at the end of the first half was a huge mistake. Getting to the half down 14-10 or 17-10 after a punt and keeping it a one score game at the point would have made a huge difference rather than being down two scores walking out of the locker room. Maybe it winds up not mattering at all because the defense couldn't stop Navy all day but you can't turn the ball over there. You jut can't.

The Ugly

- Navy 35 Notre Dame 17.

- The CBS announcers. Holy hell was it bad. David "Ruffner", John "Goodwin", etc. Seriously? Maybe have it happen once and have the producer get in your ear you're saying the kid's name wrong....Nope. All game. It's like this crew showed up after an all night bender sat in the booth with a roster card and just raved about Notre Dame's "size" and Navy's "heart".

- CBS's wide camera angle. We get it. Notre Dame runs a spread but having a camera angle for them on offense that seemingly puts you in the nose bleed section is terrible presentation.

-----------------------------------------------

The most embarrassing loss I can remember in my 20+ years as a Notre Dame fan. That includes the 2007 debacle season that we all really saw coming to some degree. I mean even in 2007, our worst season, it took Navy three overtimes to beat us. If someone has a more embarrassing loss I'd like to hear about it. This team, even in transition, had more expectations. We were one play from beating the #7 team in the country. One play from beating Michigan, and beat a solid Pitt team. This is a team that many saw as possibly winning 8 games all of a sudden with the way we had played recently after a 1-3 start. We got dominated by a service academy. Pathetic.

I almost turned off the game about 5 times but stuck it through. For what reason? I don't know. But in some odd way I expect this team, program, and school to not give up so I'm not going to.

Brian Kelly's honeymoon/new coach/new coach grace period is officially over. How this team and this staff respond from this next week will show a lot. I think we all expected to have a "thud" game on the schedule at some point....but not to Navy.

Hold on to your hats Notre Dame fans.....here we go.

Good job...

Too much credit is given to Navy...they indeed did everything in their power to win...but if Brian Kelly himself told me they are a good football team....on par with Michigan or Michigan state, I'd slap his mouth.

This was a Beatch Loss...I've not given up on the team, but they need to have their asses kicked this week...that was a dismal failure.

 

[IrishTimer]

Tulsa

The Good

-Michael Floyd. Had(another) a great game. Blocked well, ran good routes. Made every catch he should have...and one he shouldn't have that was a freak play by a freak player on the sideline. Get ready to have your work load increased a ton Mr. Floyd.....Kelly HAS to find more ways to get him the ball. I thought Kelly did a decent job of moving him around trying to create mismatches and keep the defense off balance. If Notre Dame has any chance of winning games down the stretch Floyd needs to average at least 8-9 catches a game.

-Tommy Rees. Yeah. He made a bad throw to end the game. But 4 touchdowns in his first extended action is impressive. His arm strength looks really iffy and his ball seems to flutter a bit at times but he did a very good job moving the offense, especially considering the complete lack of a running game. It almost seems his hand is too small to grip the football real well. On some of the slow mo replays you could see him regripping or attempting to re grip the ball right before he threw. He might want to look into wearing gloves. Do I expect him to play this well each week? No. But he played well enough to win this game and I think most any Notre Dame fan should be VERY pleased with his performance.

-Roby Toma. You can tell Rees and him worked together a lot on the second team offense. They seemed to have a real good connection and Rees trusts Toma. With Rees being the QB the rest of the season and with Allen now gone for the year a guy like Toma will have to step up. Toma showed himself to be a nice fit in the slot for this offense and him, Floyd, and TJ Jones will have to step up big time from the WR position in the coming games.

-The defense (kind of) Yeah they gave up a 3rd and 26 on the final drive but overall they only gave up 13 points and even though they looked slower than dirt at times compared to Tulsa they played well enough to win this football game had Notre Dame's offense, and special teams not handed Tulsa two touchdowns. Had the defense not held after the Goodman fumble this game could have been over much sooner. When Kapron Lewis Moore plays well on the edge this defense is very solid. When he doesn't we don't generate much pressure. It was nice to see the sack total being so high but some of those were the result of good coverage down the field and Tulsa scrambling into trouble.

-Mike Mayock. He has been great all season in the booth but this game was one of his best efforts. Did a great job breaking down the Tulsa attack and a very good job dealing with all the moving parts on Notre Dame's offense and really scouting the players and game as it happened. He may be the best thing going for Notre Dame football this season...........

The Bad

-John Goodman. Drops at WR(again) and a fumbled punt. The guy offers practically nothing in the punt return game so if he is going to fumble we might as well put TJ Jones, Bennett Jackson, or somebody else back there at this point. We need something out of the return game...or at least have the threat of something out of the return game. Goodman has 19 return yards all season. He's barely averaging more than two yards per return. With the nice game by Roby Toma I think John Goodman's time on offense is about up as well. I would expect to see more of Kamara and Toma in these final three games.


-Special Teams(outside of Ruffer). Ben Turk reverted to punting terribly. The coverage units were iffy and Tulsa was able to break a return for a score. The blocked XP was a bad bit of blocking by the line and really other than the execution of the fake punt and a decent return by Jackson the special teams unit on Saturday was less than inspiring. It's really one of the first times all year the entire unit had a bad game.

- Run blocking. Very bad game for the offensive line in terms of run blocking. They protected Ress pretty well but the run blocking was bad. Wood didn't have very much space to operate. When he did have room he made the most of it and had a pretty good game running the football but far to often the line wasn't getting much push and opening much in the way of holes for him. With Allen out and with Rees as the QB the rest of the way Notre Dame will need a rushing attack to hang in against Utah and USC. Wood can be an electric runner with space and the last few weeks has shown he has gotten over the early season "hangover" he was experiencing. They need to give him space.

-The defense(kind of). While they played well enough to win the game giving up the 3rd and 26 on that final drive can't happen and far too many times they were allowing the underneath crossing routes for big gains. They had no answer for the Jet Sweep and looked very slow. Maybe allowing the underneath routes was part of the game plan but that remains to be seen. They also dropped a couple interceptions as well. Kapron Lewis Moor played well for stretches but again pulled a disappearing act far too often. Blanton played well but got abused on the TD pass and far too often Te'o let Tulsa's QB pick up extra yardage on scrambles.

The Ugly

-The officiating. Both teams had some horrendous calls go against them. The offensive pass interference calls against Tulsa were laughable at best and Notre Dame was the victim of some phanton calls as well. Tulsa made some absolutely boneheaded plays and many times played flat out stupid football so maybe the refs started watching them far too carefully but some of the calls are inexcusable. I'd also like an explantion on the two point blocked XP return as to why the points were allowed? Maybe I was thinking of a rule implementation that is going to happen next season but I thought this season if the player started celebrating before the endzone the penalty was a spot foul and the touchdown/return etc was disallowed. The Tulsa player started his flip before he got to the endzone yet the points still counted. I don't feel it helped decide the game. More just a point of curiosity/clarification for me at this point.

- The energy by the team and in the stadium. I know it had been a tragic week at Notre Dame but still. There was no energy in the stadium(from what I could tell from the TV broadcast) and the team came out very flat. You think they'd come out and want to play with a little more emotion but the entire stadium and team seemed to be sleep walking through the game. This has become all too common at Notre Dame in the last few seasons and it's too bad. Maybe someone who was at the game can correct me or confirm this for me but there seemed to be no atmosphere or emotion at this game.

-The Final Play Call. Ok. What the hell? It's arguable if you make that call with a veteren QB and a high powered offense, let alone with a decent offense and a freshman QB playing in his first real expanded action. What makes it even worse is they called this play coming out of a time out when they had time to think about it. Yes, Rees should have known better and maybe thrown the ball away or if he was going to miss, miss into the 15th row; but Kelly can't make that play call. You can't leave the choice up to a true freshman QB for a team fighting for a bowl bid. As it stands now this loss realistically takes the team out of bowl contention. You miss extra practices, miss a chance to get one more game in front of recruits, and the loss to Tulsa hurts recruiting anyways. The worst part of this is Kelly defended the call after the game, essentially saying he'd do the same thing over again and that "is the way this team is going to play". We don't want a team to play stupid. We want them to play hard, smart, and fast. You were brought in because far too often Weis' over aggressiveness lead to bad losses. You take wins in a season like this any way you can get them. You don't get into a pissing match with Tulsa down by 1 at home on their 19 yard line with a chance to win the game with a kicker who has yet to miss a FG attempt in his Notre Dame career. If this is the way this team and this program is going to play it's concerning. Will a call like this maybe cost a zero, one , or two loss Notre Dame team a chance at a National Championship or BCS bowl game down the road? In the end I think(hope) it was posturing by Kelly post game but I'd still rather see him stand there and admit the mistake in calling the play in the first place and move on.


-----------------------------------------------------

Looks like a 5-7 season is upon us. Aaron Lynch has officially decommitted and the fear now is this will get the ball rolling to even more decommits. Also, now this loss will be analyzed, talked about etc for two weeks with the bye week coming up as well. Hopefully we get Riddick back by the game against Utah but other than various bumps and bruises the injury damage is done. Crist, Allen, Rudolph, maybe Riddick are all lost for the year or extended time and a young team just got a lot younger and more inexperienced. Let's just hope we win the game against Army at Yankee Stadium. Floyd plays well and decides to stick around for next season(though I doubt it), Wood, Riddick, TJ Jones, Toma, Rees, Eifert all give us hope for the future of this offense and the young defensive players(especially along the defensive line) step up and play well. Even 2007 didn't seem this bad. In many ways this could be the worst Notre Dame season I have seen in my lifetime. Perhaps topped only by the 2004 season where the entire team quit on Ty. Hopefully this is a case of the night is darkest before the dawn...but right now it's pitch black and very depressing.

Go Irish. Beat Bye Week.

We are ND.

 

[zemaniak]

on Rees's arm strength, Turk's punting and "the last pass".

I'll play Devil's advocate and argue that we shouldn't underestimate the factor wind played that day

Kinne didn't do much in the third quarter passing wise either when into the wind

 

[IrishTimer]

on Rees's arm strength, Turk's punting and "the last pass".

I'll play Devil's advocate and argue that we shouldn't underestimate the factor wind played that day

Kinne didn't do much in the third quarter passing wise either when into the wind

True enough but outside of the Floyd TD in the first half Rees never really showed much in the way of arm strength.

Turk's been punting badly most of the season and his worst punt came when he was kicking into the wind when he actually needed a pooch kick.

The last pass sure...but like I said...Kelly was there. He knew was the wind was like. He knew he'd be throwing into it. The fact that he still called it with the wind as a factor is an even further indictment of the play call rather than an excuse as to why it didn't work IMO.

I see the points though.

 

[zemaniak]

True enough but outside of the Floyd TD in the first half Rees never really showed much in the way of arm strength.

Turk's been punting badly most of the season and his worst punt came when he was kicking into the wind when he actually needed a pooch kick.

The last pass sure...but like I said...Kelly was there. He knew was the wind was like. He knew he'd be throwing into it. The fact that he still called it with the wind as a factor is an even further indictment of the play call rather than an excuse as to why it didn't work IMO.

I see the points though.

Well they were on the 25 yard line I believe at the time. Say Tulsa stops them on 2nd and 3rd down, which is entirely possible given our ineptitude running, and let's argue a screen was out of the question after that pick-6 earlier, then you are staring at a 42 yard FG into the wind. That ain't a gimme even for Ruffer. But I get your point as well.

 

[TerryTate]

Can we learn to run that smoke sweep play that whooped us?

 

[IrishTimer]

Well they were on the 25 yard line I believe at the time. Say Tulsa stops them on 2nd and 3rd down, which is entirely possible given our ineptitude running, and let's argue a screen was out of the question after that pick-6 earlier, then you are staring at a 42 yard FG into the wind. That ain't a gimme even for Ruffer. But I get your point as well.

It was 2nd and 8 from the 19. It would have been a 36 yarder at worst into the wind. Run Hughes/Wood up the middle. Once or twice. Kick on 3rd down for all I care. But yes. You kick a 36 yard FG or less into the wind down 1 at home to win the game rather than trying to throw into the wind, into coverage with a freshman QB.