Breaking down ND/OU

[irishpat183]

I'm new to this forum and am also a avid Sooner fan. I'm not here to get into a pissing match or to throw out outrageous versions of how the game will go.

In my opinion Kstate played us as well as they could have. They were able to get enough pressure on Landry and cause him to make a few costly mistakes. When Bell fumbled on the three yard line, thats just the way the night went for us. Some will say that OU beat themselves and others will say KSU beat OU.

A couple of things that I haven't heard any OU fans mention on here are 1) At the beginning of the season we had a really young recieving corps. We were playing Stills who is a Junior, Metoyer who is a true freshman, Brown who transferred in from Penn St., and Shepard who is a true freshman. THis offense heavily relies on timing and I have noticed that the timing of our recievers was not good early but has gotten a lot better in the last coulple of weeks.

Our offense line took some huge hits late in the summer with injuries and we began this season with a patch work O-Line. These guys have also started playing better as a unit.

There is no doubt in my mind that ND has the best defense we have played this year. Manti Te'o is the best defensive player we will see all year. OU will have to run the ball to win this game. We have to atleast keep the Irish honest. If OU drops back and throws the ball to much, the Irish D will tee off on our offense and this is not a situation I personally want Landry in. OU has to run the ball, just enough to keep Te'o on his toes.

I agree that Eifert is a great player. He can create mismatch problems for most people. I feel that with him being a tight end it will play to our defensive strength. Jefferson ( who i feel is our best defensive player) should spend a lot of time with Eifert. I'm not saying that Jefferson will dominate Eifert or anything like that, but I can't ask for more thatn having our best player on your best player. There will be times when the Irish put him as an outside reciever and jefferson has no business out there. But, when he is lined up as a tight end or slot, jefferson should get to be around him plenty.

The irish rushing attack worries me more than Eifert. If OU comes out and has a few short 3 and outs and the Irish take the ball and sustain long drives, we are behind the eight ball. As a team OU can't afford to let ND have long drives while we try to figure out how to move the ball. I think this will be the most physical game either team has played up to this point in the year. Brian Kelly and Bob Stoops will both have there teams ready to go.

I appreciate the hospitality most of the Irish fans have shown.

Fantastic post and we're happy to have you.

 

[OUMallen]

Notre Dame v Stanford Overtime '12: Goal Line Stand - YouTube

Lawls.

A yard.
3 yards.
Then controversial call to keep them out of the TD.

All with hand offs to smaller RB.

I don't get what's so hard to understand. The Belldozer works really well almost all of the time. If you stop it consistently, kudos. You'll be the very first.

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

Long but thorough. They do keep referring to Manti as "Mantee" which almost sounds like "Mandy." Rather annoying.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JVZhi50WsPA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[BleedBlueGold]

With Trey Millard and Aaron Ripkowski blocking, it's nigh impossible to stop unless:
1. You massively overpower our players, which it would take an NFL front 7 to do; or
2. We whiff on a block.

Assuming we don't whiff/don't get beat on a block immediately, you can't get penetration quickly enough before we get the 2 yards.

I'd like to introduce you to Teo, Tuitt, Lewis Moore, Nix, and Shembo....that's 5 of 7 who are already projected to play on Sundays (going in 1st or 2nd round). KLM might not go in the first two rounds...but regardless, he'll play on Sundays.

 

[mgriff]

Just play this ****ing game already, so both sides stop over-analyzing. I love some good debate, but the good debate has passed, and it's devolved into a pissing contest. You can only say the same **** so many times before it gets tired.

 

[OUMallen]

Just play this ****ing game already, so both sides stop over-analyzing. I love some good debate, but the good debate has passed, and it's devolved into a pissing contest. You can only say the same **** so many times before it gets tired.

Your post indicates that you're new to CFB messageboards, but your personal info indicates you're like a Jedi master here. #confused

 

[OUMallen]

I'd like to introduce you to Teo, Tuitt, Lewis Moore, Nix, and Shembo....that's 5 of 7 who are already projected to play on Sundays (going in 1st or 2nd round). KLM might not go in the first two rounds...but regardless, he'll play on Sundays.

OK, so you're in the "massively overpower the Oklahoma OL and lead blockers and stop the 254lb guy on a consistent basis" camp.

Fair enough.

 

[mgriff]

Your post indicates that you're new to CFB messageboards, but your personal info indicates you're like a Jedi master here. #confused

No, this board isn't like most college football boards. It's usually very constructive and informative, but I've been reading this all week and we're going back and forth and over again through points that have been made ad nauseum.

 

[OUMallen]

No, this board isn't like most college football boards. It's usually very constructive and informative, but I've been reading this all week and we're going back and forth and over again through points that have been made ad nauseum.

So this board is like the Notre Dame Defense of boards!?!


#notworthy


If this is truly the case, I'd argue that this isn't even a college football messageboard. It's more of an information clearinghosue.

 

[mgriff]

So this board is like the Notre Dame Defense of boards!?!


#notworthy

#nottwitter #failtrollisfail

 

[Emcee77]

Just play this ****ing game already, so both sides stop over-analyzing. I love some good debate, but the good debate has passed, and it's devolved into a pissing contest. You can only say the same **** so many times before it gets tired.

No, this board isn't like most college football boards. It's usually very constructive and informative, but I've been reading this all week and we're going back and forth and over again through points that have been made ad nauseum.

Reps. We're no longer breaking down the game. It's been broken down. We're now arguing what will happen, which is super boring, because nobody knows what will happen. I keep checking this thread for info about the game like what GITF posted earlier, but each post like that is outnumbered tenfold by 20 posts of useless debate.

Not that all debate is bad. The posts backed by statistics and the argument over which statistics are the right statistics was fascinating. But "we'll stop Bell" / "No you won't"?

Snooze-fest.

 

[SoonerMagic]

Emcee,

What are you thoughts on Kelly as a coach?

 

[irishpat183]

Lawls.

A yard.
3 yards.
Then controversial call to keep them out of the TD.

All with hand offs to smaller RB.

I don't get what's so hard to understand. The Belldozer works really well almost all of the time. If you stop it consistently, kudos. You'll be the very first.

There was nothing "controversial" about it. He had been stopped, wiggled over a player, and tried to reach the ball over after the play was dead. No brainer.

Besides, nobody talks about the fact that his other elbow may have touched the ground.


And "belldozer" is a novelty. A joke. Jared Lorenzen without the arm. He scares no one in the ND front 7. I'll take Teo up against him every day of the week.

 

[SoonerMagic]

Irishpat,

I would agree with taking Te'o over bell on a goalline stand. But, rarely is bell having to deal with LB's or DLineman. The coahcing staff has done well with getting bell one on one with someone in the secondary. Most of the time Bell runs off tackle which limits his contact with a LB. I would fully anticipate OU to keep bell away from Te'o. I do realize that Manti is great and it will be a huge task to block him at the goalline, but I figure we will do everything we can to stay away from him on the gaolline.

 

[Emcee77]

There was nothing "controversial" about it. He had been stopped, wiggled over a player, and tried to reach the ball over after the play was dead. No brainer.

Besides, nobody talks about the fact that his other elbow may have touched the ground.


And "belldozer" is a novelty. A joke. Jared Lorenzen without the arm. He scares no one in the ND front 7. I'll take Teo up against him every day of the week.

LOL reps for this reference! The 285 pound roly-poly QB. That was funny.

 

[goldandblue]

OK, so you're in the "massively overpower the Oklahoma OL and lead blockers and stop the 254lb guy on a consistent basis" camp.

Fair enough.

I don't know how much different 10lbs makes but we stopped this guy on a consistent basis...

Le'Veon Bell 6'2" 244lbs...

 

[jbaker]

Question: Why is stopping Belldozer any different than stopping Stephan Taylor?

1. An extra blocker with no QB handing the ball off.

2. 50 pounds and 8 inches.
Blake Bell is 6'7" 265. Stepfan Taylor is 5'11" 215.

 

[Emcee77]

Emcee,

What are you thoughts on Kelly as a coach?

As it relates to this game? I think he's generally outstanding. When you have a guy come up through lower-division football you know you are getting an outstanding teacher of the game. He also has had a reputation throughout his career for being a workaholic perfectionist. Around the time of his hiring someone forwarded me an email from one of his former players at CMU who hated Kelly personally (because this player was a playing-time casualty of the coaching change) but who was CERTAIN that Kelly would win an NC at ND. So far I love the direction we are going and I am optimistic that we will win an NC.

But we aren't where Kelly wants us to be yet. You can tell in the media appearances he has done this week that he is trying to tamp down expectations for the game Saturday and that he has a lot of admiration for OU. This is a program that has built the consistency to contend for NC's year in and year out. That's where he is trying to go with ND.

But he just doesn't have the QBs and WRs he wants to run the system he wants to run. His offense is not built to protect the QB for five seconds. When you spread the field, you just don't have the extra pass protectors available to pick up blitzers or odd pass-rushers. He needs a QB who can make a quick decision in a very short span of time, and/or can elude pass rushers and make plays. Crist and Rees are not that guy (Rees has the decision-making down but not the play-making part necessarily) ... Golson is hopefully that guy, but he doesn't have the experience to make those quick decisions yet. Similarly, you need WRs who can win one-on-one battles and make guys miss. We have some of those guys but we are not where we need to be.

So our offense is still just in the developmental stage. Kelly has done a great job this year of recognizing that we can rely on our defense and squeezing wins out of a team that is not not done cooking yet by managing the clock, running the ball and limiting turnovers. If we win on Saturday, it will be by doing those things. It's not a fool-proof strategy, and I think Kelly knows that, but it's gives us our best shot.

So to answer your question I think Kelly is doing a great job simultaneously putting us in the best position to both 1) win now and 2) win down the road. Will it be enough to get a W on Saturday? I don't know.

 

[irishpat183]

1. An extra blocker with no QB handing the ball off.

2. 50 pounds and 8 inches.
Blake Bell is 6'7" 265. Stepfan Taylor is 5'11" 215.

Anyone worth their salt that played a down of football knows that height/weight means nothing.

I don't look at Bell any different than I look at any other back. Get low, and they all go down.

 

[irishog77]

Nothing to say here, but I noticed we were on post 666. Didn't want johnny burning this thing up or anything.

Carry on.

 

[OUMallen]

Anyone worth their salt that played a down of football knows that height/weight means nothing.

I don't look at Bell any different than I look at any other back. Get low, and they all go down.

Cool cliche, bro.

 

[irishog77]

1. An extra blocker with no QB handing the ball off.

2. 50 pounds and 8 inches.
Blake Bell is 6'7" 265. Stepfan Taylor is 5'11" 215.

He's grown since last week?

 

[levicarvalho]

14-3 ND

 

[OUMallen]

He's grown since last week?

He'll be shooting lightning bolts out of his arse come Saturday, you just watch.

 

[irishog77]

1. An extra blocker with no QB handing the ball off.

2. 50 pounds and 8 inches.
Blake Bell is 6'7" 265. Stepfan Taylor is 5'11" 215.

He's grown since last week?

He'll be shooting lightning bolts out of his arse come Saturday, you just watch.

That's EXACTLY where my mind was going as well. Well done, Mallen.

Will jbaker also tell me that Bell can kneel down on his own endline...and hit the opposing goal post...backwards? I've heard 7'4", 495lb QB's can do that.

 

[SoonerMagic]

I believe Bell is listed in the program at 6'6 252lbs. He is a big man and runs well. He will probably be a big part of the future of this program. I am very anxious to see this package against a really good front seven. I am expecting OU to have a few more plays out of this formation this week. Just for the goalline situation, we may throw out of it to see if we can catch ND putting to much emphasis on the bell dozer rushing attack

 

[OUMallen]

That's EXACTLY where my mind was going as well. Well done, Mallen.

Will jbaker also tell me that Bell can kneel down on his own endline...and hit the opposing goal post...backwards? I've heard 7'4", 495lb QB's can do that.

Physically, he could, but he is mentally incapable of kneeling to ANYONE or ANYTHING. (Except God, with whom he has an exceptional relationship.)

 

[phork]

My dong is bigger than your dong.

 

[OU_Sooners75]

Take this for what its worth...
The bell dozer package is so successful because it has ten blockers and no hand offs....not yet anyway.

What does OU do out of this package?

Most of the time they try to out number the defense by 2 on the side they want to run to. When they don't get that number advantage, they will send one of the fullbacks in motion to the weakside. Which in most cases either finds out if the defense is in man or not. If no slide or man coverage goes with the motion man, OU will snap the ball and go to the side the motion goes to. Why? Because since the defense didn't slide or move with the motion man, OU now has a 2 man advantage on that side.

There usually is no tight ends on the bell package. They usually use all OL to line up in this. Then they have two very big and very good blocking FBs in the backfield. A third FB (used to be Musil before he got hurt) is off the los as a wing back. They play an unbalance line. OU virtually tells you where they are going with it. But the kicker is, when the ball is snapped, Bell doesn't just run straight at the hole or LOS. He is patient. He allows his blockers to get a push. And depending on where the blockers make a crease, that's where Bell goes.

It may seem like a basic goalline lineup. But its not. Its pure power for blockers and patience for the runner. And there are 10 blockers most of the time. Vs. Texass OU lined Stills out wide a couple of times, just to see the defense better.


OU has passed twice out of the belldozer package. Both fell incomplete, and none were from this year.


So don't be surprised if Bell passes once out of it.

Either way, some very good defense have gone against this package, only to fail to stop it consistently.

It has been stopped a few times, but never from making a 1st down or TD that I can recall except for when bell fumbled.


It will be interesting to see nonetheless.

 

[phork]

Physically, he could, but he is mentally incapable of kneeling to ANYONE or ANYTHING. (Except God, with whom he has an exceptional relationship.)

So does our entire University.