Here's what I know about VT. Their record is a little deceiving. The start their season at home(with the crazy 66,000, Sandman etc) and pull off the win against what we thought then was a top 10 NC team 17-10, mostly on the strength of the defense which many thought then was a really good defense. Next they would beat a Middle Tenn St team at home 35-14. Middle Tenn St is currently 2-3 with losses to UTSA, Charlotte and Liberty. They beat Monmouth and Marshall. Next they lost to a West Virginia team on the road 27-21 who after today are 2-4 having lost badly to Baylor. They then beat mighty mighty Richmond Spiders at home and did not look good doing it. By the way, Florida St. is beating NC at NC as I'm typing this 35-17 at the beginning of the 4th Qtr. Today they are now favored to beat the Irish -1 at home with the Hokie nation and Sandman. Sooooooo what am I saying? I guess I'm just an old Notre Dame fan trying to build up enough confidence to believe the Irish can go to Blacksburg and come home to South Bend with a win. I wish JO'Co was here today to give me that confidence. I'm sure he'll be watching from up there.
Well Buchner looks like he has won the job. Sparked the offense. Hated giving up that FG by the defense.
I've come out of the rubber room. Crazy game. Quarter 1 O line it terrible and we run our statue behind 5 pylons offense. ( First 2 drives are stopped by penalties on the O line. ie. they make up for being weak and slow by being stupid.) Statue eventually is run from the game. Quarter 2 Buchner looks like he is the solution to all our problems. He gets the running attack going and throws some beautiful passes. We leave at halftime up 1. Quarter 3, Buchner loses his passing touch completely. Quarter ends with Va. Tech. up 1. Fourth quarter, redemption. The statue starts throwing 3 step passes and they're on the money. Play of the game is a great catch by Austin on a pass that Coan will never admit was a Hail Mary. With the score tied D finally tackles Burmeister short of the line to gain on 3rd down and Doerer is a doer.
And since we won and it doesn't sound like sour grapes, that roughing the passer call against Hamilton was complete BS.
Thankfully, the boys have a bye week now before the USC game. God knows we are banged up pretty bad right now.
REF: Enter Sandman. Both times ND has played down in that hell hole of a stadium the Whole Metallica Sandman ******** hasn't really effected ND on the field much. I have to admit when you finally see that goofy looking crowd in all their "Hokie" attire realize that despite all their yelling, shouting, cursing, turkey eating, jumping up and down, pounding on the walls etc.,etc, isn't going to give them a win.... the look on their faces is priceless. Just priceless.
I don't know what to say about last nights game that gipper didn't already say. It was so up and down. But I give the team and Jack Coan credit for never quitting and playing to the end. Coan as noted finally got some protection, but he also got the ball out quicker. ' I hope Buchners ankle is ok and just a minor sprain. If he can run and be 100% he can't really play. He has hit some passes, but it's clear he's got some work to do before he's more than a running QB. Whether or not the OL has made a step forward we won't really know till we see what happens vs USC. But it was encouraging that we didn't have 7 or 8 sacks and the Williams found some holes running the football. I hope Michael Mayer is 100% in 2 weeks, we really need him. That 2 point conversion. That was a hail mary, throw it up and hope one of your guys can go get it and Kevin Austin did just that!! But even if it failed we'd still have been in position to win with the FG from Doerer. 30-29 instead of 32-29
Thanks, Terry, for showing respect for Coan, something that's been lacking from others here. He's a good QB whose pocket style and lack of mobility can't be effective with an O-line that is not good at pass protection. Like you said, he was getting the ball out quicker. It paid off at the end.
About the impact of the 2 pt. conversion, VaT's next possession was a 3 and out with very little time used. And we still had TO left. If the conversion failed, tech tries to run the ball and milk the clock. With only 2 TOs to start with we'd have little time left if we force a 3 and out. I think it completely changed the last min. and a half. And let's face it from a pressure point of view, when the score's tied and you miss the game isn't over, when you trail by 2....well there's more pressure.
Good points. Fuente was being criticized by Va.Tech fans for not kicking the XP and going for 2 when they got that Pick 6, that left the score 22-21 in their favor instead of 23-21, the next TD would have made it 30-21 which of course then would have left Kelly with the option to kick the XP or go for 2, but neither would have put us in a position to go to OT. Would have forced us to make the FG or lose in regulation. Different amount of pressure on Va.Tech defense and ND offense.
Lots of talk of course on the ND QB situation. Especially with regards to Drew Pyne and why he didn't start the game vs Va.Tech. One 'Guru' said that he thought Kelly just doesn't want to have Pyne develop into Book 2.0 and do well enough that he ends up being the starter the rest of the season and that Buchner doesn't get the opportunity and goes to the Portal. He thinks Kelly wants to give Buchner continuing snaps at QB and it's easier if Coan is the starter, can pull Coan for lack of production or just to give Buchner some series. Essentially doesn't really want to give Drew the chance to win the job.
Looking at the schedule ahead of us, we could end up 11-1. But we could also end up 9-3 or 8-4. We just don't have that kind of team this year that you can look at a game with any team and say it's a guaranteed win. Maybe a week off and getting some players healthy and maybe some growth on the OL will make us a better team who won't be winning all the games with gritty comebacks. I wonder if they have settled on Alt/Kristofic/Patterson/Madden/Lugg as the starting 5 OL going forward? If they have and you get some cohesion as a unit maybe we'll see more games where Coan gets 1) some time and 2) gets the ball out quickly and we can get out to leads and the defense can hold them.
From Sampson on The Athletic Kelly was noncommittal about where Notre Dame goes from here at quarterback but conceded that the Irish might have to play two because Buchner helps the run game so much. His mid-week commentary about not being “flavor of the week” at the position simply might not be possible with this roster.
Interesting comments about the QB situation especially the influence that the portal has. All three have assets and liabilities, I guess it comes down to what's happening in a particular game. Being the starter is not as important as who's in there at crunch time. Whoever is the QB, they are much more effective if Meyer is in the lineup. Hope he's healthy for SC.
No surprise about the criticism of Fuente by the fans. My question is, if they all KNEW VT was going to score another TD why didn't they text him to let him know? Actually, there are a number of charts that have been created for coaches to follow during various scenarios. The earliest, by the way, goes back to 1970 by Dick Vermeil. All of the charts that I've seen tell you to go for 2 in the 4th quarter if the TD puts you up by 1.
Fuente commented on the going for 2 and said it's what the charts say to do. “It’s basically on your fourth quarter sheet,” Fuente said. “I don’t know. It’s a one-point game, I’ve gone the other way before and it hasn’t worked out. We went that way even though we were on the eight and it didn’t work.” The sheet Fuente’s referring to is a chart that many coaches follow to determine what to do in two-point conversation situations. It lists out the various situations and recommends the best course of action.
I’m more confused at what to think about the QB situation now than ever. First of all I have to eat crow and commend Coan for his performance cause when I saw him coming into the game at the end I said out loud “ oh no” and then watched him win the game for us. I also know and still feel Buchner is our future star beyond anything we can even imagine now. I know he had 2 picks but he is everything I thought he was when I saw his HS video, just Crazy amazing. When he lines up with a RB on each side the defense has to be trying think think who in the hell to cover cause they know it’s going to be a run but they don’t know where it’s coming from OR if Buchner is just gonna float a little pass to which ever of the backs is open and boom! It’s coming. For now I just have to be patient. Hopefully we saw some improvement from the O line that will continue and can make Coan effective and keep bringing in Buchner to gain more experience. Then somewhere before the season ends Tyler Buchner WILL be our starting QB!