Random observations. Freeman and Venables at Oklahoma are both highly regarded defensive coordinators who are finding the head coaching job challenging to say the least. The Irish O-Line was completely dominated in the second half by a much smaller Navy front. Navy had more total yards than the Irish. In fact the Irish had 12 total yards in the second half. That is not a typo. The Quarterback who will take the Irish to the next level is not currently on the roster. Rees has been a disappointment this year. He has not adapted to his talent. Case in point, having a 5'11" QB operate as a dropback passer. I count seven batted passes in the last two weeks. Maybe, roll the pocket?
Big surprise for Womens basketball fans, a surprise commitment by Canadian Cassandre Prosper a top 20 national recruit to go along with Emma Risch.
Yes, Mike. You'll appreciate that as she and Brian were leaving the stadium, she stopped and turned toward the field as the band played the ND alma mater, and she sang it along with the ND crowd. Bobda, thank you for your very kind words. She's a pretty special young lady. Unbiased opinion, of course.
I think you're right on this. When Navy figure out ND was basically abandoning the run and went all out on blitzing every play, Rees should have change his plays. It's obvious Pyne isn't capable of getting the ball out to any receiver in time when he blitzed yet he keep putting Pyne in the same situation. Pyne is what he is but Rees should have changed his strategy in the 2nd half. Freeman has to take some blame here too. He should have told Rees it wasn't working in the2nd half and to adjust to what was happening on the field.
Freeman needs to step up and let Rees go at the end of the season and take more control of the whole team. How can you play so well against Clemson, NC, Cuse, BYU and so bad against Marshall, Stanford and and the 2nd half against Navy? It's not talent, it's coaching. The only teams on the schedule that have more talent than ND are Oh St and Clemson. We should be 9-1 and 2 of those lossesm should have been blow out wins and a couple of the wins should have been blow out wins as well including of course Navy yesterday. I understand Freeman is a first year HC but Rees is no a first year OC. Again, Pyne is what he is. Don't put him in situations he can't perform well in. By now you should know how to play call for him based on his strength. They should have gone back to the run yesterday when you knew Navy was just going to continue to blitz and Pyne was not able to handle it. The only thing good about the game is we won, thank God.
I can't in anyway that Freeman will fire Tommy Rees, no matter how many fans think he should. It's like when Greg Davis was Mack Browns OCoord at Texas, fans wanted him gone but Mack never saw it that way and he was Mack's Coordinator till he retired. If Rees gets an offer to be a HC and takes it that's another story. But I can't see him being that attractive as a HC to many programs at this point. So I expect that we'll have Tommy Rees as the OCoord next season.
Just my uneducated layman's opinion but we run every play from the shotgun. That means that our backs take the ball 3 or so yds. behind the line of scrimmage. Yesterday on a critical 3rd and 2 in the second half our runner was stopped behind the line of scrimmage not by a D lineman but a back who blitzed around the corner of the line. Pyne could probably sneaked ahead for two yds. behind our line but instead we've got the slow developing deep handoff. Perhaps they feel he's too short to take the snap directly behind center but our running game has been stopped time and again by run blitzes going around or line. On some of the replays it was obvious that short crossing routes were open but Pyne held on until he ate the football. Maybe he's too short to see open receivers. Our backup QBs hardly ever get to play during a season and when they do they just hand off at garbage time. We end up losing some to the portal and others don't bother to sign. Perhaps if we had a stable of big time receivers it would help. Whatever, like everyone else, I don't see the solution to the QB problem on campus.
The whole question of running out of the shotgun, even in short yardage is not new. Fans esp of our age who grew up with the QB under center always puzzle why teams do it. But they do, virtually all college football teams even Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State run out of the Shotgun. I'd say it's only occasional that the top teams put their QB under center for short yardage, it's not zero of course. But if you take away QB sneaks it's even less common. Even in the NFL the vast majority of running plays are from the shotgun formation. Not saying it's the right way, but it does seem that universally OCoord both Pro and NFL prefer to run their offense both passing and running from the shotgun formation.
If we had the QB of Alabama, Ohio St. Ga. of any pro QB we could beat that blitz with quick throws over the middle or passes to backs who brush a block and get open behind the blitzing players....but we don't. So let's run an offense like we do?
It's not that I don't agree with you, it's just that it's not just teams with incredible talent at QB/RB it's everybody. If you watch a lot of college football you'd be hard pressed to find a team no matter how good or bad who routinely goes under center anymore even in short yardage running situations. I'm not say nobody ever does it but that it's just not the way most offenses do it outside of QB sneaks. I watched Texas/TCU last night I can't think of a single instance of short yardage where either team went under center. The Pistol was supposed to be the offense that gave that TB the "better" shot at running the ball but while teams use it, it's never become a widely adapted offense. The shotgun is it.
When Stanford was really good, they were a team who went under center quite a bit, esp in short yardage it was a standard part of their offense. More than a few ND fans longed for a coach who ran the offense like Harbaugh/Shaw. They don't do that anymore. If you remember that sequence at the end of the 2012 game in South Bend they were under center the whole sequence. Didn't make it. I don't want to seem argumentative and I'd welcome anything that made our offense better.
Irish Men played Youngstown State and it was a tough competitive game that the Irish held them off for the win. This team has some issues with defense, in this game YSU repeatedly got layups beating us down the court, beating us off the dribble, etc. It was similar to what I saw against Radford. Both the freshmen, Lubin and Starling are contributing and look really good.
I don't think Freeman is comfortable as a head coach yet. He still is more concerned about being accepted, about being a friend to the players and about being diplomatic and democratic with his coaching staff. At this point his strength is recruiting in game management has a long way to go. Pyne is never getting measurably better; he is physically limited and he lacks pocket awareness and escapability. He is also not blessed with a stable of great receivers.
I trust the fans give Coach Freeman some time to grow in his coaching career. I believe he is an excellent individual and former player who has played the game. He nows has an excellent chance to learn and grow at Notre Dame. Mistakes will occur but can be corrected over time. This is not an easy task you someone his age and especially at Notre Dame.
The biggest problem facing ND right now obviously QB play. I don't think that Kelly ever had a first round QB while he coached at ND and I'm laying our current problem at his feet. It's probably one of the reasons he fled knowing the cupboard was bare of WRs and top QBs. We've seen some attempts at trying to recruit top QBs but with NIL we see many pimping themselves out not to the best program, the coach that they want to play for, etc. It's all about the Benjamins. Next year's ND team will offer a strong OL and some new WRs. Hopefully we can pick up an upper class QB like we did with Coan. We can't go another season with only Glass Man and Shortie. I think Freeman can solve this problem.
Well the other shoe is about to drop in the ND 2023 QB situation. 4 Star QB Kenny Minchey a Pitt commit has decommitted and is expected to visit this weekend and give his verbal to ND. He's the #15 ranked QB.
Best news I've heard in a LONG time. !!!!!!!!! Somebody on the staff is doing some recruiting!! and guess who it is? Tommy Rees!!!!