Having watched my fair share of ND games, the last thing that came to mind was this was a game that until recently ND would have lost, or it would have come down to the last possession. Syracuse came in well prepared, and were obviously not just going through the motions. One thing they tried to do was to take away the outside zone play, and in my opinion, they pretty much accomplished it. Not a lot of blitzing through the "A" gaps, but instead a lot of pressure coming from the outside. What was different about this ND team was it had a little more in it's arsenal offensively. Last year, teams wanted ND to bounce the ball outside because they just weren't very good at it, and as a result shut down any type of rushing game in between the tackles. This year, and yesterday in particular, is another story. If a team is going to try and take something away, ND has an answer for it, and that's the reason the score ended up like it did.
Hat's off to Book. he threw for 285 yards and 3 TD's while going 24-37, and had 53 rushing yards on 8 attempts, but it wasn't just about the stats, it was how he got there, and it leads into the more important stuff. I don't recall seeing a team that mixed up it's coverages, and blitzes more frequently than yesterday. It was anywhere from rushing 4 to rushing 7, and a tight man to a loose zone. It's easy to be an arm-chair QB (like I was) yesterday, but Book picked his spots, and took advantage of what the defense was giving him whether it was to a receiver finding a cushion inside the zone, or putting the ball up to one of his receivers when in single coverage. His ability to pick his spot and take off running to get a first down has been incredibly important to this teams success.
The really important stuff was Josh Lugg's game. I watched him this morning and came away with these thoughts. For starters, he looked very comfortable. Early in the game on a Skowronek catch, he passed off the DT to the OG and instead of staying with him he put himself in great position to pick up a LB on a delayed blitz. Last week, Zeke had some trouble with this. For the most part, I thought he did well in pass protection, and was able to handle the NT, and was assignment correct throughout the game. There were a couple of protections where the NT beat him through the gap, but I think that only one would have counted as a true pressure. In the run game Lugg looked a little different this week. He was getting out to the second level, and had some nice blocks, and he seemed to hold up well in not allowing penetration.
The big question coming up is who'll be at center in 2 weeks? As much as I like Zeke's potential, I think you need to stay with Lugg. He's a bigger body right now, and that's going to be needed against Clemson's DT's and whoever else they are playing in the first round of the playoffs. When Zeke played against North Carolina it was a pretty small front, and I question if he'll be able to hold up physically. The other, and most important thing is being assignment correct. I'm going to go with experience for the rest of the year, and I think Lugg brings that. Getting Lugg, Kraemer and Banks on the same page against Clemson will be crucial because they aren't going to stand back on defense, they're going to come at you from all different angles. Of course I could be wrong on all this, but we'll see.
Hat's off to Book. he threw for 285 yards and 3 TD's while going 24-37, and had 53 rushing yards on 8 attempts, but it wasn't just about the stats, it was how he got there, and it leads into the more important stuff. I don't recall seeing a team that mixed up it's coverages, and blitzes more frequently than yesterday. It was anywhere from rushing 4 to rushing 7, and a tight man to a loose zone. It's easy to be an arm-chair QB (like I was) yesterday, but Book picked his spots, and took advantage of what the defense was giving him whether it was to a receiver finding a cushion inside the zone, or putting the ball up to one of his receivers when in single coverage. His ability to pick his spot and take off running to get a first down has been incredibly important to this teams success.
The really important stuff was Josh Lugg's game. I watched him this morning and came away with these thoughts. For starters, he looked very comfortable. Early in the game on a Skowronek catch, he passed off the DT to the OG and instead of staying with him he put himself in great position to pick up a LB on a delayed blitz. Last week, Zeke had some trouble with this. For the most part, I thought he did well in pass protection, and was able to handle the NT, and was assignment correct throughout the game. There were a couple of protections where the NT beat him through the gap, but I think that only one would have counted as a true pressure. In the run game Lugg looked a little different this week. He was getting out to the second level, and had some nice blocks, and he seemed to hold up well in not allowing penetration.
The big question coming up is who'll be at center in 2 weeks? As much as I like Zeke's potential, I think you need to stay with Lugg. He's a bigger body right now, and that's going to be needed against Clemson's DT's and whoever else they are playing in the first round of the playoffs. When Zeke played against North Carolina it was a pretty small front, and I question if he'll be able to hold up physically. The other, and most important thing is being assignment correct. I'm going to go with experience for the rest of the year, and I think Lugg brings that. Getting Lugg, Kraemer and Banks on the same page against Clemson will be crucial because they aren't going to stand back on defense, they're going to come at you from all different angles. Of course I could be wrong on all this, but we'll see.
