It was obvious last night that the Irish did not seem to be in the game. How do we expect them to be in the game when they start the game actually playing a "Prevent defense." How do you get a team fired up when you tell them "to give the other team, 10 to 15 yards on pass plays." "Don't let them get behind you, etc."
USC was a wounded tired team, many hurt players, freshman QB, miserable record, not even bowl eligible. We treated them as if they were a real threat. We seemed to be impressed by stories of the past .Did they play well? They played only as well as a team would play when the opposing team gave them half the field to dance on.
When a team runs a "prevent defense" do the coaches realize that they are muting the aggressive nature of their own team? And it can be hard to get them to turn on an aggression when they need it. But they had one strong effort for a while when the ND defense, that we were familiar with, played as they could and USC could do nothing. Then ND scored and had a 14 point lead and the Coaches went back to a "prevent defense" and USC scored . We have a great bunch of defensive players that have shown us what they can do. I hope the coaches show some confidence in them.
If we play in the playoffs like we did last night, our "schemes" will crush us.