Ian Book looked bad. He was too antsy and jittery. It seems he has no confidence in the OL?
A step backward for Book last night.
Should we deploy the moving pocket or rolling pocket? See Oklahoma week 1 or what Meyer installed at Bowling Green when he massively turned that program around. High percentage pass plays while outside the pocket making it harder on defenders and gives the option to run.
Memo to Swarbrick: Brian Kelly should only be able to recruit QBs. Once signed, BK should not be allowed to speak to, coach or otherwise touch a QB. BK is not the QB / Offensive guru he's advertised as. He can run a program though.
Thank goodness for Tony Jones Jr. - I wish you were faster because you'd have 2 more TDs, but great running.
OL - Yes you were able to run block. But, pass blocking was terrible and LVU got more pressure on ND than ND's vaunted DL got on LVU.
OL lack of blocking was an issue all last year but only was exposed when playing non-Mac level talent.
We need a real OL coach. You can have all the 5* monsters you want but if you can coach them it's just a disappointment.
Great you can runblock on 1st and 2nd down (9+ ypc), but when it's 3rd or 4th and 1 or 2 you can't block anyone. If you consistently can't pickup the needed 1 yard when everyone in the house knows your running it, we've got problems. This is a holdover issue from 2018.
The WR 6 yard underneath cross will be the 2019 version of Boykin sideline out for 8-12 yds. Hopefully, it will be just as successful. Expect to see this 400 times this year and probably every curcial down going forward.
DL - Where was all the pressure? For 90% of the game these guys were non-existent or off sides. LVU got more pressure on us?!?
It seems our most experienced on both sides of the ball may have spent too much time reading all the hype and accolade articles this offseason.
Drew White may not be the right size on paper and doesn't yet have the speed and tackling of Tranquill but he's the real deal maybe. Great knack for the ball and generally in the right position. He's at least one of the few bright spots from last night. Looking forward to seeing him grow.
LB play over all was borderline attrocious. Way too many people were out of position.
Front 7 play seemed to be all too often over committed and everyone in the same place, not where the ball was and or missing tackles.
Tackling - who invited BVG back to practice?
Midway through the 3rd quarter I actually thought I was watching Wednesday MACtion and not ND football. This sadden me a lot. Especially following the 2018 season.
Hamilton was as good as advertised. He'll be fun to watch.
Shaun Crawford - Keep doing you! Two huge TD saving tackles and almost caused a fumble. Stay healthy. You're fun to watch.
Brian Polian - please remove the title of special teams from your resume. The idea that it's "special" that you teach and use the fair catch on every punt is not the intended purpose of this unit. Have the front guys actually block someone and go after the kicker, so your returner can return or you pressure the kicker so much he screws up. It's called punter RETURNER for a reason, not punt fair-cacther.