Defense

[Golden_Domer88]

They was a horrible display of defense. Granted that we got the win, and we faced the #10 offense in the nation. But we gave up to many big plays. We need to play smashmouth football like the last half of the MSU game. Im glad some freshman are getting PT. That one corner that replaced Walls looked good.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

They was a horrible display of defense. Granted that we got the win, and we faced the #10 offense in the nation. But we gave up to many big plays. We need to play smashmouth football like the last half of the MSU game. Im glad some freshman are getting PT. That one corner that replaced Walls looked good.

You are being too kind. It was worse than horrible.

 

[tommy]

putrid how ever you spell it

 

[Irish Legend]

They was a horrible display of defense. Granted that we got the win, and we faced the #10 offense in the nation. But we gave up to many big plays. We need to play smashmouth football like the last half of the MSU game. Im glad some freshman are getting PT. That one corner that replaced Walls looked good.

You thought Leo Ferrine looked good? I say give the young guys more time on the field. I'm hoping they get a lot of PT in the next 5 - 6 games, just for experience!

 

[marv81s]

sloppy, sloppy, and more sloppy. Lucky that they dropped as many passes as they did.

 

[punishment]

I didn't think it was too bad considering that Purdue is in the top 10 in pretty much all offensive categories. Although, considering that their defense is in the bottom 10 of every category, I thought we could have scored around 49 points.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

I didn't think it was too bad considering that Purdue is in the top 10 in pretty much all offensive categories. Although, considering that their defense is in the bottom 10 of every category, I thought we could have scored around 49 points.

If we play like this with USC...they will hang 70 on us.

 

[ND Lifer]

Terrible defense!!! I'm beginning to think it's not necessarily the players, but the coaches, specifically Lewis and Minter. It doesn't seem to make any difference who they put in there, they're all out of position and all making the same mistakes. If it was just talent and ability, it would make sense that some of these guys would make plays better than others. But it doesn't happen. That reflects on the coaches, defensive game plans and schemes. We've had just about a season and a half of the same old crap. If this coaching staff is all it's cracked up to be, then do something about it. We are just not aggressive enough on defense. We don't make things happen. We try to play it safe and still get burned. When was the last time we saw anyone in the secondary break on a ball and actually try for an interception. Either Minter and Lewis fix the problems or Charley should dump them next year. There has been no improvement. It's been the same problems game after game after game. Allowing Purdue to get the long TD just prior to the end of the first half was a mortal sin!!!

Too make matters worse I had ND with -14. Lost a bundle. If we had any defense at all, nobody would come close to us (Michigan being the exception because we turned it over so many times)

 

[rontdtarchala]

The worst part of it is the same things are being said over and over again...what bothers me is I am usually willing to go along with the regulars here and say well we have to wait till the staff gets the players they are looking for to fit in to their scheme...but thats........f-----g bull crap!!!! we play pussy defense and it makes me sick...our defense wouldn't scare old ladies let alone young men on opposing offenses...

 

[punishment]

Wow! It was only a month ago that this board was full of posts with something to the effect of "mark my words, ND will have a top 10 defense" and "the defense will surprise people this year" and "our defense is greatly improved." And now, we are calling for coaches heads.

The fact of the matter is that we don't have the personnel to have a great defense. We have DEs playing at DT, which makes them undersized, thereby putting no pressure on the QB. We have linebackers playing safety (Duke and Zibby should not be safeties, they are too slow). And we have wide receivers playing corner, and very slow wide receivers at that.

Walls got burned again, but that will happen to freshman CBs. I think our defense is better than last year, but it is still just as slow and will continue to get beat deep. I believe our DCs will get it done in about 2 years. Weis knew the type of coaches he was getting when he picked his assitant coaches.

What should be a real concern of ours is the OL. How the hell do we give up 5 sacks. Our OL has been our weakness this year. This eliminates the running game, thereby putting it all on Quinn's shoulders, and does not allow us to control the clock, thereby leaving our defense out on the field too long.

I think we need to relax. Purdue has like the #4 offense in the country.

 

[proudndfan]

Notre Dame allowed too many big plays. Give Weis a year or 2 to get the depth and skill we'll need to really dominate.

 

[irish4life99]

Hate to say it, but were not a top 10 team w/this defense. We are getting no pressure on the QB's and our tackling is really sad. I think Richardson got burned, and even Zibby was out of position alot today (although I think he was playing hurt today). The problem is more at the talent level then at the coaching level.

 

[punishment]

Hate to say it, but were not a top 10 team w/this defense. We are getting no pressure on the QB's and our tackling is really sad. I think Richardson got burned, and even Zibby was out of position alot today (although I think he was playing hurt today). The problem is more at the talent level then at the coaching level.

I agree.

 

[lattedatte]

Wanna know how to know if your defense is good, look who leads the team in tackles. If it's not one of the front seven you got problems. Our leading tackler is a safety, nuff said.. And our front four is just plain bad, ABI is awful.

Saying that, the defense isn't as bad as it was last year and played real well against GT and PSU.. Made big plays when it couted vs. Mich St... And played fairly well today, credit Tiller for exposing a freshman. Plus TT was out, our only big play guy from the LB crew.

 

[hamiljar]

Defense wow! We give up 21 points to a good offense and everyone is saying we are horrible. SC gives up 22 to WSU and they say that is the strenght of their team. Stats don't matter its all about points. Coach Weis will tell you that. I do think we need to improve on defense. This will come with recruting but until then lets hope these coaches can do wonders with a bunch of 3 stars and offensive players plaing D.

Go Irish

 

[irish4life99]

Defense wow! We give up 21 points to a good offense and everyone is saying we are horrible. SC gives up 22 to WSU and they say that is the strenght of their team. Stats don't matter its all about points. Coach Weis will tell you that. I do think we need to improve on defense. This will come with recruting but until then lets hope these coaches can do wonders with a bunch of 3 stars and offensive players plaing D.

Go Irish

Yes, we all heard the Weis post game interview. I agree that Purdue is a good offense. But 400 yards passing!!!!!

 

[SBDomer]

Minter needs to go!!

 

[nayers]

Minter needs to go!!

who would you replace him with?

 

[SBDomer]

I think you need to change your quote after that comment

 

[irish4life99]

who would you replace him with?

How about GT's Tenuta (sp?)

 

[Óglaigh_na_hÉireann]

I was one of those guys that was predicting a top 15 defense, lol......


Well, I guess I've received some semblance of a reality check. I do however believe that our defense is better this year than it was last season.. the point everyone is dying to make is that we looked like shit against Michigan...well, our offense didn't help, their offense was better, and we threw the entire game out of synch via offensive turnovers.

Top 15? No, definitely not. I was expecting the D-Line to make a lot of improvements and I think that was pretty naive... I mean, the starting 4 range from experienced to very experienced... they could use depth, too, there's no denying that. I definitely under-estimated the effect Hoyte and Mays had on the LB corps.. not that they were the most talented guys in the world so much as their replacements are inexperienced and don't really make much of an impact.

Ndukwe's a lot better. Zibby.. well, he's not a lot worse, but I think he sort of cancels out Ndukwe's gains.

The defense is more flexible, so that's good. The corners, imo, have been playing a bit improved.. but that's not saying much.

 

[stan5545]

I totally agree with you on the fact that NDukwe has improved. He is all over the field it seems like on every play. That is not good considereding the front seven isn't getting much tackles, but you can tell that the weight he has lost has done him good. And what does everybody think is the problem with Zibby? He doesn't seem like his old self.

 

[Vince Young]

I'll sum it up thusly: our D is not where it needs to be yet, but it's still an improvement over last year.

Something to note too... our second-half defensive play is improving. In the second half, our defense has held Georgia Tech to 0 points, Penn State to 3 (until we pulled our starters), Michigan to 6, Michigan State to 6 and Purdue to 7. Last year, we were giving up TONS of points late in games. This year, not so much.

And as OGL said above, you can't really put Michigan on the defense. Our offense was going 3-and-out time and time and time again which led to our defense being out on the field WAY too much... not to mention Brady turning the ball over for a couple of scores too.

I just don't see the need to panic or to do something as rash as firing Rick Minter. Shuffle some players? Maybe. Try some new formations? Worth a shot. But fire Minter? No. WAY to early to be discussing that.

 

[IrishCPA]

How about GT's Tenuta (sp?)

I was going to say the same thing..

 

[guff]

How about GT's Tenuta (sp?)

Yea good thought but he has a job and the next job he takes will be head coach. I wonder what Tenuta thinks of E. Lansing?

As for those that think Bill Lewis needs to go...You need to have your heads examined. He is regarded as one of the best secondary coaches at any level.

 

[rontdtarchala]

I just think we need to be more agressive across the board on defense...but then will we be badly beaten deep if we do...thank the lord I'm not a coach and get to be an armchair qb!!!

 

[domerfor life]

All, I can say is.....WOW! You guys need to sit down and relax. We don't have a Top 20 defense. They played well in spurts yesterday. That TD at the end of the half was brutal. We could have came out in the 2nd half and put the game away, but that's the breaks. I don't know what kind of defense they were playing, but I didn't like it. What we really should be talking about is how the No. 100 or whatever defense got five sacks against our team. That's pathetic. We should have scored more and done more to keep the defense off the field, but we couldn't keep Spencer out of the backfield. Why doesn't Brady throw the ball away? You can't take a sack and knock your team out of scoring range. He should know better. We still won and it just proves that this team is far from perfect and is a work in progress. I just hope that work is done before the SC game. SC doesn't look that dominate right now though. We may some problems with UCLA. They are the only team left on our schedule, besides USC, who likes to run a wide-open offense.