I thought Notre Dame could score 40+ points in a high-flying affair against USC. Turns out, the Irish were able to score over 40 but the Trojans, with the “help” of the Notre Dame defense, were unable to make this a high-scoring game. It’s Sunday late morning and it’s time to recap an absolute smashing obliteration of Southern Cal.
PASSING OFFENSE
Once again, the game transitioned to an infomercial for Notre Dame’s run game but Wimbush did just enough early on to put in a respectable performance through the air. Best of all, he started off with the game’s first two scores on touchdown passes to St. Brown and Stepherson–both really strong medium-to-long stabs down field.
There were a couple drops, and a couple inaccurate passes throughout. It seemed like there would be many opportunities to hit deep passes with USC crowding the box and leaving receivers in one-on-one situations with little safety help. That didn’t happen (long completion of 26 yards) and Wimbush did only complete 47.3% of his passes, too.
Statistically, a completely forgettable game for Wimbush but I thought he was very calm, looked poised, and showed no signs of panic when his first or second read wasn’t available.
Welcome back to the party, Kevin Stepherson! He finishes with 3 catches for a team-high 58 yards and 93 total yards. Did you notice they put him back at kick returner?
RUSHING OFFENSE
Who is getting bored with this ground game? No one!
Just another pair of 100-yard rushers, 377 total yards, and 5 more rushing touchdowns.
| Player | 1st/2nd Yes | 1st/2nd No | 3rd/4th Yes | 3rd/4th No | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adams | 7 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 50.0% |
| Wimbush | 8 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 84.6% |
| Jones | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 80.0% |
| Stepherson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| McIntosh | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 33.3% |
| Book | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 50.0% |
| Total | 23 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 65.1% |
Josh Adams continues to have a George Atkinson-type season if GA3 were pumped full of steroids. By that I mean, he’s still not putting up great numbers in rush success but he’s just so damn good when he is successful. From his 9 successful carries he had runs of 7, 10, 13, 15, 6, and 21 yards plus touchdown runs of 3, 14, and 84 yards.
This might have been Wimbush’s best overall rushing effort in his young career. By the way, he’s on pace for a 1,000 yard rushing season.
It seems Tony Jones, Jr. is fully healthy again because it looked like the back the media raved about during fall camp was on the field for the first time this season. He blocked well, covered kickoffs well, and ran over some fools.
With Stepherson getting in on the action with a couple reverses the Irish have now given carries to 12 different players this year.
PASS DEFENSE
USC basically had 3 sustained drives in this game whereby Sam Darnold accumulated 165 of his 229 passing yards (72%) with most of that–during the two opening drives of the 3rd quarter–coming against soft coverage. For the rest of the game Darnold was one big yawn and not so much ineffective as he was Captain Checkdown unable to scare the Irish secondary.
Deontay Burnett (8 for 113), Steven Mitchell (7 for 71), and Tyler Vaughns (6 for 65) all had strong games in the stat book but it was a very harmless night for the Trojan pass game. I guess that’s what happens when little else goes right for your team.
Give credit to the Notre Dame defense for constantly harassing Darnold (5 sacks, 7 hurries) and rarely allowing him time to set his feet and throw the ball downfield.
Also, Nick Watkins’ interception was absolutely gorgeous. Many a good corner have dropped the ball under such stretching circumstances.
RUSH DEFENSE
The Trojans were dominated up front. The Irish totaled 10 tackles for loss and limited USC to 76 net rushing yards. When you factor in Darnold and backup Matt Fink scrambling for 18-yard gains apiece there was almost nothing coming from the Trojan running backs.
USC opened the game with success on just 2 of their first 10 carries and finished the game with an abysmal 34.6% success rate. They had no chance and needed to put the entire game on the arm of Sam Darnold.
It didn’t work, and it feels great knowing Mike Elko & Co. expected just that.
SPECIAL TEAMS
It was a relatively clean game defined by a couple of crucial mistakes from USC. One, a missed short field goal that prevented the Trojans from getting on the scoreboard in the 2nd quarter. Two, a muffed punt return from Jack Jones that gifted Notre Dame a drive beginning at the USC 9-yard line.
TURNING POINT
There were plenty of options for turning points, including the muffed punt above or Watkins’ interception. For me, I have to go with the 3rd down stop that led to USC’s missed field goal.
This was the play that came after Julian Okwara’s third down sack which was wiped out due to holding on Jalen Elliott. This caused mass confusion as the referee announced 1st down and the NBC score bug followed suit. However, it was 3rd & 1 in a huge first half moment.
On this snap, Trumbetti plays like a man and walks back the tight end immediately after the ball is at the quarterback. This affects the lead blocking tight end who gets in the way and a mass of bodies collide behind the line of scrimmage. Both Bilal and Morgan scrape down the line for the assisted tackle.
By the way, Notre Dame’s offense converted all 5 of their third down opportunities when they ran the ball.
3 STARS
- Josh Adams
- Te’von Coney
- Brandon Wimbush
FINAL NOTES
How historic was Saturday night? Here are the top victories by winning margin against ranked opponents at the time of kickoff in Notre Dame’s storied program:
1966, USC, 51 points
1992, BC, 47 points
1949, Tulane, 39 points
1989, Pitt, 38 points
1966, Oklahoma, 38 points
2017, USC, 35 points
1946, Iowa, 35 points
Notre Dame was ranked #1 in 4 of these games (all but BC, Iowa, and this Saturday) and this weekend was the only game in which the Irish were the lower ranked team–although we were still favored.
Some quick season stats to date: 12th in defensive scoring, 28th in defensive rushing average, 1st in fewest rushing touchdowns given up (still at 1), and tied for 24th in defensive yards per play. On offense, 11th nationally in scoring, 6th in rushing yards per game, 2nd in rushing average, tied for 2nd in rushing touchdowns, and 24th in yards per play.
Notre Dame went 4 for 4 on touchdowns in the red zone again.
It may have been out of respect for Martini but I thought it was strange just how much worry there was he was missing this game. Te’von Coney responded splendidly with a game-high 11 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, 1 sack, and 1 quarterback hurry. This might be his career game.
We’ll have to see the actual snap counts but both Troy Pride and Donte Vaughn seemed to play a lot which says enough about how much respect and, shall I say, comfort the Irish defense felt about its odds facing Darnold.
Speaking of which, I found it kind of funny how Darnold basically quit during the game. Sure, he was banged up and the game was out of hand. But, you still quit. Heisman campaign, over.
Notre Dame is tied for 3rd nationally in turnover margin.
Special shout out to Khalid Kareem and his 2 sacks, which now moves him up to the team lead with Daelin Hayes and Jerry Tillery.
So, just how good is Notre Dame right now? Let’s take a look at the AP Top 15 and their yards per play differential:
#1 Alabama +3.08
#2 Penn State +2.73
#3 Georgia +2.50
#4 TCU +1.79
#5 Wisconsin +2.42
#6 Ohio State +2.92
#7 Clemson +1.74
#8 Miami +2.20
#9 Notre Dame +1.68
#10 Oklahoma +2.91
#11 Oklahoma State +2.96
#12 Washington +2.59
#13 Virginia Tech +1.32
#14 NC State +0.76
#15 Washington State +1.49
This is a little humbling to look at, although the Irish would likely move up with some strength of schedule balance as they’ve played 3 teams in the S&P Top 26 (Georgia, MSU, USC) already. But really, the main issue is Notre Dame being tied for 121st nationally in passing yards per attempt. The next closest Top 15 team in this category is Washington State at 71st nationally and they’re weirdly much better on defense than offense this year.
Notre Dame can maybe go the rest of the regular season running the ball really well, not committing turnovers, while playing some strong and timely defense to finish 11-1. Just being able to do that–and pick up a damn win at Stanford–would obviously be amazing. Although the team looks very comfortably in the top 8 to 12 teams there’s another gear that would need to be attained in order to truly be a legit Top 5 team who could win a playoff game or major bowl game. But it’s pretty good that we can contemplate such things right now.
I don’t think Darnold quit. At the end of the 3rd quarter he was getting checked and you can read his lips as he kept repeating, I’m fine, I’m fine. The way I saw it, the coaches decided the game was over ( they were right) and no reason to risk him getting hurt further.
He kept saying, “No mas, no mas.”
i have to agree. Three separate times during the came Darnold came away limping. Keeping him in the game when there was zero chance of a comeback would have made Helton a very stupid coach.
I’d add that coming out was likely not his decision. The HC runs the team and if he says, “come out,” you come out. I agree that “quit” is a very inaccurate representation. He clearly wanted to play and his coach was smart enough to keep him on the sideline.
Tossing in my two cents on the quitting discussion… I think Darnold wanted to stay in, and I think Helton made the right decision to take him out. He had just tweaked his ankle for the second time and they were down 35 in the fourth. Helton can make a business decision there. That’s his job.
You know who really struck me, though? Biggie Marshall and Ronald Jones. Marshall disappeared early in the game, I think after a collision with Jones on the sideline. Needed an awful lot of hamstring stretching… And then Jones, maybe in the third, on one of the rare occasions he crossed the line of scrimmage, took a big lick from Nyles Morgan. He got up slowly, came out of the game, and never went back in. They showed him on the sideline with his helmet on.
That kind of business decision, not so good. No breaking point, baby.
Y’all officially zero fun wrt Darnold quitting.
Darnold mos def quit. So obvious how bad he quit.
So someone else said that Jones had a concussion, which hey, I’ll give you a pass for that, given everything. But you’d think there’d be something more official. It looked for all the world like a reason to stay on the sideline.
Morgan’s hit on Jones nearly gave me a concussion, and I was standing about 500 feet away. Seriously, the entire crowd said, in unison, “Oooooooof!”. And then, each and every one of us turned to our neighbor and said, “DID YOU SEE THAT &%$ING HIT?!?!?!?!?!?”
You know who gave up? Every single USC receiver. They were all taking slides in the second half rather than risk a hit.
When did this hit occur? Rewatched the game and did not see it.
Not sure, Mouth. Second half I think. It was on a run up the middle around mid field. Perhaps the NBC truck had switched to footage of Flutie’s pass against Miami or something.
I thought it looked like he might be concussed, based on the violence of the hit and the fact that he immediately left the game. However, if he still had a helmet on the sidelines, maybe I was wrong.
Perhaps they were worried his head would swell up if he took off the helmet. You know, like when you take your ski boot off. Please note that I am not a doctor, but could have been if I had studied harder and taken biology and stuff.
Right, and I could be a rocket surgeon.
lol, that reminds me of the condition “Bloated Head” from the game Theme Hospital.
I now think winning out is possible, but beating that many good teams in a row is tough, but no doubt we are legit top 10 good at worst!
I actually feel like the passing game is close to, maybe not “breaking out” but at least clicking a little better. Only 9 completions this game but I felt like the threat of a pass was there, and some looks were there too. They also had one pretty long pass wiped out by an ineligible man that didn’t have too much to do with the play.
Maybe I’m just getting used to Wimbish’s style and the expectation he’s going to miss a couple throws, but in all I’m not too worried with it. He can run the offense and just take off and run with it, and if we’ve learned anything, at least he doesn’t put the ball in dangerous places or make incorrect reads in the coverage. He’s good about taking care of the ball and not turning it over, which earns a lot of slack with me. I appreciate that even though he’s not a great passer right now, he is not reckless or in danger of making negative plays.
Otherwise, just a wow game all around. Star making night for Coney, he was everywhere. Loved to see him succeed. Also have to love how aggressive the defense is trying to snatch the ball away at all times.
Barring a big meltdown we are looking at a relevant ND team that should be at least playing in a major bowl and in the hunt for a playoff spot for as long as they hold up their end of the bargain each week. So exciting, can’t really ask for more!
Wimbush is inconsistent as a passer, but when he’s on, he’s on. And frankly, he’s so good with his legs that I’m fine (at this point) with him “1st read, 2nd read, GO” as his instructions. First half of the season, he spent way too much time trying to find receivers, and as many pointed out, was waiting until they were open rather than throwing to a spot where they’d be open. He needs to work on that, but against better defenses he needs to be more decisive and just run if the pass isn’t there. He did that last night, so very well. They don’t go down on the stat sheet as pass yards, but we might as well consider it part of the passing game–it’s his third read. And oh lordy am I so much happier when he takes off than, say, Everett Golson. You’ve got the feeling that Wimbush could break it big on every scramble. Opposing defenses are going to have to keep an LB spying, which will open up passing lanes.
Sorry, Mrs. Golson.
I just got this one.
To your point on considering those scrambles part of the passing game – they’re the main reason we rank 18th in S&P+ passing down offense (2nd and 8+ or 3rd/4th and 5+). I want to be competent in all phases, of course, but in the end I don’t really care how the yards roll up as long as they keep rolling up.
Oh man that ineligible man downfield was worth it too. I think Bars and whoever was playing RT double-teamed the DE and literally drove him back 10 yards. I think it was a play-action, and they were supposed to sell the run, and they just unfortunately sold it way too well. He was on skates.
Might have been an RPO that took a big too long to develop. That was my guess at the time anyway.
That’s what the announcers were saying.
“Captain Checkdown”
I love the fact that on the highlights video, Tirico is talking about how Darnold is “just a winner, terrific athlete, HE LOST THE SNAP!” I want to play that on a loop for the next week.
In general, things like turnovers can be attributed to luck, and many look at that as something that teams can’t control but leads to a team that is on balance 8-4 being either 10-2 (turnover luck) or 6-6 (bad turnover luck.) Yet there are some teams who regularly and consistently take the ball away from the other team, and it’s clearly not luck. It’s coaching and mentality and skill and whatever else. The prime example is Alabama–the way they take the ball away from opposing offenses, and the frequency with which those defenses score on turnovers (they’ve been good this year, but also last year they had a streak of like 8 games with a defensive turnover for a score), it’s just part of who they are, part of the plan, and they aren’t lucking into it, they are creating the turnovers. Va Tech in their heyday would be another example.
Now, I’m not saying our D is the same level of Bama’s, not by a long shot. But the WAY we create turnovers is clearly not just lucky bounces. Coney’s swiping of the ball from Darnold was want-to and coaching. Crawford taking the ball away from LJ Scott against MSU was want-to and coaching. Yes, we benefited from turnovers last night. But just like all season, we made those turnovers. These aren’t “oh, Darnold got unlucky because the ball was tipped and landed in Watkins’s hands” or “bad snap and it bounced funny and an Irish defender got on it.” Sure, the muffed punt was a gift, but even that–did you see how one guy (#54) blocked the PR when he dove for the ball? We’re playing so much smarter, so much more aggressively, and the turnovers are following. We’re not Bama, but this is what they do, and we’re starting to do it.
I completely agree. In the press conference, BK said something along the lines of “Do you think our 300 pound defensive lineman enjoy spending 15 minutes every practice picking up footballs? Of course not, but creating turnovers takes practice.”
Okwara’s interception and Tranquill’s forced fumble against North Carolina are also great examples of “coached” turnovers.
I’d also add that while turnovers can be lucky for or against you, what you do after the turnovers is not. I don’t remember the exact number but we’re something like +80 in points off turnovers this year. That has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with opportunity and desire.
+94
There are teams that get lucky on turnovers and teams that practice and create them. During the Alabama game on Saturday, during the 3 minutes I was watching, the announcers noted that Bama had created a turnover in 38 straight games. That obviously isn’t luck. ND so far this year is trending towards the “not luck” end of the spectrum. That Watkins INT was absolutely beautiful.
If there was a Yards per play differential adjusted for strength of schedule I think Notre Dame would be in the top 5. be hard for us to quantify though now, I’m just guessing. I do know if Notre Dame had Wisconsin’s schedule they would have a much better differential than Wisconsin does.
“So, just how good is Notre Dame right now? Let’s take a look at the AP Top 15 and their yards per play differential:”
How is that stat even possible, given Adams and his 9 yards per rush average, Wimbush’s runs, etc? That would indicate that the defense was giving up a lot of big plays as well, and unless I’m missing something, we’re not doing that.
I would guess the bend-don’t-break and high amount of garbage time yards are making us look worse. In our 6 wins, the average margin of victory has been over 25 points, whereas teams like Miami, Oklahoma and Ok State have been scraping out multiple close wins with their defense in full gear. Oh and probably the 1/2 games against FCS opponents by many schools are inflating the numbers.
I agree, I don’t buy for a second that we’ve looked less dominant than any team on that list not named Bama or Georgia.
That over 25 MOV number is actually 29.17. i know that’s still over 25, but more than 4TDs just looks better than 25 😀
Mainly it’s because counting stats suck. See, you guys need to listen to Mike B and me on this stuff… 🙂 By raw counting stats, we’re averaging 6.54 yards per play on offense and 4.86 yards per play on defense.
However, our three highest yards-per-play allowed games were MSU, Miami, and USC, with an average MOV of 30 points. What’s more, we only gave up 16.3 points per in those three games. So does that really say anything about the defense?
Our offensive yards per play has definitely been pushed down by, God love him, Deon “Human Victory Cigar” McIntosh through no fault of his own, and by our subpar passing game to date. A big reason why the 2015 team averaged over 7 yards per play was that it had Kizer-to-Fuller. That makes up for a lot of stuffs and two-yard runs on 3rd and 1.
The Human Victory Cigar is averaging 5.5 yds per carry! I will acknowledge that outside of UNC his average is not as stellar. It is crazy that he already has 44 carries.
Does the YPP differential subtract garbage time at all? I find it hard to pay attention to any stats that don’t subtract garbage time.
We’d only get to count 1 quarter of the USC game if that was the case!
I’d caution against that honestly. Garbage time has its place but even with large MoV it’s not like we’re up 30-0 after the first quarter every game.
In fact, defensively the only game that we saw a bunch of meaningless yards was MSU. I think every other game especially in the 4th the opponent is doing very little. USC has about 70’yards over their last 4 drives.
I do think we will see a lot of those top 15 teams come down to earth in YPP and we could remain pretty steady. But I don’t think garbage yards explains why we’re not +2.3 YPP right now.
We’re at historically low levels of passing and high levels of forcing turnovers for a Kelly team. I think YPP does a good job showing there’s room for improvement into the realm of elite.
Rec’d just for “Human Victory Cigar”.
Yeah, I’ll take that rec since I said it in the game chat.
I can’t decide whether I would like that nickname or not. The obvious reason not to is because it implies (is it even implication?) that he is only good enough to come out when the game is completely decided.
BUT
What an awesome nickname. And also, you can only get that nickname if you are at least wayyyyy better at football than me and 300 million other American’s. And will be able to brag that he is undefeated in games where he gets a carry.
The original “Human Victory Cigar” was Terry Duerod, shooting guard and 11th man on the Boston Celtics in the early 80’s. I’d heard the phrase used mostly in basketball, but dang if I don’t like having someone to use it with for football. And hey, McIntosh is playing and doing well when he gets a chance. He’s young, got time to make more impact once Adams leaves for the NFL next season. I don’t think he’s doomed to only play garbage time, but if he is, at least he’s getting lots of it this season.
This was a good win.
I wasn’t sure how to feel. I’m still not sure.
What are these feelings??
I could honestly care less that Wimbush is hovering right around 50% completing passes. He missed some WR that were open early that would have been chunk plays. He is missing on throws he needs to hit but Kelly talked about how great he is on 3rd down. Wimbush keeps the chains moving and when he gets in the redzone he scores touchdowns. How many times in the past have we seen the ND offense move the ball down the field only to settle for 3? This is Brian Kelly’s most talented roster top to bottom and Wimbush is a huge reason why.
For the first time in a very VERY long time we are breaking teams. We are imposing our will on teams. Speaking on imposing your will how about my guy Tevon Coney? Was a grown man playing with little boys last night. He is getting better and better.
I feel like I need to write Tony Jones an apology letter, the guy can play when healthy and has some nasty in him. Still not sure he should get more carries than a 100% healthy Dexter.
Wimbush did not feel like he was completing less than 50% of his passes. Maybe it was because of the near misses on the bombs and his scrambling, but he didn’t look like he missed a lot of easy throws.
Darnold maybe didn’t quit, but didn’t seem to put up much of a fight when they pulled him. Honestly, a mistake-free game from their backup who had the potential to scramble for 75 yards or so, would have made this a scarier game.
The tackling is so so much better for the defense. I was concerned it was the quality of opponent earlier that was the reason, but we tackled just fine 90% of the time on Saturday. And then there were the times Burnett fell to the ground like a cornered Manning when he felt like he was going to take a hit. But naw USC isn’t soft at all…
Special teams on kickoffs was still a problem for me. USC looked like they were going to break one and seemed like they had a 10 yard avg. advantage over our return team (CJ Sanders I want to believe!). But hey we got some punt return action and recovered a muff on the other end. Definite net win in special teams overall.
Rejuvenated for the season and will be consuming all things college football until the Irish bring me down with a loss, which hopefully will be sometime in 2020.
“like a cornered Manning” i wish i could upvote this comment twice just for this line. As for the KO returns, i think it was just the quantity of USC KO returns that made you think that. V Jones averaged 24 per return. Sanders was at 21. The team average was lower because Stepherson only got 11 on his, but the gap was well below 10.
I’d really like to see Dex and Stepherson returning kicks. Sanders just hasn’t been what I hoped for back there, and I don’t think Jones has the top end speed to break one. If Jones is going to end up getting as many (or more) carries than a healthy Dex, I’d like to see Dex get the ball in other situations. Kickoff would be a good place to start.
“I wrote on a card tonight in the locker room, and I said if we didn’t win really big, I would be disappointed,” Kelly said late on Saturday night
That’s pretty impressive and makes me think he’s locked in with this team, which he’s gonna need to be to keep them focused on NC state. But I couldn’t help but think of when Meyer won his first title at Florida and confidedto staff they would win by 2 td. Kelly seems to have his finger on the pulse of this team
Lou Holtz was very good at that as well. Good sign in BK’s case.
“I wrote on a card tonight in the locker room, and I said if we didn’t win really big, I would be disappointed,” Kelly said late on Saturday night
Reminds me of a story where Meyer had confided in his assistants before his first title at Florida if they got to play Ohio state they’d win by at least 2 tds
Kelly’s seems to have his finger on the pulse of this team and he’s Gonna need to, to navigate the last month
Sorry for the duplicate post, for some reason this wasn’t showing as posted. In my defense we have a 5 day old at home. It would have been a really long week browsing the internet had ND lost
Congrats to you and your lucky baby who has only known the Irish dominating USC
Mrtaugh are you a bit too quick to poo poo us as a top 5 team? The only top 10 teams of be nervous about playing are bama, clumpsun, and uga. Clumpson just lost, and we played uga to a draw. TOSU got blown out by a decent Oklahoma team. In fact do not tslk to me abiut big XII teams period. Penn State is beating up on the non-tosu big ten. I just don’t know. Outside of that top 3 Id feel pretty good about taking on anyone else and winning. But yes if you shut down our running game well have trouble. It’s just whoncoukd do that outside of that too 3?
Drunk MoTS is the best MoTS!
Hitting the sauce pretty hard and early for a Monday morning…
I guess the party hasn’t stopped yet
Well guys of course I was drunk. It was 7 am on a Monday morning. How else would I start the week. But I resent your implications–I am a wonderful typer when drunk on a Monday am. Just ask my secretary. it’s this damn android auto correct and I am just not going back through and proofing every comment I leave on my phone, forget it. You hosers can deal with a few typos.
^Man, he’s an angry drunk
We have a secretary? Well, la de da.
“Getting drunk? More like staying drunk.”
Hey man, we needed you in Slack on that defensive holding call. Total chaos.
Yeah thanks for nothing NBC. I had to google the rule to find out what the hell was going on. Did not know that nuance. Seems fair though.
To be fair, they didn’t explain it on CBS during the Bama game either. I was confused as hell.
I was a little bit sloshed at that point. I think it was a ticky tack call, TBH but it was the correct enforcement.
It’s hard to describe how enjoyable it is to watch Josh Adams play the running back position. An all-time favorite for me.
Stepherson’s TD grab had a much higher degree of difficulty than he made it look. Please stay in the lineup from now on, kid.
Wimbush is looking a little better throwing the ball, and at the very least, when he misses, it’s mostly not in a place that could get picked off. Drops continue to hurt him as well.
This is basically how I imagine the Lou Holtz teams looked. NDN was right all along, this is fun.
Josh has been beautiful. I am belatedly upgrading him from “an upper middle class man’s Darren McFadden” to just “a Josh Adams.”
I don’t know about NDN being right (broken clocks, etc) but this is a very Lou-like team. Solid, get after them defense. Punishing Joe Moore-esque O-line. Running the football. Wombush passes about as well as Tony Rice (lol). I’d say we’re probably better in the passing game, even with Wimbush’s inexperience, simply because that was something Lou never stressed (TE was a 6th offensive lineman) and just the advancements of the game, plus our receivers now are way better than Cikai Champion or Bobby Brown. Read option replaces the traditional option, and running game is a wash. Lou’s teams were better on special teams (easy when you’ve got a Tim Brown, a Rocket, a Ricky Watters) but even there, the punting game has changed enough that it’s almost not fair to compare.
Wimbush has the potential to be a much better passer than Rice. We’ll see if he continues to improve. This is a very Ara-like team, too, by the way.
Would you say that Wimbush is the better passer, but Rice the better runner?
Oh, I agree he’s a better passer than Rice. Tony Rice, God love him, wouldn’t be a QB in a 2017 offense. Or he’d play for Navy and beat us 2 of 4 years. That’s not a knock on him, just the evolution of the game. Tommie Frazier was one of the best QBs the college game has ever seen (and beat the crap out of my HS in the state semis), and I’m not sure he’d be a non-Navy or GT QB today.
Wimbush had two brilliant TD passes. That’s progress. I can see why Kelly goes on about his upside.
The biggest blowout for ND against USC since 1966. Yes, yes, yes.
That’s a whole lotta 0’s in the “3rd/4th No” column. I think we will win most games where we keep the total of that column below 1.
On the topic of math: Doug Flutie, unironically, said that we should talk about Josh Adams’s yards per carry with the quarters he doesn’t play taken out.
Umm…
Hey, we’re talking about it!
I also enjoyed when he called the Stepherson TD catch a perfectly executed post route.
As I said in the slack, he’s showing his BC education.
Counterpoint–if we don’t talk about the quarters he doesn’t play, how are you going to stop us.
That’s up there with Theismann’s comment that “Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is someone like Norman Einstein.”
Eric and Brendan deserve credit for encouraging patience with Kelly. I admit I wanted him gone after last season. I am particularly happy that we are running the ball more (I believe 62% of attempts, whereas we’ve usually been about 50% under Kelly).
Of course, it wouldn’t be a postgame post without some concerns! First, if we play a team where we can’t pressure the QB consistently, will our secondary be able to stop big plays? And second, if we play a team that stops the run (e.g. UGA) will we be able to win by passing?
In any case, this is a turning into a very exciting season.
Not to take credit away from Eric and Brendan, but it was my idea, and they deserve no credit for the idea they clearly stole from me.
Not from me, at least after last year. I would’ve fired him under the right circumstances.
I was adamant that he absolutely wasn’t getting fired though.
Yeah I think our staff in general was less “fire BK” and more “it’s defensible to keep him”, where other corners of the internet thought such a thing was disgraceful and an act of war. Personally I was ok with him being fired, but like most of our crew, didn’t think he ever was really in danger of that happening despite 4-8 and reading Swarbrick (who was pretty transparent through the season and had just extended BK). I think we agreed it wasn’t a slam dunk that you’d hire someone better than BK, which this season has made look wise.
Probably one of the biggest dividing points in my mind between a smart/reasonable CFB fan and some of the crazies is how easy you think it is to upgrade a coach. I think history has proven out that head coaching hires are mostly crapshoots, even at elite programs. Occasionally there’s a slam dunk guy out there you can get, but most of the time its calculated gambles. So while it feels really good and empowering to demand a firing and its natural to want change, it’s no guarantee of improvement, and I think our reasonable point over the offseason was “ok, if you fire BK who are you hiring?” Because Stoops, Saban, or Meyer aren’t walking through that door, and Mullen or John Harbaugh or Bill O’Brien or whatever guy you pick has less of a proven track record than Kelly did.
Rewatched the game. I think USC thought they were coming to South Bend for a pillow fight. Someone should have told them it was an American football game.
What a delightful game. It’s pretty special to obliterate two of your rivals so thoroughly that you can debate when garbage time started, especially coming off such a doom a gloom season previously.
Two rivals? Oh, because BC isn’t actually a rival, HA!
I honestly completely forgot about BC
Good for you, Publius!
Who’s doing things right? This guy.