It didn’t need to be close but it was far too close for comfort on Saturday afternoon as Notre Dame escaped an upset attempt from Virginia Tech. With just a few minutes remaining, the Irish drove 18 plays for a game-winning touchdown in a matchup that featured several patented upset-special check marks along the way. Was it a gutty victory or a sign of a remaining season that will be filled with continued frustration?
Let’s recap Notre Dame’s 16th straight home win.
Stats Package
| STAT | IRISH | VT |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 21 | 20 |
| Plays | 91 | 64 |
| Total Yards | 447 | 240 |
| Yards Per Play | 4.91 | 3.75 |
| Conversions | 11/23 | 5/17 |
| Completions | 29 | 9 |
| Yards/Pass Attempt | 6.43 | 4.96 |
| Rushes | 38 | 36 |
| Rushing Success | 38.8% | 31.4% |
| 10+ Yds Rushing | 3 | 3 |
| Defense Stuff Rate | 26.5% | 17.5% |
Offense
QB: C+
RB: F
TE: B
OL: C-
WR: C+
I’m probably going to be a little more rosy on Book than most. He did account for 391 total yards which is a big stat and he finally put together a bunch of completions to carry the team–29 passes in total tied for the most of his career with the Georgia game earlier this year. Among that mix, there were several big throws and at times this looked like the most comfortable Ian Book of the season (against a real opponent) with confident passes down field, no sacks, and a game-winning rushing score.
He did that with virtually no help from the run game.
Book’s two interceptions were very poor, the first (right to a sinking linebacker in coverage) much worse than a slightly under-thrown deep ball later to Claypool. In both cases, it took points off the board as the Irish were driving before each turnover. Additionally, we continue to see a lot of wasted plays as Book finished with a career-high 53 attempts (he only had one 40+ attempt game in his career up until Saturday) which didn’t feel quite as pass-happy because Book threw numerous balls away as he continues to move outside of the pocket with little success.
It remains a struggle to really do explosive things through the air, though. Claypool (30 yards), McKinley (26), Armstrong (26), and Finke (20) had medium-length receptions but it’s still a bit of a slog. Credit to Book for completing 16 passes for first down, though, including 4 times on the game-winning drive.
Make no mistake, this was one of the worst rushing performances in the Kelly era where the team mustered at least 100 yards. Book accounted for 50 of the 106 yards which says enough.
Rushing Success
Armstrong – 6 of 19 (31.5%)
Book – 6 of 13 (46.1%)
Smith – 1 of 3 (33.3%)
Davis – 1 of 1 (100%)
Jafar Armstrong had a decent day catching the ball (a screen worked!) but finished with just 86 yards on 23 touches, for 3.7 yards per touch. Take away his screen pass and he had 2.7 yards per touch! He was frankly abysmal running the ball, coughed the rock up at the goal line, and somehow wasn’t benched. To use a soccer term, I don’t know if Armstrong is truly fit at the moment but besides trucking a guy he was really poor, doesn’t look fast, and struggles mightily running up the middle in traffic.
I’m not sure what to take away from this game. With a couple different decisions or better ball protection the offense was in position to have 7 scoring drives (crossed mid-field 7 times at least) but barely overcame three turnovers and a missed field goal.
Robert Hainsey appears to have broken his ankle and Josh Lugg performed admirably in his place at right tackle. It will be nice to get Lugg some seasoning finally but a combo of him and Ruhland on the right side could be a problem for the remainder of the games. The line protected well but can’t get much going on the ground–makes sense to me because right now the Irish are ridiculously easy to defend when the running backs have the ball.
Defense
DL: C-
LB: B
DB: D
Virginia Tech had 7 drives end after 3 plays, punted 8 times, and had one drive over 50 yards. The Irish defense did more than enough to comfortably cruise in this game.
However, this Hokies offense with third-string Quincy Patterson at quarterback was really anemic and completely non-threatening. The 3.75 yards per play allowed trails only the Bowling Green game this year but this truly could’ve been a game that was far worse for Virginia Tech’s offense.
Patterson completed only 9 passes yet several were big completions, including a 50-yarder. The defensive backs really should’ve stopped a few of the throws and dominated the game even more.
Stuffs vs. Virginia Tech
(season stuffs in parentheses)
Bilal – 4.5 (16)
Kareem – 2.5 (14)
White – 2 (19)
JOK – 1 (10)
Hinish – 1 (7.5)
MTA – 1 (9)
Okwara – 1 (8)
Jamir – 1 (7.5)
Vaughn – 1 (1)
Ademilola, Jay. – 0.5 (7.5)
Gilman – 0.5 (8)
The run defense did their job soundly. Again, the Hokies were so one-dimensional for long stretches of this game that it felt like they should’ve been stopped for about 50 rushing yards. Patterson rumbled and stumbled his way to 77 yards while the other Virginia Tech runners combined for 40 yards on 17 carries, just 2.35 per rush.
Final Thoughts
There was a frustrating sequence prior to Notre Dame’s missed field goal late in the game. After a specious holding call on Virginia Tech brought the ball to the Hokie 3-yard line we saw an illegal block by Armstrong, a drilled incompletion to a covered Finke on a shallow crossing route, then a screen pass to Finke that went nowhere on third down. This, plus running Armstrong three straight times up the middle prior to his disastrous fumble were not Chip Long’s finest moments.
Notre Dame missed their first 3rd/4th and short running opportunity, but finished the game converting their final 3 attempts. That’s probably not something people would remember from an overall poor rushing performance.
Where has Jalen Elliott gone? Just one assisted tackle on the afternoon!
Claypool seems super-human along the sidelines and very mortal anywhere else on the field. It’s weird.
One thing I just couldn’t wrap my head around in the pre-season was the belief that this would be Kelly’s best offense and/or the highest scoring Irish offense of all-time. Notre Dame is now down 33.7 points per game and 25.3 points per game against Power 5 opponents.
I thought I’d never, ever say this: The offense missed Tony Jones, Jr. deeply on Saturday.
I wonder how prepared Notre Dame is at the next man in on the offensive line with Kraemer and Hainsey now out with long-term injuries? Very rarely have they had to rely on an 8th lineman for more than mop-up duty and it’s a real threat right now.
While re-reading this post and making edits I realize it seems a lot more pro-Book than most might’ve felt while watching the game, myself included! Something that I think may be important to ponder: When Wimbush was having his struggles there were more than whispers that Book was performing well in practice and when he was named starter there seemed to be a sense of relief around the program. By all accounts, the reports from practice are that Jurkovec is not seriously challenging Book. That, plus the players really seem to like/respect/rally around Book and it feels like it’s not a real easy decision to sit the current captain when the team would know how deflating that could be using someone who isn’t “better.”
I know Duke is up next but this team at present looks especially susceptible to a loss from Navy. Something that’s been lingering for me is how not-physical the Irish are in the back five, especially corner. The entire secondary has just 18 stuffs on the season, nearly half coming from Gilman who is as prone as anyone to being boom or bust in his tackling ability. Vaughn just picked up his first stuff of the season, Pride picked up his first 0.5 stuff last week, Elliott hasn’t had one since game two, and Hamilton hasn’t had any over the last 3 games. This group better get ready to tackle the Middies.
Was this a game that felt like a loss? This is Notre Dame, we know this feeling well. Some might say well by the numbers this probably should’ve been an Irish cover or close to it and a win is a win anyway. But I don’t blame anyone for feeling bad about the situation. Until they lose again and the hope for a major bowl game is still alive the players will march on I suppose. Nevertheless, so many signs are pointing to at least one more loss for this team.
Early next season, we’re going to look back on this year and wonder why the hell Kyren Williams didn’t get any real seasoning at RB. Unless Tyree is ready to make an impact as a true freshman, we’re going to struggle in the running game again.
As of right now, I think we lose to Navy. To beat them, you need a combination of disciplined linemen who can contain the edge, aggressive DBs who can hit, and an offense that can consistently score. We have:
-Undisciplined DEs who really bought into their own hype this year and frequently blow assignments and jump offsides regularly
-DBs who are small and not guys I really trust to play the run (Crawford, Pride)
-An offense that doesn’t look like it’s capable of scoring on 50% of its drives, which has been a must for us against Navy
Cornerback is a problem. Vaughn had some bright spots but he was the staff’s last choice (or close to it). Pride does not seem to play with confidence when the ball comes. Sometimes he’ll bring his arm through a receiver’s arms and/or knock the ball away but he often grabs/holds his guy as if he’s trying to prevent the receiver from playing the ball instead of playing it himself. My impression is he doesn’t have confidence that he can win fifty fifty balls with the often much larger guy he’s covering.
J. Love was super “grabby.” I’d rather our DBs push the physicality limits than be hands off. That’s not to say our cornerback play couldn’t improve, just that I don’t think being handsey is a sign of poor CB play.
Pride usually has great positioning but lacks physicality and ball skills. He’s going to be a super interesting NFL prospect. I can see a team falling in love with him but also falling really far in the Draft.
I kind of wonder if some team might take him for their slot corner position. He would need to show good fluidity and nail the cone drills. His speed and ability to stick with a guy downfield is going to entice somebody.
One of your best reports ever in the time I’ve been following you, Eric.
Dead nuts on target ( as we used to say in the Marines). Very insightful and brutally fair.
Totally agree – I’ve read a bunch of write-ups of the game, and this is by far the best one I’ve seen.
😂😂 Yes!!!
Concur in the excellence of this post. Merci.
I do wonder about Tariq, what has happened? Amazing how what we felt had become a very rare plus (DB) has headed south. Kyle per Coach Kelly has hit a bit of the freshman wall, but at least he showed up with spirit and made some plays. I just hope Alohi gets some savvy back, we’ll need it Saturday, and esp against his old team.
When does Tony come back? That fumble brought back the horror of USC 2013. But we showed true grit this time, which to give BK credit, is what we needed the most. Let’s give Ian that at least.
So, overall — I will simply take my cue from a classic Murtaugh post from some years back, and purely enjoy being part of our ND family and love the last drive.
Hey Kiwi, from a non-Marine grunt — Semper Fi!
Hazleton played really well and was physical with Love last year. I have to think they wanted Vaughn’s size out there today because Bracy is so small.
Jones, Jr. was supposed to be okay for VT, he’s probably back for Duke one would think.
Good point on the CBs, thanks. I had forgotten Hazleton’s 12 catches last year or whatever it was.
Like you, I never ever would have dreamed I’d be saying, come on back soon, Tony… but there we are.
Thanks Noise, hope we get to meet one day and swap Joe Kuharich, Hugh Devore stories. Or maybe not, just drink.
Hey Kiwi –absolutely! The only guy I ever actually managed to meet from here was First Down Moses though I haven’t heard from him in a while, but it was a fun get-together. And yep, I am sure we would have a blast — I went to Holy Cross Seminary for high school, across the lake, and grew up in SB… so Kuharich and Devore, yes, indeed, some amazing stories from then. Helps me stay on an even keel now. (Like Ian — Hughie had limitations, but tons of heart!) Then Ara showed, and life was good.
And good on you for having served, those were tough service years.
Amen to that, Noise.
Let me know the next time you are headed to the ‘Bend!
Overall, this year we have been “outmatched” offensively; O Line, RB’s, WR’s, slot, even QB (which we thought coming into this year would be a plus). There was no discernible adjustment in the second half against Michigan. Some of you more experienced folks may have seen some adjustments. I didn’t. It was remarkable that the offense was unable to show something new! It is safe to say this has been true throughout the year.
Admittedly, the nature of the VaTech game was different (should/could have been up 21-7 at the half) but there was not much second half adjustment that I could see. All this points to the OC. Is our talent good enough? Maybe not, but I don’t think that’s the problem. The offensive schemes don’t seem to take advantage of opponent’s weaknesses. You remember how impressed we would be with the “wrinkles” Holtz would show almost every game? Chip Long has not shown me much. He’s been given enough time.
I’m not crazy about CL, but I will say too things in his defense. (1) Our redzone offense has been solid (though now that I think about it… how was it last year? I legitimately can’t remember). (2) The adjustments for this game were: We’re completely outplaying them – just stop turning the ball over and doing stupid things.
This just made me realize that both our coordinators have the same initials. Thought you were going in on Clark Lea for a second there.
That game was miserable for me to watch. I was certain they were going to lose it going into the 2nd half. I almost turned it off.
I think the majority of the issue is at QB. I can see where someone would put it on the OC, but Long has shown me that he can adjust based on the players available. If your offensive system is based on running the ball and stretching the field, but your QB refuses to attempt long passes, what can you do? I would love to see some plays from Jurkovick . I just don’t see Book changing what he is.
I was’nt overly impressed with defense either. Long runs and big passes. I guess you can throw out one score because of the fumble. I would love to see a more stifling effort.
This team is definitely playing worse than they played UGA. We will see if they can stay playing better through the rest of the games.
Great write up, as usual, Eric.
Glad you didn’t turn it off!, Russell
Rereading Eric’s post, which as I said earlier, was very good, I do want to put my vote down for “this game felt like a win” — and as several of you have said, a win we would not have made in the last 25 years. The differences are BK’s much-mocked “traits”. BK 2.0 unfortunately did not fix his issues with winning big games. But I do like the tenacity we have developed since ’16, and for me, Ian Book is showing me a ton of that. (BTW, per another post below, I did note that he threw deep — and yes, the 3 ints show maybe why he doesn’t like to. But — that 4th down throw to Chase on the winning drive, maybe not deep, but what a lovely throw.) For me, I put the last USC drive and this last VT drive into the “I’d go to war with this kid” box…. OK, maybe that’s related to I can’t throw deep either (after our first successful ambush in Vietnam, the guys came up to me and said, hey, LT, good show, but don’t ever throw another grenade…. but I digress.)
Anyway. I think part of the problem on the offense is Ian’s afore-mentioned limitations, but I also think it’s a lot on the RBs. Eric did a nice analysis of that and what makes an elite RB a couple of months ago, and “elite” we definitely do not got.
How can the offense succeed if they can’t force defenses to defend the entire field? Barring any changes, we are going to see this same game for the rest of the season. Different teams, but a stagnant, hit and miss offense that is constantly running into, or throwing into a cluttered field. The rest of this season is going to be painful to watch.
This offense just seems like a grab-bag mess.
Noise, we were in at exactly the same time I’d bet. My salute to you for your service.
Re Book, he’s the kind of guy I’d like in the foxhole with me. His game winning drives vs USC and VT were gutsy and won those games for us. I may be wrong but I think he has the highest win percentage as a starting QB in the Kelly era? And the three losses were to last year’s NC, Georgia (who looked great beating Florida yesterday—wonder what Book could do with Deandre Swift and that Oline that’s only allowed 4 sacks all year. They looked like Stonehenge when they form the pocket), plus a UM that seems to have gotten stronger and is ranked above us.
This is going to be a nerve wracking November if we continue to have a non existent run game.
Yes, ultimately Book won us those games. But he’s also the reason we weren’t playing back ups by the 4th quarter.
Has Long shown that though? He tried to make Brandon Wimbush a pocket passer! He tried to make Brandon Wimbush throw screen passes.
We’re probably recruiting top 15 offensive talent on a yearly basis, right? Then, theoretically, he should be putting up top 15 offenses yearly. I don’t think he’s had a single offense finish top 15 yet (although I could be mistaken).
I mean, his offense was much more run centric with Wimbush than it is now. He’s called some pretty good games with both QB’S. It looks to me like the issues have been with the flawed QB’S more than the offensive scheme.
I acknowledge that he’s called some clunkers too.
The Ball State/Vandy mess was the first time I started questioning him. His use of Wimbush in those games hurt me.
Just watched the game and having (unfortunately… or fortunately?) seen the score ahead of time I didn’t have the stress of whether we’d win or lose. That allowed me to focus a bit on seeing some things I might have normally not seen. In this case I was shocked at how many downfield throws Book let fly! I feel like he threw as many downfield throws in this one game as he had all season. Now his 3 interceptions (one negated by penalty) points to the deep ball still being a weakness – but the fact that the coaches got him to do it (and to keep doing it even after the picks) shows some tiny inkling of progress! Can he keep it up and not default back to just short stuff? Can he improve it as he does it more? And can he now also learn to step up into the pocket (which I also noticed he was still not doing)?
Yeah, in a weird way this game seemed to cement Book’s status as starter. I actually like the more aggressive throws even if there’s a interception once and a while.
Absolutely agree. If we can’t push the ball down field it’ll be a slow drawn out death as each game defenses creep up more and more.
Even his first throw was off his back foot.
Let’s not forget Doerer and the holder on the winning point after. That surely is botched in past years.
There were a couple of occasions when I thought Book’s lack of arm strength stood out. He seemed to have to reach back for extra on what looked to be pretty easy throws. Teams are daring him to go deep. They are creeping up to the LOS, hurting the short passing game and the run game.
As far as Jurkovec, Prister this week said he would not be surprised if Clark is ahead of him on the depth chart come next fall. Clark certainly throws a better looking ball than Jurkovec….most do.
I was certainly disappointed with Armstrong. Even on that screen pass the blocking looked to be set up to get him to the end zone but, he didn’t follow it. There are plays that are blocked for more yards than the RBs get. Didn’t the non-fumble streak end in glorious fashion?
I don’t like seeing Kareem being grouped with Okwara as under performing. I think he’s playing much better than 42.
It’s frustrating when the corners are, so often, right there to defend a pass but, can’t get it done. The defense was good but their QB was awful, making VT extremely one dimensional.
The bright spot is, in past years they would have lost this one, when so many opportunities went south.
Totally agree on Kareem, he’s in my running as team MVP.
Kareem, really? That’s interesting, as I’ve felt all year that he hasn’t shown up much. He had one huge play in the backfield yesterday, but he’s on pace for fewer tackles, tackles for loss, and passes batted down than last season. He had 2.5 sacks against UVA, but hasn’t had more than 1 tackle for loss in any other game.
I suppose part of the problem is that I may have just had too high of expectations for him this season. I thought he might not bump his sack total up all that much, but that he’d be wreaking havoc in the backfield. I don’t feel like I’ve seen that this year, but with the way this season has been frustrating, it’s possible I just have missed anybody who has been playing well.
I’m not seeing those stat comparisons?
Kareem 2018
42 tackles
23 solo
10.5 TFL
4.5 sacks
5 PBU
8 QBH
Kareem 2019 (projected)
45.5 tackles
24 solo
10.5 TFL
7 sacks
0 PBU
13 QBH
Pretty much the same as last year when he was very, very good.
I forgot to account for a bowl game in the projections, for both seasons. I’m putting in some solid math work over here for a supposed accountant.
“Claypool seems super-human along the sidelines and very mortal anywhere else on the field. It’s weird.”
Though his 4th down catch on the final drive was right in the middle of the field.
True, and a great throw from Book.
I like his toughness getting YAC, and his sideline gymnastics. He doesn’t get much separation most of the time though.
And the penalty cancelled “third interception) was on him. The DB took the ball away from him after it looked like he’d caught it. Strangely enough, also in the middle of the field.
I disagree about that INT being on Claypool. IIRC the ball is over Claypool’s head and he’s reaching up while falling back and the defender is behind him. The defender is in a much “stronger” position to wrestle the ball out of Claypool’s hands. The defender basically gets his hands and arms around the ball and Claypool only gets his outstretched hands above his head.
The scoop and score was such a killer. If Notre Dame punches that in they go up 21-7 into half time and put an offense/qb that can’t really throw it into a two score hole. Alas.
I’m not down on Book either, especially leading a two minute drill and going vertical. Converted quite a few third and fourth downs and was actually looking good when absolutely forced to throw vertically. They had Kmet for 6 up the seam except it was a touch over-thrown and Kmet was also grabbed just enough to disrupt.
I also think some of the stink of the wildly unpredictable ACC Coastal Division (where almost nothing happens as it “should” and a diff team wins every year) is wearing off on ND having to play 3 of them this season. Hopefully just get out unscathed and let those crazies sort it out.
We’ve seen ND lose this game, what like 25 times in the last 25 years? Find a way to keep stubbing their toes with injury, penalties, turnovers and lose even as a superior team Well, not this time.
The scoop and score was the Michael Young fumble all over again. I don’t really believe in “momentum” being a thing, but there are certainly some enormous moments this year where we’ve made huge mistakes when we had the chance to bury a team.
Momentum DEFINITELY is a thing in sports. You see it all the time. One big play and a team can either get excited and more amped, or get down and lose confidence. It definitely happens to individual players all the time.
Agree to disagree. The SMU-Memphis game was a prime example of why I don’t believe in it.
What’s the case against momentum not existing in sports? Because when I hear that it’s like saying confidence, morale, and psychology don’t exist in humans playing a game in front of thousands of people.
The case is that if momentum was a thing, there would be any sort of statistical evidence to prove it’s real. Basically, every study I’ve ever seen says that, at best, there is a tiny bit of a bump from momentum, and certainly not enough to significantly alter the outcome of most sporting events. In the dozens of major studies done, there is basically only one that seems to show evidence of momentum having an impact.
That isn’t to say I don’t believe that people can be intimidated or nervous. See Golson, Everett pre-Alabama. He was screwed from the start. But also, Alabama was by far the better team in that game. If we had come out and scored on our first possession, we still were gonna lose by double digits.
I guess the first thing to do, is to define momentum.
That’s right, which I think is really hard to do. But it would also seem much more difficult to prove that momentum doesn’t exist. It’s mysterious and hard to quantify but I have to think it’s something real that exists.
I agree. I think Book looked his best against UGA and VT when running the 2 minute offense. Too often we’re running plays where everyone goes 8 yards, but again there are times (e.g. UM) with downfield playcalls where Book hesitates. He seems to prefer scrambling and does better when he can’t, clockwise.
[whispers] Ian Book is ND Shea Patterson
At least Book doesn’t throw the ball away backwards.
I just compared him the Patterson over at OFD. Their stats are pretty close to the same.
Exactly. He can put up big numbers against overmatched teams, but he’s a mess against a decent defense. Just look at his stats against power 5 teams as opposed to non power 5.
This team is not much fun to watch, just not many explosive plays on either side of the ball. I Trust about two players offensively right now, which is not great. I am not sure what the bigger issue is, the fact that there is just no one explosive or trustworthy on the offense or that NO younger guys are pushing them/getting reps. Tommy tremble is the only underclassmen who has improved offensively this year. The Finke/McKinley/Armstrong/book combo is just so underwhelming but what’s worse is the fact no young dudes can supplant any of them. Not sure if it’s recruiting or development but not a great sign for next year.
Mentioned here a few times but absolutely think navy beats this team. You guys said it but the inefficiency on offense combined with the bend aspect of the defense makes me think it’s a pretty obvious loss. Curious to see what Vegas releases for that line.
I think they’ll be fine vs Navy. Lea will have them schemed up and they defend the run well as it is (minus a certain game last week I’ve already flushed and Navy isn’t going to be blowing ND off the ball, so nbd). Between White, Bilal, JOK and Gilman they have a ton of reliable run stoppers, I don’t really see why there’s much concern there. The defense was great yesterday, really. Only got in trouble with penalties and a long really great catch made. Don’t see Navy pushing them like that.
I get though that it’s tough to feel inspired or confident about the team now, but I guess we’ll see. I don’t see Navy doing much to stop Claypool and Kmet and it should be enough to get the W. “Should” being key word.
With respect, Cubsfan, I am with Hooks on this one (all caveats included). Drew ought to have another good game, and I think Alohi will show up. Bilal has evolved, one of the few good surprises this season.
Whoa bro, wrong handle
That’s quite a mix up…..you ok?
Nothing wrong with “Cubsfan” as a screen name, you guys.
CardinalBaseball should be honored (regrets lack of sarcasm font and hope CardinalBaseball can take a joke).
Holy cow (I could say it better in French!) As an agnostic between those two fine baseball fan bases/// I’m sorry all around!
Yeah I am OK< thanks for asking — remember the time difference, and also I am in the middle of a very complex move (100 yards down the street, bad set up) — so, I saw the C and…. screwed up!
I actually think McKinley has made a high percentage of plays per opportunity. Throwing it up to him seems like advantage for us. I’d like to see more downfield throws to him.
“The Finke/McKinley/Armstrong/book combo is just so underwhelming” That’s because NONE of them should be starting.
Eric, not sure the defensive grades should be so low. The coverage was bad but the defense held VT to 13 points. On most days, that’s pretty darn good!
Said differently, what is a B+ performance for the D-Line?
Most days ND isn’t playing a FCS-level offense which Va Tech with Patterson at QB basically is at the moment.
No question. There was a stretch where both teams seemed to be on that level. I wonder with their WRs being a strength of their team, what Hokie fans were thinking during the game about Fuente’s choice of QB ? I realize one guy was hurt and the 3rd option has not been good when he has played. Still Patterson is so limited.
My brother in law went to Tech and was livid, he said Hooker he thought was cleared to play but they instead wanted to stick with Patterson because he was awesome against UNC and the main reason they came back and won that game.
So I mean, I guess ND fans can take comfort in knowing everyone everywhere thinks their HC and OC are morons
*sideways glance at ‘Bama
I heard some Bama fans that were big mad that they were starting Mac Jones vs Arkansas and not Tua’s brother as the replacement QB after Tua’s injury, sure that Jones would mess up. (Jones, of course, was stellar).
Granted, there’s a contingent of fans that are just bad and miserable no matter what but it is basically everywhere that a portion of the fanbase is unhappy and/or way smarter than the coaches for every program.
Amen. I think the better sportswriters (like fior ND, Lou Somogyi and Tim Prister) recognize this. Heck, they have to put up with rabid criticism themselves if they are not sufficiently negative.
The first interception might not be Book’s fault. One of the replays from behind showed that that ball didn’t go to where Kmet was, instead it was a couple of yards to the right and short. It looked pretty obviously to me to be a disagreement between Book and Kmet on where Kmet was going to go, and that might as easily be Kmet’s fault as Book’s.
I’m hesitant to put the third int (negated by penalty) on Book either. You have your number one receiver in single coverage, and it was a decent throw. It was a great play by the DB, but Claypool shouldn’t get out jumped by someone that much shorter.
I was at the game, and the first interception happened right in front of me. It really looked like Book and Kmet were definitely on different pages of the playbook on that play.
Given that Kmet got himself open in the middle of the zone and with a chance to score, I think it’s safe to say that he was on the correct page.
You mean we didn’t run a five yard comeback route to the tight end inside the 15?
Understanding that he is an ND legend: is there even a case for Todd Lyght being on the coaching staff this time next year? He seems like a total dud coaching-wise and is objectively a dud recruiting-wise. You can’t even give him too much credit for Julian Love, because Love was basically good from day 1.
Del Alexander also seems like a logical this-is-his-last-year-here candidate, but at least WR recruiting has improved significantly.
Re: Elliot – somebody would have to double-check the film but I noticed Crawford playing (a lot? of) safety in place of Elliot. Not sure why though.
Good point.
They had a Crawford/Gilman, Elliot/Hamilton safety rotation in for the base defense a lot of the game. The scheme change in the dime was interesting too with the 5 linemen and 6 dbs with usually one of the DEs dropping into a middle zone.
The only trick is that it’s tough to say if any of the defensive changes were actually effective because VT’s offense was anemic at best.
I was at the game yesterday. Even though we won, I was down after the game, because I thought we should have covered the spread at least (VaTech didn’t look like a really good team, at least offensively). I have to admit. The crowd vibe was bad (I read that the Players’ Walk before the game was really quiet and poorly attended) until the final drive (and even then, the crowd didn’t get loud until the Claypool reception on 4th and 10). I know people say ND Stadium is not an intimidating place to play, and yesterday, I thought that was truly the case. Today, I’m feeling different about the game itself. First, years from now, this will look as big a win as a 17.5 point win would have looked. I’m still going to root for the Irish to go to the best bowl that they can and will root for them regardless of which bowl they’re in. I did notice one thing during the game that I thought was interesting. I usually go to a game a year (only in 2010 and last year did I make it to two games, mainly because it’s a long trip from Denver). I could see players on the bench during the 4th quarter consciously trying to get each other jazzed up and excited (I was sitting on the west side of the Stadium). At least from my viewpoint, I wonder if they could tell the crowd was down and that, if there was going to be any energy at all, it was going to have to emanate from them. I don’t recall previously seeing team members do that during a game where things were going so poorly. Small sample size and all, but still, it was good to see them getting into the game on their own. Another thing that messed up the game was that I thought it was the most poorly officiated game I’ve ever witnessed personally. In addition to the bad calls against both teams, the refs kept stopping play for weird reasons. One example was when they spotted the ball, VaTech lined up to snap it, and we lined up to defend the play and then the refs blew the whistle, conferred and decide to move the ball a yard or two further in the Hokies’ favor. I’ve never seen that happen. It just kind of added to the whole weird dynamic going on in the Stadium and I thought it made it difficult for Notre Dame to sustain much. Of course, there were too many replay reviews, though thank God for the reversal on Kyle Hamilton’s hit. That happened near where I was sitting and, in real time, it just didn’t appear to be targeting. One of the places where the crowd did react was on some of those calls. Claypool’s earlier catch (where he got “One Foot Down”) elicited a really strong reaction when they showed it on the video board. They kept playing it… Read more »
Did they call a chop block or an illegal low block downfield? Because the guy who got cut blocked was the edge rusher not engaged with anyone and it was a yard behind the line of scrimmage. I have no comprehension of how that call was made.
One underdiscussed thing related to the refs was that John Shannon was ~~clearly~~ roughed on the first and last extra points of the game. They were both dangerous and illegal plays and a flag on them wouldn’t have affected the game flow at all, as it just means the kickoff goes further out the endzone. If you’re going to do everything else wrong in a game as a ref you have got to throw the damn flag for a zero impact penalty on a player safety foul. Just garbage.
Illegal cut block. They’ve tweaked the rules on what’s allowable quite a bit over the last few years, I think, so I might not get this right, but I believe cuts outside the tackle box and beyond the LOS have to be from the front and within 2-3 yards of the LOS. I think they said Armstrong was outside the tackle box (sort of – when he made contact he was inside of where the tackle started but outside of where he was, not sure how that’s supposed to be called there) and past the LOS (no he wasn’t) and made contact from the side (yes he did).
Kelly was still chirping about it today a little – he was clearly pissed that Armstrong got flagged for it.
I’m interested in Clearwall’s take, too. Even just listening to the second half on the radio (I had to work Saturday, hence no Instant Reaction), I could tell the officiating wasn’t making much sense. Although I did learn that Ryan Harris is incredibly homerific – he basically said every call that went against ND was bad, which when watching on DVR, that was not the case.
There were just brutal calls and no-calls both ways. Maybe the officials just wanted to mirror the competence level they were seeing from the two offenses.
Clearwall didn’t get to see the game live and has been posting some officiating comments over on OFD as he’s watching the game on YouTube (I posted the same post over there as well as here, hoping he would respond to my comments on the officiating).
Allow me to pick up on the other half of Cubsfan’s post, namely, The Crowd. I got initially engaged in what became quite a personal focus when talking with Lou Holtz. I had gotten to know him pretty well at the end of the ’93 season (trying to spin the final vote for “head to head winner” if the bowls played out that way). Anyway, we got to talking about the home crowd, which started to get softer starting about 1990. (Lots of reasons but a big one was the change in season ticket policy effective that year.) Note, the concern here was not (and is not) for “big” games. ND-FSU in 1993 was as loud as you could want it. And we have been pretty good lately for USC, etc. No, Lou’s point was for medium threat games, against a pretty good but underestimated hence dangerous opponent, and especially after a big emotional game the week prior, where the team could use a lift from the fans. (Just like what you saw the players trying to elicit, Cubsfan.) Our mutual reference points were Tennessee 1991 and Stanford 1992. What came out of the subsequent research and analysis is that ND was sadly lacking in coordinated measures to tap in to the ND spirit. I’ll spare everyone the details. The Video Board has gone part way to fix this, but not far enough. The sad part is that the players see this. Georgia this year made the point. Here I am talking about a whole compositie of measures within the given traditions of a given school. My younger son went to Auburn, where even in their down years they have a lively, peppy, engaged crowd.
My point is that there is a lot ND could do within our own fantastic set of traditions and in modern ways as well. Until we do — your observations will sadly be repeated, Cubsfan. But there I go riding my darn hobby horse again!
The Jafar fumble may be the worst rush I’ve ever seen. Not only did he fumble it (obviously bad!), but he had an absolutely massive hole, right in the middle of the line of scrimmage, with only one defender that he didn’t even have to beat, just kinda bounce off him and into the end zone. Instead, he puts his head down, runs directly into that defender, and coughs it up almost comically convenient for the defense.
I like Jafar just fine, but I also think he should probably never be in a goal-to-go situation ever again.