Rewatched the game & a few thoughts ...
- Reminded me of the OSU/TX game in many ways including hard game on the road with both teams calling conservative games.
- Also was a very Kelly-esque game in many ways - insanely frustrating especially on second viewing, weather played more a factor than I initially noticed.
- IF we can get our S together and win out, a close loss to Miami on the road won't hurt us when it comes to the playoffs, but winning out is a tall order.
- Realistically, this may be a rebuilding year, and I'd think 10 wins is a likely landing spot.
- We got absolutely killed in the trenches on both sides of the ball, which is not all that surprising on O at this point in the season, but for D, it's inexcusable.
- Carr, Fields (with exception of fumble), Price, Gilbert and Faison all had decent games.
- Love needs to stop the hurdling nonsense or he's going to blow out his knee.
- Until our last series on offense, Miami really wasn't playing aggressive on the D line, and when they did, we couldn't stop them.
- With an OC like Denbrock, need a first tier DC; not sure Ash is that guy.
- Carr is a solid QB, but Denbrock may need a very durable run-first QB in his system (e.g., that Castellanos kid FSU got from BC), and it's clear that he has a system.
- The RPO that lead to the pick was bad luck, but we shouldn't have been calling RPO in the first place there, or at least not a RPO into a sideline screen (i.e., a run) on second and 2 - that's Denbrock.
- Running game was underutilized all game - It's raining and 200% humidity and we ran for 93 yards (Price 45, Love 33, and Carr 16).
- What did work on O, we didn't use again (Kelly flashbacks) in the form of Price.
- Having a middling TE in Raridon with stone hands and blocks for shit will come back to bite us; too much emphasis recruiting DL and not enough on TE (although he was our leading receiver, but largely due to 1 play).
- Not an impressive first showing for Ash with disturbing prior problems reemerging in the form of ineffective blitzing, poor tackling, players out of position, and what appeared to be a general lack of passion on D.
- Ash was also toggling between man and zone, and Miami had success against zone.
- We were doing more subbing on D than I originally thought, but I don't think we have yet figured out the right player groups and right situational players
- On D, Stroman had a decent game, Moore was very solid, and Traore played well on his return.
- The ?? on D are the interior DL (Cross is missed), Bothelo (injury return), Young (quiet game), and Gray who is one of the most nerve-wracking players to watch play.
- We'll need one or more guys to step up on D and lead; may not be Bowen, but that was missing.
- Special teams did their job for the most part, and kicker and punter did what was expected, with exception of allowing one runback that should have been kicked out of endzone.
Replies to: Rewatched the game & a few thoughts ...
Nice summary. The main point for me is
that the oline was awful and the dline couldn't hurry Beck. Raridon was also a big letdown.
On Ash
The zone coverage allowed Beck to calmly go through his progressions all night. The Miami WR's aren't very good and ND should have been in man all night and brought more pressure on Beck. The ND line had no chance against Miami hat on hat.
Poor tackling on the second level was evident all game, I stopped trying to count the missed tackles.
In the end, Miami was able to run at will and that's why ND lost. The substitution pattern wasn't ideal either, it seemed over the top to me and diluted the talent ND needed on the field.
odd you go after Ash but not Denbrock given some of the heads scratching calls that
We saw on the offensive side of the ball
If Denbrock wasn't nuked by now, he never will be. This is a defensive-led team
and D wasn't a strength. Both sides of the ball didn't look good. But Denbrock is working with a new QB, while the D has a lot of returning talent.
Denbrock is who he is, no one should be surprised by the play calling yesterday.
Think he says to himself, before each play call, "what would Brian Kelly do here".
Ash was the big question mark coming into the season and his first outing showed why he was one step from being out of the sport before MF hired him. He didn't need to reinvent the wheel with the talent ND has and yet he had them overthinking and hesitant all game. As my BIL said last night, speaking of the D, "They've been neutered".
Your BIL was right. Instead of picking up where the D left off, it's back to square 1.
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They were both awful. Passive coverages. No blitzing early to get Beck thinking.
They totally came in and played Tressel ball. Let's try not to lose this one boys.
Ours was remarkably similar to the TX/OSU game for both teams. Conservative.
I can see that on the O side given the QB, although play calling was really shitty, but the D side makes no sense.
Should have got a portal QB. If you don't think you can run a real game plan with your QB
You don't come into a top 10 game with the idea that you have to protect your QB and win with defense. Try to steal it at the end. Chuck it short, dink, dunk. Hope the other team doesn't stack the box and you can eak out a win.
You go get a portal QB to start two games then work your QB in.
That's not to say CJ didnt look great, he did. He's fully capable. But if the coaches are scared to let him play as a QB should, then it's insane to play him against a top 10 team and bring a game plan for 1/2 a game and expect to win. They did that BS with Leonard last year too.
They ended up spotting Miami's offense 1/2 a game of free play. We're not trying to score this half, you guys go ahead. And wore out the defense in the heat in the process.
So I hope it's not a long term strategy, as it's F'n stupid.
I think it gets back to the ongoing ND issue - not being able to develop a QB.
First game and we go nuts with the RPO. I would have expected a scripted gameplan, with 1 RPO for maybe every 10 designed plays. Nope.
That's a lot of pressure for a first game against a quality opponent.
Yeah, the RPO killed us. Way overused at the expense of getting Love touches. And against a defense
that was crashing down, waiting them to throw that flat pass. Or a screen.