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Offensive Line Play

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.
TelX
I agree the O line was terrible. But I noticed one thing during the game The SC defensive line and the backers were constantly shifting position to different gaps prior to snap and post snap SC also had exotic lane assignments.
I was pretty stunned by this as it was brilliant. My takeaway from the gxx a me is that Lincoln Reily is one hell of an innovative coach
He did things defensively that confused our line and totally stopped the run offensively he was genius. The first 3-4 plays were meant to also confuse our D. I immediately said it is going to be a long night for us on D

Who was the genius on ND who deferred and let SC have the ball ? Cannot believe that choice. Behind all night and it took us out of our game
 
And yet everyone on this board was saying, run, run, run the ball, that’s our strength, and now you come in with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight and say that we should have passed, not run the ball.

Where were you with your sage advice prior to the game ?
No one said we would only run the ball and win…. Everyone said we needed to score a lot and that requires passing as well

When usc showed first play stop run we should have audibled
 
No one said we would only run the ball and win…. Everyone said we needed to score a lot and that requires passing as well

When usc showed first play stop run we should have audibled
NOT TRUE !

You and others were highly critical of Pyne and his passing and you and others advocated for running, running and running the ball. No one stated that we should emphasize passing. Stop lying !
 
NOT TRUE !

You and others were highly critical of Pyne and his passing and you and others advocated for running, running and running the ball. No one stated that we should emphasize passing. Stop lying !
What games did we score a lot of offensive points and put up big yards? Games where we threw the ball well and ran it. Yes myself and others expected to run the ball well due to the fact that we’d be passing on them since they struggle in coverage. I thought a UNC type 2-4th quarter game plan running and throwing.

Navy could sell out and stop the run, so you’d have to know if usc sold out to stop the run, that you’d need to play action. Took rees 2 drives to figure out what was obvious, then we started easily marching down the field
 
TelX
I agree the O line was terrible. But I noticed one thing during the game The SC defensive line and the backers were constantly shifting position to different gaps prior to snap and post snap SC also had exotic lane assignments.
I was pretty stunned by this as it was brilliant. My takeaway from the gxx a me is that Lincoln Reily is one hell of an innovative coach
He did things defensively that confused our line and totally stopped the run offensively he was genius. The first 3-4 plays were meant to also confuse our D. I immediately said it is going to be a long night for us on D

Who was the genius on ND who deferred and let SC have the ball ? Cannot believe that choice. Behind all night and it took us out of our game
Ski,
we we’re moving the ball and looking really good to start the second half, and The Rees fumble killed it. I Absolutely believed we were headed for a score, and deferring would have been a good call!

Funny comparison on my part, but Navy did the same constant shifting with their DL, and caused us problems. Navy also sold out 100% to stop the rum, which USC only did on obvious critical short yardage plays.

I had the same thought as to USC’s opening drive. They immediately threw us off stride with the creative variety they threw at us right out of the box.

As bad as the night felt and the game seemed, eliminate our two turnovers, and convert that 3rd and 1 on our first possession, and convert the 4th and 1 later with Evans, and we might still be celebrating.
 
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What games did we score a lot of offensive points and put up big yards? Games where we threw the ball well and ran it. Yes myself and others expected to run the ball well due to the fact that we’d be passing on them since they struggle in coverage. I thought a UNC type 2-4th quarter game plan running and throwing.

Navy could sell out and stop the run, so you’d have to know if usc sold out to stop the run, that you’d need to play action. Took rees 2 drives to figure out what was obvious, then we started easily marching down the field
Bringing up other games in the context of discussing the USC game is irrelevant !

You and almost everyone else, including myself, advocated for running, running and running the ball.

The constant cry was for our OLine To blow them off the LOS, especially when everyone was saying that they were soft and weak against the run.

No one, repeat, no one openly advocated for a pass heavy offense.

You’re intellectually dishonest, and I’m being polite !
 
What games did we score a lot of offensive points and put up big yards? Games where we threw the ball well and ran it. Yes myself and others expected to run the ball well due to the fact that we’d be passing on them since they struggle in coverage. I thought a UNC type 2-4th quarter game plan running and throwing.

Navy could sell out and stop the run, so you’d have to know if usc sold out to stop the run, that you’d need to play action. Took rees 2 drives to figure out what was obvious, then we started easily marching down the field
We wouldn't need to score alot if we controlled the offensive LOS and ran the ball like we can. It obviously shortens the game, which was our plan
 
We wouldn't need to score alot if we controlled the offensive LOS and ran the ball like we can. It obviously shortens the game, which was our plan
It would've helped to use Estime, not Diggs so much, especially early in the game.
The game would've played out much differently with Estime getting those carries, instead of Diggs 2-3 yards/rush.
So frustrating to see in the biggest game.
 
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What helps us is if we don’t have two TO’s to a top team. Swap it. ND gets a fumble at SC’s 25. Did SC stop us all night? Yea, once. Add 7 to ND. Get a pic inside the 40, you think they stop us? I don’t.

Was it a dominant D like we have seen, nope. Was it an offense that was moving and scoring, yea outside of the first series.

Flip those 2 TO’s and we would be talking about how great a game Al and TR called.
 
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What helps us is if we don’t have two TO’s to a top team. Swap it. ND gets a fumble at SC’s 25. Did SC stop us all night? Yea, once. Add 7 to ND. Get a pic inside the 40, you think they stop us? I don’t.

Was it a dominant D like we have seen, nope. Was it an offense that was moving and scoring, yea outside of the first series.

Flip those 2 TO’s and we would be talking about how great a game Al and TR called.
👍
 
It would've helped to use Estime, not Diggs so much, especially early in the game.
The game would've played out much differently with Estime getting those carries, instead of Diggs 2-3 yards/rush.
So frustrating to see in the biggest game.
Don't agree. Diggs is a fine RB, as is Audric, I don't see the game playing out any differently. Our defense is just bad, and this loss is squarely on them. Everything else is purely know nothing finger pointing
 
Don't agree. Diggs is a fine RB, as is Audric, I don't see the game playing out any differently. Our defense is just bad, and this loss is squarely on them. Everything else is purely know nothing finger pointing
Sure, Diggs is fine. Audric is great, should've had the bulk of the carries all season, not just USC.
 
Don't agree. Diggs is a fine RB, as is Audric, I don't see the game playing out any differently. Our defense is just bad, and this loss is squarely on them. Everything else is purely know nothing finger pointing
That's your opinion. Which I think is purely know nothing talk. See how that works.

Just because you say it doesn't make it so
 
not really sure how you can watch diggs and estime and not think estime is clearly better, including blitz pick up.

Diggs is important because estime needs spelled but he should have had 2-1 ratio of carries vs diggs this year despite fumbling issue. Diggs got the absolute minimum out of the first two carries (3rd wasn't his fault) of the game.
 
Sure, Diggs is fine. Audric is great, should've had the bulk of the carries all season, not just USC.
And of course you're at practice every day yo know this, right? It's so laughable when fans talk about who should play and who shouldn't. It's embarrassingly stupid
 
I think Digs seems to be the better short yardage which is strange and AE is a better off tackle when it 1st or 2nd. Diggs has a better short burst or maybe its vision to a small hole. When we really needed that play around the outside Diggs had nothing and found a way to get that ball out and over. We have seen AE get tripped up lots on short yardage. Maybe the coaches see it too? I cannot understand why he only got 6 carries, that makes little sense. I think they need to sort this out a bit with pushing Tyree to Slot and splitting those two a bit more.

Maybe he was a bit banged up. Just have to guess there was something because he has carried much more than that in past games.
 
And yet everyone on this board was saying, run, run, run the ball, that’s our strength, and now you come in with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight and say that we should have passed, not run the ball.

Where were you with your sage advice prior to the game ?
I can't prove it but on the first play, I yelled "play action" at the screen. SC was packed in there and you fake a block with Mayer and he's 20 yards downfield.
 
No one said we would only run the ball and win…. Everyone said we needed to score a lot and that requires passing as well

When usc showed first play stop run we should have audibled
So one play would cause you to change your game plan ?

How do you know that the next play wasn’t an audible ?
 
I can't prove it but on the first play, I yelled "play action" at the screen. SC was packed in there and you fake a block with Mayer and he's 20 yards downfield.
Another post game genius
 
Because hes a proven stud OL coach who has greatly improved the line this year.

Plus if you understand the game, you'd know they were putting 8 or 9 in the box because they weren't afraid of our qb and wrs. So it opened up the pass game and allowed us to throw for 300 plus yards. And our OL didnt look a sieve against the pass rush. Maybe just maybe
With all due respect, over the years, we have heard nothing but how great Harry Hiestand is, and yet, I can only think of one game in which his offensive line has outperformed expectations against a quality opponent, and that was against Clemson earlier this season. The pass protection was good against USC, but there weren't always 8 or 9 guys in the box, and even then we often failed to generate a push or open the kind of holes our backs needed. I'd like to think even offensive line coaches make adjustments. Sorry, I'm just not that impressed with the guy's coaching.
 
With all due respect, over the years, we have heard nothing but how great Harry Hiestand is, and yet, I can only think of one game in which his offensive line has outperformed expectations against a quality opponent, and that was against Clemson earlier this season. The pass protection was good against USC, but there weren't always 8 or 9 guys in the box, and even then we often failed to generate a push or open the kind of holes our backs needed. I'd like to think even offensive line coaches make adjustments. Sorry, I'm just not that impressed with the guy's coaching.
I’m disappointed with how the oline started but they were really good the last 9 games … oline was the main reason we won 8 games
 
I’m disappointed with how the oline started but they were really good the last 9 games … oline was the main reason we won 8 games
Should be an elite group next year: Zeke, Alt, Fisher…..and who? Who emerges? Billy? Rocco? Carmody? Kristofic?
 
Who? We were awful in 21. This year we were good to really good at times.

Next year could and should be elite. As long as no injuries to the top 3 guys
4 man battle for 2 spots. Going to be pretty interesting. Billy S could emerge and be a star. Any word on how he performed/progressed this year?

We’re really gonna be pressured to re-load the OL in 24…..
 
4 man battle for 2 spots. Going to be pretty interesting. Billy S could emerge and be a star. Any word on how he performed/progressed this year?

We’re really gonna be pressured to re-load the OL in 24…..
I'm not sure. Only thing I heard was the staff has very high hopes for Billy S. I think he will win one of those open guard spots
 
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Should be an elite group next year: Zeke, Alt, Fisher…..and who? Who emerges? Billy? Rocco? Carmody? Kristofic?
My hope is Billy and Rocco it may the best 2 win… fisher alt are locks and zeke can only play center
I doubt it happens but if someone is ready to be RT fisher could slide to LG.
 
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Who? We were awful in 21. This year we were good to really good at times.

Next year could and should be elite. As long as no injuries to the top 3 guys
People did expect the line to be wayyyyy better for game 1 and on, myself included. it didn’t happen until game 4 at UNC
 
People did expect the line to be wayyyyy better for game 1 and on, myself included. it didn’t happen until game 4 at UNC
It was better. Just not nearly good enough

Took 2.5 games for coaching and gelling to take place

No Patterson and an injured Patterson really hurt early
 
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