Michael Fredrick Denbrock Hired as Offensive Coordinator (2023)

Jiggafini19Deux · Sep 8, 2026

His play callin' is dadgum turrble.

tko · Sep 8, 2026

"Hi Mike, come in please. Close the door."

NDohio · Sep 8, 2026

Did y’all see that illegal procedure on the first series of the game? Typical Denbrock. He sucks…and so does Tommy Rees!

ulukinatme · Sep 9, 2026

You're not here to learn on the job, Denbrock!

WildMan1 · Sep 9, 2026

Just please stop motioning Flanagan behind a G & running into a pile of dudes.

greyhammer90 · Sep 9, 2026

Jiggafini19Deux · Sep 9, 2026

Fickell and Tressel both coached with Freeman and Denbrock at Cincinnati, but surely, dudes in this thread are just more familiar and knowledgeable.

Dale · Tuesday at 10:06 AM

Through 3 games 2025 vs 2026:

TE Target Share: 21.3% to 11.1%
TE Reception Share: 23.2% to 8.1%

Slot Target Share: 11.3% to 14.8%
Slot Reception Share: 10.7% to 11.3%

No massive change at the other 3 spots. Just adding a few points basically to each. Obviously a handful of targets can change that but the Raridon to Flanagan/Flanigan drop off was probably understated, myself included

SoIll · Tuesday at 10:11 AM

Which one.

1) Saving it all for BYU/ Miami

2) MF is handcuffing Denbrock with his Tressel philosophy

3) Denbrock sucks

Dale · Tuesday at 10:18 AM

SoIll said:
Which one.

1) Saving it all for BYU/ Miami

2) MF is handcuffing Denbrock with his Tressel philosophy

3) Denbrock sucks

The pass game has still been objectively good. So no for me to any of saving it “all” and “handcuffing” and “sucks”

IMO they need to figure out the run game personnel wise first. Denbrock is at least playing somewhat vanilla. And Carr trusts some more than others, rightfully or not.

allenm5333 · Tuesday at 10:22 AM

Dale said:
The pass game has still been objectively good. So no for me to any of saving it “all” and “handcuffing” and “sucks”

IMO they need to figure out the run game personnel wise first. Denbrock is at least playing somewhat vanilla. And Carr trusts some more than others, rightfully or not.

I lean in this direction as well. Expecting us to score 50+ early on was unrealistic. One OL returning to his spot and he is coming off an acl injury. We have a new RB core. I have faith the run game is going to improve but the reality is it is out of sync.

I will just Denbrock on three games during the regular season

FightingIrishLover7 · Tuesday at 10:24 AM

SoIll said:
Which one.

1) Saving it all for BYU/ Miami

2) MF is handcuffing Denbrock with his Tressel philosophy

3) Denbrock sucks

4) playing a little vanilla, but mostly practicing things that aren't yet mastered

He could probably "run the good plays" over and over but is trying to iron stuff out.

See last seasons start and last seasons finish.

jerseyborn1971 · Tuesday at 10:28 AM

I get frustrated with the running game too, but ND's "slow start" this year is averaging 40 points a game.

RudyVerse · Tuesday at 10:31 AM

This is where having a defensive HC hurts you. Denbrock can’t out talk any challenges to his offensive design and playcalling. Wish we had more offensive analysts but I see the one we have is a guy who’s been with Denbrock at the hip

IrishInOntario · Tuesday at 10:39 AM

I think there is a coordinated effort among the ND staff not to do anything unnecessary that could lead to a loss to an inferior team, that might ultimately cause ND to miss the playoffs down the road if they eat a 2nd loss vs BYU, Miami or SMU.

I think they know how good their defense is. I think they're confident that they can work on things during practice in the pass game and not reveal a bunch of them vs overmatched teams and I think they're pacing themselves through what they hope will be a long season.

Style points won't really matter at this point in the year anyways, so there is an emphasis on heavy rotation, developing depth and trying to master the basics of both the offense and defense before getting exotic.

Like it, or nor, I think the ND staff feels like that's their path back to the pkayoffs.

FollowTheFreeman · Tuesday at 10:39 AM

FightingIrishLover7 said:
4) playing a little vanilla, but mostly practicing things that aren't yet mastered

He could probably "run the good plays" over and over but is trying to iron stuff out.

See last seasons start and last seasons finish.

This is where I sit. They're not fully showing their hand, and are still practicing concepts in real situations. Yet at the same time, aren't afraid to bring something out if need be. I thought the sudden appearance of the outside runs in the 2nd half were somewhat telling of that. The first half they primarily did inside runs with a TE motion, and when the game script needed them to open things up, is when they brought out more of the meat from the playbook.

That and a degree of figuring out where players fit best. It took a few games last year for things to get rolling too.

Dale · Tuesday at 10:42 AM

The defense affords the offense, and the schedule the luxury of not doing this:

Do I think Carr can make some of these throws? sure! Is there any chance in hell we need to? No! So if you’re POV calls that Tressell ball I guess but that’s like basic time and place for it stuff. The Gilbert TD versus Rice is a bit of example of kinda loosening the belt a tad.

But watching that, I’m still not really sure why Carr just won’t throw a drag or slant every once in a while lol

jerseyborn1971 · Tuesday at 10:42 AM

Now that I looked it up, it's hard to tell where the offense is at this point. The top 40 offenses are all scoring over 40pts a game.

allenm5333 · Tuesday at 11:00 AM

IrishInOntario said:
I think there is a coordinated effort among the ND staff not to do anything unnecessary that could lead to a loss to an inferior team, that might ultimately cause ND to miss the playoffs down the road if they eat a 2nd loss vs BYU, Miami or SMU.

I think they know how good their defense is. I think they're confident that they can work on things during practice in the pass game and not reveal a bunch of them vs overmatched teams and I think they're pacing themselves through what they hope will be a long season.

Style points won't really matter at this point in the year anyways, so there is an emphasis on heavy rotation, developing depth and trying to master the basics of both the offense and defense before getting exotic.

Like it, or nor, I think the ND staff feels like that's their path back to the pkayoffs.

This is a great way to do it. It is a 3 game regular season and style points are much less valuable than the past

JD Irish · Tuesday at 11:02 AM

SoIll said:
Which one.

1) Saving it all for BYU/ Miami

2) MF is handcuffing Denbrock with his Tressel philosophy

3) Denbrock sucks

3 and 4 - our OL and offensive skill personnel except for Carr are underwhelming.

RudyVerse · Tuesday at 11:02 AM

IrishInOntario said:
I think there is a coordinated effort among the ND staff not to do anything unnecessary that could lead to a loss to an inferior team, that might ultimately cause ND to miss the playoffs down the road if they eat a 2nd loss vs BYU, Miami or SMU.

I think they know how good their defense is. I think they're confident that they can work on things during practice in the pass game and not reveal a bunch of them vs overmatched teams and I think they're pacing themselves through what they hope will be a long season.

Style points won't really matter at this point in the year anyways, so there is an emphasis on heavy rotation, developing depth and trying to master the basics of both the offense and defense before getting exotic.

Like it, or nor, I think the ND staff feels like that's their path back to the pkayoffs.

But there's not. Mylan Graham is barley playing, forget about the other WRs. Our most talented TE isn't seeing the field. Our arguably most talented RB isn't seeing the field (Jonaz). So we're not really rotating and developing.

And let's say the end arounds and the slants, or any work whatsoever from the slot is being "saved". Ok, so we're just going to show up in Provo and execute in a game slants, over the middle's to the slot, without ever doing so in a game?

pumpdog20 · Tuesday at 11:40 AM

RudyVerse said:
This is where having a defensive HC hurts you. Denbrock can’t out talk any challenges to his offensive design and playcalling. Wish we had more offensive analysts but I see the one we have is a guy who’s been with Denbrock at the hip

MFMF constantly goes for it on 4th down/fake punts... I don't think he's holding anyone back from being aggressive.

402puck · Tuesday at 12:06 PM

jerseyborn1971 said:
Now that I looked it up, it's hard to tell where the offense is at this point. The top 40 offenses are all scoring over 40pts a game.

Where would that leave Notre Dame's offense who is scoring *checks notes* 40 points per game??

zelezo vlk · Tuesday at 12:18 PM

402puck said:
Where would that leave Notre Dame's offense who is scoring *checks notes* 40 points per game??

That's different, our 40 points per game don't count because we watched the team struggle on some drives

Some Irish Bloke · Tuesday at 1:03 PM

Dale said:
The defense affords the offense, and the schedule the luxury of not doing this:

Do I think Carr can make some of these throws? sure! Is there any chance in hell we need to? No! So if you’re POV calls that Tressell ball I guess but that’s like basic time and place for it stuff. The Gilbert TD versus Rice is a bit of example of kinda loosening the belt a tad.

But watching that, I’m still not really sure why Carr just won’t throw a drag or slant every once in a while lol

No doubt those are ridiculous throws but I'm fairly confident that our DBs would feast on those tight windows. Still not scared of Chambless after watching this

Irish4life · Tuesday at 2:36 PM

SoIll said:
Which one.

1) Saving it all for BYU/ Miami

2) MF is handcuffing Denbrock with his Tressel philosophy

3) Denbrock sucks

4) it's the BK offense from 2014 without a Will Fuller and a better QB

Dale · Tuesday at 2:45 PM

Irish4life said:
4) it's the BK offense from 2014 without a Will Fuller and a better QB

I’ve seen you post this twice, is it sarcasm or you unironically think that?

Jimmy3Putt · Tuesday at 2:53 PM

2014 was tunnel screens and go routes.

Jiggafini19Deux · Tuesday at 3:14 PM

jerseyborn1971 said:
Now that I looked it up, it's hard to tell where the offense is at this point. The top 40 offenses are all scoring over 40pts a game.

Miami is first in total offense. Their opponents have been Stanford, Florida A&M and Wake Forest.

ND is 69th. We know who they've played. 193 plays run, 1223 yards, 6.34 yards per play, 13 TD, 407.7 yards per game.

The ND defense is third in total defense. If this all holds or somehow manages to even improve slightly, against this schedule, they're going to win a lot of games.

bcole2 · Tuesday at 4:42 PM

Jiggafini19Deux said:
Miami is first in total offense. Their opponents have been Stanford, Florida A&M and Wake Forest.

ND is 69th. We know who they've played. 193 plays run, 1223 yards, 6.34 yards per play, 13 TD, 407.7 yards per game.

The ND defense is third in total defense. If this all holds or somehow manages to even improve slightly, against this schedule, they're going to win a lot of games.

...nice...

Michael Fredrick Denbrock Hired as Offensive Coordinator (2023)

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