ulukinatme
Carr for QB 2026!
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The team played out of their minds in the first Clemson game last year. I distinctly remember Etienne commenting how physical the team was when they held him to 28 yards rushing. It was mentally affecting their execution, he basically said they were running scared. Shutting down their running game was a big reason we won, because we weren't stopping that backup QB through the air often enough.
Then came the ACC CG. We clearly didn't have the same energy, and it's certainly hard to get up for a repeat game as the previous victor. Whether that lack of motivation is on the coaches, the players, or both I don't know. We didn't contain Etienne, he ran wild, and we were playing behind the entire game. Your playcalling changes when you're behind, and so does the spirit and morale of your players.
Clemson effectively flipped the script as we shut their run game down in the first game, then they did the same to us round 2 and ran all over us. We had to live and die by the running game last season because our WR position was struggling. We ran for close to 200 yards or more in every win last year save for Pitt (We exploited their horrendous secondary instead), but the games we struggled to run the ball...namely the last two of the season...we had no success or little in the case of Alabama. When you take away the run game our offense was completely inept because nobody really worries about our WRs they just have to worry about Mayer. The same thing is true this year, our WRs just aren't consistent...and unfortunately we have zero run game because the OL is struggling so much.
You can complain about Rees if you like, but replacing him isn't going to fix the root of the issue. He's shown he can dismantle a good defense in Iowa State when he had at least some talent at each skill position along with a decent OL. These last two years we've been lacking development and/or talent at the WR position and in the case of 2021 also the OL group. If you don't fix both before bringing someone in you're effectively damning whoever his replacement would be. If you were a talented OC that's hot on the market would you want to come to ND right now given the circumstances? Chances are we'd only entice a less talented individual that would set us back further.
Then came the ACC CG. We clearly didn't have the same energy, and it's certainly hard to get up for a repeat game as the previous victor. Whether that lack of motivation is on the coaches, the players, or both I don't know. We didn't contain Etienne, he ran wild, and we were playing behind the entire game. Your playcalling changes when you're behind, and so does the spirit and morale of your players.
Clemson effectively flipped the script as we shut their run game down in the first game, then they did the same to us round 2 and ran all over us. We had to live and die by the running game last season because our WR position was struggling. We ran for close to 200 yards or more in every win last year save for Pitt (We exploited their horrendous secondary instead), but the games we struggled to run the ball...namely the last two of the season...we had no success or little in the case of Alabama. When you take away the run game our offense was completely inept because nobody really worries about our WRs they just have to worry about Mayer. The same thing is true this year, our WRs just aren't consistent...and unfortunately we have zero run game because the OL is struggling so much.
You can complain about Rees if you like, but replacing him isn't going to fix the root of the issue. He's shown he can dismantle a good defense in Iowa State when he had at least some talent at each skill position along with a decent OL. These last two years we've been lacking development and/or talent at the WR position and in the case of 2021 also the OL group. If you don't fix both before bringing someone in you're effectively damning whoever his replacement would be. If you were a talented OC that's hot on the market would you want to come to ND right now given the circumstances? Chances are we'd only entice a less talented individual that would set us back further.
