Post Game Observations (Pitt)...

[IrishinSyria]

At this point, does the BYU game become the most important game of Kelly's tenure? 9-3 or 8-4 is acceptable, but finishing this season 7-5 with three straight losses seems like it could be devastating to recruiting and all the forward progress the program's made in the last few years.

 

[phgreek]

At this point, does the BYU game become the most important game of Kelly's tenure? 9-3 or 8-4 is acceptable, but finishing this season 7-5 with three straight losses seems like it could be devastating to recruiting and all the forward progress the program's made in the last few years.

I'm sure many would disagree...but my gut is telling me this is a big need...

A W against BYU, and at least a competitive showing against Stanford and I think we get out of '13 with little more than shoulder shrugs and acknowledgement this team had HUGE challenges to start with compounded by injuries...

If ND gets dumped by BYU and turns around and gets waxed by Stanford...folks might make excuses...but the buy-in in the locker room and recruiting will need triage...IMHO

 

[Buster Bluth]

I'm sure many would disagree...but my gut is telling me this is a big need...

A W against BYU, and at least a competitive showing against Stanford and I think we get out of '13 with little more than shoulder shrugs and acknowledgement this team had HUGE challenges to start with compounded by injuries...

If ND gets dumped by BYU and turns around and gets waxed by Stanford...folks might make excuses...but the buy-in in the locker room and recruiting will need triage...IMHO

Yeah let's just ****ing beat BYU.

 

[IrishLion]

I have a ritual every weekend where I stay away from IE on gameday. This allows me to come to work late on Sunday nights and read through all the fun I missed.

After last night and seeing the vague explanations in the banning thread, I may have to rethink my method and keep IE open during games just so I can see how all the dumpster fires get started lol.

Anywho, I only took three things away from this game that I wasn't sure about before:

1. Playcalling has gotten to the point of "inexcusable" for me in short yardage situations. It's 3rd and short, what do you dial up? A deep corner route? WTF? It may work sometimes when facing man-to-man, but when that begins to seem like your go-to short-yardage play? That's the opposite of smart. Your RB has a higher percentage of falling forward for two yards than Tommy making a perfect throw. Also, abandoning the run in the second half was mind-boggling. The first few runs of the second half got stuffed, but it's like BK/Martin started calling plays like ND was down by 21. It was especially frustrating because GAIII seemed to really have a tough mentality established finally, even on his runs that weren't successful.

2. Amir Carlisle to the slot? Several posters have been calling for it for a while. I'm not trying to call any of you out, but what have you seen that says he could be succesful as a pass-catcher? He's squandered every opportunity he's been given as a receiver thus far. I was still sort of on the fence about this one before... we saw quite a few highlights of Amir in the slot during fall camp, and I thought maybe he just needed to get his hands on one and make a play to get his confidence back, but now I don't think it would help. Too inconsistent.

3. It's time for the youngsters to play more in the secondary. I was strongly opposed to this two weeks ago, but enough is enough. Farley is simply not good enough on the back end. When you are the last line of defense in a bend-but-don't-break scheme, you can't whiff, period. Farley's biggest contributions lately have been jumping onto piles at the tail end of plays. Maybe I'm wrong and there isn't a better option, but I don't see why Redfield isn't given a chance to at least learn on the fly at this point. You're not busting the BCS anymore, so maybe get a jump start on getting some younger guys more involved. And I'm not advocating that BK and co. start "playing for next year," I honestly just think that getting Butler, Luke and Redfield more minutes wouldn't be any worse than watching Jackson and Farley miss more tackles, or watching Jackson get beat deep even when he's giving 8 yards of cushion.

EDIT: I'm guilty of falling into the negative mindset. I also have a few positive observations:

1. Ben Koyack has so much potential. It's nice to see him finally becoming a go-to option in the passing game. With all the attention on TJ, Davaris, and Niklas, Koymonster should continue to see favorable matchups. It's awesome that he's been cashing in on those opportunities.

2. Folston didn't get many carries, but he still looks like the most natural playmaker at RB on the roster. He's got the instinctive "wiggle" that the other RBs on the roster just can't compete with. He's also got the insane ability to produce three extra yards nearly every time when it looks like he's been stopped, which only Cam can replicate.

3. TJ, minus the fumble, is going to be a pretty good NFL wide receiver. He gets better every time out, which is awesome to see from a senior; he's never done improving. Also, positive punt return yardage!

4. Jaylon Smith.

 

[Crazy Balki]

1. The playcalling was atrocious. I wouldn't mind going empty back if we have a guy like Golson or Zaire, but with Rees, you might as well put up a neon sign saying "Please Hit Me". In addition, how in the BLUE HELL does Folston only get 4 carries. FOUR!? That is unacceptable. He is our best RB, whether you want to believe it or not.

2. I refuse to believe that Tommy is the best we got at QB. That isn't remotely possible. How did we come to this!? 4 years in, and we still haven't figured it out.

3. Farley and Jackson are garbage, pure garbage. Farley was never liked by me, as he never showed great ability and I wondered how he was starting in the first place. But I'm extremely disappointed in Jackson. He has taken so many steps back that I can't even count. He is awful in coverage and he's missing tackles, which is alarming.

4. Those refs should be fired. I don't want to pin the loss on officials, as ND didn't help themselves either, but they were making it blatantly obvious who's payroll they were on. There's no getting around it, they robbed Notre Dame. I feel bad for Tuitt, and Swarbrick better be raising Hell to the ACC commissioner. That is bush league.

5. TJ doesn't get enough credit, but all of his hard work was undone b/c his turnover killed ND's momentum...again.

6. Brian Kelly is showing his same old tendencies where he completely abandons the run and puts the load all on Rees' arm. Okay, am I on Mars!? Tell me I'm on Mars! None of this makes any godd@mn sense, I must be on MARS!

 

[IrishLion]

1. The playcalling was atrocious. I wouldn't mind going empty back if we have a guy like Golson or Zaire, but with Rees, you might as well put up a neon sign saying "Please Hit Me". In addition, how in the BLUE HELL does Folston only get 4 carries. FOUR!? That is unacceptable. He is our best RB, whether you want to believe it or not.

2. I refuse to believe that Tommy is the best we got at QB. That isn't remotely possible. How did we come to this!? 4 years in, and we still haven't figured it out.

3. Farley and Jackson are garbage, pure garbage. Farley was never liked by me, as he never showed great ability and I wondered how he was starting in the first place. But I'm extremely disappointed in Jackson. He has taken so many steps back that I can't even count. He is awful in coverage and he's missing tackles, which is alarming.

4. Those refs should be fired. I don't want to pin the loss on officials, as ND didn't help themselves either, but they were making it blatantly obvious who's payroll they were on. There's no getting around it, they robbed Notre Dame. I feel bad for Tuitt, and Swarbrick better be raising Hell to the ACC commissioner. That is bush league.

5. TJ doesn't get enough credit, but all of his hard work was undone b/c his turnover killed ND's momentum...again.

6. Brian Kelly is showing his same old tendencies where he completely abandons the run and puts the load all on Rees' arm. Okay, am I on Mars!? Tell me I'm on Mars! None of this makes any godd@mn sense, I must be on MARS!

Well he is, plain and simple. Hendrix has already shown that he's not an upgrade, and the other option is a freshman that might be athletic, but would probably look more like a chicken running around with his head cut off.

 

[Crazy Balki]

I think we have fairly consistently played poorly. I've been very disappointed in 6 of our games.

If I had to honestly grade our performances this year, I would say:

Temple: C+ (they're terrible)
Michigan: C- (they're an avg Big10 team)
Purdue: C- (they're terrible, worst AQ team)
Michigan State: B+ (great win)
Oklahoma: C+ (they were blown out by Tex/Baylor)
Arizona State: A- (probably our best game)
USC: B+ (defense was amazing, O was good with Rees)
Air Force: A- (they're terrible but we blew them out)
Navy: C (good offense, very very bad defense)
Pitt: C- (this team lost to Duke)

In my simple opinion, we've played well in 4 games and poorly in 6. We just were lucky enough that Temple, Purdue, and Navy are terrible.

Really? This is what I think:

Temple: C
Michigan: D (Michigan tore our once great defense a new one, and Rees threw more costly turnovers)
Purdue: D- (Even worse than Michigan. Purdue has lost the rest of there games by an average of like 30-40.)
Michigan State: B- (Defense stepped up, but ND was pretty lucky to get away with the win. MSU's secondary was getting mad PI calls, but they were the right calls most of the time.)
Oklahoma: D (OU sucks, and the defense looked like a$$ against them)
Arizona State: B+ (No doubt, the best game of the season.)
USC: B (Rees played well, but Hendrix blew chunks. Defense was good)
Air Force: B (Clean game, but AF is horrible)
Navy: D- (Horrible game defensively, but Folston and Co. bailed them out)
Pitt: F- (By far the worst game of the season. Defense was garbage once Tuitt left and the injuries are piling up. I'm so glad this is Rees' final year. Time to finally move on.)

 

[Irish#1]

Didn't read any posts, so I apologize if I repeat something.

1. I am very disappointed in Tommy's play. I have supported him all year. I'm not expecting him to play like an All American, but I was expecting him to eliminate the same mistakes he makes over and over. It cost us this game.

2. The tackling in the secondary is terrible. I think it's time to let the freshmen play and have a few games under their belts for next year.

3. Why does every pass play have to be the same? We throw one crossing pattern and hit it big time. Everything else we throw seems to be vertical. Forget the fade to the corner of the end zone. It rarely works.

4. Running back by committee isn't working. Stick to one and let them get into a flow.

5. My wife doesn't know much about football, but even she asked if the refs seemed to be playing favorites. It didn't cost us the game but it sure didn't help our cause.

6. I understand we are short handed on the D line, so why aren't we being more creative with the blitzes? A few times we blitzed against the run and before they got inside the 20 and it worked. Then we seemed to forget about it in the second half.

 

[philipm31]

99% if the teams in the country have bad games. Unfocused is just one of many adjectives to describe it. You can't play "up" every game, as frustrating as it is; this is why scheduling needs a major overhaul.

YES YOU CAN....RE: Bama 2009-13, ND in 1988-89. Sorry, but that is just equivocation, not reality. If you have the ENTIRE team up, then you can COUNT ON your teammates to go in, step up and not have nearly as big a drop off. It's called creating a culture of accountability and leadership that does not just evaporate when you lose one player (ie, Manti).

 

[kmoose]

Schedule overhaul Pitt, Navy, Air force, Temple, are not good teams. Good schools have a bad game or 2. We have had a game or 2 good. The ASU game and Air Force game. Other then that our games haven't been good.

And Teams like Purdue you shouldn't have to play up to when you are a far and away more talented then them.

I was at the USC game, and I can assure you: the Irish played a good game that night!

 

[gspjeb]

uninspired...it's that simple for me. Uninspired and dissapointing

 

[IrishLax]

The thing is per the Vegas moneyline (and what predictor models, advanced stats, etc. said) ND only had about a ~65% chance to win that game. So a loss shouldn't be that shocking or disappointing. It just really shouldn't. Stuff happens.

Buttttttttttt the truth is that Pitt sucked really bad last night. They were flat out horrible and did not have a single scoring drive that wasn't handed to them by the refs, Tommy, or a horrible missed tackle by Farley. They sucked something awful but Tuitt gets ejected, Day-Nix-Jones all get dinged up during the game and miss time, Tommy mentally implodes, TJ fumbles in the red zone, Sheldon Day inexplicably doesn't pick up a fumbled ball, the defensive scheme was poor, the offensive scheme in the second half was even worse... and basically in every facet of the game we decided to lay an egg.

That's what's frustrating and still pissing me off 24 hours later. There is not a single player on that Pitt team besides their DT who could start at ND. Man to man we were so much more talented than they were yet still found a way to lose. And EVERYONE deserves blame. Play that game over, and ND probably wins by 28+. But there are no do overs in CFB, and now we have to stew on this for 2 weeks wondering if it hurts recruiting, whether we can salvage the season, etc. before taking on a BYU team that puts Pitt to shame from a talent perspective... followed by a Stanford team that will run the ball down our throats if that D we saw Saturday shows up, and will eat Tommy alive with no running game.

 

[GoIrish41]

Really? This is what I think:

Temple: C
Michigan: D (Michigan tore our once great defense a new one, and Rees threw more costly turnovers)
Purdue: D- (Even worse than Michigan. Purdue has lost the rest of there games by an average of like 30-40.)
Michigan State: B- (Defense stepped up, but ND was pretty lucky to get away with the win. MSU's secondary was getting mad PI calls, but they were the right calls most of the time.)
Oklahoma: D (OU sucks, and the defense looked like a$$ against them)
Arizona State: B+ (No doubt, the best game of the season.)
USC: B (Rees played well, but Hendrix blew chunks. Defense was good)
Air Force: B (Clean game, but AF is horrible)
Navy: D- (Horrible game defensively, but Folston and Co. bailed them out)
Pitt: F- (By far the worst game of the season. Defense was garbage once Tuitt left and the injuries are piling up. I'm so glad this is Rees' final year. Time to finally move on.)

I was just thinking that IrishFan is a easy grader. This is a much fairer grade for the season.

 

[IrishLion]

Play that game over, and ND probably wins by 28+.

I think I have to disagree with this part. ND is not beating anyone but Air Force by 28. We keep waiting for ND to beat the shits out of an opponent that they should handle, but it just doesn't happen.

ND should've romped on Temple, though it was still a solid victory.

They had no business playing a close one against Purdue. Purdue is in shambles right now.

They should've realistically beat ASU by a couple scores, but shooting themselves in the foot + cheap late score = close win.

If Tommy doesn't get hurt, they beat USC handily. But alas, Hendrix.

Navy was a debacle, and should not have come down to a fourth down try.

I love this team, but I don't think they are capable of beating a decent opponent soundly for some reason. Whether it's missed opportunities or things they can't control, it just doesn't happen.

 

[NCDomer]

I think we have fairly consistently played poorly. I've been very disappointed in 6 of our games.

If I had to honestly grade our performances this year, I would say:

Temple: C+ (they're terrible)
Michigan: C- (they're an avg Big10 team)
Purdue: C- (they're terrible, worst AQ team)
Michigan State: B+ (great win)
Oklahoma: C+ (they were blown out by Tex/Baylor)
Arizona State: A- (probably our best game)
USC: B+ (defense was amazing, O was good with Rees)
Air Force: A- (they're terrible but we blew them out)
Navy: C (good offense, very very bad defense)
Pitt: C- (this team lost to Duke)

In my simple opinion, we've played well in 4 games and poorly in 6. We just were lucky enough that Temple, Purdue, and Navy are terrible.

It's probably not that we're playing up or down. We're simply a C team, which your game ratings support. Breaking the team down based on its various players indicates this is a C-team as well.

D-line: B+ overall. Starting group is an A, but limited depth.
LBs: D+ overall. Jaylon is a star in the making, but the MLBs are probably D-quality.
CBs: C overall. Very inconsistent bunch.
Safety: C-. They take too many poor angles and miss a lot of tackles.
Defense: C overall.

OL: B+. Probably an A for pass protection, but only a B for run blocking. I actually think they can run block better than my rating. However, we call far more pass plays and don't stick with the running game. We should be a run-first team this year that would shorten the throws Rees must make. Key word "must". Needing only 6 yards on second down and using
QB: C-. Rees is a C, but no depth behind him bumps the QB rating down because of Rees' inconsistency.
RBs: B+. Cam is a B+ player. No way this RB corp gets any higher because GAIII lacks the necessary vision to run the plays correctly and dances far too often. Folston has only had one meaningful game. Carlisle hit some mental blocks. He certainly has talent, but lost confidence along the way and can't get over that mental hurdle.
WRs: B. Jones is very good, but it drops off after him because of inconsistent play/inexperience from everyone else. Lots of potential for the group; it's just not there yet.
TEs: B. They're improving every week as Koyack begins evolving as a receiver. For whatever reason they weren't earning the targets you came to expect from ND, particularly to begin the season.
Offense: B/B- overall.

STs: C overall. Kicking is a C-. Not good, not bad. Lots of touchbacks, but too many missed FGs and poor punts (ie, kicking lacks consistency). PR and KR are C+. Jones and GAIII provide sparks, yet I find myself holding my breath that the'll muff the catch too often. Perhaps I remember last year too much.

Thus, we probably have a C+ team. That's better than your average group, but ND has too many holes. The optimism we have overshadows how good some of the players actually are at this stage of their careers.

 

[FLDomer]

I will give my expert post game analysis...
They scored more points than ND did and ND, all in all, played like poop. Let's hope for solid wrap up to the season and a better 2014 but ultimately life goes on.

 

[phgreek]

I will give my expert post game analysis...
They scored more points than ND did and ND, all in all, played like poop. Let's hope for solid wrap up to the season and a better 2014 but ultimately life goes on.

...ESPN, all the draft and recruiting sites are gonna put a contract out on ya if this kind of analysis starts to gain momentum...

 

[koonja]

How did greyhammer90 get banned? I argue with that guy like a married couple, but always thought he was a good poster.

Edit - Just realized I'm no on the 'banned users' thread. Instead of bump that with the same question, just post here. My bad.

 

[IrishLax]

How did greyhammer90 get banned? I argue with that guy like a married couple, but always thought he was a good poster.

Edit - Just realized I'm no on the 'banned users' thread. Instead of bump that with the same question, just post here. My bad.

He asked for a month off to "unplug" and study for law school finals.

 

[koonja]

Standards?? How do explain Stanford's success?

It's easy. Their S/C coach blows the doors off of ours. Most of our defense is too heavy to play their positions with any speed. LBs - slow. Tuitt - slow. Every LB not named Jaylon - incredibly slow. Farley - slow. Collinsworth - serviceable speed, but not good. Jackson - somehow got slower. Our defense cannot move in space. Neither can our special teams coverage, outside of Max Redfield.

IrishInsanity - I can't find the original post, but I've seen it quoted a few times about Kelly being to slow to trust younger players, and I could not agree more. This is my biggest problem with Kelly. I think he's a good coach, but needs to let the players play.

 

[IrishLax]

It's easy. Their S/C coach blows the doors off of ours. Most of our defense is too heavy to play their positions with any speed. LBs - slow. Tuitt - slow. Every LB not named Jaylon - incredibly slow. Farley - slow. Collinsworth - serviceable speed, but not good. Jackson - somehow got slower. Our defense cannot move in space. Neither can our special teams coverage, outside of Max Redfield.

IrishInsanity - I can't find the original post, but I've seen it quoted a few times about Kelly being to slow to trust younger players, and I could not agree more. This is my biggest problem with Kelly. I think he's a good coach, but needs to let the players play.

Their entire team juices. 100% serious.

Well, probably not their ENTIRE team.... but yeah.

 

[koonja]

Their entire team juices. 100% serious.

Well, probably not their ENTIRE team.... but yeah.

What do you mean? Did you hear that somehow?

 

[Sherm Sticky]

He asked for a month off to "unplug" and study for law school finals.

IP address ban? If not then I hope for his law future he has a lot of self control.

BTW along with the DT, Street and Boyd would start or be in the 2 deep at ND also.

 

[GoIrish41]

IP address ban? If not then I hope for his law future he has a lot of self control.

BTW along with the DT Street and Boyd would start or be in the 2 deep at ND also.

Savage would start for ND too, IMO.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

It's easy. Their S/C coach blows the doors off of ours. Most of our defense is too heavy to play their positions with any speed. LBs - slow. Tuitt - slow. Every LB not named Jaylon - incredibly slow. Farley - slow. Collinsworth - serviceable speed, but not good. Jackson - somehow got slower. Our defense cannot move in space. Neither can our special teams coverage, outside of Max Redfield.

IrishInsanity - I can't find the original post, but I've seen it quoted a few times about Kelly being to slow to trust younger players, and I could not agree more. This is my biggest problem with Kelly. I think he's a good coach, but needs to let the players play.

Not sure how you can say Tuitt at 320 lbs is slow...since about the ASU game he has been running around offensive tackles like they are stuck in the mud.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Savage would start for ND too, IMO.

This is true.

 

[koonja]

Not sure how you can say Tuitt at 320 lbs is slow...since about the ASU game he has been running around offensive tackles like they are stuck in the mud.

He was better last year. Much better at a lighter weight. He's been heavy all year.

Agree?

 

[woolybug25]

He was better last year. Much better at a lighter weight. He's been heavy all year.

Agree?

He wasn't hurt last year.

 

[koonja]

He wasn't hurt last year.

Is he still hurt? That was a full year ago, wasn't it? I've never heard of a sports hernia take that long to recover from (I could be wrong. I just don't know).

 

[IrishSteelhead]

I believe he's had lingering back issues too. Back issues for big guys=perpetual problem.