BCS title game postgame thoughts

[chicago51]

Playoffs.

Thank goodness for that.

 

[PatsandBostonfan1975]

thank the team for a magical season. we got whooped but i wouldn't trade this season for anything.

 

[Luckylucci]

Can't be too nice with this one. Motta was terrible. Probably played his heart out but that was one poor display of defense. Never thought in my wildest thoughts that our defense would get shredded like that. Love manti and wish him the best but he didn't have any impact on the game in a positive fashion. We got behind early and had to call a awful game from an offense perspective. There is really nothin positive to take away from this game. From the season yes and tip the cap to the team for winning 12 games. Still really not excited about playing like that in a big game.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Totally disagree. I wasn't a big fan of only sending three, but the blitzes failed 90% of the time anyway. McCarron made several (literally) perfect throws, which they had to be.

It would have been arrogant to blitz six or seven, which you'd need to, and expect your young DBs to cover one-on-one those Alabama WRs with McCarron throwing perfectly. The few times he got aggressive Lacy and Yelton sidesteppd blitzes and ran 25 yards for touchdowns.

I said it when Alabama became he opponent and everyone thought Diaco could just put nine in the box and make McCarron get sloppy--NO. Alabama is perfectly balanced. Literally it's perfect.

Alabama is not perfect. Just because the entire defensive scheme sucked, including preparation, doesn't mean intelligent blitzes could not have been used to advantage. From what I saw blitzers were sacraficed to the offensive line, (majority of blitzes called made work easier for the bama O-line) and the pass coverage was not at all coordinated with anything the front seven were doing.

Who?

Okay they rolled over the FBS teams they played, just like they did over half of the SEC competition they played, and the rest of the non conference BCS, by the way. But this hyperbole makes the point better than me, doesn't it?

Recruit special talent however that is done. Overrecruit and rely on survival of the fittest to hone your depth chart. Then schedule the weakest non conference schedule possible. Point is it sounds like Miami before the threat of sanctions . . .

 

[Tejas]

Thought the defense played very undisciplined, letting the ball carriers get outside, missing tackles, it looked like they lacked spark. The punt fumble non call could have been that spark to get the thing back on track. Not sure it would have mattered anyway. Bama QB was on fire, but I loved it when his center shoved him.

I think we were a year or two early on getting to this game. The classes and athletes we're pulling in are loading this team with talent for years to come. We'll be back, I'm excited.

Although I'm bummed it was still the most fun I've had with an Irish season in a long time, great great season.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

The refs handed out oiled jerseys to Alabama before the game. Hence all the missed tackles. That's my theory.

In all seriousness, I'm still not prepared, nor willing, to break down this game. Our guys played hard, but that wasn't the same ND team we watched earlier this season. I'm not sure what happened during that long layoff.

My biggest fear was getting blown out. NO ONE gave ND a chance. A game like this only backs up those haters. ND played Alabama-style football all season. They played fast, they played physical, they were the aggressor. Last night, they took shot after shot to the mouth. It seriously reminded me of what we did to Miami this year. It is embarrassing.

But we'll pick ourselves back up, dust each other off, and get back to work.

Go Irish!

 

[eNDzone]

I just woke up. Man yesterday sucked! I'm gonna go back to bed for awhile.

At the post game interview Manti quoted Neitsche, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

I once new a another philosopher type named Bob that said, " That which kills us makes us dead."

I am pretty confident that we are stronger and not dead.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

I wish the playoff started this year.

 

[brandonnash]

Here is my take. A lot of people will say how well bama played. I unfortunately don't see it that way. They played their ball game they always play. They did nothing incredibly different. The problem with the game can be rolled into two points.

#1. The biggest thing that we failed in was changing our incredible defense. Why in god's name would you change something that worked all year long. The 3-4 defense we have run has worked because if our 3 big guys on the line can't take down a back coming thru the line, our linebackers can. We were running a 5-2 most of the night. Bama just handled the line and their fullback manages to to take out one linebacker and the running back just has one guy to beat to make it deeper into the secondary. We all year had a bend but not break mentality that worked. They didn't stick to it last night.

#2. Any jitters we had that could have been tamed down wasn't because of several opportunities given to Alabama. Changing the defense hurt and you could see that in the first possession. The jitters kept up. The early ref calls kept those jitters going. The juggling call where they called eiffert out of bounds and clearly he was in and not juggling the ball hurt a lot. Then the call with the punt coverage where our player was being pushed into their returner and still did not touch him did us in. Any hope that our kids had left in them was gone at that point. Players missing tackles, being way out of position, soft coverage in the secondary all hurt us badly. The seams were too big. Saban saw that and started throwing the ball.

The entire game from play one was a loss because we changed our game play. Its very simple. The tide did not win that game last night. We lost it.

I hate laying blame on anyone, but the coaches will hold my blame for this one. How Kelly either let someone talk him into changing the game defensively and offensively or making the changes himself set us up for the loss from the get go. If someone were to tell me we would change the entire defensive scheme and throw the ball more than run before the game I would have not let it happen. Play what's worked all year.

Despite my bitching I am still very proud of our team and will continue to cheer for them.

We will have a chance next year for the same thing. I do wish that we would back out of one of the easier games next year and attempt to get a big SEC team on the roster. Aralou pointed out last night that a 12-0 Irish team next year probably wouldn't make it back to the championship game because of last night and a weaker schedule. I believe he is right.

All you guys that live in other parts of the country have it very lucky. I live deep in the heart of SEC country and all I will hear for the next several years is how we were dominated. This will continue until we can have a big win against a big team that is a championship team. I may be the first to say that I want Alabama again...if If IF we play our game the way we played it all year. Get us back in a position to do the same game next year and we will have a much different result.

Thanks to all the guys on Irish Envy for making this season more special. I have been a member at other ND forums for years but never could get that into them. IE has me as a life member now. IE has the best members and the discussions here are great. I have met some great guys on here. Aralou, great guy and small world. My father in law walks in and turns out they have know each other for 15 or 20 years. Thanks for coming over man. Still had a good time. Next time we will have to change the outcome of the game.

 

[Luckylucci]

I actually thought that the Diaco called a great game. We had numerous opportunities to stop them in the backfield for a loss and failed to tackle or even slow them down in some cases.

 

[Irishman77]

Our ol and dl seen first hand what it takes now. We made a huge leap last off season. I hope our team is inspired and motivated to work their asses off and be a more physical team.

This year we were all heart. As our young players get developed we will rely on talent.

12-1 is a great year.

 

[Old Man Mike]

1). Our team won twelve games.
2). Kelly made Chicken Soup out of some good ingredients but a bit of Chicken Sh!t positional problems as well.
3). Both Kelly and Diaco felt that they had to play bend-don't-break all year to protect physically talented but way undertrained DBacks. Kelly did this reluctantly as it hampered his offense to have to go 80+ yards everytime.
4). Kelly played with a hindered offensive scheme all year because of the required cushioning of Everett. No hurry-up. Less fast-pass throwing over the middle [the very real height issue]. Less effective consistent running [no ideal back to do both power running and catching]. Still mainly Chicken Soup.
5). We'll be double-digit winners for years. All this is evolving and the above comments indicate the level of improvement to come.
6). Alabama was especially good this year because of that offensive line. As free rein as Saban has to sign whomever he wishes and then give them maximum training with few other daily responsibilities, that level of five monsters working in precision cannot happen every year. Coaching staff went to sleep against A&M and a magic-man quarterback or the season would have been a clean romp.
7). It's Alabama and the other guys down there in that conference now. Rather mindboggling that any fan of an SEC school would ever root for anything but Alabama to lose.
8). Criticizing our team for performances against this team is a bit off-base. Criticizing, of all people, Lou Nix for "only taking up one All-American center" is kind of whack --- and he made five solos, two for loss, anyway. Lou doesn't believe that he was "dominated" and neither do I. And, Zeke Motta made 17 tackles. Since this level of burden was placed on him nearly every play, who the he!l has the right to criticize his play? Seventeen tackles.
9). It was one game. Clemson had 70 laid on them by WVU last year. I believe that they still showed up for the games this season and won nearly all of them including their "SEC bowl". They're rated top ten pre-season for 2013 and, guess what?, so are we.
10). Notre Dame football is back. Complaining about one game, no matter how bad the woodshedding, is the mindset of a spoiled brat, who, as they say, doesn't deserve nice things anyway.

Thanks to the seniors. Blessings especially to KLM, get well our great warrior. Love you all.

 

[Grahambo]

I actually thought that the Diaco called a great game. We had numerous opportunities to stop them in the backfield for a loss and failed to tackle or even slow them down in some cases.

The missed tackles hurt more then anything else. They had a number of chances to limit a play or tackle for a loss and just flat out missed it.

 

[SouthernComfort]

Im just amazed at the player development of Bamas players. I was talking to someone after the game about how it seems all the SEC teams defenses are always so good. I mean even crap teams like Ole Miss and Miss St, who usually are lucky to have 3 stars on their team, typically have excellent defenses. Just makes me wonder what is the difference. People talk about Diaco going to Syracuse possibly. My question is, why cant we get a SEC DC to bring that SEC smashmouth defenses to ND?

 

[PANDFAN]

missed tackles and their oline just bulldozing its way....we never got into a rhythm on offense and expected our def to play 3/4 of the game...

 

[Irish Houstonian]

Note to self: the perfect play-call on 4th and 2 is 4 Verticals...

 

[IrishGiant]

I'm sure its been mentioned already, but our lines got dominated. We need more size up front, especially on the O line. Bad news is we got totally dominated. The good news is we are back in national prominance, and have one of the top recruiting classes in the nation. Last night wasnt the end (although it sometimes felt like it), only the beginning.

 

[vtwaters]

From a Alabama fan....great game..classy fans and players...love Notre Dame's tradition of excellence on the field and in the classroom. Visit the campus and attend games whenever we get to Chicago in the fall.

 

[irishpat183]

Note to self: the perfect play-call on 4th and 2 is 4 Verticals...

That was a joke. The same was on the 4th and 5...on the Alabama side of the 50.




It sucked. Plain and simple. I hated my life during the entire game and had to battle 900 text messages from family and friends.


We just didn't show up and got run off the field. Offense didn't play well, D looked like they'd never seen a tackling dummy, Manti was no where to be found....It was a disaster.


But...Davarius Daniels is going to be a stud. Guy showed up on a team that didn't.

 

[johnnykillz]

I'm chalking it up to a Vegas mafia job.

 

[chicago51]

The missed tackles hurt more then anything else. They had a number of chances to limit a play or tackle for a loss and just flat out missed it.

I'm curious to how much live tackling the staff had the team do during the bowl preparation leading up to the game.

I know coaching jr high and high school aged kids is very different than coaching D1 FBS. Some the teams I coached really good defenses but we layed off the live tackling in practice late in the year because of the injury risk. I thought our tackling suffered as a result and we tackled worse in the playoffs than we did during the regular season.

It is possible ND didn't do enough live tackling leading up to the bowl game. I was not at any ND bowl practices so I don't know. This is just a theory based on knowledge and experience.

 

[PANDFAN]

I'm chalking it up to a Vegas mafia job.

did he get to carlos's people 1st?

 

[chicago51]

Note to self: the perfect play-call on 4th and 2 is 4 Verticals...

Yes when Bama need to move the chains they would throw for a 5 yard curl route (and with ND playing off coverage it made it real easy) while ND swings for the fences instead of trying to move the chains.

 

[Jerry]

Yes when Bama need to move the chains they would throw for a 5 yard curl route (and with ND playing off coverage it made it real easy) while ND swings for the fences instead of trying to move the chains.

Even on the first drive those semi fade passes to Eifert down the sideline were low percentage. I would have thought we would have a better game plan right out the gate, but I guess it's easy for me to say.

 

[IrishLax]

I actually thought that the Diaco called a great game. We had numerous opportunities to stop them in the backfield for a loss and failed to tackle or even slow them down in some cases.

Zeke Motta killed his draft stock if we're being perfectly honest. Took a lot of bad angles and whiffed on a lot of tackles. Still had 14! Sheesh. Their gameplan was clearly get a second level blocker on Manti every time and force the other guys to make plays... and they couldn't.

Te'o and the other LBs also missed quite a few tackles and our CBs could not keep up with their WRs (AJ McCarron is also MUCH better than I thought). All things considered our DL didn't play that bad but the inability for players to make tackles on Lacy/Yeldon basically rendered the gameplan moot. There were probably 30+ missed tackles in that game.

 

[Domina Nostra]

In my humble opinion, it was a great season.

We were picked preseason to go 8-4 and finish ranked about #27 because of the lack of expereince in the secondary. That problem much more accute when we lost 2 of our top 3 safeties, our starting CB, and a 5-star freshman CB!

Yet, we found a way to go 12-0! We played hard-nosed football against some great teams. No elite, complete team, but some very good teams.

The problem was the back-end of our schedule was too weak. It was supposed to be punctuated with #1 USC, but the dumb Trojans fell apart because of depth issues and their starting QB went down. I honestly think that they should have been able to expose our secondary, but could not because of a freshman QB.

So we ended up #1, instead of, say, #7. We ended up playing Alabama in the NC instead of KSU in the FIsta Bowl. We had 45 days off and stepped on thefield against a team that was as good as any we faced in every aspect of the game. A complete team with the best RBs in the nation. Never having seen a team like that, it took a full half before we settled down and started competing.

They were just better. So we went from #25-30, to 5-10 (I put us behind Ala., Oregon, Tex A&M, and UGA). We have a ways to go, but boy did we close some ground! We need to work on our secondary and replinish our D-line, but the future is bright!

 

[PANDFAN]

Zeke Motta killed his draft stock if we're being perfectly honest. Took a lot of bad angles and whiffed on a lot of tackles. Still had 14! Sheesh. Their gameplan was clearly get a second level blocker on Manti every time and force the other guys to make plays... and they couldn't.

Te'o and the other LBs also missed quite a few tackles and our CBs could not keep up with their WRs (AJ McCarron is also MUCH better than I thought). All things considered our DL didn't play that bad but the inability for players to make tackles on Lacy/Yeldon basically rendered the gameplan moot. There were probably 30+ missed tackles in 1st quarter.

fixed it for ya

 

[Emcee77]

Zeke Motta killed his draft stock if we're being perfectly honest. Took a lot of bad angles and whiffed on a lot of tackles. Still had 14! Sheesh. Their gameplan was clearly get a second level blocker on Manti every time and force the other guys to make plays... and they couldn't.

Te'o and the other LBs also missed quite a few tackles and our CBs could not keep up with their WRs (AJ McCarron is also MUCH better than I thought). All things considered our DL didn't play that bad but the inability for players to make tackles on Lacy/Yeldon basically rendered the gameplan moot. There were probably 30+ missed tackles in that game.

This times 1000. I didn't watch a ton of Bama this year, but based on the LSU and TAMU games I thought that if we focused on stopping the run A.J. wouldn't be able to beat us. Boy was I wrong. He really showed how far Golson has to go in terms of precision and accuracy. I suppose it's a moot point, as we were unable to stop the run game, for whatever reason. Is Lacy just that strong and elusive that our LBs and DBs couldn't get him? So frustrating.

We really looked outclassed last night, and I don't think we were outclassed. I think we just played badly. How on Earth does that happen in the biggest game of everyone's life.

 

[arrowryan]

A bad game to watch. We played bad but the refs were even worse. It sucks to go out like this, especially for Manti. There isn't much to say about the game. Just use it as motivation for next year

 

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

This times 1000. I didn't watch a ton of Bama this year, but based on the LSU and TAMU games I thought that if we focused on stopping the run A.J. wouldn't be able to beat us. Boy was I wrong. He really showed how far Golson has to go in terms of precision and accuracy.

I think that's what everybody thought. Bama's passing game was way better than I ever expected.