7-1

[ChicagoIrish]

24-20

Another win we had to fight for. Again, we were sloppy at times. Offense did rack up 467 yards of offense, 2 turnovers in the redzone. Prosise was held in check, 2nd time this season he has been shut down.

Good teams find ways to win, and Notre Dame did exactly that. The offense put together a scoring drive when we needed it most, and Russell stepped up to seal the game with an interception. At this point in the season, style points no longer interest me, just win. Playoff hunt lives on.

By the way, did anyone see who it was that Kelly went after on the sidelines?

 

[bksballer89]

We're going to drop one of these road games.....9-3 is likely

 

[ChicagoIrish]

11-1 is likely

 

[Irish7478]

I'm waaay too old for this.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

@ Pitt
Wake Forest
@ BC
@ Stanford

 

[KnuteRoc]

Mighta been DB coach in the ref's ear.

I hate this running game. Kizer's one read-option keep was about the extent of the running game, that's pathetic with a line supposedly best in the nation or in the top 5. Pathetic red zone play calling. Pathetic separation from receivers. Even the go ahead TD was a very iffy play, that safety should've broke on that ball and that'da been all she wrote. Game shoulda been 30-20 at least. All of this coming out of a bye-week.

One of three things is an issue:
1. Kelly's play calling
2. Player's execution
3. Adjustments

Plays develop like pondwater moves in the wintertime, we don't hit the underneath quick enough when they're dropping into deep coverage, we fail to execute simple screens and don't hold blocks.

We blitz and don't get home enough and manage to allow broken plays to burn us. Run defense is good when we focus on it, pass defense is iffy.

Coach takes the ball first in a game we're supposed to win, should expect to win. Defer and take the field position so you're not going into the student section in the 4th. ALWAYS defer if you win the toss, no ifs, ands, or buts.

Someone is bound to make us pay for all of these deficiencies.

 

[Judge Fudge]

Beginning to believe in Playoffs.

Kizer is a good clutch QB

 

[Judge Fudge]

@ Pitt W
Wake Forest W
@ BC W
@ Stanford ?

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Someone is bound to make us pay for all of these deficiencies.

Unfortunately, they already did. Schedule is undeniably weak from now until that game in Palo Alto.

We can't forget that Temple is a solid team with a really good defense, and this was a road game. At the end of the day, we came out with the win. The redzone mistakes are what piss me off most. Which is a common theme since Kelly's arrival.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

 

[bksballer89]

11-1 is likely

I think 10-2 is likely.....11-1 and 9-3 are possible

 

[Irish7478]

View attachment 46864

David Grimes. Doesn't look happy about it.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

David Grimes. Doesn't look happy about it.

Pretty sure Grimes was in the refs ear and Kelly wasn't having it

 

[Irish7478]

I think 10-2 is likely.....11-1 and 9-3 are possible

At the start of the year I said 11-1. I'll stick with that till the bitter end.

 

[poewelch84]

Notre Dame can beat Stanford will they who knows. They should beat Pitt, Wake Forest, and BC so 10-2 is very likely and I feel they should be 11-1.

 

[podsox]

it is seriously time to sideline Schmidt. the dude cant tackle, cant cover, and really cant do much. simplify the defensive calls if no one else can run the defense. even if he gets them in the right defensive alignment there is an enormous hole in whatever area he is covering. he has been tackling air all season. joe is a great story and seems like a nice kid but it is time to put the best players on the field

 

[poewelch84]

He has struggled this year but I don't believe they will bench him so we'll have to hope it doesn't cost the team a win. Also he seemed like he played much better last year or is it just me. I kind of wonder if he hasn't been playing through something.

 

[jjc2009]

it is seriously time to sideline Schmidt. the dude cant tackle, cant cover, and really cant do much. simplify the defensive calls if no one else can run the defense. even if he gets them in the right defensive alignment there is an enormous hole in whatever area he is covering. he has been tackling air all season. joe is a great story and seems like a nice kid but it is time to put the best players on the field

We forget he's a former walk-on. There was a reason he was a walk-on.

He's made some clutch plays before his injury. He was slower than average then, but was always in a position to make plays. Since his injury, he's two steps too slow now and it's obvious. He's a good guy by all accounts and seems to be a natural leader, but he physically can't compete anymore.

Thomas's last TD run was his fault. Baratti stretched the play out and kept him from getting the edge. Schmitt's backside pursuit should have cleaned it up. He was late getting there.

 

[jjc2009]

As always a win is better than a loss, but once again this team failed to put away a team they should have. Yes, Temple is decent, yes their crowd was in it and yes they wanted this win more than anything. All the more reason to take em out early.

Once again, we shit the bed on both sides of the ball in the second half. I don't get it but it's an annoying trend.

We are good enough to go 11-1 but three things in no particular order will keep us from doing so, or getting embarrassed in a playoff:

1. Red Zone offense. Unimaginative plays and an inability to line up and run. That's a system problem too. WSU had how many trips to the RZ and kicked 5 FG's.

2. Lousy LB play by anyone not named Jaylon and inconsistent DB play. Russell's great interception cancels out getting torched earlier in the game (and he was).

3. A defensive scheme so hard it keeps the best athletes off the field. It's kept Redfield off the field due to inconsistent play, forces us to use Joe Schmitt instead of Nyles Morgan or even Tavon Coney stunting themselves out of plays, blitzing DB's out of plays. If it's too hard to learn in nearly 2 years of installation and forces you to use less talented but smarter players your system sucks. It's too much feast or famine and against teams like UVA or Temple we can overcome it. Against Stanford or a playoff caliber team, we will not be so lucky.

 

[jjc2009]

One more post-script. Matt Ruhle is a first class tool. Yeah he's a young,energetic coach and has done a good job building up the Temple program. But he's a freaking whiny bitch. Was jawing the refs all night on the PI calls when they were blatantly doing it almost every pass play. They were doing the Seahawks/Pat Narduzzi you can't call 'em all school of pass defense. He even complained in the post-game presser which is just low-rent for a hc. Maybe, just maybe, Matt your guys played way above their skill level and still got beat by a better team. In his mind they won that game the refs took it. (He has no comment on the bs offensive PI call on Weishar, the BS targeting call or the missed false start on their 4th down play to extend a drive). Last he was talking crap or something to Cole Luke. If he didn't like what Luke was saying maybe he can correct his own players who were jawing all game. I got a real problem with a coach addressing an opposing team's players esp. If that coach is running his own mouth all game. I don't like him or that douchey goatee of his.