Tommy Rees - Offensive Coordinator

[IrishLax]

Did the offense make any adjustments at halftime? Because it was completely shut down in the second half. It certainly seemed like we kept at the air raid game plan long after it had stopped working.

Did MF tell Rees to run the ball more? Or maybe switch to Buchner? Is MF even in a position to do so? You'd think, as HC, this would not be a question. The post-game comments suggest that MF deferred to Rees, even though it was clear that OSU's D had adjusted and we had not.

Why would you “adjust at halftime” when what you were doing all first half was torching their top rated defense worse then they had ever been beat this year?

 

[IrishRazor82]

Why would you “adjust at halftime” when what you were doing all first half was torching their top rated defense worse then they had ever been beat this year?

Because Gundy's been doing this for 100 years and you know he's a good coach and will without a doubt be making defensive adjustments. So don't adjust play one but expect the inevitable and have a back up plan. OSU did exactly what all other 129 teams would have done and it absolutely stonewalled the offense early and often, and Tommy just kept plugging Coan with drop backs, putting not only the offense in a no-win situation but putting everything on our sparsely talented defense. It was an elite first half followed by a Graduate Assistant-level 2nd half.

Put Buchner in, get a couple 18 yard runs like he always does, and at minimum flip the field for the defense. I believe we went 3 and out on 3/4 of our possessions after half, and it didn't get any better after that.

 

[IrishLax]

Because Gundy's been doing this for 100 years and you know he's a good coach and will without a doubt be making defensive adjustments. So don't adjust play one but expect the inevitable and have a back up plan. OSU did exactly what all other 129 teams would have done and it absolutely stonewalled the offense early and often, and Tommy just kept plugging Coan with drop backs, putting not only the offense in a no-win situation but putting everything on our sparsely talented defense. It was an elite first half followed by a Graduate Assistant-level 2nd half.

Put Buchner in, get a couple 18 yard runs like he always does, and at minimum flip the field for the defense. I believe we went 3 and out on 3/4 of our possessions after half, and it didn't get any better after that.

That doesn’t even make sense. You do not go into halftime and say “OK so this is working well… let’s change it!” That’s not how stuff works.

What you’re talking about are making in game adjustments in the second half to counter what Oklahoma State was doing. Not halftime adjustments. It’s like a bunch of people just dumped a ton of different buzzwords in a blender to find some way to nitpick lighting up Oklahoma State’s defense. It’s actually insane.

That offensive performance was — on an opponent adjusted basis — one of the best ND performances in YEARS. No exaggeration.

 

[Irishbounty28]

Why would you “adjust at halftime” when what you were doing all first half was torching their top rated defense worse then they had ever been beat this year?

This is true, but I feel like Okie State was caught off guard by the heavy air raid type offense. If you watch the tape, nothing suggested this is how ND would have came out to start the game. Once old Gundy saw this, their defensive call sheet shrank, making the game much easier for them. More runs to keep the D honest would have been nice.

 

[IrishRazor82]

That doesn’t even make sense. You do not go into halftime and say “OK so this is working well… let’s change it!” That’s not how stuff works.

What you’re talking about are making in game adjustments in the second half to counter what Oklahoma State was doing. Not halftime adjustments. It’s like a bunch of people just dumped a ton of different buzzwords in a blender to find some way to nitpick lighting up Oklahoma State’s defense. It’s actually insane.

That offensive performance was — on an opponent adjusted basis — one of the best ND performances in YEARS. No exaggeration.

Like I said, you don't come out of halftime and start with the change, but you absolutely plan for it at half and as soon as OSU changes what they do, you make your adjustment to counter/nullify. If they moved to press man, Buchner would be killing them on the outside keeps with no corner there.

We didn't, and it ended up in a historic comeback after and amazing first half. Rees's 2nd half was a F. His first half was an A.

 

[IrishLax]

This is true, but I feel like Okie State was caught off guard by the heavy air raid type offense. If you watch the tape, nothing suggested this is how ND would have came out to start the game. Once old Gundy saw this, their defensive call sheet shrank, making the game much easier for them. More runs to keep the D honest would have been nice.

I agree that about 2 series into the second half — especially when it became clear that the refs would not call holding/PI — he could’ve mixed things up and maybe it would’ve worked. But he clearly wasn’t comfortable with the run game with no Kyren and with how poorly Diggs was playing. That failure on 3rd & 2 sorta set the tone for the rest of the game.

 

[IrishRazor82]

And FWIW, I don't fault MF for not getting on Rees or telling him what to do yesterday in the 2nd half when our offense fell apart. He said he'd give Tommy full control and he should honor that, but if I'm MF I'm going to have an eye out for Rees's plan B's at halftime from now on regardless of how the 1st half goes. He had no reason to think the offense would lose the game in the 2nd half and Tommy deserved the benefit of autonomy.

 

[Irishbounty28]

I agree that about 2 series into the second half — especially when it became clear that the refs would not call holding/PI — he could’ve mixed things up and maybe it would’ve worked. But he clearly wasn’t comfortable with the run game with no Kyren and with how poorly Diggs was playing. That failure on 3rd & 2 sorta set the tone for the rest of the game.

Definitely could tell he wasn’t comfortable with it, but need some just to keep the defensive play sheet bigger. It was going to be tough sledding running the ball against Okie State no matter what, but because of the lack of run attempts it became hard to throw as well. Even with that, there were numerous plays to be had on offense. More than enough to win the game.

 

[Dale]

And FWIW, I don't fault MF for not getting on Rees or telling him what to do yesterday in the 2nd half when our offense fell apart. He said he'd give Tommy full control and he should honor that, but if I'm MF I'm going to have an eye out for Rees's plan B's at halftime from now on regardless of how the 1st half goes. He had no reason to think the offense would lose the game in the 2nd half and Tommy deserved the benefit of autonomy.

The offense lost the game?

 

[317Irish]

I agree that about 2 series into the second half — especially when it became clear that the refs would not call holding/PI — he could’ve mixed things up and maybe it would’ve worked. But he clearly wasn’t comfortable with the run game with no Kyren and with how poorly Diggs was playing. That failure on 3rd & 2 sorta set the tone for the rest of the game.

That 3rd and 2 had TB12 written all over it. I just don’t know why they didn’t utilize him at all. He has proven all year that he opens up some doors for our running game

 

[BabyIrish]

Like I said, you don't come out of halftime and start with the change, but you absolutely plan for it at half and as soon as OSU changes what they do, you make your adjustment to counter/nullify. If they moved to press man, Buchner would be killing them on the outside keeps with no corner there.

We didn't, and it ended up in a historic comeback after and amazing first half. Rees's 2nd half was a F. His first half was an A.

Rees second half performance wasn’t an F, not even close. He had 8 drives. 4 were 3 and outs and the other 4 were sustained drives with two resulting in turnovers. What happens if we don’t turn the ball over?
Also, on one of the three and outs, Rees had a beautiful play call that had Styles open for a touchdown but missed by just an inch. Was it good as the first half? No. But it was good enough to produce more points if the players executed by hitting the plays and not turning the ball over.

 

[Sea Turtle]

The offense lost the game?

Marcus Freeman's defense lost it. The offense refused to help.

 

[Me2SouthBend]

Marcus Freeman's defense lost it. The offense refused to help.

Just GTFO.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

That offensive performance was — on an opponent adjusted basis — one of the best ND performances in YEARS. No exaggeration.

Yes. Some ND fans see "Okie State", assume they're a middling Big-12 team, and then proceed to rant about the loss on that assumption. That Pokes defense was elite, 2nd only to Georgia's this year. The only other times in recent memory where we scored at least 30 points against a defense of comparable quality were 2011 MSU and 2020 Clemson.

Okie State was pretty close in quality to the Georgia team we faced in 2019. Had we put up 35 against the Dawgs by airing it out, we'd likely be seeing a lot less angst here about the loss simply because of the brand involved. Gotta look under the hood, fellas.

 

[BeatSC]

Not putting Buchner in was an absolute brain fart by an overrated OC trying to show his independence from his departed mentor. Epic fail Tommy. The D failed more on a individual shit show of missed tackles and lack of adjustments to stop a running QB. We will see if all the TB chanting is backed up next year.

 

[ColinKSU]

Not putting Buchner in was an absolute brain fart by an overrated OC trying to show his independence from his departed mentor. Epic fail Tommy. The D failed more on a individual shit show of missed tackles and lack of adjustments to stop a running QB. We will see if all the TB chanting is backed up next year.

I’m *far* from sold on Tommy as an OC, QB coach or a recruiter.

 

[benneboy]

Not putting Buchner in was an absolute brain fart by an overrated OC trying to show his independence from his departed mentor. Epic fail Tommy. The D failed more on a individual shit show of missed tackles and lack of adjustments to stop a running QB. We will see if all the TB chanting is backed up next year.

That 'Epic Fail' resulted in more points against OSU than any other opponent has scored all year in a conference known for its offenses. Relax.

 

[BeatSC]

That 'Epic Fail' resulted in more points against OSU than any other opponent has scored all year in a conference known for its offenses. Relax.

EPIC FAIL

 

[BeatSC]

Most pass attempts and yards too. Coan will be drafted and Tommy will get a NFL OC gig. I wonder if Urban watched the game from the bar.

 

[T-Boone]

Most pass attempts and yards too. Coan will be drafted and Tommy will get a NFL OC gig. I wonder if Urban watched the game from the bar.

Haha. I am picturing Urban as Billy Bob from Bad Santa at this point.

 

[ulukinatme]

So many bad takes today. We put up 542 yards of offense and 35 points. The problem was we gave up 600 on defense. Yeah, we struggled 2nd half when Ok St tightened up coverage and I'm really not sure we could do anything about it given our Sr WR struggles that have been on display all year. We really needed Austin and Lenzy to step up and win their battles, but instead there was only one catch between them the entire 2nd half until the final drive. It resulted in a lot of stalled drives, something like 10+ incompletions went to those two while Styles was 4 catches on 5 targets 2nd half...as a freshman! We knew we weren't running it on Ok St, that's why we needed those guys to perform.

 

[TP81989]

We have a OC/QB coach that can recruit QB's. smh

Freeman has to make a change here if this garbage continues.

 

[Irish4life]

We have a OC/QB coach that can recruit QB's. smh

Freeman has to make a change here if this garbage continues.

Rees is not ever going to be fired by Notre Dame. You don't have to like that reality, but it's not ever going to happen. Tommy will move on to either an NFL QB coach job, or becoming a G5 HC in the not too distant future (1-2 years), IMO. ND should drop the proverbial bag on Mike Yurcich. Incredible OC, someone I wanted ND to get after 2016, and after we let go of Chip Long.

 

[Crazy Balki]

JFC, the takes on here sometimes...

ND is losing out to programs and coaches who have been able to develop high level QB's longer than Rees has been coaching at ND. Doesn't help that he spent his first three years at ND having to recruit the position and sell the offense of a certified prick.

He's done a pretty good job of recruiting QB's, particularly once he came out of the shadow of Chip Long. But getting Arnold away from OU, a close school, was going to be tough as is, but once they hired Jeff Lebby, that task become infinitely more difficult, as Lebby will have developed the likely 1st QB taken in this year's draft. I realize that DJ has flamed out at Clemson, but Lawrence and Watson are still fresh in the minds of recruits. Vizzina is also a southern kid. We'll see with Moore, but he's also a stone's throw from Ann Arbor.

Rees hasn't exactly been set up for immediate success, considering how much the WR room has been ravaged between injuries, attrition and recruiting misses by the prior staff. Can't really field a legitimate passing game when your top receiving options are Javon McKinley and Ben Skowronek. Or you have to resort to landing Jack Coan via the portal, because your old boss helped drive away one of your blue-chip talents.

 

[ThePiombino]

JFC, the takes on here sometimes...

ND is losing out to programs and coaches who have been able to develop high level QB's longer than Rees has been coaching at ND. Doesn't help that he spent his first three years at ND having to recruit the position and sell the offense of a certified prick.

He's done a pretty good job of recruiting QB's, particularly once he came out of the shadow of Chip Long. But getting Arnold away from OU, a close school, was going to be tough as is, but once they hired Jeff Lebby, that task become infinitely more difficult, as Lebby will have developed the likely 1st QB taken in this year's draft. I realize that DJ has flamed out at Clemson, but Lawrence and Watson are still fresh in the minds of recruits. Vizzina is also a southern kid. We'll see with Moore, but he's also a stone's throw from Ann Arbor.

Rees hasn't exactly been set up for immediate success, considering how much the WR room has been ravaged between injuries, attrition and recruiting misses by the prior staff. Can't really field a legitimate passing game when your top receiving options are Javon McKinley and Ben Skowronek. Or you have to resort to landing Jack Coan via the portal, because your old boss helped drive away one of your blue-chip talents.

How exactly has he done a pretty good job of recruiting QBs? Other than Buchner, which the eval is still TBD, but we have to credit him for landing a highly regarded recruit.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[TP81989]

JFC, the takes on here sometimes...

ND is losing out to programs and coaches who have been able to develop high level QB's longer than Rees has been coaching at ND. Doesn't help that he spent his first three years at ND having to recruit the position and sell the offense of a certified prick.

He's done a pretty good job of recruiting QB's, particularly once he came out of the shadow of Chip Long. But getting Arnold away from OU, a close school, was going to be tough as is, but once they hired Jeff Lebby, that task become infinitely more difficult, as Lebby will have developed the likely 1st QB taken in this year's draft. I realize that DJ has flamed out at Clemson, but Lawrence and Watson are still fresh in the minds of recruits. Vizzina is also a southern kid. We'll see with Moore, but he's also a stone's throw from Ann Arbor.

Rees hasn't exactly been set up for immediate success, considering how much the WR room has been ravaged between injuries, attrition and recruiting misses by the prior staff. Can't really field a legitimate passing game when your top receiving options are Javon McKinley and Ben Skowronek. Or you have to resort to landing Jack Coan via the portal, because your old boss helped drive away one of your blue-chip talents.

This is just a bunch of excuses.

If Rees needs to be set up for success then he isn't the guy for the job. He's one of the highest paid OC's, but continues to get whipped on the recruiting trail. It's unacceptable if ND is serious about getting to the playoff and actually winning.

 

[TP81989]

Rees is not ever going to be fired by Notre Dame. You don't have to like that reality, but it's not ever going to happen. Tommy will move on to either an NFL QB coach job, or becoming a G5 HC in the not too distant future (1-2 years), IMO. ND should drop the proverbial bag on Mike Yurcich. Incredible OC, someone I wanted ND to get after 2016, and after we let go of Chip Long.

Hope he takes that G5 job soon because he's shown nothing to be worthy of coaching NFL QB's.

 

[Crazy Balki]

This is just a bunch of excuses.

If Rees needs to be set up for success then he isn't the guy for the job. He's one of the highest paid OC's, but continues to get whipped on the recruiting trail. It's unacceptable if ND is serious about getting to the playoff and actually winning.

Getting whipped? Holy crap, stop while you're behind.

Rees is a big reason why our OL class went from concerning to arguably the best in the country. Without Rees, we don't land Wagner and we definitely don't land Schrauth.

The harsh reality is that Rees isn't just facing an uphill battle because the predecessors set him up poorly to field an offense that can be appealing to QBs, but he's also facing an uphill battle due to the fact that ND hasn't produced an elite QB prospect since Brady Quinn. And you're wondering why we're losing out to these programs that have produced multiple elite QB's in that timeframe?

On top of that, he's going up against programs who are without question going all-in on the NIL angle, something that ND is notoriously behind on and is unwilling to skirt the rules on. That's going to be a massive disadvantage, especially for high profile prospects at the most important position.

Those aren't excuses, that is reality. And it will remain that way until ND produces that elite QB and that elite offense. We can have this discussion at a later date when Rees has a roster that's pretty much all his guys. Maybe if Buchner busts this year, we can re-examine this question, but as of now, Rees is basically cleaning up the mess of the previous staff.

 

[Irish4life]

Hope he takes that G5 job soon because he's shown nothing to be worthy of coaching NFL QB's.

He's a great QB coach, what are you talking about? He's getting his butt kicked in recruiting, which is a skill set that doesn't matter in the NFL.

 

[TP81989]

He's a great QB coach, what are you talking about? He's getting his butt kicked in recruiting, which is a skill set that doesn't matter in the NFL.

If he's so great where are Heisman contenders and 1st rounds picks? That's what ''great'' QB coaches produce.

In reality, as ND fans we have no idea what great QB play or coaching looks like because it's been so mediocre since Kelly showed up.