Post Game Observations.......

[BMT]

Agree, we need Jaylon to blitz more so we wont get juked by the qb always like Ishaq and Tuitt.

 

[FearTheBeard]

Agree, we need Jaylon to blitz more so we wont get juked by the qb always like Ishaq and Tuitt.

I really like this, Jaylon is a good pass rusher too. I know each OLB has different roles but i feel like we gotta switch it up and get creative. Maybe we werent gonna show our cards till Meatchicken but i want to see us get creative

 

[Wild Bill]

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

We're a step lower, I agree. We're not weaker. Their line play isn't impressive and the tackling is a joke. I have yet to see a Georgia defender wrap up a ball carrier.

 

[palinurus]

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

Yes and no. They are fast as hell, and the QBs are good, but their defenses miss tons of tackles, and the defensive front sevens of both teams constantly are either suckered or blown out of position. Completely unimpressive defenses; it hasn't simply been great offenses. But speed kills, it's true.

 

[NDinFL]

I really like this, Jaylon is a good pass rusher too. I know each OLB has different roles but i feel like we gotta switch it up and get creative. Maybe we werent gonna show our cards till Meatchicken but i want to see us get creative

I tend to agree with this.

Today's game reminded me a lot of the BC game last year.

 

[NDWorld247]

Agree, we need Jaylon to blitz more so we wont get juked by the qb always like Ishaq and Tuitt.

It seemed every time we blitzed Jaylon, we also sent someone else outside of him. Jaylon would get swallowed up by the tackle and the outside guy would apply some pressure. I was actually surprised with how much we blitzed Jaylon. I noticed it three times. I don't recall Spond blitzing that much last year.

 

[CanadalovesND]

[/B]

I tend to agree with this.

Today's game reminded me a lot of the BC game last year.

Totally agree with that. Just like Temple, BC was able to move the ball on us last season, not great, but well enough to really irk me lol

And, that was a game we really should have put up more than 21 points considering they were a Keuchly-less defence

 

[Whiskeyjack]

For those who haven't looked at the stats, "Tommy played well" is a bit of an understatement. He went 16/23 (70%) for 346 yards and 3 TDs; that's 15 YPA. Temple was using the patented "Tommy Rees Defense" from 2011, which meant lots of man-coverage on 1st and 2nd down. Needless to say, Tommy made them pay in ways he couldn't do two years ago, which bodes very well for us going forward.

As others have said, WRs looked great. I can buy the "addition by subtraction" argument re Eifert/ security blanket now.

OL looked good in pass protection and blocking on outside runs, but why couldn't we get anything going between the tackles? Several drives stalled as a result. I think Temple is better than many of us had anticipated, but if we can't effectively run inside against them, what are we going to do against the elite DLs we face later this year?

As NDWorld247 pointed out, Reilly played out of his mind for a 1st year starter, but he still only completed 50% of his passes at 5 YPA. Rhule also had a great game-plan; lots of quick play-action throws against our ILBs and screens to neutralize our pass rush. I'd like to think our disappointing performance was largely the result of our staff having no film on them and Rhule scheming well.

The biggest problem I saw, which Mayock commented on several times, was the inability of our LBs to properly diagnose play-action. They bit on it hard all day long, which is why they looked "poor in space". Gardner is going to feast on us if they don't get that figured out over the next week.

And how did we give up 4.6 YPC against Temple? Sloppy, head-scratching performance from our front-seven. The talent is there, and they should be as good or better than last year. Maybe there's some unwritten rule that ND has to play poorly in its first home game every year.

Who'd have thought our STs could get even worse? GAIII averaged 20 yards/ return on 2 opportunities, TJ averaged 7.7 yards/ return on 3 returns, and Brindza averaged 41.2 yards on 5 punts (including 2 TBs). All of those stats would have put us in the bottom quartile for Division I last year.

What to do about place kicking? Brindza's got the leg, and did a great job last year, but is Punting, Kick-offs, and Place kicking too much to put on his plate? Can't afford to miss a FG against the skunkbears.

 

[NDWorld247]

For those who haven't looked at the stats, "Tommy played well" is a bit of an understatement. He went 16/23 (70%) for 346 yards and 3 TDs; that's 15 YPA. Temple was using the patented "Tommy Rees Defense" from 2011, which meant lots of man-coverage on 1st and 2nd down. Needless to say, Tommy made them pay in ways he couldn't do two years ago, which bodes very well for us going forward.

I'd like to hear from our resident expert on QB play. Any thoughts, Lax?

Whiskey, were you surprised with how little 12 personnel we played with? I noticed it a few times, but I'd put the percentage around 20%.

And, I'm going to watch the game again, but I think we were in the PISTOL 60+% of the time. That's a pretty significant development for our offense and I'm surprised no one is talking about it.

 

[greyhammer90]

I'd like to hear from our resident expert on QB play. Any thoughts, Lax?

Whiskey, were you surprised with how little 12 personnel we played with? I noticed it a few times, but I'd put the percentage around 20%.

And, I'm going to watch the game again, but I think we were in the PISTOL 60+% of the time. That's a pretty significant development for our offense and I'm surprised no one is talking about it.

I honestly wouldn't be suprised if we just did that to give Michigan a lot to practice against next weekend.

All of the sudden you've got to scheme the pistol? In a week? Annoying and time consuming at the least.

 

[NDWorld247]

I honestly wouldn't be suprised if we just did that to give Michigan a lot to practice against next weekend.

All of the sudden you've got to scheme the pistol? In a week? Annoying and time consuming at the least.

I don't disagree we may have ran it so much this week to a.) give Michigan more to think about and b.) hide some of our other stuff, but I also think we're seeing the evolution of Brian Kelly and the Pistol will play a significant role in our offense all season.

 

[WakeUpEchoes]

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

I was at the scUM game (don't ask). Just finished watching ND game, and couldn't agree more with the analysis here. Was not impressed with our LBs in space. Carlo is so slow. Grace was meh. Also Shumate looked lost.

Gardner had serious problems going through his progressions today. The first two TDs were basically Gardner trying to find an open receiver, second guessing himself, then running or hitting a WR on a play breakdown. It reminded me of Tebow trying to read a defense and make a pass but just not being able to.

Norfleet is fast as **** and can make big plays. Other than him they have serious lack of depth at the WR position. I also saw Joe Reynolds go down and am not sure whether he came back or if he suffered an injury. All in all Gardner reminded me a lot of Denard. They also ran some designed QB draws.

 

[NDPhilly]

I think it's very possible we convert into a total pistol offense with a mobile QB like Golson or Zaire next year.

 

[Mavericknyc1980]

Liked McDaniel and Rees. Concerned about kicking

 

[Luckylucci]

It seemed every time we blitzed Jaylon, we also sent someone else outside of him. Jaylon would get swallowed up by the tackle and the outside guy would apply some pressure. I was actually surprised with how much we blitzed Jaylon. I noticed it three times. I don't recall Spond blitzing that much last year.

Your right, we did blitz him a lot but we always brought a safety on his outside and that forced him inside. I think it was playing it safe in case he made a mistake but his pass rush in based off speed not power so forcing him inside was not the right choice. Personally after watching it a second time and speeding through it, we played a lot of young guys and to get them game experience and that probably had a lot to do with the vanilla performance. There is a lot of talent but I will say that if we played UGA or Clemson tonight I don't think we win. In a few games maybe but not tonight.

 

[irisheyes]

Ill toss my .02 in. To be honest i was expecting a lot more, especially with the defense. We were the top defense in the nation last year, until the ncg. We didnt allow a rushing td until the ncg. This year we gave up one in the first game to temple. Last year notre dame seemed to allow the short passes but when they got into the redzone they were a brick wall. Today not so much. A freshman qb should not be that good his first game against nd. Temple isnt good. There were a couple of plays that nd corners got beat and should of resulted in tds but he over threw them. With a better qb that stuff cant happen. The special teams has been and still is a joke, i think we may have even got worse. I think tommy reese is better as two minute tommy then he is full game tommy. 2 quick tds and then what? I dont believe BK dropped the throttles down either. Im also not a fan of cam. He kind of reminds me of a rudy story. Against temple sure but i dont think hes all that great. I was excited about the other rb's though. They looked really promising

I also watched the bama game and thought they looked pretty flat too. But like others have said if notre dame would of started the season with a game like clemson vs georgia. I would bet we would be 0-1 this evening. I hope to God that i am wrong. Ive drank the kool aid, im not sure i can go back to another season with out a ncg. Before i was use to being irrelevant, now that ive had a taste of being #1 i dont think i can go back.

 

[Eddie.Smith Irish]

Ill toss my .02 in. To be honest i was expecting a lot more, especially with the defense. We were the top defense in the nation last year, until the ncg. We didnt allow a rushing td until the ncg. This year we gave up one in the first game to temple. Last year notre dame seemed to allow the short passes but when they got into the redzone they were a brick wall. Today not so much. A freshman qb should not be that good his first game against nd. Temple isnt good. There were a couple of plays that nd corners got beat and should of resulted in tds but he over threw them. With a better qb that stuff cant happen. The special teams has been and still is a joke, i think we may have even got worse. I think tommy reese is better as two minute tommy then he is full game tommy. 2 quick tds and then what? I dont believe BK dropped the throttles down either. Im also not a fan of cam. He kind of reminds me of a rudy story. Against temple sure but i dont think hes all that great. I was excited about the other rb's though. They looked really promising

I also watched the bama game and thought they looked pretty flat too. But like others have said if notre dame would of started the season with a game like clemson vs georgia. I would bet we would be 0-1 this evening. I hope to God that i am wrong. Ive drank the kool aid, im not sure i can go back to another season with out a ncg. Before i was use to being irrelevant, now that ive had a taste of being #1 i dont think i can go back.

.

 

[Butchie]

I want to be short & sweet, but on point. Reese = Pleasant surprise (as he let go of the first TD to DD I screamed Touchdown Tommy. This is an upgrade from Turnover Tommy that I had previously named him. I supporting our boy with positive reinforcement. This better work). O-Line = Not bad, but some missed assignments kept the game close, by giving them the ball back. WR look so different than I expected. Watch out NCAA. Running backs = Folston & Bryan are the real deal. Get them in there and don't look back (except to find Carlisle as an outlet, this guy is nice). D-Line = Something was up here. Too many 3 man rushes. They did not show scUM nothing . . .GOOD (I think). LB's = Slow, bit on the play action everytime. GD get your head outta your keester, son. DB's = This is a serious problem. They did not look great. They did not look aweful. But please understand. Gardner is a different quarterback. He will be the best we see probably all year. He is really that good. Dual threat. A real dual threat. Not like a Denard Robinson poser of a dual threat, but a real dual threat. If you think these DB's will be OK the way they looked, with little to no front four pressure, you are way off the mark. Gardner is that good. He will be the best we see all year. I hate scUM with all I have in me. ALL I HAVE IN ME. I NEED THIS WIN. PLEASE GOD SEND BOB DIACO THE INSIGHTS TO OVER COME! PLEASE GOD SEND CHUCK MARTIN THE INSIGHT TO OVER COME! AND LORD PLEASE LORD FIND FAVOR IN YOUR HEART FOR BRIAN KELLY TO OVER COME THE LEADERSHIP & MOTIVATION OF ONE MATT FOLEY! AND PLEASE GOD . . . . . CARRY THE IRISH IN YOUR HAND! AMEN.

 

[CanadalovesND]

Ill toss my .02 in. To be honest i was expecting a lot more, especially with the defense. We were the top defense in the nation last year, until the ncg. We didnt allow a rushing td until the ncg. This year we gave up one in the first game to temple. Last year notre dame seemed to allow the short passes but when they got into the redzone they were a brick wall. Today not so much. A freshman qb should not be that good his first game against nd. Temple isnt good. There were a couple of plays that nd corners got beat and should of resulted in tds but he over threw them. With a better qb that stuff cant happen. The special teams has been and still is a joke, i think we may have even got worse. I think tommy reese is better as two minute tommy then he is full game tommy. 2 quick tds and then what? I dont believe BK dropped the throttles down either. Im also not a fan of cam. He kind of reminds me of a rudy story. Against temple sure but i dont think hes all that great. I was excited about the other rb's though. They looked really promising

I also watched the bama game and thought they looked pretty flat too. But like others have said if notre dame would of started the season with a game like clemson vs georgia. I would bet we would be 0-1 this evening. I hope to God that i am wrong. Ive drank the kool aid, im not sure i can go back to another season with out a ncg. Before i was use to being irrelevant, now that ive had a taste of being #1 i dont think i can go back.

Corrections

1) We gave up our first rushing TD to PITT's Ray Graham last year

2) Not a freshman. Experience wise he might as well have been, but he's a junior

3) Brindza still trying to work out punting. The FG misses; Brindza's was a 43 yarder and those are missable. Tausch's he just hit the ball in a bad spot. And we at least had a return game with T.J as a returner so it aint worse.

 

[koonja]

Ill toss my .02 in. To be honest i was expecting a lot more, especially with the defense. We were the top defense in the nation last year, until the ncg. We didnt allow a rushing td until the ncg. This year we gave up one in the first game to temple. Last year notre dame seemed to allow the short passes but when they got into the redzone they were a brick wall. Today not so much. A freshman qb should not be that good his first game against nd. Temple isnt good. There were a couple of plays that nd corners got beat and should of resulted in tds but he over threw them. With a better qb that stuff cant happen. The special teams has been and still is a joke, i think we may have even got worse. I think tommy reese is better as two minute tommy then he is full game tommy. 2 quick tds and then what? I dont believe BK dropped the throttles down either. Im also not a fan of cam. He kind of reminds me of a rudy story. Against temple sure but i dont think hes all that great. I was excited about the other rb's though. They looked really promising

I also watched the bama game and thought they looked pretty flat too. But like others have said if notre dame would of started the season with a game like clemson vs georgia. I would bet we would be 0-1 this evening. I hope to God that i am wrong. Ive drank the kool aid, im not sure i can go back to another season with out a ncg. Before i was use to being irrelevant, now that ive had a taste of being #1 i dont think i can go back.

IDK how you can be anything but thrilled from what you saw from Tommy. And I'm his biggest hater.

 

[CanadalovesND]

IDK how you can be anything but thrilled from what you saw from Tommy. And I'm his biggest hater.

Agreed. Even tho it was against Temple, threw most yards, TD's (I believe?), and best passer rating of his career.

Also had a strong completion % and NO FREAKIN' TURNOVERS!

 

[irisheyes]

.

What would you like me to compare notre dames game to? The blue gold game? Well in that case im disappointed they didnt get louis nix the ball more.

 

[KPENN]

Ill toss my .02 in. To be honest i was expecting a lot more, especially with the defense. We were the top defense in the nation last year, until the ncg. We didnt allow a rushing td until the ncg

People that were expecting a lot more were setting themselves up for disappointment. Also this defense isn't gonna be as good as last year, also they gave up a rush TD to OU.

I Last year notre dame seemed to allow the short passes but when they got into the redzone they were a brick wall. Today not so much.

They scored 1 touchdown, yet they weren't a brick wall?

A freshman qb should not be that good his first game against nd.

He's young and had nothing to lose, he played alright but i wouldn't say he had that good of a game.

There were a couple of plays that nd corners got beat and should of resulted in tds but he over threw them. With a better qb that stuff cant happen.

But he didn't so yeah.

I think tommy reese is better as two minute tommy then he is full game tommy. 2 quick tds and then what?

If you are gonna rip him spell his name right and he was the least of the worries he played well.

Im also not a fan of cam. He kind of reminds me of a rudy story. Against temple sure but i dont think hes all that great. I was excited about the other rb's though. They looked really promising

Right now you are complaining to complain.

I also watched the bama game and thought they looked pretty flat too. But like others have said if notre dame would of started the season with a game like clemson vs georgia. I would bet we would be 0-1 this evening. I hope to God that i am wrong.

Which is why you schedule a game like this and why I give Georgia and Clemson a ton of credit for what they did tonight, but at the same time if ND was playing someone else, I feel like you would have seen a different team.

Ive drank the kool aid, im not sure i can go back to another season with out a ncg. Before i was use to being irrelevant, now that ive had a taste of being #1 i dont think i can go back.

Now this is ridiculous. I think as of now Notre Dame is back to top 10-12 status, but your expectations are just dumb.

 

[koonja]

If I'm Kelly, I'm seriously considering cross training Councell at MLB. They were non-existent, and with Councell as the 2nd Dog with a solid Romeo behind, what do you have to lose.

 

[Luckylucci]

Corrections

1) We gave up our first rushing TD to PITT's Ray Graham last year

2) Not a freshman. Experience wise he might as well have been, but he's a junior

3) Brindza still trying to work out punting. The FG misses; Brindza's was a 43 yarder and those are missable. Tausch's he just hit the ball in a bad spot. And we at least had a return game with T.J as a returner so it aint worse.

That last part scares me. Tausch brutally murder that ball and mayock said he was doing that during warmups regularly. So our punter has to be our FG as well. Don't like it. Tausch's kick was one of the worst i've ever seen from a 5th year scholarship FG kicker.

 

[KPENN]

Corrections

1) We gave up our first rushing TD to PITT's Ray Graham last year

2) Not a freshman. Experience wise he might as well have been, but he's a junior

3) Brindza still trying to work out punting. The FG misses; Brindza's was a 43 yarder and those are missable. Tausch's he just hit the ball in a bad spot. And we at least had a return game with T.J as a returner so it aint worse.

Nope. Blake Bell at OU

 

[WakeUpEchoes]

If I'm Kelly, I'm seriously considering cross training Councell at MLB. They were non-existent, and with Councell as the 2nd Dog with a solid Romeo behind, what do you have to lose.

In place of who atMLB? Not bitching just asking.

As for theTemple overthrown balls that COULD have been TDs: stop. There will be overthrown balls every game. Those needed to have been absolutely perfect throws on a dime. Mayock even said so. At this level there aren't too many qbs that can drop those passes.

 

[Luckylucci]

If I'm Kelly, I'm seriously considering cross training Councell at MLB. They were non-existent, and with Councell as the 2nd Dog with a solid Romeo behind, what do you have to lose.

Now this is an interesting convo. Carlo led the team in tackles but was never in the right spot, IMO. Not sure how that happened but I am equally upset with the MLB play.

 

[KPENN]

Hmmm, look pretty similar aside from final score.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Navy Midshipmen - Box Score - September 01, 2012 - ESPN

Temple Owls vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Box Score - August 31, 2013 - ESPN

 

[CanadalovesND]

Nope. Blake Bell at OU

Ohh that's right, sorry, for some reason i thought we played Pitt then OU then BYU. Thanks for the correction Kumar (Kal Penn = KPENN, ya?)