BCS title game postgame thoughts

[Grahambo]

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.

BK made mention that he is going to re-evaluate his plan that lead up to the NCG because of the missed tackles. Sounds like they went away from it a little. Somebody made mention earlier that BK shied away from much tackling because of depth issues/concerns.

IDK. It's a huge learning tool going forward and 2013 will be a watch out type of year as I feel this team will be playing some dominating team football.

 

[Jerry]

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 there 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.

Yeah, but there was zero pressure on McCarron, at least after the first drive. LSU, A&M and Georgia all got on the scoreboard first against Bama. I think if ND could have got something going on offense or got lucky (with that fumbled punt), it could possibly have been a different game. Not saying McCarron didn't play great, just think ND didn't exactly make it tough for him.

 

[In Lou I Trust]

Ya gotta dance with the one that brung ya... and we abandoned the run far too early. I know it was tough sledding against that D but we needed to keep with it. They forced EG to beat them and we all knew that wasn't possible. And so did they.

 

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

BK made mention that he is going to re-evaluate his plan that lead up to the NCG because of the missed tackles. Sounds like they went away from it a little. Somebody made mention earlier that BK shied away from much tackling because of depth issues/concerns.

IDK. It's a huge learning tool going forward and 2013 will be a watch out type of year as I feel this team will be playing some dominating team football.

I agree with you on that. I think the future of ND Football is in in good shape. I think last night will push the players a great deal in the offseason. Go Irish!

 

[Patulski]

From SBT

"We watched a lot of film," said Cooper. "The outside was always open. I could visualize the plays that I was going to make. They had a lot of holes in their zone."

The hole in our zone on the outside was the no man's land between our corners and our safeties. This was true all year, but we didn't face one team with a combination of a great running and passing team to exploit it. Last night, we did. You need particularly fast and experienced safeties to recognize the pass and get to the sideline to break up that pass. You need experienced and fast corner to make up ground if the safety can't. We didn't have either, and without pressure on McCarron, the pass play on the outside was unstoppable.

 

[chicago51]

Yeah, but there was zero pressure on McCarron, at least after the first drive. LSU, A&M and Georgia all got on the scoreboard first against Bama. I think if ND could have got something going on offense or got lucky (with that fumbled punt), it could possibly have been a different game. Not saying McCarron didn't play great, just think ND didn't exactly make it tough for him.

We need to get a better pass rush. If you recall the Georgia and LSU Bama actually couldn't handle the pass rush until the defense got tired out. Bama had to run the ball in those games because they couldn't handle the pass rush. Jarvis Jones owned the first quarter of the SEC title game. ND needs to get a dominant edge rusher. Tuit is nice but unless it is an obvious passing down he is often playing two gap which means we don't get a pass rush when a team passes on 1st and 10. Shembo is tough player but we could use a more dominant James Harrisson, Clay Mathews style edge rusher in the future.

 

[Grahambo]

Ya gotta dance with the one that brung ya... and we abandoned the run far too early. I know it was tough sledding against that D but we needed to keep with it. They forced EG to beat them and we all knew that wasn't possible. And so did they.

Starting the game with 3-4 straight passes didn't make me too happy honestly. After the type of drive Alabama had, I thought we needed to control the ball a little bit better and slow the game down to avoid the game getting out of hand. I thought we needed to try and establish the run early and went away with it before it even began. We didn't even really see much option, counter run, etc; just not a whole lot of anything we were used to seeing. No WR screens. Wasn't able to do any real play action. Nothing really creative honestly. Attacked Milliner way to much and it just seemed like a completely different O game plan altogether. Almost like BK over coached himself.

 

[Jerry]

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

Bama's passing game looked really good against Georgia at the end of the game. I knew Bama had a good offense, I just thought our defense would show up in the first quarter. If we could have forced them to punt before allowing 21 points it would have been nice.

 

[Patulski]

Under threw? No. Those DBs were just that good. They had the ability to play man and smother our receivers and get up to the ball. He should have thrown to Eifert instead of Jones on that interception..

Go watch the replay. Our guys are waiting on the ball instead of running in stride.

I'm proud of our guys for giving us fans an amazing season and reaching the NC. It's a solid foundation. We have now seen first hand where we need to get to.

Agree.

 

[chicago51]

From SBT

"We watched a lot of film," said Cooper. "The outside was always open. I could visualize the plays that I was going to make. They had a lot of holes in their zone."

The hole in our zone on the outside was the no man's land between our corners and our safeties. This was true all year, but we didn't face one team with a combination of a great running and passing team to exploit it. Last night, we did. You need particularly fast and experienced safeties to recognize the pass and get to the sideline to break up that pass. You need experienced and fast corner to make up ground if the safety can't. We didn't have either, and without pressure on McCarron, the pass play on the outside was unstoppable.

I think the safety problem is going to get better but I don't know about the Corner. We have the same guys and have not address CB in recruiting quiet as well as Safety. Basically just Luke and a bunch of 3 star guys.

I hoping that Jackson and Russell are in fact athletic enough and it is more of an experience issue.

 

[Grahambo]

I agree with you on that. I think the future of ND Football is in in good shape. I think last night will push the players a great deal in the offseason. Go Irish!

A perfect wake up call. This year surprised everyone to include BK, Swarbrick, etc. Next year was the year they thought we would be in the NCG. We peaked sooner with less. The talent overall will be better next season then it was this past season and that is no jab at this past team either.

Now, the team knows what it takes to get to the NCG and what it takes to prepare for the NCG. The bar has been raised and now the entire program knows what it takes. The preparation will be sharper, the fundamentals will be solid, the game plans will be better, and just the overall team attitude will go from just win to now..dominate.

 

[Jerry]

We need to get a better pass rush. If you recall the Georgia and LSU Bama actually couldn't handle the pass rush until the defense got tired out. Bama had to run the ball in those games because they couldn't handle the pass rush. Jarvis Jones owned the first quarter of the SEC title game. ND needs to get a dominant edge rusher. Tuit is nice but unless it is an obvious passing down he is often playing two gap which means we don't get a pass rush when a team passes on 1st and 10. Shembo is tough player but we could use a more dominant James Harrisson, Clay Mathews style edge rusher in the future.

I keep waiting for Ishac Williams to become that guy. He made a few plays last night.

 

[North Buffalo Irish]

Nix was abusing Jones before he got injured. Lacy and Yeldon would just bounce it off tackle and Motta & Co would whiff. Rinse and repeat.

Anyone saying Nix played poorly or was manhandled/dominated/abused by Barrett Jones needs to sack up and watch the game over again. Because it simply isn't true.

 

[chicago51]

BK made mention that he is going to re-evaluate his plan that lead up to the NCG because of the missed tackles. Sounds like they went away from it a little. Somebody made mention earlier that BK shied away from much tackling because of depth issues/concerns.

IDK. It's a huge learning tool going forward and 2013 will be a watch out type of year as I feel this team will be playing some dominating team football.

That is all I needed to hear. Thank you for sharing that. I'm so much happier now.

Coaches make mistakes believe me I know. I love it when coaches own up and don't make excuses. I'm confident BK will make corrections and we will not tackle like that again in big bowl games (i believe more championship) in the future. I'm just glad BK realizes that his preparation was not right for this game.

 

[Jerry]

Go watch the replay. Our guys are waiting on the ball instead of running in stride.

Yeah, those "fade" routes to Eifert on the first series were way under thrown. Eifert was running backwards trying to catch those balls.

 

[phork]

Nix was abusing Jones before he got injured. Lacy and Yeldon would just bounce it off tackle and Motta would whiff. Rinse and repeat.

Anyone saying Nix played poorly or was manhandled/dominated/abused by Barrett Jones needs to sack up and watch the game over again. Because it simply isn't true.

I wouldn't say dominated, however, the fact that Jones was able to hold Nix by himself for the most part, allowed the Guards to get to Manti.

I am not pissed that we lost this game, I am pissed because I thought it would actually be a game. ND was totally outclassed in every facet of the game. I knew we were done when Kelly was flustered at halftime, there was no coming back. There is a difference in being manhandled, which we were, and being competitive, which we were not.

There was no answer to anything Alabama did, that is my biggest disappointment.

 

[Jerry]

That is all I needed to hear. Thank you for sharing that. I'm so much happier now.

Coaches make mistakes believe me I know. I love it when coaches own up and don't make excuses. I'm confident BK will make corrections and we will not tackle like that again in big bowl games (i believe more championship) in the future. I'm just glad BK realizes that his preparation was not right for this game.

One of my biggest worries going into this game was that fact that Alabama had "been there before". They weren't going to be caught up in the moment. Our defense looked like their heads were spinning in the first quarter.

 

[Grahambo]

That is all I needed to hear. Thank you for sharing that. I'm so much happier now.

Coaches make mistakes believe me I know. I love it when coaches own up and don't make excuses. I'm confident BK will make corrections and we will not tackle like that again in big bowl games (i believe more championship) in the future. I'm just glad BK realizes that his preparation was not right for this game.

I'm having trouble finding the exact quote but I promise its out there.

 

[__________]

I thought Nix was doing a pretty good job in the middle. He made Lacy and Yeldon bounce outside, which is other games the tackling was there to create a loss. For some reason, Motta and the LB's were taking bad angles and missing in the backfield.

 

[Emcee77]

The most talented team in the country played a perfect game against us. Hats off to them.

Like Kelly said after the SC game last year, "We'll start winning when we're better." Like that SC game, this was a reminder of how much work we still have to do. We'll get there. Great season capped by a crappy game -- but hopefully we learned a lesson and it's just another stepping stone, like that SC game, on the way to powerhouse status.

Our star is still rising. Not sure SC and Michigan can say the same. We are the new standard bearer, along with Oregon and OSU, for elite football outside the SEC. Let's sign the number one class in the fvcking country and go to work this spring.

 

[phgreek]

@ISDUpdate
Theo Riddick was despondent/in tears in the Irish locker room after the game. Mike Golic was close, Bennett Jackson too.


im gonna miss #6, kid was all in every snap. really hope someone gives him a shot.

Nothing more frustrating than to be Theo...all year he made himself the answer...never really even got a shot...game dictated Theo be a spectator more or less...had to kill him

 

[Irish Fam]

The refs put us behind.
Our missed tackling put us way behind.

A hole that big against a team with Alabama's talent is... well we all saw what it was

 

[Ndaccountant]

From SBT

"We watched a lot of film," said Cooper. "The outside was always open. I could visualize the plays that I was going to make. They had a lot of holes in their zone."

The hole in our zone on the outside was the no man's land between our corners and our safeties. This was true all year, but we didn't face one team with a combination of a great running and passing team to exploit it. Last night, we did. You need particularly fast and experienced safeties to recognize the pass and get to the sideline to break up that pass. You need experienced and fast corner to make up ground if the safety can't. We didn't have either, and without pressure on McCarron, the pass play on the outside was unstoppable.

Case and point why we need to start to instill bump and run man coverage as our base, not zone. I realize why we play zone, but elite defenses do not rely on it. Does Bama? Does LSU? Does Florida? The best teams in the best conference run man and there is a reason for it. The good news is that with the recruiting class this year and with the athletes we have now, we can start that transition.

 

[gcashwell]

Nix was abusing Jones before he got injured. Lacy and Yeldon would just bounce it off tackle and Motta & Co would whiff. Rinse and repeat.

Anyone saying Nix played poorly or was manhandled/dominated/abused by Barrett Jones needs to sack up and watch the game over again. Because it simply isn't true.

Nix wasn't able to get by Jones, though. None of us knew that Jones was as badly injured as he was (torn ligaments and Lisfranc fracture), but his intelligence allowed him to keep Nix from making the play.

A lot of people don't seem to realize how hard it is to bring down Lacy and Yeldon. Their ability to accelerate also makes a lot of defenders take bad angles. ND just got caught in a situation they weren't able to practice for.

This will be good for ND. It will instill a hunger and drive in them like nothing else could.

 

[chicago51]

Case and point why we need to start to instill bump and run man coverage as our base, not zone. I realize why we play zone, but elite defenses do not rely on it. Does Bama? Does LSU? Does Florida? The best teams in the best conference run man and there is a reason for it. The good news is that with the recruiting class this year and with the athletes we have now, we can start that transition.

Yes you can't just sit back. Also when you blitz you have to play tight coverage. When we actually did bring some pressure we played off coverage and McCarron had easy hot throws that moved the chains all game long because we gave them an 8 yard cushion.

 

[Irish Fam]

I am not sure where the negative comments about Nix came from, but he played a hell of a game. often pushing the center or guard a yard or two behind the line of scrimmage.

Unfortunately, our linebackers and safeties missed to many tackles in those holes.

Runs that would have been stuffed or only been 3-4 yds were going for 8, 10, 15, and more last night.

 

[chicago51]

I am not sure where the negative comments about Nix came from, but he played a hell of a game. often pushing the center or guard a yard or two behind the line of scrimmage.

Unfortunately, our linebackers and safeties missed to many tackles in those holes.

Runs that would have been stuffed or only been 3-4 yds were going for 8, 10, 15, and more last night.

Nix was not the issue.

Most of the runs game were off tackle. Our OLBs didn't set the edge very well. We also kept get killed on cut back runs. I kept yelling at the TV. Stay home on the back side!

 

[gcashwell]

Nix was not the issue.

Most of the runs game were off tackle. Our OLBs didn't set the edge very well. We also kept get killed on cut back runs. I kept yelling at the TV. Stay home on the back side!

He was part of the issue because even a terribly injured Jones was able to handle him by himself. For ND to stop the run, Nix needed to require a double team. He did not.

 

[Ndaccountant]

He was part of the issue because even a terribly injured Jones was able to handle him by himself. For ND to stop the run, Nix needed to require a double team. He did not.

It was posted on another site, but Barrett Jones said after the game that Bama knew with certain formations and shifts, they could get a look they liked against ND since ND's defense was so simple. They did just that. They shifted and ND moved as predicted. Nix play, as admirable as it was, wasn't going to change that. They simply knew where he would go and they more or less rode him the whole way.

Yes we were out manned and it showed. But, we also were outcoached.

 

[chicago51]

He was part of the issue because even a terribly injured Jones was able to handle him by himself. For ND to stop the run, Nix needed to require a double team. He did not.

Nix didn't have a great game not the game he needed to have so you are correct in that respect.

Notre Dame though had a ton of problems. In order of severity Nix wasn't even in the top 10. We had more problems with the run in C and D Gaps. Again noboby was home backside on the cutbacks either.

Nix has the two A Gaps on defense. Alabama didn't really run the Gap A gaps. They ran the Tackle/Tight End (C Gap) most of the time, and if the C Gap was closed the RBs did a great job of bouncing it outside where the Notre Dame DBs whiffed on a ton of tackles.

Bama got away with single blocking Nix by not running directly at him. A great game plan on their part.