It maybe said it’s too soon but the reality is, Freeman needs to be searching for a new DC. Ash
is in way over his head. On Defense, What was has left the building.
Replies to: It maybe said it’s too soon but the reality is, Freeman needs to be searching for a new DC. Ash
Daniels scored, Shuler waited. Rest of D looked that way all night. Sat back rather than attack.
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Extreme overreaction maybe?
Denbrock was worse. His plan was good for the first ten minutes then sucked after. Both will be fine.
The whole approach to the game was the close to the vest, both the offensive and defensive game ...
plans, even personnel choices (e.g., ND essentially played no freshman). That overall approach — and I'm not saying in the circumstances it wasn't a reasonable approach — is on Freeman.
Trying to win college football games via this method almost concedes
U have no offense to score enough to win
Army navy and Air Force do this. Thats it
And they do it b/c they can't match up physically. So it's excusable.
For ND to do it is not. Or at least not to the extent they took it. That deep in to the game.
Yep, if you want to win, you have to plan to win. Call plays to win. And play to win.
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Golden would have blitzed close to 50% of the game. And we'd have won.
I understand that it's not fair to expect every D.C. to be Al Golden, but it was clear both during the game itself and in Beck's own performance history that this was the most effective way to call the defense against him. For some reason, we really minimized bringing pressure.
Golden was good, not great. He had his fair share of head scratchers.
Sometimes he seemed far too aggressive. And it seemed his resistance to zone defense hurt them when they eventually needed to use it, as they had no experience in it.
On the other hand Ash's defense was the far other extreme. Way too conservative. The kind of defense that makes you wonder if they intended to take themselves out of the game, and subdue any type of aggression or motivation.
But against Miami I sure wish we had Golden instead of that steaming lump we were served.
I agree he had headscratchers, and a couple games last year our D got exposed a bit
USC and Ohio State
Truth.
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Freeman wants pressure from the front 4.
Which is nice, but not possible given the lack of talent at DT.
Plus, that was never the war cry under Golden, so I'm curious why it is now?
I think they believe they have that type of talent now. It just didn't produce.
It was shocking how they'd get stalemated on their initial move and then just stand there looking.
Well, the DL went against that OL in camp. A misappraisal of the OL might've led to a ...
misappraisal of the DL and/or vice versa.
I agree. Maybe both
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Al G laid a few defensive eggs, especially early
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Ash has forgotten more than you'll ever know.
It must be nice to be so cavalier with someone else's livelihood.
We'd like to see what he remembers that's actually succesful then.
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Right. One game in fire the DC. Brilliant Jim
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The reality is you suck as a poster
on this board and all others. Nobody gives a damn what your opinion or view of "reality" is.
A fair and balanced assessment.
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Aw, thanks for the message.
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They should make the forum minimum age 16 and over.
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I seem to recall our D sucking in our 2nd game last year against a pathetic opponent at home!
This time we lost a very close opener on the road against a quality opponent in the heat and humidity.
As a geezer I recall the 1977 National Championship team losing their 2nd game in the heat and humidity of Mississippi with arguably the greatest collection of defenders in our history.
I'm not saying we're going to turn it around on D... just that we ought to wait a little before throwing in the towel.
Maybe, but you wouldn't expect to be fired after your first day on the job. The reality
is, he was likely given a 3 year contract. I'm not real confident in this hire either.
Well not having a big body on the D-line hurts.
We got no QB pressure.
Interior DL recruiting has not been strong under MF. Solid at the ends, LB and secondary.
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Hinish was giving up 50 pounds to their OL.
I did not think the defense was so bad, one super lucky TD catch was the difference.
Maybe we need so Olinemen to switch to DT. Get some size in there.
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Do we have any DT large dudes who did not play?
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We do, but not 330+ like Miami's oline.
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I'd argue the difference was their last drive and our last drive
where we couldn't stop them, and they easily stopped us. I'll give you the lucky catch, but I think they were as conservative as we were, basically playing for the last series, and we lost the game on both our defensive and offensive efforts.
The tight end drop on the first play on the final drive hurt big time. That play if made
would have gained 15 yards or more and set a different tone for the rest of the series. My problem is I feared our tackles were overrated from the start and they really had bad games to boot. Also, I love Shuler but he should have blown that great catch up. If he goes for the ball, at minimum it is broken up and he still might have intercepted it. Carr almost bailed us out. I thought he played well and he is mobile enough to make plays with his legs, just not dominate in that area like Leonard was able to. I am not smart enough from watching on TV what was going on defensively with our sets and coverages. They were not awful just not as good as last year. Leonard really led us well with his legs and was an effective enough passer as our pass protection was mediocre last year too.
I agree, I think we were gassed on both sides of the line.
Don't agree that the defense was total shit like some here are saying.
I agree re: D. It's not shit. It looks and behaves different than last year.
But as to both, possibly fixable.
OSU hires Matt Patricia; we hire a guy who flamed out at Butgers. ND likes to save a nickel.
I imagine Freman took Ash based on former OSU connections and success he was affiliated with while there. But as an objective hire, Ash leaves quite a bit to be desired.
Fans will justifiably be calling for his and Freeman's heads if A&M is Miami redux, particularly if we lose. The easy solution usually isn't usually the right solution.
That said, reviews of Golden early in his tenure were mixed, so maybe Ash will turn it around.
Nobody who matters will be calling for Freeman's head this year barring a scandal
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But they may revisit the coordinators.
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Maybe try to get Lea back.
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On the other hand Patricia was one of the worst head coaches in history.
But did ok against Texas. Though neither Texas or OSU looked very good.
Ash has DC'ed a Natty winner. And he was well-regarded at Texas
I consider him to have a very superior resume as a college DC to Matt Patricia
Disagree. He managed to be in the right place at the right time. Was also unemployed when hired.
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Link: Dude sucks
Disagree he won a title or was highly regarded at Texas? Or superior college resume to Patricia?
Because the first 2 are pretty much objective facts, and so is the third due to Patricia's complete lack of a college resume. Urban Meyer called him the top coordinator hire in college football. Meyer is a slimeball but knows football.
The guy has jumped around like a Mexican jumping bean. He rode Fickell's coat tails at OSU.
Agree to disagree. I don't find his resume all that impressive.
“ nickels “ But who would have the upper hand over Freeman in the decision making with this vote?
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I don't think this was a $$ saving call, but it didn't hurt. I think we Id'd others but time
was short. Plus it kept Mickens from bolting.
This strikes me less as a forced hire than as a hire of convenience.
Ash was a big question mark of mine coming into this season simply because of his track record.
He seemed to have bounced around a lot. I never heard his name referenced as a great defensive coordinator. Now maybe due to the timing of Golden leaving late in the game (no pun intended) didn’t give Freeman many options. I know it’s just one game, but what I saw defensively against Miami just looked so much different compared to the defense we saw last season. We are going to learn a lot with the upcoming A&M game. Holtz always said you make the most improvement between Game 1 to Game 2. I hope that rings true for both sides of the ball.
I think the passive D, was a consequence of the offensive gameplan with a frosh QB.
They didn't plan to do much first quarter but get Carr's feet wet. Ash's job was keep it close. We'll start calling a real offense when it gets desperate and try to steal it at the end. It's always the game plan when they feel over matched. And it's complimentary football.
I hope he turns it around quickly, and if not MF takes a heavier hand.
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I dont think we can afford to hope. Freeman needs to be involved and get it fixed.
It's scary he didn't see the issues on on either side of the ball before they became prevalent. But that seems to be one of his major weaknesses. Diagnosing problems beforehand.
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Re: I doubt Freeman didn't rubber stamp the plan.
He's definitely got some Tressel in him.
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The soft zone was underwhelming
The first Miami drive of the second half made me wonder what Ash did during halftime.
I'm reserving judgement following A&M.
Especially against a QB like Beck
Great QBs feast on soft coverage. But with the lack of pressure from the D-line I think Ash was preventing explosive plays. Not to say the secondary was blameless (see Schuler on one-handed catch), but a big component of defending the pass is pressure.
And considering Beck is horrible under pressure.
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