i wonder if Al golden wasn’t the issue also, the defense this year was a bit up and down and had some incredible games but also there are a few red flags games. It looked to me like the dl was not really put in a great spot to succeed. that being said Washington definitely seems like a pretty big downgrade from elston.
i see it the other way, if Freeman did not impose some concept on defense for golden then it’s on Freeman. I just wonder if golden is capable of having a defense that creates pressure and havoc plays without some crazy scheme that are hard to execute for college kids. His defense was so soft at Miami. and he doesn’t recruit.
I think freeman was sold that it was imperative to have a coordinator with previous HC experience. Golden didn’t do bad, but we can do better imo
he did good, he had some incredible games but the lack of turnovers, havocs plays and the bad red zone defense are the red flags. Also letting teams run all over you without any answers in a couple of games.
What's wrong with Washington. Foskey ended up having a good year. The twins did well. Smith did alright and Mills was all right. And Nana actually looked like a player at times.
they pretty much all did worse than the year before except for mills and nana which is a good point by you. I really think them getting gashed some times was more of a scheme thing than a developmental issue by Washington. I am suspicious of him because of what osu fans said about him, it’s probably not a good way to look at it
Freeman certainly gave Golden too much leash when it came to a few defensive gameplans. The Navy gameplan was the perfect example. In his first experience against Navy, Freeman gave up over 500 rushing yards. In his next two, he gave up something like 250 combined. It made zero sense to cede any control of that gameplan to a new DC. USC was also a disaster.
and you are right about sc, it was so bad. One thing that people never seem to understand about Riley’s offense is that he will run it if you give it to him. He actually invites that and will take it all day, if you let it happen you have zero chances of winning. Not sure why he did not see that or adjust to it, it might also be that nd’s lbs were completely outmatched all game long.
I was pretty pissed off and still haven't read any defensive commentary on the USC game or saw it again other than watching it live What the hell was the plan? 3-3-5 and force them to run, but we couldn't stop Williams scrambles or simple 6-on-6 box zone run schemes? They did whatever they want on offense, seemed like we took our strength on run defense and allowed them to neutralize it and just let them do whatever. Should have just fully taken away the run game and pray you get 1-2 well time blitzes that land and get Caleb off the field vs giving them a run and pass buffet
I don’t think Mills got better at all. People were hoping for him to be good this year and he was basically invisible. The twins got worse. The only player you can say really improved is Nana.
you mean because the defense was missing its 2nd and 3rd best CBs, one of whom he definitely thought he would have (Bracy) just days before the game...how do you scheme with 1 hand tied behind your back against the best/most dynamic QB in CFB this year?
Regretfully, Mills looks like a JAG. Not sure how someone could say he's a positive WAR player really Twins were what they were last year
Yeah, he had a few flashes..can we agree on a slight improvement? Lol The two coaches I would be not worried about leaving are Washington and golden
well he did a few times and Jaden Mickey got lit up EVERY TIME...i don't think he "won" any reps against any of the WRs he faced in that game. He missed tackles, gave up important 3rd down receptions, and had a pass interference penalty in the end zone. It's not all his fault, he's just a Freshman after all but he clearly wasn't ready for something like that
i still did not like them getting gashed for over 200 yards. You take your chances with the harder things to execute and that was passing the ball. These injuries really fucked nd though
On Golden, I think he looks worse than he is because we’re coming off such a good run of DC’s. I wasn’t thrilled with the hire and wouldn’t be sad if we replaced him, but the defense was at least decent this year, all things considered. Just not as good as we had in the past with Elko Lea and Freeman. Pretty hard to make 4 consecutive good hires at that position.
but freeman is the head coach, he should be able to make this a big advantage for nd. Kind of like Kirby at uga but on a smaller scale realistically.
While I generally agree with this, there is no excuse for our red zone defense. It should never be that bad
On SC 2 schools of thought. You bring pressure and force Caleb Williams and his elite WR crew to win 1on1s with hopefully less time. Or you slow the game down and take the possessions down and hope with your offense running the ball Caleb Williams the best QB in the nation is on the sideline or handing it off. I mean it makes sense what they did. We didn't have the DBs to live by the sword. We would have been dying. The problem was when we did get pressure or have opportunities to make plays we couldn't. So it didn't work. I don't think it was unsound. Also think once we started to show we could score somewhat quick you needed to take a few more shots at trying to get after run and Williams. So adjustments maybe too slow. But don't think initial plan was horrible.
Defensively, we’ve never played well with 3 down under Marcus Freeman. Especially against mobile QBs. It was a similar gameplan to the one we employed in there second half vs FSU last year, and it was a similar debacle. Offensively, we just got flat out beat up front against a team you can’t get beat upfront by. And by the time we realized it, we were already in a shootout we wouldn’t win.
Well you could still play Nickel but do so with 4 down. Here is the #s on SC offense in season vs ND. They were close to their numbers better in some and worse in others. Ultimately SC scoring 38 with +2 turnovers isn't awful. But not great. Not sure I could call it a debacle. 7.3ypp 42.5 ppg 184 RYPG 5.3 YPR 322.6 PYPG 9.17 YPA 7.1 YPP 38 points 204 Rushing yards 5.2 YPR 232 Passing Yards 10.5 YPA