ND says the game was speedier. True?

Submitted by notYOURmom on

I noticed this in the Chicago Tribune article:

"Their plays happened a lot quicker, a lot faster rate," Irish linebacker Brian Smith said.

"That's something you can't imitate in practice, the speed of the game. That caught us off-guard at first."

So....true? What's the best way to measure this and does it hold up to analysis? Did it seem to you guys that the speed of play was indeed faster than in the past? Do you think that will be a strategic advantage as we go into conference play?

JC3

September 15th, 2009 at 3:14 PM ^

I think the obvious advantage will be the speed compared to last year. I'm not talking just the rate in which plays are called and the ball is snapped, but also the speed around the field. It will be a two-fold advantage; at least on the first drive or so of most games until teams adjust.

StevieY19

September 15th, 2009 at 3:16 PM ^

Someone had some stats up after the WMU game about average time between plays for our offense and IIRC it was much improved over last year. With the guys knowing the offense better this year I think it's safe to say they're getting to the line more quickly.

notYOURmom

September 15th, 2009 at 3:26 PM ^

He's not talking about more Wolverines with 40 times in the negative numbers but speed of play, average time between plays.

Does anyone measure that on a regular basis - I'll bet it's not hard it would just be "time of possession" divided by "number of plays"? Wonder if the ND game was faster than WMU.

oriental andrew

September 15th, 2009 at 3:22 PM ^

I'm not sure exactly what he's referring to, but I'd imagine it'd be related to time between plays (ie, hurry-up or no-huddle mode) and, more importantly, players just being more comfortable in the system and reacting quicker on O and D.

ish

September 15th, 2009 at 3:24 PM ^

RR has said he wants to play the game faster, meaning not only that the players are faster but that they get plays off faster, giving the D less time to rest, substitute, get in the right position, etc. I don't think there's any question that's happening.

Dry

September 15th, 2009 at 3:40 PM ^

Wasn't Smith the ND linebacker that told the ABC sideline reporter before the game that it was "stupid" to play freshmen QBs against the Irish? I was already enjoying the comeuppance on that point, but the further thought that the Irish D was surprised about the tempo of the spread does not speak well to their preparation.

Beegs

September 15th, 2009 at 3:41 PM ^

...this makes the end of the game so much easier to manage. For us, the 2-minute offense happens all game long. It's not something that we need to "switch into." This creates confidence and poise and ability at playing fast...as was clearly on display late in the game saturday.

DubbaEwwTeeEff

September 15th, 2009 at 3:56 PM ^

I was at the game Saturday and it seemed like the "settle down so they can hear each other" signal was used in the student section much more often than it has been in past seasons. Half the time the students were still screaming about the last gain as the offense was lining up for the next play. The band was tripped up once or twice the same way, literally playing right until the next snap or even after. I suppose it could be a coincidence, but to me that suggests the pacing of the game has been altered.

MartinHD

September 15th, 2009 at 4:19 PM ^

Notre Dame's offense had to call a bunch of time-outs b/c they couldn't get plays in on time and consistently ran the play clock down close to zero. If they function the same way in practice - maybe that is why our offense seemed to be playing so fast.

WolverRoudy

September 15th, 2009 at 4:27 PM ^

I didn't like the hurry up last year. It appeared that they were always waiting on a play and looking to the sideline for help. I haven't noticed that this year as I was at the Western game and watched ND on television. It was obvious last year they had no busy being in a hurry up all game as it was causing us more confusion than the other team, not it looks like the problem has shifted to the other team.

The King of Belch

September 15th, 2009 at 4:58 PM ^

You got to be careful. We are dealing with a set-up of rating posts (or whatever the hell it was meant to be) turning into a popularity contest that people use to bang those they simply disagree with.

Better shape up ans start predicting UM to win the next 58 national championships or else.

WolverRoudy

September 15th, 2009 at 5:25 PM ^

Didn't realize what was happening, I've been on the site a while but rarely log in so never paid much attention to the points.

Must have pissed off a ton of people, I'm not even posting anywhere and I keep getting - points.