MSU Postgame

[402puck]

Every time we motion TE or WR into the box right before we snap it it's a run. 100% of the time.

Then there's non-existent slot WR position.

Then there's wasting 2 spots with TE/12 personal to guys you'll never throw to.

I'm glad MF is exactly who he is but this is where having no offensive background hurts when Denbrock has lost his bag.

This is going to age terribly when we get deep into the season and start busting hard play action on these tendencies they’re putting on tape

I swear ya’ll don’t know how to act with such a good team that they have ran like 8 total plays in their playbook through three games

 

[Dale]

You need vision to run outside zone. The clip above is a power but NDs bread and butter on explosives was OZ. And that is all vision and acceleration.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

What a worthless f-ing production from top to bottom. Is this our broadcast or not? FFS they glaze the other team endlessly and you can hear the hope in their voice for Sparty. They know the visiting team better and can't wait to share while they will say "number 5 made a play there" for ND. I don't know what that halftime show was but Simms and Perry should walk off if they are going to cede any airtime to that batch of theater kid looking clowns. Holy hell it should not be possible to be that noticeably bad coming off of an hour plus of Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge. Overall beta bitch cuck chair crew from top to bottom which makes me forget how terrible Doug Flutie and Mrs. Doubtfire were. Hey let's show MSU's coach beating ND as a player and a coach at NW! How cute and fun is that! What a neato little tidbit! Hey fanbase just snubbed from the playoffs and contending for title - remember those embarrassing losses to the B1Got doormat! Maybe two humans on the planet are watching that game to hear about Pat f-ing Fitzgerald you bunch of cucks.

I was disappointed in Blackledge for different reasons. He bumbled a lot of calls and details. He forgot it was Faison, not Greathouse; who played LAX. He declined to point out the obvious on the fake punt that if Robinson had kept stretching the play outside, he gets the first down easily and possibly much more.

I'm not clear on the agreement between ND/NBC/B1G and how they do ND home games with prime time crew. i know a lot of ND fans were frustrated with the excitement of Sparty keeping it competitive. I attribute that to their expectation that this would be a blowout loss where Sparty was out of it early. Blackledge said as much on a pod with Yogi Roth…if Sparty couldn’t play clean, they’d be in danger of getting blown out. First and foremost I’d expect network announcing crews to want one thing…a competitive game. It can’t be enjoyable trying to fill air time in a blowout when they know viewers are turning to more competitive games.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

I think he's always had poor vision but he's always playing when the game's over and back ups are in.

There's a TD he scored I believe last year that I always remember where yes, he scored, but he read the WR block poorly. I wish I could remember the play (I'll look) but the WR has the DB completely sealed and Aneyas has a walk in. But he tries to go outside the WR/DB and nearly gets tackled.

Among having no physical traits to lean on, having poor vision is the killer.

Edit: 36 second mark. He needs to get better. The RB room isn't experienced enough for him to be fully benched so he needs to figure it out.

I remember screaming at the TV over that read..."Middle!" Granted, I don't think Gilbert (I presume?) blocked well and the defender jumped inside which caused Williams to break towards the outside. But it was too little, too late and he literally ran over the blocker. Had he just ran towards the middle, literally no one was there and that block/read combo would've been moot.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

You need vision to run outside zone. The clip above is a power but NDs bread and butter on explosives was OZ. And that is all vision and acceleration.

Wasnt it Williams who actually did that later in the game for a crucial first down pick up?

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

MSU definitely looked more "on brand" under Fitz than they ever did under Tucker or Smith. I got serious Dantonio team vibes from their fight and physicality at times on Saturday. Jordan Hall, #5 LB, was an absolute stud. It was a good test again for ND, and like Freeman said, to play pretty sloppy and still beat that team by 17, that's an ok sign. Lots to improve, but pre-2024 ND squads would've had us sweating in that game.

Fitz was also very complimentary of ND's talent and the atmosphere on Saturday. Basically said "that's a really talented football team, we can't make mistakes, lose the turnover margin, and expect to beat a team like that on the road." Obviously pulling for them for SoS the rest of the way and hope they beat the shit out of scUM.

 

[allenm5333]

You need vision to run outside zone. The clip above is a power but NDs bread and butter on explosives was OZ. And that is all vision and acceleration.

RB needs to read the DE. Decide on 3rd step, plant on 5th

 

[RDU Irish]

I was disappointed in Blackledge for different reasons. He bumbled a lot of calls and details. He forgot it was Faison, not Greathouse; who played LAX. He declined to point out the obvious on the fake punt that if Robinson had kept stretching the play outside, he gets the first down easily and possibly much more.

I'm not clear on the agreement between ND/NBC/B1G and how they do ND home games with prime time crew. i know a lot of ND fans were frustrated with the excitement of Sparty keeping it competitive. I attribute that to their expectation that this would be a blowout loss where Sparty was out of it early. Blackledge said as much on a pod with Yogi Roth…if Sparty couldn’t play clean, they’d be in danger of getting blown out. First and foremost I’d expect network announcing crews to want one thing…a competitive game. It can’t be enjoyable trying to fill air time in a blowout when they know viewers are turning to more competitive games.

So happy for him gushing on a pod with some guy named Yogi. Does he have 2 million followers like the ND football broadcast?

ND vs Rice was 10th highest rated broadcast - part of having the ND deal is KNOWING you have eyeballs no matter what. More people tune in to see our third string against Rice than they do MSU's next three games combined. You have a season long story to tell to get those eyeballs for six weeks. Nobody GAF about MSU! Edwards came off a 150 yard 2 TD game - we held the team to 44 rushing yards on the day FFS. 20 yard LESS THAN RICE. Gush over our defense you twats!

Total wasted opportunity - should be full homer launch pad for ND TV talent. If they are going to generally suck so bad at least have the excuse of letting Domers cut their teeth and take care of your own.

 

[402puck]

 

[NDMJ1984]

One other offensive gripe that I found very confusing - they ran the play clock down to low single digits on what seemed like every-other-play. Easy for the defensive line to get a good jump when they know you have to snap it right now. Very frustrating to watch.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

One other offensive gripe that I found very confusing - they ran the play clock down to low single digits on what seemed like every-other-play. Easy for the defensive line to get a good jump when they know you have to snap it right now. Very frustrating to watch.

I mean, if it's Carr trying to get us into successful plays, I'm all for it. Which he did on several occasions, even checking to running plays late in the game that worked great.

You'd prefer we don't let CJ audible?

 

[SportsingHard]

I think he's always had poor vision but he's always playing when the game's over and back ups are in.

There's a TD he scored I believe last year that I always remember where yes, he scored, but he read the WR block poorly. I wish I could remember the play (I'll look) but the WR has the DB completely sealed and Aneyas has a walk in. But he tries to go outside the WR/DB and nearly gets tackled.

Among having no physical traits to lean on, having poor vision is the killer.

Edit: 36 second mark. He needs to get better. The RB room isn't experienced enough for him to be fully benched so he needs to figure it out.

I remembered the play. It was hilariously stupid when he was third-string. Not as funny when he's the starter ahead of multiple players better than he is.

 

[402puck]

One other offensive gripe that I found very confusing - they ran the play clock down to low single digits on what seemed like every-other-play. Easy for the defensive line to get a good jump when they know you have to snap it right now. Very frustrating to watch.

How is that confusing? It was pissing rain and your defense is dominating on the other side. They held the ball for 18+ minutes in the 2nd half to close out the game

 

[Plankton]

Watched the game yesterday. The scoreboard doesn't show it, but this game was ridiculously one sided. ND's defense had the MSU offense on lockdown, with the ends having a field day in the second half. KVA looks like a monster on his blitzes, and the secondary didn't allow much free space for Michigan St receivers all night.

On offense, Williams is not quick enough to make up for any lack of wiggle that he has. He has become a plodding carrier who can't shake anyone. Not sure what happened to him, but he looks less explosive, less powerful than he had in spot duty the last two years. Nolan James is a good runner with a weird body type - long neck and torso with somewhat short legs. He has the quickness that Williams lacks. But, one of the big problems with the run game is scheme - everything is between the tackles and they never try to threaten the perimeter of the defense. Plus. offsetting the TE to the gap between the G and T doesn't allow for good momentum in driving linemen off the ball. One such play, Cooper Flanagan was being asked to block Ben Roberts. That's absolutely asinine. This really needs to be looked at, because this running game is not getting it done at the moment.

The beauty of this game was that there were no injuries, they won comfortably, yet left enough on the field and had enough mistakes that Freeman and company can go to town on the players this week with teaching tape. Time to unleash a blitzkrieg on Purdue this weekend.

 

[Dale]

 

[ozzman]

 

[jerseyborn1971]

If you saw Nolan James sitting down, you'd think he was 6'4". If you just saw his lower body, you'd think he was 5'8".

 

[Dale]

L.O.L.

 

[jprue24]

This seems like such an obvious decision and wondering how a hole like this gets missed. I want to understand what the running back is reading on this play.

Did Williams see Absur miss his combo block...




...and assume the LB is going to fill that gap so he decided to bouncing it outside? When they run this play, how often does Black push his block deep enough to impede a missed LB? Did Williams know Craig was blocking a DB and expect Craig to destroy the edge?


Is his mind just not moving fast enough on play 3?

 

[NDWarrior]

My apologies if these topics have already been discussed (I haven't really followed the game or post-game threads much this season to date), but from what I saw on Saturday (and maybe in the previous two games), RR (I know many here don't care for him) does make some good points:

The truth about Notre Dame’s running game issues, the biggest problems, and who is the most to blame

1) The right side of the offensive line had well-below-average days where they struggled at the point of attack and created consistent issues with penetration (i.e., everything was playing behind the line of scrimmage, and running backs were contacted too early in reps).
2) A lack of creativity from Denbrock as OC. Everything is very static, there is barely any motion pre-snap, and not a ton of diversity or movement before the ball is snapped; there is no jet motion, no jet sweep off of it, no misdirection
3) Lastly, there isn't much play action / RPO

Do we think there is any extent of MF and Denbrock holding back the playbook/play complexity until later-in-season when they have tougher matchups?

I would also add that as we saw with RL, the WRs, and the OL, and with a lot of the D in 2024, there was definitely a progression of improvement the coaches drove throughout the season so that by the end of it and launch of the innaugural CFP, ND was playing "running on all cylinders," dominant ball where we beat IU, GA and PSU in consecutive weeks. So hopefully, we see a similar progression as the season advances.

 

[Dale]

There is barely any motion pre-snap? Are we watching the same games?

ND is typically under average on PA/RPO stuff but it is also there (not talking MSU specifically). 2 of the Wisconsin TDs were RPOs

 

[allenm5333]

There is barely any motion pre-snap? Are we watching the same games?

ND is typically under average on PA/RPO stuff but it is also there (not talking MSU specifically). 2 of the Wisconsin TDs were RPOs

Jamie had a tweet about motion today and yesterday. We use it a ton

 

[Irish4life]

Thry

My apologies if these topics have already been discussed (I haven't really followed the game or post-game threads much this season to date), but from what I saw on Saturday (and maybe in the previous two games), RR (I know many here don't care for him) does make some good points:

The truth about Notre Dame’s running game issues, the biggest problems, and who is the most to blame

1) The right side of the offensive line had well-below-average days where they struggled at the point of attack and created consistent issues with penetration (i.e., everything was playing behind the line of scrimmage, and running backs were contacted too early in reps).
2) A lack of creativity from Denbrock as OC. Everything is very static, there is barely any motion pre-snap, and not a ton of diversity or movement before the ball is snapped; there is no jet motion, no jet sweep off of it, no misdirection
3) Lastly, there isn't much play action / RPO

Do we think there is any extent of MF and Denbrock holding back the playbook/play complexity until later-in-season when they have tougher matchups?

I would also add that as we saw with RL, the WRs, and the OL, and with a lot of the D in 2024, there was definitely a progression of improvement the coaches drove throughout the season so that by the end of it and launch of the innaugural CFP, ND was playing "running on all cylinders," dominant ball where we beat IU, GA and PSU in consecutive weeks. So hopefully, we see a similar progression as the season advances.

In 2025, ND ran play action 15.8% of Carr's dropbacks. In 2026, ND is running play action on 15.8% of Carr's dropbacks. It's the system, it's the Brian Kelly offense from 2014.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

I'm convinced they're using this vanilla run game to create tendencies they can exploit against the better teams later in the year. That being said, they also probably think they should be more successful even though it's vanilla.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

There is barely any motion pre-snap? Are we watching the same games?

ND is typically under average on PA/RPO stuff but it is also there (not talking MSU specifically). 2 of the Wisconsin TDs were RPOs

I think they mean jet sweep motion, not the tight end clogging up the box.

 

[RudyVerse]

Would it send Denbrock to the moon to run a jet sweep to the slot (Jaden, Graham) coming in motion? I mean it's a way to get them involved in the game and I can't imagine it'd hurt the running game.

 

[Dale]

I think they mean jet sweep motion, not the tight end clogging up the box.

They motion the WRs all the time too. We basically lead the country in motion usage for two years now it’s just of all the critiques you can have is kinda crazy one lol

 

[Steds83]

View attachment 3064863

L.O.L.

Sorry if I missed it, but who is this referring to?

 

[402puck]

Are we watching the same games?

I find myself wondering this more often than I should when looking through post-game reaction from this fanbase

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

MSU definitely looked more "on brand" under Fitz than they ever did under Tucker or Smith. I got serious Dantonio team vibes from their fight and physicality at times on Saturday. Jordan Hall, #5 LB, was an absolute stud. It was a good test again for ND, and like Freeman said, to play pretty sloppy and still beat that team by 17, that's an ok sign. Lots to improve, but pre-2024 ND squads would've had us sweating in that game.

Fitz was also very complimentary of ND's talent and the atmosphere on Saturday. Basically said "that's a really talented football team, we can't make mistakes, lose the turnover margin, and expect to beat a team like that on the road." Obviously pulling for them for SoS the rest of the way and hope they beat the shit out of scUM.

I was really impressed with him. Searched him up during the game and he was no slouch as a recruit. He's going to be starting on Sundays soon enough.

I don't like Pat Fitzgerald. Never have. He's one of these guys who has had a boner for ND going back to when he was a recruit in high school and that's fine, but I'm an ND and I'm going to have my own biases, but he can coach ball. You don't win as many games at NU as he did and not be able to. His last name always made him a carousel favorite among ND fans and because he knew how to recruit with academic restrictions, but he wants no part of ND by all accounts.

He's probably the best football coach Northwestern has ever had and he did a lot more with less in the pre NIL and Portal era while not using the 5th year senior trick Harbaugh did at Stanford. I give the guy a lot of credit for what he did there. I think he's going to be able to get Michigan State to some respectability again.

So Notre Dame is figuring things out against Fickell/Tressel and Fitzgerald/Rossi defenses while others get to play pillow fight with Western Kentucky and Florida A&M. Sounds fun.