... is all that is holding ND back right now. For all the "bad calls" and penalties that caused the offense to stall, I'll submit four plays as evidence.

 

1. Against MSU in the first half, he forces a throw on first down in the red zone that leads to a pick with ND having a chance to go up by two TD's.

 

2. In the second half, up 7, with ALL the momentum, he underthrows a WIDE OPEN Mike Floyd. 5 feet longer of a throw and ND is up 14.

 

I was sitting in section 120, in the endzone, looking right down on the field for the Pitt game.

 

3. 1st half against Pitt in the redzone, he leads Floyd too far to the sideline in the end zone and Floyd can't quite bring it down in bounds. Floyd had beaten his man BADLY.

 

4. Overthrow of Rudolph. I happened to be watching Rudolph on this play and the action from the receiver cutting inside and Rudolph outside left Rudy WIDE OPEN. He probably would not have scored but would have been a huge gainer.

 

Now add these four plays on top of numerous overthrows and underthrows and it's clear ND is VERY close. If Crist had more game experience and was more consistent, ND's offense would be devastating. Bodes very well for the rest of this year and next year as he is only going to get better!

Be careful. I submitted that ND only goes as far as Dayne can take them, and there were a couple shots thrown out. I believe you're correct, though.

Be careful. I submitted that ND only goes as far as Dayne can take them, and there were a couple shots thrown out. I believe you're correct, though.

 

You were right then, and your both correct now.....

Thanks for the heads up wave. I'm not saying anything against Dayne as I think he has done a great job in his first season as QB. Much better than Brady or Jimmy did. I just feel he has room to grow and he'll be MUCH better next year with a year under his belt. A couple throws here and there and we are at least 4-2 with blow out wins in our last two games.

 

He'll also be better because we'll be better prepared at back-up QB and BK can really open up the playbook.

The problems you point to are primarily accuracy issues that don't go away with time. I'm hoping experience will lead him to getting the ball out of his hands much quicker but he will still be inaccurate. He will still win some games but he absolutely must become a much more accurate passer to become a BCS bowl calibre QB.

if someone would have told me our defense would hold our opponents to 23.5 points a game through six, i would have said we would have a great chance to be 6-0!!

 

*sigh*

 

despite some shaky moments and big plays, our "D-Boois" have been pretty solid.

 

interceptions, sacks, tackles for loss, are all UP this year!

 

and we have played some elite offensive teams (michigan, michingan state, stanford) ...

 

unfortunately, as most of us expected, the offense and crist are a work in progress...

 

i thought pitt would be the offensive breakout game, but i was wrong, lets hope we see it this saturday!

if someone would have told me our defense would hold our opponents to 23.5 points a game through six, i would have said we would have a great chance to be 6-0!!

 

*sigh*

 

despite some shaky moments and big plays, our "D-Boois" have been pretty solid.

 

interceptions, sacks, tackles for loss, are all UP this year!

 

and we have played some elite offensive teams (michigan, michingan state, stanford) ...

 

unfortunately, as most of us expected, the offense and crist are a work in progress...

 

i thought pitt would be the offensive breakout game, but i was wrong, lets hope we see it this saturday!

Agreed, I thought exactly the same and after that first possession I thought we were getting ready to see it. We should have been up at least 24-3 at the half.

 

And Soko, I think accuracy will definitely improve. Dayne rushes things at times and has made bad decisions from time to time. Having the game slow down for him and being able to make better decisions on the fly will lead to better accuracy. I think he misses some of his short throws because he just rushes things too much. He just needs to settle down a bit and be able to play in BK's up-tempo offense with a calm demeanor. That only comes through playing experience. He will never be as accurate as Jimmy was, but he'll get much better than he is right now.

The problems you point to are primarily accuracy issues that don't go away with time. I'm hoping experience will lead him to getting the ball out of his hands much quicker but he will still be inaccurate. He will still win some games but he absolutely must become a much more accurate passer to become a BCS bowl calibre QB.

 

I'm not sure its as simple at just accuracy, I think some of it is timing. The timing will correct itself with repitition, and once that is done, he can work on accuracy.

The problems you point to are primarily accuracy issues that don't go away with time. I'm hoping experience will lead him to getting the ball out of his hands much quicker but he will still be inaccurate. He will still win some games but he absolutely must become a much more accurate passer to become a BCS bowl calibre QB.

 

sure they do...because I know for a fact that Crist used to make those short to medium throws back in high school. You can tell he's thinking too much on the field.

... is all that is holding ND back right now.

 

Wait until Utah and USC expose the defense again. Soft opponents are giving us a false sense of security on D. Sure, our boys are steadily improving, but the defensive side of the ball has a long way to go before we're contending again.

 

Thrilled that Manti was #2 in the FBS in tackles. Love to see that. Better him than our secondary

Crist is a work in progress and continues to get more comfortable and.....BETTER. Now if the two long plays to Floyd had been allowed and Rudolph wasn't slowed by injury, I believe Dayne goes for over 400 yards and we have threads about his 'breakout' game. He's coming along just fine. His accuracy was there in highschool and will be there in college......soon!!!!

Crist is a work in progress and continues to get more comfortable and.....BETTER. Now if the two long plays to Floyd had been allowed and Rudolph wasn't slowed by injury, I believe Dayne goes for over 400 yards and we have threads about his 'breakout' game. He's coming along just fine. His accuracy was there in highschool and will be there in college......soon!!!!

Or if Dayne had just not overthrown Rudolph by 10 yds. I understand Rudolph was injured, but its not like that was a big secret to Dayne. I wish everyone would stop playing role of the apologist. Dayne missed a wide open Rudolph by 10 yds. Those other two plays WERE called back. Plain and Simple.

 

Dayne was looking more comfortable this game, progress I hope he can make every week. It's great to see him taking off when a play breaks down again, that first TD was awesome.

 

Hopefully he gets to the point where a drop or a penalty doesn't derail the entire drive, something that I do believe this offense has improved on, but there is still a ton of room to get better. We need to stop stalling and having long stretches where the offense looks like they've never played together before.

Or if Dayne had just not overthrown Rudolph by 10 yds. I understand Rudolph was injured, but its not like that was a big secret to Dayne. I wish everyone would stop playing role of the apologist. Dayne missed a wide open Rudolph by 10 yds. Those other two plays WERE called back. Plain and Simple.

 

Dayne was looking more comfortable this game, progress I hope he can make every week. It's great to see him taking off when a play breaks down again, that first TD was awesome.

 

Hopefully he gets to the point where a drop or a penalty doesn't derail the entire drive, something that I do believe this offense has improved on, but there is still a ton of room to get better. We need to stop stalling and having long stretches where the offense looks like they've never played together before.

This^. If he hits Floyd (again, he had badly beaten his man) in the endzone and doesn't overthrow Rudolph so badly then the plays that got called back wouldn't have even mattered and this game would have been the ass whooping it should have been. Both my Pitt friends said, "man you guys really left us in this game." They knew what was going on. They also said "ND is going to be scary once that QB matures."

 

Make no mistake, I really like Crist as the QB. He's doing a good job overall. He just has room for improvement and until he does, we will appear to "lack that killer instinct."

You don't always put teams away in the fourth quarter. Many times you have the opportunity early in the game to take the opponents heart. Those couple of throws would have done that. Go up 24-3 or more at the half and the whole second half the D just pins their ears back and gets after Sunseri. Blowout follows and all of a sudden ND has that killer instinct.

The "over throw to Rudy" was not an over throw. It was damn near perfect, but Rudy just couldn't get it movin. You could easily see he couldn't run last week. That is why they are sitting him for a week, maybe two. That's all...

experience and where to go with the ball isn't all he needs.....he needs to work on his accuracy.

 

Side note: Clausen would have been perfect for this offense.

The "over throw to Rudy" was not an over throw. It was damn near perfect, but Rudy just couldn't get it movin. You could easily see he couldn't run last week. That is why they are sitting him for a week, maybe two. That's all...

Perfect throws don't land 10 yards past the receiver trying to catch them. Is Rudolph hurt? Yes. Did Crist know that Rudolph wasn't 100%? Yes. Did Rudolph pull up lame mid route? No, consistent speed the whole route. So, was the throw "perfect?" No.

 

In what world does our QB get credited with a perfect throw that lands 10 yds past the receiver? It's not like the ball hit Rudolph in the numbers (ahem...Ragone) or he simply fell down. Does he also get credited with a perfect throw to Floyd in the endzone, I mean it really is Floyd's fault for not being 7'3". It's ok to have a critical statement regarding Notre Dame and her players, especially when Dayne has been overthrowing guys all year.

experience and where to go with the ball isn't all he needs.....he needs to work on his accuracy.

 

Side note: Clausen would have been perfect for this offense.

 

Clausen would have transferred before playing in an offense that required him to run.

Clausen would have transferred before playing in an offense that required him to run.

I think they would've went with a Houston/Texas Tech style attack. Clausen would put up HUGE numbers on throwing these short timing routes. He would've picked defenses apart, really would've been fun to see. We could've used Dayne as a situational QB to use some running plays too.

The problems you point to are primarily accuracy issues that don't go away with time. I'm hoping experience will lead him to getting the ball out of his hands much quicker but he will still be inaccurate. He will still win some games but he absolutely must become a much more accurate passer to become a BCS bowl calibre QB.

 

You do understand that he has complete nearly 60%. Not sure if his accuracy has to get "much more" better. Has he thrown some accurate passes? Yes. Has he missed? Yes. Has he made bad reads? Yes. Like I mentioned in another thread, its funny how some guys get labeled as an "inaccurate" passer and people just run with it. How was the throw to TJ against Pitt? How was the throw to TJ for a TD against Michigan? How was the throw to Kyle in Michigan? How was the TD throw in the seam to Riddick against MSU? If the guy threw TONS of INTs or had a good throw once in a blue moon, I could see people labeling him as having accuracy problems. This is what young great players do. They show moments of greatness and moments of weakness. The great ones get consistent and improve. The average ones are stagnant. I just think we all forgot that this is his first year starting, first year in a new offense, and busted his knee about 10 months ago (which everyone says takes 12-18 months to fully recover).

The most important stat of the pitt game was 0 interceptions. Yeah he made and is going to make throws were you say to yourself what that f**k was that? But the key to being a accurate qb is anticipation. That will come with time. Jimmy was accurate because he could see what was about to happen, and that came with time. The overthrow to Kyle was something that just is going to happen from time to time. I see pro qbs miss on throws all the time. As long as he can keep the int's down then he will be fine. Decision making is way more important than accuracy. That's what I'm looking for in Dayne, can he cut down on the bad reads and throws.

The most important stat of the pitt game was 0 interceptions. Yeah he made and is going to make throws were you say to yourself what that f**k was that? But the key to being a accurate qb is anticipation. That will come with time. Jimmy was accurate because he could see what was about to happen, and that came with time. The overthrow to Kyle was something that just is going to happen from time to time. I see pro qbs miss on throws all the time. As long as he can keep the int's down then he will be fine. Decision making is way more important than accuracy. That's what I'm looking for in Dayne, can he cut down on the bad reads and throws.

Exactly, he hasn't been forcing the ball as much (michigan-throw to floyd). If he kept the INTs down the rest of the year, I think we could all agree you couldnt ask for much more.