Sep 3 | South Florida

[Whiskeyjack]

I don't see Kelly being a prick. Cocky? Yes. The best always know they can beat you.

 

[military_irish]

New Irish Connection is up, if it has not already been posted somewhere else. It outlines Longo and his conditioning tactics. Really intersting.

UND All-Access

 

[Buster Bluth]

New Irish Connection is up, if it has not already been posted somewhere else. It outlines Longo and his conditioning tactics. Really intersting.

UND All-Access

I've always been curious about Longo--did he conjure up this magical program in a secret lab somewhere? Why don't other schools do this? Do other schools do this stuff?

 

[johnnyoooo]

Skip Holtz

Skip Holtz

Suspect Skip Holtz cannot let the Notre Dame defensive front seven settle in and dictate the game. Believe he will step up with a no huddle offense and rattle off plays like Oregon one after another hoping to catch Notre Dame with the wrong players on the field or not being ready for plays. Would think whatever speed he has he will use on the edges to beat the slower Notre Dame down linemen. But saying this Florida I sense will buy trouble with Notre Dame's front seven and eventually will have turnovers and interceptions. If they can't run then it will be grab bag time with Daniel's forced to win the game by him self and interception and sack time on the way. Florida's problems starting off are how do you win without a run game. Answer. You don't.

 

[Rhode Irish]

Craig James has ND on upset watch. I know everyone hates James (I do, too), but James is just the latest in a line of "experts" that thinks ND needs to be wary of USF. I tend to agree. The Irish are the better team, but this game is not a gimme. USF isn't Purdue. We need to play well to win. I'm confident, but cautious.

 

[UPMich_NDfan]

50% chance of thunderstorms for South Bend Saturday...can't see the hourly detail...would rain change this matchup at all?!

 

[cody1smith]

Gonna be a harder game to win than most are expecting i think. Usf is a super fast team that can play like a member of the sec. Although they struggle with consistency and the ability to move the ball (outside of there quaterback). They have noone that can single handedly cover floyd in any situation. and a young front line on D. If wood can move the ball early USF is in for a long day in SOUTH BEND!!! They picked up that running back from colorado i belive, who was the number one rated back coming out of high school a few years ago. He never proved much in the highly overrated big twelve before his transfer. im interested to see how he preforms against the talented defense he will see in a few days in south bend! F** boy herbstreet has us win 4-8 games at best this season with a loss week one at home. Him and USF are both gonna be suprised come sep 3!!!
Irish 41
USF 13

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

Suspect Skip Holtz cannot let the Notre Dame defensive front seven settle in and dictate the game. Believe he will step up with a no huddle offense and rattle off plays like Oregon one after another hoping to catch Notre Dame with the wrong players on the field or not being ready for plays. Would think whatever speed he has he will use on the edges to beat the slower Notre Dame down linemen. But saying this Florida I sense will buy trouble with Notre Dame's front seven and eventually will have turnovers and interceptions. If they can't run then it will be grab bag time with Daniel's forced to win the game by him self and interception and sack time on the way. Florida's problems starting off are how do you win without a run game. Answer. You don't.

I really hope they try to go to a hurry up, no huddle offense right from the start. First game of the season, so many new starters especially along the Oline, and in freakin' Notre Dame stadium in front of a national TV audience. I agree, I can see them trying it, but after the first 3 or 4 false starts by nervous Olinemen, it will stall a drive really fast and put them in plenty of 3rd and long situations.

If our Dline can withstand the opening salvos, I think they will dig in and start to impose their will.

 

[cody1smith]

Yes weather could play a huge roll in all of our games! I am fairly certin in our passing game. Our running game on the other hand is yet to be proven. Talent is there just waiting on it to produce! I hope the rain holds off at least untill week 2 so i can see how our running game developes. If wood and the o line preform like they should nothing is gonna stand in our way to a bcs birth. But until after the game on sat im gonna out my faith in sir floyd!!

 

[johnnyoooo]

Florida Will Pass

Florida Will Pass

Southern Cal learned the hard way after three and a half quarters of having their run game stuffed to air out the ball and came close to beating Nore Dame last year. From that I assume Skip Holtz will come out with air attack from the get go. With that I also expect Daniel's to be pressured and throw interceptions. Also containing Daniels will tip us off how well next week we can contain Denard Robinson.

 

[cody1smith]

Agreed could not have asked for a better warm up to robinson. Cant wait to burn the feild up under the lights in ann arbor

 

[johnnyoooo]

I just wonder what Notre Dame offensive line will show up Weiss or Kelly's ? Still not have figured out under Weiss why the offensive line was horrible. Was it poor offensive line coaching, over rated linemen or both. I never saw a Notre Dame offensive line perform so poorly for such a long period of three seasons. It was only in the last half of the fourth quarter with Southern Cal and Miami they got a decent run game going.

 

[cody1smith]

Lets hope kelly's! It has been years since notre dame has had a consistent running game. We need this to be the year, without a running game d backs will play soft and make it hard for floyd to prove that he is the best in college football. WE NEED WOOD TO HAVE A STAND OUT SEASON TO WIN A BCS BOWL GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Rocket89]

Gonna be a harder game to win than most are expecting i think. Usf is a super fast team that can play like a member of the sec. Although they struggle with consistency and the ability to move the ball (outside of there quaterback). They have noone that can single handedly cover floyd in any situation. and a young front line on D. If wood can move the ball early USF is in for a long day in SOUTH BEND!!! They picked up that running back from colorado i belive, who was the number one rated back coming out of high school a few years ago. He never proved much in the highly overrated big twelve before his transfer. im interested to see how he preforms against the talented defense he will see in a few days in south bend! F** boy herbstreet has us win 4-8 games at best this season with a loss week one at home. Him and USF are both gonna be suprised come sep 3!!!
Irish 41
USF 13

I iz confused.

 

[johnnyoooo]

Notre Dame Is Set

Notre Dame Is Set

Notre Dame comes into the game set with no generic issues except for Crist and the offensive line to execute their offense. Florida comes in with some green offensive linemen, Daniels who has thrown more interceptions then touchdowns and knowing they will have huge difficulties running on Notre Dame. That last issue difficulty running will feed into Daniels being forced to rush throw more therefore the greater chance of him throwing intercepts even more. So it is apparent Florida must start off handicapped and Skip Holtz's huge problem he must gameplan to compensate for these huge handicaps. Suspect Florida will use grab bag razzle dazzle fast breaking plays to try to out speed the Notre Dame defenses but eventually that will lead to turnovers off high risk grab bagging it.

 

[cody1smith]

COnfused because i said it was gonna be a tough game then picked us to win by more than twenty? Sorry should have specified the early part of the game will be tough. DOnt feel florida can play four full quaters with the talent we have this year

 

[koonja]

.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

USF's Rivals page has an article up that talks about defending Floyd. I have a feeling this staff and this defense will be so concerned with stopping him, that the rest of our offense is going to explode. The last paragraph of the article says it all.

Notre Dame's weapons on offense aren't limited to Floyd, however. Junior Theo Riddick had 40 catches for 414 yards and three touchdowns last season despite missing four games with a foot injury. Junior tight end Tyler Eifert is potential mismatch over the middle at 6-foot-6, 249-pounds.

"They present an awful lot of problems," Holtz said.

 

[Rocket89]

COnfused because i said it was gonna be a tough game then picked us to win by more than twenty? Sorry should have specified the early part of the game will be tough. DOnt feel florida can play four full quaters with the talent we have this year

Yes, I was expecting a close score. Or to say that it wouldn't be that close of a game.

 

[BeauBenken]

I'm just saying that we win by more than 11.





Or at least we better. I bet on it.

 

[IrishLax]

Skip Holtz's scouting report on Notre Dame:

<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/B1kjkOq1810" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This right here probably scares me more than anything. Skip is not only the coach of USF but an alum/fan of Notre Dame... if any opposing coach is going to understand the strengths and weaknesses of this team it is him. I think we are a lot better than USF but coaching is a huge wildcard.

 

[Buster Bluth]

This right here probably scares me more than anything. Skip is not only the coach of USF but an alum/fan of Notre Dame... if any opposing coach is going to understand the strengths and weaknesses of this team it is him. I think we are a lot better than USF but coaching is a huge wildcard.

When it comes to X's and O's, his being a Notre Dame alumnus doesn't give him any advantage at all here.

 

[IrishLax]

When it comes to X's and O's, his being a Notre Dame alumnus doesn't give him any advantage at all here.

First of all, it's squares and circles. Second of all, you can't tell me that someone who probably watches every Notre Dame game that he can and probably follows the team closer than any of our other opposing coaches isn't at an advantage.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

First of all, it's squares and circles. Second of all, you can't tell me that someone who probably watches every Notre Dame game that he can and probably follows the team closer than any of our other opposing coaches isn't at an advantage.

All coaches watch all the film, well, if they're good coaches anyway.

Being a coach in early 90s isn't going to help Skip with the schematics of the game.

I guess, he'll know his way around campus, if that helps.

 

[IrishLax]

All coaches watch all the film, well, if they're good coaches anyway.

Being a coach in early 90s isn't going to help Skip with the schematics of the game.

I guess, he'll know his way around campus, if that helps.

Right..... so.... your premise is that because all coaches watch film, that no coach can have a competitive edge knowing a team better? Because I think that's a little misguided.

I'll tell you right now a coach that watches 40 hours of film versus one that watches 20 hours of film probably has an advantage. And a coach that continuously follows a team/its players every year because he is an alum probably has an advantage over, say, a guy who has never watched his opponent before and is trying to cram all of his "study" film watching into a Saturday night/Sunday morning before he has to do "teaching" film watch with his players during game week. On the extreme, a guy like Brady Hoke is going to have an advantage coaching against SDSU because he knows his old players inside and out. So yeah, I think it's kinda silly to say "all coaches watch film" and dismiss that there are tactical advantages to being more familiar with your opponent.

To put it another way, before they started prepping for this game, I'm sure Skip Holtz knew a lot more about Notre Dame than Brian Kelly knew about most of the players at USF. The good news is that, obviously, with a whole summer to watch film and game plan a head start isn't a huge deal. But you better believe a head start in preparation is a big deal during the regular season when you've got less than a week to prepare. The same logic applies to why triple option teams often do well during the regular season but get stomped in bowl games.

 

[BeauBenken]

First of all, it's squares and circles. Second of all, you can't tell me that someone who probably watches every Notre Dame game that he can and probably follows the team closer than any of our other opposing coaches isn't at an advantage.

Where I come from, it is still X's and O's. Only square would be the center but sometimes I just make a circle and put an X in it...

 

[tankjeep]

why would you even think skip would have time to keep track of notre dame? he's too busy keeping up with his own program.

obviously he's done is due diligence in scouting us, but i don't think there is any advantage here. he's just doing what any normal coach would do in preparation for a game. i'm sure he's not thinking of the name of the school he's squaring up against.

 

[IrishLax]

why would you even think skip would have time to keep track of notre dame? he's too busy keeping up with his own program.

obviously he's done is due diligence in scouting us, but i don't think there is any advantage here. he's just doing what any normal coach would do in preparation for a game. i'm sure he's not thinking of the name of the school he's squaring up against.

You're telling me if you're an alum/former player/fan that you wouldn't keep up with your team? I mean seriously this is small potatoes... I just don't get how people think it's a stretch to say someone in his position wouldn't be more intimately familiar with our team than the average bear. Just listen to how he describes specific key plays made by players or how a new starter is going to be used to give our defense a wrinkle.

Like when you all played sports... there wasn't a difference in your preparation for an opponent you knew verses one you had to learn about? Doesn't matter if it's high school, pro, whatever. Like on one hand you're going to play an Ohio State for the Nth year in a row and you already know all of the tendencies of their returning players, coaches, etc. so you can just focus on exploiting their weaknesses and countering their strengths... versus playing a team like Maryland for the first time basically ever and having to spend the week watching film and figuring out what you "might" be able to do to beat them while they've got Will Yeatman who can give them the best scouting report in the history of mankind. Simply put, all film study, scouting or whatever is not created equal. And I refuse to believe someone like Skip Holtz is starting from the same base as, say, a Nick Saban who probably doesn't give a second thought to ND on a daily basis.

Apparently I'm the only one that thinks this. So for the sake of argument, let's just say I'm wrong here and move on.

 

[Irish Houstonian]

If he has any type of coaching advantage I'd say it's because he's had 3+ months to prepare, not because he went to school here 20 years ago.

Well, I guess he could be getting 'atmosphere' or other logistical tips from his dad, so there's that...

But other than that he's just another coach about to play Notre Dame, at Notre Dame, for the first time.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

You're telling me if you're an alum/former player/fan that you wouldn't keep up with your team? I mean seriously this is small potatoes... I just don't get how people think it's a stretch to say someone in his position wouldn't be more intimately familiar with our team than the average bear. Just listen to how he describes specific key plays made by players or how a new starter is going to be used to give our defense a wrinkle.

Like when you all played sports... there wasn't a difference in your preparation for an opponent you knew verses one you had to learn about? Doesn't matter if it's high school, pro, whatever. Like on one hand you're going to play an Ohio State for the Nth year in a row and you already know all of the tendencies of their returning players, coaches, etc. so you can just focus on exploiting their weaknesses and countering their strengths... versus playing a team like Maryland for the first time basically ever and having to spend the week watching film and figuring out what you "might" be able to do to beat them while they've got Will Yeatman who can give them the best scouting report in the history of mankind. Simply put, all film study, scouting or whatever is not created equal. And I refuse to believe someone like Skip Holtz is starting from the same base as, say, a Nick Saban who probably doesn't give a second thought to ND on a daily basis.

Apparently I'm the only one that thinks this. So for the sake of argument, let's just say I'm wrong here and move on.

I bet skip spends near zero time watching ND on his spare time... he has his own program he's trying to build. This isn't Lou were talking about. Skip has his own job.

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