Post Game - #10 Notre Dame at #25 Louisville (Lose 33-20)

[Frankus 197]

I watched the first half again.

tl:dr Our pass protection and play calling was bad. 

 

A few thoughts:

Like Duke, they mostly used a 5 man front with a man on our center. 

The first series was an interception, two of the three pass plays were toss ups. The first was to a Raridon who was split wide. He ran straight down the field without making a move. No separation. The second was Flores running a straight fade. No separation. Toss up interception. Apparently, going into the game Parker didn't think our passing game required any cuts by our receivers  to beat their secondary. Strange. 

We had 7-should have been 6, but they were offsides on a punt-  possessions in the first half and scored only 7 points. In two possessions, the series' ended with an offensive lineman getting bulldozed and Hartman being sacked. The first was the Kristofic at center and Schrauth at guard experient. On second down Kristofic is bulldozed back 5 yards and on 3rd down Schrauth is bulldozed 6 yards and Hartman sacked. A couple series later Alt is bulldozed on 3rd down and sacked. I remember Heistands lines getting beat, but never bulldozed like that. I don't know if it's a strength and conditioning issue or technique, but something is wrong. 

On the fumbled handoff on 3rd and short to Tyree, the play design included an unblocked defensive lineman. He was barreling untouched right at Hartman, who flinched and put the ball on Tyree's hip. I don't think Sam Hartman came to ND to be a sacrificial lamb. Should he have executed the play? Yes, but if I'm an elite passing Qb who's looking at ND, this would be a major red flag to me. Maybe you can get QB's to go all in on being a sacrificial lamb at WV-Parker's only stop as an OC-but elite QB's aren't gonna have it. 

On another  lost series and a crucial 3rd down and 6, Parker called another play that was designed to exploit a barely blocked lineman. It was a tight formation with two skill position players behind both tackles. The play call was a reverse to love, who was bunched tight left. However, right after the handoff the unblocked lineman widened the play. Apparently, the right guard was supposed to disrupt the tackle momentarily and then seal a linebacker, but the D lineman was too quick and even the Rocket couldn't have made this poorly executed play work. Last year they would have thrown to Mayer, but even with a much better QB in Hartman with a potential AA in Evans, they ran this play which required a high degree of execution by first time starting guard Spindler. 

On another lost series on 3rd down, we have two running backs and then motion Tyree to the slot.  Louisville rushes 5  and ND had all 5 lineman plus Payne. Louisville's right defensive end is unblocked! Alt blocks the guy inside him and Payne also blocks inside. The pass is a short down and out to Tyree who gets mauled as he cuts. Perhaps once again the wide playside lineman is supposed to be unblocked, but I doubt it. Probably it's a mental error by Alt or Payne. Terrible execution.

On the scoring drive we got a couple of 7 yard slant 1st down completions and converted first down runs to move the chains. We got a key 3rd down completion in one of the few times they used a 4 man front and faked a blitz.  We had three wide outs to the wide side and Faison ran a stop pattern at the chains. They used a four man front and blitzed a middle linebacker, but we picked it up giving Hartman time to hit a wide open Faidon who ran a right to left end zone route. TD Irish. I haven't watched the second half, but I'll be surprised if they used a 4 man front again

 

[TexasDomer 1,286]

On 10/8/2023 at 1:42 PM, FaithInIrish Forever said:

But how is our opinion relevant to the final outcome? I'm been around for here for a decade and you come around for losses, leave when you are satisfied with the outcome and comment again when ND loses again. 

The value in this is the community. Be part of the community.

Please.  Seriously.  You’re circumventing my IGNORE function.

 

please don’t quote him.  If you need to, just tag him in your message.  

Edited October 9, 2023 by TexasDomer