I will start out by saying that this board never disappoints. I guess it all depends on what your expectations are. For me, I saw an ND O line that was mostly re-tooled, a new QB, and for the most part not a lot of experience coming back at the WR group. On the defensive side of the ball there was a new DC, and LB's coach. A new corner and safety, 2 new LB's, and a new DE. On the FSU side of things, it was almost a brand new team from what we saw in 2020, with 13 transfers mostly in starting and back-up roles.
My expectations, as I said all along, was this wasn't the best opening game for ND to have to play. I just wanted the win. I'm going to guess that the following teams who were all in the AP Top 25 just wanted a win as well, namely Clemson, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Miami, LSU, Washington, Indiana and Louisiana. It wasn't pretty, but I'll take 1-0 over 0-1, fly back to SB, re-group and get better.
There were certainly missed opportunities. For all the great things Michael Mayer did, his drop on 3rd and 7 was costly, and his drop at the end of regulation sent the game into OT. The pass that Kyren bobbled on 4th down and came up an inch short was costly as well. Are they correctible? Sure they are, you're 2 of the best players in the country, just catch the damn thing next time, you've done it before.
On the 89 yard FSU TD run. There are several things that I can point at Freeman, but this one wasn't on him. People will say, and even the announcer said, if you're going to sell out and play high risk/high reward, then this is going to happen. What really happened was a little counter play with the backside OG and OT pulling. First mistake was by Justin Ademilola who was playing DE. You're taught that if the guy over you blocks down, then you need to either look for someone pulling at you, or pursue down the LOS, but don't get deep. What Justin did was fly up into the backfield, and became an easy block for the puller. Shayne Simon then bit on the fake and got caught up in the garbage, and was way too late and too shallow to make a play - TD.
Houston Griffith who was over the slot got beat badly on the long TD reception. The FSU QB did a nice job of looking Hamilton off, and Houston got beat by a couple steps.
That's 2 plays for 149 yards!
On the 3 man front. Is it a bad defense? Of course not. Lot's of teams will run it, and that includes Clarke Lea at times. However, there is a time for it, but we ran it way too much last night. My problem was there were too many occasions where we didn't at least walk a LB up forcing FSU to block another guy and not come out clean on the 2 inside LB's. Me, along with the board and the rest of the country are in agreement on this, so lets move on.
What I didn't like was Jayson Ademilola playing DE without a LB to his outside. There were some serious contain issues, and if I had to pick out one particular play it was when JA rushed from the outside, and then did a spin move to the inside leaving absolutely no one in sight from him to the sideline. QB recognizes it and takes off on a big run. This sort of thing can't happen. Know your job and what you're supposed to do within the defense. I will give JA some credit, and that being he looked good playing DT, and I haven't always said that about him.
I'm giving Freeman a D+ for his efforts. He's a smart man, and knows a thousand times more than I do, so my guess is he evaluates things starting today and gets better. At times the defense looked very fast, and at times it didn't.
It wasn't all bad on that side of the ball. JD Bertrand is a rocket out there. Hinish got a nice push up the middle. Drew White made some nice plays, but was out of control on a couple in the backfield. JA did well at DT. Foskey is a man out there, and so is Kyle Hamilton. Was nice to see Cam Hart come up and make some nice hits.
I haven't gone over the O line individually, and doubt that I will, but after watching the replay I did come away with a few things. Zeke got bull rushed pretty good on passing downs. He's in position and his technique seems to be there, but man, can we put another 15lbs on him? I didn't pay much attention to Madden, but he did have a mental lapse that led to a sack. He engaged the DT and then let him go for Kyren to pick up - not a good choice. Carmody did well, but he's not Blake Fisher. Carmody's big lapse came when he just let the DE go on the outside, and instead looked inside. Not sure what he was thinking, but glad that Coan ducked, or we would have seen Pyne on the next play.
It was pretty evident that FSU was going to try and stop the run. I wish we would have spread them out a little bit rather than using all of the2 and 3 TE sets. ND needs to get more assignment sound. It wasn't as bad as Clemson the other day, but new guys are going to make mistakes, and they need to learn from them. I thought Kyren ran hard, and I'm really liking Chris Tyree this year. He's going to be you to the edge more times than not, plus he showed off some hard running - impressed.
Shout out to Joe (just throw him the damn ball) Wilkens Jr. Great catch and a great throw. Kevin Austin looks great, and had a few nice plays. His first catch was like a "Welcome back to college football" where he got lit up, but still held on. Another nice grab down the sideline, and a catch and run - he'll keep getting better.
I would like to see us spread the ball a little better.
Jack Coan was better than I expected. He underthrew Lenzy once when he had a step, but that's just nitpicking. He's not Ian Book running the ball - we all knew that, but still want to bust his chops over it. Of course Book wasn't Coan throwing the ball - and now we all know that.
It's week 1, and ND got a big road win. I'm happy right now at 1 - 0.
My expectations, as I said all along, was this wasn't the best opening game for ND to have to play. I just wanted the win. I'm going to guess that the following teams who were all in the AP Top 25 just wanted a win as well, namely Clemson, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Miami, LSU, Washington, Indiana and Louisiana. It wasn't pretty, but I'll take 1-0 over 0-1, fly back to SB, re-group and get better.
There were certainly missed opportunities. For all the great things Michael Mayer did, his drop on 3rd and 7 was costly, and his drop at the end of regulation sent the game into OT. The pass that Kyren bobbled on 4th down and came up an inch short was costly as well. Are they correctible? Sure they are, you're 2 of the best players in the country, just catch the damn thing next time, you've done it before.
On the 89 yard FSU TD run. There are several things that I can point at Freeman, but this one wasn't on him. People will say, and even the announcer said, if you're going to sell out and play high risk/high reward, then this is going to happen. What really happened was a little counter play with the backside OG and OT pulling. First mistake was by Justin Ademilola who was playing DE. You're taught that if the guy over you blocks down, then you need to either look for someone pulling at you, or pursue down the LOS, but don't get deep. What Justin did was fly up into the backfield, and became an easy block for the puller. Shayne Simon then bit on the fake and got caught up in the garbage, and was way too late and too shallow to make a play - TD.
Houston Griffith who was over the slot got beat badly on the long TD reception. The FSU QB did a nice job of looking Hamilton off, and Houston got beat by a couple steps.
That's 2 plays for 149 yards!
On the 3 man front. Is it a bad defense? Of course not. Lot's of teams will run it, and that includes Clarke Lea at times. However, there is a time for it, but we ran it way too much last night. My problem was there were too many occasions where we didn't at least walk a LB up forcing FSU to block another guy and not come out clean on the 2 inside LB's. Me, along with the board and the rest of the country are in agreement on this, so lets move on.
What I didn't like was Jayson Ademilola playing DE without a LB to his outside. There were some serious contain issues, and if I had to pick out one particular play it was when JA rushed from the outside, and then did a spin move to the inside leaving absolutely no one in sight from him to the sideline. QB recognizes it and takes off on a big run. This sort of thing can't happen. Know your job and what you're supposed to do within the defense. I will give JA some credit, and that being he looked good playing DT, and I haven't always said that about him.
I'm giving Freeman a D+ for his efforts. He's a smart man, and knows a thousand times more than I do, so my guess is he evaluates things starting today and gets better. At times the defense looked very fast, and at times it didn't.
It wasn't all bad on that side of the ball. JD Bertrand is a rocket out there. Hinish got a nice push up the middle. Drew White made some nice plays, but was out of control on a couple in the backfield. JA did well at DT. Foskey is a man out there, and so is Kyle Hamilton. Was nice to see Cam Hart come up and make some nice hits.
I haven't gone over the O line individually, and doubt that I will, but after watching the replay I did come away with a few things. Zeke got bull rushed pretty good on passing downs. He's in position and his technique seems to be there, but man, can we put another 15lbs on him? I didn't pay much attention to Madden, but he did have a mental lapse that led to a sack. He engaged the DT and then let him go for Kyren to pick up - not a good choice. Carmody did well, but he's not Blake Fisher. Carmody's big lapse came when he just let the DE go on the outside, and instead looked inside. Not sure what he was thinking, but glad that Coan ducked, or we would have seen Pyne on the next play.
It was pretty evident that FSU was going to try and stop the run. I wish we would have spread them out a little bit rather than using all of the2 and 3 TE sets. ND needs to get more assignment sound. It wasn't as bad as Clemson the other day, but new guys are going to make mistakes, and they need to learn from them. I thought Kyren ran hard, and I'm really liking Chris Tyree this year. He's going to be you to the edge more times than not, plus he showed off some hard running - impressed.
Shout out to Joe (just throw him the damn ball) Wilkens Jr. Great catch and a great throw. Kevin Austin looks great, and had a few nice plays. His first catch was like a "Welcome back to college football" where he got lit up, but still held on. Another nice grab down the sideline, and a catch and run - he'll keep getting better.
I would like to see us spread the ball a little better.
Jack Coan was better than I expected. He underthrew Lenzy once when he had a step, but that's just nitpicking. He's not Ian Book running the ball - we all knew that, but still want to bust his chops over it. Of course Book wasn't Coan throwing the ball - and now we all know that.
It's week 1, and ND got a big road win. I'm happy right now at 1 - 0.
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