Official Notre Dame Football Thread

[FirstTimer]

As long as Jonas doesn't cough up the ball, he needs more carries. He only had three the entire game against Pitt. I'm not sure Wood will be able to hold up the entire season getting 20+ carries a game.

Also, here's a solid breakdown some of Rees' performance:

http://www.ndtex.com/2011/09/ndpitt-breaking-down-rees/

I read that NDTex thing on my lunch. Interesting stuff. My fear with Rees is that even though he is young. How much upside does he really have? How much does ND really stand to gain by sticking with him. You could argue that Crist, who is only a "RS" Junior this year has more upside than Rees.

Is Rees ceiling a poor man's Kellen Moore in this spread offense? Or is his ceiling something just barely above what we have seen already? Rees is winning, and I get that but the risk reward for playing him doesn't seem to be in balance.

[Sportsbuck]

LOL at Pitt's "fan base".

[Irish]

Purdue sucks.

[FirstTimer]

O-Line dominated last night.

[FirstTimer]

4*(Rivals, Scouts, ESPN) RB Will Mahone committed.

[padman59]

Tuitt and Lynch are going to be tested against Air Force since they'll probably be on the field a lot with Ethan Johnson's injury.

[FirstTimer]

Tuitt and Lynch are going to be tested against Air Force since they'll probably be on the field a lot with Ethan Johnson's injury.

There's a chance Johnson plays but I would expect to see more of Hafis Williams and Kona as well.

[Irish]

Tuitt needs to not skip class so he doesn't miss anymore games.

[NAHSTE]

Tuitt needs to not skip class so he doesn't miss anymore games.

You can miss games for that at Notre Dame? No wonder Urban Meyer passed on that gig.

[Irish]

How was it? Didn't catch a single glimpse and don't really remember last night.

Purdue sucks.

(and ND's special teams)

Pretty much describes the game.

[FirstTimer]

Got my tickets for the Air Force game today.

[FirstTimer]

Take some pics.

Also, where is the G/B/U?

G/B/U will be up tomorrow.

[FirstTimer]

Notre Dame vs Purdue

The Good

-The offensive line. I wanted to list Cierre Wood and Jonas Gray again but I found it hard to without mentioning that for most of their night their job was made incredibly easy by a dominating performance by the offensive line. The line absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage in a way I haven’t seen a Notre Dame team do in years….perhaps as much as a decade. It’s also encouraging to see the team hold up so well at the point of attack in short yardage situations, something we haven’t see from an irish squad in God knows how long. Tommy Rees was also kept clean the entire night to the extent where on some plays he was able to get to his 4th read and still have plenty of time to deliver the pass. Whatever Brian Kelly and Tom Longo are doing with this group is working.


-Michael Floyd. Man among boys. That pretty much sums up his entire performance and his season to this point in general. Floyd dominated Ricardo Allen from the outset and was unstoppable all night. For what reason I have no idea but Purdue thought they could single cover Floyd. That didn’t end up working out too well. Floyd keeps making his case stronger and stronger that he is the best wideout in Notre Dame history. Who else is really in the debate at this point as a true wide receiver?

-The defense. They started off the game with a big play and set the tone early. Bob Diaco has done an excellent job early in the season shutting down the opponents running game and forcing teams to efficiently move the ball down the field on long drives. The 4th quarter debacle at Michigan aside this is the most impressive defensive unit Notre Dame as had since the early 2000’s and perhaps as far back as the early 1990’s. Louis Nix has been an absolute force in the middle. Manti Te’o is almost numbingly great, Robert Blanton and Harrison Smith are having tremendous seasons, Darius Fleming is starting to pick his game up and Aaron Lynch is already a difference maker as a true freshman. The defense still has it’s moments, but for the most part has been fantastic. The point totals this unit has given up this year so far: 16,35,13,12,10.

-Tommy Rees…most of the time. No turnovers! First and foremost that’s great. He got away with one throw that should have been picked off but those will happen over the course of the game and a season. Targeting Floyd in single coverage can make any quarterback look good but when he had to he was quick to come off his primary read and check down or find another option. That’s very encouraging as in recent weeks he had seemed to be locked in on Floyd a bit too much, part of me can’t blame him but it was still nice to see progression from Rees this week.



The Bad
-Tommy Rees….very few times. I will admit this is very nitpicky but Rees left a few plays out there and wasn’t nearly as accurate, especially over the top, as he has been in the past. He missed Floyd once and missed Eifert a few times as well. Rees played clean football and even though Notre Dame had 38 points on the board at the end of the night they could have had another touchdown or two. Greedy? Yes. But just an honest observation.

-Gary Gray. Gray still looks utterly lost when he is required to make a play on a jump ball. I have no idea how this can be corrected but it’s almost maddening. Turn your head, make a play. Please.


The Ugly
-Special Teams. Again?! Missed field goals, short kickoffs, questionable snaps, nothing out of the punt return game, our long snapper picking up a personnel foul(which I still question). It all adds up to another bad night for Mike Elston’s troops overall. I keep waiting for Ruffer to come around but it just hasn’t happened yet and the punt return issues are starting to get beyond frustrating. Against better teams like USC and Stanford we will need more out of our special teams to beat USC and stay in the game and upset Stanford. Right now Notre Dame is winning games with only two of the three phases really working. At some point something has to give and we need to get more steady (good) production out of the third phase. Notre Dame is clearly not a complete team yet and Special Teams play is one of the most glaringly obvious reasons why.

-Purdue’s coaching staff. Single covering Floyd in order to have extra help on Theo Riddick?!
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A dominating win in a place where even when Notre Dame has been good they have struggled in the last few seasons. We came out and set the tone early and took the game over. Any time you can go on the road and beat an in state rival and Big Ten team by four touchdowns it’s a very good sign. Now focus has to shift to Air Force and the dreaded triple option. The defensive line is going to have to step up and play like they did against Army last year. Here’s hoping that Stephon Tuitt has been attending class and will be eligible to play this week. Him, Nix, Lynch, Kapron Lewis-Moore, Ethan Johnson(health permitting), Sean Cwynar, and the rest of the line needs to have big games. The offense also needs to play clean. No turnovers and score points on each possession, even if it’s three. If we fall behind with the type of offense Air Force runs it’s going to be tough to get the ball back and score to make up the ground.

I will be at the game this week, my first Notre Dame game since 2009 against Washington. I’m looking forward to a beautiful day and a big win.

Go Irish. Beat Falcons.

[padman59]

Either Hendrix or Golson is expected to play Saturday per Kelly's radio show. My head might explode if Kelly burns Golson's redshirt.

[FirstTimer]

It'll be Hendrix.

If he burns Golson's redshirt I riot.