Our defense got shredded last night by an elite QB, and a really effective running attack, and pathetic tackling on our part. Watching our guys get great pressure on Williams, and then watching him play Houdini, was frustrating as hell. Our guys expending so much energy chasing the magician around that they got their asses whipped defending the run.
That said, I was much more frustrated with the pathetic play of our OL in the first half, which is where we lost this game in my opinion. We got stopped on something like three 3rd and 1, and one 4th and 1. Rees called the most stupid play of the game when he faked Diggs up the middle and gave it to Estime running east and west for a loss. At any rate, their DL play has been terrible against the run all year, and they played more physical than our vaunted OL, showed a lot of movement which seemed to confuse us, and stopped us on these critical 1 yard plays that kept our offense off the field and kept theirs on.
The fumble by Pyne and the INT he threw hurt for sure, but he played one of his best overall games of his career at ND. I think playing the IF game, starts and ends with the pathetic play of our OL on running plays.
That said, I was much more frustrated with the pathetic play of our OL in the first half, which is where we lost this game in my opinion. We got stopped on something like three 3rd and 1, and one 4th and 1. Rees called the most stupid play of the game when he faked Diggs up the middle and gave it to Estime running east and west for a loss. At any rate, their DL play has been terrible against the run all year, and they played more physical than our vaunted OL, showed a lot of movement which seemed to confuse us, and stopped us on these critical 1 yard plays that kept our offense off the field and kept theirs on.
The fumble by Pyne and the INT he threw hurt for sure, but he played one of his best overall games of his career at ND. I think playing the IF game, starts and ends with the pathetic play of our OL on running plays.