Saying the D was the problem last night is FLAT OUT WRONG. I've seen it waaaay too much today. The O
was clearly the problem.
ND Offense: opening drive - 75 yards, 18 plays, 9:45 = 4.16yrds per play - https://www.espn.com/college-football/playbyplay/_/gameId/401677192
ND O, next 4 drives: held the ball for ONLY 5:16 minutes while ONLY gaining 11 yards, in 11 plays = 1yrd per play. Effectively, ND did not see the ball again until halfway through the 3rd quarter.
Out of 37:08 football minutes (1Q, 2Q, & first half of 3Q), ND Offense only held the ball for just over 15 minutes or 15:02. That's only about 40% of the time. So, which part of ND's team was on the field longer? The Offense or the Defense? If the offense is not scoring points (7 points in 37 minutes of game time - dorment for 61% of the entire game) is that considered a good thing or a bad thing? Is that the Offense putting the Defense in a good or bad position?
Additionally, ND's Offense DISAPPEARED for 37% of the ENTIRE game. ND's offense went dark, 3 and out for a full quarter and a half. The entire 2Q and the first half of 3Q the offense wasn't even present. That's a QB problem, but I won't go into that.
This EXEMPLIFIES the offense putting the Defense in a TERRIBLE position. Especially considering the high octane capabilities OSU has. See Oregon and TN games. So, relative to this information, these facts and those matchups; the Defense played lights out given their backs were against a wall and a talented offense.
In the final 23 minutes - 4Q and backhalf of 3Q, ND's O had the ball for 30 plays, 240 yards, and 12:44 minutes (60% of the clock minutes) = 8 yards per play. It was also aided by two huge missed tackles (Greathouse 9yd pass into 70yd TD, Evans 8 yard pass into 30yd gain) and two or three pass interferences. Again, the O not being aggressive early and often was the most EGREGIOUS mistake of the entire night. When too late, we found out the OSU D-backs could not cover and were susceptible to a high number of penalties--which help the offense & ND defense.
OSU O scoring drives were on average 4 minutes.
ND O scoring drives were on average 6 minutes (counting the missed FG - should have hit). ND's scoring rate is too slow and archaic for modern football. Not to mention we were in a game where you know you need to score points and a lot of them. There was literally no time for Brian Kelly clock it drives, but that's the game we called. Yes, we were protecting our weak link - QB arm.
The average number of offensive possessions in a college football game is 26 or 13 per side if we split evenly. Time of possession is generally even (can be lopsided) so 30/13 = about 2:30 per drive if you assume a TD every time.
As you can see OSU was much closer to 2:30 (1.6x) and efficient (scored points 75% of drives) in their time of possession on Offense.
Not only was ND's offense very slow, TOO SLOW at scoring (2.4x) they were also VERY inefficient (scored points 33% of drives).
The Offense was flat-out the entire problem during the championship game.
Link: https://www.espn.com/college-football/playbyplay/_/gameId/401677192
Replies to: Saying the D was the problem last night is FLAT OUT WRONG. I've seen it waaaay too much today. The O
The linebackers were awful , especially in the first half
They were literally going the wrong direction when OSU got that really long run. And when they passed to the RB and got a TD, no LB came to cover. They had their worst game of the year. I know 34 has a lot of upside but he had a really bad night.
You gotta be kidding me….
“Defense played lights out given their backs were against a wall and a talented offense”
OSU was 7/7 on 3rd down conversions and scored on every possession in the first half. You are delusional. Al Golden is 100% to blame for this loss. I can’t believe you spent 15 minutes typing this crap up just to be so wrong.
Read more, post less.
You either can't read or can't do math. By way of your posting I'm beginning to believe it's both.
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They were both problems
The ND defense was very good all season on 3rd down, and actually OSU was not good on 3rd. That flipped in the game. If the defense had caused either two punts or even gotten the fumble out on Egbuka when it almost happened on the second OSU drive, maybe the game is closer or even a win.
ND's second drive was killed by penalties, and the third drive of the half had the snap error on like 3rd and 5. By the next real drives they had it was 28-7. Failed the fake punt, now it's 31-7.
I'm not disagreeing with you that the offense had problems, but your argument that the defense somehow played lights out when OSU went 5/5 on their first 5 drives for 31 points, is not accurate. I am also not blaming Golden or saying it was because of an NFL gig. Sometimes the other team just beats you regardless of how well prepared you are. I do think injuries and possibly fatigue finally caught up to the defense when faced with an offense with the amount of weapons they had. The offense shot themselves in the foot two drives in a row. The difference for this team this year, was that when the offense faltered, the defense or special teams usually picked them up. That did not happen in this game.
When a defense can’t get off the field (the coach points it out) they are not playing lights out…
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So the offense missing from the game for 37% of the entire 60 minute game is no issue?
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You are asking two different questions.
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Serious question. Did you read the whole thing? I asked three questions and provided stats backing
up almost every statement.
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Out of 37:08 football minutes (1Q, 2Q, & first half of 3Q), ND Offense only held the ball for just over 15 minutes or 15:02. That's only about 40% of the time.
Questions:
1. So, which part of ND's team was on the field longer?
2. The Offense or the Defense? If the offense is not scoring points (7 points in 37 minutes of game time - dorment for 61% of the entire game) is that considered a good thing or a bad thing?
3. Is that the Offense putting the Defense in a good or bad position?
Try and ignore him - it's not easy! Ha!!!
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hahah. So true! I'm actually interested in the topic but he can't refute any of it.
Another interesting thing is ND O was only 41% on 3rd down and the time of position was 5 minutes different (OSU longer). If you flip that and we were the longer TOP, there is the difference in the game. Take a scoring drive off them (5 mins) and add one to us. That's hypothetical of course.
But, it takes them 4 mins to score and took us 6 mins, so relatively speaking 5 min difference is time of position was a 1 score swing.
1st 5 drives - TD, TD, TD, TD, FG. The first 3 >10 plays. D was problem
The defense can't use the tired or Time of Possession argument in the first half when they can't get off the field. The Irish only had 3 real possessions in the entire 1st half, and one was 9:45 long. That's mostly on the defense. OSU had 3 long drives and ND could not get a 3rd down stop.
Ohio State didn't punt until the 4Q when they were up 31 - 15 and started getting conservative.
Offense could have done better but scored 23 points even after missing chipshot FG, which was the 2nd highest point total allowed all season for OSU. ND Defense allowed 34, which was right around their season average. If the points avalanche was in the 4Q due to a tired defense, maybe I'd agree with you. They were fresh when OSU dropped 31 unanswered on them. They actually got stouter in 4Q, when Time of Possession really matters.
Offense did fine. Defense was major disappointment.
Mills, Morrison, Bothelo, Traore, Onye, Mickey, a gimpy Howard Cross......
WTF do you want out of a patchwork group with no depth?
DC can only do so much when you're down a bunch of difference makers. The guys out there played their asses off against a team loaded with NFL talent and depth at the skill positions.
Offense did fine but couldn't stay on the field on 3rd down (only 41%). barely mustered 20pts and
and was asleep/non-existent for 61% of the game. They only had 78 yards at half and 86yrd halfway through 3Q.