I've supported Driskell many times over. His latest blog on RL was trash. He seems frustrated bc he
had bought into the hype of Leonard. RL is not a streetball player. He played in a weak league and couldn't pass. That was known. He's in a better league now and he shouldn't be.
We do and did have the answers on the roster.
Replies to: I've supported Driskell many times over. His latest blog on RL was trash. He seems frustrated bc he
He's an idiot blogger
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Which of his previous games did you watch that showed you he was so bad as a passer?
For the record, I did not necessarily think we needed a portal player, I felt Angeli would have been a solid stop gap after the bowl and possibly even be good.
Leonard played much better than this in 22 and even at the beginning of 23 before he ran into ND and then tried to play injured in the following games.
I don't think he should start, but that is because if he is injured, they won't run him, and that takes away the biggest reason you get him on the team.
I was plenty pissed off at the loss, and still am, but he was not the only reason we lost, and everyone acting like benching him is the only answer are not being honest with themselves. Also, all the fire Freeman and bench Leonard talk, especially after all the praise they both got last week after the win, is a bit over the top as well.
A couple to a few in 2023 including ND and 1 or 2 in 2022. The entire lead up to the ND match up in
2023 (in media) was that Leonard was a great runner but couldn't pass so ND shouldn't struggle. That was the exact saving grace for ND in that game. Riley couldn't pass. He beat them with his legs all game and when it came down to completing a few passes he couldn't do it. Everyone talks about ND beat them bc he got hurt. RL got hurt in the 2nd to last offensive play. The game was in the bag then.
Additionally, if you spent five minutes looking at his three seasons of stats as he entered the portal you knew he was half the QB of Hartman who was a dud. They both played in an extremely weak conference which padded their stats. Remember how easy 2020 was for ND when they were in the ACC?
Before this year RL had 24 TDs and 10 picks that's only a 2 to 1 ratio which is pitiful and his downfield pass completion rate was 23%. Not to mention he was about a mid 50s% passer. 2022 was an anomaly and the hype came because Duke won 8 games so it turned everyone's heads.
2021 0-6 - did not break 100 yards passing in a single game
2022 9-4 - 6 of 13 games under 200yds passing and only roughly 65yds on the ground in each, save one with 96
2023 4-3 - 5 of 7 games under 200 yds passing, barely double digits yards rushing.
17 of 26 games under 200 yards passing!!! 65% of the time he didn't throw for more than 200 yards. That's atrocious as a modern-day QB in spread offenses.
He was 13-13 as a QB, coming in. he's 50% now 1-1 with one of the losses being to a MAC school. The data more than presented the case of what we were getting. The same thing happened with Hartman.
Perfect summary, he couldn't pass then,and he can't pass now. His
health is going an issue all yr long if his running is going to be a focal point
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I'm not trying to argue with you and say he is some kind of prolific passer
From what I heard listening to Driskell, he's saying he has played much better against bad teams while at Duke than he did on Saturday against NIU with ND. That is a fact. His take was that if all your saying needs to be done to fix the offense is replace Leonard, then you're taking the easy road of analysis. There were problems other than Leonard, and they are problems that aren't going to be fixed by swapping in another QB. He also wonders why Duke can get a much better version of Leonard and he comes here and looks even worse against the bad competition as well. I try to listen to multiple analysts in order to get more information, but all of them had the same overall opinion of Leonard, he's a gamer who wants to win, can use his legs to hurt the opponent, and has made throws when needed to either win games or stay competitive against tough competition. We saw that against A&M, I don't think ND would have won that game without him. NIU looked like, other than the first drive, they tried to make him play like something he wasn't, and he struggled.
To play devil's advocate, the offense looks a hot mess, but this is the 3rd OC in 3 years, and when that happened to the defense prior to Golden, they had some big issues his first year here as well, especially red zone defense. Things looked much better in year two, all the way up until yesterday where they looked lost, and our players who looked fast and confident against A&M looked slow and confused against NIU. I'm not sure I can put that 100% on the coaching staff. The offense can still continue to get better, Leonard can get better, the OL can get better as well. Perhaps things will look much better in year two with Denbrock as well. I am sure people will say it is because Leonard is no longer the QB and forget that everyone finally is in their second year in a system, the QBs included.
All in all, I think they need to run the damn ball with Love and Price, and almost any throw that Leonard makes needs to be an RPO or play action. Scrap all the drop back shit completely, it is not who he is and does not play into the strengths of your team. Yes, Love and Price are going to get stuffed sometimes because the line is young and makes mistakes, but when they get it right those two are going to make big yards and TDs as they have already shown this year.
The problem with your analysis
Name any Top 25 program breaking in a new O coordinator who would only score 14 points at home against NIU.
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That's right, zero. I don't blame Leonard because he is what he is. Freeman needs to quit being so stubborn and realize he made a mistake here.
Rees managed it against Stanford 6 games into the season
And that wasn't after 3 different OCs in 3 years. I'm not going to dig through every teams records to find other situations that are like the one we currently have at ND.
I do believe some of what Freeman was saying about the young players believing the hype. There were many players who played poorly against NIU, not just Leonard.
He played a terrible game, but acting like he was the sole issue is not correct
The offense was the sole problem
Everyone wants to blame the defense for not "stopping" NIU at key moments, but the bottom line is they only gave up 16 points.
The bottom line is they gave up almost 200 yards rushing with NIU star RB missing much of 2nd half.
They NEVER displayed the ability to even slow down, let alone stop that guy...if he hadn't gone out with injury he'd still be piling up yards on us.
The offense was the biggest problem, not the sole problem
If you score one more touchdown or didn't get a kick blocked at the end of the half, you can probably still win and all anyone is talking about is how the defense should have made more plays but still won.
The defense struggled to get off the field multiple times and that allowed NIU to chew up the clock. With how poorly the offense was playing they needed a turnover most likely.
There is plenty of blame to go around for that loss, from the coaching staff to the players. There are definitely some players that deserve no blame though.
Well said.
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