Post Game Observations (ASU '14)...

[FDNYIrish1]

Tough game to watch getting in the hole so deep so quick, but the men fought back and I was proud of that. Some of the issues we all saw
- Poor tackling. First guy needs to wrap and make tackles
- Tempo hurt us again
- Inability of Golson to identify and diagnose where blitz is coming from. Especially his back side pre snap
- turnovers were brutal
- Lack of Dline pressure without bringing extra blitzers
- poor edge containment. They were ripping off 10 yard runs when they got going
- too many free behind our secondary. If we're going to bring packages, the big play is a reality. But they missed a few open guys behind our secondary thankfully
- This team is a good team. The talent is continuing to grow, and kids are getting experience. I really dislike losing this way but there's a ton of heart here. The reality of modern football is that you're going to give up points and yardage. I look forward to the rest of a great season and 11 wins. Go Irish!

 

[NDRock]

Golson's fault

To be fair, a bunch of those came off of his turnovers.

 

[Irish#1]

Only read a few of the posts before mine, so I may be repetitive.

1. My only positive in this game was the heart and fight not to quit.

2. We got back into the game because ASU let up. ASU proved that when we closed within three and they basically ran a hand-off drill the length of the field to go back up by 10.

3. After moving the ball well the first drive, how did we get away from the game plan so quickly? We got away from the quick throws or EG was misreading the D.

4. HH needs to rethink his plan of attack for the Oline. I wouldn't be surprised if we have more batted balls this season than the last 3-4 combined.

5. Kill me if you want to, but I'm not sure Golson is the answer. I've been in his corner, but I am having a hard time staying there. I won't fault him on the last INT, but he is guaranteed to throw a couple every game. His rate for fumbling is inexcusable. With his style of play I can understand a fumble every 2-3 games, but like the INT's he's doing it every game. Are his hands small? He did lead a nice comeback, but IMO it was more to do with ASU not having their foot on the throttle in the second half and some blown coverage by them.

6. It hit me yesterday. Folston runs like Vegas Ferguson. I hope TF learns to pass block and reas the defense so he can stay in against blitzing defenses.

7. How come opponents blitzes get to us, but our blitzes tend to get picked up?

8. What the hell was the deal with the punt return plan?

9. Our youth is starting to show, but I can't argue with a our record at this point. Just don't like losing because of bad plays.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

Only my biggest take aways:

We are young

What happened to Jaylon?

What happened to our blitz?

That many turnovers and we still had a chance at the end but were defeated......by another turnover.

It wasn't our day but I'm still very excited about this team. I hope they can mentally come back and prepare to close out skrong.

 

[Irish2155]

Only read a few of the posts before mine, so I may be repetitive.

1. My only positive in this game was the heart and fight not to quit.

2. We got back into the game because ASU let up. ASU proved that when we closed within three and they basically ran a hand-off drill the length of the field to go back up by 10.

3. After moving the ball well the first drive, how did we get away from the game plan so quickly? We got away from the quick throws or EG was misreading the D.

4. HH needs to rethink his plan of attack for the Oline. I wouldn't be surprised if we have more batted balls this season than the last 3-4 combined.

5. Kill me if you want to, but I'm not sure Golson is the answer. I've been in his corner, but I am having a hard time staying there. I won't fault him on the last INT, but he is guaranteed to throw a couple every game. His rate for fumbling is inexcusable. With his style of play I can understand a fumble every 2-3 games, but like the INT's he's doing it every game. Are his hands small? He did lead a nice comeback, but IMO it was more to do with ASU not having their foot on the throttle in the second half and some blown coverage by them.

6. It hit me yesterday. Folston runs like Vegas Ferguson. I hope TF learns to pass block and reas the defense so he can stay in against blitzing defenses.

7. How come opponents blitzes get to us, but our blitzes tend to get picked up?

8. What the hell was the deal with the punt return plan?

9. Our youth is starting to show, but I can't argue with a our record at this point. Just don't like losing because of bad plays.

Good wrap up, pretty much on point. EG cannot fumble, ever again...it is rediculous at this point. The INTs, every game, are adding up as well. But I still think those flaws, possibly next year, are cleaned up...at least I really hope so.

 

[rtrn2glory]

i've never seen a team that is so much fun to watch when they are playing well, but at the same time, so painful to watch when they are playing bad.


truest case of jekyll and hyde i can remember as an ND fan. with that said i hope we can atleast win impresssively the next few weeks and earn a solid bowl appearance and not settle for pinstripes and champs sports bowls.

 

[EifertPower]

1. This team never quits. Not many other teams in the country would have made a 34-3 deficit to 34-31. For that i am proud. Had they pulled it off it likely would've gone down as the most miraculous win in ND history and one of the all-time legendary college football wins.

2. Golson's interceptions don't bother me as much as his fumbles.

3. Folson needs to block better as does Koyack. I don't understand why we don't ever consider a two RB backfield and have them block or let their man go by and throw the screen.

4. Cam McDaniel did a great job and was the main reason we got back in the game.

5. Kelly was outcoached by Todd Graham.

6. The turnovers by Golson hide the fact that our defense is struggling. Realistically though with Russell, Collingsworth, Schmidt, and Riggs out it was expected we would struggle against ASU. Our game plan on defense should have been what ASU's was to us. Blitz all out and hope for the best. Day and Jones are good but not as good as Nix and Tuitt in being able to get consistent pressure.

7. The defense in the drive with 6 minutes left was extremely disappointing. The line beat our line in every 1-on-1 matchup and our linebackers got taken out of the play by weak blocks. I still am bothered by Redfield's "tackle" on that drive.

8. I agree it's time to move on with a new holder. He has one job and cannot do it. That being said, it had little impact on the game. We got an INT right after that so it really had no impact on the game. To think if we made that meant it wouldve been tied 34-34 is incorrect.

9. What happened to the incredible depth and talent we had at o-line? I guess Zach Martin was just that good last year for us.

10. The offsides call on us in the second qtr on 4th down was killer and looking back at that I don't think we were. That was a huge play where we stopped them.

11. It would be nice if we could ever get points on our kickoff or punt returns. Our punt returns have been atrocious since Golden Tate left and our kickoff returns bad since Atkinson left.

12. How many forced fumble recoveries do we have on defense this year? We get the occasional INT, but it seems need get a big hit or strip for a fumble.

13. Schmidt would have thrived in stopping their run in yesterday's game, particularly on that drive when we were down by 3 points.

14. ASU looked a lot faster than us, which was surprising since we looked faster than Florida State.

15. I would like Kelly to take responsibility some times instead of always turning it to others.

16. We are doing a better job saving our timeouts. Had Robinson not bobbled that pass, i think we would have been in the red zone with about 2 minutes left and had a decent chance to score. Having all 3 timeouts and having ASU nervous, likely would have worked well in our favor.

17. All things considered, forget the turnovers, we were down 3 with 6 minutes left and ASU was scared stiff and we had all of the momentum. Before the game, i think that was a good spot for us to be in. Let's not try and assume that had we not turned the ball over we'd be up 21 pts. Arizona State would have changed their offensive strategies and likely matched us in scoring if they needed to be more pass-happy.

 

[Irish2155]

That first drive when EG put it on the ground, I had a horrible feeling. That one we got back.

 

[rtrn2glory]

also yesterday proved that we are not near the level we need to be yet on the front 7 to be an elite team, although i don't think i'm breaking any news there.

we need to keep recruiting elite talent and just get guys that can get after the passer on their own so we don't have to be so creative in blitz and stunt schemes although that has even been invisible against the good teams on our schedule.

 

[Grahambo]

Taking the entirety of the season into account? Yes! Do we look like a Top Ten team? No. But there would be nothing wrong with us being ranked down about 17-18-19.


With the benefit of some time and "distance" between myself and that horrible loss, I am starting to wonder if Golson's woes aren't the result of Kelly trying to put him in a position to carry the team to wins. The problem is that Golson doesn't seem ready for it yet. I know that everyone is tired of hearing "next year", but I do think that these trials will pay off in spades, in the future. We just barely aren't good enough, this year. It's incredibly frustrating, and certainly no good for anyone's blood pressure. But this team is playing hard, which is an improvement over the end of the Weis era, for sure. Building blocks; you have to lay a solid foundation, before you can build a truly great structure. This team can still have a good season, and I think it is unfair to them and the work that they have, and continue to, put into the season, for people to talk about the season being "wasted", or "a failure". As I said in the OP; if we finish the regular season 10-2, and beat.....say...... Auburn in a New Years Day bowl game, I think that would be another key brick in the foundation.

This pretty much sums up my thoughts. There is also a clear difference in talent between the Weis teams and this team. I'd like to add that so many guys return next year too. And a guy like Nyles Morgan is getting a jumpstart on his experience a year before he might have been. KVR, Ishaq, and quite possibly DD return as well.

This season is the complete opposite of failure or wasted. They have experienced the highs and the lows. They have experienced the absolute heartbreak in FSU. The option in Navy and other high speed offenses. Its a truly, truly young team. There's winning then 'knowing how to finish'.

Never. Wasn't supposed to be our year anyway. Next year, barring the what seems to be "normal" bullsh!t, we'll be pre-season top 5 with the best team in the land. And BK is really good with that talent. Elmer though, worries me. He isn't as good as I thought.

After the initial playoff rankings, I realized it just wasn't meant to be this season. And that's okay. Nothing wrong with a 1/1/15 bowl game and making a statement to end the season.

I really don't think Elmer is the problem. He's not perfect but hardly the issue IMO. I really believe Lombard is a shell of himself and is more of the issue. Elmer is having to do his work and compensate for Lombard. On the 1st tipped INT, wasn't it Lombard's man? It seemed that a lot of the blitzes were coming from that side.

You hear BK talk about McGlinchey and Lombard as being equal except that Lombard is the 5th year man. Well, I've seen enough of Lombard to know that injuries have taken their toll and its time to get Big Mike in there.

Only read a few of the posts before mine, so I may be repetitive.

1. My only positive in this game was the heart and fight not to quit.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this for a young team that is building and learning together. It was 34-3 at one point! Nothing was going their way. The tips and the bounces seemed to fall in line perfectly for ASU. But they did not quit. They didn't sulk or feel sorry for themselves. They dug in and fought back little by little. For a young team, thats vital. Its almost half the battle. You can't win on talent alone in most cases and developing their football minds is a tough task. They almost pulled it off...in a hostile environment...the week after Navy...in weather that they're just not used to.

My tip of the cap to them. If they had given in then I'd have been worried about the future. I've seen enough football in my life to know when I see something special brewing.

As they didn't give up yesterday, we won't give up on them the rest of the season.

 

[Irish2155]

This pretty much sums up my thoughts. There is also a clear difference in talent between the Weis teams and this team. I'd like to add that so many guys return next year too. And a guy like Nyles Morgan is getting a jumpstart on his experience a year before he might have been. KVR, Ishaq, and quite possibly DD return as well.

This season is the complete opposite of failure or wasted. They have experienced the highs and the lows. They have experienced the absolute heartbreak in FSU. The option in Navy and other high speed offenses. Its a truly, truly young team. There's winning then 'knowing how to finish'.





After the initial playoff rankings, I realized it just wasn't meant to be this season. And that's okay. Nothing wrong with a 1/1/15 bowl game and making a statement to end the season.

I really don't think Elmer is the problem. He's not perfect but hardly the issue IMO. I really believe Lombard is a shell of himself and is more of the issue. Elmer is having to do his work and compensate for Lombard. On the 1st tipped INT, wasn't it Lombard's man? It seemed that a lot of the blitzes were coming from that side.

You hear BK talk about McGlinchey and Lombard as being equal except that Lombard is the 5th year man. Well, I've seen enough of Lombard to know that injuries have taken their toll and its time to get Big Mike in there.



I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this for a young team that is building and learning together. It was 34-3 at one point! Nothing was going their way. The tips and the bounces seemed to fall in line perfectly for ASU. But they did not quit. They didn't sulk or feel sorry for themselves. They dug in and fought back little by little. For a young team, thats vital. Its almost half the battle. You can't win on talent alone in most cases and developing their football minds is a tough task. They almost pulled it off...in a hostile environment...the week after Navy...in weather that they're just not used to.

My tip of the cap to them. If they had given in then I'd have been worried about the future. I've seen enough football in my life to know when I see something special brewing.

As they didn't give up yesterday, we won't give up on them the rest of the season.

Yeah, him too. They both sucked.

 

[GoIrish41]

Worst game for an ND qb since Dane Crist at USC

 

[kmoose]

Worst game for an ND qb since Dane Crist at USC

Hendrix against USC, last year, was worse than Crist against USC.

 

[connect the dots]

Still waiting for an opportunity to unfurl my Here's to Harry Hiestand sign! My Van Gorder is a Gangster sign has too many of the opponents cleat marks.

 

[Irishman77]

Loved Kelly in the post game presser. Bout came unglued on a dumb question.

 

[theclassickiller]

I think it's pretty obvious what is happening to this team. We've spent all season using our skill players to cover glaring deficiencies on the offensive line and it's catching up to us.

I'm just now getting to watch the game. I'm only halfway through the second quarter and I'm disgusted by how badly the offensive line gets beat every down. The only time they hold their own is on a 3-man rush, and they still get pushed back half the time on those downs as well.

They seriously suck. I'm sorry, I'm not one to bash our team, but this is atrocious. They can't stop the blitz, they can't provide a pocket against a traditional front, they can't even get enough of a push on a screen or slant to stop their defender from jumping the pass every time. This is embarrassing. If next year is really "the year" then it has to start there. No team in the country is going to contend with an O-line like this.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Coach's postgame presscon:

A). He obviously believes that this loss is on the offense and definitely not the defense.
B). He believes that offensive turnovers were responsible for 28 points in the first half, and that most of that was on Everett.
C). He believes that Everett's first sloppy fumble set a tone for almost the entire half.
D). He believes that one of the tip-intercepts was [he didn't name names, but...] on Lombard for "shoe-dusting" the defensive end coming from our right.
E). He is frustrated with Tarean not getting it on blocking blitzes, and while not belaboring it, said that Cam is our best blocker and ran hard, and not playing Tarean in the second half was a "coaching decision" with a grim look that said "don't ask more about this."
F). He said that he doesn't know what more he can do about Everett's ball security issues, and that they work on it every practice. {I have said [to everyone's irritation] that Everett is like a fabulous basketball streetballer who is unteachable by any method other than trial and error in the heat of the action. Kelly's frustration defends that view. Though I hope not, Everett may NEVER get it on this.}
G). He's trying to be nice and supporting about Nyles --- good psychology, though what he said about Nyles' performance was not believable.
H). He said that Devin Butler played hard and generally did well, but blew several run fits.
I). He said that they took extra precautions vs ASU stealing incoming play signals. Apparently he has some reasons to distrust Graham, who is looking more and more like an asshole.
J). He believes that he and the staff coached a very good preparation for the team, had them ready to play, [this as seen by the long opening drive], and saw nothing from ASU that they were surprised by in ASUs defense. The game was lost because the offense didn't execute. {This clearly, given the entire context, meant Everett didn't execute.}
K). He said that there is no QB change coming and that "Everett gives us the best chance to win."

 

[Luckylucci]

Using UND.com. I have been drinking, so math might be off.

Rice: 2-2(1td-1fg)
Michigan:0-0(LOL Michigan)
Purdue: 2-4(2TD)
Syracuse: 2-3(1TD-1FG)
Stanford: 2-2(2TD)
North Carolina: 5-6(4TD-1FG)
Florida State: 5-5(4TD-1FG)
Navy: 4-4(4TD)
Arizona State: 5-5(4TD-1FG)

Total: 27-31(22TD-5FG)

So I wanted to follow up on this a little. Thanks for looking this up KPENN. Below are two different links.

College Football Stats - College FB Team Opponent Red Zone Scoring Percentage (TDs & FGs) on TeamRankings.com

The first ranks (college football) team opponent scoring percentage inside the red zone but it includes TD's and FG's in the percentage. What I really want to see is how we rank on giving up TD's in the red zone but this is a start. This ranks us at 76 in the nation as teams are scoring 84.6% of the time they reach the red zone. There is a little discrepancy from the numbers above as that has us at 87% (27-31) but pretty close. For comparison last year was 81.82% which is only slightly less but I'd be willing to bet that the percentage that were TD's last year was considerably lower. However I can't make that conclusion with this info. I just don't think the opposing teams scored TD's roughly 70% (22-31) of the time last year.

NFL Football Stats - NFL Team Opponent Red Zone Scoring Percentage (TD only) on TeamRankings.com

This next link actually ranks NFL teams for the stat I am looking for which is opponents scoring TD's in the red zone. Again it's not an apples to apples comparison to use as it's a different game but worth a look. Using the above information and saying we're at roughly 70% (plus or minus a few percentage points) would put as at or near the bottom of those rankings.

I can't say that I can make too strong of a statement from some of this info. However, roughly 70% TD scoring when inside the red zone is bad and that's just something I know from watching football but it's hard to quantify without apples to apples comparison. I personally think this is a huge topic that nobody is really talking about so anymore info would be much appreciated.

 

[Luckylucci]

On my phone and the page isn't expanding for me to see all the info available but this might be worth a look.

Red Zone Defense | FBS Football Statistics - NCAA.com

 

[aubeirish]

I blame Navy.

 

[IrishinSyria]

On my phone and the page isn't expanding for me to see all the info available but this might be worth a look.

Red Zone Defense | FBS Football Statistics - NCAA.com

According to this link:

Notre Dame Opponent RZA: 31 RushTd:12 PassTD:10 FG:5 RZscores: 27 OpScore%: .871


Puts us at 94th in the nation. As you've already pointed out, that doesn't mean much without parsing the TD v FG percentage, but eyeball test says that 22 touchdowns to 5 field goals is bad bordering on terrible.

 

[Fbolt]

DVR'd the game due to family commitments-but was able to see the team close out the first half with a TD. Left and then saw the last 7 minutes of the game. Beyond painful. No need to watch what I missed-not sure I'd like what I would see.

Need to watch the presser.

Painful loss.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

I blame Navy.

There's something to that. What was the stat? Teams are something like 1-7 the week after they play Navy? That's absurd.

 

[nsisk157]

I do not like how Kelly throws EG under the bus. You address that behind doors.

Bad taste.

 

[IrishinSyria]

I do not like how Kelly throws EG under the bus. You address that behind doors.

Bad taste.

Even when Kelly takes responsibility for something he doesn't really do it. Definitely did not like how he decided to parse the difference between coming out flat in the first half and playing sloppy in the first half. It sounded a whole lot like him saying "well, the coaching staff did everything we could do, the players just sucked."

 

[kmoose]

I do not like how Kelly throws EG under the bus. You address that behind doors.

Bad taste.

How did Kelly throw Golson under the bus?

 

[Buster Bluth]

I do not like how Kelly throws EG under the bus. You address that behind doors.

Bad taste.

He didn't throw anyone under any bus.

 

[IrishinSyria]

How did Kelly throw Golson under the bus?

Reporter: I know that they aren't all on Golson, especially the picks....
Kelly (cutting reporter off): Why aren't they all on Golson?

 

[irishff1014]

Coach's postgame presscon:

A). He obviously believes that this loss is on the offense and definitely not the defense.
B). He believes that offensive turnovers were responsible for 28 points in the first half, and that most of that was on Everett.
C). He believes that Everett's first sloppy fumble set a tone for almost the entire half.
D). He believes that one of the tip-intercepts was [he didn't name names, but...] on Lombard for "shoe-dusting" the defensive end coming from our right.
E). He is frustrated with Tarean not getting it on blocking blitzes, and while not belaboring it, said that Cam is our best blocker and ran hard, and not playing Tarean in the second half was a "coaching decision" with a grim look that said "don't ask more about this."
F). He said that he doesn't know what more he can do about Everett's ball security issues, and that they work on it every practice. {I have said [to everyone's irritation] that Everett is like a fabulous basketball streetballer who is unteachable by any method other than trial and error in the heat of the action. Kelly's frustration defends that view. Though I hope not, Everett may NEVER get it on this.}
G). He's trying to be nice and supporting about Nyles --- good psychology, though what he said about Nyles' performance was not believable.
H). He said that Devin Butler played hard and generally did well, but blew several run fits.
I). He said that they took extra precautions vs ASU stealing incoming play signals. Apparently he has some reasons to distrust Graham, who is looking more and more like an asshole.
J). He believes that he and the staff coached a very good preparation for the team, had them ready to play, [this as seen by the long opening drive], and saw nothing from ASU that they were surprised by in ASUs defense. The game was lost because the offense didn't execute. {This clearly, given the entire context, meant Everett didn't execute.}
K). He said that there is no QB change coming and that "Everett gives us the best chance to win."

.
The stealing the plays is an excuse. Brian Kelly worry about your QB that single handily cost the Fighting Irish a win.

And Coach Kelly just admitted to Everyone that he can't fix Golson but to bad he is going to play regardless. If i am Zaire i take those comments this coach doesn't believe in me.

 

[kmoose]

Reporter: I know that they aren't all on Golson, especially the picks....
Kelly (cutting reporter off): Why aren't they all on Golson?

He's the starting QB at Notre Dame........... or insert any other major DI-A school in the country. How is saying that the INTs are on him throwing him under the bus?