Post Game Observations (Navy '14)...

[kmoose]

1. Ugly, but a win is a win. It may not score points with the Playoff Committee, but it scores more points than a loss.

2. I think we all need to face the fact that we are not as good as we had hoped that we were. Navy pretty much dominated both Lines of Scrimmage. The offensive line did a good job of run blocking, but pass blocking was lacking. And they didn't do either well, with any consistency. We have good talent, but not the elite talent that can just line up and overwhelm the guy across from him. I think that says even more about the coaching, considering that we have had some great games from both lines.

3. Both injuries came from guys running into, or getting rolled up by, a teammate. So no whining about cut blocking and injuries.

4. Nyles Morgan looks like he is physically ready to play. But the first thing I noticed is that he was lined up almost a full 6 yards off of the LOS. Schmidt is normally about 4 yards deep. This is almost certainly because Morgan takes more time to read the play, so he has to play deeper, in order to have time to read. Once he figures that out, he should be a very good LB.

5. Golson looked great, early. He didn't look as good, late. But that was probably as much a function of the play calling(and down and distance) as any lack of focus.

6. Against a triple option team, one thing that really helps is to have corners that play run support very well. We (the fans) have been clamoring for better cover corners for years. It seems that we have those now, but at the cost of them not being as good in run support as previous CBs were. That leaves you less room for error in outside contain, against the option. I think that partially explains Navy's surprisingly successful running game tonight.

7. Game ball goes to........... Everett Golson. 3 Touchdowns passing, 3 Touchdowns rushing. He wasn't always perfect, but he never gave up, not even a little.

 

[pkt77242]

1. Ugly, but a win is a win. It may not score points with the Playoff Committee, but it scores more points than a loss.

2. I think we all need to face the fact that we are not as good as we had hoped that we were. Navy pretty much dominated both Lines of Scrimmage. The offensive line did a good job of run blocking, but pass blocking was lacking. And they didn't do either well, with any consistency. We have good talent, but not the elite talent that can just line up and overwhelm the guy across from him. I think that says even more about the coaching, considering that we have had some great games from both lines.

3. Both injuries came from guys running into, or getting rolled up by, a teammate. So no whining about cut blocking and injuries.

4. Nyles Morgan looks like he is physically ready to play. But the first thing I noticed is that he was lined up almost a full 6 yards off of the LOS. Schmidt is normally about 4 yards deep. This is almost certainly because Morgan takes more time to read the play, so he has to play deeper, in order to have time to read. Once he figures that out, he should be a very good LB.

5. Golson looked great, early. He didn't look as good, late. But that was probably as much a function of the play calling(and down and distance) as any lack of focus.

6. Against a triple option team, one thing that really helps is to have corners that play run support very well. We (the fans) have been clamoring for better cover corners for years. It seems that we have those now, but at the cost of them not being as good in run support as previous CBs were. That leaves you less room for error in outside contain, against the option. I think that partially explains Navy's surprisingly successful running game tonight.

7. Game ball goes to........... Everett Golson. 3 Touchdowns passing, 3 Touchdowns rushing. He wasn't always perfect, but he never gave up, not even a little.

I actually thought our pass blocking was solid as well. Golson just holds the ball so damn long. Overall I agree with you though.

 

[Guest]

1. Ugly, but a win is a win. It may not score points with the Playoff Committee, but it scores more points than a loss.

2. I think we all need to face the fact that we are not as good as we had hoped that we were. Navy pretty much dominated both Lines of Scrimmage. The offensive line did a good job of run blocking, but pass blocking was lacking. And they didn't do either well, with any consistency. We have good talent, but not the elite talent that can just line up and overwhelm the guy across from him. I think that says even more about the coaching, considering that we have had some great games from both lines.

3. Both injuries came from guys running into, or getting rolled up by, a teammate. So no whining about cut blocking and injuries.

4. Nyles Morgan looks like he is physically ready to play. But the first thing I noticed is that he was lined up almost a full 6 yards off of the LOS. Schmidt is normally about 4 yards deep. This is almost certainly because Morgan takes more time to read the play, so he has to play deeper, in order to have time to read. Once he figures that out, he should be a very good LB.

5. Golson looked great, early. He didn't look as good, late. But that was probably as much a function of the play calling(and down and distance) as any lack of focus.

6. Against a triple option team, one thing that really helps is to have corners that play run support very well. We (the fans) have been clamoring for better cover corners for years. It seems that we have those now, but at the cost of them not being as good in run support as previous CBs were. That leaves you less room for error in outside contain, against the option. I think that partially explains Navy's surprisingly successful running game tonight.

7. Game ball goes to........... Everett Golson. 3 Touchdowns passing, 3 Touchdowns rushing. He wasn't always perfect, but he never gave up, not even a little.

Good post and I will add that beating even average teams is difficult when you are the biggest team on their schedule. ND is like the Cowboys and Yankees, you always get up to play them and ND always gets the other team's best. That's the price of fame. A win is a win, looking forward to the next game.

 

[NDRock]

Good points, disagree that Navy controlled both lines of scrimmage. Thought our OL was in control the entire game. We ran great and pass protection was good.

 

[Bubbles]

Post game observation

Post game observation

Navy played great. Full stop.

 

[irishknight35]

Twice had a chance for the dagger late and twice fouled it up. Can't "finish" games like that and be excited about your team. 49 pts in this game is still a frustration but love seeing tje young guys shine on this team. Bright years ahead.

 

[West Coast Domer]

Folston is so good. Love watching him play.

 

[BeatSC]

Defense lost a lot of street cred tonight. Brindza will scare us again. Folston should play unless he's tired to hurt. Morgan will have a bigger impact than Schmidt. Didn't see Farley enough. If we make a few plays on offense down the stretch the score looks respectable which will matter tomorrow morning. Moose is right we aren't as good as our record but we have 3 tough tests left.

 

[Irish Insanity]

Folston is the the top back, and it's not even close. Golson needs to get to him on his check downs more, he's open often.

The speed of Morgan, paired with practicing this week with the one's, should help with a team like ASU. Hope it's not to serious for Joe.

Golson for Heisman

 

[Grahambo]

...on to the next one...

 

[returnofthemack]

Anybody know why Greg Bryant only had 1 carry in the past two games? And is there any update on the status of Schmidt and Day?

 

[IrishHokie22]

Yeah we won, so that's good I guess. It was a pretty crappy day for us, from a long-term point of view.

- Not one top 10 team went down today, other than Ole Miss to Auburn. Arkansas had a chance to knock off Miss. St. and blew it. WVU led for 95% of the game vs TCU but blew it. Oregon waxed Stanford.

- We struggled with Navy. That isn't going to sit well with the committee.

- The offense played well, for the most part. The defense played miserably, for the most part. I cannot understand why we fail to stop Navy's option, year in and year out.

- It seems very, very unlikely that we're going to make the playoffs at this point. Too many teams ahead of us and we don't appear to be good enough to blow out teams we should blow out. My expectations for the rest of this season have been lowered after tonight.

- We're still a fun team to watch though, regardless.

 

[BobD]

A win is a win.

Holding my breath until we hear an injury report.

I wouldn't expect anything different from a Navy game.

 

[BGIF]

Twice had a chance for the dagger late and twice fouled it up. Can't "finish" games like that and be excited about your team. 49 pts in this game is still a frustration but love seeing tje young guys shine on this team. Bright years ahead.

I am excited by this team.

I didn't need to get amped before the first game like some or after the eighth like some.

This is an incredibly young team and thin team. We lost some starters before the season. We might have lost some more tonight. We have at least 4 games remaining and could well lose 3 of them.

But for one controversial call this is an undefeated team.

 

[koonja]

Day and Jones came back in after being injured. I have a feeling Schmidt's done or at least for a while.

Very excited to see what Morgan can do. He's another great athlete on an active defense.

Golson's awesome, so is Folston.

OL was very good.

I'm 100% behind taking Navy off of the schedule every year.

Bring on the Devil.

 

[pkt77242]

Anybody know why Greg Bryant only had 1 carry in the past two games? And is there any update on the status of Schmidt and Day?

Someone in the game day thread said they saw Day playing at the end of the game.

 

[NDTH91]

Yeah we won, so that's good I guess. It was a pretty crappy day for us, from a long-term point of view.

- Not one top 10 team went down today, other than Ole Miss to Auburn. Arkansas had a chance to knock off Miss. St. and blew it. WVU led for 95% of the game vs TCU but blew it. Oregon waxed Stanford.

- We struggled with Navy. That isn't going to sit well with the committee.

- The offense played well, for the most part. The defense played miserably, for the most part. I cannot understand why we fail to stop Navy's option, year in and year out.

- It seems very, very unlikely that we're going to make the playoffs at this point. Too many teams ahead of us and we don't appear to be good enough to blow out teams we should blow out. My expectations for the rest of this season have been lowered after tonight.

- We're still a fun team to watch though, regardless.

I'm sorry, but I just hate this doom and gloom mentality.

Playing Navy is not indicative of anything to come. Think about when we beat the #2 team in the country (yeah, I said it). That's our team. We are young. We will only get better as we go. Everyone who thinks it's the end of the world needs to chill. We are very much in this. There is a LONG way to go. Let things play out and have some HOPE!

End rant.

 

[irishff1014]

Folston is amazing
Saw a lot of good from both freshman lb's
I don't understand why Golson has such a problem holding on to the damn ball.
Special teams were terrible all around. (The Fgs IMO were bad decisions by staff).
I think we can all agree that yes this is a win but we need a lot of improvement.
Kelly has a good record and all but he decisions are going to cost us sooner then later.

 

[Ignats]

1. Ugly, but a win is a win. It may not score points with the Playoff Committee, but it scores more points than a loss.

2. I think we all need to face the fact that we are not as good as we had hoped that we were. Navy pretty much dominated both Lines of Scrimmage. The offensive line did a good job of run blocking, but pass blocking was lacking. And they didn't do either well, with any consistency. We have good talent, but not the elite talent that can just line up and overwhelm the guy across from him. I think that says even more about the coaching, considering that we have had some great games from both lines.

3. Both injuries came from guys running into, or getting rolled up by, a teammate. So no whining about cut blocking and injuries.

4. Nyles Morgan looks like he is physically ready to play. But the first thing I noticed is that he was lined up almost a full 6 yards off of the LOS. Schmidt is normally about 4 yards deep. This is almost certainly because Morgan takes more time to read the play, so he has to play deeper, in order to have time to read. Once he figures that out, he should be a very good LB.

5. Golson looked great, early. He didn't look as good, late. But that was probably as much a function of the play calling(and down and distance) as any lack of focus.

6. Against a triple option team, one thing that really helps is to have corners that play run support very well. We (the fans) have been clamoring for better cover corners for years. It seems that we have those now, but at the cost of them not being as good in run support as previous CBs were. That leaves you less room for error in outside contain, against the option. I think that partially explains Navy's surprisingly successful running game tonight.

7. Game ball goes to........... Everett Golson. 3 Touchdowns passing, 3 Touchdowns rushing. He wasn't always perfect, but he never gave up, not even a little.

As usual, nearly all points are spot on but I disagree with 2. I think those huge plays by guys like Martini and Morgan as true freshmen show we have elite talent, but they're learning assignment discipline. There were seniors on this team 4 years ago that couldn't even come close to that. What we saw today was a classic example of a very young yet talented team going up against a Navy Triple Option Offense. Quite frankly I'm very surprised that we started making plays even after Schmidt went down and Morgan was calling shots in his position.

 

[Wild Bill]

2. I think we all need to face the fact that we are not as good as we had hoped that we were. Navy pretty much dominated both Lines of Scrimmage. The offensive line did a good job of run blocking, but pass blocking was lacking. And they didn't do either well, with any consistency. We have good talent, but not the elite talent that can just line up and overwhelm the guy across from him. I think that says even more about the coaching, considering that we have had some great games from both lines.

We were not dominated on either side of the ball. Our offensive line opened up big holes and gave Golson more than enough time to go through his progressions. They pressured him a couple times - nothing significant.

I don't know if an offensive line that simply cuts and never drives can dominate a defensive line. Overall, I thought the defensive line played well, especially the interior guys. They controlled the middle of the field. We were getting hit on the outside most of the night.

3. Both injuries came from guys running into, or getting rolled up by, a teammate. So no whining about cut blocking and injuries.

Injuries that we could see on the field. I'm sure the defensive front seven will spend more time than usual in the cold tub this week. Getting cut repeatedly increases lower body soreness, swelling and inflammation. It's not whining - it's just the truth.

 

[Riddickulous]

That interception at the end of the first half was the turning point in the game.

 

[returnofthemack]

Someone in the game day thread said they saw Day playing at the end of the game.

Thank goodness. Hopefully Schmidt's injury isn't too bad because Nyles is an athletic player, but against an elite offense like ASU we need to be in the right positions.

 

[kmoose]

Injuries that we could see on the field. I'm sure the defensive front seven will spend more time than usual in the cold tub this week. Getting cut repeatedly increases lower body soreness, swelling and inflammation. It's not whining - it's just the truth.

Are you hurting, or injured? I would submit that, if your issues can be solved by extra time in the tub(s), then you are sore, not injured. I was speaking specifically of the two injuries that took guys out of the game.

 

[IrishHokie22]

I'm sorry, but I just hate this doom and gloom mentality.

Playing Navy is not indicative of anything to come. Think about when we beat the #2 team in the country (yeah, I said it). That's our team. We are young. We will only get better as we go. Everyone who thinks it's the end of the world needs to chill. We are very much in this. There is a LONG way to go. Let things play out and have some HOPE!

End rant.

You'll have to forgive me, as I'm just a pessimistic person by nature. As for this team, just seems like way too much will have to go right for us to make the playoff.

Possible? Sure. Probable? No.

 

[RallySonsOfND]

That interception at the end of the first half was the turning point in the game.

Yup. 1 ft higher and it was a TD.

 

[Irish Insanity]

I get everyone's disappointment if we don't make the playoffs. But how many actually had us slotted as one of the 4 prior to the season? Not many, if any.

 

[Irishnuke]

Play calling at the end was suspect. We get the ball twice at their 30 and can't even get a f'ing FG. The offense was clicking but the conservative calls shut it down. Luckily Navy is a shitty passing team.

Our special teams, once again, sucks ass.

That's all I got.

 

[RallySonsOfND]

You'll have to forgive me, as I'm just a pessimistic person by nature. As for this team, just seems like way too much will have to go right for us to make the playoff.

Possible? Sure. Probable? No.

Pretty sure we all felt the same way in 2012.

Then Oregon and KSU lost on the same night.

 

[Me2SouthBend]

That interception at the end of the first half was the turning point in the game.

This. 10 point swing. I was at a bar and didn't hear any commentary. Any word on seriousness of injuries? Didn't look good for Joe. I read above Day was back, hope that was the case. That would suck if he wasn't.

 

[Irish Insanity]

Joe was back on the sideline at the end, on crutches.