The Official Notre Dame Football Thread

[FirstTimer]

I agree for the most part. The Red Hats are because there is absolutely no other red on the sideline. If they were gold they would blend in with the rest of the helmets.

Make them bright yellow then. The red is annoying

All in all, they played well. If there was one thing I'd pound into their heads during practice it would be one word: FINISH. Finish the drive with a touchdown, finish the game when you have the chance, and finish in all facets of the game. If they do that, I believe they will win. Settling for three field goals and a fumble inside the red zone after good drives by a rookie quarterback is a no-no. Getting it in the endzone for the four extra points will be huge.

I forgot about this in "The Bad".

Really concerned to see us still having problem inside the 5 yard line. Granted one time Crist missed an open Rudolph so it was more execution of the play rather than coaches not game planning right but one of the most frustrating things with Weis was the inability to pound the ball in from close. We had issues again with that yesterday. Don't want to paint with broad strokes after only one game when we left some plays out there(the Floyd fumble, the misfire to Rudolph) but it's the "fan" in me wanting to see everything cured at once.

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How was the atmosphere at the stadium?

 

[FirstTimer]

Finishing has always been a problem. Hopefully a better running game helps it out but running from the shotgun at the 1 yard line isn't the greatest thing in the world, IMO.

For the most part, the atmosphere was above average. Before the game the tone was kind of nervous but it improved. You can usually tell how "into it" the crowd is by the first play for the opposing team and it really wasn't that loud. As the game wore on, people got more and more into the game though. Then, when it was about to erupt Floyd fumbled. It really took the air out of the stadium and you could tell everybody let out an "uh oh, here we go again" that was only increased by the Wood fumble on the kickoff return. During the Purdue drive by their own endzone, it got very loud. They ended up having a false start and too many players in the huddle penalties which screwed the drive, which I believe was at last partially because of the crowd. Everyone seemed relieved after as well.

It's been louder before, but not bad for a Purdue home game. I go to a lot of games and its sad when UConn and Washington are the two loudest I've been to in awhile. Things should be pretty amped for next week since its Michigan and September 11th and both teams are on the rise.

The Washington game last year was the loudest I had heard the stadium in years. Honestly most likely since Michigan in '06(before the started whipping our ass) or Michigan in '02.

I didn't think the crowd yesterday would have been all that great. Like you said I think it was more nervous energy in the place. I'm convinced the place would have exploded though had they gone up 27-3 on that Floyd touchdown.

The crowd has a real shelter dog mentality because of the abuse it's suffered the last few seasons IMO. Skittish and excitable but until they start winning consistently the crowd won't reach it's old levels...

 

[Irish]

I guess I'll make some points.

-I really took Clausen's accuracy for granted, especially his touch on passes. Crist looked really good. Needs to be less tentative in the pocket with pressure.

-Armando Allen looked bad at times, then looked really good. Im still on the fence on if I like him or not. He has the skills, but I dont see consistency. Cierre Wood, like I said, will be the starter by year end. He looked really good.

-Oline looked fine. Look worse than last year. Should still be fine but they still need to improve.

-HOLD ONTO THE BALL.

-OLBs need to stop over pursuing, Brian Smith. That could kill us next week if they dont play their position better.

-Carlo looked slow, but he can tackle.

-It looked like we finally learned to tackle until that Dierking got in. Then we started looking like the old ND defense with the inability to bring guys down.

-We finally have consistent special teams.

-Hopefully we learn to put away games.

 

[Woy]

*gulps*

I'm rooting for you guys against Michigan. Can't stand the hype over Denard Robinson.

 

[Irish]

Bout time you learned the ND way Woy.

 

[Woy]

Bout time you learned the ND way Woy.

I did root for you guys against Pitt last year. Pitt's always going to be my number one hated team.

 

[Irish]

Woy, atleast your girlfriend has good taste in teams.

 

[padman59]

Agree about Brian Smith. The Marve TD was solely his fault since he bit hard on the play fake rather than keeping containment on the QB. He's too inconsistent even as a senior.

I think Allen will be fine with the ball in his hands. He did start slow, and it seemed that he needed Wood to break a few runs before he finally got in gear. I think him splitting carries with Wood and the other backs will be good for him especially in terms of durability. He is also valuable in the passing game. He made a few good blitz pickups yesterday.

 

[Woy]

Woy, atleast your girlfriend has good taste in teams.

She'll become a Penn State fan before you know it. :shifty:

 

[Atlas]

is that krebs' gf next to her???

 

[Irish]

And people think Notre Dame is only relevant to people older than 30.

Notre Dame is hip, hop and happenin'.

 

[Irish]

Ill continue some recruiting news for everyone here.

Derek Roback is transfering out, which according the ND Rivals, leaves us with about 6 spots to take guys.

Bunch of big name guys coming for this game this weekend, so I think it is important we impress to say the least. 4 star RBs, safeties and olinemen will be in attendance for the game.

 

[padman59]

Seems odd to have frosh transfer this early. Oh well. Good luck to him.

I think it's going to be a good game Saturday. I'd be surprised if ND doesn't come out prepared to shred Michigan's secondary. The Irish offense had a good game against them last year, and UM's defensive backfield is arguably worse.

 

[WalkMan]

Ill continue some recruiting news for everyone here.

Derek Roback is transfering out, which according the ND Rivals, leaves us with about 6 spots to take guys.

Bunch of big name guys coming for this game this weekend, so I think it is important we impress to say the least. 4 star RBs, safeties and olinemen will be in attendance for the game.

Keep the latest ND news here, would like to keep posted on recruiting too.

 

[FirstTimer]

Real disappointing loss yesterday. Crazy similar game to a year ago.

The Good

-The running game. Once again the Notre Dame running game looked really good. Allen and Wood both had very nice games.

-Michael Floyd. Floyd again had another very good game. Made some big catches, blocked really well(even if he got called for a BS holding call). He's really bought into to working hard for Kelly and giving max effort.

-Kyle Rudolph. The guy shows up every week and has been a real solid player for Crist.

-Manti Te'o. Had another really good game this week. Dropped an interception that he should have had but other than that one play he was always in the right position and didn't miss many(if any) tackles.



The Bad

- The defense on the final drive. The entire second half the defense played out of it's mind and on the final drive they let it get away. You need to hold them to three points. Create a turnover...something...anything. You HAVE to finish that game off. They did it last week...couldn't do it this week.

- It's really odd...I'm sitting here after a loss and can't think of a ton "bad" things....really....odd odd game.

The Ugly

-Notre Dame's back up QB's. Montana played a little better as time went on..but it wasn't really encouraging when he did...It was more like a cute white knuckle thrill ride and praying that he channel his dad.

-Notre Dame's QB's throwing balls into the crowd. This drill needs to be cancelled at all further practices. Montana did it to end the 1st half. Crist did it to end the game(and once last week). WTF?!

-Tai-ler Jones TD. Hey kid. Hold onto the ball. That TD should have been overturned but I guess the refs figured they owed us one from the called back Armando Allen TD last season.

-Tom Hammond.......

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REALLY odd game. I know Denard Robinson put up over 500 total yards..but other than one play did it feel like he was controlling the game to that extent? I mean outside of Hammond blowing his load over him something about the "eye test" seemed off. Robinson had a tremendous game and lead the winning drive but Michigan was shut down the entire 2nd half outside of one drive and Robinson was essentially held in check the entire game except for his long run for the score.

I knew as I was watching he was accumulating stats but it the 500 yards number blew me away when I saw it because I didn't think he had put up that much. It just seemed like he accumulated all that as a function of him being the only Michigan player on offense that was worth a damn. I've seen Notre Dame get lit up by quite a few QB's over the years and as I was standing there watching the game it didn't feel like I was seeing that with Robinson. For some reason I just think a lot of those yards seemed empty as until the last drive Notre Dame had only given up 21 points and none in the second half. Typically when QB's are lighting up the Irish they are moving the ball up and down the field and scoring at will on us. It didn't feel or seem like that was happening(because it wasn't). I know Michigan and ESPN and everyone is going to cream over Robinson for the next few weeks(Mark May I'm looking at you) but I'm not sure it's a great sign that the "most dominating offensive performance in Michigan history" netted the team only 28 points and the game had to be won with 27 seconds left.

I mean the Notre Dame defense gave up 500 yards of total offense to ONE player and outside of the last drive of the game I'm not even really mad/sad/or disappointed by them....

If Crist plays the entire game Robinson's 500 yards are for naught and Notre Dame wins this game.

 

[The Buddha]

As a Michigan fan Ill give you my little insight FT.

Floyd looked really good in the 2nd Half, but where the hell was he for the entire first half? Was it because of the Backup Qbs? I dont think I remember his name being called at all.

That last throw was so anti-climatic, I was sitting on the edge of my seat expecting some sort of hail mary and every one was going up to get it, and he chucked it into the crowd? I mean Im glad he did, but it just seemed like a waste.

As far as Denard, I am with you. He put up some gaudy stats, but It really didnt seem like he did a lot. The offense as a whole is very predicatable and we saw that in the 2nd Half. Robinson started getting rattled, and rushing his throws, and ND was keying in on him running the ball. RRod needs to find a way to get that shit figured out.

 

[FirstTimer]

Floyd looked really good in the 2nd Half, but where the hell was he for the entire first half? Was it because of the Backup Qbs? I dont think I remember his name being called at all.

Ding. Plus Michigan was rolling lots of coverage to him. You saw it really well on the second to last play of the 1st half where Montana found Riddick on the sideline at the 3 yard line. Floyd ran a skinny post and 3 Michigan DB's ran with him leaving Riddick wide open.

That last throw was so anti-climatic, I was sitting on the edge of my seat expecting some sort of hail mary and every one was going up to get it, and he chucked it into the crowd? I mean Im glad he did, but it just seemed like a waste.

Agree 100%. I was just kind of standing there in shock with my mouth wide open like "WTF?". I don't even think I yelled or cussed...I was just kind of...confused?

As far as Denard, I am with you. He put up some gaudy stats, but It really didnt seem like he did a lot. The offense as a whole is very predicatable and we saw that in the 2nd Half. Robinson started getting rattled, and rushing his throws, and ND was keying in on him running the ball. RRod needs to find a way to get that shit figured out.

Thanks. I'm glad it wasn't just me. A day later and I'm still trying to figure out how a guy put up 500 yards on us and I'm not even really pissed off at the defense. It's fucking weird. Honestly one of the weirdest things I've experienced in my life as a football fan. Denard played great but the biggest difference make was Crist. If he doesn't miss basically the entire first half I'm confident Notre Dame wins this game regardless of how many yards Denard puts up.

With Crist Notre Dame is a top 20-25 team. Without him they are just plain bad.

Michigan scoring 14 points when Crist was out was basically the difference in the football game.

 

[FirstTimer]

The scary part is now that Notre Dame is 1-1 and they have to go to MSU, then have Stanford at home, and BC on the road, then Pitt at home I can see this team losing all four of these toss up game and being 1-5 real quick. I think they steal one or two in there at end up at about 2-4 or 3-3 but it could get ugly real fast in South Bend...The front side of this schedule is brutal for a new coach and a team in transition.

 

[Sportsbuck]

Maybe its just me... but on that last play, why not call a TO and talk things over? Set up a hook-and-ladder or something, but no, lets just toss up a hail mary (and have the QB put it in the stands).

Kelly should've kicked the FG before the half.

 

[Irish]

Recruit news : None yet, word was the Atkinson brothers seen doing pushups in the student section.

As for the game....

We were the better team. No doubt in my mind if Crist played the whole game we win, and its not close. QB depth is terrible. If Crist has to ever miss any long period of time this season, its basically done. Rees is way to young to fully execute this offense and Nate isn't good enough too.

Defense for the most part played good. Still a huge upgrade over last year. Am I extremely confident they can shut down playmakers, no. But they could contain them at times. Last couple years, they couldnt.

Im not gonna dwell on the game, so instead Ill look to the future.

Western Michigan/Navy/Tulsa/Army are all games we should win, Navy being the hardest.

Assuming we win those games, thats 5 wins. Id think we have to win 3 or 4 out of these schools to make a big bowl and really propel us next year.
USC/MSU/Pitt/Utah/BC/Stanford

I say, as long as Crist stays healthy(please god), we can probably take 3 or 4 of those games.

But if Crist goes down, we lose to one of those teams we should beat, we get swept by the schools we could beat, this season could be another tough one to watch like the past couple of years. The only bright spot would be this year is setting up the future, last couple of years were supposed to be the future.