For me, this was like watching two separate and distinct games. First of all, I thought the announcers were terrible in the first half, and whether it was because they grew on me or something else, they seemed decidedly more tolerable in the second half. Second, the team defense was two separate entities in the first half and the second half. Third, the special teams were a different unit from play to play throughout the game.
One of the things that aggravated me about the announcers in the first half was the constant talk of how the defense was the same despite the firing of Brian Van Gorder. One went as far as to say his background in arena football prepared him for this game and compared it to a 7 on 7. Listen, there are aspects of this defense that aren’t going to change all year. BVG was only fired 6 days earlier. It takes time to change the identity and the ability of your defense, particularly when you’re using the same personnel.
Defense in general- The first half was as ugly a defense as we have seen all year. The one bright spot that I will credit the defense for was stopping Syracuse from getting any points at the end of the first half following the DeShone Kizer interception. But I have to say, I was really impressed with what the defense did in the second half. The one tactical principle in football that is NOT [edit] subject to change is that you have to get after the guy with the ball. I saw a lot of that in the second half. Football is a game of adjustments, and the defense certainly made the necessary adjustments. I can’t remember ever seeing any defense make that dramatic a change after halftime. That’s a good sign moving forward and definitely something to build on.
Nyles Morgan and Tevon Coney- They looked good out there, worked together well, and covered a lot of ground. Their play is also another encouraging sign. Morgan also got his second sack of the year. I know Bilal was out there with Morgan at times and also played well, I just lost track of who was out there after a while because the play was so good.
Secondary- I saw Julian Love get burned a couple of times in the first half, but as a group they really recovered in the second half. The Syracuse QB lobbed one right over Love in the first half for a big gain. One of the worst throws for a completion that I’ve seen in a while. I didn’t notice Cole Luke getting picked on, but I may have missed it. Donte Vaughn is a player. He was enjoyable to watch. The Studstill targeting ejection was a very questionable call.
Defensive Line- I have said all along that Isaac Rochelle is a beast and they needed to let him loose. I think, more than any other player, he’s going to benefit most from the change in the defense. You’re going to see him be a big time playmaker for the rest of this season. Jay Hayes looked impressive in the play sI saw him in. He looked like he was getting good penetration. I saw another long run, untouched, up the middle, but overall it looked like the defense held up pretty well against the run. In the Ross Browner article earlier in the week, he mentioned something to the effect, “if you can’t get there, get your hands up.” I thought the d-line did that quite well on Saturday. I can remember at least one batted ball, but it also changes the QB’s throws and seemed to cause Eric Dungey to have quite a few underthrown/overthrown balls. The line got some push and pressure throughout the game. I liked how they worked more players and younger players into the mix out there. It has a tendency to make everyone a bit hungrier.
Receiving Corps in general- Just a really impressive group. The future here is really, really bright. Have no fear of Phil Jurkovec he’s going to want to throw to this group and other similar receivers that commit. Geek Stat- 10 separate receivers caught passes during the game, 7 of whom caught more than one. Great offenses spread the ball around, no matter how good any one receiver may be. The overall average reception was 20.5 yards per catch. Very impressive. One play that sticks out in my mind is Miles Boykin going up high for a reception. He’ll be a red zone threat.
EQ and CJ Sanders- These guys are unbelievable and they complement each other well. EQ has great hands and I was really impressed with his ability to catch a dart in full stride and evade tacklers. Sanders, both as a receiver and a returner, is electric.
O-Line- Again, I thought they played very well. Sure, there were some breakdowns at certain times, but that is always going to happen. The pass protection was excellent, save for a few plays. I read several criticisms of the line during run plays. ND gained 183 yards on the ground, even after Kizer was sacked twice and lost 19 yards. Not bad, especially when you consider the announcers saying that Syracuse was concentrating on stopping the run and, in my opinion, our run plays seems fairly predictable. The o-line is big, strong, and they have good technique.
Kizer- I thought he threw the ball well and very accurate all day. Some have questioned his accuracy, but I didn’t notice any issues on Saturday. He was really at the top of his game throughout the day. Minor issues- He has a tendency to try to do too much when he feels the pressure and gets flushed out of the pocket. The best play is the safe play; throw the ball away. That cost ND big when he got sacked for an 11 yard loss with less than a minute to go in the 1st half. It led to the punt and the 74 yard Syracuse return. He then followed up with the interception 20 seconds later. Interceptions happen, but I was surprised to see the ball thrown towards the center of the field with so little time left. I don’t know if that was the play caller or Kizer, but with 34 seconds left in the half, I thought that based on the success they had with the deep ball earlier, they should be airing it out and working the sidelines. I liked the fact that they were trying to move the ball rather than take a knee.
Zaire- I’d like to hear what others have to say on this. I was shocked we didn’t see him at some point in the 4th quarter. I would assume that they were keeping Kizer sharp for NC State and saying, here, it’s your team, but something makes me wonder if it’s a deeper issue regarding Zaire and the locker room. What do you think?
Tackling- It did improve somewhat, but continues to be a problem. The long punt return that set up the last Syracuse TD of the first half was painful to watch. At least 4 players had their hands on the returner and he managed to get by them all. The issue I’ve had with the tackling for 3 years now is that these guys have been tackling for at least 10 years. Did they suddenly lose that skill? It has been atrocious and painfully obvious for some time now.
Discipline- This continues to be a problem for the team. I counted at least 5 defensive offsides/encroachment penalties. Like the general defensive issues, they seemed to be resolved by the second half, but it is still a troubling issue.
Nico Fertitti-I thought he played well on Saturday. I felt bad for him on the fake punt that he got called for a penalty on. I think he just got confused on the play. I was watching it on TV and I was confused until I saw the replay. He looks like a child out there, but he hits hard. Bravo for him.
Dexter Williams- He’s been praised by Brian Kelly for the passion which he plays, and that’s something this team rerally needs. I’m not such a learned football guy that I can tell you who is better, Adams, Folston, Williams or whomever, but what I can say is when Williams reversed direction and ran for a 59 yard touchdown I was like, “Damn! That guy is fast!” He will be another great one to watch in the next couple of years.
It Was Over When- Kizer hit Kevin Stepherson for a 54 yard TD pass and the defense, after allowing a first down on the opening play, forced Syracuse to punt. It was only made worse when Dexter Williams blew everybody away 3 plays later.
It Should Have Been Over- At halftime. ND missed a golden opportunity to into halftime with a 40-20 or 47-20 lead. As good as the offense was in the first half, they made some mistakes and failed to score points when they had the chance. If you couple that with the defensive/special teams miscues, this game could well have been over by the half.
What’s Next?- One of the announcers that I so maligned at the top of this post said this: “When they play their best ball, they can play with anyone in the country.” I believe that. I’ve said that many times in the past. They need to play a solid team defense and they need to become far more disciplined. At this point, an 8 win season would be tremendous, but a 6-6 campaign is probably more likely. You certainly need to take it one game at a time and I do not overlook NC State, but you’re really going to know what you have this year when you play Stanford in 2 weeks. That gives them some time to work on the defense and really see what they can string together.
It was great seeing Kelly involved with the defense. It shows me that he’s not a quitter. I said this last week and I’ll reiterate it now: This guy is a good coach and he can turn this thing around and salvage something out of this season and come back better than ever next year.
Yoon/Newsome- The kicking game was very good with the exception of the last FG attempt. Yoon consistently put kickoffs into the end zone. Newsome had a great game punting, but the punt coverage was horrible.
For anybody who posted over the past week or two, “We should hire Saban/Meyer/Miles/Herman/Belichick/etc...” It might be time to stop posting. We have a coach. We have a good coach. He’s not going anywhere this year so it’s best to stop making crazy comments. It’s detrimental to recruiting.
I look forward to your responses and to the rest of the season. I’ll shut up and listen now. Have a great week.
One of the things that aggravated me about the announcers in the first half was the constant talk of how the defense was the same despite the firing of Brian Van Gorder. One went as far as to say his background in arena football prepared him for this game and compared it to a 7 on 7. Listen, there are aspects of this defense that aren’t going to change all year. BVG was only fired 6 days earlier. It takes time to change the identity and the ability of your defense, particularly when you’re using the same personnel.
Defense in general- The first half was as ugly a defense as we have seen all year. The one bright spot that I will credit the defense for was stopping Syracuse from getting any points at the end of the first half following the DeShone Kizer interception. But I have to say, I was really impressed with what the defense did in the second half. The one tactical principle in football that is NOT [edit] subject to change is that you have to get after the guy with the ball. I saw a lot of that in the second half. Football is a game of adjustments, and the defense certainly made the necessary adjustments. I can’t remember ever seeing any defense make that dramatic a change after halftime. That’s a good sign moving forward and definitely something to build on.
Nyles Morgan and Tevon Coney- They looked good out there, worked together well, and covered a lot of ground. Their play is also another encouraging sign. Morgan also got his second sack of the year. I know Bilal was out there with Morgan at times and also played well, I just lost track of who was out there after a while because the play was so good.
Secondary- I saw Julian Love get burned a couple of times in the first half, but as a group they really recovered in the second half. The Syracuse QB lobbed one right over Love in the first half for a big gain. One of the worst throws for a completion that I’ve seen in a while. I didn’t notice Cole Luke getting picked on, but I may have missed it. Donte Vaughn is a player. He was enjoyable to watch. The Studstill targeting ejection was a very questionable call.
Defensive Line- I have said all along that Isaac Rochelle is a beast and they needed to let him loose. I think, more than any other player, he’s going to benefit most from the change in the defense. You’re going to see him be a big time playmaker for the rest of this season. Jay Hayes looked impressive in the play sI saw him in. He looked like he was getting good penetration. I saw another long run, untouched, up the middle, but overall it looked like the defense held up pretty well against the run. In the Ross Browner article earlier in the week, he mentioned something to the effect, “if you can’t get there, get your hands up.” I thought the d-line did that quite well on Saturday. I can remember at least one batted ball, but it also changes the QB’s throws and seemed to cause Eric Dungey to have quite a few underthrown/overthrown balls. The line got some push and pressure throughout the game. I liked how they worked more players and younger players into the mix out there. It has a tendency to make everyone a bit hungrier.
Receiving Corps in general- Just a really impressive group. The future here is really, really bright. Have no fear of Phil Jurkovec he’s going to want to throw to this group and other similar receivers that commit. Geek Stat- 10 separate receivers caught passes during the game, 7 of whom caught more than one. Great offenses spread the ball around, no matter how good any one receiver may be. The overall average reception was 20.5 yards per catch. Very impressive. One play that sticks out in my mind is Miles Boykin going up high for a reception. He’ll be a red zone threat.
EQ and CJ Sanders- These guys are unbelievable and they complement each other well. EQ has great hands and I was really impressed with his ability to catch a dart in full stride and evade tacklers. Sanders, both as a receiver and a returner, is electric.
O-Line- Again, I thought they played very well. Sure, there were some breakdowns at certain times, but that is always going to happen. The pass protection was excellent, save for a few plays. I read several criticisms of the line during run plays. ND gained 183 yards on the ground, even after Kizer was sacked twice and lost 19 yards. Not bad, especially when you consider the announcers saying that Syracuse was concentrating on stopping the run and, in my opinion, our run plays seems fairly predictable. The o-line is big, strong, and they have good technique.
Kizer- I thought he threw the ball well and very accurate all day. Some have questioned his accuracy, but I didn’t notice any issues on Saturday. He was really at the top of his game throughout the day. Minor issues- He has a tendency to try to do too much when he feels the pressure and gets flushed out of the pocket. The best play is the safe play; throw the ball away. That cost ND big when he got sacked for an 11 yard loss with less than a minute to go in the 1st half. It led to the punt and the 74 yard Syracuse return. He then followed up with the interception 20 seconds later. Interceptions happen, but I was surprised to see the ball thrown towards the center of the field with so little time left. I don’t know if that was the play caller or Kizer, but with 34 seconds left in the half, I thought that based on the success they had with the deep ball earlier, they should be airing it out and working the sidelines. I liked the fact that they were trying to move the ball rather than take a knee.
Zaire- I’d like to hear what others have to say on this. I was shocked we didn’t see him at some point in the 4th quarter. I would assume that they were keeping Kizer sharp for NC State and saying, here, it’s your team, but something makes me wonder if it’s a deeper issue regarding Zaire and the locker room. What do you think?
Tackling- It did improve somewhat, but continues to be a problem. The long punt return that set up the last Syracuse TD of the first half was painful to watch. At least 4 players had their hands on the returner and he managed to get by them all. The issue I’ve had with the tackling for 3 years now is that these guys have been tackling for at least 10 years. Did they suddenly lose that skill? It has been atrocious and painfully obvious for some time now.
Discipline- This continues to be a problem for the team. I counted at least 5 defensive offsides/encroachment penalties. Like the general defensive issues, they seemed to be resolved by the second half, but it is still a troubling issue.
Nico Fertitti-I thought he played well on Saturday. I felt bad for him on the fake punt that he got called for a penalty on. I think he just got confused on the play. I was watching it on TV and I was confused until I saw the replay. He looks like a child out there, but he hits hard. Bravo for him.
Dexter Williams- He’s been praised by Brian Kelly for the passion which he plays, and that’s something this team rerally needs. I’m not such a learned football guy that I can tell you who is better, Adams, Folston, Williams or whomever, but what I can say is when Williams reversed direction and ran for a 59 yard touchdown I was like, “Damn! That guy is fast!” He will be another great one to watch in the next couple of years.
It Was Over When- Kizer hit Kevin Stepherson for a 54 yard TD pass and the defense, after allowing a first down on the opening play, forced Syracuse to punt. It was only made worse when Dexter Williams blew everybody away 3 plays later.
It Should Have Been Over- At halftime. ND missed a golden opportunity to into halftime with a 40-20 or 47-20 lead. As good as the offense was in the first half, they made some mistakes and failed to score points when they had the chance. If you couple that with the defensive/special teams miscues, this game could well have been over by the half.
What’s Next?- One of the announcers that I so maligned at the top of this post said this: “When they play their best ball, they can play with anyone in the country.” I believe that. I’ve said that many times in the past. They need to play a solid team defense and they need to become far more disciplined. At this point, an 8 win season would be tremendous, but a 6-6 campaign is probably more likely. You certainly need to take it one game at a time and I do not overlook NC State, but you’re really going to know what you have this year when you play Stanford in 2 weeks. That gives them some time to work on the defense and really see what they can string together.
It was great seeing Kelly involved with the defense. It shows me that he’s not a quitter. I said this last week and I’ll reiterate it now: This guy is a good coach and he can turn this thing around and salvage something out of this season and come back better than ever next year.
Yoon/Newsome- The kicking game was very good with the exception of the last FG attempt. Yoon consistently put kickoffs into the end zone. Newsome had a great game punting, but the punt coverage was horrible.
For anybody who posted over the past week or two, “We should hire Saban/Meyer/Miles/Herman/Belichick/etc...” It might be time to stop posting. We have a coach. We have a good coach. He’s not going anywhere this year so it’s best to stop making crazy comments. It’s detrimental to recruiting.
I look forward to your responses and to the rest of the season. I’ll shut up and listen now. Have a great week.
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