Post Game Observations.......

[Junkhead]

Last year, Denard was our best player in this matchup. This year, who knows.

 

[Emcee77]

For sure. We beat Temple easily because we out-athleted them in skill positions on both sides of the ball. Much moreso than because of our line play. We won't be able to do that to Michigan. That game will be won in the trenches and we'll have to blow holes with the o-line and create disciplined pressure with the d-line.

Yep. For me, our big-play ability in the passing game was the most exciting aspect of the game on Saturday. We said all summer that Tommy can't throw deep balls accurately ... but he looked just fine in that department against Temple. Our receivers were able to get open downfield, and I was really pleased to see that Tommy was able to connect with them, no problem.

I was really hoping to see a dominant defensive line though, and I didn't see that. We generated some pressure at times, but against that OL I was hoping our guys would be a bit more disruptive. Granted, there was only so much preparation our D and defensive coaches could do because Temple's program has gone through a lot of changes lately and we didn't really know what we would see them do on Saturday, and our D did clean things up in the second half, at least after that opening drive, and it did only give up 6 points (you could argue that it should have been 13, but the point remains). But ... wait, where was I going with this? If you grant all those things, I guess our D played just fine. Bend but don't break was how our defense operated all year last year, and it worked out pretty well for us.

 

[ulukinatme]

Yep. For me, our big-play ability in the passing game was the most exciting aspect of the game on Saturday. We said all summer that Tommy can't throw deep balls accurately ... but he looked just fine in that department against Temple. Our receivers were able to get open downfield, and I was really pleased to see that Tommy was able to connect with them, no problem.

I was really hoping to see a dominant defensive line though, and I didn't see that. We generated some pressure at times, but against that OL I was hoping our guys would be a bit more disruptive. Granted, there was only so much preparation our D and defensive coaches could do because Temple's program has gone through a lot of changes lately and we didn't really know what we would see them do on Saturday, and our D did clean things up in the second half, at least after that opening drive, and it did only give up 6 points (you could argue that it should have been 13, but the point remains). But ... wait, where was I going with this? If you grant all those things, I guess our D played just fine. Bend but don't break was how our defense operated all year last year, and it worked out pretty well for us.

I expected more from our guys too, especially our DL, but I think a number of things contributed to a closer win Saturday than expected. For one, Temple had some big boy in the trenches. Credit them for battling with our guys, they did pretty good considering we should have had more of an edge. Second, they ran a completely different offense than they ran last year. All they did was run the ball under Addazio, and they seemed to pass more than anything last Saturday. Tough to game plan against something like that for a first game with no game film to speak of. Lastly, I firmly believe that we didn't want to show our hand, which is why we got very conservative after the first two quick scores. Once Temple got one of their own, we promptly picked up another score to say "Hey, we can go deep at will, lets not open the playbooks up. We'll keep the scoreboard respectable."

 

[Emcee77]

I expected more from our guys too, especially our DL, but I think a number of things contributed to a closer win Saturday than expected. For one, Temple had some big boy in the trenches. Credit them for battling with our guys, they did pretty good considering we should have had more of an edge. Second, they ran a completely different offense than they ran last year. All they did was run the ball under Addazio, and they seemed to pass more than anything last Saturday. Tough to game plan against something like that for a first game with no game film to speak of. Lastly, I firmly believe that we didn't want to show our hand, which is why we got very conservative after the first two quick scores. Once Temple got one of their own, we promptly picked up another score to say "Hey, we can go deep at will, lets not open the playbooks up. We'll keep the scoreboard respectable."

Yep, I think all those things are right.

 

[GoIrish41]

Yep. For me, our big-play ability in the passing game was the most exciting aspect of the game on Saturday. We said all summer that Tommy can't throw deep balls accurately ... but he looked just fine in that department against Temple. Our receivers were able to get open downfield, and I was really pleased to see that Tommy was able to connect with them, no problem.

I was really hoping to see a dominant defensive line though, and I didn't see that. We generated some pressure at times, but against that OL I was hoping our guys would be a bit more disruptive. Granted, there was only so much preparation our D and defensive coaches could do because Temple's program has gone through a lot of changes lately and we didn't really know what we would see them do on Saturday, and our D did clean things up in the second half, at least after that opening drive, and it did only give up 6 points (you could argue that it should have been 13, but the point remains). But ... wait, where was I going with this? If you grant all those things, I guess our D played just fine. Bend but don't break was how our defense operated all year last year, and it worked out pretty well for us.

Lack of pressure also had a lot to do with most passes from Temple being quick hitters, where the QB got the ball out of his hands very fast.

 

[stlnd01]

Lack of pressure also had a lot to do with most passes from Temple being quick hitters, where the QB got the ball out of his hands very fast.

Absolutely. But unless our linebackers improve in coverage and our big d-linemen consistently get their hands up, every other decent QB we play will do the same thing.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Absolutely. But unless our linebackers improve in coverage and our big d-linemen consistently get their hands up, every other decent QB we play will do the same thing.

I don't think Reilly's performance will be easy to duplicate for most QBs we face.

 

[T Town Tommy]

The Irish defense made some adjustments at the half to compensate for the Temple QB. I think they did just fine in the second half by controlling their rush and not overplaying... Tuitt did that on a number of plays in the first half.

A dominant DL doesn't have to lead the country in sacks and TFL. They can be just as effective by playing controlled containment, gap control, and timely pressure making the QB decide where to go before he wants to. JMO.

 

[koonja]

The Irish defense made some adjustments at the half to compensate for the Temple QB. I think they did just fine in the second half by controlling their rush and not overplaying... Tuitt did that on a number of plays in the first half.

A dominant DL doesn't have to lead the country in sacks and TFL. They can be just as effective by playing controlled containment, gap control, and timely pressure making the QB decide where to go before he wants to. JMO.

What would a Bama fan know about a dominant DL.

 

[Rack Em]

I don't think Reilly's performance will be easy to duplicate for most QBs we face.

Good point. I've gone back and watched the replay, specifically to watch Reilly and the D because I was too drunk to know what was going on in the 1st half.

Reilly is a smart QB. He took what Diaco gave him and did an excellent job (for a 1st time starter) of reading the blitz and knowing where to put the ball. He just wasn't accurate on longer throws that normally keep the D honest.

When all is said and done, I think he'll be in the top half of all QBs we face this season. Maybe his stats don't stack up because he doesn't have the supporting cast, but he'll pass (kuehnja's) eye test.

 

[Irishman77]

After re watching the game twice and charting the drives without any adrenaline or alcohol I will simply say this:
1. We could have won 70- 0 if we went balls out. We were in the 4 minute offense almost the whole second half. We could score every drive.

2. Every time we brought pressure we dominated. Kelly and Diaco have this team so well coached and trained that we can dial it up and turn it down at will.

We showed nothing , had no injuries, got to see 10 fr play, got our timing down on offense, knocked some rust off on D, kept our team humble, got some valuable coachable tape.

Michigan does not have a chance....ESPN will look awkward trying to explain what just happened.

 

[T Town Tommy]

Good point. I've gone back and watched the replay, specifically to watch Reilly and the D because I was too drunk to know what was going on in the 1st half.

Reilly is a smart QB. He took what Diaco gave him and did an excellent job (for a 1st time starter) of reading the blitz and knowing where to put the ball. He just wasn't accurate on longer throws that normally keep the D honest.

When all is said and done, I think he'll be in the top half of all QBs we face this season. Maybe his stats don't stack up because he doesn't have the supporting cast, but he'll pass (kuehnja's) eye test.

I did feel like ND tipped the blitz way too early and the kid did a great job on many plays reacting to it. I was impressed with him. Maybe against UM, Diaco hesitates on tipping his hand a little.

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

After re watching the game twice and charting the drives without any adrenaline or alcohol I will simply say this:
1. We could have won 70- 0 if we went balls out. We were in the 4 minute offense almost the whole second half. We could score every drive.

2. Every time we brought pressure we dominated. Kelly and Diaco have this team so well coached and trained that we can dial it up and turn it down at will.

We showed nothing , had no injuries, got to see 10 fr play, got our timing down on offense, knocked some rust off on D, kept our team humble, got some valuable coachable tape.

Michigan does not have a chance....ESPN will look awkward trying to explain what just happened.

BK said I believe after the game that they were fine with Temple doing the dunk and dunk because they felt like they could score every time on offense. I agree that every time we brought pressure their OL couldn't handle it.

 

[rocket66]

After re watching the game twice and charting the drives without any adrenaline or alcohol I will simply say this:
1. We could have won 70- 0 if we went balls out. We were in the 4 minute offense almost the whole second half. We could score every drive.

2. Every time we brought pressure we dominated. Kelly and Diaco have this team so well coached and trained that we can dial it up and turn it down at will.

We showed nothing , had no injuries, got to see 10 fr play, got our timing down on offense, knocked some rust off on D, kept our team humble, got some valuable coachable tape.

Michigan does not have a chance....ESPN will look awkward trying to explain what just happened.

Love it.

 

[Rack Em]

I did feel like ND tipped the blitz way too early and the kid did a great job on many plays reacting to it. I was impressed with him. Maybe against UM, Diaco hesitates on tipping his hand a little.

Especially the CB blitz.

 

[wizards8507]

After re watching the game twice and charting the drives without any adrenaline or alcohol I will simply say this:
1. We could have won 70- 0 if we went balls out. We were in the 4 minute offense almost the whole second half. We could score every drive.

That's my gut reaction too, but I can't understand why BK would manage the game that way. He lives in the real world and knows that Oregon and others are going to legitimately blow teams out of the water. Margin of victory could be the tipping point that gets a one-loss team into the NCG or a 2- or 3-loss team into a BCS bowl. It's especially important if you don't have a conference champtionship. If we CAN blow teams away, we SHOULD be.

 

[Irishman77]

That's my gut reaction too, but I can't understand why BK would manage the game that way. He lives in the real world and knows that Oregon and others are going to legitimately blow teams out of the water. Margin of victory could be the tipping point that gets a one-loss team into the NCG or a 2- or 3-loss team into a BCS bowl. It's especially important if you don't have a conference champtionship. If we CAN blow teams away, we SHOULD be.

Margin of victory is something to consider but too costly this early. We have a big personnel change this year and the element of surprise is very valuable. If the season plays out where we need to run it up, we can. However our strength of schedule trumps what Oregon does against some nobody.

 

[NDWorld247]

I did feel like ND tipped the blitz way too early and the kid did a great job on many plays reacting to it. I was impressed with him. Maybe against UM, Diaco hesitates on tipping his hand a little.

The cat and mouse game that both DC's are going to play will be very interesting to watch. I think our QB is better suited to handle it on the fly (i.e. in-drive vs. between possessions).

That's my gut reaction too, but I can't understand why BK would manage the game that way. He lives in the real world and knows that Oregon and others are going to legitimately blow teams out of the water. Margin of victory could be the tipping point that gets a one-loss team into the NCG or a 2- or 3-loss team into a BCS bowl. It's especially important if you don't have a conference champtionship. If we CAN blow teams away, we SHOULD be.

Let's not pretend that we didn't try to score as many points as possible between the start of the game and about 8 min left in the 4th quarter. While we "could" have scored every drive, the reasons we didn't are poor throws by Tommy, an unfortunate injury to Daniels and missed FGs. It's not as if the coaches prevented us from scoring more. It was execution.

Re: the last 8 minutes...we were still trying to score. Hendrix throwing the ball in the endzone with about a minute remaining? As much as I wanted to see us score there, I thought that was unnecessary. Kneel the ball and get out of dodge.

 

[SoDakDomer]

IMHO we will have plenty of opportunities to impress down the road with our schedule. Come end of the year no one is going to look back and say they only beat Temple 28-6. If it was 20-17 like Purdue last year well then yes, but whats the difference between 48-6 and 28-6. The game was never in doubt. If playing it vanilla in the second half helps us beat Michigan I'm all for it.

 

[SoDakDomer]

The cat and mouse game that both DC's are going to play will be very interesting to watch. I think our QB is better suited to handle it on the fly (i.e. in-drive vs. between possessions).



Let's not pretend that we didn't try to score as many points as possible between the start of the game and about 8 min left in the 4th quarter. While we "could" have scored every drive, the reasons we didn't are poor throws by Tommy, an unfortunate injury to Daniels and missed FGs. It's not as if the coaches prevented us from scoring more. It was execution.

Re: the last 8 minutes...we were still trying to score. Hendrix throwing the ball in the endzone with about a minute remaining? As much as I wanted to see us score there, I thought that was unnecessary. Kneel the ball and get out of dodge.

Did anyone else see that after Hendrix threw the fade opposite of robinson(not sure who it was now off the top of my head) I could of swore Kelly mouthed the words "what the F are you doing" I pressumed it was to hendrix? Possibly for audibling to a pass play there or throwing the fade to the other reciever and not Robinson? Just wondering if anyone else saw that or had any insight? Or maybe I'm just imagining things.

 

[NDWorld247]

IMHO we will have plenty of opportunities to impress down the road with our schedule. Come end of the year no one is going to look back and say they only beat Temple 28-6. If it was 20-17 like Purdue last year well then yes, but whats the difference between 48-6 and 28-6. The game was never in doubt. If playing it vanilla in the second half helps us beat Michigan I'm all for it.

I agree 100%. At the end of the year, when the only polls that matter are being contemplated, no one is going to say, "Well, ND only beat Temple by 22 points in Week 1 and Oregon blew out Nichols St, so we're going to give the edge to Oregon". They are going to look at the big boys on our schedule. How did ND handle OSU's common opponents (Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue) or Oregon's (Stanford, USC and ASU)?

Struggling to beat the lower tier teams on our schedule (e.g. 2012 Purdue, BYU and Pitt) may come back to hurt us, but we didn't struggle with Temple so it's a non-factor.

And this discussion is really only important for NCG consideration. As long as we win 10 games we're basically guaranteed a BCS bowl and will very likely be the first at-large team selected regardless of our standing in the polls.

 

[NDWorld247]

Did anyone else see that after Hendrix threw the fade opposite of robinson(not sure who it was now off the top of my head) I could of swore Kelly mouthed the words "what the F are you doing" I pressumed it was to hendrix? Possibly for audibling to a pass play there or throwing the fade to the other reciever and not Robinson? Just wondering if anyone else saw that or had any insight? Or maybe I'm just imagining things.

I didn't see it, but my guess is it was because he didn't throw it to Robinson. At the start of the play I called the fade to Robinson. It was so obvious. When he threw it the other way I'm pretty sure I mouthed the same thing as BK (if he did in fact mouth that).

 

[tko]

Did anyone else see that after Hendrix threw the fade opposite of robinson(not sure who it was now off the top of my head) I could of swore Kelly mouthed the words "what the F are you doing" I pressumed it was to hendrix? Possibly for audibling to a pass play there or throwing the fade to the other reciever and not Robinson? Just wondering if anyone else saw that or had any insight? Or maybe I'm just imagining things.

i was scratching my head as well and mumbling a few words that started with "F" He threw it to Will Fuller.

 

[Irishman77]

.

 

[EmDiggy]

Notre Dame vs Michigan Video Preview

Good afternoon Irish fans! Good luck this week!

Em

 

[JughedJones]

Especially the CB blitz.

This pissed me off more than anything.

You can't show a CB blitz, watch the opposing team check out of it, then continue to run the CB blitz.

We got burned at least 2 times that I remember with that.

Sorry if that's been covered already, but OH MAN did that make me angry.

 

[ulukinatme]

This pissed me off more than anything.

You can't show a CB blitz, watch the opposing team check out of it, then continue to run the CB blitz.

We got burned at least 2 times that I remember with that.

Sorry if that's been covered already, but OH MAN did that make me angry.

Yup, indeed. When my grandfather can catch it from the stands, you know it's a bad idea to go ahead and run with the blitz as planned.

 

[Old Man Mike]

..... unless Diaco just wanted to see how Collinsworth timed it, or just wanted to show it, or didn't believe that the QB was smart enough to move the other direction immediately, or didn't care whether they saw it or not as long as the QB felt he had to get a quick throw away.

You can think a lot of things "experimentally" when you know you're going to win the game. Some such calls in such games are "practice".

 

[dre1919]

Does anybody else feel like Rees has been here for like seven years? I swear the man ages the football program in dog years or something. He's an alright QB at times. His inconsistency is what worries me over the course of a a season.

 

[IrishFaninTX]

That's my gut reaction too, but I can't understand why BK would manage the game that way. He lives in the real world and knows that Oregon and others are going to legitimately blow teams out of the water. Margin of victory could be the tipping point that gets a one-loss team into the NCG or a 2- or 3-loss team into a BCS bowl. It's especially important if you don't have a conference champtionship. If we CAN blow teams away, we SHOULD be.

I truly believe Kelly wanted to play a very conservative game and keep it fairly vanilla because he did not want to give very much away to Michigan. Other than Stanford and OU, I think Michigan is the only team that has a very real chance of beating us. We may lose to a team we shouldn't but UM isn't a shouldn't team. They are a toss up IMO. One of the things that stood out to me that one of the Bama OL said is ND's D was very easy to scheme against because it was so simple. So I believe that Diaco and Kelly wanted to make it seem like our D was very plain and "easy" for Michigan to plan for but in reality, we didn't show more than a quarter (if that) of what we will be doing on D this weekend. Make them think that losing Manti is such a huge loss that our LB's are lost without him and same with the safeties without Zeke. I'm not saying he told the players to miss tackles or anything like that but that they didn't play to some of our players best abilities and maybe that was by design. Kelly is a smart guy and it wouldn't surprise me at all if they wanted to keep some defensive secrets for Michigan.