Post Game Observations........

[Jimmy3Putt]

Saying that Kelly was right to "throw the ball all over the place" is a cop out.
That's the whole advantage of three super TE's.
You line up in double TE every down, then when they stack the box, you motion 80 out wide.
That way the right personnel are on the field at all times.
ND should never come out in three wide with the receivers they have... it's weakening the team.

The defense seems like it's still playing slow, but I'm beginning to think it's the scheme causing this.
I know they're worried about giving up the big play, but this bend but don't break, leave your defense on the field for 10 minute drives won't work against good teams.

Where was GA3?

Kelly needs to just signal in 2 plays, 1 run, 1 pass and let 5 decide which to run. This looking at the sideline every snap kills any sense of rhythm the team might have and it sucks to watch.
Between the slow as molasses offense and the bend but don't break defense, I'm aging right in front of my tv.


A wins is a win, but hot damn, that was U-G-L-Y!

 

[Irish52]

Post-game thoughts

Post-game thoughts

A couple of observations:
Golson is a very good and potentially, a great passer. Currently lacks confidence in himself and is fearful of throwing an interception.
Way too many penalties and too many commited by our most experienced players.
Overall, the offensive line held their own against a huge Purdue defensive line.
Kelly made the right decision to bring in Rees and immediately after the game state that Golson will start the next game.

I think that this team can win the remaining games. They must have and demonstrate confidence in themselves...and that starts with the entire coaching staff showing confidence in the team.
Go Irish....

 

[kmoose]

If I were coaching, we would definitely win by a couple TDs and I wouldn't need to bench the best player. The player who played his guts out even without a discernible gameplan, but was benched.

If you were coaching there would be a thread entitled "ND FINALLY finds coach more retarded than Bob Davie." Your QB is completing 67% of his passes, and on pace for right around 300 yards passing. But you are going to commit to running the ball, when your leading rusher is averaging 3.5 yards per carry? Good luck with that!

 

[tommyIRISH23]

Golson is the starter and as the starter the leader of the offense. There have been no discussion coming into the game about potential limitations he has. There was no if the game is close we might bring Tommy into the game, or he is not ready to run the two minute drill yet. It was a stunning decision. Kelly hit the lottery that Rees drove them down the field; because if Rees had failed, Kelly's tenure at ND was over.

Carlo is an excellent run stopper. Have I said anything different? He cannot play in space. He is slow. He cannot cover. He will be needed against in MSU in short yardage situations, but against teams that spread the field...he should not be on the field.

You dont believe Golson was hurt?

 

[woolybug25]

Saying that Kelly was right to "throw the ball all over the place" is a cop out.
That's the whole advantage of three super TE's.
You line up in double TE every down, then when they stack the box, you motion 80 out wide.
That way the right personnel are on the field at all times.
ND should never come out in three wide with the receivers they have... it's weakening the team.

ha... you are one of the believers that we have "3 Super TE's". Get real dude, we have one. The other guys are no better than the other teams that have a TE that they rely on. Do you really think that if what you are inferring was true it would get passed by the entire coaching staff?

Name me one successful team that lines up with the same formation every down. That is beyond dumb. Sorry, not trying to be a jerk, but no successful team in all of college football does what you are suggesting. Just a silly comment, really.

 

[UPMich_NDfan]

I don't know what game you were watching, but there was no attempt made. If you think Kelly played Tommy because Golson was "hurt", I am pretty sure you are wrong.

If I were coaching, we would definitely win by a couple TDs and I wouldn't need to bench the best player. The player who played his guts out even without a discernible gameplan, but was benched.

No attempt made? Final stats had them attempting 36 rushes, which you can probably take away 12 or so because of sacks/qb rushes because of pressure. So I'm thinking 22-24 legit rushing attempts is an attempt at running the ball. And when you average 3.5 a carry...I as a coach would be throwing-not to mention the stud DL which was clearly the strength of the purdue team.

So whats your logic here? You wanted them to run more, not throw, but still thought EG was the best player?

Off your rocker, that is probably why if you do coach, you coach pop warner football.

 

[GBdomer]

Do some of you guys who really think Golson wasn't hurt? He was 21-30 or something. Do you really think Kelly would put in a guy who took no reps really this fall camp? not to many in the weeks leading up to this game? and didnt take a snap all day? HAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

[koonja]

We averaged 1.4 yards per carry. Why rush? Golson was effective with the ball in his hands.

 

[N_D_Fighting_Irish]

So putting his most experienced QB into the game during the 2-minute drill, when his starting QB is injured is the "most bizarre thing you have ever seen"? You must not have seen a lot of football in your time. It was probably the easiest decision he made all game.

I'm guessing that you also didn't notice that Purdue has two future NFL DT's dominating our offensive line all game? We tried to run the ball and it wash't going well for us. Did you actually watch the game or just check the score every once in a while between jager-bombs?

Forgive me for not believing in the injury. I just don't.

With all due respect, I don't understand what the two future NFL DT have anything to how we played. I guess we should just call off the USC game because they have a team full of future NFL players. Would it even be worth it trying to play the game. Right? We didn't try to run the ball...we never tried. You even asked where GAIII was. You would think he would get some carries if we actually tried to run the ball.

 

[johnnykillz]

I would love to see more 5 db or 6 (if thats possible?) on obvious passing downs (like 4th and 10) instead of seeing Carlo or another LB get burned by a slot guy

Quarter defense: a 3/4 Dime look minus LBs.

 

[woolybug25]

Kelly needs to just signal in 2 plays, 1 run, 1 pass and let 5 decide which to run. This looking at the sideline every snap kills any sense of rhythm the team might have and it sucks to watch.
Between the slow as molasses offense and the bend but don't break defense, I'm aging right in front of my tv.

Again... do you even follow this staff? Each play has several options and the QB has multiple choices depending on what he reads. EG has problems with that and that is why he is constantly calling TO's and running us to the end of the play clock.

 

[N_D_Fighting_Irish]

You dont believe Golson was hurt?

No. He "may" have been dinged a little, but I think Kelly put Rees in because of Rees' familiarity with the offense. He didn't think Golson could get it done.

 

[pkt77242]

Can we all please stop trying to reason with the village idiot. Thanks.

 

[UPMich_NDfan]

Golson is the starter and as the starter the leader of the offense. There have been no discussion coming into the game about potential limitations he has. There was no if the game is close we might bring Tommy into the game, or he is not ready to run the two minute drill yet. It was a stunning decision. Kelly hit the lottery that Rees drove them down the field; because if Rees had failed, Kelly's tenure at ND was over.

Carlo is an excellent run stopper. Have I said anything different? He cannot play in space. He is slow. He cannot cover. He will be needed against in MSU in short yardage situations, but against teams that spread the field...he should not be on the field.

Really, there was no discussion of potential EG limitations? L O L ...again, ND did not move the entire 2nd half after the first possession or 2. EG wasn't even attempting to throw the ball, and as a result was getting sacked. Then fumbled...he was clearly flustered...shame on Kelly for calling on a qb who has experience and probably best attribute is not getting flustered, repeatedly getting up after mistake/hit...and bringing teams down the field in crunch situations. Does Rees bode well for a complete game...no, probably not, but for one drive when all you need is 3 pts, he was the right choice CLEARLY in that situation.

 

[woolybug25]

Forgive me for not believing in the injury. I just don't.

With all due respect, I don't understand what the two future NFL DT have anything to how we played. I guess we should just call off the USC game because they have a team full of future NFL players. It would even be worth it trying to play the game. Right? We didn't try to run the ball...we never tried. You even asked where GAIII was. You would think he would get some carries if we actually tried to run the ball.

So two future NFL DT's stuffing our run has nothing to do with us running the ball? For christ's sakes man, if you don't get that then I don't really see any sense in debating this with you. Those two DE's might be better than any of the DT's on USC's roster. I know that is probably hard for you to believe, but its true.

 

[Grahambo]

Forgive the lazy forum post especially if I duplicate responses.

Jet lag is a killer and the team has gone through a lot the past few weeks. From the offseason to Ireland back to ND for the home opener. Jet lag is no joke. For that alone, I give them a little slack.

Penalties. That is my #1 pet peeve. The bad ones too such as the one on Te'o. A few false starts. Lazy discipline which I partly attribute to jet lag.

Purdue. They were better then I thought, no doubt. Marve needs to be their starter from here on out and they really did stop the run game real well and forced Golson to make plays.

Golson. Kid is fun to watch. As Mayock pointed out, at times he is late with his throws. Was really upset he was taken out until I learned it was due to a minor injury. Glad he was already named starter for MSU.

Rees. Kudos. Crist Part Deux (minus the fumble)

Secondary/Defense. Were much better looking this time around and held Purdue to under 200 yards of total passing. The defense as a whole gave up only 288 yards. It did seem like a bit more. Held Purdue to under 100 yards rushing too. Was also a +1 in the TO department.

 

[kmoose]

Golson is the starter and as the starter the leader of the offense. There have been no discussion coming into the game about potential limitations he has. There was no if the game is close we might bring Tommy into the game, or he is not ready to run the two minute drill yet. It was a stunning decision. Kelly hit the lottery that Rees drove them down the field; because if Rees had failed, Kelly's tenure at ND was over.

Carlo is an excellent run stopper. Have I said anything different? He cannot play in space. He is slow. He cannot cover. He will be needed against in MSU in short yardage situations, but against teams that spread the field...he should not be on the field.

You can't possibly be this stupid, so you must just be trolling. *swims up, sniffs the bait, and swims away*

 

[tommyIRISH23]

Forgive me for not believing in the injury. I just don't.

With all due respect, I don't understand what the two future NFL DT have anything to how we played. I guess we should just call off the USC game because they have a team full of future NFL players. It would even be worth it trying to play the game. Right? We didn't try to run the ball...we never tried. You even asked where GAIII was. You would think he would get some carries if we actually tried to run the ball.

lol why dont you believe in the injury? if he wanted to cop-out he could have just said TR is more efficient at the 2 min offense since EG was confused with his reads all game and using up the whole play clock to get the play off.

I think we wasted to much running inside. We could have hit the edges more often and used the pitch all day. We were changing plays every down, which means that pass plays became running plays and vice versa, GAIII seemed to have an issue with blocking assignments, playing him wouldve been costly.

We need a big back. I miss Jonas

 

[N_D_Fighting_Irish]

If you were coaching there would be a thread entitled "ND FINALLY finds coach more retarded than Bob Davie." Your QB is completing 67% of his passes, and on pace for right around 300 yards passing. But you are going to commit to running the ball, when your leading rusher is averaging 3.5 yards per carry? Good luck with that!

Purdue game plan as you had predicted was to stop the run. They were susceptible to the play action pass. When our formation was under center and we called play action pass, we were successful. The play that Daniels got behind the defense was a classic example of how effective it was. Instead of taking advantage of Purdue game plan, we called the majority of our offensive plays in shotgun and often times 5 wide formations. Made no sense.

 

[stlnd01]

A few thoughts:

Purdue's going to win some games this year. Stout up front on D. Some good skill players. Marve's a pretty decent QB (though it sounds like he may have hurt his knee again). I like them to knock off a couple of big boys in the Big 10.

We ran a completely different offense today. Came out flinging it and could never really establish the run, after running all over the place last week. And our vaunted athletic slot/RB hybrids (GA3, Neal, Toma for the most part) were nowhere to be found. I guess that shows our versatility and ability to adapt to a defense, but it was odd.

Our coverage was better today, but our corners need to tackle. That's been a huge strength of our defense since Kelly/Diaco showed up, but not right now. I know they're young, but that doesn't mean they can't hit hard and wrap up.

Dang Tuitt's a beast. And Nix had his best game ever. Gonna be fun watching them. But where was Ishaq?

 

[tommyIRISH23]

Purdue game plan as you had predicted was to stop the run. They were susceptible to the play action pass. When our formation was under center and we called play action pass, we were successful. The play that Daniels got behind the defense was a classic example of how effective it was. Instead of taking advantage of Purdue game plan, we called the majority of our offensive plays in shotgun and often times 5 wide formations. Made no sense.

Purdues Dline was blowing up the center of our Oline?

 

[UPMich_NDfan]

Irish Sports Daily ‏@ISDUpdate
BK - injuries are not significant and will be day to day

great news, everyone can exhale...a bit!

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

Again... do you even follow this staff? Each play has several options and the QB has multiple choices depending on what he reads. EG has problems with that and that is why he is constantly calling TO's and running us to the end of the play clock.

The offense comes out, fake hikes it, then Kelly calls the play according to how the defense is lined up.
It's stupid, takes forever, and allows the defense to dictate what you are doing when it should be the other way around.
Yes, 5 is having trouble reading the defense pre-snap, but the delays are on Kelly over coaching.
You should simplify when a quarterback is struggling with his reads.


To answer you other question when you "weren't trying to be a jerk":
Stanford consistently runs double TE power offense, not to mention the Patriots.
They wouldn't be in the same formation every play, that why you motion out 80 wide (like they do every play anyway), but still leave in the pass protection of 85 instead of a fourth wasted receiver, not to mention an extra run blocker for the occasional draw play.
You get the best of both worlds that having a TE like 80 allows.

 

[N_D_Fighting_Irish]

Can we all please stop trying to reason with the village idiot. Thanks.

I may disagree with them and they may respond rather sharply to my points, but I have more respect to their attempts to counterpoint than your classless remark.

 

[ryno 24]

This was only Golson's second start wait till he gets more experience. Rees looked about the same his freshman year. Its nice to have the best backup qb in the country. I hated it originally but we one. Also it legitimately sounds like Golson was hurt. I have said to my friends that I wanted Rees to be the backup. Golson looked very good though and definitely should be the starter.

The defense was very stoudt. The secondary got a much better test and it looked better. Bennet Jackson will be good. Russel is definitely learning on the job but he is going to be pretty good. Elijah Shumate could start soon or at least he is a very very good Nickle Corner.

Tuitt is absolutely a monster first round draft pick and Nix looked better than I expected (he is very very talented). Springman played well.

Special Teams is terrible.

I want Cierre Wood back.


Purdue could win their division of the Big Ten. Very good team

 

[irishfan]

1) Kelly borderline put his career on the line putting Rees in. Think of what we would all be saying if Rees had thrown a pick and Purdue kicked a FG for the win. Ballsy by Kelly and props to Tommy.

2) Where was Atkinson? And not enough Neal on offense.

3) I would rather have no LBs on the field in passing situations, let alone Carlo or Fox who just can't cover.

4) I wish we had a different Right Guard. Golic is a good guy, but I just don't think he is a legit starter.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

AND Wooly- you're right about not having three super TE's.
I worded that poorly.
They don't have three super TE's but you can't deny that, along with the backs, it's the strength of the offense.
Hmm, TE's and backs are the strength of your offense...
Let's go three wide and throw the ball out of the spread.
BRILLIANT

 

[gspjeb]

miffed at some of the criticism but have come to expect it.

Golson did a great job today and will get better and better. I am excited thinking about the potential.

Kelly putting in Rees WORKED. The man said that EG hurt his hand and I am good with that...as I would be if the coach said that he did it for other reasons.

I would hate to be MSU having to make a game plan to deal with the run or pass offense that we can bring out. When we get the run happening and are able to give EG some time...we will be scary.

we are 2-0 and I am ok with that.

 

[N_D_Fighting_Irish]

You can't possibly be this stupid, so you must just be trolling. *swims up, sniffs the bait, and swims away*

What a haughty reply...whatever.

 

[In Lou I Trust]

I don't understand all this "we didn't run the ball enough" talk. We were ineffective at running the ball and, as a smart coach does, we took what the defense gave us... passing against 8 in the box and man coverage. Sounds like a good game plan to me.