Offensively, the philosophy seems to be do it until it works
as opposed to do it till they stop it. It
felt like two-thirds of the plays called were either a flair out or some sort
of bubble screen for a yard. I know that
Rees doesn’t have a super strong arm, but if Chris Brown is a speedster, turn
on the burners and throw it down field. Martin
needs to let Rees and his “Pieces” spread the field. Maybe Kelly and Offensive Coordinator Chuck Martin
are more like chess players when it comes to being patient with the offense than
we’d hoped for. My concern with that is
how it looks to voters and whether or not we afford to be that patient against
better teams when it comes to waiting to see what the defense gives us and
scoring points.
There are things that seem to be coming into focus on the offensive
side of the ball after three games. Amir
Carlisle is emerging as the number one running back who should continue to develop
into an all-around offensive threat similar to Theo Riddick. DaVaris Daniels (167 yards on 8 catches with
2 touchdowns) is looking more and more like the go to guy at the wide receiver position.
Troy Niklas is not “there” yet but he
is on his way and the Irish will need him to get “there” sooner than later for
success this season. To do that, Niklas
needs to get more looks - he had one catch for nine yards against the
Boilermakers.
On a Saturday where the Michigan Wolverines barely beat the
Akron Zips 28-24, perhaps the Irish faithful should be a bit more than content
with a 31-24 win over the Purdue Boilermakers.
However, on Sunday, we find ourselves in a bit of a fog. We supposedly have a monster offensive line
yet we can’t even rush for a combined 100 yards against Purdue (MCDANIEL 16-56;
ATKINSON, G. 5-27; CARLISLE 11-16; BRYANT 1-2), averaging a meager 2.5 yards
per carry. We supposedly have an All-World,
bend don’t break defense, yet we have given up 65 points in the last two games. Finally, Tommy Rees was not supposed to be
the answer, yet he as three 300+ yards games in three games.
Offensively, the philosophy seems to be do it until it works
as opposed to do it till they stop it. It
felt like two-thirds of the plays called were either a flair out or some sort
of bubble screen for a yard. I know that
Rees doesn’t have a super strong arm, but if Chris Brown is a speedster, turn
on the burners and throw it down field. Martin
needs to let Rees and his “Pieces” spread the field. Maybe Kelly and Offensive Coordinator Chuck Martin
are more like chess players when it comes to being patient with the offense than
we’d hoped for. My concern with that is
how it looks to voters and whether or not we afford to be that patient against
better teams when it comes to waiting to see what the defense gives us and
scoring points.
There are things that seem to be coming into focus on the offensive
side of the ball after three games. Amir
Carlisle is emerging as the number one running back who should continue to develop
into an all-around offensive threat similar to Theo Riddick. DaVaris Daniels (167 yards on 8 catches with
2 touchdowns) is looking more and more like the go to guy at the wide receiver position.
Troy Niklas is not “there” yet but he
is on his way and the Irish will need him to get “there” sooner than later for
success this season. To do that, Niklas
needs to get more looks - he had one catch for nine yards against the
Boilermakers.
It also occurred to me last night that if something happened
to Tommy Rees or it got to the point that he would need to be pulled, Brian
Kelly’s options were very limited. True
freshman Malik Zaire has had mono and he had just been cleared for cardio
earlier this week. It was supposed to be a game day decision, but even if he
was officially cleared to play, what kind of shape would he have been in? Even looking forward to Michigan State what
kind of shape will Zaire be in and how much learning did he miss out on while
he was sick? The Irish missed a huge
opportunity to beat up on a lesser team early and get some second and third
team players (namely Andrew Hendrix, who to date only has five pass attempts
and one completion for nine yards) on the field for some game experience.
Defensively, this team looks like a shadow of its former
self. The line is not getting the penetration
it needs, the linebackers look lost in coverage and the secondary has come up
short time and time again. If the
Boilermakers’ offense is going to push the Irish around scoring 24 points,
there are teams on Notre Dame’s schedule that might drop 50+ on Her Loyal
Sons. Bob Diaco’s crew has got to get
three and out’s going against teams or this could be a very average season. Contrary to Brian Kelly’s post game comments,
“This is probably his best game of the year in terms of just being on every
play," something is wrong with Stephon Tuitt, who had assisted tackle
against Purdue and a total of four tackles in three games. One positive note on the defensive side of the
ball was Bennett Jackson, who had four tackles, one tackle for a loss, a sack
and an interception for a touchdown.
It would be great if our Special Teams could be “special.” I am more than just confident in Kyle Bindza’s
field goal abilities (4/5 with a long of 44 on the season), his kick-offs
should and could be touch backs every time (he did have 4 out of 6 touchbacks on
Saturday), but his punting game leaves a bit to be desired, averaging just
under 37 yards on four punts against Purdue.
Senior Wake Forest transfer Alex Wulfex did have one punt for 38 yards,
landing it inside the 20 yard line.
I would like to recognize the discipline on Saturday by the
Irish only committing three penalties.
Another positive stat from Saturday for Notre Dame was going 3 for 4 in the
red zone.
Onward to Michigan State.
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