It’s been a while. A long while. Shit, it’s been almost a year since the Fighting Irish had such a dominating win. The Purdue game that kicked off the season was a nice 11 point win, but it wasn’t one of those games that felt “comfortable” for a majority of the time. The last time Notre Dame had one of those games was against Washington State at the end of October- last year.
We finally got a little taste of what we had been missing, this past Saturday night, but as comfortable as an 18 point win is- there still seemed to be some things missing from the win. It was a little sloppy, and at times frustrating to watch. However… it was a victory, and a much needed one to keep hope of a “successful” season alive. So, get cozy with a tall glass of Alka-Seltzer and enjoy your hangover:
Bennett Jackson is a Cheetah-Warrior-Monk. After watching Cierre Wood regress as a kick returner in the last 3 games, something needed a change. Brian Kelly told Wood that if he didn’t improve during the Stanford game, that he would be replaced. And replaced he was- enter Bennett Jackson.
Jackson had 111 yards on 4 returns, and that included his opening return of 43 yards to get the game started. He looked very quick, and very dangerous. The only negative with Jackson, is that he seems a little “light.” I thought he was going to lose his head as someone clotheslined him.Still, he has me excited to see how he will pan out for the Irish.
I called that shit. Sometime while the game was sitting at 31-13, I suddenly remembered that the score that I had predicted the game to end with, was… 31-13. I didn’t think it would end that way, but eventually we suffered through a scoreless 4th quarter, and there I was with the dead on score.
Why am I bragging about this? Because this is a rare occasion. The correct score is rarely predicted, and it begged the question from a friend of mine on why we even predict a final score in football as opposed to other sports. My simple reply was that it showed how the predictor thought the game may evolve.
That’s about it. I just wanted to brag for a second.
When Dayne Crist is playing well, the Notre Dame offense scores points. Wow, that’s like rocket science. As simple as that all sounds, it is also the biggest truth and the biggest problem with this team. Seriously, the time of blaming the defense for struggles is over (more on that in a bit).
The first quarter was a perfect example of how this offense is supposed to work. Kelly let Dayne run the ball a bit more, albeit sparingly, and that threat helped the offense punch it in the endzone 3 times, with two coming via pass (Rudolph & Riddick) while the other was a Crist run.
As good as the first quarter was for Crist, it looked like a struggle for the remainder of the game. He ended up having 203 yards passing with a 54.5% completion rate and he threw an interception. It wasn’t a “great” performance, but it was certainly good enough for the win. I just have to keep reminding myself that he is not Jimmy Clausen. That’s no disrespect to Crist, but it is a reminder of how good of a QB Clausen was.
Something just looks wrong with this offense. It’s hard to tell, exactly, who is at fault a lot of the times when the offense sputters. Saturday had a lot of passes hit the ground, hit hands and hit the ground, or just thrown to a spot that just looked ridiculous. The passing game needs some help- but is it Crist, or is it the receivers?
I’m not sure, exactly, but it needs some help. It isn’t just the “miscommunication” problems either. I think Kelly is trying a little too hard to get the ball in Riddicks hands on these screens. I understand why, but I would really like to see the Irish push the ball vertically a little more. The screens and short passes still allow the defense to crowd the line of scrimmage, and in an offense that uses the pass to open up the run… there aren’t a whole lot of those large running lanes from soft/deep coverages.
This was game 5 for the new “Kelly Spread,” and it will still take more time for Crist and the others to start polishing this thing up, so I’m not going to panic, but at the same time; this offense is frustrating to watch this season.
Ugh… you guys are soooooo high school. I never thought of Kirk Herbstreit as an asshole, until Saturday morning. Most, if not all of you already know what I am talking about, but to reiterate; he said Notre Dame’s defense was “so slow” and reminded him of a high school defense. Ahem.
Herbie usually takes the high road, and when it comes to ND in the past, he has been somewhat fair. On Saturday, he just flat-out threw a low-blow. Obviously he was exaggerating, and he knew so, but seriously- did he have to be such a cock?
No matter what the Irish did against Boston College, it wasn’t going to change this perception of the Notre Dame defense. BC is not good offensively. They can’t pass, and their rushing attack falls below their normal standard. With that said; anytime you hold a team to 5 total yards rushing, then you are doing something right. This “high school” defense gave up 5 net rushing yards, and 13 points that came from a nice double move, and 2 fumbles from the ND offense in their own territory. Just sayin’
Holy shit we got some ‘backers. Manti Te’o and Carlo Calabrese Are turning into a brick wall for the Irish defense. Both Te’o and Calabrese had 10 tackles Saturday night, and they helped blow up quite a few plays that they didn’t make the tackle.
I can’t remember, exactly, when Notre Dame had such good linebacking play out of two different players. It was probably early in the Davie era, but I’m too lazy to double check. At any rate, we are still talking about at least 13 years ago. What is amazing, is that Te’o is only a sophomore and Calabrese is a redshirt freshman. We could possibly see these guys playing next to one another for the next 2 1/2 years.
Take the ball, I insist. Notre Dame put the ball on the ground two more times against Boston College. In return, the Eagles took those turnovers and turned them into points. It wasn’t like these wer game-changing turnovers, or anything, but points were still scored after the fact. It is becoming somewhat of a nuisance.
For whatever reason, Irish players are putting the pigskin in the dirt and it needs to end. This is one of those “coaching” areas that needs special attention by ALL ball handlers during the practice week. Notre Dame lost the turnover battle on Saturday night, but just think of what kind of score it could have been with those 3 possessions back. It wouldn’t of changed the outcome against BC, but it may in a game with PITT, Utah, and U$C.
They got “money” legs. Well at least one of them does. David Ruffer has been deadly accurate. There was a time in Notre Dame’s recent past, that whenever the field goal kicker came out to knock in 3 points, I would anxiously await the inevitable miss. I never had much confidence in our kicker, and I would suspect, that the team and Charlie Weis didn’t either. (It explains a lot of 4th down tries… but we already know that).
Ruffer only kicked one FG against Boston College, but it was the moment right before he kicked it, that I finally realized that I had confidence in him to put it through the uprights. I’ve come a long way, and so has this unit.
After a poor first punt, Ben Turk managed to end the game with a 39.1 average per punt (8). I can respect that total. He took some abuse from Kelly, and rightfully so (more on that in a second). As Notre Dame’s offense goes through these growing pains, we absolutely need Turk to punt well. Eight punts in a blowout win, is still a lot. Stanford only punted the ball once in a 23 point win the week before, with the same amount of turnovers as the irish had against Boston College (3). Hopefully, Turks consistency for most of the game is a trend that can continue, as i suspect that the offense will still have its “sputter” moments for a large part of the remainder of the season.
Brian Kelly is going to chew your ass into little bits and spit them down your throat. For those of you that have paid attention to Kelly during his stints at Central Michigan and at Cincinnati, none of this should come as any surprise. He is a demanding, fiery, emotional head coach. Jack Swarbrick knew this when he hired him, and you should have known better.
Who am I specifically talking to? Any of you out there that are bitching about the way Kelly lit into basically everyone during the Boston College game. This includes the media, and fans alike. Did you really think that Kelly was going to drastically change the way he coached once he got under the Golden Dome? How naive you are. How utterly naive.
Notre Dame has been a soft, soft, pushover of a team for over 5 years now. That is no secret to anyone that has gone through the painstaking task of following and cheering for the Irish. When Kelly took over the HC job, he made it a major point to talk about bringing the “Fight” back to the Fighting Irish. You can’t do that with soft pleas to your players to do their job. This isn’t the real world, this is the world of major college football.
And to be honest with you, I thought that his “over-the-top” reactions against Boston College was a brilliant move. Boston College was not going to win this game. Kelly was more than confident that his team was going to come out on top, but at the same time, he probably knew that this Notre Dame team was still very sloppy in all phases of the game. Why pat guys on the back for being mediocre? This game should have been 51-0 instead of 31-13.
Too many times in the past decade, has a Notre Dame team played like shit against an inferior opponent. Some of those times they won the ball game by a slim margin and were lauded as “fighters” for not giving up- blah, blah, blah. They accepted mediocrity. Kelly will not, and I think he was using this game as a teaching tool. You may not like his tactics, but so what?Look at his results throughout his career. The ND media is jumping all over this, because they are unable to come down hard on ND’s 1-3 start, due to a new QB, and a new coach. hey were waiting like sharks in water to spew some bullshit about class. Real classy.
Before the season started, and we looked at the first 6 games, I don’t think we saw the BC game as a “turning-point” for the season. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was just a sloppy win against a bad team. But, when you are 1-3 (on a 3 game losing streak), on the road, at night, on the tail end of one of the toughest opening 6 games in the country, and desperately needing a win to keep the team and the fanbase positive for the rest of the season… the game became HUGE for Notre Dame.
Hopefully, this was a turning point. Hopefully, it helped the team “get their minds right” as they prepare for PITT, and an “easier” second half of their schedule that still has a gigantic elephant hovering around it: U$C. Notre Dame has a chance to be 8-4 or even 9-3 to end this season. It’s the record that a lot of us thought they would end up with, but with a different route. There is hope, and there is certainly a lot of room for improvement. I’m headbutting things again. I’m fistpumping like never before this season. Let’s do this shit!
