Team is legit. Met the NC bell weather test
- Thread starter theskibro
- Start date
As any coach will say still alot to work on. But the defense stepped up and gave a sputtering offense some short fields and making sure mistakes didn't cost the team.
Offense came around and hit on some big plays that have been lacking.
Good win on the road, and with a 2 hour or so weather delay.
Offense came around and hit on some big plays that have been lacking.
Good win on the road, and with a 2 hour or so weather delay.
I think there will be a ton of film watching and teaching moments from this game. A really good win against a damn good defense, and great hostile environment.
The refs gave a gimmie td on penalties.
Really good game. Very happy with how the team responded after NCSt closed it to 24-17.
The good:
1. Great to see the tight ends get involved! Staes could end up as a really nice player. Impressive athleticism for a guy his size.
2. The secondary played well, I thought. Three interceptions and tight coverage for most of the game. Even on the passes that NCSt completed the defender was usually in pretty good position.
3. Hartman played well again. Maybe not as sharp as he was the first two weeks, but he was good when we needed him to be. Love his calm presence.
4. I thought Liufau had a really nice game. He was assignment smart and had several really hard tackles. For all the grief he got last year, maybe Marist is starting to figure things out.
5. Estime is just a dude. I've always thought he is faster than he looks for a guy his size, and that 80-yd TD where he outran some of the NCSt secondary confirmed that.
6. Spencer Shrader. I didn't know much about him, but man he has some leg!
7. The continued development of MF and the coaching staff. I think Marcus is becoming a much better game coach. Calling TOs before the end of the first half was gutsy, but it paid off when we got a score. And it took, what, 30 seconds?
The bad:
1. The stupid penalties. We have to clean that up before OSU.
2. The OL play was middling at best. No push in the running game. We need to be better for OSU.
3. Our DL played well enough against the run, but we got no push on passing downs unless we brought blitzers. With our improved secondary play maybe blitzing isn't as risky as it was last year, but I would like to see the DL develop an ability to move the pocket backwards. Maybe you don't get the sack, but you want to at least make it a dirty pocket for the opposing QB.
All in all, that was a very satisfying win.
The good:
1. Great to see the tight ends get involved! Staes could end up as a really nice player. Impressive athleticism for a guy his size.
2. The secondary played well, I thought. Three interceptions and tight coverage for most of the game. Even on the passes that NCSt completed the defender was usually in pretty good position.
3. Hartman played well again. Maybe not as sharp as he was the first two weeks, but he was good when we needed him to be. Love his calm presence.
4. I thought Liufau had a really nice game. He was assignment smart and had several really hard tackles. For all the grief he got last year, maybe Marist is starting to figure things out.
5. Estime is just a dude. I've always thought he is faster than he looks for a guy his size, and that 80-yd TD where he outran some of the NCSt secondary confirmed that.
6. Spencer Shrader. I didn't know much about him, but man he has some leg!
7. The continued development of MF and the coaching staff. I think Marcus is becoming a much better game coach. Calling TOs before the end of the first half was gutsy, but it paid off when we got a score. And it took, what, 30 seconds?
The bad:
1. The stupid penalties. We have to clean that up before OSU.
2. The OL play was middling at best. No push in the running game. We need to be better for OSU.
3. Our DL played well enough against the run, but we got no push on passing downs unless we brought blitzers. With our improved secondary play maybe blitzing isn't as risky as it was last year, but I would like to see the DL develop an ability to move the pocket backwards. Maybe you don't get the sack, but you want to at least make it a dirty pocket for the opposing QB.
All in all, that was a very satisfying win.
The CB`s played well except for dropping two int`s both would have been hard to bring in. Once the rain stopped Hartman came to life oh ho hum another 4 td performance. NCST had a three-year record for not giving up over 30 points. Herbie picked NCST to win today on game day,
Positive to bring tight ends into this game in a big way...there are many, many weapons on offense. That is a plus. The O line needs to get into sync...it is a bit fragmented. The secondary is solid. They provided support to the D front that made that front look better than they played. Should have been more than one sack on Armstrong. I like the kicker.....Hartman is all we need...but he has to stay upright. Merriweather delivered a nice start. Penalties? This has to be fixed. One thing on Hartman....the ACC knows him well...his tendancies...strengths and weaknessess....that was obvious. But he delivered anyway.
The 4 corner rotation of Morrison/Hart/Mickey/Gray is outstanding and will only get better
Good, workmanlike win on the road. Can't ask for much more than that. Pulled away in the second half. I am pretty happy with today.
This is a great point. MF is coming a long way in a short time as a gameday head coach.
He's still so raw/green that it's really positive to see him having the team play consistently at a high level through week 2. It indicates there might be some real upside to his skills as a HC.
Its been 3 games vs teams ranked #101, #54, and (unranked entirely) though so cautiously optimistic and there's still lots to prove.
edit: added the correct rankings
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Totally agree. Good teams win in the 4th quarter not the 1st quarter.
Nit picking here but a question.
We didn’t have an extra pant and uni to stay dry at the weather break. The announcer said the staff was at the concession stand getting our players hot dogs etc. Considering the forecasted weather looks like we were unprepared for the weather delay. Any thoughts on that ?
We didn’t have an extra pant and uni to stay dry at the weather break. The announcer said the staff was at the concession stand getting our players hot dogs etc. Considering the forecasted weather looks like we were unprepared for the weather delay. Any thoughts on that ?
I thought they did a nice job against Armstrong. The young man started to play very well later last season and he can run quite well, they kept him around 50% passing and he didn’t really hurt ND in the run game either.
Would like to see more pressure with our 4 down though but Armstrong moved very well under pressure. It’s dangerous to bring extra men too often against a very mobile QB.
Would like to see more pressure with our 4 down though but Armstrong moved very well under pressure. It’s dangerous to bring extra men too often against a very mobile QB.
I don't know. VERY FEW games are delayed. Yes the forecast was chancy but to actually prepare in the way you suggest? could very easily have been wasted. I do not see reason to criticize over what is probably a once a year or so event in HOW MANY GAMES that are played?
Thanks the kind words, Telx1.
I always enjoy reading your analysis of our OL play. What is your take on why we struggled in the run game yesterday? We also had some struggles with pass protection. Are we overstating the ability of our OL, or is it because it is still early in the season and they haven't quite gelled as a unit, or might it be a combination of all those things? Or might it have been the scheme NCSt threw at us? I guess it is easy to forget sometimes that our opponents may have some good players, too. In the case of NCSt, their D has been pretty stout the past few years. We busted some big plays--or "chunk plays" as Kelly was fond of calling them--but we also had a bunch of runs that got little or no yardage.
Telx will obviously have a better OL analysis than I do, but I think it was just our first real test and the fact that NCST runs a 3-3-5. It’s tough to adjust/gameplan to 100% precision against something that is structurally different than what’s considered normal. Especially in a weeks time. I look at it no differently than when teams, who don’t normally see the triple option, struggle to stop it.
I don't know the answer to your question, but my guess is that you don't normally plan for game stoppages due to the weather. It was lightning strikes, not the rain, that was the problem. If it had just been rain--even a deluge--the game would not have been stopped. The only other time I can remember an ND game being suspended due to lightning was back in 2011 against South Florida, when ND Stadium had to be evacuated. (And we also lost the game, as I recall.) And so while ND might have been aware of a high probability of rain in the forecast, I don't think you can predict lightning storms that far in advance. But that is just an educated guess on my part.
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