So this is the next "big" game. Northwestern just beat Wisconsin handily, but to be fair Wisconsin's starting QB did not play against Northwestern. So that had to have had some impact. But make no mistakes is a good solid football team. I'm not sure if they will end up winning the B1G West as they still have to beat Iowa to sew it up the week after the ND game. I think I remember them being touted as potentially a 10 win team before the season, they looked very good in their opener vs Purdue, but then crashed with the rest of the B1G in that bad weekend where they lost to Akron, followed by a close loss to Michigan at home. Since then they have run off 4 wins in a row. They are a well coached team with Pat Fitzgerald. Irish, should be pretty healthy for the trip, only Drew Tranquil will be questionable. They said it was an ankle, if it's the High Ankle then even Mr. Fast Healer Cole Kmet took several weeks. Drew White was first off the bench vs Navy which surprised a lot of people as he wasn't even in the 3 deep at that position. So I don't know who will start if Drue isn't ready to go at game time.
We have the Kelly handicap to overcome and I'd feel a lot better if Drue was playing Saturday. Northwestern just keeps scrapping. That really worries me because we've been known to take quarters, and halves, off. This will be a game in which we have better athletes, but we will need to execute and create some turnovers. Even then, they still won't go away.
Two items of interest to ND fans taken from Twitter: From Drue Tranquill: Re: Saturday's game vs. Northwestern:
So glad to hear that about Tranquill, he's been through a lot in his time at Notre Dame. He's always had a lot of talent but he's been hampered by 2 knee surgeries, last year was his first full healthy season and he thrived at Rover in the new defense. This year the move to Buck was a bit of a risk, but Lea wanted his experience there and he's played very well. He's not got a very big shot at the NFL and I won't be surprised if he's an UFA. But he has his degree in Mech Engineering and came back for his 5th year, so to have it all end in another knee injury would have been terrible. I have no doubt he's working hard on whatever rehab they have him doing just wonder if he can play against Northwestern. The guys behind him haven't logged much time, so it's into unknown territory. A lot of discussion is going on with regards to the passing game that Long has for Ian Book, lot of short passes, lot of screens, quick outs, timing throws. Thought is that teams are going to start jumping those routes, the answer will be of course Book going down field, which he has but not a lot time. Those 2 TD's to Boykin last week were both good down field throws, he missed Kmet on one down the middle. So no doubt DCoord are going to try their best to cut off those short and horizontal routes and force him to beat them more with vertical passes. If he can then it's gold.
Kelly's Press Conf 1. Alize Mack in concussion protocol. Fortunately we have a lot of TE's on the roster so not a big thing if he doesn't play. Kmet, Weishar and Brock Wright should be enough. 2. Tranquill is a possible for Sat. If not Jordan Genmark-Heath, Drew White or Asmar Bilal will be working that position. Bilal has been the starting Rover so I don't know who will play Rover, I guess Shayne Simon. 3. He liked what he saw from Aaron Banks at LG. 4. Pointed out that Northwestern is 12-1 in their last 13 B1G games.
We're at that point of the season where every game is now the biggest game of the year for us. It's all laid out to be had with the work. Northwestern will grind this out and not back down. We'll need a top shelf effort Saturday night.
Buckeyes should be very good this year. Irish on a rough start losing 2 to UMD and now to the Buckeyes.
I suspect the Irish hockey team will find their legs sometime in the next month or so. Big game tonight.
7-7 at half, we're not matching Northwestern emotion and intensity. Better play with more energy or...
This energy and effort will not do. The Irish have to come out with a lot more of everything in the 2nd half.
Much better in the 2nd half, still when we had a chance to put our foot on their throat we didn't. The TD run by Book though was a great call. Special teams gaff letting that kid have a free run at the punter was a huge gaff. Book though was spectacular in the 2nd half. I do think there is something with the offense that both Pitt and Northwestern figured out that keeps us from being able to run inside. They need to fix that.
This was a tough game for us. The finish line is not in sight yet and Northwestern was really pumped up by their fiery coach. Despite their emotion we never trailed and it was a good win. We should be able to handle FSU next week and finish line will be in sight. With Book we're talented enough to make the playoffs but only if we're focused enough. We seemed to come out of this game pretty healthy. That's big.
NW is a solid team. Quality defensive and offensive line, good linebackers and well coached. But, ND looked like it had a clear edge in team speed and talent at the running back and WR positions. Book really had a nice second half and NW seemed incapable of defending against ND's passing attack in the second half. After NW scored following the blocked punt, I wondered if ND would try to run time off by keeping the ball on the ground which would have played to NW's strength since they defend well against the run. But, ND continued to attack with the pass and closed out ND with its last TD. Nice win for the Irish.
Polian the super recruiter is our special teams coach, right? Can we put him in charge of clipboards and recruiting?
ND <r>Game over, ND wins. Hopefully that shuts Fitzgerald's ND hating mouth. Score should have been more for ND. We put up around 450yds to NWs 250. <br/> <br/> Bring on Florida ST in South Bend next week. I haven't forgotten last time in Tallahasse. Should have been an Irish win but the refs had other ideas. <E>:?</E></r>
Something that has bothered me all year is that no one ever gets called for holding against ND. We have one of the better front 4s in the game especially on pass rush. How do we magically seem to bring out such exquisite protection from our opponents???!! Northwestern had zero penalties tonight and once again, I saw multiple holds that were uncalled.
Nice win for the Irish yesterday and I really thought Northwestern might be trouble for you. Great season so far for Irish fans. Ian Book seems to improve with each game.
I'm not going to lie. I was wound pretty tight at half time. But this Irish team is different than what we have become accustomed to, especially on defense. Todd Blackledge hit the nail on the head; they get max pressure from the front four with no blitz help and that makes the whole defense that much better. Kelly started the 4th quarter, once again, with the intent to run out a 15 minute quarter. It is simply in his DNA to close down his offense after three quarters and simply try to make the finish line. But two three and outs, a blocked punt and two quick TDs forced him back to the playbook. If you went into this game knowing the following: Road game, opponent on a four game winning streak, ND would fumble the ball away and have a punt blocked, we would have numerous penalties while the opponent would have none, Yoon would miss an easy FG and our leading rusher would have 56 yards …. who among us would have predicted a double digit win? That's the power of defense.