My son had a hockey game at the same time as the ND game so I couldn’t watch it live and I didn’t have enough reception to watch it on NBC Sports on my phone, so I watched it on the DVR later Saturday night. I did, however, check in on the score on ESPN and on the comments in Rockne’s Roundtable. It was so strange, periodically checking on the score it looked like we were throttling Wake while reading the comments (during and after the game) you’d think we were losing.
As my old boss used to say, “You can’t shine a sneaker,” so I won’t try. The game wasn’t perfect. WF had more total yards, more first downs, and had a much greater time of possession. The 3rd quarter in particular was brutal. That being said, ND won the game. That’s the end result we all wanted and that’s what we got. ND was a 4 TD favorite and they won by 3 TD’s. 9-1 with two to play- I’ll take it.
As for the playoff committee, if ND wins out I don’t see them being outside the top 4. ND brings more viewers and, ergo, more money to the playoffs than any other team. That’s a fact and that is why ND is relevant.
Josh Adams- What a great run he had from the ND 2 to score a touchdown. Great stiff arm and acceleration through the play. He got a lot of help on the run from McGlinchey’s block as well as Fuller and Brown’s downfield blocking. However, if you take away that run and a couple of his 10 yard runs and his stat line goes from 17 carries for 141 yards to 14 carries for about 23 yards. Not very good. I think a lot of that had to do with the offensive line however. I don’t think it was their best game.
O-Line- As I said, it wasn’t their best game. There were some points where they performed great and some where they weren’t so good. I saw Elmer and Nelson get beat on plays that led to sacks or hurries by Kizer. Alternatively, Elmer had a great block on Kizer’s first TD run. Nothing crazy, just where he was supposed to be and stood his man up, allowing Kizer to weave through. As I said, there were other times where the run blocking and the pass protection were terrific. It was just a little uneven.
Kizer- I think Kizer was hurried quite a bit and that led to some poor throws or throwing the ball away, but the guy never seems to panic, avoids turnovers, and makes plays when you need them. That’s what you want from your quarterback. The thing about Kizer that I hadn’t mentioned before that really struck me in this game was his holding for the PAT’s (and FG attempts in other games). He has done a great job and looks unflappable out there. After some of the issues we had last year with the holds, he has been a tremendous addition to special teams. That’s not to take away from Justin Yoon who has been terrific with his kicks, but I feel very confident with Kizer catching the snap and doing the holding.
Defense- I think overall they did a good job, but certainly not as efficient as they have been at other times during the year. They gave up 121 yards on the ground and 23 first downs. They made big plays when they had to, however, and kept WF from scoring points outside of the single touchdown. They were without Daniel Cage and one poster has suggested that Jerry Tillery has hit a wall. I didn’t hear Tillery’s name at all during the game, but I didn’t see any bad plays by him that stuck out in my mind. Suffice to say Andrew Trumbetti had one of the biggest plays of the day, but I didn’t really notice him much after that. Jonathan Bonner played well and got a sack. Sheldon Day and Jaylon Smith were their usual dominant selves. One interesting thing about Smith is I saw him miss a few plays in the first half and twice he made tackles where he ended up on his back, allowing the runner to get a couple of more yards. He had a great second half, however, and ended up saving a TD. Overall, I didn’t think the tackling was very good in the game. It seemed WF could always squeak out a few extra yards. I saw Doug Randolph and Greer Martini whiff on sure tackles in the backfield that would have led to lost yards. Romeo Okwara is an absolute animal. He was all over the place making a difference. In the secondary, I saw Cole Luke get burned for a big gain once but overall I thought they were solid. I didn’t see Keivrae Russell give up much but I did see him put a couple of big hits on receivers, jarring the ball loose. He actually saved a TD in the 4th quarter. Shumate was burned on another pass to Tabari Hines. Sheldon Day almost sacked John Wolford but he got off a great throw and hit Hines downfield. Even when burned, they stayed with the play and got safety help that prevented big gains.
Schmidt- He had a couple of hits on the QB today during blitzes. I didn’t see him as a liability throughout the game. Great to see Jarrett Grace come in and play at the end of the game. His embrace with Schmidt at the end of the game was awesome.
WF Defense- They did an excellent job of slowing down the ND offense, but they were largely helped by the disparity in of possession. Except for the long TD run by Adams they held the run game in check and kept pressure on Kizer all day, sacking him a few times and hitting him several others. Before the game I heard many people say that WF had a very good defense only to hear others say that you had to look at who WF played. Regardless of how they played in other games, the came out and played a solid game against ND.
Officiating- An odd game to be sure. Not a lot of calls; WF 5 for 58 yards and ND 4 for 45 yards. However, the roughing the snapper call was one of the worst calls I have seen this year. Flutie did not do a good job of explaining the penalty. He said there was contact between the defensive players and the snapper, but I don’t think that’s the way the penalty is assessed. The same issue happened to Alabama earlier this year. Here is the article:
http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2015/10/nick_saban_explains_what_happe.html
A quote from that article: “From the NCAA football rule book: "When a team is in scrimmage kick formation, a defensive player may not initiate contact with the snapper until one second has elapsed after the snap."
If you follow the letter of the rule, there shouldn’t have been a penalty. After snapping the ball, the snapper seemed to have plenty of time to protect himself before he was hit. I didn’t take a stopwatch to the play, but he was able to stand upright and tuck his head before any contact was made. So instead of ND getting the ball, WF retains possession and marches down field and scores. Interested to hear other people’s view on this.
The unnecessary roughness call for the WF player throwing Chris Brown to the ground was a little crazy. He clearly ripped at the ball as he pushed Brown out of bounds then pulled the back of his jersey causing him to fall, while he was out of bounds. They called the penalty and then retracted it without giving any explanation. Terrible reversal. WF head coach Dave Clawson’s tirade put BK’s to shame. Apparently you really can bitch your way out of a penalty.,
Receivers- Overall, Kizer spread the ball out to 7 different receivers. There were some really good catches and runs by the receiving corps. Three that stand out in my mind were one by Torri Hunter (one heck of an athlete), one to Amir Carlisle, and Chase Hounshell’s 1st reception at ND. Will Fuller from the slot on the catch and run is a beautiful thing to watch. Good job by Corey Robinson as well. It doesn’t show up in his stat line, but he drew two significant pass interference penalties.
Mike Brey- I love the guy and I want to see ND basketball do well, but please have Kathryn Tappen interview him during a timeout or other stoppage in play. I know you need the sideline fluff to get some people interested in the game, but I don’t want it to prevent me from hearing the play by play.
Miscellaneous-
-CJ Sanders knows when to fair catch, when to try and run, and when to let the ball roll by. He’s made kick returns a team strength.
-Newsome was steady throughout most of the game, but he did have one poor punt in the first half. He’s a terrific weapon and a good example of why Kelly uses scholarships on specialty players.
- I Loved the Senior Day video they broadcast with the parents.
-You’re up by 21 points in the 4th quarter, why keep running Kizer? I got nervous just watching.
This game was just one of the usual peaks and valleys in college football. Sometimes you come out hot and sometimes you come out flat. It doesn’t mean people have figured out your systems, or your players aren’t good enough, or you were outcoached. You just came out and didn’t play your best. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, as they say.
As my old boss used to say, “You can’t shine a sneaker,” so I won’t try. The game wasn’t perfect. WF had more total yards, more first downs, and had a much greater time of possession. The 3rd quarter in particular was brutal. That being said, ND won the game. That’s the end result we all wanted and that’s what we got. ND was a 4 TD favorite and they won by 3 TD’s. 9-1 with two to play- I’ll take it.
As for the playoff committee, if ND wins out I don’t see them being outside the top 4. ND brings more viewers and, ergo, more money to the playoffs than any other team. That’s a fact and that is why ND is relevant.
Josh Adams- What a great run he had from the ND 2 to score a touchdown. Great stiff arm and acceleration through the play. He got a lot of help on the run from McGlinchey’s block as well as Fuller and Brown’s downfield blocking. However, if you take away that run and a couple of his 10 yard runs and his stat line goes from 17 carries for 141 yards to 14 carries for about 23 yards. Not very good. I think a lot of that had to do with the offensive line however. I don’t think it was their best game.
O-Line- As I said, it wasn’t their best game. There were some points where they performed great and some where they weren’t so good. I saw Elmer and Nelson get beat on plays that led to sacks or hurries by Kizer. Alternatively, Elmer had a great block on Kizer’s first TD run. Nothing crazy, just where he was supposed to be and stood his man up, allowing Kizer to weave through. As I said, there were other times where the run blocking and the pass protection were terrific. It was just a little uneven.
Kizer- I think Kizer was hurried quite a bit and that led to some poor throws or throwing the ball away, but the guy never seems to panic, avoids turnovers, and makes plays when you need them. That’s what you want from your quarterback. The thing about Kizer that I hadn’t mentioned before that really struck me in this game was his holding for the PAT’s (and FG attempts in other games). He has done a great job and looks unflappable out there. After some of the issues we had last year with the holds, he has been a tremendous addition to special teams. That’s not to take away from Justin Yoon who has been terrific with his kicks, but I feel very confident with Kizer catching the snap and doing the holding.
Defense- I think overall they did a good job, but certainly not as efficient as they have been at other times during the year. They gave up 121 yards on the ground and 23 first downs. They made big plays when they had to, however, and kept WF from scoring points outside of the single touchdown. They were without Daniel Cage and one poster has suggested that Jerry Tillery has hit a wall. I didn’t hear Tillery’s name at all during the game, but I didn’t see any bad plays by him that stuck out in my mind. Suffice to say Andrew Trumbetti had one of the biggest plays of the day, but I didn’t really notice him much after that. Jonathan Bonner played well and got a sack. Sheldon Day and Jaylon Smith were their usual dominant selves. One interesting thing about Smith is I saw him miss a few plays in the first half and twice he made tackles where he ended up on his back, allowing the runner to get a couple of more yards. He had a great second half, however, and ended up saving a TD. Overall, I didn’t think the tackling was very good in the game. It seemed WF could always squeak out a few extra yards. I saw Doug Randolph and Greer Martini whiff on sure tackles in the backfield that would have led to lost yards. Romeo Okwara is an absolute animal. He was all over the place making a difference. In the secondary, I saw Cole Luke get burned for a big gain once but overall I thought they were solid. I didn’t see Keivrae Russell give up much but I did see him put a couple of big hits on receivers, jarring the ball loose. He actually saved a TD in the 4th quarter. Shumate was burned on another pass to Tabari Hines. Sheldon Day almost sacked John Wolford but he got off a great throw and hit Hines downfield. Even when burned, they stayed with the play and got safety help that prevented big gains.
Schmidt- He had a couple of hits on the QB today during blitzes. I didn’t see him as a liability throughout the game. Great to see Jarrett Grace come in and play at the end of the game. His embrace with Schmidt at the end of the game was awesome.
WF Defense- They did an excellent job of slowing down the ND offense, but they were largely helped by the disparity in of possession. Except for the long TD run by Adams they held the run game in check and kept pressure on Kizer all day, sacking him a few times and hitting him several others. Before the game I heard many people say that WF had a very good defense only to hear others say that you had to look at who WF played. Regardless of how they played in other games, the came out and played a solid game against ND.
Officiating- An odd game to be sure. Not a lot of calls; WF 5 for 58 yards and ND 4 for 45 yards. However, the roughing the snapper call was one of the worst calls I have seen this year. Flutie did not do a good job of explaining the penalty. He said there was contact between the defensive players and the snapper, but I don’t think that’s the way the penalty is assessed. The same issue happened to Alabama earlier this year. Here is the article:
http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2015/10/nick_saban_explains_what_happe.html
A quote from that article: “From the NCAA football rule book: "When a team is in scrimmage kick formation, a defensive player may not initiate contact with the snapper until one second has elapsed after the snap."
If you follow the letter of the rule, there shouldn’t have been a penalty. After snapping the ball, the snapper seemed to have plenty of time to protect himself before he was hit. I didn’t take a stopwatch to the play, but he was able to stand upright and tuck his head before any contact was made. So instead of ND getting the ball, WF retains possession and marches down field and scores. Interested to hear other people’s view on this.
The unnecessary roughness call for the WF player throwing Chris Brown to the ground was a little crazy. He clearly ripped at the ball as he pushed Brown out of bounds then pulled the back of his jersey causing him to fall, while he was out of bounds. They called the penalty and then retracted it without giving any explanation. Terrible reversal. WF head coach Dave Clawson’s tirade put BK’s to shame. Apparently you really can bitch your way out of a penalty.,
Receivers- Overall, Kizer spread the ball out to 7 different receivers. There were some really good catches and runs by the receiving corps. Three that stand out in my mind were one by Torri Hunter (one heck of an athlete), one to Amir Carlisle, and Chase Hounshell’s 1st reception at ND. Will Fuller from the slot on the catch and run is a beautiful thing to watch. Good job by Corey Robinson as well. It doesn’t show up in his stat line, but he drew two significant pass interference penalties.
Mike Brey- I love the guy and I want to see ND basketball do well, but please have Kathryn Tappen interview him during a timeout or other stoppage in play. I know you need the sideline fluff to get some people interested in the game, but I don’t want it to prevent me from hearing the play by play.
Miscellaneous-
-CJ Sanders knows when to fair catch, when to try and run, and when to let the ball roll by. He’s made kick returns a team strength.
-Newsome was steady throughout most of the game, but he did have one poor punt in the first half. He’s a terrific weapon and a good example of why Kelly uses scholarships on specialty players.
- I Loved the Senior Day video they broadcast with the parents.
-You’re up by 21 points in the 4th quarter, why keep running Kizer? I got nervous just watching.
This game was just one of the usual peaks and valleys in college football. Sometimes you come out hot and sometimes you come out flat. It doesn’t mean people have figured out your systems, or your players aren’t good enough, or you were outcoached. You just came out and didn’t play your best. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, as they say.
