BAMA's D
- Thread starter dohster
- Start date
This is turning into a real heavy weight fight ....both Defensive units are impressive.
This, dear Notre Dame fans, is what football looks like. Great game.
Fantastic stuff - both teams so well coached.
Yep. Posted before. ND has to switch to MAC refs. Too much money corrupting these refs.
Yes, we would have moved the ball between the 20's all night like always. And then the Kelly factor sets in and we either get a field goal or turnover in the endzone etc.
Obviously, Lots of variables factor into winning and losing, but one off the radar variable that stood out to me is the overall strength and condition of the players on both teams. An Alabama DL at 6-4 and 320 looks a hell of a lot more fit than the ND equivalent. They're huge guys for sure, but not carrying a ton of weight around the middle. Looking at the chiseled arms of nearly every player, more so Alabama than Clemson, even def backs, and the hard hits and constant efforts to strip the ball, all makes me appreciate the decision to fire Longo and bring in a whole new approach to Strength and Conditioning at ND.
Looks like they were exhausted with the fact that the Bama QB couldn't move the ball. Too many 3 and out's on offense.
Clemson ran something close to a 100 offensive plays! The Alabama defense was on the field way too much, and with lack of depth this year, they were exhausted as you suggest. That was an issue for ND this year in second halfs, and will be again next year if we don't improve out time of possession, which means developing a running game.
That might be a factor but I think a much bigger factor is the energy level.
Our defense...hell even our offense plays so lazy and uninspired that I can't stress enough how much that hurts.
So many times our team is going through the motions while the elite are trying to heat teams by 100...we play like very disinterested at times.
That in itself says so much.
I never felt that about ND before as much as this past season, but clearly felt that team lacked energy and a lust for victory. Kelly prides himself on His team's not getting too high from victory or too low from loss, but it seems to me this leads to too many games where we lack emotion, and thus energy. College football is emotion and excitement and energy, and I personally wish we would see this more than one or two games a year. Last night's game was maximum effort by both teams.
When you are on the back straight-away and the other drivers are a lap behind you and in your rear view mirror then you put the pedal to the floor. BK doesn't understand this and it bit him. Maybe he will learn the lesson this year.
