Post Game Observations........

[stlnd01]

I do see a difference in the way that EG handles the offense and the way that Tommy did. I am not saying one is better than the other, they just look like different offenses all together. Would be interested in getting your thoughts.

Oh, I'll go ahead and say Golson's better. For much of the game today, he was doing things our offense hasn't been able to do in far too long. Moving with the ball, flinging it vertically, not fumbling when he gets cracked from behind in the pocket, etc. Give him a little experience and he'll be a solid QB for us.
That said, obviously Rees has some balls on him, and, since it worked, putting him in to run that last drive was clearly a brilliant move. Since it worked.

 

[pkt77242]

Oh, I'll go ahead and say Golson's better. For much of the game today, he was doing things our offense hasn't been able to do in far too long. Moving with the ball, flinging it vertically, not fumbling when he gets cracked from behind in the pocket, etc. Give him a little experience and he'll be a solid QB for us.
That said, obviously Rees has some balls on him, and, since it worked, putting him in to run that last drive was clearly a brilliant move. Since it worked.

I would add that Rees is better at reading the defense presnap. Yes Golson will probably get better at it but currently Rees has the advantage.

 

[DSully1995]

My new post game ritual: Here's to two!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/29UMACdfyZw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[dmort]

Golson was sacked way too much and thats probably the result of being a rookie college QB.Each week its going to get tougher so the O line better man up.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Golson was sacked way too much and thats probably the result of being a rookie college QB.Each week its going to get tougher so the O line better man up.

Golic's inability to pass protect was at least as much to blame. Late in the game, NBC aired a cut-up showing the first 4 sacks. One was arguably Golson's fault, but the other three were Short and Gaston simply blowing past Golic up the middle. Kinda hoping N. Martin or Hanratty steps up their game soon.

 

[CarrollVermin]

I would add that Rees is better at reading the defense presnap. Yes Golson will probably get better at it but currently Rees has the advantage.

I think this is what I see more than anything...and yes, Golson will get better with experience.

 

[kmoose]

Golic's inability to pass protect was at least as much to blame. Late in the game, NBC aired a cut-up showing the first 4 sacks. One was arguably Golson's fault, but the other three were Short and Gaston simply blowing past Golic up the middle. Kinda hoping N. Martin or Hanratty steps up their game soon.

Not trying to poke you with a sharp stick or anything (honestly)............ but is there some reason why you wouldn't hope that Golic steps up his game? I mean, he was named the starter for a reason.

 

[stlnd01]

I would add that Rees is better at reading the defense presnap. Yes Golson will probably get better at it but currently Rees has the advantage.

Yes, I'd agree that within his limited playbook, Rees is better at reading the defense (though I recall a lot of last-second looks to the sidelines last year, too).
But Golson's mobility opens a lot of passing lanes and keeps linebackers honest, and his arm strength opens up a lot of room downfield. Add in the mental part of the game, which should come with time, and he'll be a far better choice.

 

[Junkhead]

Not trying to poke you with a sharp stick or anything (honestly)............ but is there some reason why you wouldn't hope that Golic steps up his game? I mean, he was named the starter for a reason.

I would guess the thought is that as a 5th year, Golic has shown his ceiling, where as the others would have more upside being younger? Either way, OL was not impressive today.

 

[dmort]

Golson is clearly better at rolling out than he is staying in the pocket.With time and betetr blocking this aspect of his game will get better.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Not trying to poke you with a sharp stick or anything (honestly)............ but is there some reason why you wouldn't hope that Golic steps up his game? I mean, he was named the starter for a reason.

My intuition is that Golic's short-comings aren't the sort that can be remedied with coaching and effort. I assume his combination of technique, experience and work ethic are what landed him the role as starting ROG, but it's become pretty clear that he doesn't have the strength and athleticism necessary to compete against draft-caliber DL.

He was pretty good at C against Wake Forest last year after Cave went down, but he looked completely over-matched against the better DLs we faced later in 2011 (which is one of the most cited reasons for our ground game falling apart). I see a similar pattern here, where he looked great pushing around Navy's undersized DL, but was clowned by Short and Gaston.

The OL is only as strong as its weakest link, and Golic may prove to be a significant liability moving forward. Would love for him to prove me wrong.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

-Good game by the QB position, both of them. Golson was very good even though he isn't good at reading a defense and calling plays yet.

-Once Cierre Wood gets back the offense will look so much better. I like Riddick & Atkinson but I feel like with Cierre this game would not have come down to the last seconds.

-I really like Daniels, Eifert is an All-American, Niklas is better at receiving than I expected, Goodman made a good catch, TJ Jones had a nice second half. Young receivers for the most part but the potential for a great unit is there.

-Golic is going to have to step up or be replaced. He was horrible. It was completely unacceptable no matter who he was going up against. I hope Lombard moves to RG when Nichols is healthy, but it wasn't like Lombard was great either. At least the left side of the line is more than solid.

-Tuitt and Nix are going to be starting on Sundays very soon. I'm worried about Nix leaving because he is amazing. Next Vince Wilfork. Day played great when he was in, and overall the defensive line is phenomenal.

-Fox and Calabrese can't cover anyone and they shouldn't be in on passing downs. Run a 4-2-5 or something, whatever to keep them out of it on obvious passing downs like a 4th and 10 from the 15 yard line.

-Russell is hard to watch, but that's because of his youth. The foundation is there but he will be picked on big time this year. Bennett Jackson played well, Motta was better than last week, and Slaughter was a stud before he got hurt. Better pass D than I expected.

-Special teams had a rough first half but made up for it in the 2nd half. Okay. Not comfortable with anything special teams-related besides punt coverage yet, and that's mostly because Turk's kicks are so short it's impossible to return.

Not a great game, but I had a good time and we won. Now let's rampage on Sparty next week.

 

[elboricua]

I'm just showing off but I would love to disciss the spread at length with anyone. And I think everyone around here knows Im just giving perspective from my experience.

I don't think you're showing off. I would be happy to discuss it. But I think you are generalizing and a little bit guilty of what many others are, which is there is a constant reference to the spread as an offensive system. It doesn't exist. The spread is just a word which is really an umbrella term for many offenses. The spread is now alive and well in the NFL and it exists in many a diverse form in college from the airraid inspired stuff from Leach and Holgo to Rodriguez type stuff to Chip Kelly to Brian Kelly. What people don't understand sadly at ND is that Kelly's spread is a simple basic spread which is not fancy or cute or complex schematically and involves a lot of power concepts. He can fit the spread to do what he wants. The thing that makes Kelly somewhat unique is the tempo in his offense. We have yet to see that. It is the thing that I believe is sorely lacking in ND's offense because not only would it transform the offense but it would transform the culture of ND. It would breed an aggressive and winning mentality and Coach Martin needs to hopefully convince Kelly to do this and go full steam ahead with it. Dunno if we see it this year, but it needs to happen sooner rather than later.

 

[BobD]

I was watching the game at work. When Tommy went in, I heard the boo's and I admit to thinking WTF, but my number one most consuming thought was "I wonder if IE just blew up the internet?"

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

Keith Arnold says this:

"And while Kelly said the decision to pull Golson was influenced by an injury to the quarterback’s hand, a source tells me that Golson suffered no ill effects from the tackle that caused his fumble."

Five things we learned: Notre Dame 20, Purdue 17 | Inside the Irish

 

[North Buffalo Irish]

Agreed across the board except for the d line...
Pressure When pressure was needed just wasn't there...Purdue's third down rate was far too high... And at times there was zero pressure when there should have been.... Otherwise...... Lots to work on

Did we watch the same game?

Purdue were 6/17 on 3rd down (35%). We converted 58% of our 3rd downs. We had FIVE sacks, and almost all of them came at crucial times and stopped Purdue drives (except for the Tuitt sack at the end, which put them in 4th and long at least). Oh, and how about pressure by Day causing the first Jackson interception? Sorry man, but you are WAY off on this point.

All of the success Purdue had throwing the ball were quick screens and roll outs. Purdue completed barely 50% of their passes, and threw for just under 200 yards. Notice that Purdue didn't take many shots down the field despite our ridiculously young and inexperienced corners, and a starting safety going down in the 2nd quarter? That's because they literally didn't have the capability to pass protect long enough to let long pass plays develop, even against 3-man and 4-man rushes.

There is a lot to work on indeed, but the defensive line and the pass rush is nowhere near the top of the list.

 

[irishfanjho15]

I'm just showing off but I would love to disciss the spread at length with anyone. And I think everyone around here knows Im just giving perspective from my experience.

I don't think you're showing off. I would be happy to discuss it. But I think you are generalizing and a little bit guilty of what many others are, which is there is a constant reference to the spread as an offensive system. It doesn't exist. The spread is just a word which is really an umbrella term for many offenses. The spread is now alive and well in the NFL and it exists in many a diverse form in college from the airraid inspired stuff from Leach and Holgo to Rodriguez type stuff to Chip Kelly to Brian Kelly. What people don't understand sadly at ND is that Kelly's spread is a simple basic spread which is not fancy or cute or complex schematically and involves a lot of power concepts. He can fit the spread to do what he wants. The thing that makes Kelly somewhat unique is the tempo in his offense. We have yet to see that. It is the thing that I believe is sorely lacking in ND's offense because not only would it transform the offense but it would transform the culture of ND. It would breed an aggressive and winning mentality and Coach Martin needs to hopefully convince Kelly to do this and go full steam ahead with it. Dunno if we see it this year, but it needs to happen sooner rather than later.

I see what you mean. I think the spread is an offensive system in that coaches like the ones you mentioned and many others have developed complex offensive systems/play books based on all types of offense types but implement a lot of spread concepts within such systems. My college coach always said SPREAD stood for Space.Playmakers.Reads.Evolution.Anticipation.Discipline. Those were they things we needed to do to run our offense. Create spacing between defenders, make plays with that space, "read" the defensive adjustments, evolve the play calling accordingly, anticipate defensive moves, and be disciplined in your decisions (fundamentally sound).

I would love speeding it up. But we have limitations. Rees is not a "call it or haul it" guy and Golson just doesn't see the things he needs to see yet. It's a process and one that cannot be forced.

 

[dmort]

Lets see who is more upset about today's game Purdue fans or ND fans ?

 

[North Buffalo Irish]

This game erases all hope for me that Kelly learns from his mistakes. He doesn't. We made no zero effort at running the ball. Yes Purdue was playing the run, but you still have to compete for the line of scrimmage. He basically gave up.

ESPN box score shows 39 pass attempts and 36 rushing attempts. Please get your facts straight.

GAIII the most explosive threat we have...doesn't touch the ball.

It was noted during the week that Atkinson was "dinged up." Also, Atkinson did touch the ball. He had a carry in the first half that went for... zero yards. Kelly saved GAIII for where he believed the kid could make the most impact: kickoff returns. Purdue kicked away from him (setting up a nice McDaniel return), and then George set up the game-winning drive with a very nice return.

WHY THE F START GOLSON. IF TR IS THE BETTER PASSER, START HIM IN THE GAME WHERE I SUPPOSE THE GAMEPLAN IS TO PASS EVERY DOWN.

Please send your resume to Swarbrick if you are such a master tactician.

 

[peoriairish]

ESPN box score shows 39 pass attempts and 36 rushing attempts. Please get your facts straight.

It was noted during the week that Atkinson was "dinged up." Also, Atkinson did touch the ball. He had a carry in the first half that went for... zero yards. Kelly saved GAIII for where he believed the kid could make the most impact: kickoff returns. Purdue kicked away from him (setting up a nice McDaniel return), and then George set up the game-winning drive with a very nice return.

Please send your resume to Swarbrick if you are such a master tactician.

I already did the math for him. It's no use.

 

[IrishFaninTX]

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.

I guess the coach is lying to everyone now, too, huh? And even if Golson wasn't hurt, who do you want running a 2 minute offense? The guy who takes about 20-25 seconds to get a play in or the guy who has done this many times and despite not being the more athletic or accurate QB, is the better game manager? I go with option B.

 

[IrishFaninTX]

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

Cierre is probably a better blocker than Jonas. That is the one thing we have missed from the running backs the last 2 weeks. I will be glad to have Cierre back. He should be punished for breaking team rules and now I'm glad his punishment is over. He will be an asset against MSU's D.

 

[GBdomer]

Cierre being back this week will be huge.

 

[notredomer23]

I will be the first to admit that I thought we should have killed them. We definitely didn't play our best game, whether its because they were overlooking Purdue, or a hangover from Ireland, but we still won. Against a good team at that. I didn't really know much about Purdue going into the season, other than we killed them last year. This Purdue team can play. They return 18 starters from a team that went 7-6(beating mostly crappy teams, but still) and I would not be surprised to see them pull of 8 regular season wins this year. So to all the people pissed off that we only beat Purdue by 3: We played poorly, with 5-6 injuries to starters during the game, and still came out on top. If we play like that against MSU, we will lose. I hope our boys come ready to play.

Oh and by the way no love for Shumate? I thought he played really, really well in his sparing minutes.

 

[arndtjc]

The one thing I have to add to all of the above, is the one play that started the first TD drive from about the 11 yard line.

Everett dropped back in spread formation, 5 wide, no one in the back field to pick up the blitz. What happens? Purdue blitzes. Two guys, the DE and the CB come off the edge untouched. As Golson scans the field he feels the heat, makes a gorgeous juke, and the two Boilermaker defensive players run into each other eliminating the threat, giving EG time to roll out and hit Niklas for a huge 30 yard 3rd down conversion.

In my lifetime, I have yet to see a QB escape pressure and extend a play like that. We've got a special talent on our hands, and I'm very excited to see him mature over the next couple years.

 

[ChiRish]

Hey - WE WON! Some of the wet blankets on here are spouting off as if we lost. This is clearly a game that ND would have lost in recent years. What I saw today from BK in particular was not ineffectual, stubborn game planning and play calling, but rather creative, flexible, and adjustment-filled football. Kelly recognized the strength of the Purdue defense and worked around it.

The offense, although admittedly rough around the edges right now, moved the ball decent enough in A REDSHIRT FRESHMAN'S SECOND START!!!!

We should be happy the game worked out like it did. We came into it wondering how we would do against a legit offense and defense, and we came out with a win vs. a stout defense. Once we get Cierre back, and against other teams without the caliber of DT that Purdue has, the offense will be that much more effective as we're able to balance the play calling. And keep in mind, as EG plays, he gets more comfortable.

And I just don't understand why anyone would doubt or call out BK or anyone for lying about an injury. The thought is just pure asinine.

Bottom line - ND won a game that in the recent past they probably would have lost. They did this after dealing with subpar play from some key players, having several of the top players on the team injured, and a redshirt frosh starting his second game EVER against a good defense. To me, that shows the character of this team. When you combine that with the fact that ND WON THE GAME, isn't that all that matters?!

 

[In Lou I Trust]

In my lifetime, I have yet to see a QB escape pressure and extend a play like that.

Serious?????? I like EG but I think you've got a future as his hype man.

 

[BGIF]

^This.

8 in the box man on man coverage most of the game. If Tyler and Daniels would have been in that 4th qtr Golson would have been way better off and probably been able to move the ball much better.

There was a 3rd and short in the first half where after Golson got the play call and the team lined up he realized PU had an 8 man front and 11 in the box. There was no place to run. Rather than go with the play called he took a T.O. With more experience he'll know what to go to in that case and he'll challenge the defense to the chess match rather than the other way around.

 

[tadman95]

Purdue's defensive scheme is what we will see the rest of the year and their personnel strengths amplified the effectiveness, yet Golson still passed for almost 300 yards. If he doesn't have that late fumble we probably aren't having any of these discussions.

Navy couldn't run the same scheme so that game did little to prepare us for Purdue. Now we know what we have, where our weaknesses are and what we have to work on.

Kelly seemed prepared for this, his game plan put air under the ball and trusted Golson to perform and he did.

We never trailed. Not pretty but Kelly made plans, then decisions, then won. I can't find much fault there.

 

[irishff1014]

-Good game by the QB position, both of them. Golson was very good even though he isn't good at reading a defense and calling plays yet.

-Once Cierre Wood gets back the offense will look so much better. I like Riddick & Atkinson but I feel like with Cierre this game would not have come down to the last seconds.
-I really like Daniels, Eifert is an All-American, Niklas is better at receiving than I expected, Goodman made a good catch, TJ Jones had a nice second half. Young receivers for the most part but the potential for a great unit is there.

-Golic is going to have to step up or be replaced. He was horrible. It was completely unacceptable no matter who he was going up against. I hope Lombard moves to RG when Nichols is healthy, but it wasn't like Lombard was great either. At least the left side of the line is more than solid.

-Tuitt and Nix are going to be starting on Sundays very soon. I'm worried about Nix leaving because he is amazing. Next Vince Wilfork. Day played great when he was in, and overall the defensive line is phenomenal.

-Fox and Calabrese can't cover anyone and they shouldn't be in on passing downs. Run a 4-2-5 or something, whatever to keep them out of it on obvious passing downs like a 4th and 10 from the 15 yard line.

-Russell is hard to watch, but that's because of his youth. The foundation is there but he will be picked on big time this year. Bennett Jackson played well, Motta was better than last week, and Slaughter was a stud before he got hurt. Better pass D than I expected.

-Special teams had a rough first half but made up for it in the 2nd half. Okay. Not comfortable with anything special teams-related besides punt coverage yet, and that's mostly because Turk's kicks are so short it's impossible to return.
Not a great game, but I had a good time and we won. Now let's rampage on Sparty next week.

Your right is shouldn't have but that missed FG hurt.