Anxious to see the defense...

[floridairish]

The last half of last season was the worst defense I have ever seen a ND football team play, and I have been watching ND play since the 1973 Sugar Bowl vs Alabama. The combination of Year 1 in a complex system and injuries to key personnel had a DEVASTATING effect.

None the less I also felt ND looked disorganized at times on defense and looked completely unprepared to handle the UNC Tempo, Navy Option and were just flat out awful against a Northwestern team that had a sub par offense. ASU was 110% on the QB now in Tallahassee and USC was an abberation.

ND's defensive effort against LSU, Louisville and FSU was inspired. They played hard and did not collapse. That's what i'm looking to see this year! .ASU, GTech, Navy, Clemson and USC will move the football and score some points but the ND defense must compete and keep ND in the football games with a chance to win at the end. No football team can survive a season if their defense consistently surrenders 40 points.

As I said last year, complexity of scheme is a wonderful thing, if you are healthy and your starters and RESERVES understand the system...Hopefully ND now has a more complete understanding of the BVG scheme. It's truly the difference between 8-5 and 11-2.

 

[continually35forever]

Fl Irish - given the talent of this defense if the scheme doesnt work VanGorder won't be here next yr

 

[IowaIrish1]

The last half of last season was the worst defense I have ever seen a ND football team play, and I have been watching ND play since the 1973 Sugar Bowl vs Alabama. The combination of Year 1 in a complex system and injuries to key personnel had a DEVASTATING effect.

None the less I also felt ND looked disorganized at times on defense and looked completely unprepared to handle the UNC Tempo, Navy Option and were just flat out awful against a Northwestern team that had a sub par offense. ASU was 110% on the QB now in Tallahassee and USC was an abberation.

ND's defensive effort against LSU, Louisville and FSU was inspired. They played hard and did not collapse. That's what i'm looking to see this year! .ASU, GTech, Navy, Clemson and USC will move the football and score some points but the ND defense must compete and keep ND in the football games with a chance to win at the end. No football team can survive a season if their defense consistently surrenders 40 points.

As I said last year, complexity of scheme is a wonderful thing, if you are healthy and your starters and RESERVES understand the system...Hopefully ND now has a more complete understanding of the BVG scheme. It's truly the difference between 8-5 and 11-2.

The offense didn't help a depleted and young defense the last half of season. Had the team not turned the ball over so much it wouldn't have been as bad. I agree though, I think everyone is anxious to see the defense perform this year.

 

[floridairish]

Football is all interrelated and every deficiency your football team suffers, is like throwing a rock into a pond and it ripples to all the other areas of your football team. It started with last years QB ball handling and subsequent pouting, then the defensive struggles makes the offense press and feel like they have to score on every possession, pressing equals more mistakes, then the Place Kicking Holder and Kicker could not be trusted to make a FG or an Extra Point, which makes you feel as a Coach that the high % play of "Taking the Points" is not such a high % play after all, so we might as well go for it on 4th down. Which in reality is not what you want to do. Long story short is was a mess. If Zaire can simply protect the football, and make the plays available to him. The Place Kicking battery can simply get the ball knocked through the pipes on a consistent basis and the ND defense is not demolished on the injury front, I would expect this defense to be representative of a ND Football team.

 

[stu4don]

Well, Northwestern... we handed them the game when we could have been taking a knee, right? Is there an analysis of how many points ND's offense bequethed opposing offenses (and I'm not only talking pick sixes, i.e. turnovers in the red zone, or close to our goal line) and how much time ND's defense had to spend on the field because of turnovers? You are so right about the kicking game, no excuses, especially with one of the best in the country kicking the ball. (Probably another win in there, right.) 10-4 looks a lot better than 8-6, especially since we were a very young team, that lost several NFL players (the heart of the O and D line) in the previous season (or two) and of course the frozen five. Kelly put too much pressure on Golson to do it all. The kid can play, I don't think anyone denies that, and the kid is a gamer, Stanford and okay, I'll say it, Fla State, and LSU, but in the end, he couldn't do it all (I don't think any QB could have.) I'll miss Golson's arm and his playmaking/gamer ability but it is clear, limiting turnovers is probably the most important part of the game these days. Keeps their D on the field. Keeps our D rested. And Malik is a natural leader who plays with emotion. I'm much more excited about this season. I was shocked the way we started last season, just didn't see that coming. Go You Irish!

 

[Irish Grandeur]

Football is all interrelated and every deficiency your football team suffers, is like throwing a rock into a pond and it ripples to all the other areas of your football team. It started with last years QB ball handling and subsequent pouting, then the defensive struggles makes the offense press and feel like they have to score on every possession, pressing equals more mistakes, then the Place Kicking Holder and Kicker could not be trusted to make a FG or an Extra Point, which makes you feel as a Coach that the high % play of "Taking the Points" is not such a high % play after all, so we might as well go for it on 4th down. Which in reality is not what you want to do. Long story short is was a mess. If Zaire can simply protect the football, and make the plays available to him. The Place Kicking battery can simply get the ball knocked through the pipes on a consistent basis and the ND defense is not demolished on the injury front, I would expect this defense to be representative of a ND Football team.

I may be in the minority or possibly the only person to feel this way but it seemed to me like EG liked the drama of pulling out the win at the end and being the hero. I am not saying he did or did not intentionally play this way but it seemed that way to me last year. Regardless, ND lost inexplicable games they should have won and the team/coaches seemed to lose confidence in EG as a leader. I do not see MZ following that lead this year.

 

[Telx1]

Continually, I agree. We have the talent behind the DL to play the aggressive disruptive style Van Gorder schemes. It's been encouraging to read so many comments from the payers about how they now understand the defense and their roles, etc... and how they are now playing with confidence and trusting their instincts, etc... If the schemes prove too confusing again this year, then Van Gorder will be back in the NFL next year, but I don't expect that to be the case.

 

[Pennick4]

I was watching GameDay special this week and Herbie said that Van Gorder is one of the best defensive minds in college football. Another year and we should be able to evaluate more accurately.

 

[continually35forever]

Tex - I want the season to start pretty bad - I was sharing with some people last nite that IMO this teams success will be predicated on Zaire taking care of the football . I trust that Van Gorder knows his stuff . Take care of the ball , spread it around and stop oppositions run game = 12 - 0