Chase Claypool ! Jaron Jones ! Drue Tranquill ! Cole Luke !Who else am I missing !

[Bodizephax]

Chase, Drue, Cole and Jaron played tough Notre Dame football yesterday and still give me hope for the future !
The defense is getting better ! Think some positive thoughts !

*** Who are some more players that played tough yesterday ? Give me some names ! This team is too good to be losing ! Whoever is our next head coach will have a good nucleus--Kelly has recruited well.

 

[IrishInOntario]

Bodi,

I've been saying the same thing. Notre Dame is closer than people think. They have more talent than 3 of the teams that have competed in the playoffs through 2 years. Notre Dame starts 10, 4 star and 1, 5 star player on offense, and 11, 4 star players on defense. Michigan State, Oklahoma and Oregon WISH they had that much talent going into a playoff game.

Notre Dame's problem is desire... Remember, the same half core of players went 10-2 last year and lost out of the playoff picture by a 45 yard field goal as time expired. They easily should have been 11-1. That's how much talent is on this team. It's soft as babyshlt, and obsesses over scheme rather attitude, energy, swagger and fundamentals and also had a terrible DC and scheme, yet it still is a year removed from barely missing the playoffs. Imagine what an attitude change, some fundamental improvement and a jolt of energy could do for this group?

The best part is that this defense has 9 freshman (12 first time players total) in the group. With a great DC hire, they have lots of time to develop into a nasty unit of players. Offensively, it may take a little longer and graduation may have to take place to fully overhaul the group mentally, but the right coach, right now, could get things going in the right direction.

Notre Dame turns kids soft. It turns them int great young men and productive members of society, but they need a coach who promotes the exact opposite on the field of play. They need to be barbarians on the field and be able to switch it off when they come off the field. The head coach at Notre Dame doesn't need to be an X's and O's guru like Weis was, or a politician like Kelly is. He needs to be an Alpha Male, with caring demeanour and cruel intentions. A legitimately tough, gentleman.

 

[coolirish9]

the players still need to get better and be held accountable for there on and off poor play during this 2-5 season. in saying that though the defense is playing better and with most if not all of the offense returning next year I could see this team having a 10 win type season for Kelly and staff if Kelly makes a homerun DC hire and if the team plays more consistent next year

 

[Telx1]

Cage and Love, et al... defense is clearly playing better, and many are contributing, and notably our young freshmen defensive backs. Still a work in progress. A new coach will have much to work with on both sides of the ball, especially if we can keep this year's recruits committed. I know I'm in the minority here, but hope Kizer goes onto the NFL after this season and has a great career, while Wimbush takes control of the offense next year. Way too early to be pumped for next year, but can't help but look at each game left in this context. We need to see steady improvement in the play of the OL as badly as we need to see the defense continue to improve.

 

[Bodizephax]

Bodi,

I've been saying the same thing. Notre Dame is closer than people think. They have more talent than 3 of the teams that have competed in the playoffs through 2 years. Notre Dame starts 10, 4 star and 1, 5 star player on offense, and 11, 4 star players on defense. Michigan State, Oklahoma and Oregon WISH they had that much talent going into a playoff game.

Notre Dame's problem is desire... Remember, the same half core of players went 10-2 last year and lost out of the playoff picture by a 45 yard field goal as time expired. They easily should have been 11-1. That's how much talent is on this team. It's soft as babyshlt, and obsesses over scheme rather attitude, energy, swagger and fundamentals and also had a terrible DC and scheme, yet it still is a year removed from barely missing the playoffs. Imagine what an attitude change, some fundamental improvement and a jolt of energy could do for this group?

The best part is that this defense has 9 freshman (12 first time players total) in the group. With a great DC hire, they have lots of time to develop into a nasty unit of players. Offensively, it may take a little longer and graduation may have to take place to fully overhaul the group mentally, but the right coach, right now, could get things going in the right direction.

Notre Dame turns kids soft. It turns them int great young men and productive members of society, but they need a coach who promotes the exact opposite on the field of play. They need to be barbarians on the field and be able to switch it off when they come off the field. The head coach at Notre Dame doesn't need to be an X's and O's guru like Weis was, or a politician like Kelly is. He needs to be an Alpha Male, with caring demeanour and cruel intentions. A legitimately tough, gentleman.

Good post as usual, IIO. I noticed Mike McGlinchey blocking a guy during a run play when he was using excellent technique but after the hole was opened he stopped driving. He should have just kept moving and drove the defender into the ground. It was almost like he did not want to hurt the other guy, Kelly or HH are not coaching the Oline to play tough and aggressive. Even when they play midgets like against Duke.

 

[theskibro]

Chase, Drue, Cole and Jaron played tough Notre Dame football yesterday and still give me hope for the future !
The defense is getting better ! Think some positive thoughts !

*** Who are some more players that played tough yesterday ? Give me some names ! This team is too good to be losing ! Whoever is our next head coach will have a good nucleus--Kelly has recruited well.

I watched Cole Luke a lot. He is solid but not special. Mcglinchey was cited by announcers as having blocked all the way thru a running play. Yet Bodi saw him not do that at some point. Our biggest problem on D is no rush. We don't even blitz
Second problem is no anticipation. We do not react quickly or watch the QB. On offense our line is atrocious. Fix those and we win every game

 

[88ND]

Chase, Drue, Cole and Jaron played tough Notre Dame football yesterday and still give me hope for the future !
The defense is getting better ! Think some positive thoughts !

*** Who are some more players that played tough yesterday ? Give me some names ! This team is too good to be losing ! Whoever is our next head coach will have a good nucleus--Kelly has recruited well.

trumbetti was coming off the edge very hard with energy. I liked it.

 

[Telx1]

Agree, thought it was Trumbetti's best game in two years, but we do very few stunts and our blitzes are routinely picked up. Our best defensive linemen on any given game day is significantly less disruptive than the opposition's best defensive lineman. Nevada may be the only exception to this.

 

[Bumpdaddy]

Onwaulu had a good night. 5 solo tackles and he broke up 3 passes.

 

[IrishInOntario]

ND had what 3 sacks yesterday (doubling the season total) and a slew of other quarterback pressures. Stanford's QB was mobile, so he got away from the pass rush at times, but ND was definitely changing his launch point plenty of times and forcing his receivers to break off routes down field into ND's 7 and 8 man coverages. Pass rush was not a problem yesterday. In fact, defense in general was not a problem. ND held Stanford to 8 points on the defense. EIGHT. The same number of true freshman ND played yesterday on defense. Hudson, Elston, Lyght, Gilmore and ND's young defense did it's job last night. They forces 3 turnovers on top of the pressures. They did there job.

In modern football if you told any coach in the country that his defense would hold their opponent to 8 points, they would attempt a back flip and take that running away.