Observations from the USF-Notre Dame Game

who the f is negging this?

I agree with much of that. I would disagree about Rees though. He actually looked really good. He made a lot of perfect passes into good coverage. He only really made one really bad throw. the first interception he threw was off the helmet of his receiver who wasn't paying attention. The other interception he threw was into double coverage, and there really wasn't anywhere for him to fit the ball in, just a bad decision.

The turnovers are slightly overrated in this game. I heard Kirk Herbstreit say that the fumble return was a 14 point swing. He fails to realize that it was a 3rd down and goal, so even if there was no fumble, they probably would have settled for a field goal attempt. You can't say that it was a 14 point swing. 10 tops. Same thing with the interception in the endzone. That was a 3rd down play. Even if it were an incomplete pass, Notre Dame would have settled for a FG attempt. Obviously turnovers were a big deal in the game, but it isn't as bad as some people are making it out to be.

Also, the reason USF picked off a couple of those passes (not the one off the helmet) was because ND was making risky throws all game. They were high risk/high reward plays. When you are consistently squeezing the ball passed defenders and dropping perfect passes in between a linebacker and a safety, it isn't always going to go your way. If you take the incredible plays, you also have to take the interceptions as a natural consequence rather than a fluke (or cheap) play.

Yardage is also overrated. It was clear that USF was playing a very conservative game offensively, and their strategy on defense was to not give up the big play. Holtz even said as much: "we took the mindset, bend but don't break, bend but don't break, let's not give up the home run ball. I think Michael Floyd is a great player on film. I think he's a lot better than he is on film. I think he is one of the special players in college football. I think he's a difference maker. He is special. And because of him when we just turned and said let's try and make sure we keep him in front of them. Even trying to do that he still caught one later. But the whole mindset was bend, don't break. Our motto was make them snap it again, don't just let them in the end zone, make them snap it again. I don't care if it's a 20 play drive. They haven't scored yet if they don't cross that end zone. Don't let them in the end zone, make them drive the field, don't give them anything cheap. "

http://southflorida.scout.com/2/1102616.html

You can't measure the players performance purely on yards. Yards aren't all that important. Especially when you're playing with a lead and your trying to bleed the clock. Obviously ND played a great game - particularly Floyd and Rees. But the game wasn't as lopsided as the stats would indicate.

Good teams seem to get better every week.  I expect Michigan and Notre Dame to play better next week.  It will be interesting to view the game results against this report.

As a side note...  When I see a coach blowing up on the sideline, I get the feeling he did not have his team prepared. 

Michigan is going to build on their success, while ND is going to regroup to figure out where they stand.  I like our chances.

Go Blue!

Maybe I'm taking too much of a glass-half-empty approach, but I don't think ND's loss is good news for us. If they lost to USF because they suck, then we don't gain much from beating yet another overrated, overhyped ND team (and we would lose much more if such a team beat us). If they lost to USF because they just came out flat, then they'll be extra motivated against us. 

I don't know what it is, but ND's chronic mediocrity just frustrates me. 

And let's be honest with ourselves: we didn't shut down Floyd last year. I think it became apparent from the rest of the season's results that our secondary couldn't shut down anybody. Crist's injury and the poor play of ND's backups kept Floyd from being a factor.

I feel really bad for Jonas Gray. I have always been rooting him on through college because he's from michigan and it would cool to see a guy from michigan make an impact to nd football. That aside I still dislike ND.

And for the whole Brian Kelly situation, there are ways you can and cannot compare it to Bo. I asked my dad, who played for Bo, if Bo ever got up in his face and called him an asshole and stuff. He told me he did all the time, but it was for motivation. Bo was someone you didn't want to let down, like a fatherly figure to my dad and all the other players he coached. The thing is Brian Kelly might not be looked at as a 'fatherly figure' by his players, so in turn his tyrant could be looked at as mocking and being a jackass. And you have to remember, if it wasnt caught on camera people wouldnt have known/cared about the incident. All im looking forward (and hoping) for is Notre Dame to get a good old fashioned ass kicking.

the reason ND didn't cancel their game was because they were losing, and with all the ND hype it was amusing to watch them lose.

I have faith in Mattison to make all the ingame adjustments that can be made.  He can only do so much, but it sure does help to have an NFL defensive mind in there to know when to blitz and when to stay back.

I have a co-worker that is a ND fan and gave him some shit today and he told me he has already given up on their season.  If we stay focused and play fantastic defense Michigan should win 31-14 on Saturday.  That's my prediction.

How exactly does that work? Would be fun to see