North Carolina, it's a wrap

Here is the weekly social media posts from Talking Irish's Facebook and Twitter feeds.

Stars of the Game - North Carolina

3rd) Josh Adams - 118 yards rushing, 9.1 yards per carry and a touchdown.

2nd) The Irish Defense - 11 quarterback hurries, 7 pass break ups, 2 sacks, 5 tackle for a loss, 2 fumble recoveries and an interception.

1st) Deon McIntsoh - 124 yards rushing, 10.3 yards per carry with 2 touchdowns .

By the Numbers - North Carolina

341 - Rushing yards for the Irish
10.3 - Yards per rush for Deon McIntosh
86 - Tarheels total yards rushing
8 - receivers who caught passes for the Irish
50 - Average yards per punt for Tyler Newsome
11 - Quarterback hurries for the Irish defense
7 - Pass breakups for Notre Dame's defense
3 - Quarterback hurries for Julian Okwara
7 - Tackles for Drue Tranquill
27 - Rushing first downs
3 - fourth down conversions out of 4 attempts
2 - Fumble recovers foe the Notre Dame defense

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - North Carolina

The Good. The Offensive Line. Great job with a special recognition to Quenton Nelson. Good job making holes and good protection for a quarterback making his first start.

The Bad. Red Zone opportunities. Compared to the rest of the season so far (scoring on all trips) scoring (1 Touchdown and 1 Field Goal) on 2 of the 4 chances is a letdown.

The Ugly. Injuries. Apparently nothing super serious or season ending and it looks like everyone will be ready to go in two weeks against USC. Good time for a bye.

Miami of Ohio Wrap Up

Hits from this past weekends Talking Irish Facebook and Twitter Posts

Stars of the Game - Miami of Ohio

3rd) Greer Martini - 5 tackles and an interception

2nd) Brandon Wimbush - 119 yards passing with 3 touchdowns and 36 yards rushing with 1 touchdown

1st) Josh Adams - 159 rushing yards (19.9 yards per carry), 2 touchdowns

By the Numbers - Miami of Ohio

28 - Points by Notre Dame in the first quarter
333 - Yards rushing by the Irish
8.5 - Yards per carry
2 - converted fourth downs out of 2 attempts for the offense.
159 - Rushing yards for Josh Adams
12 - Yards per rush for Tony Jones Jr.
3 - Touchdown passes for Brandon Wimbush
1 - Tackle by kicker Justin Yoon
3 - Sacks for the Irish defense
1 - First career interception for Greer Martini and first career forced fumble for Jerry Tillery

The Good, The Bad & the Ugly - Miami of Ohio

The Good - The 52 point the Irish were able to put up against Miami of Ohio. A ranked, top tier program such as Notre Dame should be putting up those kind of numbers against a team from the MAC, unfortunately the Irish have not always done that.

The Bad - Injuries. Josh Adams had an ankle injury and Tony Jones Jr. got shaken up, both are expected (along with Dexter Williams) back next week.

The Ugly - Missed field goal. In and of itself is not a huge issue but Yoon seems a bit off this season and that might hurt the Irish down the road.

Weekend Wrap Up – Social Media Hits

Here are some pieces from our Facebook and Twitter Accounts from the Boston College Game.

Stars of the game - Boston College

3rd Star: Brandon Wimbush; ran for 207 yards and 4 touchdowns

2nd Star: Te'von Coney; 13 tackles (5 solo & 8 assists)

3rd Star: Josh Adams; 229 yards, averaging 12.7 yards per rush.

By the Numbers - Boston College

515 - Net rushing yards for the Irish
10.1- Average Yards per Rush
2 - Interceptions by Shaun Crawford
50 - Notre Dame's third down conversion rate (9-18)
6 - Touchdowns in 6 trips to the red zone
21 Points from turnovers
7 - Rushing touchdown (4-Wimbush, 2-Williams, 1-Jones)
13 - Tackles for Te'von Coney to lead the Irish defense
1 - Sack by Jerry Tillery
5 - Tackles for a loss for the defense

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Boston College

The Good: The running game (one Kelly decided to run the ball). 515 net yards on the ground while averaging 10.1 per rush with 7 touchdowns.

The Bad: play calling (primarily first half). Early don pass calls that come up short putting us at 3 and long over and over.

The Ugly: The passing game. 11 completions on 27 attempts for 96 with an interception and NO touchdowns.

Weekend Social Media

If you missed the Talking Irish Facebook and Twitter Posts from the weekend here are some of the more notable pieces.

Goats of the Game - Georgia

3) SEC Officiating Crew.  In no way were to blame for the Irish loss, however they were just bad overall.  Bad officiating on both sides.

2) Brandon WImbush.  He kept the ball too many time instead of handing it off to the running backs and threw to many bad passes.

1) Brian Kelly.  More specifically the offensive play calling.

Notorious Numbers - Georgia Game

55:  Net rushing yards for the Irish

1.5:  Yards per rush

34:  Yards LOST rushing for Notre Dame

-1.0:  Notre Dame average punt return

3: Third down conversions out of 17 opportunities

1: Net yard on 16 rushes by QB Brandon Wimbush

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly - Georgia

The Good.  The Defense.  If you told me after last week's win over Temple that we were going to hold Georgia to 20 points I would have guaranteed a win for the Irish.  This year's defense seems to play "bend don't break", unfortunately they broke a couple of times on Saturday.   Overall it was the defense that kept Notre Dame in the game.

The Bad.  The Offense.   Half to the play calls and half to the execution.   Holes for the rushing game were apparently non-existent and we Wimbush could not connect with his receivers.   This was especially bad compared to their great performance against Temple.

The Ugly.  The end of Brian Kelly's post game press conference.  https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/9/10/16282846/brian-kelly-notre-dame-georgia-press-conference-2017

What we now know

Brandon Wimbush

Before last Saturdays game against Temple there were many questions to be answered.  Realistically we really don’t have the answers to most of them but we did gain some insight to what the answers may end up being at the end of the season.  So here are ac couple of things we comfortably if not confidently now know about this Irish squad.

Brandon Wimbish can play.  Well, we kind of already had an inclining based on his high school highlight films.  He defiantly is confident.  The concern I walked away with from Saturday (and had even before) was with him running around so much what is the risk vs. reward with injury?

The Offensive line “looked” as good as advertised.  Now before we get ahead of ourselves here to clarify we played Temple not the 85 Bears.  However there was a good push for the rush with decent holes to get through and good protection for Wimbsush.  As happy I was this is one area I may be the most skeptical about.

Tony Jones Jr.

We can run.  With three 100 yards rushers and 422 yards on the ground all together I’m pretty confident in the run.   I would however like to get more of a sample size from sophomore Tony Jones Jr. as much as we hear about him this spring and summer.

As Brain Kelly has said before, Time of Possession does not matter.  Temple controlled the clock with 33:49 over 26:11 by Notre Dame.  The only quarter Temple did not control was the third where Notre dame had the ball for 8 more seconds then the Owls.

There is room for growth.  Looking at the defense as an example they looked a bit like the 2012 squad in the “bend don’t break” feel.  Overall the defense looked more than serviceable but between stopping the run at the line and some coverage issues there is room for improvement. 

Temple by the Numbers

4 - Quarters (All) that the Irish scored in

16 - Notre Dame rushing first downs  (7 passing)

422 - Net rushing yards for the Irish (8 for Temple)

9.6 - Yards per rush by Irish ball carriers

5 - Rushing Touchdowns for the Irish

52 - Average yards per punt for Tyler Newsome

606 - Total offensive yards for Notre Dame

6 - Out of 6 Red Zone trips resulting in a Notre Dame Touchdown

2 - Missed Field Goals on 2 attempts by Justin Yoon

7 - Made PAT's out of 7 attempts by Justin Yoon

Dexter Williams

161 - Net rushing yards by Josh Adams

20.7 - Average yards per rush for Dexter Williams

8 - Irish players who caught a pass

106 / 184 - Yards rushing / yards passing for Brandon Wimbush

3 - Players who recorded their first college sacks (Coney, Hayes & Okwara)

11 - Notre Dame Tackles for a loss

Questions First

We all know that the 2017 Season kicks off Saturday.  What we don’t know is what the season will give Irish fans.  The fact is until the season is over, including a bowl game (we hope) we won’t know the full story of this team.  The game against Temple will give us a good look at what the future may hold for this year.

Many questions won’t be fully answered on Saturday but there are many we are hoping to get some insight to.

Q: First and foremost, is/can Brandon Wimbush be the real deal?   

A: No matter what Wimbush does on Saturday he’ll have at least 11 more games this season to define his season.  I think what we really hop to learn is how is his poise and how does he lead?

Q: Is Jerry Tillery ready to be the star we hope and need him to be?

A: As much as we need him to be I don’t see I happening.  I (and I hope I’m wrong) predict Tillery will be average at best on Saturday.

Q: What will the running game ball distribution look like?

A: Josh Adams will get the start and make the most of his lion’s share of carries and won’t let go.

Q: After Equanimeous St. Brown who will be the number two receiver?

A: Aliz’e Mack will return to the field with a chip on his shoulder and will be hard to defend.

Q: Will the Offensive Line be as dominate s their talent suggest?

A: With two All American on the line you would think this would be a no brainer but first they will have to stop the mistakes and penalties from the last couple of years.

Q: How will the coaching staff do?

A: It’s not so much how they do during the game but how they adjust after.