One of the biggest question marks heading into the season was how the linebacker position would shake out. I wasn't overly concerned because 1) there's plenty of raw material to work with, and 2) I'm pretty sure Clark Lea is good at his job. But Lea still had his work cut out for him. However, [...]
I created a primer to this project which explains the way we'll be ranking all 185 players. It will be a pyramid structure and as we ascend the players will get better and better. Follow along this off-season as we preach about all the wonderful talent that has played for Notre Dame. Level 1, Wing [...]
Every quarterback can improve. Many quarterbacks in college have room to improve considerably. Fighting Irish quarterback Ian Book sent some shock waves throughout the college football world by playing at a high level immediately in his first extended action with Notre Dame. He was quite good, but still has room for improvement, especially after ending [...]
Merry Christmas to all of our readers! Note, news broke Monday afternoon that 3 players, including Dexter Lawrence, failed drug tests due to the presence of the banned substance ostarine. It's unclear whether they will be playing in the Cotton Bowl as Clemson is appealing and hired representation for the athletes. Unless you've been living [...]
Reasonable minds may disagree but Clemson might have the perfect offense for the college game. They are one of only 2 Power 5 teams (Oklahoma being the other) to run for 3,000 yards while also passing for 3,000 yards this season. The Tigers offense is predicated on power and speed, length and agility, stressing the [...]
Few athletes receive the hype that was placed upon Clemson true freshman Trevor Lawrence. Few players have matched the hype like Lawrence has through his first season for the Tigers. Coming off a high school career that saw him shatter nearly every Georgia state passing record held by former Clemson star Deshaun Watson, the presence [...]
I was wrong. Before the season started, I predicted the offense would struggle. I reasoned that losing your best receiver, best tight end, best running back, two first round picks on the offensive line and returning a QB that was pulled in his last start was not a recipe for success. The first three games [...]
Another week, another film post extolling the genius of Chip Long. This week, we'll look at Dexter Williams's long touchdown run against USC. Once again, this play features GT Counter, but with a new twist. The Play It's 1st and 10 around midfield in the third quarter. Notre Dame lines up in a tight formation [...]
One thing I like about Chip Long is his ability to creatively use formations and motion to out-scheme the defense. I feel that past Notre Dame offenses where too reliant on one player making big plays to be successful, whether it's Will Fuller getting open deep or CJ Prosise breaking off a big run. Having [...]
Notre Dame's run game sputtered against Northwestern and wasn't able to consistently help the offense move the football down the field. I targeted a handful of plays that I thought were interesting from Saturday and worthy of additional conversation. I'm opening up the film room and flipping on the projector. RP(N)O This is the very [...]
The Navy game is over, which means we can all stop thinking about the triple option. That is, we can stop thinking about it after this trip into the Film Room. Larz discussed Notre Dame's option offense earlier this week, and today we'll look at how the Irish defended Navy's option offense. The First Half [...]
Notre Dame escaped with a victory on Saturday and can now enjoy some delicious cheeseburgers, but that doesn't mean the film room is closed for the week. The final score was too close for comfort on Saturday as Notre Dame's hyper-efficient offense stalled out most of the afternoon before finally delivering the winning touchdown in [...]
Saturday's game against Virginia Tech presented the Irish with a chance to exorcise the demons of last year's loss in South Beach by going into a hostile road environment and coming out with a victory. But to football nerds like me, it also gave us a chance to see Chip Long - Notre Dame's promising [...]
Welcome back to the 18 Stripes Film Room. Dexter Williams returned to the field on Saturday and responded by slicing through the Stanford defense for a touchdown on his first carry behind a plethora of tight ends and pulling linemen. So pull out your lunch pail because we're talking some smash mouth football today. The [...]
Guys, we did a thing on Special Teams. No, it was not a Newsome punt (still a heavenly sight but the less we see of Tyler, the better we are), but a return. A proper one, at that. Lost in the excitement over us doing something in the return game is the fact that it [...]
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