The Irish moved to 3-1 on the season, defeating the Michigan State Spartans, 17-14. The game was dominated by the defenses and by an officiating crew who called the squads for a combined 201 yards in penalties. Sparty, in particular, was hit hard, and in critical situations, too. Four pass interference calls extended Irish drives and earned the scorn of State’s head coach, Mark Dantonio.
Notre Dame seemed to abandon the run, deploying an empty backfield often and on several third and short-yardage situations. Again, Cam McDaniel was the only Irish back who seemed to have any spring in his step and scored Notre Dame’s lone rushing touchdown, a crucial seven yard scamper at the start of the fourth quarter that gave the Irish the lead for good. McDaniel finished the day with forty yards, almost double GAIII’s twenty-three yards. All together, ND mustered only seventy-eight rushing yards, albeit against the number one defense in the country.
Through the air, Tommy Rees tried to take advantage, almost blindly, of one-on-one matchups whenever they occurred. Every play was a pass and a deep one it seemed. The catches were thrilling, even when they came yards out of bounds. But the only touchdown came on a two yard Tommy Rees toss to TJ Jones, who acrobatically corralled what should have been another high incompletion. Tommy tried thirty-four passes, missing twenty of them and failing in his quest for a fourth straight three hundred yard passing game. Somehow, he didn’t throw any interceptions.
On defense, the Irish looked better than they had, though they were repeatedly bettered on third and short and fourth and short. For what it’s worth, the Irish D-line stoned State on fourth and one in what should have been a huge momentum-shifter, only to be undone by a ticky-tack facemask penalty on Kona, who made the initial penetration and contact. Still, on a day when the Irish were helped more than hurt by the calls, it would be wrong to focus too much on that instance. Big Lou, too, was called for a facemask on a play on which he was dominating his blockers, signs perhaps that the players are hearing and heading the chatter that they are under-performing.
There was more trickeration from the Irish than we’ve seen in the previous games this year, but nothing, really, that worked. Still, a win is a win and the Irish won ugly on Saturday.
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.
- Finding Flaws in a Diamond: Clemson’s Rushing Offense - December 17, 2018
- Why Nobody Will Cotton to Notre Dame - December 3, 2018
- Irish Finish Regular Season Perfect 12-0 - November 26, 2018
Tommy once again, made me pine for the return of EG. I don’t think I could take one more massive overthrow OOB or worthless failed 3rd down conversion. Our team is in very big trouble. Defense is a liability, offense is lackluster, and there are no big play threats anywhere on the field.
The constant long bombs on 3rd down and 1 or 2 was mind-boggling. OK, so tough to run, but throw a short pass once in awhile for Pete’s sake! We have a 6’7″ tight end. Hit him!
What a frustrating year to be an Irish fan! Even when we win, it feels like a loss. Everything seems out of control. Consider these examples:
-TJ Jones’ antics as a punt returner makes us long for ” Fair Catch ” Goodman.
-Someone should tell GA3 that it isn’t against the rules to run full speed on kickoff returns.
-Our kickoff coverage team must run a collective 6.0 in the 40 yard dash.
-Someone please tell BK the following: It’s OK to use the middle of the field on passes; stop the fade passes–the only thing that fades is our chances of success–Tulsa, anyone?; forget the flanker screens; stop the tight rope sideline passes that so often land out of bounds; stop the 40 yard bombs on 3rd and 2; remember, tight ends are eligible, too; give Bryant and Folston a shot–they can’t be any worse than the others; go to a 4-3 defense so we only have to use one slow MLB and Williams and Shembo can be at DE which is where they belong; put our 3 DL on the Weight Watchers diet; no more purple-faced, ” F ” bomb tirades against the officials that cost us 15 yards; scrap the empty backfield and the personnel groupings that telegraph our plays; and lose some weight, Brian.
-Other than that, everything is all right!
^^This
It really is that simple. Most of us probably earn south of 2 mil, but we can all make 3 adjustments that are certainly correct; 1)no more flanker screens.2) on 3rd and 5 throw a six yard pass. (Remember CW was big on the 3 yard pass in that situation!)3) throw some kind of crossing routes.
That being said, I remain a huge BK fan. I like the deep throws because our receivers are usually better. Tommy was off a bit on Sat, but we might have hit 3 of them and the game wouldnt have been close. I believe that Daniels would have scored on the one PI, so that was a good pass in stride.
Its the O line that can’t run block, not the backs.
We will win this week.
Go Irish
Through all the negative concerning Tommy and the long ball there is a major plus. The offensive line gave him a pocket that he could sit in all day and half the night. And I don’t recall one holding penalty (although I could be wrong). This was, numbers wise, the #1 defense in the country. To give him the time to throw those bombs makes me extremely optimistic.
I wish we could do a little better with the line blocking on the running game, but baby steps.
Aaron Lynch update – 3 games, 3 solo tackles, 3 assited tackles, 0 sacks.
Who?