Rees rolls the dice and pulls Coan and inserts Buchner at QB with the ball on our own 4 yard line. He immediately makes a big play with his legs and then Kyren finishes off the drive with a 43 yd TD run. Coan back in on the next series.
Disaster. Pick six by the Rockets after they kicked a FG. 16 - 14 Toledo. Looks like we lost our 2nd LT, Carmody has an ankle injury. Tosh Baker now at LT.
Very disappointed in our lack of talent on the O line. We've got some good RBs and their talent is wasted. D is still giving up big plays. Buchner might play more. If the O line can't pass protect, we'll need a mobile QB to make plays.
Can't fault the defense in the 2nd half. I think that we need to go with Buchner, since the OL is playing so poorly
Jack Coan is a hero, that was a gutty drive for the win. Based on the way the offense was going I gave us no chance when we came out for the last do or die possession. Toledo outplayed us and would have deserved the win, except for Captain Comeback Jack Coan! Lot to fix and I'll be surprised if we don't lose at least 2 or 3 games this year.
Toledo didn't ruin our perfect season but it's obvious we won't have one. That catch by Austin was for me the play of the game. On the Williams TD pass from Buchner, he got a critical block from George Takacs (I think.) Giving the ball away 3 times was asking to be beaten. The last TO was nearly fatal. In crunch time the O line gave Coan enough time to make plays. If they'd done that more often it wouldn't have been so close.
Report Card QB(s) : B Buchner will get a lot of playing time because that O Line can't protect Coan's drop back RBs : C Again, that O-Line can't block WRs : C Again, that O-Line can't block TE : A Even our O-Line can't keep him from getting the ball OL : D- Had them down for an F but gave them a bump for the last drive. But they really stink. P: C DL : C Played pretty steady but get gashed too much. Foskey is the star. LB : C Must play better to win against the better teams DB : C: Hot and cold. K : A solid game again. Kelly: C- Musical QBs never works in the long run. Rees : C Game plan seems like improv. Freeman : C Same as Rees. Kelly's comments at the end said it all.
A lot of people have pointed out that had that Toledo QB not scored so easily, and instead gone down after he made the 1st down, they could have bleed the clock down and kicked a game winner FG. Scoring gave us the time to have the miracle comeback drive. Luck of the Irish! I see some hope for the Irish defense, but little hope for the Irish offense unless the OL makes a big improvement. Toledo didn't know what to do with Buchner as they had no film on him. Purdue now has film on what we do with him in the game, they will be prepared.
I agree. Unfortunately, our season's success or failure - not sure how each is defined - rests with the defense. When you're starting freshman and sophomore DL in Division 1, you know we have a depth and experience problem. I don't see how you solve the OL problem this season. Just my opinion.
What we're seeing is the result of Quinn's recruiting and coaching over the last 3 plus years. There were rumblings (there always are) when Kelly picked him and the critics may be right. I don't see any future Martins, Stanleys Nelsons or McGlincheys in our present group. We could use another Moore or Hiestand.
I certainly agree that Quinn was a hire that many fans questioned, just as they did when Kelly bypassed Moorehead (current Oregon OCoord) who had done a great job at Penn State for Tommy Rees. But.... I don't see any future Martins, Stanleys Nelsons or McGlincheys in our present group. Blake Fisher has tremendous potential and Rocco Spindler also has tremendous potential. The question is of course is will they be developed. Also Brian Kelly is going to be declared the all-time winingist coach soon. But for what ever the reason he's being given credit for the games that the NCAA vacated. Seems like at the very least an * needs to be added.
"Blake Fisher has tremendous potential and Rocco Spindler also has tremendous potential. The question is of course is will they be developed." And that is the problem, we have no outstanding Jrs and Srs who were recruited by Quinn in fact our best OL is someone who transferred in from Marshall. As to the "vacated" games that's total BS by the NCAA. The committee consisted of reps from So. Cal and Ok who obviously had a conflict of interest since wins against them were vacated. Just because the NCAA doesn't "count" them doesn't mean that we can't and that's all that matters when WE recognize our winningest coach.
The ICON for the Toledo game is up on und.com. It's the first ICON that ever remember that had zero Brian Kelly. Kyren Williams giving an impassioned short speech, Tommy Rees was standing next to him not Kelly. Not surprisingly the plays shown were all the good plays we made.