Postgame Thoughts

[arrowryan]

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[arrowryan]

I think we need to remind ourselves that this isn’t the same umbrella/bend don’t break defense that Lea called. In Freeman’s defense, he likes to cause havoc up front and have his corner’s press and play man. That’ll make your corners vulnerable to get beat over the top. I was actually a huge fan of the defense up until the Irish got up 38-20.

They were on Travis’ ass all night long and they just stopped? Why? They dropped 8 and FSU just took what the defense gave them. It’s almost like the coordinators cent into a shell after going up 18.

This is all fixable. I’m not going to overreact after one game. This is a team that’ll be much better in October than they are now.

Other impressions:
-Kyle Hamilton is so good. I’m close to ranking him above Jaylon Smith, but I might get booed off the stage if I do.
-Mayer was 9/120/1. Easy could’ve been 11/150/1. He HAS to catch the ball. Has to.
-Coan was really good. This is what we saw in practice. With his arm and their weapons, he could put up some huge numbers this year.
-Kevin Austin had a really nice first game
-Nice to see Joe Wilkins make a big catch

 

[Irish du Nord]

It should have been if they were saying it was a pass. The problem was that they called it a fumble and then reviewed it. You can't then add intentional grounding on afterwords.

Can’t you? Don’t they review for intentional grounding pretty regularly?

On the tying field goal drive at the end of regulation I couldn’t understand why the 3rd and 7 throw out of bounds wasn’t grounding either so if anyone has any insight on either of these I’d be grateful

 

[texbender]

Doerer clutch under pressure
Thought Coan played smart
Mayer has to catch those balls
Too many potential TFL for gains
Several really bad calls by refs...how was that not roughing the kicker?
Why the 3 man front? Thought that was our strength.
Injury report...hope Fisher is OK. Anybody else?
Will take that W and move on.
See you in SB.

 

[ThePiombino]

There were a number of negative factors that led to what we witnessed:

* Offense slow out of the gate (sans the Mayer TD)
* Multiple Mayer drops
* Two egregious ref calls/no-calls
* Couple questionable offensive play calls
* Lion's share of 2nd half defensive scheme
* Putting arguably our most explosive player on KR and then subsequently neutering him
* OL, especially the left side ... woof

Any one of these things could be the difference against a better opponent. We were lucky to play a team that hasn't fully found itself yet. But the single most unforgivable thing that occurred last night (other than Freeman going 3 DL) has to be:

* The tackling. I mean WTF?! Anyone know what FSU's YAC on the ground was? I bet it's a big number. Holy shit. If we just tackled this is prolly a 3+ possession victory.

Overall satisfied with Tommy, livid with Freeman. Would NOT have guessed that a couple days ago...

 

[IrishSteelhead]

I’m curious what gives you that impression about Coan? If Mayer didn’t have an inexcusable drop with 6 seconds left, Coan got us into FG range in 50 seconds and ND wins in regulation.

I felt like he short armed a few of those short passes when they were coming, particularly the 4th and 1 to Kyren. Alcohol was involved last night, so Im sure my mind exaggerated a bit.

Make no mistake, he is a welcome addition, and creates a very nice bridge for Buchner. Happy as hell to have him. He will be the difference between a meh and great season if he plays like this all year.


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[IrishSteelhead]

There were a number of negative factors that led to what we witnessed:

* Offense slow out of the gate (sans the Mayer TD)
* Multiple Mayer drops
* Two egregious ref calls/no-calls
* Couple questionable offensive play calls
* Lion's share of 2nd half defensive scheme
* Putting arguably our most explosive player on KR and then subsequently neutering him
* OL, especially the left side ... woof

Any one of these things could be the difference against a better opponent. We were lucky to play a team that hasn't fully found itself yet. But the single most unforgivable thing that occurred last night (other than Freeman going 3 DL) has to be:

* The tackling. I mean WTF?! Anyone know what FSU's YAC on the ground was? I bet it's a big number. Holy shit. If we just tackled this is prolly a 3+ possession victory.

Overall satisfied with Tommy, livid with Freeman. Would NOT have guessed that a couple days ago...

I was livid with Freeman last night, but have developed some perspective this morning:

Take away the 89 yard house call due to poor tackling/angles, FSU didnt really get much going to worry about in the first half.

Lea was a halftime master, as mentioned already.

Im curious to see how Freeman will adjust at half in the first game the other team finds success doing a particular thing. That will give us a better idea what hes capable of.


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[ThePiombino]

I was livid with Freeman last night, but have developed some perspective this morning:

Take away the 89 yard house call due to poor tackling/angles, FSU didnt really get much going to worry about in the first half.

Lea was a halftime master, as mentioned already.

Im curious to see how Freeman will adjust at half in the first game the other team finds success doing a particular thing. That will give us a better idea what hes capable of.


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I'm actually with you regarding the 1st half. I had no problem with MF's 1st half scheme. I know that with an aggressive defense is going to come some big plays against as well -- more than willing to take the good with the bad. My issue with him, and what had me seeing red, was the 2nd half scheme -- going 3 down linemen. It clearly wasn't working, but he stayed with if. Y tho?

 

[NDohio]

What a game. This is the type of game that ND may have lost in the past. Everything was set up for a FSU victory:

* Heat and humidity wearing the visitors down.
* Booby Bowden night - the crowd was super amped and emotions were running high for the home team.
* Story book ending was being written right in front of us. Can you imagine the hype that was being felt in that stadium with Milton leading that offense?
* A storied program that had fallen being put back together as the entire college football world watches.
* An opposing head coach that has had success against Notre Dame's new wonder boy DC.

No way ND should have won that game...

 

[IrishSteelhead]

I'm actually with you regarding the 1st half. I had no problem with MF's 1st half scheme. I know that with an aggressive defense is going to come some big plays against as well -- more than willing to take the good with the bad. My issue with him, and what had me seeing red, was the 2nd half scheme -- going 3 down linemen. It clearly wasn't working, but he stayed with if. Y tho?

Agree. Youd think these guys have been involved in enough games to know that always happens.

They were banking on the offense to keep moving the ball, and they stalled. Thats the only reasonable explanation I have.


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[tko]

Will the media force Kelly to apologize for the "execution" comment? Mayer drops were disappointing. I think the ball was slippery or the gloves or whatever, gotta have those grabs. Lenzy looks much stronger and I hope that translates into durability throughout the season. I hope Austin can build on that night along with Wilkins. What other receivers will we see, Keys, Colzie, Watts?

 

[Sea Turtle]

We played like ass and still won. That's something to build on.

 

[longliveautrydenson]

Post-game takeaways:

Positives

1. Michael Mayer could be the best player in CFB if he just wore some damn gloves.
2. Kevin Austin looked great for a guy that hasn’t played a full game since high school.
3. We can throw screen passes now!
4. Isaiah Foskey gave off some strong Stephon Tuitt vibes.
5. Kyle Hamilton is still Kyle Hamilton.
6. Cam Hart or Clarence Lewis didn’t get beat in coverage (that I saw). Hart looks very physical in the run game.

Negatives

1. OL issues can’t be chalked up to chemistry. Correll is playing out of position and it shows.
2. Kyren Williams’ Heisman campaign is DOA unless we can figure out how to open a hole.
3. Aggressive D is all fun and games until you give up multiple 80 yards TDs.
4. Strong safety is going to be our achilles heel. Justin Walters can’t be worse than DJ Brown.

 

[Sea Turtle]

1) I love ND football
2) I said a lot of stupid shit tonight
3) I'm way too old for a game played by 18-22 year old young men to get me this worked up
4) Rees and Freeman, and by proxy, BK sucked ass tonight
5) Win and advance, Go Irish!

Most of us said a lot of stupid shit last night. We vent while in the emotion of the game. It's human nature.

Most people get that but one poster in particular decided to attack me for banging on the team, then proceeded to drop about 30 f- bombs on them the rest of the game.

I shouldn't have lashed out as harshly as I did but damn, I get it, he doesn't like me as a poster, but I can still vent like everyone else.

 

[IrishLax]

I give less than zero craps about people being emotional // negative // ragging on the team in the game thread. The thread exists for venting, and 90% of people in it are drunk.

 

[Riddickulous]

The OL is a big concern going forward for me. 65 yards rushing is abysmal.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

I give less than zero craps about people being emotional // negative // ragging on the team in the game thread. The thread exists for venting, and 90% of people in it are drunk.

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[NDRock]

Not sure what to think about the defense long term. I will say, they did a very good job in the first half. ND's offense got the ball 8 times in the first half and scored 17 points. That equates to 2.13 points per drive, which would rank around 75th in a normal year. To put into perspective, ND never had 8 drives in the first half of any game last year. They scored 35 on 7 drives in the 1st half last year against FSU. The defense also gave the offense very good field position several times (near midfield) and we came away with 7 points total. Pretty poor. Our offense should have put that game away by halftime.

Overall, there was a lot of positives to take out of.

 

[irishandy]

More postgame thoughts

Anyone know what happened with Botelho?

Not only do us fans miss the 4 starters from last year's o-line team, but so does Kyren.

ND doesn't win this game if Coan is not under center, I think he is going to be really good for ND.

I fear when our defense will face an elite running team.

The BK comments about execution...would it be a big deal if any other coach said this?? It is a big deal because it's Notre Dame...grow a pair people.

It's better to be 1-0 than 0-1.

What am I looking forward to? The adjustments our defense makes.

 

[Huntr]

Game ended at about 11:30, we got home at 12:45

The difference in perception from being at the game vs watching on tv is pretty wild. At no point in the 1st 3 Qs did I think ND was going to lose, even when FSU was ahead and ND couldn't run. None. When they were up 18 in the 3rd, the game to that point had basically played out almost exactly like I expected. But, then they switched the D in the 4th and I thought that was a mistake. It almost cost them.

Milton would have died in the 1st half, the pressure was that intense. ND just failed to tackle cleanly a couple of times they had Travis for a loss and let him or the RB escape.

The crowd was loud, but there was only 1 time that I thought it was *really* loud and that was on Doerr's FG attempt in OT. Noles fans were chanting and yelling all night, but it got really loud at that point because they were stomping their feet, too. Maybe my perception was a product of sitting near the visitor's fans section, IDK. There were a lot of ND fans there and some good Let's Go Irish chants at times - even some people doing pushups when ND scored, so that was fun.

The 4th down screen pass was borderline erotic. They *knew* FSU would bring heat and played it perfectly. Just...awesome.

That said, ND screwed up on their possession with like 5 minutes to go, too. They had 1st and 5 and went 3 and out. Not only that, that, they only ran off a minute off the clock. Dumb.

They humidity suuuuucked in the stands, so I'm sure it did on the field, too. I saw one of ND's DL head to the sidelines hurling through his facemask - maybe Ademilola or Cross, wasn't sure who and I haven't watched it on DVR, yet. Pretty much F games at fsu before like mid-October.

I felt bad for Fisher and was worried watching him limp around on the sidelines. Thank goodness it isn't as serious as it looked.

Heartbroken for Moala, too. That guy can't catch a break. I hope Baumann is ok.

Mayer is awesome, but he needs to clean up a few things. Big game guys make the catch he dropped at the end. Missed a couple key blocks, too.

Hamilton, Austin, Foskey, Coan, Wilkins' man ball catch, way too many others to mention. Defensive front 7 was on Travis like white on rice. Good stuff.

Overall, I think ND is better than they showed last night, but they need to figure out their OL and the coaching staff is (still) a WiP.

 

[drayer54]

Some of y’all sound pretty tight after a 1-0 start and a lot of positives. They got 2 light light weeks to fix the gaps and clean up the crap. It wasn’t like the crap Ball State or Vandy wins of the past. Relax, breathe, and see y’all next week for the cleanup. Only team I’m nervous about right now is Cincy. 1-0!

 

[Dale]

I think we need to remind ourselves that this isn’t the same umbrella/bend don’t break defense that Lea called. In Freeman’s defense, he likes to cause havoc up front and have his corner’s press and play man. That’ll make your corners vulnerable to get beat over the top. I was actually a huge fan of the defense up until the Irish got up 38-20.

They were on Travis’ ass all night long and they just stopped? Why? They dropped 8 and FSU just took what the defense gave them. It’s almost like the coordinators cent into a shell after going up 18.

This is all fixable. I’m not going to overreact after one game. This is a team that’ll be much better in October than they are now.

Other impressions:
-Kyle Hamilton is so good. I’m close to ranking him above Jaylon Smith, but I might get booed off the stage if I do.
-Mayer was 9/120/1. Easy could’ve been 11/150/1. He HAS to catch the ball. Has to.
-Coan was really good. This is what we saw in practice. With his arm and their weapons, he could put up some huge numbers this year.
-Kevin Austin had a really nice first game
-Nice to see Joe Wilkins make a big catch

Lea did not play umbrella coverage with less Havoc. I don’t know why it’s always presented as Freeman is more Havoc minded

 

[Irishize]

Will the media force Kelly to apologize for the "execution" comment? Mayer drops were disappointing. I think the ball was slippery or the gloves or whatever, gotta have those grabs. Lenzy looks much stronger and I hope that translates into durability throughout the season. I hope Austin can build on that night along with Wilkins. What other receivers will we see, Keys, Colzie, Watts?

BK was alluding to the old Coach McKay joke he did when the press asked him about his team’s execution. BK just botched his delivery b/c he chose a hectic time to try to deliver the joke. Bad timing & delivery but a big “meh” for me.

 

[arrowryan]

Lea did not play umbrella coverage with less Havoc. I don’t know why it’s always presented as Freeman is more Havoc minded

We can agree to disagree. In Lea’s scheme, the DBs would play 10 yards off the ball on 3rd and 4. I never understood why, but that’s just what he did.

He seemed more havoc minded to me last night for 3 quarters because they seemed to be bringing the best 90% of the time.

The guys at Irish Illustrated talked about this in the summer and that’s what I saw last night.

 

[NDMIA]

1) Offensively, I am excited about the weapons. I really really hope ND targets Braden Lenzy a ton in the next two weeks. That might seem weird but I think that would be huge to have Lenzy confident ahead of Wisconsin along with Kevin Austin and Michael Mayer. I already know if the OLine blocks that the two RB's will be great. I think Lenzy is key to getting an additional pop from the offense!

2) Offensive Line, I think they just need more in-game time to gel. I think this will be a unit that grows over the course of the season. I don't love Zeke Correll at LG. He's just so small that he can't really get that great of a push. I understand FSU's probably best defensive feature was their DLine and more specifically their DT's but still Correll is such a center it's sad. I think he'll be great next year as an OC.

3) Injuries - Logan Diggs, C'Bo Flemister, Kevin Bauman, Blake Fisher, Jordan Botelho, Marist Liufau, Paul Moala and Michael Vinson.

4) Defensively, Please stop playing prevent or whatever the hell that was in the 3rd and 4th quarter. I hope the defense improves tackling. Pretty much as simple as that

5) Overall, Just happy ND won the game and they can build some momentum in the next two weeks before Wisconsin!

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Some of y’all sound pretty tight after a 1-0 start and a lot of positives. They got 2 light light weeks to fix the gaps and clean up the crap. It wasn’t like the crap Ball State or Vandy wins of the past. Relax, breathe, and see y’all next week for the cleanup. Only team I’m nervous about right now is Cincy. 1-0!

I wouldnt underestimate Wisconsin. At all. They are the kind of team that can beat Ohio State one week, and lose to Akron the next. They will be ready.


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[hungryhippo]

One small note: Coan is responsible for that Williams screen. He took the snap and dropped one step for a quick, held it as the pressure came, then at the last second faded back and floated to Kyren.

He sold that screen. It was beautiful.

 

[jspags10pg]

Yes, it was Simon who missed the tackle at the LOS, Brown got juked, then Hamilton took a terrible angle in pursuit.

And Cam Hart got turned around

 

[drayer54]

I wouldnt underestimate Wisconsin. At all. They are the kind of team that can beat Ohio State one week, and lose to Akron the next. They will be ready.


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Coan will be the story line for Wiscy and I’ll bet he plays his best game of his life. Their offense looked meh to me. Hoping it’s worth the drive to Chicago though.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Coan will be the story line for Wiscy and I’ll bet he plays his best game of his life. Their offense looked meh to me. Hoping it’s worth the drive to Chicago though.

Form your lips to Gods ears


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