A Splash of Cold Water

[The Great 8]

I agree with Apis and DELdabull, we were getting gashed.  Over 500 yards against our defense is "gashed."  You can't compare the Cincy game last year vs. the ND game this year, that's apples and oranges.  If ND puts together a better 1st half of football, we lose. 

Why can't I compare to Cincy last year?

Notre Dame vs. Cincy

Total yards: 508 vs. 590

Avg. yards per play: 6.5 vs. 6.6

Cincy beat Notre Dame both in total yards and yards per play. I'm more willing to accept that we were gashed by both than "we can't compare" the two.

I'm guessing the reason we can't compare the two is because we were moving the ball super efficiently against Cincy while we did it at a snails pace against Notre Dame. Defensively though, the outcomes were about the same (minus TO's).

Face it, against good passing offenses we're going to see inflated stats. If we win, I don't care.

I worry a little about Pitt's D, but since their new coach is an offensive mind, I think they may not click on all cylinders on offense yet. 

Why are you worried about Pitt? Pitt runs a 3-4 system and their biggest weakness on defense is at LB. They're less difficult to run the ball against now, and the secondary looks soft. They struggled to stop Buffalo a bit in their game. Not afraid of Pitt at all on defense. Offensively will be another story.

[Apis Bull]

Again, all of are happy that we won.  Some of us are just concerned that we won't continue to win if we keep playing like we did against ND

[GaUSFBull]

Why can't I compare to Cincy last year?

The Cincy game was a back and forth game the entire 4 qtrs.  Granted, we were ahead pretty much the whole time, but a lot more points were scored and Cincy had absolutely no defense.  ND had a pretty decent defense Saturday.  Plus I'm pretty sure there weren't 5 turnovers in the game (don't have the stats from that game in front of me).  It was a drastically differently played game. 

[MikeG]

Again, all of are happy that we won.  Some of us are just concerned that we won't continue to win if we keep playing like we did against ND

yes and no-- we didn't put on an offensive clinic by any means-- and we did surremder a bunch of yards

but we were well coached, played smart, and played tough. We took care of the ball and capitalized on their mistakes and our good defensive plays.

I like that we have 3 games to work out the problems before we hit the road again against Pitt-- our next very tough test this season

[Brad]

Just watching again. 

A block by Miller on Mitchell's return maybe puts him in the end zone.

Daniels indecision at the goal line with ND's defense out of sorts gave up an easy opp to score.

We could have done much better, but we did enough to win and that got the W.  Let's see how this team develops.

[Bull94]

Just watching again. 

A block by Miller on Mitchell's return maybe puts him in the end zone.

Daniels indecision at the goal line with ND's defense out of sorts gave up an easy opp to score.

We could have done much better, but we did enough to win and that got the W.  Let's see how this team develops.

not to mention the fact that we ran the ball into the line 3 times from their 35 in order to run clock. we punted from their 32.

I can't believe people question our coach's game plan. it was to limit big plays and TDs. not limit yards. that's what you do against good offenses. it worked to perfection. they had 2 legit scoring opportunities in the first half. both would have been FG attempts as the turnovers occurred on 3rd down. some of you have no sense of game management or strategy. I'm glad holtz and company realize it's the points on the board that matter and not total yards for or against.

[The Great 8]

Why can't I compare to Cincy last year?

The Cincy game was a back and forth game the entire 4 qtrs.  Granted, we were ahead pretty much the whole time, but a lot more points were scored and Cincy had absolutely no defense.  ND had a pretty decent defense Saturday.  Plus I'm pretty sure there weren't 5 turnovers in the game (don't have the stats from that game in front of me).  It was a drastically differently played game. 

Still unsure how it being a "back and forth" game does anything to contradict that our defense was being "gashed" in the Cincy and Notre Dame games. Our defense played about the same (note the average yards per play for Cincy/ND).

Offensively, yes, they were very different games for USF. We moved the ball much better against Cincy than we did ND. Defense couldn't stop either. Unless, that was their gameplan to give up between the 20's (which is what I'm contending).

[Bull94]

Why can't I compare to Cincy last year?

The Cincy game was a back and forth game the entire 4 qtrs.  Granted, we were ahead pretty much the whole time, but a lot more points were scored and Cincy had absolutely no defense.  ND had a pretty decent defense Saturday.  Plus I'm pretty sure there weren't 5 turnovers in the game (don't have the stats from that game in front of me).  It was a drastically differently played game. 

Still unsure how it being a "back and forth" game does anything to contradict that our defense was being "gashed" in the Cincy and Notre Dame games. Our defense played about the same (note the average yards per play for Cincy/ND).

Offensively, yes, they were very different games for USF. We moved the ball much better against Cincy than we did ND. Defense couldn't stop either. Unless, that was their gameplan to give up between the 20's (which is what I'm contending).

there is no sense arguing. I agree we didn't care about giving up yards. we wanted to keep them out of the end zone. snyder himself said they played bend don't break defense.

I guess these guys think we should have moved the safeties into the box in order to stop them from "gashing" us with the run? snyder is smart enough to realize that risks a pass over the top of the defense for an easy score.

maybe they think we should have played press coverage outside our 20 to limit the 8 yard dink and dunks? once again snyder had the corners playing off by 8-10 yards every time  in order to limit the big plays over the top.

smart coaching is why we won this game. we had a 16 point lead with 8 minutes to go. they scored 1 TD in the first 3 quarters. if they weren't down by 16, we would have been nearly dead even in total yards. they had to sling it for any chance. they gained 180 yards in the last 8 minutes of the game.