Point Spread vs. Notre Dame

[hm101]

ND had 3 sacks and 1 pick this past game. Seem to have a pretty stout D, and could hurt if we have too many folks out on that side of the ball

We need all the points we can get and hope we get some kicking solutions too

I don't know what to expect.

[NewEnglandBull]

1 minute ago, hm101 said:

ND had 3 sacks and 1 pick this past game. Seem to have a pretty stout D, and could hurt if we have too many folks out on that side of the ball

We need all the points we can get and hope we get some kicking solutions too

I don't know what to expect.

Their D is incredible. They hit so hard and are fast. 

[NewEnglandBull]

Just now, brybull1970 said:

Pounding Notre Dame at -26. I expect their defense to flip the field a couple of times and give their offense some easy scores. Our offense will be lucky to break 14.

I think that is a relatively safe bet. 

[CousinRicky]

1 hour ago, puc86 said:

Is there reason to believe that they are pass blocking specialists and the replacements specialize in run blocking exclusively?

 

Is there reason to believe that the replacements may not be as good at pass blocking or that there was no need to pass a lot?

[puc86]

1 minute ago, CousinRicky said:

Is there reason to believe that the replacements may not be as good at pass blocking or that there was no need to pass a lot?

I thought I was the one asking the questions here... I’m not sure of the answers to be quite honest I am just curious as to how people saw answers to the questions I was looking for from what we saw displayed on Saturday. Absence of evidence clearly doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist but I honestly did not see anything that would make me as confident as some seem that improvements have taken place in our passing game, which given CJS’s pedigree and our obvious room for improvement I was surprised not to see.

[mj796]

41 minutes ago, NewEnglandBull said:

I think that is a relatively safe bet. 

Really? How much are you putting on it? 

[horny_gimli]

Count me as one of the folks who is slightly disappointing at not getting to see more passing. 

That said, I did see a couple bright things about the passing game: 

• First and foremost, our coach decided against airing it out against our week 1 opponent when the field was soaking wet and the running game was working. In my book, that is an intelligent coaching decision. 
• I saw some good catches that I feel are drops in years past. Dukes's TD catch was a great play, and Miller made a very nice catch in the 1st quarter. Completion rate is high, just not a lot of attempts, and not a lot of YAC.
• Lack of procedural errors. In years past... a new coach, a new offensive system, o-line starters out... it's a sea of yellow every drive for stupid procedural mistakes. Barely any of that in this game. Super impressed with how disciplined they had this crew -- despite missing 3 players on the o-line (and I'm assuming missing our actual starting QB as well). 

I do hope that we get Cade and the o-line back for the Irish game.

[El_Toro_86]

58 minutes ago, TheAccountant said:

Another improvement I think we should talk about, was penalties. Granted, there is definitely a lot of room for improvement, but we had 5 penalties for 50 yards. Last season we averaged 8-9 penalties for 71 yards per game. 20 yards may not seem like a lot, but that's 4 offside penalties or 4 false start penalties or a mixture of the two that could be game changing penalties. 

To me this was the most encouraging to see on Saturday.  Few penalties equals discipline on both sides of the ball.  Something we haven’t seen in a long time.  Discipline is a great foundation to build on.  Who can remember when Taggart was trying to run his offense in the first year?  I swear there was a motion or false start on just about every other snap.

 

[NewEnglandBull]

20 minutes ago, mj796 said:

Really? How much are you putting on it? 

I am putting down $10,000 of Bry’s money...all day long...

Edited September 14, 2020 by NewEnglandBull

[CousinRicky]

2 hours ago, puc86 said:

I thought I was the one asking the questions here... I’m not sure of the answers to be quite honest I am just curious as to how people saw answers to the questions I was looking for from what we saw displayed on Saturday. Absence of evidence clearly doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist but I honestly did not see anything that would make me as confident as some seem that improvements have taken place in our passing game, which given CJS’s pedigree and our obvious room for improvement I was surprised not to see.

You probably also didn't see that practices and routines and spring ball were a bit different this year. Sheez.  There is no reason, with mostly the same players as last year and not a real practice off season, to think we're going to come out like the greatest show on turf in game 1.