I wonder what the situation on the ground is in Winston-Salem? Can they hold this event? There has been no public talk at least of 1) cancelling the game or 2) Moving it to a different location even moving it to South Bend. I'm sure Wake will want to do everything possible to preserve this as a home game. Naturally we are all worried about this game and every game given our offensive problems. Our defense which is good, but as we all know you keep putting them back out there after 3 or 4 plays and they do wear down. I am somewhat encouraged by the OL performance v Vanderbilt, they did allow the rushing total to get near the 250yds mark. But they have a ways to go with regards to Pass Protection. We have no new injuries coming out of the game. They do need a solid win, one where they finish off drives with TD's and not FG's. One where they play as well in the 2nd half as they do in the first half on offense. I watched Wake on Thursday night v BC and they have one of those QB's who can get the ball out quick and make plays. BC was able to run a lot on their defense, we don't have AJ Dillon but maybe Tony Jones continues to do what he did vs Vanderbilt and more. Maybe Jafar Armstrong continues to improve. I'd say maybe Brandon Wimbush finds his passing game, but I'm less hopeful on that front. I still think we will win, but I fear it won't be one of those wins that will give us confidence going into the Stanford game on the 29th.
I think Winston-Salem is way inland so the storm damage/flooding shouldn't be an issue. That's what they said during the BC game at least. I'd like to see a nice game where we rush for 200, throw for 250+ and our opponents get called for holding.
According to a headline in the Winston-Salem Journal "8-15 in. of rain possible next weekend." ND-NCS part II.
We are supposed to be a playoff contender. Haven't looked like one yet. Kelly's coaching has been hard to decipher; I'm beginning to think he knows that we are not as good as advertised ( Offense ) and he is trying to just eke out wins without taking too many chances. Our chances all begin and end with QB.
Rechecked the weather for W-S. Looks like it will be dry the next 3 days than normal afternoon thunderstorms for sat. Flo done go.
That would be I fear the University of Wake Forrest. They have scholarship players as well! But truthfully I fear everybody on our schedule. As Krebs said we are not a CFP contender at this point, we are undefeated and in the top 10. But it doesn't feel that way. It feels like we are a team struggling to find a way to win against very average teams, except Michigan, so far. Also while I think our defense is pretty good, it's not as good as it seemed against Michigan. We haven't really gotten to either the Ball State or Vanderbilt QB's. They have been able to stay in the pocket and make their throws. The Wake Forrest kid is another QB who isn't an All-American but plays in an offense designed to get the ball out quickly complete a lot of passes. Both Vandy and Ball State were able to control the game in the 2nd half with their passing game. I fear Wake will do the same. I think Wake has a better running game than Vanderbilt or Ball State as well. I'd like of course to see our Offense get untracked and our defense show some pass rush to help the DB's. We'll see. Last year we had Wake Forrest beaten at half time and it looked like it was going to be a blowout in the 2nd half, then Wake figured something out and they made it a game in the 2nd half. Now that QB from last year is gone, but the new kid looks good as well.
I still contend that zero offensive holding calls on OLs in 3 games has something to do with slowing our pass rush. Maybe not.
Maybe they don't need to hold our DL's to stop their pass rush! :? Yeah but seriously that is an odd stat.
hahaha yeah that's always possible. I saw one play where our guy got hurt because he flat out got tackled as he was turning to seal the edge. I like Clark's defense so far, but it would be nice if they were a tad nastier.
Bowl projections have been out every week since the end of the last bowl season. The most recent ones I've seen on ESPN and USAToday have the Irish either in the Peach Bowl vs Georgia or the Fiesta Bowl vs UCF.
Georgia to the Peach when they finish 2nd in the SEC? I'd think they'd go to the Sugar, unless the Sugar is part of the playoffs this year.
Corey, Alabama went through a similar situation last year. We had an excellent pass rush but we went through like 8 games with no holding calls. Sometimes you just wonder.
KP, You do have to wonder. Holding happens on every play. How does it not get called on an opponent's OL for 3 straight games?
Reading today's scouting report on ISD, it appears that Wake should be a handful for the Irish defense. They average 102 plays per game, that's the average. They are a heavy RPO team that is 50/50 run/pass and very efficient. They have a couple of very good RB's and have been averaging 250+ per game running the ball. They have good WR's and a veteran OL. For some reason they have stalled out in the red zone a lot and are only 50%. The good news is that they are struggling on defense and the Irish offense might be able to get untracked against the Wake Forrest defense. So I think most expect us to win, but I wonder if this will end up being a shoot out as opposed to the defensive low scoring games we have had so far.
My concern is this: We score in 2 plays, defense is back on the field.. they'll be out there for 8 plays even if they hold. Then we score in 3 plays, defense is back on the field. they'll be out there for another 8 plays. We score once again in 5 plays, defense is back on the field for 10 plays and give up a FG. We're up 21-3, BK starts shutting things down and getting predictable but our defense has already been on the field for 26 plays and NOW we're going to start going 3 and out... putting them back on the field... When do we get Dexter back btw?
Vandy coach took exception to Kelly calling out the cut blocking on Alize Mack during the game and threw in that ND OL was holding all game. Kelly said this on Tues: Amazingly this garnered even the biggest Kelly haters on NDNation to say Kelly was right and they like him standing up for his players. Why do I think Kelly said this as a result of Mason's time with Stanford. Kelly has had a bad relationship with the Stanford staff one of their S&C coaches taunted Kelly after the last Stanford game in ND stadium which they won. [/quote]