Nice!

 

Good

• Streak vs ACC in regular season is now 25!!!
• Pyne 24-34, 3-0, 289..... super nice. UNC D stinks, still, great step!
• All RBs... all 5+ ypc.. Especially Diggs catching...
• Mayer and Styles
• OL did well. Hope that continues. 

Bad

• Was worried about D, but did enough. Allowing 32 is still bad. Some long plays...
• Green 150 yards (receiving)... ouch

☆☆☆Pyne can bum slay, had some nice passes today!

☆☆☆☆Running game good! But man that last fumble by Estime needs to be a lesson learned.

☆WR Still not much going on here, Thomas had a few catches at least. 

☆☆☆☆☆Mayer is unstoppable 

☆☆☆Defense, hate to give up the big plays but UNC is explosive. 

 

- Offence looked great. Offensive line finally controlled the LOS, Rees called a good game and we have some semblance of a passing offence. As good as the o line was, thunder and lightning may have been better. 
 

- The young dbs continue to look good (Watts, Mickey and Morrison). There were a few deep balls, but guys were in good positioning (minus Cam Hart at the end). 
 

- I am now a believer again, so much so that I can see a way this team runs the table. I hope the boys take it one game at a time, we should beat BYU on talent alone. 

It won’t anger me to watch the team if we keep playing like that.

 

we seem to be improving, and with a new coach, I’ll take that

• Rees best game- ND looked like the Rams with so much motion
• Running Game- All 3 backs had good moments. Estime has great potiential but needs to be consistent
• QB play- Book, I mean Pyne understood the job, did not throw an interception and kept the team moving
• Head-coaching. Won the Toss, deferred. Kicked a correct FG in a big moment. Made sure the team remained focused through adversity. 
• Youth in the Secondary. Young guys outplayed the veterans mostly
• Lots too motivate them going into the bye- Freeman should say yes you WON BUT.. finish the game better
• trending in the right direction- The Irish, looked like a team deserving of top 25 consideration. Lets prove it vs BYU.

48 minutes ago, FaithInIrishForever said:

• Rees best game- ND looked like the Rams with so much motion
• Running Game- All 3 backs had good moments. Estime has great potiential but needs to be consistent
• QB play- Book, I mean Pyne understood the job, did not throw an interception and kept the team moving
• Head-coaching. Won the Toss, deferred. Kicked a correct FG in a big moment. Made sure the team remained focused through adversity. 
• Youth in the Secondary. Young guys outplayed the veterans mostly
• Lots too motivate them going into the bye- Freeman should say yes you WON BUT.. finish the game better
• trending in the right direction- The Irish, looked like a team deserving of top 25 consideration. Lets prove it vs BYU.

IMO, Rees's good game, is due to OL and QB performing, finally.... 

Almost impossible to call a good game, with bad OL and/or QB play. We had both, till today. 

1 hour ago, OKelleyIrish said:

 

Good

• Streak vs ACC in regular season is now 25!!!
• Pyne 24-34, 3-0, 289..... super nice. UNC D stinks, still, great step!
• All RBs... all 5+ ypc.. Especially Diggs catching...
• Mayer and Styles
• OL did well. Hope that continues. 

Bad

• Was worried about D, but did enough. Allowing 32 is still bad. Some long plays...
• Green 150 yards (receiving)... ouch

I’m not going to put too much stock in the results vs Clemson. They have lots of NFL guys.

What I saw from HH during his first tenure here was an inability to run when it mattered against lesser competition. They compiled stats when they were wearing teams out in 4 minute.

If they keep dominating lesser competition like this and do enough to keep the elite teams honest I’ll back off my criticism of HH. 

11 minutes ago, JTennant said:

I’m not going to put too much stock in the results vs Clemson. They have lots of NFL guys.

What I saw from HH during his first tenure here was an inability to run when it mattered against lesser competition. They compiled stats when they were wearing teams out in 4 minute.

If they keep dominating lesser competition like this and do enough to keep the elite teams honest I’ll back off my criticism of HH. 

Although I completely agree with you. I’m curious if things could be different this time around. Freeman has stressed that he wants to run and be mean. Kelly wanted to read option and do verticals all day long. Makes for wanting your linemen to be mean if you are stressing running vs pass blocking most of the time. So time will tell. 

1 minute ago, coltssb said:

Although I completely agree with you. I’m curious if things could be different this time around. Freeman has stressed that he wants to run and be mean. Kelly wanted to read option and do verticals all day long. Makes for wanting your linemen to be mean if you are stressing running vs pass blocking most of the time. So time will tell. 

I agree with your agreement hah.

What you said is something that was suggested to me by someone on this board years ago that the soft OL play was likely a product of BKs soft offense and I’ve been on the fence about that notion ever since.
 

If that wasn’t you then whoever said it was likely right. Time will tell but these guys look like they’re communicating well and know where to go and they’re playing fast and mean. 

5 minutes ago, JTennant said:

I’m not going to put too much stock in the results vs Clemson. They have lots of NFL guys.

What I saw from HH during his first tenure here was an inability to run when it mattered against lesser competition. They compiled stats when they were wearing teams out in 4 minute.

If they keep dominating lesser competition like this and do enough to keep the elite teams honest I’ll back off my criticism of HH. 

Disagree on first tenure. He inherited a mess. By 14 much better, and by 15, very good.

And let's be honest... we had zero top 100 RBs (RB1 types). We had Bryant (only 200+ lb top 100) and we know happened. Mostly were APB guys and low ranked RBs. 

And your post, is confusing... why not put stock in Clemson... If the OL does decent vs Clemson (with NFL guys), wouldn't mean Harry is great? No? Given we have a true APB playing RB1, and using very low ranked guys (not even top 200) Estime and Diggs. 

5 minutes ago, OKelleyIrish said:

Disagree on first tenure. He inherited a mess. By 14 much better, and by 15, very good.

And let's be honest... we had zero top 100 RBs (RB1 types). We had Bryant (only 200+ lb top 100) and we know happened. Mostly were APB guys and low ranked RBs. 

And your post, is confusing... why not put stock in Clemson... If the OL does decent vs Clemson (with NFL guys), wouldn't mean Harry is great? No? Given we have a true APB playing RB1, and using very low ranked guys (not even top 200) Estime and Diggs. 

I based my initial hatred of HH based on what I saw against inferior teams not just what they couldn’t do in the big games.

The fact that they’re communicating well and playing fast albeit against bad power 5 is all I need to know to back off my shit talking for now.

I’m not going to blast HH if he can’t crease Clemson for 5 YPC and 200 yards

 

I got it bud you’re a stats junky ND averaged X YPC and YPG in whatever season.. that’s not what I’m talking about. 

 

 

14 minutes ago, JTennant said:

I based my initial hatred of HH based on what I saw against inferior teams not just what they couldn’t do in the big games.

The fact that they’re communicating well and playing fast albeit against bad power 5 is all I need to know to back off my shit talking for now.

I’m not going to blast HH if he can’t crease Clemson for 5 YPC and 200 yards

 

I got it bud you’re a stats junky ND averaged X YPC and YPG in whatever season.. that’s not what I’m talking about. 

 

 

We’ve seen HH’s lines push around teams like UNC consistently. The outcome today didn’t surprise me. 
 

ND will never push around Clemson or OSU like they did today, but they can’t get completely manhandled. If ND is unable to run the ball vs Clemson, we are right back where we’ve always been with HH. 

11 minutes ago, JTennant said:

I based my initial hatred of HH based on what I saw against inferior teams not just what they couldn’t do in the big games.

The fact that they’re communicating well and playing fast albeit against bad power 5 is all I need to know to back off my shit talking for now.

I’m not going to blast HH if he can’t crease Clemson for 5 YPC and 200 yards

 

I got it bud you’re a stats junky ND averaged X YPC and YPG in whatever season.. that’s not what I’m talking about. 

It's not only X and Ys...

It's also incorrect inspections to start.

We've never recruited well on the elite guys (5 stars) vs others. I posted elite totals, ND vs Bama/UGA/OSU/Clemson/etc going back a decade. ND isn't simply in the same league. So expectations that we should impose lines is a pipe dream. If we come close, that's due to good coaching. 

Folks follow 247 ranks and think we are same... we are not. Elite totals, and avg rating, are key.... not "rank"... Those guys get consistent elite guys. Especially DL. And we rarely have top 100 RBs. And our OLs are a mix. Sure some good ranked, but mostly mixed. 

Good. 
 

The offensive line dominated

Pyne was really efficient . 

We hit their QB hard and often, which affected him

Our Punt return team gained yards. 
 

Bad

Our secondary giving a quick TD, late in the game, because  our corner sat on a short route, while our safety had to defend both the possibility of a long post and a streak  

Estime, who was gassed, fumbled in the end zone, when our O line was dominating NC and could have crushed them. Gassed players make mistakes  Either Tyree or Diggs would have scored without a turnover  

 

1 hour ago, OKelleyIrish said:

It's not only X and Ys...

It's also incorrect inspections to start.

We've never recruited well on the elite guys (5 stars) vs others. I posted elite totals, ND vs Bama/UGA/OSU/Clemson/etc going back a decade. ND isn't simply in the same league. So expectations that we should impose lines is a pipe dream. If we come close, that's due to good coaching. 

Folks follow 247 ranks and think we are same... we are not. Elite totals, and avg rating, are key.... not "rank"... Those guys get consistent elite guys. Especially DL. And we rarely have top 100 RBs. And our OLs are a mix. Sure some good ranked, but mostly mixed. 

Okay, so.. that's why I said I'm not going to put too much stock in how the OL does against Clemson because of their talent level.

You have a way of trying to debate me and then agreeing with my point? I don't know what you're doing here..

I'm confused.

It's important for coaches to get their teams to overachieve from time to time but that's not going to hold the most weight in a coach's grade. I'm not going to grill this coaching staff for taking a top 10-15 roster and getting beat by a top 5 roster especially given how misleading class rankings can be. 

I said Clemson has a lot of NFL guys.. 

Edited September 25, 20222 yr by JTennant

3 minutes ago, JTennant said:

Okay, so.. that's why I said I'm not going to put too much stock in how the OL does against Clemson because of their talent level.

You have a way of trying to debate me and then agreeing with my point? I don't know what you're doing here..

I'm confused.

It's important for coaches to get their teams to overachieve from time to time but that's not going to hold the most weight in a coach's grade. I'm not going to grill this coaching staff for taking a top 10-15 roster and getting beat by a top 5 roster especially given how misleading class rankings can be. 

I said Clemson has a lot of NFL guys.. 

My point is HH good. 

Quinn (now unemployed) was bad.

 

As Frankus pointed out - The punt returns actually gained yards, first time in what seems forever!

Pyne looks to be getting more comfortable at QB.

Great game for the O and the O-Line. A huge caveat here is that the Carolina defense is weak. The Cal defense is much better.

The D dominated the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Not so much the 4th quarter but by then the game was pretty much out of reach for Carolina.

I think the bye this week comes at a good time, they've won the last 2 games, the team seems to be back on the right track and they can use the extra week to work on stuff they need to tighten up. I don't think BYU is as good as their early season hype. And ND is certainly better than what they showed against Marshall.

Good: Rees playcalling, saw a lot of plays that kept the D guessing, all the while exploiting weakness/ hitting them in the mouth, bringing me to point 2:

Mix: Run game: saw I said I would eat humble pie and I am, but as many have mentioned, UNC is weak on D .  That said, hope we keep seeing this type of aggressiveness and commitment to the run game.

PS: no screens this week? 

Bad: still a fragile team, letting UNC a shot at getting back in the game. Coaches still have lots of work

@Frankus I didn’t connect Estime’s fumble with being tired, but it’s definitely possible.  Thank you for giving another interesting variable to the equation.

I traveled to this game and it was quite a treat.  I agree Rees called a great game and the fans around me were screaming at Chizik all game.  Michael Mayer is a total beast, but we knew that.

Besides that, 2 plays summed up what we are still lacking: the first was when Lenzy was on a post ND the UNC jumped over him to knock the ball down.  Both the CB and safety were right there and they made the play on the ball.

 

Second, we looked to be in man coverage a lot, and the freshman CBs were in 1x1s out wide.  Their WRs ran past our corners on several plays, and when their QB had time he hit them on long TD passes.  Our corners really can't get beat that often.