I’ll cut right to the chase – the defense was bad on Saturday. Really bad. The substitution penalty and the decision to kick the field goal probably cost Notre Dame the game against Navy, but the defense was absolutely brutal. This is a strange thing to write because the defense played so well against Georgia [...]
For large portions of the year the offensive play calling for Notre Dame has been inconsistent and at times downright puzzling. It’s difficult to pick out a unifying concept or a core philosophy in the way that the Irish call plays. In fact, one could almost envision the Notre Dame play calling process to be [...]
It’s that time of the year – Notre Dame is gearing up for its annual game against Navy. This year it’s a service academy doubleheader with the Shamrock Series game against Army next week. And with service academies comes everyone’s favorite yearly annoyance – the triple option. So today we’re stepping into the 18 Stripes [...]
Brian Kelly this season has ran more of a "smash mouth" spread (regarding the running game), preferring to run downhill as much as possible through use of inside zone and power plays. This is likely because Notre Dame has struggled with the length of blocks that outside runs require more of. As a perimeter threat, [...]
After the first four games of the 2016 football season, the Notre Dame defense could rightfully be described as a raging tire fire. As a result of the horrific performance of the defense, Brian Kelly decided to make a change and fired defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder. After watching the defense play against Syracuse, I’m comfortable upgrading their [...]
What if I told you a play scored a touchdown on 60% of the times its ran? Now what if I told you that it required very little practice time, was easy to run, showed a new look to the defense, and stretched the defense in a way most of Notre Dame’s other plays don’t? [...]
This is my first ever football breakdown or blogpost and I’m excited to have joined 18stripes. I’ve been an x and o's junkie for years, so I hope this turns out well. I have made condensed cutups of Notre Dame games in the past and you can view some of my video work at https://www.youtube.com/user/Downinthebend/ [...]
I have to admit, I’m actually not a huge proponent of the “Brian VanGorder’s scheme is too complicated” theory to explain the struggles of the Notre Dame defense. In fact, my plan for this post was to look at fundamentals and pay very little attention to scheme. However, as I re-watched the game, by the [...]
The Notre Dame defense was not good against Texas. In fact, Notre Dame's defense hasn't been consistently good in a while. In other news sky is blue and water is wet. So why has the Irish defense struggled? Is it a lack of talent? Poor scheme? A scheme that doesn't fit the talent? All of [...]
One of the things I love about football is how the game requires both physical and intellectual elements for success. The physical part is pretty obvious. The team with the best athletes usually wins. The intellectual element is less obvious, but equally important. Think about even the most basic run play in a Division 1 [...]
Welcome to part two of my preview of the Texas Longhorns offense. You can check out part one here. After taking a high-level view of new Texas offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert’s offense at Tulsa, today we’ll dig into the actual x’s and o’s. First, let’s get one thing out the way. If you are as [...]
When Notre Dame plays Texas in the 2016 season opener, the Longhorns will be breaking in a new offense for the second year in a row. Last season, in a move that would make Charlie Weis proud, Texas offensive coordinator Shawn Watson - a longtime proponent of the pro-style West Coast Offense – decided he [...]
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