A couple of points my son mentioned. 1. Stanford was probably the "slowest" team we've played to date. Being "faster" than a team is overrated. 2. I'm really tired of those that whine about ND's admissions policy. It's ********.
In my opinion, Crist is a pro style QB, a pure pocket passer. That makes him a square peg in a round hole in the spread offense. I notice when he gets flushed or intentionally is on the move he drops his head and I think he's having trouble locating his targets quickly. I wonder if Kelly had been here two years ago if he would even had recruited Crist.
I wouldn't call their offense "explosive." I'd call it "ruthless and relentless." They didn't run by us Sid, they ran all over us.
To each his own, I guess. What's with this mindset that Stanford ran "downhill" on us and/or"all over us.?" Stanford had 166 yards rushing by 6 players. One RB had 108 yards, the QB had 23 scrambling yards, and 4 others had a total of 35 yards. Make no mistake, 166 yards is a decent day's work, but if you watch the game replay, you'll see that most of the 108 yards by the one RB were on the outside. That's what I call running around us. Maybe it's a matter of semantics, but I repeat that our rushing defense was solid between the tackles against the team that clobbered the team that clobbered Texas yesterday. What I did not say above but observed at the game is that our D backs played much better yesterday than in the MSU game. I'm guessing that it was the return of Jamoris Slaughter that made the difference. Luck came into the game as a Heisman hopeful. He did nothing to distinguish himself - 238 yards passing and no long bombs, a so-so day for a Heisman hopeful - and it was because of our defense. The problems yesterday were 95% on the offensive side of the ball. IMO a combination of weak O-line play and Stanford's exceptionally good defense was the reason. We'll see next week if Stanford's D is as good as it looked yesterday when they play Oregon.
I don't want to cash out on Kelly, my issue is with the offense we run. I understand fully that he's married to that offense so I will have to live with it. That being said, I love what Harbaugh does at Stanford. Old fashioned power I football with play action pass. As our color man noted on many occasions (btw, I our new color guy), Stanford was running as many as 4 tackles on the field in certain situations. They make no secret about what they are going to do, they are betting that they are going to out execute you.
I don't know Sid, seems like Stanford controlled the ball running it..whether it was outside as you say or anywhere, we just couldn't stop them at the point of attack all that well. What we did though is prevent the big run like MSU and UM both ripped off against us. Kelly said in his press conference today that he wasn't prepared for Stanford to play a drop 8 Cover 3..whatever that means. I am both proud and dismayed, he took the blame ..good for him...but that he didn't prepare for the Stanford defense is dismaying. He did throw the film under the bus by saying that he's learned that you don't get great film early in season? So at GVSU, CMU, UC..he got great film? He also said that if he were bolder running Crist there was some yardage to be made against the Stanford defense with QB draws but that he doesn't have that in the playbook for Crist right now. Anyway we need the win on Sat night in Beantown really really bad. BC doesn't look like they are a great team, so maybe we can finally get win #2. I'm not off the Kelly bandwagon, just readjusting my expectations. I'm not sure how many games Kelly can win unless he gets a running game going and the defense can start to pressure the QB. As I said earlier I don't think Luck has a stain on his jersey, lots of QB's look good when they aren't pressured. I just hope we can send El Jiffo home from the cheap seats on Chestnut Hill next saturday night very disappointed!!
That means they rush 3 and drop 8 into pass coverage with 3 deep safeties that eliminate the long ball and backdoor wheel route. When the defense does that, they are basically telling you that 'we have no respect for your commitment to run the ball our your QB to gain yardage on the ground.' It's the defense that every smart team playing us should run. It also allows you to use your LBs to blow through gaps and cause pressure because you're showing the same face at lineup and constantly make the offense play in front of you... You can zone blitz like crazy out of this coverage as well and don't have to worry about giving up the HR because the 3 deep safety umbrella. I really wonder how much Crist's knee injury last year plays into all of this. For those who didn't watch him in HS, he DID run. He ran this offense in HS and did so quite well. The issue with the spread is that you really have to have a QB that is athletic enough to pick up the 3 to 5 yard 'gimme' that the defense will concede to you.
I thought that Stanford's D line was outstanding. They shut down our rushing O and had pressure on Crist all day. At the same time our O line looked terrible. On the other side of the ball Luck had the time to pick us apart and he did all day long. They're 3rd down conversion rate was impressive. I'll be interested to see how they do the next 2 weeks. Harbaugh is doing a hell of a job.
:idea: Kelly won't change. He runs what he runs and he does what he does. The Irish have a lot of square pegs in round holes right now and they will only be corrected by recruiting, because Kelly won't adjust. Examples: 1. Sid is right about Stanford running outside. They had good reason to do that. Darius Fleming is listed at 6'2", but he's not that big and there's a freshman behind him. On the other side, Neal and Smith are listed at 6'2"-6'3", but they're not that big either. Kelly's incoming recruits at these spots are all 6'4"-6'5" except Rabasa, who is "only" 6'3"...which is bigger than any of the people that we have out there now. Running tosses, blasts, slants and sweeps at our perimeters is an easy choice. Manti made 21 tackles against Stanford playing inside-out from sideline to sideline. Carlo looked great too. Where the hell was Fleming? 2. We have exactly ONE, game-ready QB and he's still learning what he's doing and no...he doesn't really fit the mold, but that's all we have this year until others are groomed and/or recruited... 3. BK has little use for WRs like Floyd and no use at all for WRs like Duval Kamara, who's picture was last seen on a milk carton. Recruiting and training will fix this too...in time. If you want to see what the finished product looks like, check out what Chip Kelly is doing at Oregon. Like Corey, I don't really care for that offense myself, but that's what's being installed. It will take time. .........JO'Co
I think JO'Co is right with regards to the body types that Kelly/Diaco need for what they want to do on defense. Clearly all of the DE recruits Kelly/Diaco have for their 3/4 are bigger more athletic dudes than what they have right now. So it's going to be a couple of years before we have a view of how good Diaco can make the Irish D. In the meantime I think that they have made some improvements in the tackling of the DB's and I hope that as the season evolves we see more improvement with the talent that we have. I was hoping that some of the guys who we previously were overjoyed at getting, like Filer, Fleming, both Smiths, Kerry Neal, to name of few of the guys who when they verbaled we all were overjoyed..but those guys never seemed to develope in the Weis defense. I thought since it has become common knowledge that Tenuta and Brown didn't get a long and that they didn't even talk to one another last year, that a new staff all on the same page would coax the talent out of these guys that we all thought they had in the first place. So far hasn't happened, but maybe it will and they can hold the fort till the replacements show up. 3rd year will most likely tell it all for Kelly/Diaco on defense. I do think we are in better shape on offense, inspite of the Stanford game. So I definitely expect that by the end of the season we will see a lot of improvement on offense in all phases. I expect that 2011 will be a season we can expect to see Kelly's offense start to soar, if it ever is going to soar. 8-4 likely out the window now, I thought in my preseason euphoria and after the Purdue game that 8-4 was the worst we would do. Now that reality has set in 8-4 is the best we can do, with really no real "sure" things for the Irish on the schedule except Army and I hope WMU and Tulsa. If we can't defend the edge, you think Navy isn't salavating at getting a shot at the Irish? BC and Pitt aren't great teams but they are capable of beating us. I could see us going 4-8 this year, I hope not but I think 6-6 is more likely I think we will at best split BC/Pitt/Navy/Utah and beat Army, WMU, Tulsa and lose to USC. that would be 6-6 and a birth in the Tidy Bowl.
The only sure things ( I think ) are Army, Tulsa and WMU. BC is doable. Not much chance against Navy,Utah or USC.
Terry, I also don't see us at 8-4. I see us at 10-3 including a bowl win. :wink: By the way, Gip and Terry, if you haven't figured it out already, since I've retired I've become more assertive in my opinions and more loquacious in expressing them. I haven't gotten an smarter. I just have more time to think, which makes me dangerous. :lol: