What we learned

[Carlyle Javar Holiday]

What we learned is that there will be some heavy drinking this season. Coors light and Jameson will be making their money off of me.

 

[NDFANnSouthWest]

I think Cierre had a great game- he did make me nervous when he would get up slow. If he ever gets hurt or is gased I learned that we have a BIG problem. Better warm up a true frosh...and do it quick.

 

[pkt77242]

I think Cierre had a great game- he did make me nervous when he would get up slow. If he ever gets hurt or is gased I learned that we have a BIG problem. Better warm up a true frosh...and do it quick.

Agreed, running back depth is an issue.

 

[IrishGiant]

Undisciplined play, mental lapses. Gonna live and die with Cierre as we cant rely on the passing game aside from Floyd. Defense made some plays, but took some dumb penalties, and made lazy pass interferences. Team seems very uneven. This reminds me of our first half last year. At least we wont delude ourselves into thinking we have a shot at a title. Still a very disappointing way to start (what I thought would be) a promising season. Gotta hope Kelly uses this lesson to awaken the sleeping giant.

 

[NDFANnSouthWest]

Agreed, running back depth is an issue.

If Hughes was in the game...we would be celebrating right now.

 

[BestBIrish47]

I guess I will pass on the kool aid from now on...
We are who we are...and tonight who we are is a team that looks great on paper...but this isnt paper football. Next week we will see how good the leadership, and coaching staff is at Notre Dame. Until then TALK IS LESS THAN CHEAP! In my humble opinion of course

 

[Bubba]

What we learned is that Dayne Crist will never be as good as Rees. We also learned that we should have hired Skipp Holtz because his team was ready and executed with lesser talent. -- I call BS, they did not execute either, but we commited too many errors.

Also our team played with undisciplined and needs to be addressed. Too many penalties and critical times. -- agreed.

Crist didn't lose ths game, but I o agree that Rees has better command of this team..

 

[NDIrishlover3]

So you guys are really going to bash crist and say he is so much worse than tommy and yet the most disapointing player was obviously riddick and nobody except maybe one or two talk abou t him... So much talent and hype but as much as I hate to bash ND players, he plain out sucked today... So disappointing...and don't start calling out posters for critisizing the team because quite frankly they played horrendously today so they kind of deserve it... Whatever we have to put this game behind us and spend a lot of time improving

 

[theclassickiller]

-Riddick needs a week off so he can find some hands.

-Crist looks lost in game situations.

-First game and the field looks like a dogtrack. WTF is up with that?

-More poor coaching.

Bingo. I just posted in another thread that I can't figure out what he is looking at. It's like he just sees the field as a blur. The game moves way faster than Dayne can see it and it's evident by the look on his face every time the camera pans to him.

"What? What's the play? Wait, how's that play go? Ok, we're changing it again? Wait, what's that one mean? What, only 5 seconds! Ok, now I see it's a handoff. Oh good, a delay of game, now I can run to the sidelines so coach can tell me who I'm going to stare down and throw ten yards behind them."

As for poor coaching, I disagree. Kelly did everything he could. We ran all over USF despite Crist's play and the players just let us down. Granted, giving the ball to Gray was bad coaching, but you gotta try it. It's a new year, surely he's learned to hold on to the ball! Other than not letting Cierre put that ball in, Kelly coached a perfect game, it was just awful execution.

 

[jonesman]

DEFENSE:
-DL is solid and Ethan Johnson played well until the knucklehead took out his frustration and got personal foul
-Calabrese is the better option at LB. Fox gets pushed around. Carlo gave up TD pass, but still looks improved in speed and gives great effort.
- Blanton is solid. Gray had a rough night.
- Fleming bit on the fake dive about 6 times in the first half. Better in second.

OFFENSE-
-OL played solid all night. Actually little to complain for them.
-C. Wood is a stallion.
- Sorry Dayne, but Tommy took your job. I was all Dayne since last year, but he is just not accurate. He never hit one guy in stride tonight, only standing targets.
-Eiffert is a stud. He can run and catch.
-Theo makes some great catches and then misses the easy ones.
-TJ had some good catches despite his dong off the helmet. I am concerned he got hurt at end of game?????
-FLOYD is 1st round NFL!!!!

SPECIAL TEAMS-
- Turk is not ver special. He is plain BAD.
- Ruffer had a ruff night.
- Brindza had nice KO's. He now needs to take over punting duty.

OVERALL TAKEAWAY; DO NOT PANIC!!! This is not like past ND teams where we questioned if the O can score or can the D stop anyone. They both are talented, but nobody is going to overcome 5 TURNOVERS and like 10 penalties!!! Cleaning up sloppy stuff is a lot easier than trying to find talented guys to plug holes.

Go IRISH!!! We will beat UM.

 

[ACamp1900]

So you guys are really going to bash crist and say he is so much worse than tommy and yet the most disapointing player was obviously riddick and nobody except maybe one or two talk abou t him... So much talent and hype but as much as I hate to bash ND players, he plain out sucked today... So disappointing...and don't start calling out posters for critisizing the team because quite frankly they played horrendously today so ther kind of deserve it... Whatever we have to put this game behind us and spend a lot of time improving

I am of this school....

 

[Irish4Life09]

General...

The offense gained over 500 yards, but the turnovers killed us.

The defense was solid. Only gave up 16 points.

First half was atrocious, second half mediocre.

Individuals...

- Tommy Rees is our guy.
- Dayne Crist was not as bad as we made him out to be, but he certainly wasn't good.
- Cierre Wood was outstanding in the first half. Running with a lot more power and determination.
- Jonas Gray. Ugh.
- Michael Floyd. Nothing else need be said.
- TJ Jones made some nice plays, but he dropped the two most important passes.
- Theo Riddick was absolutely atrocious.
- Tyler Eifert was excellent in the second half.
- Ben Turk is horrible.
- Offensive line was very good. Great protection and good holes for Wood.

Actually our defense only gave up 13 points. We didn't give up the fumble return TD and we pretty much kept them from a td when we botched the punt.We gave them 10 points.I think we were very generous...I'm figuring our guys were thinking "What would Jesus do in a football game? So we gave them points."

 

[IrishBlood81]

.

- Ben Turk is f'ing horrible.

 

[irishff1014]

Our defensive backs didn't play bad but they didn't play as good as i thought they would.

 

[jason_h537]

Agreeed, I believe Rees is the QB for now but c'mon with the Crist sucks nonsense

 

[geno1023]

Don't know if anybody noticed this but on the J onas Gray fumble, Carlo Calebrese and Ethan Johnson were in the game. My seats were right on the goal line and I saw carlo especially get off the ball 1/2 a second slow. IDK why there wasn't a tight end or extra offensive line in the game. Not making excuses fro Jonas, cuz that was horrific, but this isn't backyard football

 

[loomis41973]

Kelly coached a perfect game?

Throwing on the goal line? BAD

Fade to MF? Like they didn't see that coming, especially since we ran an empty backfield. BAD

Should i go on?
Maybe use his own words from the post game presser? "Poor coaching"

 

[Irish To The Core]

I don't think I learned anything. I already knew that you don't win football games when you turn the ball over 3 times inside the 5 and then miss a 30 yard field goal and then take 80 yards worth of penalties and then...

They made 4 games worth of bonehead errors...but each one was on a different guy. That is football. I couldn't care less about the total yards...USF came in and held on to the ball and on the couple times they didn't, they were on the spot to recover. That means they deserved the w in my books.

 

[jason_h537]

Our defensive backs didn't play bad but they didn't play as good as i thought they would.

Blanton played great, Gray was ok but sloppy at times.

also i want to be a mad, only so I can close most of these threads

 

[theclassickiller]

you learned that we werent some cupcake school... suck it chodes, you guys were predicting blowouts man it must suck to be wrong so often, unless that is you ND fans have become accustomed to being wrong and delusional

Notre Dame doesn't open with cupcakes like other schools do. We have never played D2, we don't play satellite schools. We do play teams we are 10,000,000 times better than (like USF), but we don't play true cupcakes.

We do play teams with classless fans apparently. Chodes? Seriously?

 

[IrishBlood81]

Anyone know where the Presser is going to be shown? ESPN or only online?

 

[irishfan]

Kelly's proven (not here but in his career) he knows what he's doing, so I wont pile on him too much. We were sloppy as all hell in the first half, but I don't think it was on him completely.

The only things I really blame him for are:

1) Theo Riddick being in on punt returns. He never looked comfortable back there. I'll take Goodman's sure-hands over Riddick any day. I had no confidence in him, and that reminds me of things from the Weis days (like not trusting Weis' D, kicking game, running game)

2) Gray on the goal line. I don't care if he's the bruising back and Wood was tired. We're a foot out just do a QB sneak or have Crist run the clock down before snapping it so Wood can get a breather. Gray hasn't earned that trust to run the ball on the goal line IMO.

3) Get Riddick involved early. For as bad as he was, he wasn't given many chances at all in the 1st half. Give him a hand off or a screen or run the Wildcat or something. Get him in the game.

4) Defense is on Diaco, but way too many quick passes to guys in the slot where they could pick up 6-10 yards easy. I felt like USF ran a fairly simple offense overall, it should have been contained more. Although the D did play pretty well overall.

As deflating as the loss was, I think we'll be ok next week. I was a Crist supporter, but Kelly's gotta name Rees the starter and just hand the team over to him.

 

[loomis41973]

Anyone know where the Presser is going to be shown? ESPN or only online?

It was only about 3 or 4 questions and then BK walked away.

 

[pkt77242]

Talent at skill positions (besides Floyd and Wood) on offense is still lacking

Rees is a gamer, not that he is more talented than Crist (Crist played ok) but that he seems more in control on the field.

D is solid but needs to cut down on the stupid penalties

 

[ErieIrish13]

Tommy clearly played better than Dayne and has the better career at nd so far. I just find it hard to bench Dayne after 1 bad half of football. How we would feel about benching Riddick the second half and putting toma in? And then not starting him next week? Ik its about whatever is best for ND, and I am fine with that. I just think Dayne can blossom into something special.

 

[jonesman]

BK is going to have to control his emotions just a little bit when things are not going well. He is going to have kids start shutting him off when he screams non-stop. I am all for emotion, but he was a bit over the top today.

 

[jason_h537]

Good kelly should be pissed. The team played like **** and should be chewed out for it. Then take it out on UM.

 

[NDFan4Life]

I learned that I don't miss Hammond calling our games.

 

[NDFANnSouthWest]

BK is going to have to control his emotions just a little bit when things are not going well. He is going to have kids start shutting him off when he screams non-stop. I am all for emotion, but he was a bit over the top today.

I agree 100%...that little incident with Tj was scary...thought he was going to punch TJ.

 

[Irish4Life09]

DEFENSE:
-DL is solid and Ethan Johnson played well until the knucklehead took out his frustration and got personal foul
-Calabrese is the better option at LB. Fox gets pushed around. Carlo gave up TD pass, but still looks improved in speed and gives great effort.
- Blanton is solid. Gray had a rough night.
- Fleming bit on the fake dive about 6 times in the first half. Better in second.

OFFENSE-
-OL played solid all night. Actually little to complain for them.
-C. Wood is a stallion.
- Sorry Dayne, but Tommy took your job. I was all Dayne since last year, but he is just not accurate. He never hit one guy in stride tonight, only standing targets.
-Eiffert is a stud. He can run and catch.
-Theo makes some great catches and then misses the easy ones.
-TJ had some good catches despite his dong off the helmet. I am concerned he got hurt at end of game?????
-FLOYD is 1st round NFL!!!!

SPECIAL TEAMS-
- Turk is not ver special. He is plain BAD.
- Ruffer had a ruff night.
- Brindza had nice KO's. He now needs to take over punting duty.

OVERALL TAKEAWAY; DO NOT PANIC!!! This is not like past ND teams where we questioned if the O can score or can the D stop anyone. They both are talented, but nobody is going to overcome 5 TURNOVERS and like 10 penalties!!! Cleaning up sloppy stuff is a lot easier than trying to find talented guys to plug holes.

Go IRISH!!! We will beat UM.

Very solid breakdown.Finally someone logical on here that's not gonna jump off a building because of one loss.