Louis Nix out for the game with tendonitis of the knee. Not even traveling, they say. Christian Lombard, starting OT, out for the year. Tru frshman Steve Elmer to start.
Fortunately, AF has the worst DBs I have ever seen. Rees is just target shooting.. 14-7 Irish Just into Q2.
Tonight was the first time in school history that 5 different players each caught a TD pass in the same game.
:roll: 1. I hate playing Air Force. I'll be glad when this series is over. 2. It was a great day for playing all those guys who never get in there and for younger players to get experience. The first two TDs were scored by true freshmen Corey Robinson and Will Fuller. Robinson was too tall for them and Fuller was simply too fast... 3. I was glad to see Kelly pull Tommy after 5 TD passes. We don't have anyone else ready to go... 4. True frosh Jaylon Smith looked like a man among boys out there... 5. When Watt went down, the other OLs looked just as good. 6. There was such a disparity in size, weight and talent between the two teams that there isn't much to analyze. Air Force is the real "America's Team" but that doesn't help in football...
Air Force is a shadow of the team that they were, they've always been undersized but this year they are just way too young and undersized. But those kids fought to the end. It took the defense a few series to get their feet under them defending that option, they were gashing us at 5-7 yds a pop, but once we did they didn't have a prayer. Tommy had an exceptional game but then he was throwing to a awesome corp of recievers and had all day to do it most of the time. I hope that Kelly finally gives up on GAIII and Amir Carlisle as RB's they were terrible again. McDaniel and Folston need to be the 2 man rotation going forward. Also pray that Tommy Rees stays healthy, any thought that Andrew Hendrix could step in and run this team should be out the window. Sure he threw 1 good pass, and it was good, but every other pass he attempted was awful any team facing him could afford to play him like USC with 10 men in the box. I'm not sure what the point would be to bring him back next year. Surely we have a couple of walkons that would be as effective. He needs to get started on his career as an Obamacare employee. Kelly needs to find a reason to have Nix sit vs Navy as well, we will be fine without him and the way they cut block they'd risk injuring him. We need him 100% for the final 3 games. I tell you what, Golson will have some targets next year. Daniels, Robinson, Fuller, Nikklas, Tori Hunter Jr, Onwaulua, just to name a few. We'll miss T. J. Jones but still should have plenty of weapons. Carlisle should move full time to slot reciever.
I would have played Zaire yesterday. This saving a year is nonsense. Rees is always a threat to get smoked back there and if Hendrix offers no hope in a crisis. Yesterday was the perfect opportunity to find out what the kid has.
ND <t>Finally, finally, FINALLY we got to see more of our RB Folston. I hope it was as obvious to everyone else, even with the few carries he got, how much difference there is between him and both Carlisle and Atkinson. This kid can get it done between the tackles. He got the moves, the steps, the direction change etc. If I see us on the 1 yd line again without him in the backfield I'm gonna cry. He needs to be our workhorse RB by time we get to Stanford.</t>
at this point, I'm afraid Stanford is going to smoke us. I agree that the freshman appear to be the best RBs that we have along with McDaniel. One thing that drives me nuts about this staff is that they do not seem to comprehend the idea of specialization. You can use GA3 in certain situations and he will do well. Ditto that for all of the other RBs. We continue to use them in a blanketed approach and that just doesn't seem smart.
Running the ball effectively requires a rhythm. Backs get into a groove; they feel it.. And linemen get in sync with different backs, they know their tendencies. It is tough to get an effective running attack going with all this switching around. It wasn't that long ago that good backs carried 18-25 times a game or more. If we can't run for 100-150 yards per game we can't beat the top teams and that would include Stanford. The MVP on ND is the O-Line in pass blocking where they have excelled all year blocking for a QB who is completely immobile and who audibles more than any QB I have ever seen. The fact that Tommy has only been sacked 7 times all year is an incredible testimony to a fabulous line.
OL has been good pass blocking for sure, and clearly opposing defenses have decided that they will take their chances on Tommy beating them with their arm before they'll respect it and give us some running room. I don't wish anything but good things for guys like GAIII, but when he was in the game vs Air Force he just didn't use his talent. He's big, he's fast, he should be powerful but the Air Force defense got him every time. Maybe later in the game after we'd burned them he'd have done better. But right now it seems to me that Kelly needs to start Cam McDaniel and bring Folston in off the bench. As far as the future goes, I don't know what to think about Zaire. Kelly wants to preserve his RS year, I see that same thing in Austin where he Longhorn version of Tommy (Case McCoy) has nobody backing him up, they have their version of Zaire in a kid name Tyrone Swoopes. Everybody is screaming to take his RS off and Mack is trying like hell to not do that. Given the number of RS QB's who come out in their 2nd year and look great it seems to be a good strategy.
Watt and Sheldon Day are...day to day and Ishaq is doubtful for Navy..I didn't see how he got injured but he'd been playing better lately and I had hopes he would finish the season strong and be a big asset next year on defense.