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Thoughts on the Notre Dame game

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grover said:
Just finished listening to Mario's interview by Don Bailey Jr. and Joe Zagacki on the Mario Cristobal Show that was posted on YouTube earlier today, and thought I'd throw some gas onto the fire regarding second-half run game decision.

Mario: "We view offensive linemen as playmakers here, right, and we've invested a lot in them ... they are as big a playmaker as a wide receiver or a running back. So it was time to lean on them just like at other times we really, you know, lean on the quarterback or a tight end or a receiver to make a play."

I appreciate that ND has a great DB room. I appreciate that Beck was injured for half the offseason and needs more reps with our receivers. I appreciate we have a couple of very young receivers. But that statement tells you Mario still has a lot of caveman in him. He just loves running it down the throat of the opponent, especially a team like ND.

Personally, I think it's a flaw. Hope it doesn't cost us more games. And if we're going to pound the rock by putting the ball in the hands of our OL "playmakers", let's at least run outside the tackles or run a reverse or throw a RB screen or anything but that dive play once in a while.
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I worry about the ceiling with Mario at HC. But the floor is raised because of the way he recruited the trenches.

Hopefully he adapts to the modern game. He has been reluctantly moving in the right direction for a few years now, slowly. Hopefully he doesn’t cost us.
 
This coaching staff needs to develop a killer instinct. In previous years, it didn’t really matter because we didn’t have the talent to compete. But this year it looks like we have a fully rounded team, first time in 20+ years.

Good teams step on opponents necks when they are on the ropes.

After the Bain interception, that was the time to go for the throat and put the game away. That’s what great teams do. And that’s not to say we should have thrown nothing but bombs into the endzone, but you have to be aggressive. They were leaking out after that INT, there was blood in the water. You put a TD on them there and it’s a wrap.

Instead, we ran 3 straight times and kicked a FG. I’m glad we won, and am impressed overall with the team, the talent and the toughness they played with, but to take it to the next level you have to take the headshots when they are given to you. Worst case scenario in that situation, we don’t convert and still have an opportunity to kick a FG. But to just almost capitulate in that situation is something we can’t do again if we are trying to win at the highest level.

@DMoney
 
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@PIPO I doubt Davis' inexperience ever crossed Coach's mind. He won the job; he's the best kicker on the team. Simple.

On that drive, when we got to a spot in ND territory that he's comfortable kicking from, he's kicking it on 4th down. Probably why Coach is a coach and we're fans. We worry about that **** (I was very worried!); he doesn't.

I would have liked to see us attempt a short pass on 3rd down instead, because I felt there was favorable risk/reward. Risk was that we'd give ND the ball from the same spot (either on a made FG or not) with the same amount of time but with 1 TO instead of 0. Reward was that we'd kick a slightly shorter FG as time expired (time more important factor IMO). Any difference between sack/INT risk on a pass vs. TFL/fumble risk on a run was marginal with Beck's experience and how well we protected him.

Had we gotten the first down I didn't expect us to start chucking it in the end zone against a very talented secondary that had been allowed to do crime all night. We'd just center the ball and kick as time expired.

Coach took the bird in hand. I can't get too worked up about it, even though I preferred a pass on 3rd down.

Agree with you on the series after INT. Don't agree on the Brown 3rd & 1 series up 21-7. We convert that play 99/100 times. We didn't have great field position starting at the 14. Get a first down, then we can and should open up the playbook.
 
I think a lot of the naysayers would have lost their minds, if knowing,

1. Beck has only been throwing for 2-3 months and only 1 month in “practice” with these receivers.
2. The officials showed no inclination to flag ND DBs who were handsy all night
3. We were playing a national title game team with arguably a top 5-10 defense
4. We have the opportunity to kick a game winning field goal if we pound out a couple yards on the ground

And Mario/Dawson dialed up some pass plays on that last 3 down sequence and got one picked either leading to OT or a ND win. Or ****, just an incompletion that gives ND the ball with closer to 2 minutes and a timeout left to drive the field to tie or win. I’m sure the narrative would be, it sucks but at least they tried to win it……which we actually did, playing it smart and safe.
 
Dwinstitles said:
that is the game where we legit changed our stance as a program and played and looked like tier 1. Definitely can compete with any team for sure, we have the right HC
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You have always maintained that it is all about who you recruit! HS and Portal... MC did an amazing job in the portal this year!
 
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DeanCane said:
You have always maintained that it is all about who you recruit! HS and Portal... MC did an amazing job in the portal this year!
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Mario has improved his portal takes every year, just like his HS class takes. Not only finding impact players (Beck, Daniels, Toure), but also high-value-vs-cost players (Marion, Brown). @Dwinstitles was starting to worry NIL money would end up reducing the effect of Mario's elite recruiting. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

He's also kept the best players from transferring. We had a ton of guys transfer out. Did we miss any one of them? My biggest concerns were the two Hortons and Riley Williams. Josh is 3rd string on UGA, don't think he played v Marshall. The other two are marginal players for their team. Every single guy who transferred was replaced by someone better. Meanwhile we kept everyone we wanted, even our backup DTs and DEs.

Roster is talented and deep. Need more Day 1/2 guys. But we're getting there finally.
 
grover said:
Mario has improved his portal takes every year, just like his HS class takes. Not only finding impact players (Beck, Daniels, Toure), but also high-value-vs-cost players (Marion, Brown). @Dwinstitles was starting to worry NIL money would end up reducing the effect of Mario's elite recruiting. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

He's also kept the best players from transferring. We had a ton of guys transfer out. Did we miss any one of them? My biggest concerns were the two Hortons and Riley Williams. Josh is 3rd string on UGA, don't think he played v Marshall. The other two are marginal players for their team. Every single guy who transferred was replaced by someone better. Meanwhile we kept everyone we wanted, even our backup DTs and DEs.

Roster is talented and deep. Need more Day 1/2 guys. But we're getting there finally.
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I remember when we took Blay and ****stains on here were like "great another DT from Louisiana Tech."
 
Manfred_Cane said:
I remember when we took Blay and ****stains on here were like "great another DT from Louisiana Tech."
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Feel free to throw shade my way. I was ecstatic we got Blay. But I wasn't convinced Blay could be the same disrupter at a P4 level as he was at LT. I know he played well vs. a couple P4 teams (Arkansas and NC State I think). But vs. playoff teams like ND or Clemson? I wasn't a believer until I saw it Sunday night. Even after @DMoney said he was considered the best steal of the portal by other top P4 recruiting staff members.
 
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grover said:
Feel free to throw shade my way. I was ecstatic we got Blay. But I wasn't convinced Blay could be the same disrupter at a P4 level as he was at LT. I know he played well vs. a couple P4 teams (Arkansas and NC State I think). But vs. playoff teams like ND or Clemson? I wasn't a believer until I saw it Monday night. Even after @DMoney said he was considered the best steal of the portal by other top P4 recruiting staff members.
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I wasn't convinced he could be who he was on Sunday until Smooth Brain Bud said on Cover 3 that Blay was the defensive portal player that nearly every team wishes they could've got. Then I felt better about his addition. If he continues to play like this, the sky is the limit.
 
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grover said:
Mario has improved his portal takes every year, just like his HS class takes. Not only finding impact players (Beck, Daniels, Toure), but also high-value-vs-cost players (Marion, Brown). @Dwinstitles was starting to worry NIL money would end up reducing the effect of Mario's elite recruiting. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

He's also kept the best players from transferring. We had a ton of guys transfer out. Did we miss any one of them? My biggest concerns were the two Hortons and Riley Williams. Josh is 3rd string on UGA, don't think he played v Marshall. The other two are marginal players for their team. Every single guy who transferred was replaced by someone better. Meanwhile we kept everyone we wanted, even our backup DTs and DEs.

Roster is talented and deep. Need more Day 1/2 guys. But we're getting there finally.
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big facts, the OL and DL I did not think could look like they did. Its looks SEC top tier on both sides, I am still buggin about how we looked.
 
Cribby said:
I question it but the result worked . So no matter how crazy I think it was he was right. This time . So I’ll move on.
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I told my buddies we were going to get a Mario win on Sunday, manage the game and get out with a W.
 
The thing that concerns me when we go into our conservative playcalling is we only have one running play which is run to the left of the center and then to the right of center.No matter if there’s a 3-4 man bunch in the middle or a 6-7 bunch in the middle we are going to run that same play.

It’s the same play since Mario has been here and he’s to only constant it’s like he’s trying to prove his OL can move any DL it plays against.if we are going to go this conservative route every time we get a lead then we need to come up with a couple of sweeps or at least something off tackle.

But other than that after watching the other top teams this weekend I think we are capable of playing with any of them.
 
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