One commonly used definition of insanity is that it is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result". Anyone who has watched Notre Dame Football over the years in the Kelly era has seen the direct snap to the QB and delayed hand off to the running back who is standing still on short yardage situations get stuffed time after time as he tries to gain that yard or two needed for a first down. That situation was on display again Monday night for all to see.
Gone are the days when the Irish lined up and gave the ball to Anthony Johnson, Mark Edwards, Rodney Culver or Jerome Bettis and got first downs when the opposition knew exactly what was coming. None of that was done with deep handoffs to backs standing still four yards behind the line of scrimmage.
Brings to mind the last scene of The Bridge over the River Kwai.................."Madness"
As an ex coach these are the things that bug me. Obviously on 3rd and short I want to pick it up at a high rate, but I also don't want a lot of 3rd and shorts.
We all know Book struggled but here is another example of a really poor decision that went unnoticed by most.
In this photo you can see a nice alley for Book. He has a blocker on the outside and has the angle on the inside man. The first down marker is right at the 25.
Instead of cutting up and diving to the 25 or 26 without being touched he decides he needs to bail out of bounds a yard short to avoid a possible hit. Problem is, Claypools man gets off the block and hits Book before he gets out of bounds.
Book fumbles and ND proceeds to lose another yard.
What should have been a first down ends up in a 3rd and short ND doesn't get.
I understand QB's protecting themselves, but at the college level you have to sell out a little more than what he showed. He did this again later in the second half.
A slow developing hand off to a pistol back 6 yards behind the LOS gets stuffed regularly.
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ND is gashing UL for 8 yards a carry. Why in the hell, is Book in the shotgun (or pistol) formation on 3rd & short or 4th & short???
Get under Center, get low, & run the damn QB sneak. Instead they run a slow developing run play & a freaking pass- of course the pass would have worked if Book didn't throw the damn ball at Finke's knees.
I too long for the days of the fullhouse backfield with Bettis, Zellers & Burris. 3rd and short for them? Pfffft......that's nothing.
What's ironic is when Holtz was coaching, I felt he did not throw the ball enough (especially in 1992 when Rick Mirer was the QB & had Lake Dawson, Derrick Mayes, Clint Johnson Mike Miller, Irv Smith, Oscar McBride & Bettis at his disposal) I think this hurt ND's offense at times.
Now I feel that Kelly throws the ball too much & Monday was a great example of this. 2nd possession, we have a chance to go up 14-7 after running the ball down Louisville's throat on the 1st drive. 1st 2 plays of the 2nd drive? 2 incomplete passes- the 2nd pass going about 5 feet over a leaping Chase Claypool. It's shit like that, that keeps weaker teams in the game longer than they need to be. On that 2nd drive, I'd have ran that ball until UL could prove they could stop it.
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n for a first down right there. The top teams can do that almost at will; 3rd and 4th or short for ND simply means the other team is going to get the ball.
short over the weekend. The problem is if you run a bit of a more finesse running play you can get thrown for a loss if a linebacker gambles a bit and gets through. It is not as simple as it seems. This is one reason why it is tough to run it in from the two.
However I hate the shotgun when you need two yards unless you are throwing for it. It is way too slow. New England always goes from the shot gun from two or more yards, but Brady is always under center when it is third and less than a yard and often runs a quick count sneak.