Notre Dame Game
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TeamMayhall
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TeamMayhall
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Lmaoooo
Notre Dame fan here, glad to offer some unsolicited information
Really excited about this game, arguably the 2 greatest programs in college football history. To the question on how to beat ND, a few thoughts
NDs offense
QB - talented, but unproven. He appears to be strong mentally, a "gamer" if you will, but who knows. He is a dangerous threat to run, and has a very strong arm, but his accuracy will not be near what Golson's was, and reading the defense remains an unknown.
RBs - Talented first string (Folston), Freakish athlete 2nd string (Procise) but no history at running back, and has been injured most of preseason, so unclear if he can turn athletic talent into productivity. Freshman behind that, so as others have mentioned, if Folston gets hurt, ND is in trouble
WRs - Very deep, can go 5 - 7 deep and feel good about any of them. Fuller is nearing elite territory (15tds last year), but we are not talking first round unguardable elite
Tight End - inexperienced. We have some talent, but noone who has the whole package. Chase Hounshell is an often injured 5th year convert from the defense, and might turn out to be a nice find as an in-line blocker, but is scaring noone as a route runner. Alize Jones is an elite recruit, looks like a great pass catcher, but I don't think you can expect a freshman to do much on the blocking side
Offensive line -this is an elite offensive line, one of, if not the best in the country. All 5 will play on Sunday, anchored by Stanley, who likely would have been a top half of first round pick this past year if he left early.
Overall, maybe it a bit of rose colored glasses, but ND has a ton of talent on offense if Malik Zaire can be productive. If I was Texas I would stack the box and find out. I am not a fan of Brian Kelly's playcalling (I think he is a good overall coach of the program, but needs to relinquish playcalling). The strength of this team is the offensive line, and more specifically, the run blocking capabilities. They are good in pass pro, can be elite in run blocking, and ND playcalling needs to be stubborn about running the ball, especially to protect the defense. But history would suggest, if you stack the box, we will throw. ND tends to let the defense dictate their offense, even if it means Tommy Rees and Everett Golson committing a ton of turnovers. Stack the box, get an early lead, and you have a shot
On defense
Defensive backs - very strong 1/2 with Kevaire Russel and Cole Luke. After that, some depth, but talent is more average, especially with Shaun Crawford going down for the season. Safeties are talented, but have yet to be productive. Large question there
Linebackers - Jaylon Smith is the best player on the team, will be one of the best in the country. Manti Teo was great, Smith has significantly more upside. Outside of that, you have a solid group with depth, but no stars. Nyles Morgan has the tools, but still not the awareness, and may never have the instincts
Defensive line - this is our weakness, Sheldon Day is very good, probably a 2nd rounder, but after that you have a lot of question marks. Jarron Jones was a huge loss.
On offense, I would run, run, run, play action with tempo. ND defense will want to be aggressive for a couple of reasons. We have the corners to cover one on one, and we lack the athletes to create a pass rush with only rushing 4. This makes us susceptible to the big play. Van Gorder also likes to substitute and play situational defense, which in today's uptempo world does not always work. A few big plays are very achievable, and will make this closer than us ND fans might want it to be.
Overall, I think Strong is a solid coach, and has done the right thing with his "cleaning house", but because of that I am happy ND is facing Texas in game 1 and not game 10. I imagine the attrition over the past 18 months will be too much to overcome against a very experienced (outside of QB position) ND team. Really looking forward to this game, but do think TX will have a much better shot, maybe even favored, in Austin next year.
Really excited about this game, arguably the 2 greatest programs in college football history. To the question on how to beat ND, a few thoughtsNDs offense
QB - talented, but unproven. He appears to be strong mentally, a "gamer" if you will, but who knows. He is a dangerous threat to run, and has a very strong arm, but his accuracy will not be near what Golson's was, and reading the defense remains an unknown.
RBs - Talented first string (Folston), Freakish athlete 2nd string (Procise) but no history at running back, and has been injured most of preseason, so unclear if he can turn athletic talent into productivity. Freshman behind that, so as others have mentioned, if Folston gets hurt, ND is in trouble
WRs - Very deep, can go 5 - 7 deep and feel good about any of them. Fuller is nearing elite territory (15tds last year), but we are not talking first round unguardable elite
Tight End - inexperienced. We have some talent, but noone who has the whole package. Chase Hounshell is an often injured 5th year convert from the defense, and might turn out to be a nice find as an in-line blocker, but is scaring noone as a route runner. Alize Jones is an elite recruit, looks like a great pass catcher, but I don't think you can expect a freshman to do much on the blocking side
Offensive line -this is an elite offensive line, one of, if not the best in the country. All 5 will play on Sunday, anchored by Stanley, who likely would have been a top half of first round pick this past year if he left early.
Overall, maybe it a bit of rose colored glasses, but ND has a ton of talent on offense if Malik Zaire can be productive. If I was Texas I would stack the box and find out. I am not a fan of Brian Kelly's playcalling (I think he is a good overall coach of the program, but needs to relinquish playcalling). The strength of this team is the offensive line, and more specifically, the run blocking capabilities. They are good in pass pro, can be elite in run blocking, and ND playcalling needs to be stubborn about running the ball, especially to protect the defense. But history would suggest, if you stack the box, we will throw. ND tends to let the defense dictate their offense, even if it means Tommy Rees and Everett Golson committing a ton of turnovers. Stack the box, get an early lead, and you have a shot
On defense
Defensive backs - very strong 1/2 with Kevaire Russel and Cole Luke. After that, some depth, but talent is more average, especially with Shaun Crawford going down for the season. Safeties are talented, but have yet to be productive. Large question there
Linebackers - Jaylon Smith is the best player on the team, will be one of the best in the country. Manti Teo was great, Smith has significantly more upside. Outside of that, you have a solid group with depth, but no stars. Nyles Morgan has the tools, but still not the awareness, and may never have the instincts
Defensive line - this is our weakness, Sheldon Day is very good, probably a 2nd rounder, but after that you have a lot of question marks. Jarron Jones was a huge loss.
On offense, I would run, run, run, play action with tempo. ND defense will want to be aggressive for a couple of reasons. We have the corners to cover one on one, and we lack the athletes to create a pass rush with only rushing 4. This makes us susceptible to the big play. Van Gorder also likes to substitute and play situational defense, which in today's uptempo world does not always work. A few big plays are very achievable, and will make this closer than us ND fans might want it to be.
Overall, I think Strong is a solid coach, and has done the right thing with his "cleaning house", but because of that I am happy ND is facing Texas in game 1 and not game 10. I imagine the attrition over the past 18 months will be too much to overcome against a very experienced (outside of QB position) ND team. Really looking forward to this game, but do think TX will have a much better shot, maybe even favored, in Austin next year.
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MikeV73
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Jeff Howe's
— Twitter API (@twitterapi) https://twitter.com/JeffHowe247/status/636270534108405760" data-datetime="2011-11-07T20:21:07+00:00">November 7, 2011
Wow, lots of freshmen in the LB depth chart. Expected, but surprising when laid out in front of me. I hope Jinkens can bring his A game this season consistently. I expected big things from him after seeing flashes and an excitable attitude over the years thus far.
primal defense
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If this turns out to be correct then I'm amazed that will have true freshmen in the starting lineup.
primal defense
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Looks like the team with the best QB play. The other is the line play for both teams on both sides of the ball. Good post.Notre Dame fan here, glad to offer some unsolicited information
NDs offense
QB - talented, but unproven. He appears to be strong mentally, a "gamer" if you will, but who knows. He is a dangerous threat to run, and has a very strong arm, but his accuracy will not be near what Golson's was, and reading the defense remains an unknown.
RBs - Talented first string (Folston), Freakish athlete 2nd string (Procise) but no history at running back, and has been injured most of preseason, so unclear if he can turn athletic talent into productivity. Freshman behind that, so as others have mentioned, if Folston gets hurt, ND is in trouble
WRs - Very deep, can go 5 - 7 deep and feel good about any of them. Fuller is nearing elite territory (15tds last year), but we are not talking first round unguardable elite
Tight End - inexperienced. We have some talent, but noone who has the whole package. Chase Hounshell is an often injured 5th year convert from the defense, and might turn out to be a nice find as an in-line blocker, but is scaring noone as a route runner. Alize Jones is an elite recruit, looks like a great pass catcher, but I don't think you can expect a freshman to do much on the blocking side
Offensive line -this is an elite offensive line, one of, if not the best in the country. All 5 will play on Sunday, anchored by Stanley, who likely would have been a top half of first round pick this past year if he left early.
Overall, maybe it a bit of rose colored glasses, but ND has a ton of talent on offense if Malik Zaire can be productive. If I was Texas I would stack the box and find out. I am not a fan of Brian Kelly's playcalling (I think he is a good overall coach of the program, but needs to relinquish playcalling). The strength of this team is the offensive line, and more specifically, the run blocking capabilities. They are good in pass pro, can be elite in run blocking, and ND playcalling needs to be stubborn about running the ball, especially to protect the defense. But history would suggest, if you stack the box, we will throw. ND tends to let the defense dictate their offense, even if it means Tommy Rees and Everett Golson committing a ton of turnovers. Stack the box, get an early lead, and you have a shot
On defense
Defensive backs - very strong 1/2 with Kevaire Russel and Cole Luke. After that, some depth, but talent is more average, especially with Shaun Crawford going down for the season. Safeties are talented, but have yet to be productive. Large question there
Linebackers - Jaylon Smith is the best player on the team, will be one of the best in the country. Manti Teo was great, Smith has significantly more upside. Outside of that, you have a solid group with depth, but no stars. Nyles Morgan has the tools, but still not the awareness, and may never have the instincts
Defensive line - this is our weakness, Sheldon Day is very good, probably a 2nd rounder, but after that you have a lot of question marks. Jarron Jones was a huge loss.
On offense, I would run, run, run, play action with tempo. ND defense will want to be aggressive for a couple of reasons. We have the corners to cover one on one, and we lack the athletes to create a pass rush with only rushing 4. This makes us susceptible to the big play. Van Gorder also likes to substitute and play situational defense, which in today's uptempo world does not always work. A few big plays are very achievable, and will make this closer than us ND fans might want it to be.
Overall, I think Strong is a solid coach, and has done the right thing with his "cleaning house", but because of that I am happy ND is facing Texas in game 1 and not game 10. I imagine the attrition over the past 18 months will be too much to overcome against a very experienced (outside of QB position) ND team. Really looking forward to this game, but do think TX will have a much better shot, maybe even favored, in Austin next year.
I look for both he and Roberson to step up this season
Kind of easy to forget but Roberson was the 247 Composite #67 nationally coming out, #4 at his position and top 10 in-state
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MikeV73
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Doesn't Howe remember that McNeal is slated, as promised, to catch the first ball for an 80 yard score? Do your research Howe.
He wrote about it in the explanation section. Said something like he wasn't sure where to put him.
MikeV73
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I'll put him in the endzone! Thanks for the update Juan. Seems he could at least plug him in at second string TE, especially since he is just guessing anyways at this point. Either way he has us talking, mission accomplished I guess.
primal defense
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Ranking all 87 games of college football's first weekend
2. Texas at Notre Dame (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., NBC)
Notre Dame is a potential College Football Playoff contender, but no one really knows how A.) the selection committee will view an independent and B.) how Notre Dame’s offense will complement what should be a nasty defense. On the defensive side alone, Notre Dame should have an edge against the Longhorns’ lackluster offense. If Malik Zaire can give the Irish a comfortable win against a Charlie Strong-coached D, Notre Dame will have legitimacy in the playoff race.
http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/articles/ranking_all_87_games_of_the_first_weekend_of_the_2015_college_football_season/s1_11036_19418881
2. Texas at Notre Dame (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., NBC)
Notre Dame is a potential College Football Playoff contender, but no one really knows how A.) the selection committee will view an independent and B.) how Notre Dame’s offense will complement what should be a nasty defense. On the defensive side alone, Notre Dame should have an edge against the Longhorns’ lackluster offense. If Malik Zaire can give the Irish a comfortable win against a Charlie Strong-coached D, Notre Dame will have legitimacy in the playoff race.
http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/articles/ranking_all_87_games_of_the_first_weekend_of_the_2015_college_football_season/s1_11036_19418881
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