Post Game Observations.......

[amgarvey]

I have no problem with your opinion and I hope to God that you're right and I'm wrong, but I totally disagree.

It definitely seems that way, but we've got plenty of speed. I think its a matter of perception due to the way NBC and ESPN shoot their broadcasts. ESPN shoots their games very differently. All their shots are much tighter than NBC which favors much wider shots.

 

[cody1smith]

Luke was beat on most plays that I could see him on. Had a nice tackle but seemed a step behind.

 

[enrico514]

It definitely seems that way, but we've got plenty of speed. I think its a matter of perception due to the way NBC and ESPN shoot their broadcasts. ESPN shoots their games very differently. All their shots are much tighter than NBC which favors much wider shots.

Personally I always preferred the way ESPN shoots their broadcasts!

 

[Damion704]

Is anyone else watching Clemson/Georgia and thinking "Holy **** they're faster than us." ?

YES

 

[NDWorld247]

I haven't read through the thread so forgive me if these thoughts have already been addressed...

1. Did we run the pistol the entire game? I really liked it.

2. Who would have thought after game one everyone would be comfortable with Tommy and concerned with our defense?

3. The Temple QB played the game of his life, and he still only completed 50% of his passes. However, I think our defense will be susceptible to a mobile QB. He really hurt us when he took off and ran. Off the top of my head, Gardner (UM), Kelly (ASU) and Hogan (Stanford) are mobile QBs that may give us some trouble.

4. I was disappointed BK took his foot off the pedal in the 4th. There's no reason ND shouldn't have covered.

5. We have a lot of playmakers on offense. That's exciting.

 

[Eddie.Smith Irish]

A compelling game on many different levels.

*Tommy was Tommy.... Good and bad. He'll be fine and I don't think he'll kill us. Kelly's comment about him getting outside of the pocket made me laugh. He'd struggle in a race with a sleeping sloth. Overall, a good game. Made some nice plays and liked the way he was checking down on receivers.

WR and RB.... Excellent day. We can shuttle guys in and out and not miss a beat. I'm excited at these skill positions.

OL.... Clearly, the strength of the team. enough said

DB's.... Did it seem that they were picking on Bennett Jackson today a lot? I'd of thought they'd go at Russell but it is what it is I guess. Not bad. Farley was caught out of position WAY TOO MANY TIMES. As a whole, I thought the safety play was pretty bad.

DL.... Did they even show up? Tuitt had a nice sack, Day did well at times and Lou was being manhandled by 3 guys on every snap, but if he's eating up 3 blocks, what the hell is everyone else doing??? That all leads into my next thought....

LB's....I love these guys, and one is from my hometown, but Calabresse and Fox are out of their element. OMG, are they playing in quicksand or concrete? On top of that, I watched Carlo 3 times go for knock out tackles and the runner/receiver completely brushed it off. Williams over-pursues everything and takes himself out of most plays leaving the edge open for a scrambling qb or rb off tackle on his side. Jaylon is going to be a player. He's gotten his feet wet and will improve. Grace....The jury is out on this one. Give him an incomplete. Made a nice tackle, but looked like he was thinking vs. playing.

Special Teams.... I'm gonna need somemore brew before I even attempt to break down that abortion.

Don't know if this was touched on yet, but...

Tommy is 15 and 4 as a starter.

Go Irish.

 

[amgarvey]

Personally I always preferred the way ESPN shoots their broadcasts!

Oh for sure, its much more dynamic.

 

[ScooterIrish]

It definitely seems that way, but we've got plenty of speed. I think its a matter of perception due to the way NBC and ESPN shoot their broadcasts. ESPN shoots their games very differently. All their shots are much tighter than NBC which favors much wider shots.

Yes. Nfl games look the same too. We have more nfl talent on defense than Clemson and probably uga, so speed isn't an issue.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

I'm on my phone so I won't go into detail on stuff, but I'd like to remind everyone what we looked like for the first home game last year
We played like hot garbage against Purdue. I'm not happy with how we played, but next week is a whole new opportunity

 

[NDinFL]

I'm on my phone so I won't go into detail on stuff, but I'd like to remind everyone what we looked like for the first home game last year
We played like hot garbage against Purdue. I'm not happy with how we played, but next week is a whole new opportunity

Bingo.

Skunkbears didn't impress me either. They played central Michigan.

Needless over reactions should be avoided

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

I was really impressed with Stanley on the line. He looked like the best lineman out there today.

 

[NDWorld247]

I was really impressed with Stanley on the line. He looked like the best lineman out there today.

That's aggressive.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

3rd downs were brutal today. Tommy was overthrowing everyone. Tommy played well, but we need to build the offense around the run. We can go 5 or 6 deep at RB and the line is looking great. Carlisle needs more touches.

 

[cody1smith]

I was really impressed with Stanley on the line. He looked like the best lineman out there today.

Easy there big guy.

 

[Mattmags]

-Rees looked great. Made just a couple bad passes, but overall an A performance.

-DD and TJ looked excellent. I think they are 2 guys we can count on in every game this season.

-Why didn't Robinson get a look on the last couple plays of the game? Give the freshman some confidence!

-Kudos to the Temple QB. Played a very good game for his first start. His mobility is what made the ND defensive line look a bit more average. Hopefully Malik Zaire is healthy enough this week to play the UM quarterback in practices. ND will give up a couple big QB runs, but must CONTAIN instead of run at full speed and whiff

-Carlisle did look much more like and every down back than GAIII.

-Bryant and Folston don't physically looks like freshman. Wow those guys are big!

-Cam was Cam today. You can never question his toughness.

-I agree that ND was cognizant of running a very basic playbook today. It will increase much more against UM.

-Yes, we should have scored more points, but who cares? 500+ yards of offense is always nice.

-Niklas has improved so much on his blocking over the years. Kudos to him for handling the basics of the TE job.

-Ronnie Stanley looks like a very promising player. He's sure to make some mistakes through the season, but he looks to also have a good hold on his position.

-NO TURNOVERS

-I am so glad that Mike Mayock stressed his frustration with ND punting. In all my years of watching football, punting the ball into the end zone is my BIGGEST pet peeve. YOU DON'T HAVE TO AIM FOR THE 1 YARD LINE!!!! JUST AIM FOR THE 10-15 YARD STRIPE!

-I didn't see the Michigan game today, but I think the game next week will be a nailbiter as always. Contain at put pressure on the QB and I think ND wins.

 

[magogian]

From the other post-game thread

OFFENSE
QB - Tommy did great. NO TURNOVERS! Granted, it was against Temple, but the no turnovers was a great sign. He showed some decent arm strength. If we made a statement tonight on offense, it was that Tommy and our WRs do pose a legitimate deep threat.

WRs - ballers. DD looked like he was playing against high school players. He would have easily had a 3rd TD if he didn't have to pull up because of that groin injury. TJ did great also. Showed good speed and agility. And Chris Brown! He played like a legit BCS WR, and that one catch over the DB was fantastic.

OL -- Great job in pass protection and on outside runs. But, wtf, where were the holes for the inside runs. Stanley is legit.

TE -- only really noticed Niklas, but mannnn. He showed legit speed and good hands on that TD run.

RBs - Amir, wow! Once he gets more settled down, watch out! I just don't think he can be our between the tackles runner. GAIII did ok. Cam did ok. I think Bryant and Folston had our best inside runs of the day. Folston is already 205+. Both looked great. Barring injury, etc., we are set at RB for years.

DEFENSE:
DL -- ehh. Nix was double-teamed almost the whole night. So, I expected more from Day and Tuitt.

LBs -- Ugh. Not impressed. Carlo is a complete liability in space. Fox is OK. Both Carlo and Fox ended up with 9 tackles, but I don't see how. Shembo didn't do much. I didn't see JS on much (but to be expected from a true freshman and partly because of his position).

Secondary -- played ok. Collingsworth did not look athletic enough out there. He was getting beaten badly by their skill players. I was surprised also with Shumate. He has the athleticism, but it didn't seem to show. Frankly, that second safety spot seems like a weakness. Farley was fine. Same with Russel and Jackson. I like they were getting Cole Luke involved.

General thoughts:
Offense -- chunk plays! What I really liked about our big plays is that they seemed to be the kind of plays that are repeatable against better teams. Sure, maybe DD isn't beating his guy by 5 yards, but even against a good team, he is probably beating his guy by a yard or two.

Defense -- that damn play action pass! If we don't play significantly better on those plays (and better scheme!), Gardner is going to kill us with those types of plays.

Overall -- not the prettiest win. Temple got wayyyyy too many yards. But saw some good stuff. Michigan will be a tough game. Frankly, I feel its 50/50.

 

[cody1smith]

3rd downs were brutal today. Tommy was overthrowing everyone. Tommy played well, but we need to build the offense around the run. We can go 5 or 6 deep at RB and the line is looking great. Carlisle needs more touches.

See I also feel that we have the potential to have a strong running game. Key word is potential from what we have witnessed so far our passing game seemed more consistent than the run.
Amir is electric but can he take 15 carries a game against a bigger stronger faster D?
Cam is not athletically gifted enough to take meaningful carries against better teams.
GA3 still needs technique work.
Freshman are freshman
Seemed to me like we have a capable quarterback and 3 solid receivers. Now I know that without play action and the running game you cant thrive in the air. Passing seemed to be our strong suit.

 

[palinurus]

Bingo.

Skunkbears didn't impress me either. They played central Michigan.

Needless over reactions should be avoided

Did you see much of the Michigan game? I'm interested in an objective appraisal. The talking heads are pretty worthless.

 

[Irishman77]

Stanley looked as good or better than Lombard and that's it. The Martins and Watt are nfl grade.

Reality check on Rees though. He was somewhat accurate but all floaters. Everything is finesse. We may be ok with this as he good awareness.

We had emotion tuned to around 2 on the dial the whole game. Next week we will hopefully have it cranked up. That is my only concern....no emotion!

 

[Sherm Sticky]

I was really impressed with Stanley on the line. He looked like the best lineman out there today.

Stanley played a really good game for his first start. But, having said that Martin and Watts played better.

 

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

It wasn't a pretty win, but it's a win. Must play better if we're going to win next week. I'm optimistic.

 

[kmoose]

Reality check on Rees though. He was somewhat accurate but all floaters. Everything is finesse. We may be ok with this as he good awareness.

Reality check on Rees: both of his long TD passes were excellent passes; they came out on time, they did NOT float, and they were accurately thrown!

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Reality check on Rees: both of his long TD passes were excellent passes; they came out on time, they did NOT float, and they were accurately thrown!

I agree with this. Also he would have had a 4th TD if Daniels didn't pull up.

 

[fightingirish26]

Is anyone else watching Clemson/Georgia and thinking "Holy **** they're faster than us." ?

Yes

 

[NDinFL]

Did you see much of the Michigan game? I'm interested in an objective appraisal. The talking heads are pretty worthless.

I did.

Their first TD was off of a blocked punt.

Gardner threw 2 picks to CMU.

Honestly, the score looks crazy, but I think it was more a story of how bad CMU was and not how good UM is

 

[fightingirish26]

Criticisms:

Atkinson is not a running back

Dline did not contain very well

Mlbs are bad in space

Safeties are a concern well see if they improve next week

Kickers had a bad day

Brindza needs to gain finesse as a punter. I'm all for brindza being the pk and having maybe wulfeck as the punter

Not concerned about qb or wr or the oline

Dline should be okay along with the corners.

Jaylon should grow throughout the season would like to see him rush the passer

BEAT MICHIGAN

 

[TheChosen1]

I did.

Their first TD was off of a blocked punt.

Gardner threw 2 picks to CMU.

Honestly, the score looks crazy, but I think it was more a story of how bad CMU was and not how good UM is

Beautiful post

 

[palinurus]

I did.

Their first TD was off of a blocked punt.

Gardner threw 2 picks to CMU.

Honestly, the score looks crazy, but I think it was more a story of how bad CMU was and not how good UM is

Thanks. Yes, I now see that CM was predicted to be in the bottom third of the MAC (and Temple is predicted to be at the bottom of the AAC). I'm really most worried about (1) getting a pass rush on, but containing, Gardner and (2) not turning the ball over.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

No way we stack up against the teams playing tonight. Still too slow and weak.

 

[NDinFL]

Thanks. Yes, I now see that CM was predicted to be in the bottom third of the MAC (and Temple is predicted to be at the bottom of the AAC). I'm really most worried about (1) getting a pass rush on, but containing, Gardner and (2) not turning the ball over.

Agree.

As shaky as our LB's were today, them and the DE's seem like they'll do a good job of keeping contain on Gardner.

If we make him beat us with his arm, it really doesn't frighten me