Well, the dreaded “hangover” that so many feared didn’t materialize. For the 2nd time in 3 years, ND has started the season by going 8-0. The beginning of the game caused some heart palpitations on the game thread, but honestly the outcome was never in doubt to me. The secondary had some issues, but overall this was just a dominant win by ND in every facet of the game. Johnny had a good early outlook:
This may not be very fun... their passing game is an issue to deal with. Get pressure on PJ and it should help a lot. They have 2 very good WRs.
Welles Crowther- The man the Red Bandana Game honors each year. Such an inspirational story. Thank you for your service, Welles! A foundation in his name creates and teaches training on leadership and character for young people on topics such as “Lessons on Leadership, Caring for Others, TEAM, The Power of One, Bridging Divides, Forgiveness and Carpe Diem.”
https://www.redbandannaproject.org/
Brian Kelly- Congratulations on your 100th victory at ND!
Geek Stat: BK is 6-0 against BC… since he’s been at ND. He lost the season opener to BC in his final year at Central Michigan, 31-24 in 2006.
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Broadcast- Again, ABC/ESPN sucks. It’s an empty stadium and I can barely hear the announcers, and at times I couldn’t hear them at all. And what was up with that high pitched sound? Very annoying.
Hot Potatoes- Between all of the fumbles drops, interceptions, crazy on-sides kicks and just plain sloppy play it seemed liked nobody wanted to hold on to the ball.
Book/PJ- I learned what I always learn in matchups between 2 QBs: One guy’s team is better than the other. In this case, Book’s team was clearly better at every level. I’m happy with Book as our QB and his performance was clearly better than PJ’s in this game. Some of PJ’s completions were terrible throws that his receivers made happen. He’s coming back from a separated shoulder, had no run game and the ND defense was all over him all game. That said, PJ is a good, talented, QB and he’s going to get better. Had he stayed at ND he’d probably be starting next year. I was him luck moving forward. That said, you can’t overlook Book’s performance or his stat line:
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Book and Skowronek- The stats on both were impressive (Book-ends of the 3 ND passing TDs), but let’s take a look at a few of the standout plays that they were involved in:
Book alone up first. How many times do you see a QB lower the boom on a LB to get 1st down yardage? He’s tough and he’s a leader-
Book-Skowronek #1
If that’s taunting at the end then my ex-wife gets flagged every time!
Book-Skowronek #2
Book-Skowronek #3
I showed those 3 plays in particular because they highlight what I’ve said about Book in the past: He puts the ball where only his receivers can get it. When he throws an incomplete pass it always seems like a tactical decision to throw where nobody can catch it because he doesn't have an open receiver. This is why he throws so few INTs. I’m always going on about passing efficiency so here’s the big stat from Saturday: Book completed 71.4% of his passes in this game.
On the 2nd TD, before the pass look at Book move. He runs backwards and off-balance better than anyone I’ve ever seen. It looks like a skit from the Benny Hill Show.
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Of course nothing’s perfect. Skowronek did have a fumble in the 2nd half that didn’t lead to any points and I think Book was mainly responsible for the fumble involving Tyree in the 1stQ
Shaun Crawford- I can’t get enough of this guy’s story, coming back from all of those injuries and having such a tremendous impact this year. He led the team with 9 tackles, 1.5 for loss, but none was bigger than this early sack. He looked like Spiderman going after a criminal. He must have read
@ToledoJohnny ‘s post about pressure and let PJ know it was going to be a hard day.
This>
Nice reunion between Crawford and Phil
I believe he also had an INT negated by a penalty, as well. Sure, he missed on a couple of plays but solid overall.
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He Said It Best- RE: Game Thread:
The overreaction in these threads is always worth the price of admission. 🤣
Mayer- Only 1 catch for 12 yds but this guy is a real weapon.
O-Line- Defensively, BC had no sacks and only a single tackle for loss. In addition to Book’s 283 yards passing, ND rushes for 274 yards. That’s as impressive a line of statistics as you’ll find in a football game. Sure, Book’s ability to escape in the pocket and scramble helped put a shine on the line’s effort, but watching a few replays, particularly on the TD passes, Book had plenty of time with solid protection throughout the game.
Defense- Only 1 sack but 7 tackles for loss and held BC to 85 yards rushing. They kept good pressure on PJ all day and had some good hits on him when he scrambled. As always though, it was about the big plays, like Hayes’ fumble recovery. PJ and another BC player should have recovered this but Hayes is so athletic and strong he just bulled his way past them and recovered the ball. Not only did this deprive BC a chance to put more points on the board, it led to another TD just before halftime putting ND up 31-16. The fat lady was warming up.
It Was Over When (Part 1)- Kiser- He picked off PJ setting up ND on a short field. Flemister sealed it by punching in a TD a short time later to go up 38-16. Like the USF game (although not to the same degree) Kiser had a great game.
It Was Over When (Part2)- Flemister - We’ve ben pining for that power, short yardage running game here for a while, well now you have it. Look at the 2nd and 3rd effort that C’Bo gives on his 2nd TD here. Geek Stats: He had a 1 yd TD and a 2 yd TD and still racked up an additional 50 yds on 8 other carries for a 6.25 ypc.
Tremble- 0 catches for 0 yards = a huge impact. He was crushing defenders with his blocks. Look at his smoke the defender on the TD above.
Tremble is just a beast. He brings the fkn nasty on every play. Love that dude’s attitude.
Avery Davis- Is a unique talent. Whether it’s big play receptions, timely possession receptions, or one of the few reverses that I’ve seen ND pull of successfully, this guy does it all and he’s only getting better.
Analyst of the Game- With regard to the Davis GIF above, I missed this very important block until
@Tilion80 pointed it out. I love it when someone shows me a subtle nuance of the game that I missed.
McKinnely deserves a helmet sticker for that play. Incredibly to know when the ball was out and 3 cleared coverage. Finds the next man immediately and makes an incredible block in space
Post of the Game- The final score was yet to be decided when this was posted, but the outcome surely wasn’t. Nothing’s perfect and there’s always room for improvement, but you have to feel really good about this team:
you wanna know how good ND is.... today we saw a team shot themselves with penalties, 3 turnovers, phantom class from the refs and still to this point muster up 38 points with a 15 point going into the 4th quarter. This game has to sides... of course the bright side but also have to be disappointed with the mistakes. ND left some points out there and still is a dominate team. I guess if they are going to play with mistakes today is that day. Learn, improve and get better as a team..
Moving On-
So I’m 53 year’s old and this is the best ND team since 1993.
Yeah. It is. And BK has helped exorcise another demon that has plagued ND for the 27 years since then, namely that loss to BC after beating #1 FSU.
Around the Horn Reactions-
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