Football officianados....question about Kizer....

[Harpo Marxist]

I've watched this guy play against the good and the bad...seen the mistakes, the successes,, etc....But here's my question:

Does the play of ND's defense affect the play of the offense, particularly the quarterback? I suspect it does...but not sure in what respect. Is Kizer demoralized after ND scores a TD...only to watch the opponent march right down and match that score such as Duke? On pure talent, I think Kizer is the best overall quarterback Notre Dame has had in the Kelly era. I think his upside hasn't been tapped yet.

However, the poor play of the defense seems to be followed by mental mistakes by Kizer that creates holes that Notre Dame has to dig out of. And I don't mean just Kizer..but the offense in general. It appears to be a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of mental problem that poor defensive play creates. Football experts...help me out with this. Maybe that cuts both ways...but my real question is "does poor play on one side of the ball create poor play on the other side"?

 

[Quest4Twelve]

Wouldn't call myself an "officianado" however BK is right, in college football everyone scores against each other. It is an offensive dominant game. Alabama by far has the best players top to bottom yet they still give up a bunch of points. The biggest issue ND offense has its lack of identity and running rag tag plays whenever and wherever.

 

[Bumpdaddy]

To answer your question as directly as possible, yes, problems on the defense can cause issues on the offense. You alluded to one way it can effect the QB but, although "demoralizing" is likely one effect, I think the phrase "tries too hard" plays a bigger part. When players play free without burden they tend to play to their maximum potential. When players feel they have to be perfect or they will lose the game they tend to play tight and are prone to make more mistakes. I think that's what's happening with the offense in general and specifically with Kizer. I think Kizer has felt like he has to carry the team and he has played tight at times. We saw a similar thing happen to Golson in 2014. When the defense began to falter during that season Golson felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, and as we all know, he didn't handle that burden very well and turned the ball over at an amazing and uncharacteristic pace.

But there is also another dynamic at play and that has to do with team chemistry. Yesterday on Weekday Sportsbeat Eric Hansen alluded to some inside info he was told about last year's team chemistry. According to Hansen, the offensive and defensive players formed separate cliques because the offensive players felt like they were carrying the team and the defense was letting them down. Of course, that was true but when the players become divided like that it tends to have a compounding effect. Both sides were looking for the other side to fail instead of trying to pick each other up. That sentiment likely carried over to this year which is why it has appeared the players have "no fire." There are too many people who are pointing fingers instead of supporting each other. According to Hansen, he believes this issue has been brought up privately with the team and he's expecting the players to show a more united and motivated front from here on. We'll have to wait to see if that is true.