This loss was the most difficult of the season to swallow. Not for the obvious reason that it was the dreaded rival BC, but rather because this was a winnable game. If BC is a Top 5 team, then ND is not far from the Top 25. Reality is that BC is overrated and we are not as bad as our record indicates. This game brought a couple things to the reality for me, CW's QB decisions this season have cost this team the chance at a somewhat successful season. Well, on to the game analysis. This week I will go Offense first.
OFFENSE-
Quarterback: If you are a JC kool-aid drinker, change the channel now. Jimmy continued to make slow decisions. He further threw several passes that should have been intercepted. He did make a couple crisp passes, but he cannot be 100% healed. I thought JC was more mobile than he has shown. He definitely does not have pocket awareness yet. He has very little velocity on his ball. Shame on CW for playing a freshman who I believe is about 80% with his arm. I said last week that JC would cost us a game. Well, he made a big contribution to the loss with his INT and inability to move the ball. Evan came in and looked Sharpley in his game. He throws a crisp hard ball. His accuracy is sometimes off, but he makes a quick decision and cannons the ball. His scramble at the end of the game was incredible. Then his 4 and 1 TD which got called back was great. Evan looks good on the rollout. Evan is never going to be a Quinn, but he is still solid. Evan will make some bad throws, but if you have him start a game where the D does not know what is coming, he could be really good. The shame is that with him leading us all season, I believe we get the necessary 6 wins for a bowl. Shame on CW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grade D(JC) B-(ES)
RB: Since we dug another hole which made ND abandon the run, not a ton here to say. James ran hard for the time he was in. I like how he delivers the blow to the defender. Armando is looking more comfortable. We should be using him more on quick pitches. I am absolutely appauled the CW is not using Luke more at FB. He is better runner and receiver than Asaph. Another example of CW not utilizing the talent we posses. Overall, I think our RB are doing the best they can with what is given them. Grade C+
TE: I cannot express how glad I am to see Carlson getting his grove back. He is making those tough catches again and gaining yards. Kudos to Yeatman on a nice catch in traffic. These guys will benefit huge from Evan playing. He is good with the dumpoff pass to these guys. Grade B
WR: Parris almost looked like "The Shark" after his one catch today. He is one player you can point to who is maximizing his talent. He is not super fast, but effort is great. Kamara played well, but showed his freshman side. He dropped a couple easy catches. One critical for a first down from Evan. I am disapointed in CW not getting some other guys in the rotation. CW does a poor job at getting more guys in the mix at all postions on O. Hord should get some time out there. Overall, our receiving corp is maturing. Grade C+(Kamara makes those tough catches and they get a B)
OL: Well here goes. After making progress for a few weeks, they regressed some this week. Sam Young is the biggest dissapointment of the group. He gets beat repeatedly. I will be shocked if he can hold off Romine or Dever in the long term. Turk, I have ridden you all year, but the holding call on 4th down tonight was iffy. I feel bad for you on that play. Also, much of the problem on this line is not physical, it is gap responsibility. I know this, I played OL. Coaching must teach assignment understanding. Latina, get your resume prepared. Grade D(Young gets an F)
O gameplan: Charlie, you owe your players and fans a huge apology. Your QB tinkering cost ND a chance at a bowl and today a possible HUGE win. CW stated before the game we would have to score more than 20 points. It was obvious after the 1st quarter that the game plan from UCLA came back to South Bend. More DINK and DUNK. This gameplan was NOT going to score 20 points and JC was for sure not comfortable again in the pocket. Grade D-(only reason not an F, because he finally went to Evan)
DEFENSE--
DL: This group continues to play at an intense and high level. The main issue they have is they are just not great players. Laws is a beast and he gets richer every week. Kuntz is giving great effort, but he is playing out of position. He will be good at DE next season with Ian at NG. Brown and Stephenson try,but they are just outclassed. Great heart award goes to this group. Grade C+(they still struggle on pass rush)
OLB: Smith and Neal are really special. They do not play like freshman. Take note if you are a OC for the opposition because next season they will be terrors. Ryan played well and makes strides every week, but he is still a bit outmatched physically. Richardson made a couple good palys today. Long term OLB will be a huge strength at ND. Grade B(get ready to see some A's in this groups future)
ILB: Crum had a pretty quiet game tonite. Brockington played hard and made a few good tackles. Smith looks out of postion too often. This group is just very average and I am not ripping them, but they are physically not overwhelming. This is why I believe teams can run so effectively on us. They cannot shed blockers and flow to the ball very fast. Finally, what the BLEEP is Brockington doing be matched one on one with a RB split out on the goal line. That is shame on the DC for that match-up issue. Grade C-
Safeties: Zibby was one of my all time favs at ND a couple years ago. He just looks so average out there this year. He is out of position too many times. Bruton cost us on the 1st half long run getting out of position. Reminded me of Ndu last year. Grade C-
CB's: We have some special brewing with Walls. You can feel him getting more and more comfortable. He will be a lock down corner by next season. Lambert played OK even though he gave up the one TD. Much maligned Wooden continues to impress on his tackling. He did cause me to almost come thru the TV on his PI call. This group will be special in the coming years. Walls side will be a no throw zone by next season. Grade B(Walls will be an AA in the coming years)
D gameplan: If you are a young kid, CB is someone you will want to play for. He lets the kids fly around and wow he is a gambler. I liked our plan to put pressure on, but CB got a bit carried away. He was bringing too many bodies in certain situations. On the 4th and goal play, he brought the house and leaves Brockington on an island. NO NO. I am still not sold on the 3-4 D. It looks too easy to run because you can clog the first layer up and then all the O has to do is beat our 2 ILB's. To make this work, our OLB's must be studs which I think Smith and Neal could become, but they are not there yet. Keep up the effort boyz, we ND fans appreciate your effort. Grade B-(bit more control on the blitzes)
Finally, this team is not as deficient in talent as we may think. We just played a Top 5 ranked team and could have won. We could have gone to a bowl this year, but I feel CW has cost us that opportunity. With Evan at the controls all year, I believe we would have gotten those 6 wins. We handed this game to BC, they did not beat us up. The punt kneel. The JC INT. Celebration penalty. 21 points given to them. If Evan does not get the nod next week, I will not blame him one bit if he walks away. He has stood with class and yet has to wonder what he must do to start. GO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!
OFFENSE-
Quarterback: If you are a JC kool-aid drinker, change the channel now. Jimmy continued to make slow decisions. He further threw several passes that should have been intercepted. He did make a couple crisp passes, but he cannot be 100% healed. I thought JC was more mobile than he has shown. He definitely does not have pocket awareness yet. He has very little velocity on his ball. Shame on CW for playing a freshman who I believe is about 80% with his arm. I said last week that JC would cost us a game. Well, he made a big contribution to the loss with his INT and inability to move the ball. Evan came in and looked Sharpley in his game. He throws a crisp hard ball. His accuracy is sometimes off, but he makes a quick decision and cannons the ball. His scramble at the end of the game was incredible. Then his 4 and 1 TD which got called back was great. Evan looks good on the rollout. Evan is never going to be a Quinn, but he is still solid. Evan will make some bad throws, but if you have him start a game where the D does not know what is coming, he could be really good. The shame is that with him leading us all season, I believe we get the necessary 6 wins for a bowl. Shame on CW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grade D(JC) B-(ES)
RB: Since we dug another hole which made ND abandon the run, not a ton here to say. James ran hard for the time he was in. I like how he delivers the blow to the defender. Armando is looking more comfortable. We should be using him more on quick pitches. I am absolutely appauled the CW is not using Luke more at FB. He is better runner and receiver than Asaph. Another example of CW not utilizing the talent we posses. Overall, I think our RB are doing the best they can with what is given them. Grade C+
TE: I cannot express how glad I am to see Carlson getting his grove back. He is making those tough catches again and gaining yards. Kudos to Yeatman on a nice catch in traffic. These guys will benefit huge from Evan playing. He is good with the dumpoff pass to these guys. Grade B
WR: Parris almost looked like "The Shark" after his one catch today. He is one player you can point to who is maximizing his talent. He is not super fast, but effort is great. Kamara played well, but showed his freshman side. He dropped a couple easy catches. One critical for a first down from Evan. I am disapointed in CW not getting some other guys in the rotation. CW does a poor job at getting more guys in the mix at all postions on O. Hord should get some time out there. Overall, our receiving corp is maturing. Grade C+(Kamara makes those tough catches and they get a B)
OL: Well here goes. After making progress for a few weeks, they regressed some this week. Sam Young is the biggest dissapointment of the group. He gets beat repeatedly. I will be shocked if he can hold off Romine or Dever in the long term. Turk, I have ridden you all year, but the holding call on 4th down tonight was iffy. I feel bad for you on that play. Also, much of the problem on this line is not physical, it is gap responsibility. I know this, I played OL. Coaching must teach assignment understanding. Latina, get your resume prepared. Grade D(Young gets an F)
O gameplan: Charlie, you owe your players and fans a huge apology. Your QB tinkering cost ND a chance at a bowl and today a possible HUGE win. CW stated before the game we would have to score more than 20 points. It was obvious after the 1st quarter that the game plan from UCLA came back to South Bend. More DINK and DUNK. This gameplan was NOT going to score 20 points and JC was for sure not comfortable again in the pocket. Grade D-(only reason not an F, because he finally went to Evan)
DEFENSE--
DL: This group continues to play at an intense and high level. The main issue they have is they are just not great players. Laws is a beast and he gets richer every week. Kuntz is giving great effort, but he is playing out of position. He will be good at DE next season with Ian at NG. Brown and Stephenson try,but they are just outclassed. Great heart award goes to this group. Grade C+(they still struggle on pass rush)
OLB: Smith and Neal are really special. They do not play like freshman. Take note if you are a OC for the opposition because next season they will be terrors. Ryan played well and makes strides every week, but he is still a bit outmatched physically. Richardson made a couple good palys today. Long term OLB will be a huge strength at ND. Grade B(get ready to see some A's in this groups future)
ILB: Crum had a pretty quiet game tonite. Brockington played hard and made a few good tackles. Smith looks out of postion too often. This group is just very average and I am not ripping them, but they are physically not overwhelming. This is why I believe teams can run so effectively on us. They cannot shed blockers and flow to the ball very fast. Finally, what the BLEEP is Brockington doing be matched one on one with a RB split out on the goal line. That is shame on the DC for that match-up issue. Grade C-
Safeties: Zibby was one of my all time favs at ND a couple years ago. He just looks so average out there this year. He is out of position too many times. Bruton cost us on the 1st half long run getting out of position. Reminded me of Ndu last year. Grade C-
CB's: We have some special brewing with Walls. You can feel him getting more and more comfortable. He will be a lock down corner by next season. Lambert played OK even though he gave up the one TD. Much maligned Wooden continues to impress on his tackling. He did cause me to almost come thru the TV on his PI call. This group will be special in the coming years. Walls side will be a no throw zone by next season. Grade B(Walls will be an AA in the coming years)
D gameplan: If you are a young kid, CB is someone you will want to play for. He lets the kids fly around and wow he is a gambler. I liked our plan to put pressure on, but CB got a bit carried away. He was bringing too many bodies in certain situations. On the 4th and goal play, he brought the house and leaves Brockington on an island. NO NO. I am still not sold on the 3-4 D. It looks too easy to run because you can clog the first layer up and then all the O has to do is beat our 2 ILB's. To make this work, our OLB's must be studs which I think Smith and Neal could become, but they are not there yet. Keep up the effort boyz, we ND fans appreciate your effort. Grade B-(bit more control on the blitzes)
Finally, this team is not as deficient in talent as we may think. We just played a Top 5 ranked team and could have won. We could have gone to a bowl this year, but I feel CW has cost us that opportunity. With Evan at the controls all year, I believe we would have gotten those 6 wins. We handed this game to BC, they did not beat us up. The punt kneel. The JC INT. Celebration penalty. 21 points given to them. If Evan does not get the nod next week, I will not blame him one bit if he walks away. He has stood with class and yet has to wonder what he must do to start. GO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!
