Not Notre Dame's night. Louisville has been able.forum the ball very well and as always, turnovers will kill you.
They came out with their hair and fire and just dominated us on both lines. We were supposed to have a good OL, but they looked like a MAC OL, even our future #1 draft pick Joe Alt was knocked on his butt a couple of times. Freeman, I'm sorry was just flat out out coached by Jeff Brohm. This does not bode well for the USC game and if we get our ass handed to us again, the team could crater and lose some more and 6-6 or 7-5 are in play here.
A lot of NFL draft stocks took a hit tonight. Both of our lines were dominated but our O Line was shredded for four quarters. Freeman was in way over his head tonight.
Sam Hartman not only eliminated himself from Heisman talk but may have relegated his draft status to the lower rounds as well. Five turnovers will do that. Against a big rush he looks fragile and not very mobile. And he had a big rush from start to finish. Everybody on the line was manhandled but none more than our two tackles. Those two got punked all night long. It will be interesting to see how Hartman finishes the season. If we lose another game or two will he finish out or leave early ?
We didn't have the talent edge to not be at our emotional best last night and that showed. The schedule turned out to be much more daunting that it originally appeared. The obvious failure was our O line as everyone has said. But that doesn't diminish the ineffectiveness of our WRs. Early in the game Tyree had gotten behind his defender and was open. Hartman threw a great pass on the money. Tyree hadn't looked back for the ball and his angle was awful. It came directly over his head and he didn't see it until the last second and couldn't make the catch. Had he picked it up earlier, he could have veered slightly to his right and take it over his shoulder. Evans was once again the only bright spot but even he at the end didn't bring in a contested pass. The worst effort of the night was put in by the OC. How many times do you have to be stuffed behind the LOS on third and short before you try something else. We had a 3rd and 1/2 yd. and could have run a sneak, but we had to hand off to a back who was blown up 2 yds. behind the LOS. Hint to Gerald Parker: a play action short pass probably was a better call. Calling the same type of play in the same situation over and over again and expecting a different result fits the definition of insane play calling. Hartman doesn't have great mobility and he needed that last night. He might have looked fragile to some but he took quite a pounding but stayed in their trying to make plays. He looked no different to me than many of the high first round drafted QBS in the NFL who end up on teams with terrible OLs. I agreed with Freemans decision to go for it on 4th and 11. It was a long shot but punting to the Cards would have been just as long a shot. Our D was getting gashed by the Louisville running attack and time and again we were not setting the corners on sweeps. As to the O line. They're in the running for the Moore award. The Gary Moore award which goes to the biggest joke of an overrated O line. Alt's "financial advisor" must have craped in his pants when he saw him butt planted. I don't want to criticize the WR coach since he was left with a bare cupboard when he got here and what little talent he recruited apparently have hammy problems. The biggest difference between last year and this year is that our special teams have gone from great to run of the mill. Can we get Mason back?
Normally, I'd keep this to myself, but I'm inclined to share what happened for me last night. Three things: 1) a completed pass for a first down on a solid series potentially leading to a TD was nullified by a STUPID face mask call on an OL of all people; 2) a KEY ND stop of L'ville on 4th down was nullified by another STUPID face mask penalty on a defensive player far away from the ball; 3) the team lined up for a STUPID play on 4th and 11 in our territory. I didn't even watch the play. I turned off the game and watched something else until I went to bed assuming the loss. This is a team in chaos, poorly coached, poorly disciplined. Those who know me well know I rarely, if ever, criticize coaching. Well, I'm done letting Notre Dame football break my heart, not because we lost; because we self-destructed in front of millions of loyal fans. I still will follow the team and watch the games, but doing so won't be a priority. My emotions have been drained. No longer do I care. If something more interesting comes up, I'll skip watching the game. Up until now, over 60-plus years, Notre Dame football has been an important part of my life, a high priority. No longer. I'm re-ordering my priorities for the years (hopefully) I have left on this earth. Going forward, Notre Dame football will not be a priority. Carry on, gentlemen.
No more loyal son exists than you Sid, when some like you throws up his hands at the direction of the program we are in trouble.
We all want the same thing here. And we are all frustrated. Notre Dame appears to have all of its infrastructure in place. They have more depth than at any time since 1988. They have media coverage that is second to none. They are making money hand over fist. All signs point to coaching as the issue. Freeman is a tremendous recruiter and face for the university. But maybe he was not ready for the Xs and Os at this level in his first head coaching gig.
A little levity to close out this most trying weekend. Irish Illustrated now projects us to play West Virginia in the Pop Tarts Bowl. Oy !
Lots of people disdain Pete Sampson as a shill for the University and Jack Swarbrick. But this is what he said about the game. Also he said in the article that he dialed back practice. Notre Dame’s plan to beat Louisville was more wishful thinking than strategy. Hope that the offensive line could get right by playing four different lineups. Hope that going for it on fourth-and-11 early in the fourth quarter made analytical sense. Hope that the staff could slash the volume of practice periods on Tuesday and still be ready on Saturday. Hope that Notre Dame could stop committing catastrophic penalties. “We cannot sit here and mope and feel bad for ourselves. We have to move forward. And so, this will be a true test of our leadership, starting with me and our captains.” In Freeman’s logic — Notre Dame already had to move forward, from the 10-men embarrassment against Ohio State to the emotion-draining final drive against Duke. It’s just not clear the staff has a counter punch at the ready, and it’s all a hard riddle to solve for Notre Dame. For Freeman, for Parker, for Hartman. The grand experiment of adding a player like Hartman to the roster won’t pay the dividends Notre Dame’s program or fans expected. How Freeman pivots from here may go a long way to determining how his time at Notre Dame is remembered no matter how long it lasts. Because the biggest blown opportunity didn’t come from the players; it came from the program at large. Freeman’s now 14-7 with the book on Parker out more by the week. Now it’s time for Notre Dame, Freeman and Parker to add another chapter, with the Irish desperate for some author to emerge. As Louisville fans reminded Notre Dame’s players as they walked up the stadium stairs to head home defeated and dejected, Freeman’s program doesn’t know what hit it on Saturday night.
i see that Fr. Jenkins has announced his retirement as President at the end of the 2023-2024 Academic Year. He's been to some a controversial President and to some even worse. I personally don't have any opinion on his tenure. He's not as disliked by the online community as Jack Swarbrick who also is retiring, and his replacement has already been named and is on campus "learning" the ropes. A lot of names have been put out there as possible replacements and some have even speculated that it might be time for a secular President. Again, personally, I would like to see the tradition of a CSC continued assuming there is someone in the Order who is ready to step up to the job. Lot of changes coming down the pike at ND. I hope the new AD, who by the fact that he's 1) never been in Athletic Administration, and 2) was chosen by Swarbrick , already is starting out behind the 8 ball with many online fans who dislike Swarbrick. In the meantime we have to hope that Coach Freeman has a good plan for Sat nights game and that a win or at the very least a competitive game that results in a close loss . Certainly not a repeat of the disaster at Louisville.
Cloudy, rainy, the kind of weather than chills you to the bone when you're still used to warmer days. Check out the sidelines tonight. If the Irish are standing watching the game in just their jerseys and the Trojans are under their parkas, you know one team is just thinking about getting on their plane and heading back to the beach. Thanks for the help mother nature. We need it.
New world. The NBC Saturday Night Game lead in promo for the USC?ND is a promo for Big 10 Football on Saturday night.