When I coached we had the 24 hour rule for parents. Just go home, calm down, and if you want to talk, then go ahead. Glad that I followed that rule last night because after watching some plays again, I totally blamed the wrong player for something, and that was Jordan Botelho, and I'll get to that later.
I don't come on here to talk about what all went wrong without pointing out what went right. No game is going to be perfect, and ND is not going to blow out every opponent, especially this year. I will however point to the scoreboard after the game, and feel good about how this team finds a way to win, and that's number 7 through 8 games.
There are a lot of positives out there, and I'm not going to name everyone, but I think it starts with Tommy Rees on the offensive side. I love what he's doing with Coan now, and for the most part he's setting up his plays well, and doing that 2 QB thing to a point where it's become a weapon - lol Michigan. That first TD by Avery was great. They pulled the OG and the TE, and then went the opposite way to Avery for an easy score.
Another efficient game by Coan. He went 16-24 with a TD, and no interceptions. Styles could've padded Jack's stats a bit, but couldn't bring in the pass downfield. Styles gets a mulligan for that one.
Kyren? Enough said, and he would've still had over 100 yards rushing without the big play. I think he's about 270 yards short of a thousand this year.
Shout out to Logan Diggs - big time. He ran it 11 times for 42 yards, and a lot of those runs he really pounded it. I'm impressed with his patience and poise for a true freshman. The staff must feel comfortable as well because they kept him in down around the goal line. Great up and over TD run. The line all blocked down, got low and had a push.
Kyren's long TD run doesn't happen without Mayer's heads up play. As soon as he saw Kyren reverse it, he headed up field and picked off the DB. Great play!
Let's give the O line some credit. Anytime you have over 200 yards rushing, and give up 1 sack and 3 TFL's you deserve it. They were having problems in prior games with stunts and blitzes on passing downs. They were leaving their area to help out on doubling a defender. This was true to form in that first series where Patterson, instead of looking, helped out Kristofic which led to a huge gap for the delayed blitz. Coan got the ball off, but was lit up on the play. Didn't see this happen again, so it must've gotten corrected as soon as he came off the field.
Oh Boy, the defense. I think it was a week or so ago that I gave my opinion that Freeman doesn't have all the tools he needs, and there are players playing positions that might not be the best fit for them. I still believe that, but for some things you just have to shake your head at.
I'm not here to pick on Justin Ademilola because he's been a solid contributor to the team the last 2 years, and really started coming into his own in 2020. I had no problem with putting him on the field, but this ain't last year. He has become, in my opinion, a liability when he's lined up off the LOS. He's playing the role of a LB, and it's a real bad fit. According to PFF he currently is rated almost dead last out of the 582 edge defenders listed. The guy that I threw under the bus last night, Jordan Botelho, I would like to see what he can do out in space. When you're in the ball game for 37 snaps and come up with 1 tackle, and not playing that well, then I think just like replacing our LG and LT, something needs to be looked at.
I'm not going to focus on the missed tackles because we all saw that, and it just wasn't one player. If you remember, Howell was pretty tough to bring down last year as well. This defense with so many fronts, different combinations elsewhere, and blitzes coming from everywhere is hard to stay disciplined in. On Howell's long TD run, it wasn't Botelho who broke down, it was MTA. Why, if you are on the edge, do you make a move to the inside on your pass rush right on top of Botelho, and leave that whole damn side of the field open? It's undisciplined, and it's not playing within the defense.
On the 53 yard TD run by Chandler, it was another what the hell are they doing sort of thing. Right after the snap, 3 of our linemen were bunched inside shoulder-to-shoulder creating a huge hole, and all that needed to be done was to seal off Drew White, and it was off to the races - untouched.
One last thought. I don't enjoy being gashed up at the LOS, and there isn't any reason for it, but when a QB sees 5 in the box, guess what he's calling, and it doesn't matter if he's in a 2 minute drill or not. We have good players on defense, and in my opinion, we need to make things more simple - it's worked before.
Navy (8), Virginia (9), Georgia Tech (10) and Stanford (11). That's 11-1, and let the cards fall where they may.
I don't come on here to talk about what all went wrong without pointing out what went right. No game is going to be perfect, and ND is not going to blow out every opponent, especially this year. I will however point to the scoreboard after the game, and feel good about how this team finds a way to win, and that's number 7 through 8 games.
There are a lot of positives out there, and I'm not going to name everyone, but I think it starts with Tommy Rees on the offensive side. I love what he's doing with Coan now, and for the most part he's setting up his plays well, and doing that 2 QB thing to a point where it's become a weapon - lol Michigan. That first TD by Avery was great. They pulled the OG and the TE, and then went the opposite way to Avery for an easy score.
Another efficient game by Coan. He went 16-24 with a TD, and no interceptions. Styles could've padded Jack's stats a bit, but couldn't bring in the pass downfield. Styles gets a mulligan for that one.
Kyren? Enough said, and he would've still had over 100 yards rushing without the big play. I think he's about 270 yards short of a thousand this year.
Shout out to Logan Diggs - big time. He ran it 11 times for 42 yards, and a lot of those runs he really pounded it. I'm impressed with his patience and poise for a true freshman. The staff must feel comfortable as well because they kept him in down around the goal line. Great up and over TD run. The line all blocked down, got low and had a push.
Kyren's long TD run doesn't happen without Mayer's heads up play. As soon as he saw Kyren reverse it, he headed up field and picked off the DB. Great play!
Let's give the O line some credit. Anytime you have over 200 yards rushing, and give up 1 sack and 3 TFL's you deserve it. They were having problems in prior games with stunts and blitzes on passing downs. They were leaving their area to help out on doubling a defender. This was true to form in that first series where Patterson, instead of looking, helped out Kristofic which led to a huge gap for the delayed blitz. Coan got the ball off, but was lit up on the play. Didn't see this happen again, so it must've gotten corrected as soon as he came off the field.
Oh Boy, the defense. I think it was a week or so ago that I gave my opinion that Freeman doesn't have all the tools he needs, and there are players playing positions that might not be the best fit for them. I still believe that, but for some things you just have to shake your head at.
I'm not here to pick on Justin Ademilola because he's been a solid contributor to the team the last 2 years, and really started coming into his own in 2020. I had no problem with putting him on the field, but this ain't last year. He has become, in my opinion, a liability when he's lined up off the LOS. He's playing the role of a LB, and it's a real bad fit. According to PFF he currently is rated almost dead last out of the 582 edge defenders listed. The guy that I threw under the bus last night, Jordan Botelho, I would like to see what he can do out in space. When you're in the ball game for 37 snaps and come up with 1 tackle, and not playing that well, then I think just like replacing our LG and LT, something needs to be looked at.
I'm not going to focus on the missed tackles because we all saw that, and it just wasn't one player. If you remember, Howell was pretty tough to bring down last year as well. This defense with so many fronts, different combinations elsewhere, and blitzes coming from everywhere is hard to stay disciplined in. On Howell's long TD run, it wasn't Botelho who broke down, it was MTA. Why, if you are on the edge, do you make a move to the inside on your pass rush right on top of Botelho, and leave that whole damn side of the field open? It's undisciplined, and it's not playing within the defense.
On the 53 yard TD run by Chandler, it was another what the hell are they doing sort of thing. Right after the snap, 3 of our linemen were bunched inside shoulder-to-shoulder creating a huge hole, and all that needed to be done was to seal off Drew White, and it was off to the races - untouched.
One last thought. I don't enjoy being gashed up at the LOS, and there isn't any reason for it, but when a QB sees 5 in the box, guess what he's calling, and it doesn't matter if he's in a 2 minute drill or not. We have good players on defense, and in my opinion, we need to make things more simple - it's worked before.
Navy (8), Virginia (9), Georgia Tech (10) and Stanford (11). That's 11-1, and let the cards fall where they may.
