Critical eye

[ftnfan62]

Game 1, lots to work on. Hard to imagine how long it’s been since Riley played. New players. New coaches. Injuries.

Watched the game a few times. A couple things to critique.

The AM QB was wildly inaccurate, there were a ton of throws open to sustain drives but he missed them. We won’t see that against USC.

OL played really well and got better over the game, but they left some free rushers into the QB.

On a few scrambles, nobody turned and went deep. They just watched Riley run.

I like the way this schedule sets up for us, not we got lots of work to do.

 

[Golson5]

Next 3 weeks will be about improving in all those areas. And we'll get a good assessment after 4 games before Louisville

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

Pete Sampson did some interesting analysis of the game. (I know some of you don't care for Sampson, but I enjoy his work.)

One of the things he noted was that Denbrock's game plan seemed to be designed around making sure that our inexperienced OL wasn't asked to do too much. On pass plays Leonard averaged 2.18 seconds from snap to throw. That is the shortest average snap-to-pass time in ND's last 63 games. As a result, Leonard took only 3 downfield shots (15+ yards) for the game. So essentially Denbrock asked our inexperienced OL to hold their blocks for 2 seconds, nullifying any deep throws, but also avoiding Leonard being sacked. That is just smart coaching. It is nice to design a game plan around your strengths, but sometimes you have to make sure your weaknesses don't lose the game for you.

Another interesting stat: Jadarian Price ran 8 times for 44 yards and a TD, including a long run of 47 yards. Hats off to both Price and Jeremiah Love for sticking with it. And our OL came through big time when the game was on the line in the 4th quarter.

 

[FightingIrish44]

Pete Sampson did some interesting analysis of the game. (I know some of you don't care for Sampson, but I enjoy his work.)

One of the things he noted was that Denbrock's game plan seemed to be designed around making sure that our inexperienced OL wasn't asked to do too much. On pass plays Leonard averaged 2.18 seconds from snap to throw. That is the shortest average snap-to-pass time in ND's last 63 games. As a result, Leonard took only 3 downfield shots (15+ yards) for the game. So essentially Denbrock asked our inexperienced OL to hold their blocks for 2 seconds, nullifying any deep throws, but also avoiding Leonard being sacked. That is just smart coaching. It is nice to design a game plan around your strengths, but sometimes you have to make sure your weaknesses don't lose the game for you.

Another interesting stat: Jadarian Price ran 8 times for 44 yards and a TD, including a long run of 47 yards. Hats off to both Price and Jeremiah Love for sticking with it. And our OL came through big time when the game was on the line in the 4th quarter.

I think Denbrock did a good job of scheming things up. Price also had a nullified play of about 35 yards on which he slipped one tackle and ran over another guy. Kind of a tacky hold call but Craig did grab the outside pad. Bummer because it probably didn’t affect the play.

I can not speak highly enough about Leonard, Love, and Price as runners. I think Love and Price are already my two all time favorite running backs for ND just because of the tenacity with which they play the game.

 

[NDinNJ]

I watched the game again, Offense definitely needs to improve, OL needs to improve on pass protect and run game. Riley Leonard missed some throws that he should have made.

Finally, penalties need to be cleaned up..

Overall it was a good solid win in a hostile environment.

Next 3 weeks we should see improvement on the offensive side of the ball

 

[Patrirish]

I watched the game again, Offense definitely needs to improve, OL needs to improve on pass protect and run game. Riley Leonard missed some throws that he should have made.

Finally, penalties need to be cleaned up..

Overall it was a good solid win in a hostile environment.

Next 3 weeks we should see improvement on the offensive side of the ball

11 penalties for 99 yards is never good, that has to be cleaned up

 

[ftnfan62]

Forgot about the penalties, good call. I don’t like that you can’t get back if the OL taps you. Seems strange.

Some of those holding calls were Aweful. I saw that same block all night with USC and LSU.

You could see the OL has lots of room but towards the end they were balling. There was a critical 3rd down on that final TD drive the frosh took their best player out.

I didn’t think the DL was dominant. Cross for some pressure. I heard A&M’s line was an issue. Was thinking we would get more pressure.

The TE’s were nowhere to be found catching or blocking. Another area to pick up.

 

[NDblitz]

87 caught a few balls

 

[stu4don]

Pete Sampson did some interesting analysis of the game. (I know some of you don't care for Sampson, but I enjoy his work.)

One of the things he noted was that Denbrock's game plan seemed to be designed around making sure that our inexperienced OL wasn't asked to do too much. On pass plays Leonard averaged 2.18 seconds from snap to throw. That is the shortest average snap-to-pass time in ND's last 63 games. As a result, Leonard took only 3 downfield shots (15+ yards) for the game. So essentially Denbrock asked our inexperienced OL to hold their blocks for 2 seconds, nullifying any deep throws, but also avoiding Leonard being sacked. That is just smart coaching. It is nice to design a game plan around your strengths, but sometimes you have to make sure your weaknesses don't lose the game for you.

Another interesting stat: Jadarian Price ran 8 times for 44 yards and a TD, including a long run of 47 yards. Hats off to both Price and Jeremiah Love for sticking with it. And our OL came through big time when the game was on the line in the 4th quarter.

Read that. Great article. Get the win in a very tough place with an inexperienced OL and a QB coming off 11 months without playing. Did it. It worked. Great game plan. Denbrock knows there is work to do.

 

[stu4don]

Forgot about the penalties, good call. I don’t like that you can’t get back if the OL taps you. Seems strange.

Some of those holding calls were Aweful. I saw that same block all night with USC and LSU.

You could see the OL has lots of room but towards the end they were balling. There was a critical 3rd down on that final TD drive the frosh took their best player out.

I didn’t think the DL was dominant. Cross for some pressure. I heard A&M’s line was an issue. Was thinking we would get more pressure.

The TE’s were nowhere to be found catching or blocking. Another area to pick up.

Our best TE, Evans -- a first rounder imo -- was only cleared 7 days ago. He was on very limited reps. I'd keep that up for now - let Flannigan (impressed me!) and Eli do the work until Mitchel is completely healed.

 

[Shakin' Down the Thunder]

Pete Sampson did some interesting analysis of the game. (I know some of you don't care for Sampson, but I enjoy his work.)

One of the things he noted was that Denbrock's game plan seemed to be designed around making sure that our inexperienced OL wasn't asked to do too much. On pass plays Leonard averaged 2.18 seconds from snap to throw. That is the shortest average snap-to-pass time in ND's last 63 games. As a result, Leonard took only 3 downfield shots (15+ yards) for the game. So essentially Denbrock asked our inexperienced OL to hold their blocks for 2 seconds, nullifying any deep throws, but also avoiding Leonard being sacked. That is just smart coaching. It is nice to design a game plan around your strengths, but sometimes you have to make sure your weaknesses don't lose the game for you.

Another interesting stat: Jadarian Price ran 8 times for 44 yards and a TD, including a long run of 47 yards. Hats off to both Price and Jeremiah Love for sticking with it. And our OL came through big time when the game was on the line in the 4th quarter.

I wonder if that's why he went with so much 5 wide in the first half. He wanted to the defense to believe he was going to throw it deep. IT was the right strategy to play conservative and quickly. They believed that if we're better team eventually some plays will break open the game for us and win. And it did.

 

[savvyandsassier]

Pete Sampson did some interesting analysis of the game. (I know some of you don't care for Sampson, but I enjoy his work.)

One of the things he noted was that Denbrock's game plan seemed to be designed around making sure that our inexperienced OL wasn't asked to do too much. On pass plays Leonard averaged 2.18 seconds from snap to throw. That is the shortest average snap-to-pass time in ND's last 63 games. As a result, Leonard took only 3 downfield shots (15+ yards) for the game. So essentially Denbrock asked our inexperienced OL to hold their blocks for 2 seconds, nullifying any deep throws, but also avoiding Leonard being sacked. That is just smart coaching. It is nice to design a game plan around your strengths, but sometimes you have to make sure your weaknesses don't lose the game for you.

Another interesting stat: Jadarian Price ran 8 times for 44 yards and a TD, including a long run of 47 yards. Hats off to both Price and Jeremiah Love for sticking with it. And our OL came through big time when the game was on the line in the 4th quarter.

Those are some terrible numbers for Jadarian Price. I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention, and so in addition to his 47 yard TD run which was very nice, he ran seven more times for -3 yards? Is that wrong, what am I missing? I always thought Love was definitely RB1, and I think he consolidated his grip on the spot after Saturday.

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

Those are some terrible numbers for Jadarian Price. I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention, and so in addition to his 47 yard TD run which was very nice, he ran seven more times for -3 yards? Is that wrong, what am I missing? I always thought Love was definitely RB1, and I think he consolidated his grip on the spot after Saturday.

Yep, basically Jadarian was bottled up on all his other runs. I seem to recall he had one run where he lost 5 or 6 yards, and I guess his others were mostly no gainers. He did have another long run (35 yds or so if I remember correctly) that was nullified by a holding call. I think Love also struggled to get past the LOS on many runs, but he picked it up in the 4th quarter. That said, I thought both Love and Price ran very hard, though, so the stats don't always tell the full story.