Sept 13 | Texas A&M

Sunshine

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Unless Denbrock wants to get fired, I'd be shocked to see Love under 20 touches and Price under 10.

I get wanting to pace these guys throughout the season to keep them fresh, but this and Miami are not the games to do that.
 

stlnd01

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Guess he’s getting fired cause I can tell you now Love isn’t getting 20 touches
What do we think is a good/realistic number?
For reference we ran 60 plays last week, Love touched the ball 14 times - 10 carries, four catches. That's in line with last year when he generally got between 10-16 combined carries/receptions a game, maxed at 18 against Virginia).
 

Sunshine

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He didn’t have 20 touches once last year. Unless Price fumbles again, I don't see that changing.
That's true. We also had a battering ram at QB for short yardage (though CJ looked more athletic than I thought he would). Also we looked more interested in using him in the passing game week 1. In a gotta have it game, I wouldn't be shocked to see him crack that this week vs a quality opponent.
 

sfk324

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That's true. We also had a battering ram at QB for short yardage (though CJ looked more athletic than I thought he would). Also we looked more interested in using him in the passing game week 1. In a gotta have it game, I wouldn't be shocked to see him crack that this week vs a quality opponent.
The issue with Love touches (and to a degree Price) is that the offense hasn't featured a lot of straight run calls -- they are almost all RPOs. Unless there is a change in how they call games with a shift away from RPO, it's unlikely that we'll see a dramatic change in number of touches from one game to the next.
 

PutuporShutup

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That was even more of a nothing burger than most PCs. You could see Freeman wanting to keep everything positive, until reporters actually asked about specific players and coaches by name.

Ash - "Yeah we didn't play with the velocity we need to"
Wagner - "Yeah he didn't have the game he wanted to"
Bowen - "Yeah he would be the first to say he needs to play better"

I get it and I'm fine with Freeman not saying much in PCs, but if he rolls out the same Oline, plays hinish a lot, and doesn't give love the ball more (20 touches+ since we don't have Riley), then it's not a good sign for either him as a coach or our overall talent. Love doesn't need 20+ touches every game, but in big or tight games, he does.

Riley last year averaged about 15 carries per game vs our tough opponents. We know we're still going to run cj carr some, but that should be maybe 5-7 times a game vs tough opponent not the 11 like miami, or 15+ riley did. Those ~10 carries/touches need to go tour play makers with love getting a bunch.
 

KMac151993

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You adjust around your pieces...against Miami they didn't come in with that type of game plan. We will see if that changes for Game #2.
 

IrishFanForever23

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That was even more of a nothing burger than most PCs. You could see Freeman wanting to keep everything positive, until reporters actually asked about specific players and coaches by name.

Ash - "Yeah we didn't play with the velocity we need to"
Wagner - "Yeah he didn't have the game he wanted to"
Bowen - "Yeah he would be the first to say he needs to play better"

I get it and I'm fine with Freeman not saying much in PCs, but if he rolls out the same Oline, plays hinish a lot, and doesn't give love the ball more (20 touches+ since we don't have Riley), then it's not a good sign for either him as a coach or our overall talent. Love doesn't need 20+ touches every game, but in big or tight games, he does.

Riley last year averaged about 15 carries per game vs our tough opponents. We know we're still going to run cj carr some, but that should be maybe 5-7 times a game vs tough opponent not the 11 like miami, or 15+ riley did. Those ~10 carries/touches need to go tour play makers with love getting a bunch.
I'd argue it's talent. For being an OL and DL driven team, they really don't have the talent of the teams you see always at the top that have 1st round OL/DL picks.
 
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irishu

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Can we quit fucking talking about Miami performance and talk about the match up with Texas A&M?

Who are their players? How do we matchup? Who should we watch for? How strategies should NDs defense employ? How are we all feeling about the game? Who has some bets lined up?

Jesus Christ boys
 

PutuporShutup

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I'd argue it's talent. For being an OL and DL driven team, they really don't have the talent of the teams you see always at the top that have 1st round OL/DL picks.
Interior DL for sure. Onye and Rubio are 5th year senior recruits that committed to ND before Freeman even became DC, dawson a transfer, and Hinish. Hinish who is absolutely terrible is the only player Freeman and staff has recruited from HS that's playing interior DL since Freeman became DC. That's just terrible and possibly the biggest reason we lost to Miami. We've got two ends in freeman's 4 years of recruiting that are any good. Young and Traore. Now, the 2026 class does have some studs, and I like burgess a lot in the 25 class, and dixon may develop. But DL recruiting under washington has been bad for a top 10 program up until now.

On the OL, I think we have a ton of talent that isn't prepared to play their correct position. We just let 3 OL that started on last year's team walk because our staff believed that the kids behind them are better.

Jagusah - Injured, can't predict that, he was our best olinemen with rust vs PSU and OSU.
Knapp - Looks and plays like a really good center, but he's playing LT - just stupid (the stats back that up)
Billy - really good - played well vs Miami will get drafted probably in the first 3-4 rounds
Craig - Really good center - had a good game vs Miami, will get drafted
Lambert - Super talented tackle they put at guard since jagusah got hurt
Wagner - Biggest head scratcher - played well last year except vs PSU. He seemed a bit stiff last year, seems even more stiff this year. My guess is it's due to trying so hard to add and keep on weight and it's not natural for him. You can't have an undersized tackle that can't move.

I think the ND staff has tried to get there 5 best OL on the field, but hasn't done a good job of getting them into their right spots, or have them ready for game 1.
 

PutuporShutup

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Can we quit fucking talking about Miami performance and talk about the match up with Texas A&M?

Who are their players? How do we matchup? Who should we watch for? How strategies should NDs defense employ? How are we all feeling about the game? Who has some bets lined up?

Jesus Christ boys
A&M has a lot of similarities to Miami. What do you think Elko is showing his players clips of since yesterday? ND vs Miami and how to expose our glaring issues in that game.

He's showing how miami interior OL kept displacing our interior DL (mainly hinish or whomever got double teamed because of hinish). A&M has a big powerful interior OL that will be able to move our DL.
He's showing how miami edge rushers abused our two tackles. Now, A&M is more speed than power, on the edge, so that is one difference.
He's showing how bad/soft our zone defense was. A&M doesn't have as good of a passer as beck, but reed is capable. A lot of teams will play zone vs A&M due to reeds legs.
He's showing how toney abused hobbs and gray in man. A&M has more overall speed than Miami at WR and two wrs that can get open like toney did.

A lot of similarities between A&M and miami. Biggest differences is Reed isn't the passer Beck is but he's extremely athletic. A&M oline is big, but probably not quite as good as miami. A&M defensive ends rely more on speed than power.

If we don't chip their edge some, knapp will probably get whipped again, and we need a much more aggressive game plan to ensure they just can't play the short ball and run game.

On D, we've got to control the run game and running QB with 6, we did NOT do that vs miami, and made becks life so easy. Reed on 3rd and long isn't the passing QB beck is to get through progressions. I'm curious to see how we defend his legs.
 

Dale

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A&M has a lot of similarities to Miami. What do you think Elko is showing his players clips of since yesterday? ND vs Miami and how to expose our glaring issues in that game.

He's showing how miami interior OL kept displacing our interior DL (mainly hinish or whomever got double teamed because of hinish). A&M has a big powerful interior OL that will be able to move our DL.
He's showing how miami edge rushers abused our two tackles. Now, A&M is more speed than power, on the edge, so that is one difference.
He's showing how bad/soft our zone defense was. A&M doesn't have as good of a passer as beck, but reed is capable. A lot of teams will play zone vs A&M due to reeds legs.
He's showing how toney abused hobbs and gray in man. A&M has more overall speed than Miami at WR and two wrs that can get open like toney did.

A lot of similarities between A&M and miami. Biggest differences is Reed isn't the passer Beck is but he's extremely athletic. A&M oline is big, but probably not quite as good as miami. A&M defensive ends rely more on speed than power.

If we don't chip their edge some, knapp will probably get whipped again, and we need a much more aggressive game plan to ensure they just can't play the short ball and run game.

On D, we've got to control the run game and running QB with 6, we did NOT do that vs miami, and made becks life so easy. Reed on 3rd and long isn't the passing QB beck is to get through progressions. I'm curious to see how we defend his legs.

They are similar besides all the differences.
 
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irishu

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A&M has a lot of similarities to Miami. What do you think Elko is showing his players clips of since yesterday? ND vs Miami and how to expose our glaring issues in that game.

He's showing how miami interior OL kept displacing our interior DL (mainly hinish or whomever got double teamed because of hinish). A&M has a big powerful interior OL that will be able to move our DL.
He's showing how miami edge rushers abused our two tackles. Now, A&M is more speed than power, on the edge, so that is one difference.
He's showing how bad/soft our zone defense was. A&M doesn't have as good of a passer as beck, but reed is capable. A lot of teams will play zone vs A&M due to reeds legs.
He's showing how toney abused hobbs and gray in man. A&M has more overall speed than Miami at WR and two wrs that can get open like toney did.

A lot of similarities between A&M and miami. Biggest differences is Reed isn't the passer Beck is but he's extremely athletic. A&M oline is big, but probably not quite as good as miami. A&M defensive ends rely more on speed than power.

If we don't chip their edge some, knapp will probably get whipped again, and we need a much more aggressive game plan to ensure they just can't play the short ball and run game.

On D, we've got to control the run game and running QB with 6, we did NOT do that vs miami, and made becks life so easy. Reed on 3rd and long isn't the passing QB beck is to get through progressions. I'm curious to see how we defend his legs.
I appreciate you trying to move on to A&M :) let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you in this process
 

dublinirish

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Bad vibes all the way around. I have a feeling this is going to be another disappointing year after breaking through to the natty last year.

817oQ8RR0xL._UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg
 

Dale

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Will be fine and is good are two different things, if you want to read into verbiage
 

BeatSC

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Regarding our D. If we play two plays on D with any degree of competence (the two Miami TDs) we not only hold Miami to around 250 total yards we easily win this game while playing below average.

As far as more touches for Love would it kill us to try a few wildcat plays?! You could use Faison who can throw or Love & Price.

Would it also kill us to go under center in short yardage?!

Can we have an extra tackle check in as an eligible receiver/TE?

I’m even good with a Buchner package. Worked out great during the Coan season.

Do we have any big boys from the Oline that played DLine in high school? We have a lot of beef there to look at. Worked out well for Jerry Tillery.

Are these unreasonable questions?
 

irishff1014

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Can we quit fucking talking about Miami performance and talk about the match up with Texas A&M?

Who are their players? How do we matchup? Who should we watch for? How strategies should NDs defense employ? How are we all feeling about the game? Who has some bets lined up?

Jesus Christ boys

Oh DB’s better be ready if we can’t get pressure. They have have some Wide receivers.
 

notredomer23

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The last time vibes were this bad were after Lousiville 2023 and NIU where the team obviously played like crap the next game.
 

NDFAN2008

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A&M has a lot of similarities to Miami. What do you think Elko is showing his players clips of since yesterday? ND vs Miami and how to expose our glaring issues in that game.

He's showing how miami interior OL kept displacing our interior DL (mainly hinish or whomever got double teamed because of hinish). A&M has a big powerful interior OL that will be able to move our DL.
He's showing how miami edge rushers abused our two tackles. Now, A&M is more speed than power, on the edge, so that is one difference.
He's showing how bad/soft our zone defense was. A&M doesn't have as good of a passer as beck, but reed is capable. A lot of teams will play zone vs A&M due to reeds legs.
He's showing how toney abused hobbs and gray in man. A&M has more overall speed than Miami at WR and two wrs that can get open like toney did.

A lot of similarities between A&M and miami. Biggest differences is Reed isn't the passer Beck is but he's extremely athletic. A&M oline is big, but probably not quite as good as miami. A&M defensive ends rely more on speed than power.

If we don't chip their edge some, knapp will probably get whipped again, and we need a much more aggressive game plan to ensure they just can't play the short ball and run game.

On D, we've got to control the run game and running QB with 6, we did NOT do that vs miami, and made becks life so easy. Reed on 3rd and long isn't the passing QB beck is to get through progressions. I'm curious to see how we defend his legs.
A&M isn't anywhere close to the same team Miami is, A&M doesn't have two good DE's like Miami, and their OL isn't anywhere close. Also their QB may be able to run but isn't anywhere close to the thrower Beck is
 
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