Chris "Belt To" Ash - Defensive Coordinator

[KPENN]

I am curious how much is improvement compared to playing much worse competition.

This has been a talking point way too much. They’ve played some bad teams but have played better offenses than they did last year

 

[rikkitikki08]

I think it can be both, they’ve played bad teams but Arkansas is a good indicator this defense has truly improved. Arkansas has been putting up points on everyone

 

[sixstar]

Them: What are you worried about? Wicked Witch Chris Ash isn’t real, he can’t even hurt you

Wicked Witch Chris Ash:

View attachment 3061314

yup - that'll finally convince me to change my avatar.

 

[Dale]

The Miami game was an on par performance to Golden’s D against PSU and OSU.

A&M and Purdue (1H) they got strung out by injuries and ejection of Shuler.

Could write 1,000 words on finer details, a few other personnel tweaks, but it’s also largely that simple IMO.

 

[Dale]

I am curious how much is improvement compared to playing much worse competition.

Arkansas and USC are two of the best offenses in the country.

NC State and Pitt (and Navy) have also largely been effective offenses.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

I am curious how much is improvement compared to playing much worse competition.

Offensive rankings per FEI:

USC - 4th
A&M 10th
Arkansas 13th
Navy 28th
NC St 29th

To a lesser extent, but still top half of the country, and made both look like a JV team:

Pitt 53rd
Boise 60th


They've been playing quality offenses all year.

 

[Irish#1]

I am curious how much is improvement compared to playing much worse competition.

Well Purdue isn't good and the change took place at halftime. I still think they just went back to what worked last season and stopped using Ash's changes that were supposed to allow the DE's to get more pressure. It looks to me like they started over, gradually incorporating some of his changes as the season has went on.

 

[allenm5333]

I am curious how much is improvement compared to playing much worse competition.

If we played Miami and then Texas A&M Weeks 3 and 4 instead, we would have played better. A softer opening slate would have allowed us to work some kinks out.

 

[pumpdog20]

You boys jinxed it now

 

[NDFAN2008]

I think the improvement is a combo of things: players buying in, guys taking a few games to get adjusted, Ash changing up looks AKA MAYBE Freeman

 

[PutuporShutup]

I am curious how much is improvement compared to playing much worse competition.

Part of it is competition, a bigger part is correcting major personnel mistakes.

Game 1-2 personnel.

Hinish was playing in most running situations, and we were having almost no stuffs or TFLs. The other teams OL was able to get on our LBs much easier.

Hobbs went from taking major snaps game 1 and having rough game, to starting game 2 and having another rough game, to being completely benched. The staff had to know in fall camp he wasn't it yet they had golden playing a different position.

Stroman went from playing a ton game 1 and 2 to hardly seeing the field. He is a physical safety, that can NOT cover good passing teams. Tae has become by one site the highest rated safety in the country. This was a decision that cost ND at minimum the A&M game.

What would our D have looked like if the staff had made moves in the fall that most knew should be made? Tae over Stroman, golden over hobbs, and hinish really only in on passing situations. This isn't monday morning QBing, this was obvious to those that watched them play last year or years before with hinish/stroman, and all the reports on hobbs were not good.

Last year there was 1 way to consistently attack our D during the regular season, but you needed a good OL, good QB, and at least 2 good wrs. That's gray. When mills went down and cross got injured, you could run on ND like PSU and OSU did so that meant you could attack ND two different ways.

Right now, the way we are playing, gray is still the weakest link on the D if Tae comes back for the playoffs. Syracuse was the worst power 4 offense i've watched this year (right with wisconsin), and gray still gave up 2 PIs. He's capable of making a play, but he's also capable (or as likely) of giving up huge plays and a lot of PIs.

 

[Dale]

Part of it is competition, a bigger part is correcting major personnel mistakes.

Game 1-2 personnel.

Hinish was playing in most running situations, and we were having almost no stuffs or TFLs. The other teams OL was able to get on our LBs much easier.

Hobbs went from taking major snaps game 1 and having rough game, to starting game 2 and having another rough game, to being completely benched. The staff had to know in fall camp he wasn't it yet they had golden playing a different position.

Stroman went from playing a ton game 1 and 2 to hardly seeing the field. He is a physical safety, that can NOT cover good passing teams. Tae has become by one site the highest rated safety in the country. This was a decision that cost ND at minimum the A&M game.

What would our D have looked like if the staff had made moves in the fall that most knew should be made? Tae over Stroman, golden over hobbs, and hinish really only in on passing situations. This isn't monday morning QBing, this was obvious to those that watched them play last year or years before with hinish/stroman, and all the reports on hobbs were not good.

Last year there was 1 way to consistently attack our D during the regular season, but you needed a good OL, good QB, and at least 2 good wrs. That's gray. When mills went down and cross got injured, you could run on ND like PSU and OSU did so that meant you could attack ND two different ways.

Right now, the way we are playing, gray is still the weakest link on the D if Tae comes back for the playoffs. Syracuse was the worst power 4 offense i've watched this year (right with wisconsin), and gray still gave up 2 PIs. He's capable of making a play, but he's also capable (or as likely) of giving up huge plays and a lot of PIs.

Man I agreed with 7 straight sections. And then the 8th just had to be included.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

You boys jinxed it now

Nah. We're all good witches here, not bad witches.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I like the conspiracy theory that Freeman has taken over the schematics and play calling. Those aren't even the ND haters, that's a minority of ND fans online. ND haters are busy crying about ND joining a conference.

It doesn't appear that Freeman is calling the defense during games from the sideline. He's the head coach and should thus have a hand in everything, so it would make sense that at some point in the beginning of the year he jumped into the mix to fix what was going on the first two and a half games.

I can't for the life of me understand why people want to make it anything more than what it really is. Ash is running and coordinating the defense. We all need to accept we were wrong at the start and that things have improved.

 

[PutuporShutup]

Man I agreed with 7 straight sections. And then the 8th just had to be included.

Who is the weakest player on our starting D and how would you attack us?

 

[Irish du Nord]

The Miami game was an on par performance to Golden’s D against PSU and OSU.

A&M and Purdue (1H) they got strung out by injuries and ejection of Shuler.

Could write 1,000 words on finer details, but it’s also largely that simple IMO.

I'm not sure I agree with line 1, considering OSU and PSU (last year) had better offenses than this Miami team. But I agree that we have been underrating the Shuler ejection and injuries in the A&M game.

Arkansas and USC are ranked 13th and 4th in the FEI offensive rankings, respectively. NCSt and Navy a respectable 29th and 28th. Texas A&M 10th, Miami 21st.

They've been playing quality offenses all year. Pitt and Boise are also ranked between 50 and 60 (Boise is 60).

Pitt has been way better since Heintschel took over too

 

[PutuporShutup]

Shuler got ejected in the fourth quarter. That ejection was big for that drive, but we only gave up a fg. A&M already had scored 31 points through 3 quarters.

The bigger penalty was 3rd and 16 incompletion where Gray held for no reason, then the no call on fourth down where they scored.

 

[Bane]

I like the conspiracy theory that Freeman has taken over the schematics and play calling. Those aren't even the ND haters, that's a minority of ND fans online. ND haters are busy crying about ND joining a conference.

It doesn't appear that Freeman is calling the defense during games from the sideline. He's the head coach and should thus have a hand in everything, so it would make sense that at some point in the beginning of the year he jumped into the mix to fix what was going on the first two and a half games.

I can't for the life of me understand why people want to make it anything more than what it really is. Ash is running and coordinating the defense. We all need to accept we were wrong at the start and that things have improved.

Yeah, I was maybe Ash's biggest hater after A&M and I can admit that things have changed and I was wrong that he wasn't capable of making it better. I'm sure Freeman, a former DC, had some input and maybe "stepped in" but he's the HC, that's his right and his job. But when we watch Freeman and Ash on the sidelines when the defense is on the field, Freeman in no way appears to be running the defense. Ash gets his credit for improving and Freeman as the HC also gets credit since everything is his responsibility.

 

[PutuporShutup]

Yeah, I was maybe Ash's biggest hater after A&M and I can admit that things have changed and I was wrong that he wasn't capable of making it better. I'm sure Freeman, a former DC, had some input and maybe "stepped in" but he's the HC, that's his right and his job. But when we watch Freeman and Ash on the sidelines when the defense is on the field, Freeman in no way appears to be running the defense. Ash gets his credit for improving and Freeman as the HC also gets credit since everything is his responsibility.

I think freeman's biggest impact was personnel. Going from Stroman and Hobbs playing significant snaps the first 2 games to being completely replaced is typically a HC decision or at least needs HC approval.

 

[KMac151993]

Shuler got ejected in the fourth quarter. That ejection was big for that drive, but we only gave up a fg. A&M already had scored 31 points through 3 quarters.

The bigger penalty was 3rd and 16 incompletion where Gray held for no reason, then the no call on fourth down where they scored.

Once Shuler got ejected the ND defense gave up 33 points in 40 game minutes...once he returned they became lock down.

 

[JamIrish]

The last 8 games, only SC has scored more than one offensive TD against ND. The other 7 games the ND defense has given up just 7 touchdowns and 2 of those were in garbage time against backups. Great turnaround.

 

[Kingbish01]

Anyone actually have any inside info about what the hell really went on?

Freeman more involved?

The players finally bought in?

Everyone needed time to adjust to each other and finally started to click?

The turn around has miraculous

Schedule

 

[Dale]

Once Shuler got ejected the ND defense gave up 33 points in 40 game minutes...once he returned they became lock down.

Right. The Shuler ejection affected the most important series of the year + the first half of the Purdue game. We fielded a secondary of Zackery - Golden - Stroman - Johnson - Gray for a half of football. It was the first start for three players.

 

[jprue24]

Who is the weakest player on our starting D and how would you attack us?

Hinish is the weakest player listed as a starter.

 

[arndtjc]

ND haters are busy crying about ND joining a conference.

My man they are much more concerned with the fact that ND is ranked above, and I wish I were joking, all of these teams: BYU, Texas, Utah, Vanderbilt, Miami, Alabama, and Michigan

Loudest of which are BYU people. I really hope either A) we get a crack at them in the playoff, or B) they're demoted to the Pop Tarts Bowl and we can all point and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh

 

[Me2SouthBend]

Lol

The only question is what’s this guy (Brad Powers) IE handle?

 

[Bane]

My man they are much more concerned with the fact that ND is ranked above, and I wish I were joking, all of these teams: BYU, Texas, Utah, Vanderbilt, Miami, Alabama, and Michigan

Loudest of which are BYU people. I really hope either A) we get a crack at them in the playoff, or B) they're demoted to the Pop Tarts Bowl and we can all point and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh

BYU and Miami have been the loudest. Bama was loud last Tuesday and Wednesday but have mostly given it up. I guess they remembered they still control their own destiny.

 

[Irishdwarte]

BYU and Miami have been the loudest. Bama was loud last Tuesday and Wednesday but have mostly given it up. I guess they remembered they still control their own destiny.

Bama got worn out last year from whining like a bunch of cunts.

 

[DCDomer]

Wasn't it the same on the Ethan Long pick 6 that wasn't...that time Hinish just got in fast.

Just got to this play. That was much more vanilla. Even front with Quarters behind it - Long has 3 strong if he goes vertical and he made a great break on it when he sat behind the ILB.

 

[Irish du Nord]

Who is the weakest player on our starting D and how would you attack us?

Hinish is the weakest player listed as a starter.

Gray is better than Devonta Smith too, I can't believe that's controversial.