SDS Grade Card!!!

[jonesman]

Well folks here is my grade card for Game 1 of 2008. Let me say that this is not the grades I had expectations of giving. Well, here we go.

OFFENSE-
QB: JC looked improved over 2007. His velocity is definitely better, but now he must contraol that. He is part blame for the interception that bounced of Kamara. He drilled tha ball and needs to take some mustard of it. What Jimmy did best today was run the 2 minute drill. He executed when we needed. Grade B
RB: Armando played a great game. He ran with passion and definitely is the best back of the bunch. I think any player would have fumbled on that crushing hit he took. Hughes looked OK, but SLOW today. I did not see that elusiveness of last season. James was MIA which is too bad. Grade B+, Allen got the best of this grade.
FB: They were really not used for anything but blocking. This is a shame. I think Luke has potential which is going untapped. Grade C, no reason for better or worse grade.
WR: Get Golden the damn ball!!!!!!!! Tate is a weapon and we are not using him well. Get these guys the ball in space. Floyd made a nice catch, but i will not annoint him Tim Brown like I see some on here doing after one catch. Kamara is just not getting separation. Grimes does catches whatever is thrown his way. The play calling and routes are so vanilla I could defend what the Irish are calling. The guys did OK with what they were given. Grade C+
TE: Their blocking was BAD. They got beat several times and were manhandled. Couple nice catches, but nothing special. Grade C-
OL: Well, they did improve in the pass blocking front, but I did not see many big holes. They just do not get the big push up front. I saw some good help blocks, but SDS did not blitz to much. Grade C+, D on run blocking.

DEFENSE:
DL: These guys are just not big enough or mean enough. They get no push. Without the blitz, there is no way we will pressure the QB all year. Kuntz played decent, but others looked weak. I watched Ethan Johnson several plays and he is just not strong enough yet. He will be good in two years. Grade C
LB: Not sure who to put in the outside or inside. They were moving all over. Crum played well today all over. These guys all have talent, but they need to blitz better. I really think that Harrison Smith is gonna get an interception this year and take it to the house. Grade C+
CB: I think our guys played well being left on an island this week. With all the blitzing, they are gonna have to stand tall. Lambert still plays wtih too much cushion, but he will not change after 4 years. Grade B-
Safety: I was never sold on McCarthy, but this kid plays hard and rarely misses a tackle. He had a really solid game. Bruton played well, just no special play. Grade B

COACHING:
Offensive: The play calling was stale, old, predictable, slow developing and too basic. It may be a new playcaller, but it is the same stale plays. How many times today did you say, "wow I did not see that coming?". SDS knew just what was coming on most every play. No misdirection, no inside slants letting a WR catch on the run, nothing to the FB. Grade D-
Defensive: Overall the D played well and we did try to be aggressive. The blitzes were a little much and often two guys in the same hole, but I did like the aggression. Grade B-

Overall, we better make some serious improvement on Offense or it will be another looong season. The D cannot withstand extended time on the field again like last year.

 

[IrishAlum1997]

I am in a haze, I admire all of you that can provide thoughtful analysis. I thought our offense looked disgusting. It looked like the 'chuck and pray' offense that we showed plenty of last year. I know I am generalizing, but this was a game where we should have won easily. This is not necessarily a thoughtful post, I feel completely helpless.

There is no fire. I am going to be sick if Vanilla Ice, Drunk Grady and the rest of Rod's Rods come in and put it to us again.

 

[NDOM]

Well folks here is my grade card for Game 1 of 2008. Let me say that this is not the grades I had expectations of giving. Well, here we go.

OFFENSE-
QB: JC looked improved over 2007. His velocity is definitely better, but now he must contraol that. He is part blame for the interception that bounced of Kamara. He drilled tha ball and needs to take some mustard of it. What Jimmy did best today was run the 2 minute drill. He executed when we needed. Grade B
RB: Armando played a great game. He ran with passion and definitely is the best back of the bunch. I think any player would have fumbled on that crushing hit he took. Hughes looked OK, but SLOW today. I did not see that elusiveness of last season. James was MIA which is too bad. Grade B+, Allen got the best of this grade.
FB: They were really not used for anything but blocking. This is a shame. I think Luke has potential which is going untapped. Grade C, no reason for better or worse grade.
WR: Get Golden the damn ball!!!!!!!! Tate is a weapon and we are not using him well. Get these guys the ball in space. Floyd made a nice catch, but i will not annoint him Tim Brown like I see some on here doing after one catch. Kamara is just not getting separation. Grimes does catches whatever is thrown his way. The play calling and routes are so vanilla I could defend what the Irish are calling. The guys did OK with what they were given. Grade C+
TE: Their blocking was BAD. They got beat several times and were manhandled. Couple nice catches, but nothing special. Grade C-
OL: Well, they did improve in the pass blocking front, but I did not see many big holes. They just do not get the big push up front. I saw some good help blocks, but SDS did not blitz to much. Grade C+, D on run blocking.

DEFENSE:
DL: These guys are just not big enough or mean enough. They get no push. Without the blitz, there is no way we will pressure the QB all year. Kuntz played decent, but others looked weak. I watched Ethan Johnson several plays and he is just not strong enough yet. He will be good in two years. Grade C
LB: Not sure who to put in the outside or inside. They were moving all over. Crum played well today all over. These guys all have talent, but they need to blitz better. I really think that Harrison Smith is gonna get an interception this year and take it to the house. Grade C+
CB: I think our guys played well being left on an island this week. With all the blitzing, they are gonna have to stand tall. Lambert still plays wtih too much cushion, but he will not change after 4 years. Grade B-
Safety: I was never sold on McCarthy, but this kid plays hard and rarely misses a tackle. He had a really solid game. Bruton played well, just no special play. Grade B

COACHING:
Offensive: The play calling was stale, old, predictable, slow developing and too basic. It may be a new playcaller, but it is the same stale plays. How many times today did you say, "wow I did not see that coming?". SDS knew just what was coming on most every play. No misdirection, no inside slants letting a WR catch on the run, nothing to the FB. Grade D-
Defensive: Overall the D played well and we did try to be aggressive. The blitzes were a little much and often two guys in the same hole, but I did like the aggression. Grade B-

Overall, we better make some serious improvement on Offense or it will be another looong season. The D cannot withstand extended time on the field again like last year.

My grades would be this:
Offense:
QB- C+
RB- B-
WR- B
TE- C
OL- D+

Defense:
DL- D+
LB- C+
DB- B-

Special teams:
Mike Anello- A+
Our Kicker- F

Coaching:
Charlie Weis- F
Mike Haywood- D-
Corwin Brown- D
John Tenuta- D as in very DISSAPOINTED with him. Not impressed at all with his "Agressive" blitzing.

 

[jimnightshade]

no fire

no fire

we could be the most emotionless team i have ever seen it is a shame I dont know if its the coaches or the players but something is missing.

 

[kmoose]

RB: Armando played a great game. He ran with passion and definitely is the best back of the bunch. I think any player would have fumbled on that crushing hit he took. Hughes looked OK, but SLOW today. I did not see that elusiveness of last season. James was MIA which is too bad. Grade B+, Allen got the best of this grade.

3.1 yards per carry against San Diego State gets a B+ from you? With that kind of curve, I will be sure to enroll in any class you teach.

 

[THegraNDscheme]

COACHING:
Offensive: The play calling was stale, old, predictable, slow developing and too basic. It may be a new playcaller, but it is the same stale plays. How many times today did you say, "wow I did not see that coming?". SDS knew just what was coming on most every play. No misdirection, no inside slants letting a WR catch on the run, nothing to the FB. Grade D-
Defensive: Overall the D played well and we did try to be aggressive. The blitzes were a little much and often two guys in the same hole, but I did like the aggression. Grade B-

I'm praying that this was a strategic decision made to prevent revealing too much of our offense to scUM.

 

[Timugen]

Our offense looks vastly improved from last year (and that really doesn't say much of anything)......but:


The OL was able to pass block well enough to give Clausen some time, but they could not run block for shyte, and this was against SAN DIEGO FRIGGIN' STATE!!


I think it may be time for some to lower their expectations for this year.

 

[greenandblue]

The D didnt look bad there werent many sacks but they forced them to get the ball out quick and for how long they were on the field it was a good effort id Give them a high C/C+. The offense was bad. the line didnt block well and the receivers played all right. I also think that hughes did better than Allen, he didnt do bad but when hughes was in the team moved the ball. He caught the ball really well and ran hard. Except for the punt return i wasnt very impressed by allen. Clausen did better, he made a few mistakes but when he was distributing the ball and throwing 5- 15 yards to all sides he did well. I hated how half the throws were just lobs down the sideline. against better teams the ball will be picked too much. there was too much loft on it i'm suprised more of them didnt end up like the int in the end zone

 

[patman1868]

Good points I totally agree with you on lambert, he gives way too much of a cushion, he just invites them to throw to his side sometimes its like a free completion. I think he could really improve if he would change that one part of his game. I kind of disagree with you on hughes though I thought for his first drive in there he looked really good, then he kind of got his knee twisted weird and didn't really look the same. Hopefully he was just shaken up a bit and will bounce back, because I think he and Allen can be a pretty good combo.

 

[JeremyND07]

I think the play calling killed us more then anything!!!!!! The defense was on the field to long and I think they did a VERY good job considering the amount of time they were on the field and the 1 step drop get rid of the ball offense SD state used! I have to give their coaching staff credit!!! They took the blitz right out of the game! I give the offense a D overall and the OL a F-...it was SD State with a banged up d-line and we got NO push WEAK!!!!! They need to spend less time on their bench press and more time on technique and HEART!!!!!! Defense I give a C+.

Coaching an F-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NDOM]

Here's whats SAD!!!!! Notre Dame offensive line averaged 318 lbs. San Diego State defensive line averaged 269 lbs. WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF????????????????????????????????????????????????????? WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GET RID OF LATINA ALREADY??????? I have been saying that the past 5 years goddammit.

 

[kmoose]

I think the play calling killed us more then anything!!!!!! The defense was on the field to long and I think they did a VERY good job considering the amount of time they were on the field

Time of Possession was almost dead even. ND had the ball for 30:52, with SDSU holding the ball for 29:08. It shouldn't have been, against SDSU, but it's not like the defense spent
more time on the field than the offense. These guys should be able to perform just fine, with equal TOP.

 

[NDsuperfan09]

My grades would be this:
Offense:
QB- C+
RB- B-
WR- B
TE- C
OL- D+

Defense:
DL- D+
LB- C+
DB- B-

Special teams:
Mike Anello- A+
Our Kicker- F

Coaching:
Charlie Weis- F
Mike Haywood- D-
Corwin Brown- D
John Tenuta- D as in very DISSAPOINTED with him. Not impressed at all with his "Agressive" blitzing.

How did the RB's perform better than Clausen? Not saying your wrong but I think everyone here would respectfully disagree with that statement. When we opened the offense up and started slinging it around is when we did okay on offense.

 

[GoIrish41]

Nice post jonesman. We mostly agree with a few exceptions. Here's how my grades mesh with yours.

Well folks here is my grade card for Game 1 of 2008. Let me say that this is not the grades I had expectations of giving. Well, here we go.

OFFENSE-
QB: JC looked improved over 2007. His velocity is definitely better, but now he must contraol that. He is part blame for the interception that bounced of Kamara. Disagree here. Kamara must catch with his hands and not his chest. This ball was perfectly thrown and not JC's fault. Overall, I think he made good decisions and spread the ball around accurately He drilled tha ball and needs to take some mustard of it. What Jimmy did best today was run the 2 minute drill. He executed when we needed. Grade BGrade A
RB: Armando played a great game. He ran with passion and definitely is the best back of the bunch. I think any player would have fumbled on that crushing hit he took. Hughes looked OK, but SLOW today. I did not see that elusiveness of last season. James was MIA which is too bad. Actually, I think Hughes looked better. AA needs to be more patient in following his blockers. Grade B+Grade D, Allen got the best of this grade.
FB: They were really not used for anything but blocking. This is a shame. I think Luke has potential which is going untapped. Not really even used for blocking much. I think the running game improves if ND uses a FB more as a lead blocker. Grade C Grade C, no reason for better or worse grade.
WR: Get Golden the damn ball!!!!!!!! yes!!!!!! Tate is a weapon and we are not using him well. ??? I thought they used him well. Get these guys the ball in space. Floyd made a nice catch, but i will not annoint him Tim Brown like I see some on here doing after one catch. Definately not Tim Brown yet, but ND's best option after Golden is a fair statement Kamara is just not getting separation. Had a terrible game Grimes does catches whatever is thrown his way. The play calling and routes are so vanilla I could defend what the Irish are calling. Wasted too much time trying to establish the run. If we would have started passing in the second quarter, JC would have had 400 yards passing with two WRs over 100 yards. The guys did OK with what they were given. Grade C+ Grade B- (Kamara's performance brought this grade down)
TE: Their blocking was BAD. They got beat several times and were manhandled. Couple nice catches, but nothing special. Grade C- Grade D
OL: Well, they did improve in the pass blocking front, but I did not see many big holes. They just do not get the big push up front. I saw some good help blocks, but SDS did not blitz to much. No sacks a good thing, 3 YPC a bad thing Grade C+, D on run blocking. Grade C

DEFENSE:
DL: These guys are just not big enough or mean enough. They get no push. Without the blitz, there is no way we will pressure the QB all year. Kuntz played decent, but others looked weak. I watched Ethan Johnson several plays and he is just not strong enough yet. He will be good in two years. Good observations Grade C Grade C
LB: Not sure who to put in the outside or inside. They were moving all over. Crum played well today all over. Except stupid penalties in opening quarter These guys all have talent, but they need to blitz better. They didn't get sacks, but they did pressure the QB fairly consistently I really think that Harrison Smith is gonna get an interception this year and take it to the house. But, I didn't really think he did much vs. SDSU. I would add that John Ryan is too slow to be on this defense Grade C+ Grade C+
CB: I think our guys played well being left on an island this week. With all the blitzing, they are gonna have to stand tall. Lambert still plays wtih too much cushion, but he will not change after 4 years. Agree Grade B- Grade B-
Safety: I was never sold on McCarthy, but this kid plays hard and rarely misses a tackle. He had a really solid game. I feel the same way. I was shocked when CW was so high on him, but McCarthy proved me wrong Bruton played well, just no special play. I thought Sergio Brown played better than anyone on Defense. He was all over the place and he is a tremendous athelete. Grade B Grade A-

COACHING:
Offensive: The play calling was stale, old, predictable, slow developing and too basic. It may be a new playcaller, but it is the same stale plays. How many times today did you say, "wow I did not see that coming?". SDS knew just what was coming on most every play. No misdirection, no inside slants letting a WR catch on the run, nothing to the FB. I think you have to give them credit for altering the game plan when they figured out the run wasn't working, albeit it took a long time. I'd raise their grade a letter just for that. Grade D- Grade C-
Defensive: Overall the D played well and we did try to be aggressive. The blitzes were a little much and often two guys in the same hole, but I did like the aggression. Was a bit ticked when they got first downs twice on the shovel pass when pinned down at their own goal. Once, OK - Twice, shouldn't have happened Grade B- Grade C+

Overall, we better make some serious improvement on Offense or it will be another looong season. The D cannot withstand extended time on the field again like last year.

 

[ACamp1900]

My thoughts remain the same... for the most part everyone looked great except the O line (sure they didn't give any sacks but come on, they played SDSU's second stringers and at times the back was met in the backfield and Jimmy had to scramble for his life much more than expected)

and the Blitz packages.... they rattled a freshman a tad but more often than not made little impact.... NOT a good sign for teams with top flight talent


JC looked GREAT

 

[Rocket's Rocket Fan]

Here's whats SAD!!!!! Notre Dame offensive line averaged 318 lbs. San Diego State defensive line averaged 269 lbs. WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF??????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????? WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GET RID OF LATINA ALREADY??????? I have been saying that the past 5 years goddammit.

THANK YOU! I couldn't agree more.

 

[ALLND62]

Well folks here is my grade card for Game 1 of 2008. Let me say that this is not the grades I had expectations of giving. Well, here we go.

OFFENSE-
QB: JC looked improved over 2007. His velocity is definitely better, but now he must contraol that. He is part blame for the interception that bounced of Kamara. He drilled tha ball and needs to take some mustard of it. What Jimmy did best today was run the 2 minute drill. He executed when we needed. Grade B
RB: Armando played a great game. He ran with passion and definitely is the best back of the bunch. I think any player would have fumbled on that crushing hit he took. Hughes looked OK, but SLOW today. I did not see that elusiveness of last season. James was MIA which is too bad. Grade B+, Allen got the best of this grade.
FB: They were really not used for anything but blocking. This is a shame. I think Luke has potential which is going untapped. Grade C, no reason for better or worse grade.
WR: Get Golden the damn ball!!!!!!!! Tate is a weapon and we are not using him well. Get these guys the ball in space. Floyd made a nice catch, but i will not annoint him Tim Brown like I see some on here doing after one catch. Kamara is just not getting separation. Grimes does catches whatever is thrown his way. The play calling and routes are so vanilla I could defend what the Irish are calling. The guys did OK with what they were given. Grade C+
TE: Their blocking was BAD. They got beat several times and were manhandled. Couple nice catches, but nothing special. Grade C-
OL: Well, they did improve in the pass blocking front, but I did not see many big holes. They just do not get the big push up front. I saw some good help blocks, but SDS did not blitz to much. Grade C+, D on run blocking.

DEFENSE:
DL: These guys are just not big enough or mean enough. They get no push. Without the blitz, there is no way we will pressure the QB all year. Kuntz played decent, but others looked weak. I watched Ethan Johnson several plays and he is just not strong enough yet. He will be good in two years. Grade C
LB: Not sure who to put in the outside or inside. They were moving all over. Crum played well today all over. These guys all have talent, but they need to blitz better. I really think that Harrison Smith is gonna get an interception this year and take it to the house. Grade C+
CB: I think our guys played well being left on an island this week. With all the blitzing, they are gonna have to stand tall. Lambert still plays wtih too much cushion, but he will not change after 4 years. Grade B-
Safety: I was never sold on McCarthy, but this kid plays hard and rarely misses a tackle. He had a really solid game. Bruton played well, just no special play. Grade B

COACHING:
Offensive: The play calling was stale, old, predictable, slow developing and too basic. It may be a new playcaller, but it is the same stale plays. How many times today did you say, "wow I did not see that coming?". SDS knew just what was coming on most every play. No misdirection, no inside slants letting a WR catch on the run, nothing to the FB. Grade D-
Defensive: Overall the D played well and we did try to be aggressive. The blitzes were a little much and often two guys in the same hole, but I did like the aggression. Grade B-

Overall, we better make some serious improvement on Offense or it will be another looong season. The D cannot withstand extended time on the field again like last year.

jonesman I appreciate you and all the posters that give views of the games and I think your grading is pretty good. But I hope the vanilla offense was because they did not want to show their hand to the team from the North and if that was the case then I think their grade would be higher.

 

[BDIrish4ever]

Here's whats SAD!!!!! Notre Dame offensive line averaged 318 lbs. San Diego State defensive line averaged 269 lbs. WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF????????????????????????????????????????????????????? WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GET RID OF LATINA ALREADY??????? I have been saying that the past 5 years goddammit.

THANK YOU! I couldn't agree more.

Add me to this list!! The offensive line has been awful in my opinion since he came to South Bend. It is a wonder quality recruits come to ND knowing he is going to probably going to hurt their potential more than help.

In my opinion, 90% of the offensive struggles the last 13 games can be blamed on the inept job done by Latina!

 

[NDame77]

My Grades:
QB:B-
RB:C+ I thought Allen looked better than Hughes. Hughes just looks slow.
FB:C
WR:B-
TE:C-
OL:C+

DL They didn't produce any pressure
LB:C
CB:B-
S:B+

Weis: F
Haywood: C
Brown: C

Overall: I think Allen looked a lot better, he would of took that punt return to the house, if it weren't for the horse collar tackle. He doesn't go down on first contact anymore. Tate will be a special player. I hope Kamara just had a bad game. We blitz on almost every play and STILL don't get any pressure, that's embarrassing. Plus, all that blitzing leaves our DB's out to dry which makes our pass defense look bad. We also tackled like crap late in the third quarter, and also our 3rd down defense sucked. I actually thought our offense looked better than the defense. If it weren't for those freakin turnovers and stupid missed field goals the game would of looked A LOT different. If we can just cut out the stupid mistakes, we could be a solid team. I'm not freaking out just yet, like everyone seems to be.

 

[jonesman]

ALLND,
I will agree that we probably had a somewhat vanilla gameplan for this game. We would have assumed that we should be able to just outman SDS. Well, it was not the case. Our BIG OL got no push. Although part of that issue is that they put 8 in the box on most downs. Tell me how many times you see us line up that you cannot guess the play before the ball snaps?? I bet I am 80% of the time. We are so predictable it is sick. Diversity is a key to success in the college game. We have NONE!! I have seen better offensive gameplans at a pop warner game. No misdirection, no crossing patterns, no counter traps. We have about 3 running plays and 4 pass plays in our arsenal

 

[Junkhead]

Add me to this list!! The offensive line has been awful in my opinion since he came to South Bend. It is a wonder quality recruits come to ND knowing he is going to probably going to hurt their potential more than help.

In my opinion, 90% of the offensive struggles the last 13 games can be blamed on the inept job done by Latina!

I've been ranting and preaching this for 3 years now. There is no question, he sucks. Teaching cut blocks with a 50lb man advantage? What a terrible coach.

 

[fortwayne_nd]

That effort was worth a D. After last year, this team should have come out and made a statement on an over-matched opponent. They made a statement alright, just not the one I expected.

 

[gdome23]

I feel the same as some, as I'm not real happy with the way we played Saturday. That said, in retrospect, I am actually glad the game went down as it did. Perhaps the single-most important moment in the CW era took place during the comeback.

I can't remember the side-line reporter who said it, but they made the comment that CW said to the team that, "You guys are just expecting something bad to happen." And it looked as though they were. They had that, "Well, here we go again" look in their eyes, and it looked like 2007 was about to repeat itself.

Then, it was like Jimmy and Golden decided "you know what, F-this, get on our backs, we're getting this done." And they did. It took 3 quarters, but the team started to show that E word we heard so much about, emotion.

If we would have come out and just spanked them, would I have complained? Absolutely not. But, we as fans needed to see this too, even if it was against SDSU. We needed to see these guys that went through the disaster of 2007 to get over those nightmares. It's easy to say that we aren't looking back to last year, but as everyone knows, bad memories have a weird way of creeping into your mind when things start to get tough. But they took control when they needed too.

Can we play the same way against anyone else on our schedule and win? No. But most of our wounds were self inflicted. 4 turnovers will make nearly any game close. were -3 (I believe) in the turnover battle and won. O$U was +4 and needed a late rally (and an uncalled block in the back) to beat another outclassed team. These games happen, you just need to make sure you walk away from them with a "W".

Anyway, I'm rambling. Point is this: Yes, we have to play better, and I think we will. But now, as a fan, I can actually start looking forward to the 2008 version of ND football, instead of wondering when we're going to revert back to the 2007 edition. Because, Saturday, they had a chance to change back, and they wouldn't let it happen.

 

[Master Guns]

Our offense looks vastly improved from last year (and that really doesn't say much of anything)......but:


The OL was able to pass block well enough to give Clausen some time, but they could not run block for shyte, and this was against SAN DIEGO FRIGGIN' STATE!!


I think it may be time for some to lower their expectations for this year.

And to think SDSU had a depleted Defensive line to boot.