With all the talk last week of rivalries and remembrances, Notre Dame’s final foray to The Big House, until we decide to go back, was one to forget. While the game had all the thrills and drama we’ve come to expect, it featured an ominous, and unexpected, impotence by the very unit upon which so must was built in 2012, and upon which so many hopes had been piled for 2013: the defense. In short, Diaco’s boys had few answers for a rampant Michigan signal-caller, whiffed on a couple of key tackles, and gave up game-killing penalties.
Credit: Tony Ding/AP
Devin Gardner, Michigan’s quarterback, gave Notre Dame fits over the course of a heroic performance. Running for 82 yards and a touchdown and passing for 294 yards and four touchdowns, Gardner kept drives and plays alive with his arm and his feet. His one poor decision on the night, in which he tried to save himself from a safety and ended up writing himself into Stephon Tuitt’s forever highlight reel, was rendered meaningless by back-to-back pass interference calls against the Irish on the following Michigan drive. Those two calls, which will stand out among the several missed and awful calls perpetrated by the ACC officiating crew, gave Michigan the ball on first and goal and a too-easy touchdown to put the game out of reach in the final minutes.
Notre Dame’s quarterback, Tommy Rees, never got hot. He completed twenty-nine of fifty-one passes for 314 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, both daggers at crucial moments in the game, one at the half and one at the bitter end. TJ Jones had another strong performance, catching nine passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. Troy Niklas had a terrific second-half, catching six passes and one for a score. Apparently, of his eight career catches, something like all of them are for TD’s. Amir Carlisle was the leading rusher, netting 64 yards, on a unit that didn’t get a lot going. Special teams, though, were better, if not markedly so, over last week and certainly last year. Kyle Bryndza was three-for-three on FG’s and both GAIII and TJ Jones had flashy returns.
But, it was ND’s defense that failed in this one. Thirty points should have been plenty. Diaco just didn’t have any answers for Michigan’s offense. Louis Nix was largely ineffective, never really harassing Gardner. The Irish secondary was terrible, blowing coverages and missing tackles, extending Wolverine drives. Tackling, overall, was pathetic, with short runs too often turning into long gains.
Long story short, this was a game the Irish could have won. They did just enough to keep us hoping all night and Stephon gave us a play for the ages, but Michigan was clearly the more ready and prepared, if not better, team last night.
Hating Hurricanes Since 1990.
Bayou Irish is a Jersey boy and Double Domer who fell under New Orleans' spell in 1995. He's been through Katrina and fourteen years in the Coast Guard, so we cut him some slack, mostly in the form of HLS-subsidized sazeracs. But, when he's not face down on the bar and communing with the ghosts of Faulkner and Capote at the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone, he's our man in SEC-land, doing his best to convince everyone around him that Graduation Success Rate is a better indicator of success than the number of MNC's won in the last five years.
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Rees lack of athleticism actually thwarts the effectiveness of an offense predicated on the athleticism of the Qb. I don’t get Kelly’s thinking. Is it keep Rees in to win against the have nots and who cares if we get down a couple of scores against the upper tier teams cause its good to look valiant trying to win, rather than actually winning? Anyone thinking national championship with Rees? Then put athlete Hendrix in. it’s his time because maybe……. There are no maybes with Rees.
Firstly, Rees was not the reason this game was lost. Period.
Second, Kelly’s offense is not predicated around a running QB. ND put up 543 yards last week and 410 this week. They are moving the ball just fine.
I wasn’t thinking national championship with this team, but it wasn’t because of Rees. We lost a hell of a player in Te’o and that loss seems to be greater than expected based on the way the defense played last night.
I agree that Rees is not the problem, or not the whole problem. He can’t do what Golson could do, but he played well enough. The offense really missed Riddick last night. All of those passes that bounce off of Atkinson’s hands were completions when Riddick was here. The defense obviously missed Te’o a great deal, not just in terms of his playmaking but also his leadership and on-the-field coaching from the MLB spot. Plus, Gardner just made some amazing plays.
I am not sure what to say to anyone who thinks Hendrix is the answer. I have watched every snap he has taken and I have never seen anything that gave me confidence that he is an adequate backup, much less a better starter than Rees. That’s just wishful thinking.
Gardner’s numbers throwing to everyone but Jeremy Gallon: 8 completions, 110 yards, 1 TD, 1 almost incomprehensibly stupid INT, Gallon was a monster. Gardner wasn’t as good, or as frightening, as Denard Robinson was in 2011.
The big problem was the D. As noted, the offense did enough (though they scored 23 points, not 30). Last year, the offensive gameplan was generally get to 13 and wait for the D to work like a boa constrictor, suffocating and swallowing opposing offenses whole. But without the leadership of Manti Te’o, Kapron Lewis-Moore, Danny Spond et al the unit seems rudderless. It’s also clear that the front seven isn’t dominant enough to cover for the inadequacies of the secondary. Jeremy Gallon isn’t Calvin Johnson. Part of the reason why opposing QB’s look so good is because their receivers can get consistent separation.
REES. IS. NOT. THE. PROBLEM. He made one bad throw at the half and another in a desperate situation at the end of the game. It’s not as if replacing him for this year will do any good, because Golson is the quarterback next year.
Good sound analysis. I hate Michigan as much as anyone, but to my eye, it appeared that they played perfect (with a bit of help from our D). And when a team is close to perfect, then it is probably their day. Is there any doubt in most minds that if the first PI goes our way, we have the ball down 34-30 and then matter of factly score? I swear, my first thought after the interception was “we can’t score too quickly…”
I am surprised at Tommy’s bad interception, but he was otherwise pretty solid.
All our opponents look weaker than they did when we first looked at the schedule, with USC and MSU looking absurdly weak at the moment.
Lets run the table and play Stanford with something very meaningful on the line.
I think we have a foretaste of how ACC refs are going to treat us in our future ACC matchups in football, as well as basketball. We are the red-haired, Catholic stepchild and will be treated accordingly.
There was no way that the ACC crew was going to let us out of the Big House with a “W”. You just don’t make that PI call against Bennett Jackson, especially late in the 4th quarter. It was an interception and would have given Tommy a chance to lead us to a win, something Tommy would have done two years earlier, if the defense didn’t melt down in the waning seconds.
What a shame!
no. no no no. nope and wrong.
come ON… Seriously? I have been a fan since before the 77 season and THIS is the thing that most makes me want to cover my head in a bag. Enough with “The World is Picking on Us” chorus, men. I’ve been hearing it for years and it needs to stop. Every time we go on the road, every time we have a call not go our way, half of our fanbase sound like children crying to momma. Show some grit.
If there were 7 bad or missed calls, MAYBE four went their way and three went ours, but it was close. And any errors were just that: errors. NOT some huge conspiracy on the part of the “FITB Conference Here.”
Just like Alabama… we were beaten by a better team. Their QB was better, their WR (at least one) was MUCH better, their D was better… and they played with direction and fire. You might even say we were outcoached but I don’t know. (???) No doubt about this though: we needed someone to step up… like Gallon did, like Gardner did,… and no one stepped up and stayed stepped up. And, just sayin, our key player on D (JUST LIKE AGAINST BAMA) wasn’t there. Fizzled. Non-factor. Negated. Had Gardner not made the bungle of his young career, Tuitt would have been unheardfrom too. Refs schmefs.
As far as Tommy’s stats… THAT is what QB stats look like when a D is playing back, playing soft, playing bend but don’t break. No surprises. Under those circumstances, he could have thrown the ball all night… but if he didn’t outplay/outscore Gardner, we were done. You don’t wanna blame Turnover Tommy? OK, he hung 23 points on one of the best (THE best?) teams in the BigHowevermany when he needed to hang 35 and still have help from his D. Lead us to a win??? TOMMY?!?! Oh, he’ll lead us to a win… and a few losses too.
He’ll look brilliant against Purdue & MSU, though.
Go Irish! Now, let’s man the eff up!