Post Game Observations....

[Irishpinoy]

Granted that today's games are not figured in yet, but this offense IS very good. #23 in Total offense, after the first week, with 543 yards per game. They put up over 400 tonight, as well. But you want to turn the offense over to a true freshman, after just 2 weeks? #smh

He's effective but there's nothing exciting about him. He doesn't have what it takes to take ND to another level. Seems like he's playing not to lose instead of taking charge and winning the game.

 

[pkt77242]

Solid move banning this guy, Mods. This comment cracked me up though. Who writes stuff like this on the internet?

I thought he was going to pull a Jack Nicholson on me.

You Fucked With The Wrong Marine Sound Clip and Quote - Hark

 

[kmoose]

For some perspective.........


ND put up 543 yards against Temple, and 410 against Michigan, for a 2 week total of 953 yards. That's an average of 477 yards per game. I know it is only two weeks, but if the offense were to keep that pace all season? Based on last year's final rankings, 477 yards per game would have this offense ranked in the 15, 16, 17 range. So the offense is NOT a giant problem, at this point. Giving up 41 points IS a giant problem.

 

[Kak7304]

He's effective but there's nothing exciting about him. He doesn't have what it takes to take ND to another level. Seems like he's playing not to lose instead of taking charge and winning the game.

The defense is supposed to be the strength of this team and we should only have to ask him to be a game manager. The D gave up 41 today after averaging 10 a game last year. This is on their shoulders.

 

[Emcee77]

Rees was not the problem. We put up 30 points. The problem was that we gave up 41.

Gardner just played a great game. He is relatively inexperienced as a full time starter and we obviously thought we could force him into mistakes with pressure. We didn't. He handled our pressure with the poise of a more experienced player. Kelly and Diaco are kicking themselves tonight for picking the wrong strategy. I give Gardner credit for the win and look forward to next week.

 

[KPENN]

He's effective but there's nothing exciting about him. He doesn't have what it takes to take ND to another level. Seems like he's playing not to lose instead of taking charge and winning the game.

He's the best option right now by far. People that wanna burn Malik's red shirt or start Hendrix are out of their freaking minds.

 

[NDWorld247]

Rees was not the problem. We put up 30 points. The problem was that we gave up 41.

Gardner just played a great game. He is relatively inexperienced as a full time starter and we obviously thought we could force him into mistakes with pressure. We didn't. He handled our pressure with the poise of a more experienced player. Kelly and Diaco are kicking themselves tonight for picking the wrong strategy. I give Gardner credit for the win and look forward to next week.

He had 3-4 throw aways and 2-3 ridiculous completions under duress that were really impressive.

 

[pkt77242]

He's the best option right now by far. People that wanna burn Malik's red shirt or start Hendrix are out of their freaking minds.

^This

 

[pkt77242]

For some perspective.........


ND put up 543 yards against Temple, and 410 against Michigan, for a 2 week total of 953 yards. That's an average of 477 yards per game. I know it is only two weeks, but if the offense were to keep that pace all season? Based on last year's final rankings, 477 yards per game would have this offense ranked in the 15, 16, 17 range. So the offense is NOT a giant problem, at this point. Giving up 41 points IS a giant problem.

Hey now, no stats allowed. Why would we ever let facts get in the way of our opinions.

 

[stlnd01]

For some perspective.........


ND put up 543 yards against Temple, and 410 against Michigan, for a 2 week total of 953 yards. That's an average of 477 yards per game. I know it is only two weeks, but if the offense were to keep that pace all season? Based on last year's final rankings, 477 yards per game would have this offense ranked in the 15, 16, 17 range. So the offense is NOT a giant problem, at this point. Giving up 41 points IS a giant problem.

Exactly.
With our defense, 30 points should be enough to win (how many times did we give up 30 last year? Twice?). Tommy Rees is who he is. If we need him to score 40, we're going to lose several more games. And maybe we should run a bit more than we did tonight. But he's easily our best option at QB at this point.

 

[Kak7304]

Will Zaire be better than a returning Golson next year? We'll have to wait and see....

I think Golson will win the job, but is rather have three years of Zaire after Golson rather than two.

 

[Irishpinoy]

He's the best option right now by far. People that wanna burn Malik's red shirt or start Hendrix are out of their freaking minds.

I understand he's our best option and it's kinda scary if he goes down and all we have is Hendrix. Why not give Malik experience now like Weiss did to Clausen during his freshman year. I know Clausen got killed but he turned out pretty good after that. Just a thought.

 

[Bluto]

with how bad our D has been theyll score 38 on us

Negative. They played both QB's and they were baaaad. Like 2007 ND bad. Haha. Our D will score more than their O.

 

[KPENN]

I understand he's our best option and it's kinda scary if he goes down and all we have is Hendrix. Why not give Malik experience now like Weiss did to Clausen during his freshman year. I know Clausen got killed but he turned out pretty good after that. Just a thought.

2 totally different situations,Tommy is better then anything we had that year. Clausen was also the #1 player in high school, and was way better then Malik out of high school. Plus the offense was so inept the first game, which is not the case this year.

 

[Kak7304]

He's the best option right now by far. People that wanna burn Malik's red shirt or start Hendrix are out of their freaking minds.

I'm jumping on the Luke Massa bandwagon. QB temporarily playing WR and moving back worked for UM so why not us?

 

[ulukinatme]

Anyone that thinks benching Tommy right now is a good idea...you would be in for a rude awakening with our other options. I just don't think Hendrix has gotten it at the next level, and while Malik will be good in the future I just don't see him throwing for 300+ yards like Tommy did today. Tommy wasn't perfect, but he played pretty well and good enough to win. Giving up 41 points is not good enough by a long shot.

 

[IrishMoore1]

Tommy played outstanding except for the interception. Who knows how many plays he changed at the line of scrimmage.

The DEFENSE is the problem. 41 points.

 

[Irishpinoy]

2 totally different situations,Tommy is better then anything we had that year. Clausen was also the #1 player in high school, and was way better then Malik out of high school. Plus the offense was so inept the first game, which is not the case this year.

I don't mean to start Malik over Tommy. But I'd like to see him play some downs to give the offense a different look. It's really limiting when your QB is not mobile.

 

[nsideirish]

**** Michigan

 

[BGIF]

I don't mean to start Malik over Tommy. But I'd like to see him play some downs to give the offense a different look. It's really limiting when your QB is not mobile.

Malik isn't a consideration for the near term. He didn't suit up for the second straight week with mono. Once he's cleared medically he will have to through a required NCAA re-acclimation program, a mini conditioning program prior to be able to take hits.

 

[kmoose]

I don't mean to start Malik over Tommy. But I'd like to see him play some downs to give the offense a different look. It's really limiting when your QB is not mobile.

It's not "really limiting", when your offense has scored 28 and 30 points, in two weeks.

 

[GATTACA!]

I don't mean to start Malik over Tommy. But I'd like to see him play some downs to give the offense a different look. It's really limiting when your QB is not mobile.

If your not jumping in with both feet then there is no point. Tommy put up 30 points that should be plenty. Tommy was not the problem, the int before half was a killer but if the D is able to get one more stop at any point we have enough O.

And ik the D had one of those TDs but I really consider that making it 41-30 instead of 48-30

 

[Domer4ever]

My thoughts:

- I think we were out coached and our executed in this game. We had no answer to a lot of what Michigan was running offensively and just did not match up in pass coverage. Rough night for the secondary. Gallon looked like Wes Welker out there tonight. Gardner was great. The Wolverines were simply the better team tonight in every facet of the game. Credit to Hoke and company who executed a great game plan. It's just tough for ND to win at their place and tonight was no exception. I'm hoping we return the favor next year in South Bend.

- I think Kelly blew it not excepting that holding penalty that would have pushed Michigan back into a 2nd and 18 deep in their own territory. Instead they decline and Michigan converts a manageable 3rd down en route to the clinching TD.

- I am not going to bust on Rees, who I thought played well tonight minus the horrible INT before the half. That last INT was a fluke play. This loss lies squarely on the shoulders of the defense.

- I just don't know what the coaching staff see's in Farley. Good kid, but is he really our best starting option? I would like to see Shumate and Collinsworth together at this point with Redfield working into the mix.

- Ditto on GA3. He's a straight line speed guy with no hands. Horrendous catching the ball tonight.

- More Jarret Grace please.

- Tough loss tonight, but looking at the schedule you should have circled this game and Stanford as games the Irish would have a difficult time winning. I think the rest of our schedule is pretty manageable and this team can still win 10 games. On to Purdue.

 

[GATTACA!]

My thoughts:

- I think we were out coached and our executed in this game. We had no answer to a lot of what Michigan was running offensively and just did not match up in pass coverage. Rough night for the secondary. Gallon looked like Wes Welker out there tonight. Gardner was great. The Wolverines were simply the better team tonight in every facet of the game. Credit to Hoke and company who executed a great game plan. It's just tough for ND to win at their place and tonight was no exception. I'm hoping we return the favor next year in South Bend.

- I think Kelly blew it not excepting that holding penalty that would have pushed Michigan back into a 2nd and 18 deep in their own territory. Instead they decline and Michigan converts a manageable 3rd down en route to the clinching TD.

- I am not going to bust on Rees, who I thought played well tonight minus the horrible INT before the half. That last INT was a fluke play. This loss lies squarely on the shoulders of the defense.

- I just don't know what the coaching staff see's in Farley. Good kid, but is he really our best starting option? I would like to see Shumate and Collinsworth together at this point with Redfield working into the mix.

- Ditto on GA3. He's a straight line speed guy with no hands. Horrendous catching the ball tonight.

- More Jarret Grace please.

- Tough loss tonight, but looking at the schedule you should have circled this game and Stanford as games the Irish would have a difficult time winning. I think the rest of our schedule is pretty manageable and this team can still win 10 games. On to Purdue.

Very reasonable and cogent points, impressive at this moment.

 

[Jebediah Springfield]

ND coaches wanted to force Gardner to beat them with his arm... he did.

Never been a big fan of Rees, but he is maxing out his potential. He made a few mistakes but he is far and away better than Hendrix.

Hendrix is like Dayne 2.0 i.e. "Deer in headlights". Final play of the half and he doesn't even get the hail mary into the endzone...

Our D is disappointing

No leader yet and it shows

 

[Bluto]

So I thought about the it's the defenses fault thing again. Football is a team sport and as big a his numbers were Tommy threw two horrible passes at the worst possible times. Kid needs to realize that if he continues to do that he's gonna be the second coming of 2011 Reesus. He needs to cut down on the bonehead, forced plays or it could get ugly in some of the remaining games.

 

[NDWorld247]

So I thought about the it's the defenses fault thing again. Football is a team sport and as big a his numbers were Tommy threw two horrible passes at the worst possible times. Kid needs to realize that if he continues to do that he's gonna be the second coming of 2011 Reesus. He needs to cut down on the bonehead, forced plays or it could get ugly in some of the remaining games.

Kelly's post-game comments support this. Rather than blame the defense, he says the offense needed to carry the team tonight and left too many scoring opportunities on the field. An interesting stat...Michigan was 4/4 on converting TDs in the red zone while we were 2/5.

Five things we learned: Michigan 41, Notre Dame 30 | Inside the Irish

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

Agreed.
Regardless on how great your defense is, you will eventually be in a shoot out.
Heck even the 85 Bears had them.

 

[Irish To The Core]

First off, even though Notre Dame lost in the end it was an entertaining game. I cheered insanely when Tuitt scored that td. I threw a towel at the TV on that insane interference penalty against Bennett. I died a slow death when that last interception sealed the deal. I don't feel as badly as I usually do after a loss.

My observations: the game really turned on a few huge plays. Michigan is a very good team and they got a few more big plays. Gardner is an awfully good qb. He made great reads/great throws all night. Michigan is a good bet to beat Ohio State this season if Gardner stays healthy.

Gardner was aided in keeping td drives alive by undisciplined pass rush by Notre Dame defenders who did not contain him wide in the first half. That was corrected in the 2nd half, but the damage had already been done.

Rees played well but two big mental errors hurt terribly. However, anyone who wants to hang this loss on Tommy is, in my opinion dead wrong.

Brindza kicked the Hell out of the ball tonight, he should be the only guy kicking from now on.

The O-Line won the battle against Michigan's front four. Rees was given ample time to throw, most of the time...Gardner faced much more pressure than did Rees. Unfortunately, Gardner made plays with his legs too often.

I don't think the secondary play was that bad. Gardner simply made awesome throw after awesome throw. He also played a pretty good mental game. What impressed me is that he did not break down after that Tuitt td...tough kid.

We lost to a good team in a tough stadium and it might have been different if that ref hadn't decided to be a key to the game.

I expect a different result next week.

 

[BGIF]

How did we go from not allowing more than 12 pts per game and no rushing touchdowns till week 8 in 2012 to this in 2013? 41 points to michigan!? Our guys are missing tackles. There are break downs in coverage. We are allowing big chunk plays. Can't defend the play action pass at all. We only lost 2 players from last year's defense.

Did Manti Te'o really make all that difference? The performance of the defense has been pathetic without him on the field.

Only two guys? Te'o and Motta, right?

How about KLM?

How about Slaughter?

How about Spond?

How about Barratti who was to be a key player this year but was lost preseason?



ND gave up big chunk plays last year as well and Teams roamed between the 20's.

Te'o had what, 7 ints last year? Did you notice ND got their first INT of the season tonight - from a DL, off a Dillingham type throw?

Te'o forced teams to throw around him disrupting their style of play even when he wasn't in the play because they had to do something different.

Everybody lik's Day, "he's got potential", but he's not KLM, is he?

Everybody raves about Jaylon's "potential". Gardner showed tonight it's still all "potential".

Spond didn't have all Jaylon's potential but he was steadier than the young man.

You really think Shumate, another one with all world potential, plays better than Slaughter?

Even with Te'o last year I recall frequent lamentations throughout the season about the OTHER LBs. Now those guys are the starters. Did you really think they would be All-American without Te'o when they struggled with him?

ND graduated experienced people the kind that LEAD, that pull at defense together to be bigger than the sum of the parts. Since graduation ND has lost more experienced people to injury.

They've been replaced with underclassman. And you wonder what happened.