Al Golden

MacIrish75

MacIrish75

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We’re a weird bunch, ND fans. If we didn’t have Al Golden, he’d be the DC we’re pining for. Wait and see what OSU’s offense does in filleting the rest of their B1G schedule. Wait to see what Duke’s offense does against the rest of the ACC. I think most* of you will be pleased with the returns.

*Exception for ShutUp & Berry who withhold their right to be shitty for no reason.
 
MacIrish75

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stlnd01 said:
Harper’s not been perfect but he - and our whole defensive backfield - is a big upgrade from what we rolled out against USC last year.
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Harper is absolutely an upgrade over Clarence in that spot. Idk how anyone could debate that. He’s gotten beat a couple times, but he’s made some fantastic plays in coverage more often, IMO.
 
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MacIrish75 said:
Harper is absolutely an upgrade over Clarence in that spot. Idk how anyone could debate that. He’s gotten beat a couple times, but he’s made some fantastic plays in coverage more often, IMO.
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I just don’t understand how we keep giving free access inside to the slot wr, especially when we blitz one or both lbs… it leaves the middle wide open and that’s where he’s getting beat

Harper is clearly better than Lewis, but teams are starting to find a way to beat us there with how we are playing it. Need an adjustment, I’d like to see us give free release outside and take away middle slant and challenge short crosser better
 
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mrmcgrail

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We always release to the inside which drives me crazy. if I played this team slants and drags all day at some point we are going to blitz the middle and leave it wide open which we do on every single series
 
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mrmcgrail said:
We always release to the inside which drives me crazy. if I played this team slants and drags all day at some point we are going to blitz the middle and leave it wide open which we do on every single series
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agree 100%, and it's such an easier throw to the middle than a long outside drag. You can also disguise some zone outside where you can't really do that to the middle. We did drop Junior one play into a zone, and like normal, we were close, but just don't make a play.

Almost every completion we gave up to duke and ohio state was due to either a slant or crosser over the middle, or due to our zone of LBs/Dl not covering any ground when dropping.

It's an obvious tendency
 
Domina Nostra

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PutuporShutup said:
agree 100%, and it's such an easier throw to the middle than a long outside drag. You can also disguise some zone outside where you can't really do that to the middle. We did drop Junior one play into a zone, and like normal, we were close, but just don't make a play.

Almost every completion we gave up to duke and ohio state was due to either a slant or crosser over the middle, or due to our zone of LBs/Dl not covering any ground when dropping.

It's an obvious tendency
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It's because you have to pick your poison, you can't take away everything. You could say they could be more creative in hiding it, or need to change it up for USC, but the points allowed to OSU suggest that it was a very smart choice.
 
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PutuporShutup said:
I just don’t understand how we keep giving free access inside to the slot wr, especially when we blitz one or both lbs… it leaves the middle wide open and that’s where he’s getting beat
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mrmcgrail said:
We always release to the inside which drives me crazy. if I played this team slants and drags all day at some point we are going to blitz the middle and leave it wide open which we do on every single series
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This is something to worry about this week actually. Y-Shallow Cross is a staple play for Brohm. The Big 10 watched him turn Rondale Moore into a star with crosses and drags. This could be a tough week for Harper + linebackers in coverage.

Golden will need an adjustment ready if it proves a problem.
 
hungryhippo

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MacIrish75 said:
Harper is absolutely an upgrade over Clarence in that spot. Idk how anyone could debate that. He’s gotten beat a couple times, but he’s made some fantastic plays in coverage more often, IMO.
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Absolutely agreed, upgrade at the nickel spot.

I mentioned on here that he gave up the inside release all day against NCST. Was obvious that he was late on anything in-breaking. And, as another poster mentioned, that in-breaking route is an easier throw (granted more often than not, the QB has more margin for error on the outside throw, assuming the outside receiver/corner clear the zone).

He also was what OSU chose to pick on when they made adjustments. Throw Egbuka in the slot and let him work Harper. That slot seam in the 2nd qtr was an easy touchdown.

Surely, Brohm and Riley have noticed. I wonder how Golden will adjust.
 
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mrmcgrail

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You put a guy in the slot he gets a free release and you have the middle of the field wide open that's a really hard ask for harper
 
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Domina Nostra said:
It's because you have to pick your poison, you can't take away everything. You could say they could be more creative in hiding it, or need to change it up for USC, but the points allowed to OSU suggest that it was a very smart choice.
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It's why we lost the game. The middle was open constantly their last drive. Why we kept the scoring down is we pretty much shut their run down with 6 and were able to have 5 or more in coverage all night. We were dominating Duke's offense first half because we stopped their run with 6, then they made a great adjustment pulling double Olinemen and they started having success running forcing us to bring more into the box.

I agree though you have to pick your poison, just don't understand why our poison we're allowing is such easy throws over the middle, not only easier throw but also easier run after the catch, vs an outside release that's tough. Like MrM said, you can guarantee one play out of 3 pretty much at minimum our 2 lbs are blitzing leaving the middle wide open.
 
Irish8248

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Domina Nostra said:
It's because you have to pick your poison, you can't take away everything. You could say they could be more creative in hiding it, or need to change it up for USC, but the points allowed to OSU suggest that it was a very smart choice.
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This... it's more advantageous to do this then allow the outside pops. You always try to funnel plays inside not outside.

But more importantly, especially for this team, crossing routes take much more time to develop, which allows your pass rush to press up the field.
 
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Irish8248 said:
This... it's more advantageous to do this then allow the outside pops. You always try to funnel plays inside not outside.

But more importantly, especially for this team, crossing routes take much more time to develop, which allows your pass rush to press up the field.
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On most teams I would agree, crossers from the slot are quick and ND like others have stated constantly blitzes it's only two LBs leaving the middle wide open.
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Final drive vs OSU
3rd and 10 - Harper clearly gives inside release to egbuka, no safety help, easy pitch and catch
4th and 7 vs OSU, time out, Day has the exact play dialed up because he knows exactly what ND would do on D and where to exploit it. Both ND Lbs blitz, fleming is given inside release by harper, easy pitch and catch. Harper actually does a good job catching up and almost tackles him before line to gain, since flemming isn't overly fast. Gosh we almost tipped that pass too. UGH
 
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mrmcgrail

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It's more that you are giving a free inside release from the slot with no help. You are immediately just running from behind and you don't have a backer sitting in that zone to make it hard throw
 
Plankton

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That was an NFL style and quality defensive game plan tonight, boys. Golden coached the pants off of Lincoln Riley tonight. The USC offensive line had no idea who to block, nor any ability to do it. And Williams looked flustered as hell most of the night. This defensive game plan should be framed and hung on a wall in the Gug.
 
Irishokie

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Junkhead said:
The D was struggling most of the season to get enough pressure. Tonight they made painted nail heisman look like the bitch he is. (I may delete a few of my posts tomorrow due to captain morgan)
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Preach, brother!
 
ulukinatme

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Junkhead said:
The D was struggling most of the season to get enough pressure. Tonight they made painted nail heisman look like the bitch he is. (I may delete a few of my posts tomorrow due to captain morgan)
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Pressure or not, they've kept teams out of the endzone, some really good offenses. That's the important thing. This is a championship caliber defense, if only Parker could be at least mediocre.
 
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