Point #2 first. A lot of people keep saying, "Louisville is horrible" based on 2018. Well, that was 2018. Teams can and do change dramatically from one year to the next. In ND history, look at 1963 vs. 1964 when Ara coached his first year. Time will tell how good Louisville 2019 is, but they're not that talentless. Their Rivals recruiting rankings 2016-18 are 36, 29 and 31. Not elite but far from bottom-feeders.
To point #1, it sure looked like the coaches made a calculated decision that Louisville could be defeated by running a vanilla offense and not throwing deep. I would wager the same will happen vs. New Mexico. Look for the playbook to be opened vs. Georgia.
If I did have a point #3, it's that we really don't have a firm idea of what this team will be. The LBs were slow both in foot speed and recognition, so that's a problem. Book had some problems, to be sure. But to put a positive spin on this, we have two games to iron out the problems. I don't think it's a done deal that UGA will put a whipping on ND. They beat Vandy by 24 on the road and ND won by 18, so the outcomes were somewhat similar.
Exhibit One: Golson and ND against Bama. I have no comment after that beat down. Didn't see anything different on offense. Defense over-powered.
Exhibit Two: Getting embarrassed by a bad Miami team.
Exhibit Three: Last year putting up 3 points against Clemson. If they changed up the offense for that game I didn't see it and if they did, it failed.
So this idea that Kelly and coaches are saving something for the big games ahead? Its record of success is not encouraging. Kelly is doing well for the program and it is respected again. May be talent or coaching. or both, but this program while improving over the last 5 years can't compete at the highest level. So that can't be hid.
I'm sure there are a couple of wrinkles especially for UGA that won't be seen beforehand. But I find it hard to believe that ND's ineffectiveness throwing downfield against UL was by design. If nothing else, real game experience with that area is needed to augment practice. So, . . we'll see.
The game plan will be different for GA than it was for LOU. We may not call predictable runs on 3rd and 1 for example. Which, if they didn't work against LOU, won't work against GA.
Though we can criticize some play calls. What needs to get cleaned up next week is execution by the OL and QB.
100% agreement that LB play and QB play are the top action items to be addressed.
I said OL, LBs need work obviously as well.
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The Irish didn't throw deep and didn't show any new wrinkles in the running game. Some people don't think Book has the arm strength, but he does. What he struggled with last year is long-ball accuracy. Hopefully this is better this year.
To effectively throw deep, besides having the arm, you have to stay in the pocket. Book bails with virtually any inside pressure. He doesn't subtly slide as quality qbs might do, he bails. And it is hard to throw downfield with his arm when he can't set his feet. So the modus operandi for opposing defenses is to push the pocket and the ND offensive scheme/coaches don't seem to do anything to make a defense pay for that strategy.
There are few excellent qbs that don't need an effective scheme or coaches that know how to adapt their schemes to fit a qb's strengths/weaknesses to shine. Unfortunately we have neither which is the key reason the Kelly and this offense has never had a qb who has got better as they got more experience in the system. Simply put, Book doesn't have the size, arm and/or hasn't demonstrated the cleverness/instinct as a passer to make up for the deficiencies of the offensive scheme. He has to get a lot better as a qb just to get to 10-2.
opposing team has good inside pressure it inhibits every offense.
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throwing lanes.
Love your enthusiasm.....it is contagious
But damn do we have an ability to make an 18 pt win feel like a loss. My only guess is that the collective we must live miserable lives.
highlights and maybe some other plays by the other teams. I guarantee that teams all have bad plays we do not see.
After the playoff game last year I thought they would come out like gangbusters and curb stomp these guys. Yeah, I know they had to replace some key players, but the other team isn’t good,
ND's fan base, which quite honestly isn't very invested in college football, is one of the few fan bases I've been around that actually down plays opponents they beat. Most other programs fans actually over play opponents they beat.
Louisville was obviously bad last year. They were poorly coached and eventually gave up.
Watching them Monday surprised me. They were fast, athletic, and played hard. Were they Clemson? Nah. But they had some players. Enough so that it made me take a look at their recruiting.
It surprised me, they are consistently in the high 20s and 30s in rankings. The transition of staffs last year being the lone hiccup but it appears they countered that by loading up on a lot of JUCOs.
Louisville redefining their culture with the new staff will likely have it's share of bumps, but this team isn't without talent and for the ND game, they decided they would play hard and fight.
Could ND play better and made this look a little uglier? Sure, but I think the idea that Louisville is a team starved of talent is false. I suspect they'll at much better this year. Good? Who knows but I suspect not for ND fans because ND beat then.
things turn out.
As I said, to keep saying Louisville "wasn't good" is based off 2018. This is a completely different Louisville team. They might wind up being pretty good. Not saying this is definite, but it's a possibility that they just aren't as bad in 2019 as we make them out to be.
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They could have lost at home to South Florida, Tulsa, Duke, Syracuse, ect.
Or, Georgia State, Wyoming, ect like others did over the weekend.
An 18 point win at Louisville is fine and dandy.
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Prepare to be told that Clemson and Bama have never won by less than 50 points before.
We see our team struggle some in an early season game and imagine that it is an unusual occurrence or is somehow more meaningful than it is. My go-to at times like this is Clemson slipping past Troy at home in September 2016 by only 6 points . . . on the way to later defeating Alabama for the National Championship.
still in it going into the 4th quarter? That’s called truth. Who is saying the season is over? What’s generally being said is that we need to get our act cleaned up right quick or the UGA game isn’t gonna be pretty? That’s also called truth.
Talk about overreaction, I think it’s more on the other side of the spectrum.
It was a sloppy game. Against what likely will prove to be a poor team. Agree completely that ND needs to get it "cleaned up" before Georgia to have any chance. I was referring specifically to the "Season is Lost" sentiment referenced in the post I replied to. In addition to fair commentary, there is some overreaction from some on the board based on one season opening game. IMO.
What is absolutely the truth is the homers can’t stand anyone questioning their Pollyanna beliefs. That’s what really is revealed here.
After a 12-0 season I was onboard with this could be another special season; if I was 90% in on that before Monday night I am now 70% in on it.
If the over/under before was 9.5...and I was thinking 10-2....I could see 9-3....
I am not a Michigan fan and I have never said Kelly sucks but the Homers have to make that shit up because I call them out
I love doing it!
There are also some Chicken Littles and a few negative trolls. It's a mixed bag, which is what you'd expect on a message board.
And will be very happy to be proven wrong.
Most fans don’t fall into either category.
Most of us love ND football and want the team to succeed.
I also think many have mixed feelings about Kelly.
I know that even those who are skeptical based on the last game would love to be wrong and see the Irish run the table.
I’m just done putting lipstick on the product. We need to turn it up significantly before Athens.
Again, simple truth.
Or at anything you wrote.
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Your posts are always good and I didn't want to offend.