The zone isn't working. They have people running free, giving too much space. They're not making contact as the ball arrives. They're not breaking on the ball, reading the QB. If they want to play zone they need to teach it better or get guys who already know how to play it. And they're doing neither.
This isn't to say they ran zone well under Golden. They didn't. But he was dumb enough to commit to it as a primary part of the defense.
If they go back to man, I'd expect an immediate reversal of this idiocy. A top 10 D.
You sure as heck don't run a scheme you don't know you're able to run against top 20 opponents. Mix it in, run it as you can. Don't just commit to it hell or high water.
A combination of a passive zone and passive pass rush is a recipe for disaster as we've seen.
Oh and play your best players. KVA and Tae Johnson need to start.
Replies to: "They have to go back to a primarily man scheme."
- Seen on X…this is pretty much me - Nigel Tufnel - 8:47am 9/19/25
(26) [View All]
- Re: Seen on X…this is pretty much me - IrishChristopher - 6:55pm 9/19/25
- Re: Seen on X…this is pretty much me - nddad98 - 7:48pm 9/19/25
- This is why it is said to never send an email when you are angry - NDWisconsin - 4:45pm 9/19/25
- Freeman is starting to give me Gerry Faust vibes [NT]
- Shadow_of_the_Dome - 2:59pm 9/19/25
- Not even remotely. This comes from within your own head. [NT] - Curly1918 - 7:52pm 9/19/25
- "Oh Ye of little faith." [NT] - irishslovak - 4:44pm 9/19/25
- Is this satire? MF has more wins and Top 25 wins - Turkish - 4:18pm 9/19/25
- Don't think Faust would have ever accomplished what Freeman did last year... - TakethetrainKnute - 3:04pm 9/19/25
- Spot on + hilarious [NT] - KWIRISH - 12:26pm 9/19/25
- I'm far from that - AlbanyIRISH - 12:01pm 9/19/25
- Shut your cake hole. Can’t argue with you but shut that cake hole. 🤣 [NT] - Frankx - 1:21pm 9/19/25
- What did Marcus see that made him think he needed a new D scheme rather than better talent? - LanceManion - 11:40am 9/19/25
- Outsmarted themselves. Yeah, they needed an ability to play zone. - DiscoRick - 12:43pm 9/19/25
- Loser strategy: keep it close & steal it at the end. Winners are dominant. [NT] - LanceManion - 11:29pm 9/19/25
- The whole ball control attitude in today’s game is playing with fire. - ndphysics - 1:02pm 9/19/25
- We would need far better line play on both sides for a ball control strategy [NT]
- LanceManion - 11:30pm 9/19/25
- Yiu would think our staff realizes that. Not a good idea either way. - ndphysics - 6:16am 9/20/25
- Yep, exactly. You can do both. And that's complimentary. - DiscoRick - 6:54pm 9/19/25
- We would need far better line play on both sides for a ball control strategy [NT]
- LanceManion - 11:30pm 9/19/25
- Outsmarted themselves. Yeah, they needed an ability to play zone. - DiscoRick - 12:43pm 9/19/25
- It's not that they lost - it's HOW they lost. - clements2 - 11:37am 9/19/25
- Yep. Agreed. O looked at least competent last week. But could improve [NT] - DiscoRick - 12:37pm 9/19/25
- Here's me: "I'd love to win, but it's Notre Dame so life is great regardless". [NT] - BaronVonZemo - 9:37am 9/19/25
- This is a mature approach to mourning. - Curly1918 - 9:16am 9/19/25
- Haha…. Yep [NT] - Frankx - 8:52am 9/19/25
- I'm not there yet until something is done with Ash. [NT]
- DiscoRick - 8:48am 9/19/25
- If you think about last year, Golden had some good schemes and/or made good adjustments during games - jray - 11:15am 9/19/25
- They have to go back to a primarily man scheme. - DiscoRick - 12:33pm 9/19/25
- If you think about last year, Golden had some good schemes and/or made good adjustments during games - jray - 11:15am 9/19/25
- Re: Seen on X…this is pretty much me - IrishChristopher - 6:55pm 9/19/25