What a bizarre set of games stats. Consider that: Golson had 446 yards passing while ASU had 428 total yards. But he only completed slightly more than 50% of his pass attempts. Golson had 5 turnovers all by himself. He could have had 3 more. ASU had 1. ND averaged 1.1 yards per carry ( 41 yards on 38 carries ). ASU had 188 yards per carry and averaged 4.2 . Did we miss Schmidt or what? We gave up 55 points and lost by 24 yet we had two more first downs! General thoughts: Golson giveth and taketh away. 17 turnovers in the last five games would get most QBs a permanent seat on the bench yet he represents almost our entire offense. Our defense is on the field much more than they should be and have very little time in between shifts becuase thgis offense either scores quickly or turns the ball over a lot. Golson is being blitzed a lot because it pushed the entire LOS backward and he is short. How many passes were knocked down at the line? He can't see. ASU might have scored 75 if not for Jaylon Smith.
Watched Kelly's post game ....man he really tore into Eric Hansen (I think) who suggested in the first question that ND came out flat. Kelly goes what game were you watching, did you see our first drive? We played sloppy but we didn't come out flat. Hansen really wouldn't give in on the whole the team was flat angle. I agree with Kelly, the team wasn't flat, flat is coming out and going a couple of 3 and outs. It was all those turnovers. Even with all of that, if they had gotten one more stop instead of giving up a score, then I think that game would have been 38-34 with a few minutes to go...of course they didn't get that one more stop and then they turned it over again...EOG. When I go back to the beginning of the season, everybody said that this team needed to score a lot of points, defense was too young and too thin. It's hard to evaluate the defense fairly in this game, sure ASU moved the ball and ran it well, but if our offense doesn't give them a pick 6 and 2 short fields due to turnovers in the 1st quarter..it's a different ball game. This game was squarely on the offense, you can't do to a young defense like ours what our offense did to them and expect to win. Kelly said that ASU didn't do anything we weren't expecting, that we just played sloppy...which was obvious. Maybe some of that sloppy was due to the blitzing of ASU, you think? There will be calls for Kelly to play Zaire, but he said in the Press Conf that Golson gives us the best chance to win. So barring injury I don't expect to see Zaire.
George I never looked at those post game stats..sort of the classic stats are for losers. But it does make a point that if we don't turn it over 6 times maybe we'd have won yesterday...but we did. This team wins or loses on Golson, it's just the way it is this year...we don't have an Alabama defense.
Looking back, if you had told me we would be in the playoff conversation in week 11, as blindly optimistic as I always am in the preseason, I wouldn't have believed it, based on our youth and unproven offense. Yet we were. Looking back, if you had told me we'd play a game vs. ASU without starting one senior on defense, I'd have been incredulous. Despite the above, looking back, if you had said we'd give up the most points in a game since the infamous blowout by Miami in 1985, I'd have been upset with you for even suggesting it. Looking back, if you had told me that Everett Golson would melt down in the Arizona heat and bear responsibility for 5 momentum-swinging turnovers, I wouldn't want to believe you but I wouldn't doubt the possibility. This isn't over. We have 3 games left and definitely could lose two of them if we don't get our act together on both sides of the ball. I'm very concerned with our Jeckyll & Hyde offensive line. We were manhandled in the running game yesterday. I don't want yesterday to be a reverse signature moment for this young team. I sure hope we can correct the glaring problems before we face Northwestern, followed by Louisville and Southern Cal., and salvage a respectable season.
I have a real problem blaming the defense at all in this game. This holiday bed shitting was a team effort. Santa Golson passing out end zone stuffers and the ever so breath taking holiday performance of the 'turnstile ballet company' that is our offensive line, we didn't deserve to be involved in the discussion for the playoffs. The only part of the team that actually has an excuse is our defense and they held ASU to how many 3 and outs so we could get back into the game. They created turnovers that kept giving us shots despite the holiday giveaway going on with the offense. Now that we're out of the fun, I can resume my favorite football past time... rooting for total disaster. I had my eye on you Alabama, but you escaped this time
BTW-I agree with Sid entirely. As for Zaire, I don't want him to play over Golson but I do want to see him play more. Golson is in a lot of games late. That game was over after the Robinson pick 6. We should have put Zaire out there then. Kelly is weird about QBs. He's had QBs rotate like WRs. He's had QBs he just won't sit. Still, his team and his call.
I thought that the ASU coach was playing conservatively in the second half with the big lead. When we stopped shitting in the bed and put points on the board we actually got back in the game. That's when the defense had to come through. Result...ASU goes 75 yds. in 5 plays. It was like **** through a goose. When they really needed a stop the D folded.
I think that's fair criticism of the young defense. We needed the offense to carry us, and they laid goose **** all over the field for 4 quarters. Hell, even when we scored it was ugly. We'd go 70 yards in 3 plays and then we'd take 3 minutes to run 3 plays and barely get into the end zone. Before this game, I said the offense needed to carry the day. The best we could hope for was to put pressure on ASU, maybe cause some big turnovers or big some big sacks but the offense would need to win it. We just have too many injuries, suspensions etc. But they no showed.
Speaking of those goal line plays, why do we always run out of the shotgun there? I can see why we don't let Everett Slipperyhands sneak the ball but still the back's getting the ball 4 or 5 yds from the goal line.
I agree entirely. No wildcat. No QB under center. I honestly believe working from the shot gun, on a short field, hurts your running lanes/angles and makes it easier for the defense. Also, why the hell do we stop throwing the ball in the red zone?