Well not the start I was hoping for, back to back 3 and out's and Duke is moving the ball on our defense.
Once again there's anticipation of a dominant O line and nothing but disappointment. Play calling has been questionable. Duke has 8 players in the box and we're running on first down? With 21/2 min. we get a first down at the 12 and it's now time to try a running play or two to take time off the clock. And what do we run? A pass for an INT. Like the frosh RB but as Dungy said, they'e more effective when they run misdirection.
Offense was disappointing in the 1st half, really blew it after that good 75 yd play with the pick on the next play. But 10-6 is better than losing. Defense has looked ok most of the time, but Duke's 2 FG came off of very good drives. I guess at the moment I'd say the OL is the biggest disappointment. I'll give Duke credit, people said they had a good DL and all but I still thought I'd see a much better running game. Ian Book at QB has been very average. 10-6 and we get the ball coming out after the half and they need to get a score!
Costly turnover, great play by the defense to force the fumble, but it cost us Kyle Hamilton. Good drive though to take advantage of the turnover. Terrific 4th down run by Kyren Williams for the TD.
Final 27-13 Irish Win. It wasn't a great win, it wasn't a win that I can take and say we are really a great team and CFP here we come. I'm thinking that Kyren Williams has potential at RB, Mike Mayer is going to be hard to keep out of the starting lineup. Defense made some really great plays and also at times looked lost. I think the defense will be good. I think everybody is worried about the play of the OL. Jeff Quinn the OL coach was not a popular hire and more than a few thought he should have been fired after last season. Tom Rees the OCoord was also not a popular hire, I doubt if he's increased in stature with this game. Ian Book struggled, his stats might look good but he missed a lot of throws. Our WR corp was a big question mark coming into the season, and they still are a big question mark. But a win is a win and I'm glad for the win.
They officially announced that Brian Kelly has a new 5 year contract extension. Since we are a private institution we don't know how much money he's really making. But it's plenty, of that much I'm sure.
I couldn't agree more. It was the first ND home game that I enjoyed watching at home in as long as I can remember. He's not as polished of a public speaker, but he's not a fangirl and he's not rooting for the other team. Just pure analysis from a real football mind. I hope we never let him go. As for the team, I think I saw what I expected to see. The OC position is an decoy at ND, it's BK's offense as is the play calling. There's the same rhythm and tempo, or lack thereof, to every offense we've had at ND. This is a very, very talented team and overall I was pleased with what I saw on the field. I don't mind the defense either. Everything you're going to get on a Lea defense is up early before he makes adjustments. Lost in the whining about it being Duke is the fact that they are a better team this year than they were last year, they have one of the best football coaches on any level in Coach Cut, a huge upgrade at QB and one of the premier pass rushers in the game. We coasted through that win without showing much of anything other than we have a lot of good RBs. Book is what he is and living with that is just part of accepting Kelly. I have a real problem with blaming Book on several of those 'mistakes' when it hits the guy in the freaking hands. Notice, the offense stopped sputtering when they put the true freshman from Kentucky in at TE. What's his name (that should tell you something, I've already forgotten his name) better be ready to compete and lead or he'll be the #2 TE again this year. Not that there's anything wrong with that, because that position gets a lot of play at ND anyway. Our TE might be the best player on the field offensively and he's an 18 year old freshman.
I guess my disappointment was that I expected more from Book this season, and certainly that can still happen and I don't know if WR play was part of the problem, but he did make some bad throws although over all his on a bad day he completed 60% of his passes and a few of them were well thrown. But also a few were at receivers feet or over their heads. Bottom line is that he needs to play better. They did stick with the run even when it wasn't going anywhere, they ran 42 times vs 31 passes. There are a lot of teachable moments for the staff in getting the team ready for the next game. Bright spots were the play of Kyren Williams and Mike Mayer on offense and Joe Wilkins who I hardly know who he is at WR. Avery Davis the 5th year jack of all trades made 2 great catches 1 for a 1st down and 1 for a TD. As has been noted of course the OL needs to improve, one thing I noticed is they didn't have many, maybe 1, false starts. Echinberg was the reincarnation of Mike McFlinchey last year. Defenses under Lea seems to start slow and then he adjusts. Foskey looks like the real deal, McCloud the CB from NC State looked pretty good and the defense played well without it's best player in Kyle Hamilton, in the 2nd half. BTW reports are that he has a sprained ankle, so he's likely to be ok. Maybe miss a game or maybe not. I hope it's not the dreaded high ankle sprain. My feeling watching the game was that our run defense was bad, but they only rushed for 73 yds, although if you don't count sacks it was more. I'll give coach Cut his due, he's a good coach and they didn't come to just show up and collect a check and a beating and go home.
No one plays a weaker schedule than the Patriots every year. They not only play cream puffs, but they play them TWICE! JIF's excuse is that the league schedules the Pats. Think about that.
Hey we play the same schedule as Clemson, who has won multiple Nat'l Championships!! But then some things never change, I imagine that some time in the far distant future your final words will be ....Notre Dame cream puff schedule... Other than that I hope you are doing well Joel! Sincerely!
Here's what I found about Javon. Senior WR Javon McKinley was rarely targeted in the pass game, and his one target that would have picked up a third-down was negated by an offensive pass interference penalty on Tremble. He had a great downfield block on the 26-yard scoring run by Williams.