Post Game Observations

[phgreek]

I'd like to get one thing off my chest. While I admire the academies as institutions, I have NO respect at all for their football teams in this modern era. I believe that they are the dirtiest teams in the country. And I believe that they are deliberately so---I am putting this right on their coaching staffs. All is fair in war --- kill the enemy as you can. Transmitting that attitude, even in a lesser way to the football field is dishonorable. Our team is a conventional high-skill high-athleticism team not at all physically [we are tall] nor mentally structured to deal with people shooting at your knees all the time. I believe that this REALLY bothers people like Nix and Lynch. Our LBs seemed to hate it too.

...Those who've been here for a bit know I share OMM's disdain for the constant cutting. I pick this fight every year. Glad to see someone else do it...

some of the retorts I've gotten are:

"well, defenders dive at the ball carriers legs, and you don't have a problem"...Coaches don't teach defenders to dive at legs...and as a player, if you do, you are likely to be told on film day just how out of position you were, and how ****** your technique is...point here is the cut is intended...the cut is taught...the cut is practiced.

"its football, stop whining"...Oh OK, ...I forget that sometimes...and you're right, the rules never get changed for safety reasons...but, why does a horsecollar bring a flag???? Isn't that a pretty recent development?...oh and when did you ever see a guy's career end over a horsecollar tackle...pretty sure cutting is worse...

"how will the academies compete...it makes them competitive"...Since when does anyone care about Vandy or Kentucky, and how to help them compete...why do we need to consider how competitive ANYONE is??? Make the rules, play the game...don't use the rules as some effed up affirmative action program for the academies.

"other teams do it"...you know what, they do...there seems to be an unspoken rule about cutting...so long as you don't make it your staple technique, coaches tolerate it because its legal...but, they also know that doing what the academies do is showing disregard for another team's players because its only a matter of time before you hurt someone in a way that could end their career.

I wish someone would take a poll of all BCS AQ coaches...ask them what they think of the cut...IMHO, it'd be gone by bowl season THIS YEAR!

I'll just copy and paste this rant after Navy...

 

[notredomer23]

I find the people who say they want to see more Hendrix funny because once he commits his first turnover you're all gonna be yelling at your tv for him to never play that special package again what are you doing Kelly

 

[zemaniak]

One observation that I had that I didn't see anywhere else in the thread is that Michael Floyd is a beast in the run game. I know that isn't exactly a revelation; he has been beating up DBs for a while now (I happened to look at the USC drive video posted on the front page, and he had some great blocks in there, too). Still, his blocking was exceptionally good today, I thought. He is really a complete WR, and will be a player at the next level.

right on

anyone else worried for next year? I knew we'd miss MF in the passing game but never realized HOW much of an impact he was in the running game until I was the **** poor blocking execution of his compatriots on the bubble screens to MF...

oh, and speaking of concerns for next year...secondary, anyone? we're not exactly dominant in this respect this year and we lose Smith, Blanton, Gray (Slaughter?)... ouch. Sooners will be licking their chops at an unproven secondary

Kinda makes the early losses this year hurt that much more, 2012 won't be a walk in the park

as for this year, from what I see from the other teams, I see us winning out (yeah, Stanford too) IF we don't look past Wake Forest (uh?)...holy sh.t!

 

[koonja]

Ha ha...Tommy plays his best game of his career, completely dominates his 2nd straight opponent and leads the offense to its 2nd straight 500+ yd game, and you STILL come on here and bag on him??? You have TONS of examples of his maturity and growth in this offense in this game and the last game as well, and you pick ONE play out of so many positives and use that as an example of him not growing??? Seriously? Dude, it's overkill at this point, and it's embarrassing. I could totally see your point after the Pitt game, but today? That's pretty bad. It's like watching a fantastic movie and then picking out one bad line and saying, "See, that director sucks b/c of that bad line!"

Kmoose was absolutely right...you make excuses for why Rees looked good, but in the previous breath you're fawning over what Hendrix did against that same awful defense. You make it too obvious how much you hate Rees and love Hendrix.

And how bad does it make Hendrix look that A) he's had all this time to beat out Tommy Rees, who sucks according to you, and hasn't even come close to doing it, and B.) He still isn't even close to grasping the offense, the same offense Rees has led to 2 straight dominant performances. But yet you think he should be starting over Hendrix. Hmmmmm. How does that even make sense??? And don't get me wrong, I love Hendrix and I thought he looked good running that VERY LIMITED package he ran today, but a couple of you are having a bad case of premature ejaculation. Love what he did today, but have some perspective for Pete's sake.

Edit: And like it's been said...I don't think Tommy is a great QB by any strecth, but he is the best man on the roster at this time, and IMO (and Kelly's) it's not even close. Something, whatever it is, is missing with Crist, and the kids are too young and don't know the offense. And Rees wins, period.



Man, I hate to pile on, but seriously, this post makes me think you are at most a freshman in high school, or someone that just doesn't care whether ND wins or not. Why in the world would you rather start Hendrix when he can only run one-eighth of the offense and he doesn't give us our best chance at winning?????? I cannot believe an Irish fan is truly saying that. And it's not about being in the minority...it just doesn't make sense. What is Hendrix going to do when a team calls for a perfect run-blitz and overstuffs our line and he doesn't have an audible to go to b/c he doesn't know the offense?

Have you seen the OSU offense lately? Their QB is a better athlete than Hendrix, but he's too young, doesn't know the offense in-and-out, and teams have adjusted to him. And now they can't move the ball. Yes, their o-line sucks, but he's just doing what most young QBs do. And most young QBs lose (except for Rees LOL).

Seriously, you have a QB on a 3 game winning streak, who has one loss in his career as a starter, and you want to bench him before the biggest game of the season against our top rival with the entire college football world watching (and TONS of major recruits) in favor of the young kid who has thrown 4 passes in his entire career??? What true Irish fan who loves the team says that? Think about what you are proposing. It's like you'd rather have fun and look good in a loss than look pretty good in a win. Wow.



The correct word is dominant. This team is 'dominant'. Or, 'this team dominates'. The way you worded it was about as poor English as you can get, and I'm sure it was just a typo. But that's why people thought you were a troll.

If you're not a troll, welcome aboard!

How many red bulls do you pound before coming on here?

Lol, just playing.

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

I find the people who say they want to see more Hendrix funny because once he commits his first turnover you're all gonna be yelling at your tv for him to never play that special package again what are you doing Kelly

Since you can accurately predict the future, perhaps you can give us the winning lottery numbers for next week, too?

 

[IrishLax]

While it appears my "Where's Manti?" thread was deleted (or I just forget where I put it) it turns out that Manti has an ankle injury. Not serious, but it's there.

 

[sharksamardzija8345]

Ha ha...Tommy plays his best game of his career, completely dominates his 2nd straight opponent and leads the offense to its 2nd straight 500+ yd game, and you STILL come on here and bag on him??? You have TONS of examples of his maturity and growth in this offense in this game and the last game as well, and you pick ONE play out of so many positives and use that as an example of him not growing??? Seriously? Dude, it's overkill at this point, and it's embarrassing. I could totally see your point after the Pitt game, but today? That's pretty bad. It's like watching a fantastic movie and then picking out one bad line and saying, "See, that director sucks b/c of that bad line!"

Kmoose was absolutely right...you make excuses for why Rees looked good, but in the previous breath you're fawning over what Hendrix did against that same awful defense. You make it too obvious how much you hate Rees and love Hendrix.

And how bad does it make Hendrix look that A) he's had all this time to beat out Tommy Rees, who sucks according to you, and hasn't even come close to doing it, and B.) He still isn't even close to grasping the offense, the same offense Rees has led to 2 straight dominant performances. But yet you think he should be starting over Hendrix. Hmmmmm. How does that even make sense??? And don't get me wrong, I love Hendrix and I thought he looked good running that VERY LIMITED package he ran today, but a couple of you are having a bad case of premature ejaculation. Love what he did today, but have some perspective for Pete's sake.

Edit: And like it's been said...I don't think Tommy is a great QB by any strecth, but he is the best man on the roster at this time, and IMO (and Kelly's) it's not even close. Something, whatever it is, is missing with Crist, and the kids are too young and don't know the offense. And Rees wins, period.



Man, I hate to pile on, but seriously, this post makes me think you are at most a freshman in high school, or someone that just doesn't care whether ND wins or not. Why in the world would you rather start Hendrix when he can only run one-eighth of the offense and he doesn't give us our best chance at winning?????? I cannot believe an Irish fan is truly saying that. And it's not about being in the minority...it just doesn't make sense. What is Hendrix going to do when a team calls for a perfect run-blitz and overstuffs our line and he doesn't have an audible to go to b/c he doesn't know the offense?

Have you seen the OSU offense lately? Their QB is a better athlete than Hendrix, but he's too young, doesn't know the offense in-and-out, and teams have adjusted to him. And now they can't move the ball. Yes, their o-line sucks, but he's just doing what most young QBs do. And most young QBs lose (except for Rees LOL).

Seriously, you have a QB on a 3 game winning streak, who has one loss in his career as a starter, and you want to bench him before the biggest game of the season against our top rival with the entire college football world watching (and TONS of major recruits) in favor of the young kid who has thrown 4 passes in his entire career??? What true Irish fan who loves the team says that? Think about what you are proposing. It's like you'd rather have fun and look good in a loss than look pretty good in a win. Wow.



The correct word is dominant. This team is 'dominant'. Or, 'this team dominates'. The way you worded it was about as poor English as you can get, and I'm sure it was just a typo. But that's why people thought you were a troll.

If you're not a troll, welcome aboard!

just stating my opinion, bro. no one said you have to agree with it.. also no one said you have to call out me being a true fan of ND.. just gave my opinion, don't take it personal, just take it.

 

[IrishMoore1]

While it appears my "Where's Manti?" thread was deleted (or I just forget where I put it) it turns out that Manti has an ankle injury. Not serious, but it's there.

NDatRivals Irish Illustrated
Manti Te'o suffered a slight ankle sprain in practice on Wednesday was hobbled during the entire game. Still had 10 tackles 2.5 TFLs, PBU.

There ya go. I hope he'll be healthy for USC.

 

[koonja]

Kelly Transcript

Kelly transcript

 

[Veer option]

Post Game Observations

Rewatched the game yesterday evening.

Pros:

Hendricks looked great and it was fun to watch him bulldoze the AF secondary. Kid has some zip on his throws too.

Jonas Gray. Why is it the last two big backs ND has had wait till their senior year to turn it on. He continues to be a good counter to Wood. I wish the Irish could have another year with him.

It was nice to see the Irish offense clicking.

Really liked the two back motion out of the backfield.

Riddick played his best game all season.

Kick and punt coverage.

Tuitt hits like a freight train.

Fox taking on the FB towards the end of the game was a great play. The crack of the pads was auditory bliss.



Cons:

The defense is painfully slow on the edges. I really hope there is some OLB speed in the recruiting pipeline.

Slaughter needs to commit to either go after the QB or follow the pitch man to contain the option. He got caught way too many times flat footed and indecisive.

Pass coverage continues to bite heavily on PA passes.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

Jonas Gray. Why is it the last two big backs ND has had wait till their senior year to turn it on. He continues to be a good counter to Wood. I wish the Irish could have another year with him.

Brian Kelly's offensive line.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

Slaughter needs to commit to either go after the QB or follow the pitch man to contain the option. He got caught way too many times flat footed and indecisive.

No one can cover both men. He was being asked to do both things. From what I have read, that was a scheme issue, not a Slaughter issue.

 

[Riddickulous]

The defense is painfully slow on the edges. I really hope there is some OLB speed in the recruiting pipeline.

This is true.

 

[Irishpinoy]

No one can cover both men. He was being asked to do both things. From what I have read, that was a scheme issue, not a Slaughter issue.

Just wondering if we should move Bennett Jackson or Lo Wood on the wings against the Navy. Those two are fast.

 

[Veer option]

Brian Kelly's offensive line.

Which are Weis guys.

No one can cover both men. He was being asked to do both things. From what I have read, that was a scheme issue, not a Slaughter issue.

Terrible scheming. I would rather have seen Slaughter blast the QB each time he came around the tackles, than repeatedly look like he didn't know who he was responsible for.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

Terrible scheming. I would rather have seen Slaughter blast the QB each time he came around the tackles, than repeatedly not know who he was responsible for.

Here's the analysis I referenced from ISD. Free article.

Game Observations: Defense

The difficulty of this game plan is the bad position Slaughter was constantly put in. Notre Dame seemed to be having Slaughter play both the quarterback and the pitch man in an attempt to string out the play. This worked great against the speed option, but against the veer and midline it was not good at all, as the inside run action froze the inside help. This put Slaughter in a number of 2-on-1 situations. He actually played very well against this (see below) from what I could tell. But it still allowed Air Force to grind out a lot of yards.

----------------

Jamoris Slaughter was asked to do more in this game than any other player, and he was outstanding for the most part. He forced a lot of plays outside into the arms of Blanton and the safeties. He was strong in coverage and showed very good instincts in the game. Air Force gashed Notre Dame for a 29-yard gain on its first play from scrimmage with Jefferson pitching off Slaughter to the running back. Slaughter showed great hustle on the play, and when he finally caught up to Asher Clark he stripped the ball and Blanton recovered. The way the game transpired, with Air Force moving the ball all over the Notre Dame defense, this turned out to be a crucial play. Instead of Air Force marching down to tie the game at 7-7, the Irish got the ball back and turned it into a touchdown. Before Air Force could run its second offensive play of the game they were trailing 14-0.

In the second quarter Slaughter did a great job reading and reacting to a quick throw from Jefferson. He got his hands on the pass, tipped it into the air, and made a great catch on the interception as he fell to the ground. Notre Dame’s offense would score six plays later, making the game 35-9 and essentially ending what very little chance Air Force had at coming back.

Each of Slaughter’s turnovers resulted in touchdowns. He also showed great coverage on an outside go route, knocking the ball away from a wide receiver. He got beat initially on the play but caught up quickly and eventually finished with very tight coverage.

Slaughter finished the game with 6 tackles, a forced fumble, an interception, and a break up. His opportunistic and heady play was a big reason Notre Dame was able to jump out to such a huge lead.

 

[Veer option]

Here's the analysis I referenced from ISD. Free article.

Game Observations: Defense

I haven't had a chance to read that, thanks for posting it.

 

[BobD]

Rewatched the game yesterday evening.


Cons:

The defense is painfully slow on the edges. I really hope there is some OLB speed in the recruiting pipeline.

I've been wondering about our strength and conditioning strategy for OLB's, it's seems like we're beefing them up a little too much and slowing them down.

 

[JohnShade]

You all do realize that one of our "painfully slow" OLBs was a safety/corner, Jamoris Slaughter? The other was Darius Fleming, who no one in his right mind would call slow.

To the extent that there was a problem on the edges, maybe it involved/was due to something else? Maybe?

As for the recruiting pipeline and OLBs, we brought in several last year, all fast, all highly rated - I. Williams, Rabasa, Councell, etc.

But again I don't think the speed there is even a problem. Shembo is the slowest of the two and for that and other reasons he wasn't even playing really.



edit

Seems it was covered by other posts already. I just saw the last quoted post in the comment before mine.

 

[NDinL.A.]

just stating my opinion, bro. no one said you have to agree with it.. also no one said you have to call out me being a true fan of ND.. just gave my opinion, don't take it personal, just take it.

I'm not taking it personal at all bro. I just don't see how any true fan of the Irish would rather lose but have fun watching his team lose (b/c the QB can run more) than win with a 'less exciting' QB. For me, that makes no sense. For me, it's all about the 'W'. You could put Captain Kangaroo back there and I'd be happy as long as we were winning. Losing is no fun for me, even if it's Michael Vick back there.

And btw, the last 2 games with Tommy Rees at the helm have been damn exciting for this Irish fan (add the MSU game to that as well). I personally think this team is really exciting, especially watching #3. You start Hendrix, and the passing offense takes a big hit and #3 becomes a lot less exciting. But whatever, to each his own.

 

[Veer option]

Reminds me of one last con

DL conditioning. The boys really got worn down when AF went to the hurry up. Other teams will use that against the Irish.

 

[ryno 24]

they werent slow the scheme just made them look slow I played in air force's offense in high school and we looked fast but in reality we were slow compared to every other team... they were out of position partly because you have to be perfect against the option and partly because Notre Dame has still yet to figure out how to scheme against it

 

[McMeanass]

just stating my opinion, bro. no one said you have to agree with it.. also no one said you have to call out me being a true fan of ND.. just gave my opinion, don't take it personal, just take it.

And he was just telling you it's a silly opinion

Really, I don't think Tommy has anything left to prove. We can armchair quarterback until the cows come home, but our head coach who's getting paid millions to make decisions like this, is firmly in Tommy's corner. And the results seem to bear his decision out. Tommy wins. Isn't that ultimately the goal?

Is he going to win a Heisman trophy? Of course not. Will he play at the next level? Probably not in any significant capactiy. Will he win us a lot of games? Certainly looks that way, and until that changes, I won't understand the hate.

I want Hendrix to get some reps as much as anybody, but with a limited grasp of the offense, and a different offensive package anyway, why would we want to limit the touches for two of our most talented offensive players in Eifert and Floyd? Let him run his offense 10-12 plays a game and let Tommy do the traditional quarterbacking.

 

[JohnShade]

I know record doesn't mean everything (to some it seems to mean nothing at all), but Rees is 8-1 as a starter, while using the same team/coaching staff with which Crist is 4-6 as a starter. That's a significant difference that can no longer be attributed solely to "improved defensive performance" as it was all offseason. The D still shows up when it needs to (except 4th quarter at Michigan), but since the bowl game Rees has been positively winning games. The one game this year where he struggled to move the team (Pitt) he still led a game winning drive during which he was 8-8.

8-1 as a starter. And that's over what are likely to be his worst and weakest games of his career - because he keeps improving and his teammates keep improving as they get more used to the offense. Throw in Hendrix now and even with parts leaving after this year, it's a dynamic offense. Kelly and fans have talked about the offense catching up to the D, and that's already happened. Now it's on the D to re-establish itself as what we think it is.

 

[DaBLKIrishman]

I will say that I have always been a doubter of Rees. His lack of arm strength, mobility, and his habit of staring down receivers keeps me on edge. He is 8-1 as a starter though and that speaks volumes of his ability to lead and his poise. The two most important intangibles for a qb to have. Even though I still think both Hendrix and Golson will be the better players for this system. Rees is starting to make me believe. 2-0 against the Trojans will erase the majority of my doubts.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

oaknd1 via Twitter:

According to Jack Nolan via Inside ND football, Tommy Rees is 63.8% and is *the most accurate QB in ND history* right now.

The above needs to be qualified by a minimum # of snaps; Andrew Hendrix is currently 100% at 4/4.

 

[Veer option]

Hendrixs missed a pass Saturday no?

 

[Ironman8]

oaknd1 via Twitter:



The above needs to be qualified by a minimum # of snaps; Andrew Hendrix is currently 100% at 4/4.

Golson would be 200%. We shouldn't be preserving so many "redshirts". We could have won by 50.

 

[Riddickulous]

oaknd1 via Twitter:



The above needs to be qualified by a minimum # of snaps; Andrew Hendrix is currently 100% at 4/4.

That's career completion percentage, correct?

 

[Whiskeyjack]

That's career completion percentage, correct?

Yes, that's his career completion %. He has 375 attempts thus far.