My ovservations from section 4 yesterday. 1. The first int. didn't look like one. Rees got blindsided and the ball was jarred forward and picked off. The defender came clean and TR had no chance. The third int. wasn't into double coverage. It looked like there were 2 ND receivers and 2 defenders in the same spot. Kelly in his presser mentioned that someone ran the wrong route and I think that play was what he was talking about. NOW MY BIGGEST BEEF :!: WTF is up with Diaco? Just like the terrible Navy loss a few years ago, we got burned over and over again with the same play and he made ZERO adjustments. OK must have thrown that flanker screen 5 or 6 times on first down gaining 7-10 yds. every F'n time. We kept giving them too large a cushion. Bell isn't a very good passer. He's accuracy downfield may be worse than Rees's but he can throw the out pass to the wideout. Lastly, I thought Carlo was effective when we were in red zone defense. We're aggressive then instead of this losing bend and don't break crap. He made some big stops.
It will be interesting to see if Kelly uses Hendrix more. ND certainly has the tools to play more of a smash mouth style of offense. Your OL was pushing Ok around:you have a stable of good running backs and Hendrix is a load when he carries the ball. It seemed that ND's offense was doing well with Hendrix leading a run oriented offense with Rees coming in on passing situations. Rees has shown the ability to play well when he is used in a situational, pinch hitting role as he threw several nice passes against Okla when he came off the bench cold in place of Hendrix.
Gip, The first INT was a close call. It looked like he was just beginning forward motion but could have gone either way. LT Martin completely missed his block. The 3rd INT was two Irish receivers running a synchronized pattern to exactly the same spot. Three defenders blanketed them.
1. It appears from what Kelly said today that Tommy will continue to be the starter going forward but that we will see Hendrix and that while he was a runner vs OU that he hopes that he can evolve into full role and not just essentially be a Wildcat QB. People keep clamoring for Malik Zaire, but Kelly shut that down to day by saying that the only way Malik plays is if he is forced to because of injury. 2. On Zaire, Coach D has said numerous times that Malik is very undeveloped coming out of HS, not even close to what Golson was coming out of HS. That he's not as fast as Golson and doesn't have as strong an arm as Golson either. That is Malik has a lot of work to do before he's ready to play QB in Div 1. Good kid, harder worker than Golson, but talent wise a lot of work to do. 3. Grace according to the stats had 3 tackles, 6 assists to Carlo's 3 tackles and 7 assists. I have heard that Fox is not 100% dealing with knee issues probably won't be 100% for the year. Jaylon had 2 tackles and 5 assists, the kid is developing very well no doubt. Problem is that in this defense we have no inside linebackers, Carlo is a situational player who shouldn't be starting, Fox is the same, Grace was supposed to take over for Manti but while he's slowly coming around he's far from being a replacement for Te'o. Maybe by the end of the year. We just are not getting the ILB play that we need to have to be a great defense. 4. The wolves are out for Kelly at this point, only thing he can do to quiet them is win of course. He burned all of his "good will" with that awful performance in the Championship game and his disappearance to flirt with the Eagles immediately following the game. He of course just got an extension so he's safe no matter how this season turns out, at least with Swarbrick, but the fans are another thing. There are already calls for him to be fired, and they will increase in volume if the season continues to go south. He will get no mercy from the fans for having his offense cut out from under him by a QB who didn't take care of business in the classroom (or what ever he did). 5. I do agree with gipper about Diaco, this years defense just doesn't seem as well coached as last years and doesn't adjust to the offenses that they face. Maybe that's on the coaches or maybe it's a lack of leadership on the defense. Spond, Motta, Kap, Te'o all Alpha Dogs. Tuitt and Nix don't seem to fill the spot, and their Captain Bennett Jackson has not played up to expectations. I thought the DB's would be a strength but they are worse than last year inspite of being older and having 1 year more experience. That quick pass to the outside works all the time against us and when we try it ourselves it's either incomplete or nailed for a loss. 6. Kelly and staff have to find a way to shore up the defense, they have to find a way to get the running game going so that Tommy can use play action and have the other team respect it. Tommy just is overmatched when they put it all on his back, he's not consistently accurate enough and doesn't have the zip and of course as we all know he can't extend plays. I watched some QB's this weekend who could make you pay, the Belldozer of course was one, the Magician down in College Station was another and that Ark QB who had a live arm and while not Manziel made the Ag's pay when the field opened up for him. I watched Russell Wilson today he looked like Manziel and Matt Schaub looked like Tommy Rees. In college football today you need a QB who can make something happen with his feet, sure if you have a thrower who has RB's/WR's/OL's to help then maybe you are OK but life is better with a guy who can make those 10 yard gains when they are there. 7. I hope Atkinson has had a lightbulb go off and I hope that Kelly continues to work in Folston who looks like he can be that power back with speed not GAIII speed. I saw a lot of backs in that A&M/ARK game who ran very hard and could pickup big gashes of yardage...no ankle tackles bring them down. 8. Don't know what to think of ASU, are they really that good that they can put up 62 points on a pretty decent USC defense or had USC pretty much already quit on Kiffen when they took the field?
Oh and Kelly said that Greg Bryant has not played due to injury. He also said that the team no longer goes to the student section for the singing of the Alma Mater. I wasn't aware of that. Of course we hadn't lost at home since the 2011 season vs USC.
I think Carlo is playing well. Anyone who thinks otherwise has no idea how the game is played. He is a dependable and solid run stopper. He is not Manti Te'o. No one is. ND is fortunate that he came back. Let me ask the self-appointed critics, what is your solution to our MLB situation if Carlo does not play this year? I anxiously await your brilliant replies.
That is my point, Sid. Carlo is not Teo, but according to the post season awards last year, neither was any other football player... ever. I think the kid is absolutely 100% every single play and is leaving nothing on the field. He trails Grace by one tackle for the team lead and leads the team in tackles for loss. And even when he is not in on the tackle, he is busting up the blocking, something you will rarely see anyone else on that defense doing.
I'm glad Carlo is back, we need him. I'm glad Fox is back we need him. But there are those around here who praise everything Carlo does and then proceed to throw Fox under the bus like he shouldn't ever even been offered a scholarship to ND and should be firmly planted on the bench with a permanently clean uniform. Carlo plays hard has his deficiencies, So does Fox. That they were needed to come back as 5th year Sr's and are the top 3 ILB along with Jarrett Grace says a lot about the guys or the lack of guys behind them. Who is going to play ILB when Fox and Carlo leave? It's scary how thin we are at that position.
My new hero....Kapron Lewis-Moore. Tell 'em KLM. http://bleacherreport.com/tb/dbmCG?...m=newsletter&utm_campaign=notre-dame-football
Te'o led in tackles chasing the play all over the field. Grace is leading in tackles because they are running right at him. Most teams want to identify the MLB and avoid him. Our opponents have been lining up to get after Grace and Fox. With Grace, I see flashes. He just needs to play angry. I don't see anything out of Fox ever. He's not a throw away, but that doesn't mean he is good either. Carlo has a deficiency in pass defense, but there isn't one other element of his game that isn't outstanding. Maybe not Te'o outstanding, but really damn good outstanding. People bitch about Carlo because they'll see some busted pass coverage. Worse, they get on Carlo because they see him tailing or joining a play late thinking he got beat.. when the reality is that he's hustling his ass off the make/join the play because someone else blew their cover. Carlo has done dumb things, all good MLBs do. Te'o was the nicest MLB I've ever seen. The rest of them pretty much hate everybody. To be frank, if Carlo were to commit one of his super aggressive, ulta violent moves on a slot WR early in the game.. I'd be fine with that. He struggles to cover them anyway, why not scare them? If you watch what Alabama does on defense, they aren't a template. They customize what they do based upon the abilities of their players. Right now, we aren't doing that. We're sticking to the template and wondering why it doesn't work. Jaylon shuts down the wide side of the field and Carlo eliminates one-fifth of your running lanes. That is A LOT to work with. We seem to squander that. If those kids played for the Tide, you'd see those strengths exploited.