Post game presser.
- Thread starter notredame79
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What’d his offense look like at ND during his first stop? The guy had one great year at LSU, other than that mediocre.
He was 7 years at ND but only ONE as OC -- in 2014. Team averaged 450 yards and 33 points a game. I'd call that decent against the schedule ND played that year.
So far, this year, ND is averaging 321 yards and 18.5 points.
That's why I'm shocked.
Actually he has a point. NC aspirations are pretty much over...and many of us long for one. Especially those of us who lived 1988 and knew what ND once was as a football power.
I'll still root for and enjoy the Fighting Irish. But I also feel they will never win a NC in my lifetime again. I'm in my late 50s.
Fans want to win. Nothing wrong with emoting over the ups and downs. It's natural.
Denbrock had the Heisman-winning QB and two 1st round picks at WR last year. Maybe he needs the right QB for his system for it to work well.
But like I've said, I actually preferred Parker's offense, because he emphasized the run more.
Last year, in our 56-23 win over Stanford (Parker's last game), we ran 47 times for 381 yds and only threw 15 passes. The RBs ran 43 times.
Yesterday, we ran 28 times for 123 yds and threw 32 passes. The RBs ran 17 times. Leonard had 11 runs for 16 yards, including sacks.
But clearly Denbrock's offense is disjointed right now.
I think Denbrock was trying to get our passing game going. I get it. But when is was sputtering we needed to get back to running it down there throats. We did not.
We kept trying to force a square peg in a round hole.
The difference is LSU had a QB that was highly recruited out of HS and had an impressive offer list. Leonard was not and did not.
This team‘s problems extend far beyond just the quarterback
This teams problems are systemic, not isolated, those problems include the coaching staff
The two teams that we faced put tremendous pressure on the quarterback and our running game was mediocre at best
Those are PRIMARILY Oline issues
I can’t explain how our supposedly vaunted defense played yesterday
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I was hopefully optimistic when Freeman was hired. I will say that a piece of me thought it was too good to be true. He looks the part, speaks the part, seems like a good man and leader of men. But, the question was, can he coach? That is a scary question to have to ask yourself when speaking of the ND head football coach.
BK was someone who didn’t necessarily present himself well at times. But, he knows how to coach and knows his X’s and O’s. I believe he reached his peak at ND but he did a hell of a job bringing us back. Freeman speaks in such generalities when asked about football, rarely speaks on X’s and O’s, it makes you wonder if he really knows.
Do I believe they fire him this year? No, i do not unless wheels completely fall off and we go like 7-5 or so. Do I believe he’s currently in over his head? Absolutely.
BK was someone who didn’t necessarily present himself well at times. But, he knows how to coach and knows his X’s and O’s. I believe he reached his peak at ND but he did a hell of a job bringing us back. Freeman speaks in such generalities when asked about football, rarely speaks on X’s and O’s, it makes you wonder if he really knows.
Do I believe they fire him this year? No, i do not unless wheels completely fall off and we go like 7-5 or so. Do I believe he’s currently in over his head? Absolutely.
At some point, you need to get back to what's working better and try to win the game. We didn't do that. The passing game wasn't working.
He talks like Gerry Faust but coaches like Willingham!
I’m not asking him to beg for his job. I’m asking him to get out of the way. Figuratively that is. In other words I think his philosophy might be handicapping the offense. Somehow I feel like there is an air of playing not to lose.
NC aspirations are not over. 11-1 still gets us to the playoffs.
I would normally agree with you, but they lost to Northern Illinois. I see at least 1-2 losses, maybe more the rest of the way. The offense needs an overhaul, and I don't see them fixing this in a week. especially if they continue with Riley Leonard.
This is the best succinct post I've read on the matter. I totally agree. You generally have it right.
I'm not such a great Xs and Os fan. But in terms of some detail in this general context...for me right not the glaring gap is Freeman, Denbrock, and Leonard. Leonard can be fixed, but it's not easy about the other 2.
It depends. ND isn't in a conference and lost to NI. A strong team losing to 2 quality teams close might get the nod over ND.
Their not going 11-1 and they will have the worst loss in all of CFB...NC' is DONE!
I felt like Freeman had been improving as a head coach. We hadn't had any "bad losses" since 2022. Last year's 3 losses were all more understandable. And then we had the big road win at TX A&M. But losing that game yesterday was definitely a step back. Hopefully he and Denbrock can get things figured out.
I wouldn't challenge anything you said.
But 11-1 gets us in, especially with a 10-game winning streak. These games are still worth watching.
I posted incessantly the past day my negativity now with Freeman. But like the quoted post, I no longer believe in him...3 years in and he's losing some games against the worst opposition in the worst way.
It shouldn't be about figuring things out by this point. Marcus took responsibility, but still spoke in platitudes at the press conference. I don't believe he knows how to fix things, particularly Denbrock and Leonard...which seems to require a serious change of perhaps QB, never mind offensive game planning.
I'm no expert. But following ND all my life over decades, I remain stunned how ND cannot smash mouth NI. Why with a lead Denbrock has a clearly poorly throwing Leonard irresponsibly go deep.
Like somebody posted, it's metaphorically criminal. Leonard, Denbrock, and MF are egregiously at fault. Again, who knows how they operate, but is it too far fetched for me to imagine MF should be observant and have intervened given the risk?
I just don't think he gets into such game management detail. I also speculated that he seem to totally delegate. Now I believe he does because he doesn't trust himself, at least offensively.
Just thunking out loud.
This I agree with.
Man I hope to eat my words by the end of the season.
Hoping for a miracle.
As far as I can tell, Freeman's an establish the run coach. He comes from the Jim Tressel coaching tree. And last year's offense seemed to reflect that. In the Sun Bowl, we ran the ball 48 times and only threw it 19 times. Against Stanford, it was 47 rushes and 15 passes. We did more passing in some of the other games, but it was clear running the ball was a priority. But then he brought in Denbrock and appears to have given him free reign to do whatever he wants, because the run-first mentality of last year seems to have gone away. We'll see how things progress going forward.
ND for structural reasons alone will struggle being a happy pass team. As discussed, ND just doesn't get great QBs and enough offensive skills receiving players. Usually a good OL, backs, and TEs...so smash mouth seems the natural and smart choice, run 1st, with some mixing up to keep defenses honest.
Yesterday boggled my mind.
I think you may have hit on it. Denbrock's offense may not be suited to ND's offensive personnel. Riley may not be a good enough passer, though if you watch his junior year highlight reel at Duke he was throwing downfield bombs with precision accuracy. Why not now?
I see Angeli, though not as athletically gifted as Leonard, as possessing more FINESSE and a variety of different skills. He's accurate, moves in the pocket well, throws well on the run and can run effectively WHEN NECESSARY. These were all things, BY THE WAY, Joe Montana did well.
I might be disappointed, but I'd really like to see Angeli get some series.
I think it’s clear freeman and coordinators developed a plan to win one game, not 12 or 16 … they didn’t develop a great team. Nd needed wimbush legs and running threat plus big arm to beat um in 2018. Then said, if you can’t throw better you’re done, he was done. Leonard proved he can’t qb a team, move on
But moron freeman won’t
I know you’re right but I guess I’m in denial stage. You see some posters are in acceptance stage while others in bargaining stage.
Exactly. And if you want to "practice the passing game," do it after you're up 35-10 in the 2nd half, for example. But first, put the game away doing what you do best. And it's very clear this team runs the ball better than it passes the ball, at least at this point in the season.
Goes back to Denbrock, right?
Is his approach the best in light of the kind of team ND is -- given both its tradition and current personnel?
Maybe he's not one for PATIENCE and prefers a more AIR RAID approach.
This sure isn't last year's LSU team -- NOR IS IT LIKELY TO BECOME anything like it.
I would just prefer freeman have a clue at what's going on good or bad. I don't care if he's pissed off or not in front of the media. But he even stated he has no clue. That's not acceptable. WE ALL ARMCHAIR COACHES can see it clearly.
This is like Buchner in 2022, everyone could see he couldn't throw the ball but Freeman and Rees. Everyone can see Riley can't throw it but Freeman and Denbrock. The common one is Freeman.
It's also clear they're playing WDE as a SDE and it's getting our run D crushed due to A&M pulling some at the SDE, and NIU pulling a ton towards the SDE. Burnham and Oben can NOT play SDE and set/push/crash the edge. Burnham ran a play down or two, but he got abused vs NIU.
Go away....you have no idea what you are talking about. You just like to hear yourself.
Maybe a couple tackles but often times tackles are a function of the offensive playcall vs the defensive playcall. He only played 9-11 snaps against NIU. My guess is he’s been a little underwhelming.
So apparently ND didn’t have a timeout at the end of the game like the TV said. Just an fyi in case.
