Temujin
9/30/2013, 10:21 PM
Yeah, I'm bored and about to go on furlough thanks to congress. So I went back and took a detailed look at the game. Read if you want, or ignore if you don't care.
1st Quarter
1. ND clearly wanted to test our youth at corner and went right at Sanchez. Sanchez answered the call, deflecting the first pass on the first play of the game. Later he gets great coverage against a 6'5" receiver and draws the offensive PI call. More to come from this guy.
2. On the 3rd play of the game, ND is confused about who's going to blitz. The TE completely ignores Stryker and it's game over. Also, Tapper helps out a ton by bull-rushing the tackle, pushing him into Rees' face.
3. On the 2nd series, the 2nd INT - the key to this play is Colvin. He recognizes the crossing pattern early and breaks hard on the ball. Rees also locks onto his receiver, further helping Colvin get there in time. Shannon also recognizes the pass and drops into coverage, so he's in place to make the INT off Colvin's tip. Smart play by both Colvin and Shannon.
4. When I first watched the game on Saturday, I noticed that the DL wasn't penetrating into the backfield. It appeared to be on purpose, though. I'm now pretty sure that's the case on a few "clear" running plays. I'm not sure why. I "think" it's to identify the lanes and try to clog them to prevent big plays. I'm not really sure, but at times it was effective at tying up the OL. When we attacked upfield, that's when some of the bigger holes opened up, including a 36-yard run by Folston, and the 80-yard TD in the 2nd half. I found that extremely interesting.
5. Blake Bell - I'm going to skip ahead a little, because this is something I notice with Bell throughout the game. His footwork is not great. He's very inconsistent. A lot of the time, he drops his hip on the backside of his throw and his back foot comes back too far. That causes the ball to sail on some passes. At other times his feet aren't set properly. Not only that, on longer throws, Bell lofts the ball too much, forcing the WR to slow down and allowing the defense to catch up. I believe these two things are what the coaches saw in the offseason and why they chose TK for the start. I don't know for sure, I need to go back and watch TK to verify.
2nd Quarter
1. Blake Bell, part 2 - That was the bad news. The good news? Bell's decision-making is nearly impeccable, and he has VERY good presence and awareness in the pocket. Example - ND tried a corner blitz (similar to Stryker's blitz). Bell, Saunders, and Daryl Williams all noticed the blitzer and Bell threw a hot read right to the spot where the CB vacated, to Saunders, for a 9-yard gain. On another blitz, Bell recognizes it immediately, steps up and then runs for the first down. In the 2nd half, a blitzer got in his face and he threw away the ball. On 3rd and 2 with 6 minutes left (still a bad play call in my opinion) he throws the ball low and away where only the WR can get to it on tight coverage. So, while he's not the most accurate passer, he's good enough to make the right play most of the time.
2. Bill Bedenbaugh has worked wonders with this OL. In the passing game, Bell has tons of time most of the game to do whatever he wants. In the running game, we dominated the scrimmage a lot of the game, we just need a back with better
vision, or to have enough play-calling flexibility to hit the cutback once in a while. Don't ask me why, but all our RBs do it, so I'm inclined to believe this is a coaching issue, not allowing our RBs to use their natural abilities.
3. Speaking of which, it truly amazes me, now that I go back and see it (over and over and over), how often we run up Millard's backside. Now, I understand he's an excellent blocker, but ND was overloading hard at Millard. It's a strong
tendency, and ND clearly saw it. It ends up being a good thing a couple of times in the 2nd half, but in the 2nd quarter, it really made us look bad.
4. It has to be said that ND overall did a great job of blocking, particularly on the edges. Not only that, but Atkinson has excellent vision, picking out the holes before they even opened up and hitting them at the right time. We beat a really good and well-coached team Saturday.
5. Sanchez shows up big-time again. First, Rees throws into a double-team. Sanchez tracks the ball extremely well on this play, has excellent coverage and is in better position to make the catch than the WR was. Then, the very next play, Rees throws a poorly chosen ball. Sanchez was covering a different guy, but makes a quick adjustment as the ball is thrown behind him, and he tips the ball. Julian Wilson snatches the 3rd INT.
6. On the drive to the Bester TD, we had 2 straight plays where we DIDN'T run up Millard's butt. One was an 8-yard run, the other a 5-yarder, for a first down.
3rd Quarter
1. Our flare out and swing passes are working magic against a slow-to-react ND defense. This continues all the way through the 4th quarter.
2. A few more frustrating predictable runs. I remember getting irritated at this point on Saturday. Re-watching the game, I still feel the same way. We just seem so stubborn that way.
3. On the way to a FG, Blake steps up really nicely in the pocket, keeping his eyes downfield. He even pulls off a fake pass that holds the LB and allows him to slide for the first down.
4. Same drive, 3rd and 2 inside the 10. ND SELLS OUT against the run. Throw a friggin' PA pass already, Josh.
5. Our blitzes and our excellent coverage are CLEARLY taking a toll on Rees, as he's becoming extremly indecisive. After his 3 INTs in the first half, our pass rush is finally starting to frustrate him and he's missing WRs as he tries to not make a mistake.
6. When TK takes over, all of a sudden JH gets creative with the run game. The first play, he has Millard come across the line for the kickout block. When TK fakes the handoff to Clay (who heads right), ND loads up thinking we're running to the right (where Millard was, and where Clay was headed). Instead Millard strafes across the line and makes the kickout block which springs TK for the 30-yard run. Immediately after that, AGAIN ND loads up to follow Millard as he runs a trap and Clay takes advantage of a HUGE hole on the cutback. 1st and goal.
7. A strange frustrating series from a play-calling standpoint. The first play isn't bad, it's a dive up the middle by Clay to get to the 2. Not a bad play. Next, though, JH outsmarts himself. He has TK fake the handoff to DD up the middle and rolls out to the right. Looking at the replay, you can clearly see that if TK hands it off to DD, it's a walk-in TD. Our OL blocked brilliantly up the middle. Instead, it's a 6-yard loss. Worse, TK never intended to hand the ball off. It was clearly a scripted rollout and ND read it right away. Finally, TK stares down Saunders, who has no chance to get the TD, even though it was a nice pass. And we settle for a FG.
8. Here's where Bell's footwork and inconsistency can become an issue. One one pass, the throws the ball late to Saunders on the out route. Saunders slows down for the ball and goes to catch it, but gets creamed by the ND defender. Personally I thought this was targeting, but it wasn't called. Saunders drops the pass.
9. The look on Mike Stoops face is priceless when Quentin Hayes fails to maintain backside discipline, allowing the cutback run for 8 yards. Hayes caught up with the RB before the play got "too" bad, but it looked like Mike was going to choke someone. I had to LOL. We also had some REALLY sloppy tackling at this point, too.
10. I finally found a play were Sanchez didn't do so hot. It was a crossing route that allowed a first down. He misread the route and fell behind, then he got caught up in the trash. Oh well, it happens, but fortunately Colvin came over for the stop to prevent an even bigger play.
4th Quarter
1. I know that ND scores one more time, but you can see signs of their frustration on offense as far back as the mid-3rd quarter. There's a lot of heated discussion on the sidelines, and some pointing of fingers going on. This is the one spot where I truly believe ND is poorly coached - coming from behind. That said, a massive blown coverage allows the TD.
2. Another nice read by Bell, hits Millard for a nice gain to the very spot the blitzer vacated. I'm just really impressed by his quick recognition and decisiveness.
3. 3rd and 3 - I've complained about his strange delivery a bit, but he puts it all together for this throw. The pass was on time, led Shepard perfectly and he never had to break stride. Beautiful play. Also, his low and away throw for the 2-point conversion is brilliantly placed away from the defender where only Shepard can get to it. I know we're used to the near-perfect delivery of Landry, but I'd MUCH rather have a few ugly throws from a guy that makes great decisions. This is what we've needed all along, IMO.
4. 11 minutes to go, and our defense goes on lock-down. We're getting into Rees face and tipping passes at the LoS. The OL had a false start, and a play where the center hiked the ball and none of the rest of the line moved. We faked a blitz that got Rees to throw the pass early. It's clear this is "go" time for Mike Stoops on defense - when the offense has to come from behind. That, and as I mentioned earlier, this ND team is just plain LOST when they're behind.
5. Ok, so here's where I got pissed at JH. 6 minutes to go, 3rd and 3, clock is running. WHY are we passing? At the very worst, if we run we drain time off the clock. Instead, we stop the clock on an incomplete pass. And I don't blame BB for missing the pass either - he threw it low and away so that ND couldn't get their hands on it. There was not going to be any non-called PI to INT like with Manti Te'o last year.
6. And we continue to throw the ball...not only that, but to the edge, too, and we run out of bounds. Thankfully we got the first down, but yeesh, drain the damn clock already Heupel.
7. Clay. I like the guy, he's a good pass blocker, good receiver out of the backfield. He's clearly tough, too. But damn he has bad vision as a runner. Thank goodness our OL masks it 90% of the time. That said, he had a really nice spin move to get the first down and milk the clock, putting the ball inside the 20.
Miscellaneous Notes
1. I read somewhere that ND's run game wasn't very good. You wouldn't know it this game. They blocked extremely well, and their backs, especially Atkinson, have great vision.
2. Mayock may have over-stated it, but the speed difference was noticeable on both sides of the ball.
3. Tapper is STRONG. He's fun to watch.
4. Sanchez is going to be a star.
5. We rattled Rees, plain and simple. That seems to be a theme with this defense to date. There are times where we do have blown coverages or missed tackles just like year's past. But there's something distinctly different between Stoops schemes and Venables schemes. The big plays don't kill us. And it's not like we're scoring more either.
6. Well, upon taking a closer look, I came away a little more encouraged by the offensive play-calling than I previously thought. It's definitely not perfect, but I wouldn't call Heupel a moron either. I can see where he's learning, though at times he's also stubborn. Right now I'll chalk it up to inexperience.
1st Quarter
1. ND clearly wanted to test our youth at corner and went right at Sanchez. Sanchez answered the call, deflecting the first pass on the first play of the game. Later he gets great coverage against a 6'5" receiver and draws the offensive PI call. More to come from this guy.
2. On the 3rd play of the game, ND is confused about who's going to blitz. The TE completely ignores Stryker and it's game over. Also, Tapper helps out a ton by bull-rushing the tackle, pushing him into Rees' face.
3. On the 2nd series, the 2nd INT - the key to this play is Colvin. He recognizes the crossing pattern early and breaks hard on the ball. Rees also locks onto his receiver, further helping Colvin get there in time. Shannon also recognizes the pass and drops into coverage, so he's in place to make the INT off Colvin's tip. Smart play by both Colvin and Shannon.
4. When I first watched the game on Saturday, I noticed that the DL wasn't penetrating into the backfield. It appeared to be on purpose, though. I'm now pretty sure that's the case on a few "clear" running plays. I'm not sure why. I "think" it's to identify the lanes and try to clog them to prevent big plays. I'm not really sure, but at times it was effective at tying up the OL. When we attacked upfield, that's when some of the bigger holes opened up, including a 36-yard run by Folston, and the 80-yard TD in the 2nd half. I found that extremely interesting.
5. Blake Bell - I'm going to skip ahead a little, because this is something I notice with Bell throughout the game. His footwork is not great. He's very inconsistent. A lot of the time, he drops his hip on the backside of his throw and his back foot comes back too far. That causes the ball to sail on some passes. At other times his feet aren't set properly. Not only that, on longer throws, Bell lofts the ball too much, forcing the WR to slow down and allowing the defense to catch up. I believe these two things are what the coaches saw in the offseason and why they chose TK for the start. I don't know for sure, I need to go back and watch TK to verify.
2nd Quarter
1. Blake Bell, part 2 - That was the bad news. The good news? Bell's decision-making is nearly impeccable, and he has VERY good presence and awareness in the pocket. Example - ND tried a corner blitz (similar to Stryker's blitz). Bell, Saunders, and Daryl Williams all noticed the blitzer and Bell threw a hot read right to the spot where the CB vacated, to Saunders, for a 9-yard gain. On another blitz, Bell recognizes it immediately, steps up and then runs for the first down. In the 2nd half, a blitzer got in his face and he threw away the ball. On 3rd and 2 with 6 minutes left (still a bad play call in my opinion) he throws the ball low and away where only the WR can get to it on tight coverage. So, while he's not the most accurate passer, he's good enough to make the right play most of the time.
2. Bill Bedenbaugh has worked wonders with this OL. In the passing game, Bell has tons of time most of the game to do whatever he wants. In the running game, we dominated the scrimmage a lot of the game, we just need a back with better
vision, or to have enough play-calling flexibility to hit the cutback once in a while. Don't ask me why, but all our RBs do it, so I'm inclined to believe this is a coaching issue, not allowing our RBs to use their natural abilities.
3. Speaking of which, it truly amazes me, now that I go back and see it (over and over and over), how often we run up Millard's backside. Now, I understand he's an excellent blocker, but ND was overloading hard at Millard. It's a strong
tendency, and ND clearly saw it. It ends up being a good thing a couple of times in the 2nd half, but in the 2nd quarter, it really made us look bad.
4. It has to be said that ND overall did a great job of blocking, particularly on the edges. Not only that, but Atkinson has excellent vision, picking out the holes before they even opened up and hitting them at the right time. We beat a really good and well-coached team Saturday.
5. Sanchez shows up big-time again. First, Rees throws into a double-team. Sanchez tracks the ball extremely well on this play, has excellent coverage and is in better position to make the catch than the WR was. Then, the very next play, Rees throws a poorly chosen ball. Sanchez was covering a different guy, but makes a quick adjustment as the ball is thrown behind him, and he tips the ball. Julian Wilson snatches the 3rd INT.
6. On the drive to the Bester TD, we had 2 straight plays where we DIDN'T run up Millard's butt. One was an 8-yard run, the other a 5-yarder, for a first down.
3rd Quarter
1. Our flare out and swing passes are working magic against a slow-to-react ND defense. This continues all the way through the 4th quarter.
2. A few more frustrating predictable runs. I remember getting irritated at this point on Saturday. Re-watching the game, I still feel the same way. We just seem so stubborn that way.
3. On the way to a FG, Blake steps up really nicely in the pocket, keeping his eyes downfield. He even pulls off a fake pass that holds the LB and allows him to slide for the first down.
4. Same drive, 3rd and 2 inside the 10. ND SELLS OUT against the run. Throw a friggin' PA pass already, Josh.
5. Our blitzes and our excellent coverage are CLEARLY taking a toll on Rees, as he's becoming extremly indecisive. After his 3 INTs in the first half, our pass rush is finally starting to frustrate him and he's missing WRs as he tries to not make a mistake.
6. When TK takes over, all of a sudden JH gets creative with the run game. The first play, he has Millard come across the line for the kickout block. When TK fakes the handoff to Clay (who heads right), ND loads up thinking we're running to the right (where Millard was, and where Clay was headed). Instead Millard strafes across the line and makes the kickout block which springs TK for the 30-yard run. Immediately after that, AGAIN ND loads up to follow Millard as he runs a trap and Clay takes advantage of a HUGE hole on the cutback. 1st and goal.
7. A strange frustrating series from a play-calling standpoint. The first play isn't bad, it's a dive up the middle by Clay to get to the 2. Not a bad play. Next, though, JH outsmarts himself. He has TK fake the handoff to DD up the middle and rolls out to the right. Looking at the replay, you can clearly see that if TK hands it off to DD, it's a walk-in TD. Our OL blocked brilliantly up the middle. Instead, it's a 6-yard loss. Worse, TK never intended to hand the ball off. It was clearly a scripted rollout and ND read it right away. Finally, TK stares down Saunders, who has no chance to get the TD, even though it was a nice pass. And we settle for a FG.
8. Here's where Bell's footwork and inconsistency can become an issue. One one pass, the throws the ball late to Saunders on the out route. Saunders slows down for the ball and goes to catch it, but gets creamed by the ND defender. Personally I thought this was targeting, but it wasn't called. Saunders drops the pass.
9. The look on Mike Stoops face is priceless when Quentin Hayes fails to maintain backside discipline, allowing the cutback run for 8 yards. Hayes caught up with the RB before the play got "too" bad, but it looked like Mike was going to choke someone. I had to LOL. We also had some REALLY sloppy tackling at this point, too.
10. I finally found a play were Sanchez didn't do so hot. It was a crossing route that allowed a first down. He misread the route and fell behind, then he got caught up in the trash. Oh well, it happens, but fortunately Colvin came over for the stop to prevent an even bigger play.
4th Quarter
1. I know that ND scores one more time, but you can see signs of their frustration on offense as far back as the mid-3rd quarter. There's a lot of heated discussion on the sidelines, and some pointing of fingers going on. This is the one spot where I truly believe ND is poorly coached - coming from behind. That said, a massive blown coverage allows the TD.
2. Another nice read by Bell, hits Millard for a nice gain to the very spot the blitzer vacated. I'm just really impressed by his quick recognition and decisiveness.
3. 3rd and 3 - I've complained about his strange delivery a bit, but he puts it all together for this throw. The pass was on time, led Shepard perfectly and he never had to break stride. Beautiful play. Also, his low and away throw for the 2-point conversion is brilliantly placed away from the defender where only Shepard can get to it. I know we're used to the near-perfect delivery of Landry, but I'd MUCH rather have a few ugly throws from a guy that makes great decisions. This is what we've needed all along, IMO.
4. 11 minutes to go, and our defense goes on lock-down. We're getting into Rees face and tipping passes at the LoS. The OL had a false start, and a play where the center hiked the ball and none of the rest of the line moved. We faked a blitz that got Rees to throw the pass early. It's clear this is "go" time for Mike Stoops on defense - when the offense has to come from behind. That, and as I mentioned earlier, this ND team is just plain LOST when they're behind.
5. Ok, so here's where I got pissed at JH. 6 minutes to go, 3rd and 3, clock is running. WHY are we passing? At the very worst, if we run we drain time off the clock. Instead, we stop the clock on an incomplete pass. And I don't blame BB for missing the pass either - he threw it low and away so that ND couldn't get their hands on it. There was not going to be any non-called PI to INT like with Manti Te'o last year.
6. And we continue to throw the ball...not only that, but to the edge, too, and we run out of bounds. Thankfully we got the first down, but yeesh, drain the damn clock already Heupel.
7. Clay. I like the guy, he's a good pass blocker, good receiver out of the backfield. He's clearly tough, too. But damn he has bad vision as a runner. Thank goodness our OL masks it 90% of the time. That said, he had a really nice spin move to get the first down and milk the clock, putting the ball inside the 20.
Miscellaneous Notes
1. I read somewhere that ND's run game wasn't very good. You wouldn't know it this game. They blocked extremely well, and their backs, especially Atkinson, have great vision.
2. Mayock may have over-stated it, but the speed difference was noticeable on both sides of the ball.
3. Tapper is STRONG. He's fun to watch.
4. Sanchez is going to be a star.
5. We rattled Rees, plain and simple. That seems to be a theme with this defense to date. There are times where we do have blown coverages or missed tackles just like year's past. But there's something distinctly different between Stoops schemes and Venables schemes. The big plays don't kill us. And it's not like we're scoring more either.
6. Well, upon taking a closer look, I came away a little more encouraged by the offensive play-calling than I previously thought. It's definitely not perfect, but I wouldn't call Heupel a moron either. I can see where he's learning, though at times he's also stubborn. Right now I'll chalk it up to inexperience.