Pure athleticism
That's what differentiates us from the teams that played last night.
Replies to: Pure athleticism
Our D looked better than Alabama’s. Gave up less pointy &mostly when Love went out.
Offensively, I agree at the skill position we are less skilled at present.
Re: Right
Crazy enough, but ND provided a decent blueprint on how to contain Clemson's offence. Stuff the run lanes, play a soft cushion on short routes and absolutely make Lawrence feel uncomfortable!
But (1) thing about having a crazy athletic secondary like Bama is that they are used to taking gambles and not paying for them. They have grown accustomed to taking risks and recovering from normal coverage errors because the opposing quarterbacks time clock gets sped up. Taking the inside shoulder on middle routes normally works for them due to quarterback errors. But when you have a big kid like Lawrence who only seems to be inaccurate when he is feeling some real heat, errors by the secondary get taken advantage of. It was crazy too see 5 star cb recruits like Surtain Jr. getting beat easily! It actually looked like a good chunk of Lawrence's deep completions were on the same routes he completed against ND, lol.
With all that being said, the biggest moment to came during halftime when Saban said that Clemson was running some things that they did not practice on.
Hilarious and obviously true!
Clemson exploited Alabama's secondary
In the same manner they did ours.
Lawrence is an elite QB with the ability to make all throws. Big difference maker; he is perfect for the NFL.
Yep an athletic Peyton Manning.
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Nah. I would argue elite depth is what separates ND from the best of the best.
Even given ND's speed deficiencies at the wide receiver position, the numbers from the Clemson game aren't as bad as you think.
Trevor Lawrence stats in the five series Julian Love wasn't on the field: 15-18 for 247 yards and three TDs
Trevor Lawrence stats in the six series Julian Love was on the field: 12-19 for 90 yards and zero TDs
Notre Dame's margin for error against the best teams is razor-thin, while a team like Clemson can lose the best defensive lineman in the country and not miss a beat. If you subtract just the three TD passes Lawrence threw against Love's backup in the span of 12 minutes and 51 seconds in the second quarter, Lawrence is looking at a 200-yd passing night.
One major deficiency is ability of ND head coach to perform in playoff level games
BK is at best a MusicCity /Gator bowl level of coach.
I bet you were one of the fans who said Ara couldn't win the big game until Sugar Bowl 1973.
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Except he had already won one natty and had had another one stolen from him.
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Bullshit
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Hammer...meet nail head.
Agree with this
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Point. One player goes down and ......
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ND has athletes--Austin, Keys, Lenzy--and a physical gunslinging QB in Jurkovec.
They didn't play against Clemson or when they did, they didn't play much.
It will be disappointing if Kelly doesn't have Jurkovec ready for 2019. I can see Jurkovec paired with Claypool, Austin, Young/Keys/Lenzy, Wright/Kmet/Takacs giving teams fits.
I certainly hope Jurkovec lives up to billing. But right now we have no reason to think he's better
. . . than Book. Book played really well most of the season, and one bad performance against a sensational D doesn't convince me he isn't ND's QB in '19.
Exactly. There should be a quarterback competition and the best man should play.
Recent National CXhampions: Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State have al replaced successful quarterbacks.
ND should be willing to do it if the talent warrants it.
Kelly did so with Book and hopefully will get the best man in after the Spring whether Book or Jurkovec.
What if Jurkovec is the next Zach Frazer?
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Is PJ the starting QB for ND for the opening game next year?
Not to indict PJ but I’ll believe it when I see it.
I think there is a good chance. Kelly is learning some lessons.
And he shocked me this year by switching to Book. Assuming Phil is better than Book (even if he isn't as "ready" as BK historically likes) i wouldn't be surprised.
January 2019: Kelly 3.0 becomes Self-aware...
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It’s Book. Heaping praise on a QB who never really played a CF game.?
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When the starter stumbles, there will always be a group of fans pushing the next guy.
And they will always be sure the next guy is "the answer."
“Fans”. Sarcasm I would assume...
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No.
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Especially noticeable at WR.
Top 50 guys...
there was a lot of great coaching witnessed last night...at least from Clemson's side.
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