I like the way things are going because I see player doing things with max effort. I also hear the messaging when I listen to interviews 

Examples

• Clarence Lewis punt block. Fans have been rough on this player. Everytime someone catches a ball its our pass defense is............whatever negative descriptor. A freshman Ben Morrison plays that spot. Lewis had every reason to look for an easier path. What does he do? Recovers a fumble against UNLV, Block a punt vs Syracuse
• Botelho- I watched a player that is so talented finally be able to show it with out drawing a penalty
• Colzie- Freeman says "You practice well, you will be on the field". He gets 3 catches vs Syracuse
• Merriweather interview- I wasn't ready. I feel better now
• Estime- I fumbled but the coaches believed in me. He had over 100 yards agan this week
• Diggs- I healed and practiced well- 20 carries 85 yards

 

There are more but I believe that this program regardless of what record says will Rise under Freeman. Progress is bumpy but I'm here for it.

Nice positives.  Colzie was particularly surprising to me.  We could have used that production earlier!

 

Agree Faith.  It's a process and things will take a bit of time.  I'm not always satisfied by the game results.  The players have to buy into MF and staff, the different culture, etc going forward.

There's a lot of questions now and looking towards next year.  I don't believe that all of them will be fully answered, but if we keep making progress and ironing out wrinkles every day, success will come.

 

Don’t forget—- Bertrand didn’t get ejected for targeting 

3 hours ago, jessemoore97 said:

Agree Faith.  It's a process and things will take a bit of time.  I'm not always satisfied by the game results.  The players have to buy into MF and staff, the different culture, etc going forward.

There's a lot of questions now and looking towards next year.  I don't believe that all of them will be fully answered, but if we keep making progress and ironing out wrinkles every day, success will come.

 

Its ok to be very dissatisfied with the losses to  Ohio State Marshall and  Stanford.  The team is too. One dimensional offense, inconsistent defense etc.

But its nice you see these positives too.  Improved Special Teams have me excited. Special teams touches your whole roster like the strength coach does. 

I do like that the same plays are getting results every week. Diggs and Estime can both run inside.  Mayer has his role down. NDFB needs to find a role for Tyree, that is not just the same as the other two backs. We know Thomas, Merriweather and Colzie make up Freemans "Tall Personnel" Styles and Lenzy are speed sweep and catch and go guys but lack consistent opportunities.

NDFB's identity right now is ground game through force, and Air with a prayer"

Hopefully it becomes balanced complimentary football. But I think it will take time

47 minutes ago, FaithInIrishForever said:

Its ok to be very dissatisfied with the losses to  Ohio State Marshall and  Stanford.  The team is too. One dimensional offense, inconsistent defense etc.

But its nice you see these positives too.  Improved Special Teams have me excited. Special teams touches your whole roster like the strength coach does. 

I do like that the same plays are getting results every week. Diggs and Estime can both run inside.  Mayer has his role down. NDFB needs to find a role for Tyree, that is not just the same as the other two backs. We know Thomas, Merriweather and Colzie make up Freemans "Tall Personnel" Styles and Lenzy are speed sweep and catch and go guys but lack consistent opportunities.

NDFB's identity right now is ground game through force, and Air with a prayer"

Hopefully it becomes balanced complimentary football. But I think it will take time

This is so true, and I feel the exact same way!

And you pretty much said it all!  My whole philosophy is this; if you break the game itself down into thirds, i.e., offense, defense, and special teams, then special teams plays a very big role and can change the entire game!  With that being said, this is why I couldn’t understand why Kelly appeared to treat Special Trams like an after thought and didn’t try to make it better.  I know plenty have already said it, including me, but Brian Mason is the real deal.  He really has made special teams do a complete 180!

This is another reason I have so much hope for what Freeman is trying to build, because we are seeing it happen, even with there being struggles at times.  It’s like they showed in the UNLV game, where there is never a smooth path to moving forward, and there will always be obstacles to overcome in order to get to where you want to be.

3 minutes ago, Baldy said:

This is so true, and I feel the exact same way!

And you pretty much said it all!  My whole philosophy is this; if you break the game itself down into thirds, i.e., offense, defense, and special teams, then special teams plays a very big role and can change the entire game!  With that being said, this is why I couldn’t understand why Kelly appeared to treat Special Trams like an after thought and didn’t try to make it better.  I know plenty have already said it, including me, but Brian Mason is the real deal.  He really has made special teams do a complete 180!

This is another reason I have so much hope for what Freeman is trying to build, because we are seeing it happen, even with there being struggles at times.  It’s like they showed in the UNLV game, where there is never a smooth path to moving forward, and there will always be obstacles to overcome in order to get to where you want to be.

I agree, "The law of progression"

Not the exact graph, but this makes the point. The blue line as we see as some down turns but will end up upward.

 

6 hours ago, FaithInIrishForever said:

I agree, "The law of progression"

Not the exact graph, but this makes the point. The blue line as we see as some down turns but will end up upward.

 

Yup!  That’s it!

 

47 carries for 263

won the turnover battle.

Only had 90 yards passing on 50 percent

 

But avoided the critical turnover.

Value in Simplicity

6 minutes ago, FaithInIrishForever said:

 

47 carries for 263

won the turnover battle.

Only had 90 yards passing on 50 percent

 

But avoided the critical turnover.

Value in Simplicity

Kudos Faith.  I know we've brought this up many times over the last decade, play to our strengths.  When we run the ball and every yard over 150ish, I believe, the Irish chances of winning increases significantly.  Control the clock, run the ball, keep the defense fresh, and limit turnovers.  KISS principle.  Toss in great ST play for good measure.  Voila.

Just now, jessemoore97 said:

Kudos Faith.  I know we've brought this up many times over the last decade, play to our strengths.  When we run the ball and every yard over 150ish, I believe, the Irish chances of winning increases significantly.  Control the clock, run the ball, keep the defense fresh, and limit turnovers.  KISS principle.  Toss in great ST play for good measure.  Voila.

When Mayer scored that last one I thought of you instantly. Tight end Seam. Praying for healing for your family brother. Enjoy the win!

6 minutes ago, FaithInIrishForever said:

When Mayer scored that last one I thought of you instantly. Tight end Seam. Praying for healing for your family brother. Enjoy the win!

Sorry I ran out of the thingies for liking posts for a day, didn't realize there was a daily limit.

God yes the TE seam!!  So happy for Mayer, he's a good one.  Wish he would stay one more year, but he needs to go pro and make his millions.

Thank you for the thoughts Faith.  It means a lot.  You enjoy the win and take care yourself too buddy!

I forgot to add this.  Clemson had the week off and knew we have no passing game outside if Mayer for the most part.  The packages we have with all our big uglies have been seen on film.  They were rested and ready.  This is straight up stop the run because that's all we do, and they could not.  It just doesn't get any simpler than that.  Straight up brawling between the tackles.

17 minutes ago, jessemoore97 said:

I forgot to add this.  Clemson had the week off and knew we have no passing game outside if Mayer for the most part.  The packages we have with all our big uglies have been seen on film.  They were rested and ready.  This is straight up stop the run because that's all we do, and they could not.  It just doesn't get any simpler than that.  Straight up brawling between the tackles.

Lou Holtz used to say something like. I don't care how many are "in the box" if our team blocks better than yours and our runners find the right holes we'll make yards. 

Freeman impressed me again with his process to improvement

 I challenged them this week to be simplistic, but also you can't be so bland that there's no level of confusion. They controlled the tempo of the game at a such a high level. The way coach Rees called it and Drew Pyne stayed in the huddle and ability at times to stay in a huddle and then break out of the huddle with a certain amount of seconds on the play clock, those things matter. We might run the same play that we've ran how many different times. We might motion and shift and run the same play. But there's different ways to mask the same play that it doesn't look the exact same to a defense. So I thought coach Rees and that offensive staff did an unbelievable job at truly controlling the tempo of the game and being creative. 

https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/LongFormArticle/Everything-Marcus-Freeman-said-Monday-before-Notre-Dame-vs-Navy-197088471/#197088471_1

I'm not surprised that Ben Morrison is doing so well. He's had 1 head coach, 1 defensive coordinator, and 1 corners coach at ND and his father was a corner as well. Having consistency and clarity in coaching is key. My one knock on BK is he never committed to a defensive structure. Those kids learned from so many different coordinators and coaches. 

I like that Freeman resisted hiring Heacock to run Heacock's system. Why? Freeman probably said it's my defense. Golden you can call it but as long as the wins and losses go under my name, its mine.

Same thing with Rees, I let you call a bunch of passes in the bowl game, it didn't work. My vision is to run the ball and stop the run, we're doing that, its my offense.

Who did Rees say he ran that pass to Mayer by before it got called. Freeman.

Another Simple thing that impresses me is that Freeman recognizes the path to winning big begins with better players and lots of them.

Did he want Pyne to go? No.

Was Pyne decision going to effect pursuing a better player by transfer? No.