Notre Dame Game

[Epictetus]

My prediction.

Longhorns put on a coaching clinic in defense and points allowed.

Offense surprises the hell outta everyone, rolls up 450+ total offense, 35+ points.

The defense will hold Notre Dame to under 150 total yards for the game, and 12 first downs.

Texas will be ranked 19 after the game.

 

[MikeV73]

My prediction.

Longhorns put on a coaching clinic in defense and points allowed.

Offense surprises the hell outta everyone, rolls up 450+ total offense, 35+ points.

The defense will hold Notre Dame to under 150 total yards for the game, and 12 first downs.

Texas will be ranked 19 after the game.

Sounds about right. Hookem!

 

[Juan]

 

[TeamMayhall]

20 Days till Kick Off 👟ðŸˆ

 

[Juan]

20 Days till Kick Off 👟ðŸˆ

heh -- its only 3:27 - and you know you want to watch it again

 

[Worster1]

the loss of their DT was huge and their starting Center from last season quit so they will be breaking in a new Center... so things won't be so rosy for the Irish in the trenches on Sept. 5th.

 

[Irish1234]

 their starting Center from last season quit so they will be breaking in a new Center... so things won't be so rosy for the Irish in the trenches on Sept. 5th.

I was casually reading these boards to learn about the match up and had to create an account to respond to this. Our former starting center Matt Hegarty effectively got forced out by rising talent. He signed on at Oregon and he's either going to start there at center or making a strong argument for the #1 spot (depending on what you read). So that sorta puts into perspective the sort of O line we're fielding. 

Anyway, looking forward to the game against you guys/football starting up again. I'll actually be in Austin that weekend, love your town. 

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

I was casually reading these boards to learn about the match up and had to create an account to respond to this. Our former starting center Matt Hegarty effectively got forced out by rising talent. He signed on at Oregon and he's either going to start there at center or making a strong argument for the #1 spot (depending on what you read). So that sorta puts into perspective the sort of O line we're fielding. 

Anyway, looking forward to the game against you guys/football starting up again. I'll actually be in Austin that weekend, love your town. 

Welcome, Irish

Yeah, it's kinda like when our starting C, Espinosa, went down last year. Everyone on UT boards talked about what a huge loss it was, but a local NFL scout considered Doyle an upgrade. I'm sure ND has plenty of capable bodies on both the OL and DL. I expect a physical game

 

[Irish1234]

Welcome, Irish

Yeah, it's kinda like when our starting C, Espinosa, went down last year. Everyone on UT boards talked about what a huge loss it was, but a local NFL scout considered Doyle an upgrade. I'm sure ND has plenty of capable bodies on both the OL and DL. I expect a physical game

absolutely. Jarron Jones going down is a big loss for us, but we've got a 6'7" 305lb freshman the coaches have been drooling over to fill the gap. We're all curious to see how that's going to work out.

We've got a pretty solid team this year, but our teams have a recent tendency of shitting the bed at home. USF came in and beat us on opening day a few years ago. With so many questions surrounding Texas this year (seems like the barometer has flipped from no one being very high on the team during spring ball to now you may be a contender) i'm getting very anxious for the season to start already. 

 

[BevoBlake]

I was casually reading these boards to learn about the match up and had to create an account to respond to this. Our former starting center Matt Hegarty effectively got forced out by rising talent. He signed on at Oregon and he's either going to start there at center or making a strong argument for the #1 spot (depending on what you read). So that sorta puts into perspective the sort of O line we're fielding. 

Anyway, looking forward to the game against you guys/football starting up again. I'll actually be in Austin that weekend, love your town. 

Welcome to the board. Hope you'll stick around for the game at least.

 

[primal defense]

I was casually reading these boards to learn about the match up and had to create an account to respond to this. Our former starting center Matt Hegarty effectively got forced out by rising talent. He signed on at Oregon and he's either going to start there at center or making a strong argument for the #1 spot (depending on what you read). So that sorta puts into perspective the sort of O line we're fielding. 

Anyway, looking forward to the game against you guys/football starting up again. I'll actually be in Austin that weekend, love your town. 

Welcome.  If Texas was to pull off an upset, what would be the reason from the Notre Dame side of it. What do you see as the weakness of your team that Texas might exploit?

Don't worry we won't tell Charlie Strong.

 

[TeamMayhall]

Welcome to the board Irish ðŸ€

 

[Epictetus]

Welcome Irish1234 !!  My last Irish-Texas game was Cotton Bowl quite some time ago. Ara was the coach and snapped Horns 30-game winning streak.

I'm naturally wishing for the best this time around. Enjoy a milder-than usual Austin below 100 this week.

 

[Johannes]

Welcome.  If Texas was to pull off an upset, what would be the reason from the Notre Dame side of it. What do you see as the weakness of your team that Texas might exploit?

Don't worry we won't tell Charlie Strong.

I hope you don't mind if I offer my take on this question. On the offensive side of the ball, starting QB Malik Zaire has to be the biggest question mark heading into the season. To this point, he has started a total of one game, which was versus LSU in the Music City Bowl. He also saw some garbage time action in last year's home opener against Rice and in relief at Southern Cal when Golson was finally pulled down 35 in the first half. During the spring he split time with Golson, who transferred to FSU soon after the spring session was over. The point is, Zaire has not had a lot of experience as the number one quarterback in the program. As recent as April he was splitting the starting reps with someone else. This fall camp has been extremely important to get him comfortable in his role for a full season.

Thus far Malik has demonstrated that he can run the ball, even against LSU's tough defense. He has also demonstrated an arm that is more than adequate for the college game when throwing from the pocket. But can he throw under pressure in game situations without turning the ball over? If Texas loads the box and gets a good pass rush going, will Zaire be able to move the ball downfield consistently when he's flushed from the pocket and doesn't have the option to leg it? If I'm the Longhorn coaching staff, I'd be willing to test that arm in his first home start. Bring the house, blitz, make him throw on the run. Yeah he'll extend some plays with his legs, but sooner or later he's going to have to chuck the rock. Make him do it for a full game with the full weight of the program on his shoulders. There will be no one to come into the game as relief this time. The Irish have a talented receiver corps, but that won't help if Malik cannot get them the ball.

The other offensive question mark is the running back situation. Most of you now know that second string running back Greg Bryant has left the team following an academic eligibility suspension. That leaves the team with talented junior running back Tarean Folston and a ragtag ensemble of backups. In the spring the coaching staff knew Bryant would miss some time early in the season, and began giving slot receiver CJ Prosise reps as a back. This summer a second receiver, sophomore Justin Brent (of Lisa Ann fame), has begun to practice with the RBs. In addition, two freshmen RBs joined the team this summer, Dexter Williams and Josh Adams. Of those four, CJ has the most potential for immediate impact. He is a bigger body (6' / 220) with true home run speed. Brent (6'1 / 220) is also an incredible athlete, but he has not played out of the backfield since high school. I'm sure the two freshmen will get some game reps at some point, but who can say what impact they will have at this point. Williams appears the more ready-made of the two, for what it's worth. All the more reason for Texas to load the box, stop the run in its tracks, and create constant pressure for Zaire.

On the defensive side, well... there's no question that the Irish defense struggled last season against teams not from Ann Arbor. Some will point to the significant injury attrition sustained as the 2014 season progressed. Others will point to the amount of points given up by offensive turnovers (a lot). The bottom line is the defense has to be better this year, regardless of the circumstances. They have to be better against tempo offenses, prepared to absorb inevitable injuries, better against the triple option, and ready to counter unfortunate turnovers.

The strength of the Irish defense is in their linebackers and corners. There are questions around the safeties (especially safety depth) and the defensive line. The starting safeties are talented and athletic, no question, but they seemed lost at times last year, the first under DC Brian VanGorder's pro-style 4-3. And once you get past the starters, the safety position gets unexperienced and (frankly) scary. The defensive line has much more experience depth. They have done well against the run (pay no attention to LSU's 285 yards on the ground  ). They have not provided adequate pressure up front against the pass, however, without additional blitzing. During the off-season, a new defensive line coach, Keith Gilmore, was brought in to help rectify that issue. Has it helped? Yes? Enough to make a difference? We'll see? Can the Irish offense limit turnovers, especially ones that gift points to the opposition? Can the defense stay relatively healthy? I don't know, but I sure hope so!

I have read around these parts that Texas will feature a tempo offense this season. If they can run the tempo effectively, they will really test the ND defense. The Longhorns will have to avoid All-American linebacker Jaylon Smith and throwing the ball toward cornerback Keivarae Russell, the sole survivor amongst last year's Frozen Five suspensions. There is a lot of individual talent on the Irish defense, and they have a chip on their shoulder after last season. But talent and potential be damned, can they be effective as a unit in their second season of the VanGorder era? In Coach Strong's shoes, I would do my best to test their preparation and run the offense as quickly as possible. Don't give them the opportunity to get defensive play calls from the sideline. Don't let them line-up. Exploit any and all blown assignments. I know there is doubt about the Texas offense, but even Northwestern was able to put up 43 points late last year. Yes, the same Northwestern from the M00N game.

TL;DR: Create pressure on first year starter Malik Zaire. Make him throw on the run, and prevent him from extending plays with his legs. Create and exploit turnover opportunities. Run a tempo offense and test Notre Dame's defensive preparedness and improvisational abilities.

I discussed the offensive and defensive lines further last month in this post, if anyone is interested. Sorry for another long, rambling post. I just can't wait for September 5!!

 

[Juan]

I recall when these games were scheduled (seems like a lifetime ago)

My first thought at that time was "Oh good, we owe them"

But now its "Oh shit."

 

[The Bry-Man81]

I hope you don't mind if I offer my take on this question. On the offensive side of the ball, starting QB Malik Zaire has to be the biggest question mark heading into the season. To this point, he has started a total of one game, which was versus LSU in the Music City Bowl. He also saw some garbage time action in last year's home opener against Rice and in relief at Southern Cal when Golson was finally pulled down 35 in the first half. During the spring he split time with Golson, who transferred to FSU soon after the spring session was over. The point is, Zaire has not had a lot of experience as the number one quarterback in the program. As recent as April he was splitting the starting reps with someone else. This fall camp has been extremely important to get him comfortable in his role for a full season.

Thus far Malik has demonstrated that he can run the ball, even against LSU's tough defense. He has also demonstrated an arm that is more than adequate for the college game when throwing from the pocket. But can he throw under pressure in game situations without turning the ball over? If Texas loads the box and gets a good pass rush going, will Zaire be able to move the ball downfield consistently when he's flushed from the pocket and doesn't have the option to leg it? If I'm the Longhorn coaching staff, I'd be willing to test that arm in his first home start. Bring the house, blitz, make him throw on the run. Yeah he'll extend some plays with his legs, but sooner or later he's going to have to chuck the rock. Make him do it for a full game with the full weight of the program on his shoulders. There will be no one to come into the game as relief this time. The Irish have a talented receiver corps, but that won't help if Malik cannot get them the ball.

The other offensive question mark is the running back situation. Most of you now know that second string running back Greg Bryant has left the team following an academic eligibility suspension. That leaves the team with talented junior running back Tarean Folston and a ragtag ensemble of backups. In the spring the coaching staff knew Bryant would miss some time early in the season, and began giving slot receiver CJ Prosise reps as a back. This summer a second receiver, sophomore Justin Brent (of Lisa Ann fame), has begun to practice with the RBs. In addition, two freshmen RBs joined the team this summer, Dexter Williams and Josh Adams. Of those four, CJ has the most potential for immediate impact. He is a bigger body (6' / 220) with true home run speed. Brent (6'1 / 220) is also an incredible athlete, but he has not played out of the backfield since high school. I'm sure the two freshmen will get some game reps at some point, but who can say what impact they will have at this point. Williams appears the more ready-made of the two, for what it's worth. All the more reason for Texas to load the box, stop the run in its tracks, and create constant pressure for Zaire.

On the defensive side, well... there's no question that the Irish defense struggled last season against teams not from Ann Arbor. Some will point to the significant injury attrition sustained as the 2014 season progressed. Others will point to the amount of points given up by offensive turnovers (a lot). The bottom line is the defense has to be better this year, regardless of the circumstances. They have to be better against tempo offenses, prepared to absorb inevitable injuries, better against the triple option, and ready to counter unfortunate turnovers.

The strength of the Irish defense is in their linebackers and corners. There are questions around the safeties (especially safety depth) and the defensive line. The starting safeties are talented and athletic, no question, but they seemed lost at times last year, the first under DC Brian VanGorder's pro-style 4-3. And once you get past the starters, the safety position gets unexperienced and (frankly) scary. The defensive line has much more experience depth. They have done well against the run (pay no attention to LSU's 285 yards on the ground ). They have not provided adequate pressure up front against the pass, however, without additional blitzing. During the off-season, a new defensive line coach, Keith Gilmore, was brought in to help rectify that issue. Has it helped? Yes? Enough to make a difference? We'll see? Can the Irish offense limit turnovers, especially ones that gift points to the opposition? Can the defense stay relatively healthy? I don't know, but I sure hope so!

I have read around these parts that Texas will feature a tempo offense this season. If they can run the tempo effectively, they will really test the ND defense. The Longhorns will have to avoid All-American linebacker Jaylon Smith and throwing the ball toward cornerback Keivarae Russell, the sole survivor amongst last year's Frozen Five suspensions. There is a lot of individual talent on the Irish defense, and they have a chip on their shoulder after last season. But talent and potential be damned, can they be effective as a unit in their second season of the VanGorder era? In Coach Strong's shoes, I would do my best to test their preparation and run the offense as quickly as possible. Don't give them the opportunity to get defensive play calls from the sideline. Don't let them line-up. Exploit any and all blown assignments. I know there is doubt about the Texas offense, but even Northwestern was able to put up 43 points late last year. Yes, the same Northwestern from the M00N game.

TL;DR: Create pressure on first year starter Malik Zaire. Make him throw on the run, and prevent him from extending plays with his legs. Create and exploit turnover opportunities. Run a tempo offense and test Notre Dame's defensive preparedness and improvisational abilities.

I discussed the offensive and defensive lines further last month in this post, if anyone is interested. Sorry for another long, rambling post. I just can't wait for September 5!!

Dude, great f'n post! Very insightful and lots of great information from what you guys are thinking on the other side. Thanks a bunch!

 

[Irish1234]

Welcome.  If Texas was to pull off an upset, what would be the reason from the Notre Dame side of it. What do you see as the weakness of your team that Texas might exploit?

Don't worry we won't tell Charlie Strong.

Ill add my $0.02 but just know up front that i'm not actually someone who knows all that much--I just like to read a lot of articles and watch the press conferences online. 

I think the other post was spot on. In addition to the relative youth and inexperience of our qb, word is that he tends to miss high over the middle--so coach is either going to call plays to the sidelines or we're going to get picked off at some point. Depth at qb is a concern but hopefully that won't come up during the first game. 

The no huddle/hurry up you guys are running is a concern. Last year we had fits trying to defend that, but we didnt really see a lot of it until second half of the season when our leaders on defense were out. We've got a lot more experience now and defending hurry up has been a focus of camp (again this is secondhand info that i read somewhere). We're an aggressive D, but i understand you have a very athletic and mobile qb. It will be interesting to see if we get caught over-pursuing or otherwise out of position. That said our linebackers (esp. Jaylon Smith) can move around and make up for that sort of mistake to at least limit the big gouge. 

Another big question this year is how can we generate a pass rush. We don't really have a specialist here. To create this, our D-coordinator VanGorder likes to show a lot of different looks and blitzes, which might confuse a younger Texas QB into forcing the ball and our linebackers and dbs will pick it off if they half half a chance. 

I'll probably regret saying this, but i'm not too concerned with depth issues. Especially for game 1. Nothing can compare to last year's suspensions/injuries of key players. 

I'm predicting that Texas comes out and hits us with a few big plays in the first half, but ultimately our defense will find its rhythm or get a big play of its own. In theory our offensive line should be able to have its way, so you'll probably see some long drives from ND. BK has in the past used this sort of grinding drive to drain the clock and keep the ball out of an opponent's hand (esp. an uptempo team). As long as we can eliminate drops and turnovers (has been a big problem for us for the last i dunno forever) we should be able to keep the pressure on.

 

[primal defense]

Gosselin: Charlie Strong seeks more than just wins from his Texas quarterback

AUSTIN -- Charlie Strong certainly knows what he wants in a quarterback.

In his college coaching career, Strong has been around two quarterbacks who won national titles -- Chris Leak and Tim Tebow. He’s been around three Heisman Trophy winners (Danny Wuerffel, Tebow and Cam Newton) and three first­-round NFL draft picks (Newton, Tebow and Teddy Bridgewater). He’s also been around a quarterback who holds the Notre Dame record for career victories (Ron Powlus) and Florida’s all­-time leading passer (Leak).

“I’ve been very fortunate because at the places I’ve coached we’ve always had a quarterback,†said Strong. Then he paused, “I’m trying to think when we didn’t.â€

Welcome to Texas, Charlie.

Strong arrived in quarterback purgatory in 2014. Since the back­-to­-back eras of Vince Young and Colt McCoy, the Longhorns have played football in quicksand at the quarterback position. The one five­-star quarterback the Longhorns recruited, Garrett Gilbert, washed out.

Texas didn’t make an offer to Andrew Luck, then mis-evaluated Robert Griffin III and Johnny Manziel, projecting them both as defensive backs. Both chose to stay at quarterback and wound up winning Heisman Trophies at in­-state schools. Luck became the first overall pick of an NFL draft at Stanford.

When Strong arrived on campus, he inherited quarterbacks David Ash and Tyrone Swoopes and also honored a Mack Brown scholarship commitment to Jerrod Heard.

But Texas lost Ash in the 2014 season opener, forcing the Longhorns to go with the inexperienced sophomore Swoopes. The college game is all about the quarterback position. and Swoopes struggled as the Longhorns finished 88th in the NCAA in passing. Strong kept a redshirt on Heard as Texas plodded home with a 6­-7 record, only the second losing season in the last 17 years.

As Strong prepares for his second season, he again has Swoopes and Heard atop his depth chart. But he needs someone who can win more than just games.

“At that position you have to win the team,†Strong said. “All those quarterbacks (Wuerffel, Leak, Tebow, etc.) -- they won the team. When you win the team, their confidence in you grows knowing that you can go make the plays that will win a game. You have to have that type of guy at that position.

“He’s got to have a special attitude about himself. Not so much you’re cocky but confident. You know that, `Hey, everyone’s counting on me. Now I’m the one who has to make sure we can make the drives and I can make the plays.’â€

That’s what makes a quarterback special. Bobby Layne had it at Texas and in the NFL. So did Young and McCoy. That’s what Strong needs from Swoopes this fall.

“I was just having this conversation with Tyrone the other day,†Strong said. “I told him, `You have to carry yourself in a different way. You don’t always have to agree with what your teammates say, but they have to look at you differently, knowing that this is a guy we can always count on.’

“Tebow...you knew you could count on Tebow. Teddy...those guys at Louisville knew what they had a quarterback. It didn’t matter where we were or how many points we were down. Teddy was going to put it together for us, we were going to drive the ball and score. Danny Wuerffel the same way. Cam Newton, watching him at Florida, then go watch him lead Auburn to a national championship... There has to be something special about you.â€

There was nothing special about Swoopes or the Longhorns last season. They played three teams that finished the season ranked in the Top 10 -- No. 3 TCU, No. 7 Baylor and No. 10 UCLA -- and were outscored 96­-34 in a trio of losses. Swoopes threw twice as many interceptions (six) as touchdowns (three) in those games. Strong believes it was a learning experience, a growing experience for Swoopes.

“He needs to play with more confidence,†Strong said. “Make sure he pulls the team with him, that he draws the team and they feel comfortable with him. I told him the only way that’s going to happen, because of what happened last season, is when you go win a big game for them. When you win a big game for them, you’ll win them over. But you have to go win that big game.â€

Heard brought “special†with him to Austin. He won back­-to­-back state titles at Denton Guyer before his redshirt season. He just hasn’t brought it to the field yet.

“Heard carries himself differently than Swoopes,†Strong said. “He has that bounce to him. He’s a very confident young man and is always filled with enthusiasm. He’s a winner. He’s won state championships. When he takes the field, he’s a guy that says, `We’ll go score.’ But he’s still learning the game. When he does, he’ll have a chance to be pretty special.â€

There will be plenty of big games on the 2015 schedule, starting with the opener at Notre Dame. Then TCU, Oklahoma and Baylor line up like dominoes.

All Strong needs now is a quarterback who can go win them.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/columnists/rick-gosselin/20150818-gosselin-charlie-strong-seeks-more-than-just-wins-from-his-texas-quarterback.ece

 

[primal defense]

Uh Oh! Be careful.

Notre Dame Warns about counterfeit football tickets

http://www.southbendtribune.com/sports/college/football/notre-dame-warns-about-counterfeit-football-tickets/article_6d6cd94b-a3b9-59f2-9f96-d1905e185609.html

 

[Juan]

— Twitter API (@twitterapi) November 7, 2011


— Twitter API (@twitterapi) November 7, 2011