Post Game: USC

[tussin]

It’s very difficult for me to get upset about this game when it’s so apparent that the roster gaps are basically at one position. Get a top tier QB and we win this game and are in the playoff.

I forgot how much I hated SC. The undeserved swagger is over the top. For that, I suppose I’m happy that Riley will make this rivalry interesting again.

 

[tko]

Thank you Michael Mayer, legend. Defense didn’t show up tonight. Rest up, heal up and get ready for a decent bowl matchup.

 

[DomerInHappyValley]

It’s very difficult for me to get upset about this game when it’s so apparent that the roster gaps are basically at one position. Get a top tier QB and we win this game and are in the playoff.

I forgot how much I hated SC. The undeserved swagger is over the top. For that, I suppose I’m happy that Riley will make this rivalry interesting again.

10 years from now no one will give one single fuck that Riley brought in 20 transfers if he wins a title.

 

[INLaw]

Thank you Michael Mayer, legend. Defense didn’t show up tonight. Rest up, heal up and get ready for a decent bowl matchup.

Hart and Bracey out was devastating

 

[NumbersGuy0520]

Equally excited for the future of this team while also being anxious/uncertain with respect to us ever fixing our damn QB woes.

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

The defensive inability to stop their running game was the reason we lost. Period. That’s a problem. The rest was window dressing,

 

[NDMatt91]

Sneed and Kollie absolutely need to be on the field more next season. Heck, if Ausberry is ready to rock and roll then give him some snaps with his speed.

 

[notredomer23]

Caleb Williams is incredible and absolutely deserves to win the Heisman. He was so much more impressive than Stroud.

We gotta ditch Mitchapalooza unless it’s truly inches. It’s a terrible play for a long yard. That and the Pyne fumble are the true difference. Is what it is. Now we get to suffer Michigan vs USC in the playoff.

I enjoyed seeing what the receivers could do tonight. I genuinely think with the right QB next year Colzie can have a 1,000 yard season

 

[IA4irish]

It’s very difficult for me to get upset about this game when it’s so apparent that the roster gaps are basically at one position. Get a top tier QB and we win this game and are in the playoff.

I forgot how much I hated SC. The undeserved swagger is over the top. For that, I suppose I’m happy that Riley will make this rivalry interesting again.

Obviously qb is hugely important. I still think BK left the cupboard more bare than we think due to his lazy recruiting. On defense there are pieces, but no position group is truly elite. The linebackers were downright bad tonight. Offense has elite tight ends and sometimes elite o-line. Running backs have been better than expected. The wide receivers were limited by numbers all year long

 

[FDNYIrish1]

Inability to stop the running game and a couple of unfortunate turnovers hurt us. I’ve been saying all year we’ve got some receivers on this team. Great to see them perform tonight. We’re not far off.

 

[Wild Bill]

Can't have inconsistent line play when you're trotting out a QB like pyne.

Should have had estime on the field immediately and set the tone. We couldn't run for shit and it was still obvious they wanted nothing to do with him when he had a cunt hair of open space.

 

[dad4aa]

…Now we get to suffer Michigan vs USC in the playoff.

Hope not bc that means scUM beat TCU and USC beat Georgia and one of them will win the natty.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

No Hart
No Bracy
Limited Joseph

Not good.

 

[CanadalovesND]

You know what, I thought Pyne played a solid game. We all know he would miss some reads, and probably throw a pick, but he hung in the pocket and made throws that keep a team in the game.

Defensively- I know we hadn't seen a RPO team like USC this season with that type of athlete playing QB, but man, we were juked out of arm tackles all night. That can't be blamed on scheme. That's just losing one-on-one.

The coaches all get passes. The team played hard and didn't quit. At the end of the day, regardless of who you lose to or the score, that's the one thing a team must not lose - will to compete.

 

[Plankton]

They fought their guts out, but the clinic on how not to tackle and the two turnovers were difficult to overcome. Pyne played well overall, but his limitations shone through at the worst moments. The OL and DL had perhaps their worst games of the season, or at least the worst since Marshall. Mayer was a man again, and it was good seeing the receivers step up and make some plays (Colzie in particular has been impressive of late). Let's see a win in the bowl game to close a decent first season for Freeman.

 

[notredomer23]

You know what, I thought Pyne played a solid game. We all know he would miss some reads, and probably throw a pick, but he hung in the pocket and made throws that keep a team in the game.

If Pyne played like this all year, ND would be 10-2 or 9-3 if we don’t count Marshall. This would have been a much more heart breaking loss because it would have been for the playoff. His pick wasn’t great but Lenzy truly stopped moving. It’s his fumble I struggle to get past, but besides that he played above his level today. I still LOL though that if you go to the game thread, the amount of posts that celebrated his check down to Estime early. It was so shocking.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

You never want to be the team to give a guy his “Heisman Moment” in a season.

We gave someone a dozen of them in one evening, and that is why we are here right now with insomnia.

There is some reason for optimism, however:

MF contained a raging dumpster fire for a solid month and a half, before letting it catch fire again.

He will learn to keep that fire out.

The powers that be will (hopefully) try to create a bowl game against LSU. I know that matchup would make any sane person nervous, but we like it hairy. Make it happen.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ulukinatme]

Turnovers absolutely sucked, but you can't give up 200 yards rushing and give up 38. Defense only had one stop that wasn't aided by penalties against USC, and the refs didn't bother to call any holding until halfway through the 4th quarter. We've lived on the run game in the 2nd half of the season along with good defense. If the defense gets just a few stops we're running the ball and the turnovers don't happen. Drew played pretty well with so much on his shoulders. 23/26 for 318 yards and 3 TDs. We needed to get off the field on 3rd down and feed the backs more.

 

[Irish4life]

Honestly, ain't even mad. This team is what it is, and they lost in the same way they lost 3/4 games this season; by losing the TO battle.

 

[GATTACA!]

Can't have inconsistent line play when you're trotting out a QB like pyne.

Should have had estime on the field immediately and set the tone. We couldn't run for shit and it was still obvious they wanted nothing to do with him when he had a cunt hair of open space.

The underutilization of Estime has been one of my biggest annoyances all season. They're treating this like a 3 headed monster or RB by committee. It's not. Estime is the lead back and Diggs/Tyree are complimentary. Pound the ball with Estime and bring in others when he's gassed.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

The team has 15 extra practices for making a bow game. It is critical for the coaching staff to coach up Kollie, Sneed and Junior…as it’s critical to the success of the team in 2023 that these young studs take starting jobs from Marist and Bertrand. Marist has all the athletic ability but is lost of the field and has zero football IQ. Bertrand has a very high football IQ, but he is basically the Drew Pyne of the defense as he is undersized and slow. Get Kollie, Snees and Junior ready to take over on 2023.

 

[Sea Turtle]

USC was the more physical team. They bullied us far more than we bullied them.

Our defense can't tackle. Either they don't have the will or the coaching.

Freeman has no fire to go after the referees. He's too nice.

Notre Dame is hopelessly behind modern football still. Which is sad. This was a program that had its roots in being on the cutting edge and pushing the barriers. For about 25 years now they have been fucking curators of a football museum.

Having said all that, hopefully we can go out and win the Cheez It or Holiday Bowl, come back next year and win 9 or 10 games.

 

[SouthSideChiDomer]

It’s very difficult for me to get upset about this game when it’s so apparent that the roster gaps are basically at one position. Get a top tier QB and we win this game and are in the playoff.

I forgot how much I hated SC. The undeserved swagger is over the top. For that, I suppose I’m happy that Riley will make this rivalry interesting again.

USC is every thing that is wrong with America. A shiny veneer covering a rotting base. A swaggering group that hasn't actually accomplished anything riding the coattails of better men. The love of the almighty dollar destroying communities that care about something greater. And an arrogance that is not only completely unearned, but totally misplaced.

Not only due I hope they lose, I hope ill circumstances fall upon any who choose to be a part of them.

 

[Wild Bill]

The underutilization of Estime has been one of my biggest annoyances all season. They're treating this like a 3 headed monster or RB by committee. It's not. Estime is the lead back and Diggs/Tyree are complimentary. Pound the ball with Estime and bring in others when he's gassed.

It's common sense. When you have a giant hammer you come out and treat everything like a fucking nail, ESPECIALLY in short yardage situations.

 

[NewEnglandGuy]

- QB position talent gap widened to a critical point. Hopefully so much so we don’t forget other recent years: 2017, 2018, 2020. Too many times instead of a plus position bringing up the roster, it’s required compensation and pulled it down. Games against Williams, Lawrence, Stroud highlight it.

- Bracy and Hart. Just can’t have nice things with injuries. Both play vs BC and not 7 days later when needed most.

- losing TO battle 0-2. Poor luck. Also See #1

- Run defense. Hyper focus on contain and pass?

- LBs. Rough day at office for Kiser, contain, and blitzes/Liufau.

- Rushing offense. See #1

- Refs. Blatant and subjective-ish holding calls missed en mass. Multiple ball spots for SC and against ND.

- To re-emphasize, Caleb Williams. Guy has his A game. QB talent was dramatic, and then the game started. He was feeling it. We got Hesiman Trophy level play from Devonta Smith and Lawrence in back to back weeks in 2020 as well.

 

[Plankton]

The team has 15 extra practices for making a bow game. It is critical for the coaching staff to coach up Kollie, Sneed and Junior…as it’s critical to the success of the team in 2023 that these young studs take starting jobs from Marist and Bertrand. Marist has all the athletic ability but is lost of the field and has zero football IQ. Bertrand has a very high football IQ, but he is basically the Drew Pyne of the defense as he is undersized and slow. Get Kollie, Snees and Junior ready to take over on 2023.

They also need to get guys like Gobaira and Ehrensberger more reps. The rush end position will be a big question mark going into next season, and those guys need to get reps to see if they can be factors next year.

 

[Bluto]

They fought their guts out, but the clinic on how not to tackle and the two turnovers were difficult to overcome. Pyne played well overall, but his limitations shone through at the worst moments. The OL and DL had perhaps their worst games of the season, or at least the worst since Marshall. Mayer was a man again, and it was good seeing the receivers step up and make some plays (Colzie in particular has been impressive of late). Let's see a win in the bowl game to close a decent first season for Freeman.

I don’t think it was only bad “tackling” per se. To me it seemed like a lot of players were relying on attempted arm tackles due to taking bad angles and playing out of control.

 

[Bluto]

They also need to get guys like Gobaira and Ehrensberger more reps. The rush end position will be a big question mark going into next season, and those guys need to get reps to see if they can be factors next year.

I would move Marist to rush end.

 

[INLaw]

Appreciate this board. It’s been a challenging year and this place has been a good place to vent and celebrate. Some bad lows and some incredible highs. This game was more of a composite of the season, undisciplined habits mixed with talent and battling. I’m pulling for Freeman and this squad. We have some very talented players like Estime, Morrison, Diggs, Colzie, and Kollie among others. We need the QB spot to improve vastly, but I appreciate what Pyne did this year given his limitations. Respect to Mayer, Foskey, Patterson, Ademilola, and others moving on.

Good post

 

[Riddickulous]

He needs to come down with those INTs but I thought Xavier Watts made some nice plays tonight. He's one guy that flashed during this last stretch of the season.