Game Recap

[Guest jl72002]

It has been discussed in length mostly in the game day thread, but for a recap what do you guys think was good and bad, improved/unimproved today? Thought maybe a new thread with some calmer emotions after pulling the W.

 

I think Clausen looked real good today, one of his interceptions wasnt his fault. No sacks, only 1 sack by our D if I'm not mistaken.

 

What say you?

[DJonesIRISH]

I watched the O-line mostly:Pass protection looked solid to me. Run blocking not good at all.

Over all if they play like they did the last 10 minutes we can win 8 and a bowl. If they keep playing scared I don't know if we can win 6. You can blame Weis as much as you want, but I do think the team as a whole need to get their heads out of their asses and play up to their potential. They just arn't playing fired up. In the grand scheme of things we played a game a lot like Mich. and OSU did today.

[mcdougal93]

You hit it on the head DJones. Not sure this team knows how to win just yet.

[rdrdreamer]

We played initially (okay except for most of the first half) like we were going to win this game no matter what. We can't afford to be influced by the sports writers or the media (Sara Palin should teach us this fact).

 

I am again wondering why we just don't rotate fresh running backs and pound the ball down the defense's throats. But I am of course not a coach...so what do I know.

 

I like Tate's presense. I feel Hughes should carry more. Sergio brought it. I hope to see a real leader rise from the ranks. We looked abit apprehensive on the front line. I like the talent we have...hope to see improvement. We really need to utilize each players individual skills.

 

All in all...I like the passion here on Domer Domain. While I can't be there in South Bend...the passion is none the less here. This is the simple fact, why I call here home...why you are all my brothers (ok, most of you that is).

 

This is my assesment. But then I am not a eliquent as some of you others.

Edited September 7, 2008 by rdrdreamer

[Guest SirJohn]

VERY eloquant.

[irishndfan2]

first off, hughes fumble horrible call cost us a TD. second we committed 4 turnovers, kinda hard to win big if u do that, third we had a lot of penalties continue drives (for example the offsides on the punt-led to TD) fourth i like allen as punt returner, fifth tate is a man, sixth kumara is still good just had bad game, seventh floyd will be star, eighth we didnt see too many sacks cause they were in shotgun whole game, ninth why no gary gray???

[Canadian_Irish]

When you dont score points in the redzone you keep the game close, its just a fact of football.

 

The pass protection was good today, run blocking ranged from average to poor.

 

This team needs to learn how to win. Games like this can help, even though it was a bad team they played.

 

 

Its only one game folks. It could be the signs of a bad season, or it could be first game rust. We will find out next week, because there is no reason not to be jacked up against Michigan.

[Guest FaceMask]

Jimmy looked good & in control. The turnovers & stupid pens are correctable. The defense was solid. All in all they looked like a football team again, but more importantly they didn't loose heart. They will get better & better as they get more games under their belt. What I like is I don't see anybody taking a play off. They played 60 min of football and they won't win them all THIS year but if you want to beat them you will have to be ready to play 60 min. of football right with them.:mrgreen::mrgreen:

[OddThomas]

Facts are facts, we played a terrible game against a terrible team who lost last week to a division 1A team. This team looked just as unenthused as last years product. Seriously I've been watching since the 50's, I don't know if these guys are intimidated by Weis, ill prepared or both. They need to just play and hit someone for #(*^^ sake. Play like you mean it with gusto and enthusiasm and if you lose at least you know you gave it your all.

 

We aren't Michigan or Ohio State, WE ARE ND!

 

Tell me when it is you watched and went ahhh after ND hit someone. The lines on both sides of the ball played poorly, the blitzes were obvious and we almost lost to a third rate team.

[Guest SirJohn]

100% with FaceMask. I did ask can't we do something but run to the left? Not being that exciting, I spent considerable time watching the demeanor of the team and side lines activity. That old discension, lack of harmony stuff we hwad to wade through. Team looks good and as FaceMask said Jimmy seems in control.

[Guest FaceMask]

Facts are facts, we played a terrible game against a terrible team who lost last week to a division 1A team. This team looked just as unenthused as last years product. Seriously I've been watching since the 50's, I don't know if these guys are intimidated by Weis, ill prepared or both. They need to just play and hit someone for #(*^^ sake. Play like you mean it with gusto and enthusiasm and if you lose at least you know you gave it your all.

 

We aren't Michigan or Ohio State, WE ARE ND!

 

Tell me when it is you watched and went ahhh after ND hit someone. The lines on both sides of the ball played poorly, the blitzes were obvious and we almost lost to a third rate team.

If youy wern't on the field today then you are not ND. Facts are facts ND 21 SDSU 13.

[Guest SoDak Man]

Jimmy's arm definately looks alot better. Does anybody else feel more confident with the offense with Floyd is in their with Tate.......I sure do.

 

Finally, Mo Crum kind of disappointed me. He looked really slow out their and had back-to-back dumb penalties to keep sdsu's drive alive.

 

Does anybody think NBC has way too long of commercials? It seems like you could watch a movie in between possesions.

[Guest irishangler]

we don't need to worry about pounding the ball. you do what you do best. right now, this team is a passing team. a solid passing team will open up the running game since the D will be on its heels. Utilizing your WRs and TEs will spread the D out and allow Hughes to make some nice gains. That is how an offense works. I hate all this running talk. Right now we can't run that well. I am confused as to why people want us to run when we can't, unless you want to see ND go 1-11. It is just frustrating talk. It is like telling Tebow not to run b/c a QB is suppose to be a passer first. You do what you do best, and the rest will fall into place. and on a side note, when we do run, we need hughes in there and not AA. AA is not and will not be a good RB. he is missing a lot of fundamentals and feel that good RBs have. Hughes has that, and we need to exploit it. However, AA has awesome potential as a return man. Floyd looked great and was open quite a bit, but JC needs to read the field more. Tate emergence was a nice surprise, tho i wish he was a bit taller, or say, Kamara's height. Finally, i really wish we had Ragone at TE. Rudolph (and yes i know he is a freshman) was not holding his blocks well (plus he dropped some easy passes - hopefully just a bit nervous). If he does not get better witht the blocking schemes, that is going to be a real point of concern. All in all, i thought today, though extremely frustrating, i was happy with the conclusion. It was good to see the team finish with a few good drives and some good D. Part of it was getting the rust off and part of it is learning how to win. If we played this team this way in week 8 i would be worried. But we didn't, we played them in week one and we won. Plus, i think it would be more cause for concern if we went out by 21 points early and then let a team like this come back on us. I really dont give a rat's a#$ about the spread, a win is a win be it by a 100 or by 1 point. I know i am fired up and excited about next week.

[irishndfan2]

i think hughes should get more carries, but allen had some really good runs in my opinion. The one were he fumbled he had a really nice run but got lit up, either way why no aldridge??

[Guest FaceMask]

we don't need to worry about pounding the ball. you do what you do best. right now, this team is a passing team. a solid passing team will open up the running game since the D will be on its heels. Utilizing your WRs and TEs will spread the D out and allow Hughes to make some nice gains. That is how an offense works. I hate all this running talk. Right now we can't run that well. I am confused as to why people want us to run when we can't, unless you want to see ND go 1-11. It is just frustrating talk. It is like telling Tebow not to run b/c a QB is suppose to be a passer first. You do what you do best, and the rest will fall into place. and on a side note, when we do run, we need hughes in there and not AA. AA is not and will not be a good RB. he is missing a lot of fundamentals and feel that good RBs have. Hughes has that, and we need to exploit it. However, AA has awesome potential as a return man. Floyd looked great and was open quite a bit, but JC needs to read the field more. Tate emergence was a nice surprise, tho i wish he was a bit taller, or say, Kamara's height. Finally, i really wish we had Ragone at TE. Rudolph (and yes i know he is a freshman) was not holding his blocks well (plus he dropped some easy passes - hopefully just a bit nervous). If he does not get better witht the blocking schemes, that is going to be a real point of concern. All in all, i thought today, though extremely frustrating, i was happy with the conclusion. It was good to see the team finish with a few good drives and some good D. Part of it was getting the rust off and part of it is learning how to win. If we played this team this way in week 8 i would be worried. But we didn't, we played them in week one and we won. Plus, i think it would be more cause for concern if we went out by 21 points early and then let a team like this come back on us. I really dont give a rat's a#$ about the spread, a win is a win be it by a 100 or by 1 point. I know i am fired up and excited about next week.

You hit the nail on the head.

[Guest SirJohn]

Good read irishangler.

[mcdougal93]

I would love to have the optimism that you all have. Especially you Dreamer. I know there were some positives but this was not a good team we played against.

 

Been waiting for a NC for the past 15 years now and I guess I won't be happy until we're one of the elite teams.

[The Grease]

Here is my take on the game FWIW:

 

Clausen: Looked great. Period. He had a ton of zip on his passes, threw great long balls with touch for TD's to Floyd, Grimes, and Tate. He also has leadership qualities that neither of his brothers ever had in my opinion. Both interceptions were Kamara's fault. One off the pads, and one he didn't even turn around to look. The future of ND looks good in the hands of Jimmy, so long as he can get the other players to rally around him like Brady was able to do. Grade: A-

 

O-line: Looked good in pass protection, but horrible on run blocking. On run blocking, they missed assignments and all ended up on the ground trying to cut block. SDst didn't bring a lot of different blitzing looks, but when they did, it was handled pretty well. Michigan will tell us for sure whether or not the O-line has gotten considerably better. Grade: B

 

Receivers: The emergence of Michael Floyd and the improvement of Golden Tate are the stories here. Golder Tate reminds me of a young Steve Smith (in body type and his ability to catch everything). He could be a really scary player for the next three years. His route running has improved considerably, and his ability to stay in bounds while catching the ball was awesome. Michael Floyd looked like the real deal on that catch. Great body control and route; he made the DB look silly. The other big story here is Kamara's struggles. He is having a lot of time catching balls and looked uncomfortable out there. I recall he came up gimpy in the beginning of the game, so I am hoping that his HORRIBLE game was more a result of that than him actually getting worse from last year. Grade: B-

 

Running Backs: I was surprised to see Charlie go to Mondo to start the game. He actually looked pretty good running the ball. Once he learns when to juke and when to put his pads down and get the extra yards, he could be scary. When he fumbled, he should have been juking instead of running straight ahead. We are all still waiting for him to really break one free. Robert Hughes looked mediocre, but i think that he will get better as the year progresses. A lot of what they were able to accomplish is a result of the O-line, too. No surprise that Aldridge was riding the pine. He is clearly the second option behind Hughes for the power running game. Grade: C+

 

D-Line: As I anticipated, they looked average and are clearly the weak link of our defense. Other than blocked passes, I don't recall any stand-out plays by any of the lineman. They never put any pressure on the QB all day. It was good to see Ethan Johnson out there playing well making a tackle behind the line. Grade: C-

 

Linebackers: Brian Smith and Kerry Neal are the real deal and them and Harrison Smith anchoring the D, we are in good shape for the future. They were all showing their blitzes WAY too early in the first half and SDst was able to easily pick them up. Towards the end of the game, they were able to get some pressure on the QB. They were mediocre in coverage, as SDst was racking up 6 to 10 yard plays. I anticipate that Harrison Smith will get more involved as he gets more comfortable with the position. Grade: B

 

Secondary: Other than 1 blown assignment that lead to a huge play, I think that they played really well. Suprisingly, Bruton was not very active (other than the crucial caused fumble and recovery at the goal line), but McCarthy made up for it with 15 tackles! Lambert was great IMO and it was nice to see Sergio Brown play so well. Grade: B+

 

Special Teams: Maybe the meeting with Frank Beamer helped, because Special teams were awesome. The blocked kick was a critical turning point for us. Golden and Mondo looked good in the return game, as Tate almost broke a KO and Mondo almost broke a punt. The two bad plays were the offsides (which cost us 6 points and missed field goal). Grade: B

 

Offensive Playcalling: haywood certainly did not impress in his first game calling plays, especially in the first three quaters. His play calling was unimaginative and had no rhyme or reason. He called long passes on back to back 3rd and 2's to start the game. Nothing kills momentum like 2 3 and outs to begin the game. In the fourth qauarter, he did a much better job. He called mostly passes on first down and ran for the extra 2 yards for the first down. The play calls on the touchdowns were great calls as well, but i worry that they will not work against better talent. I finally saw a slant in the 4th quarter as well. Grade: C-

 

Defensive Playcalling: John Tenuta's insistence on blitzing on every play did not pay off in the first half, as the defense was tipping their hand. SDst was taking advantage by making little dump passes all over the field. Ultimately though, I have to say I like the continual pressure. They were out there a lot and SDst only scored after turnovers. Grade: A-

[Guest FaceMask]

Defenses are designed to win in the end which is what they did. Sure they expected the blitz at the beginning but fighting the pressure wore them down till in the 4th they were getting through. This isn't about satisfying every fans desires on every play. It's about defeating the opponent in the end. Outlasting your man. WTF!

[OddThomas]

If youy wern't on the field today then you are not ND. Facts are facts ND 21 SDSU 13.

<---silliest quote I've ever read on this board. Without fans, alumni there would be NO ND football. We could just schedule 11 or 12 SDSU's and win all of them with squeakers. BTW I wern't on the field, were youy?

 

There is nothing in my quote about what needs to be done this week that the coaches won't be reminding the players and I might add not softly. If you don't believe that then you should mod on a knitting board and link 8 knitting sites every day.