Notre Dame vs. Air Force Recap: Irish Bludgeon Falcons with Dynamic Offense

It was nice to see some different stuff out of the offense that hasn’t been displayed this year, especially the Hendrix movement and the Theo reverse. We never really got to see it play out, but it was nice to see Floyd back fielding punts. A couple of weeks ago I wondered how on god’s green earth ND can’t find someone on the squad to field punts or do it better than what they had been doing is beyond me. It’s nice to hear that a “true competitor” like Floyd, finally went to BK, and said. “Give me a shot, I want this”! It’s probally what he had hoped someone on the team would have done months ago! Got to love it!

We burned Kona Schwenke’s redshirt last week due to depth concerns, so why were we playing Chase instead of Kona? Maybe Houshell’s played some special teams already, but if that’s the case, why did we burn Kona’s redshirt instead of just playing Hounshell? It seems like we burned two redshirts when we only needed to burn one.

Like you said, giving up 19 points when we had a very comfortable lead for the entire game is completely acceptable to me. This wasn’t like the Purdue game, where we clearly broke the other team’s spirit – the acadamy players play from start to finish at 100% intensity. In Kelly’s presser, he confirmed my initial thoughts – the bulk of the players on the field for Air Force’s final two TDs were 3rd teamers who didn’t get any practice against the option at all, which explains how they were able to shred the defense.

I also disagree with the assertion that Wood or Grey were frustrated with the lack of carries. I think they loved that the offense as a whole just shredded the defense. That’s one of the things I love so much about our offense this year – no ego. No RBs complaining about carries, no WRs whining to the media, they just want to win and are willing to do anything to accomplish that goal. It shows on every play – just watch our WRs block, especially Floyd.

Also, I definitely want to recommend the Irish Connection videos on und.com. The one from this week’s game is posted, and you can see things from the sideline perspective. Two really interesting things: they got great video and sound of Kelly talking with the refs during the Floyd TD review, and everyone HAS to see the reaction of the offense to Hendrix’s big run – so funny.

Was anybody there that wants to shed some light on that??

I keep saying it….winning WILL NOT improve the atmosphere to any large degree.

And no you can’t bring up the ’05 USC game as “proof” that the stadium can get loud. Nor, will the next game against USC mean the “problem” is alleviated.

Thoroughly dominating an opponent with copious amounts of touchdowns, and it’s still not enough. The crowd was (allegedly) asleep after ND got a big lead.

put away a team early. And lemme echo that is was great to see BOTH Tommy Rees play well and Andrew Hendrix get some legitimate time and look good doing it.

Love that photo of Cierre and Nix at the bottom. Cierre rocking the Erkel glasses is comedy, but Nix with the Shamrock medallion is truly hilarious. Good stuff.

Overall, its hard to criticize the offense after putting up those kinds of numbers. All around a solid effort. If this team can protect the football, they should be able to score on just about anyone.

1. Rees played another solid game, but you expect that when the QB has all day to throw and there are mismatches all over the field. I recall the play you were talking about (I think) when Rees threw into double/triple coverage and had Wood open underneath on the opposite hash. When he makes that read, I will know he has grown by leaps and bounds.

2. Hendrix played a solid game in his first live action. I don’t think he will ever live down tripping himself up and missing out on the big TD run, except for maybe that second attempt to punch it in when he got stuffed. He had some great velocity on the ball and threw four excellent passes. I think BK will have plenty of confidence in him moving forward.

3. ND could have just ground it out with Wood and Gray, and part of me wanted to see that in the second half to control more of the clock. Its nice to have options offensively, right?

4. The defense was sub-par across the board. The D-line played well (Lynch had another personal foul though, which needs to be corrected) and Fleming played pretty well overall. Slaughter had his best game yet, and it is great to see what he can do when healthy. I wish that they would have played a little different scheme though, eliminating the pitch man and forcing the QB keeper inside where you have more tacklers. I know Air Force can throw the ball, but Cover 1 probably would have been sufficient on first and second down.

5. I looked at the stat sheet this morning and they actually had Hounshell listed as 5B instead of 50. You weren’t the only one who didn’t know his number going in.

6. Is Anthony McDonald healthy? I don’t think he played at all yesterday and can’t remember seeing him out there at all this year.

7. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bennett Jackson get a little more time as the 3rd corner option moving forward. I think he played far better than Lo Wood with the second team yesterday and made a heads-up play on the onside kick attempt. He was one step away from turning that up the field for a TD, but just couldn’t turn the corner in time…

8. Its unfortunate that DD will be red-shirting IMO, but that probably means he is still learning the offense at this point. There are many read-option routes in this offense, which can add to the learning curve. I think keeping an extra year for Golson is a smart move, and am not as concerned with burning a year for Hounshell or Schwenke. Guys get banged up on the line (see EJ) and its better to get them in now rather than later.

9. The underneath crossing route finally made many appearances on Saturday. I did enjoy all of the extra wrinkles that were thrown out there for USC to think about and try to prepare for in two weeks. In the meantime, the Irish need to come up with a scheme to stop Robert Woods. Think he will see some double coverage? Yeah, probably…

they did what they had to…not letting them score. They took away Jefferson and that made their offense sputter. Comming into the game Jefferson was a 70% passer, the Irish made him a 50 % passer on12 of 24 for 137 yds and they took away his running ability, Jefferson was over 200 yds for his previous games, the Irish held him to 22 yds on 10 carries.

The Irish first team only surrendered 19 points to a potent offense and that could have been lower if Lynch didnt jump offsides on their 4th and one FG attmpt that led to a first down and a TD and of course the fake punt for a TD. The irish D did what they had to….let them run crazy between the 20’s…just dont let them in the end zone and for 55 minutes the Irish D held them to 19 points….Airforce got 14 more in the last 5 or 6 minutes against the reserves…..B grade from me.

This was the Hendrix that we saw glimpses of in the spring game. Strong runner, with decent speed. A powerful accurate arm. Once he gets a better handle on the offense, he could be very good. I liked the pass to Eifert on the roll out. Being able to throw on the move and extend plays is another dynamic of Kelly’s offense we have yet to see.

Aaron Lynch, please stop getting called for personal fouls.

now for 2 seasons, but I just feel hes like a “stand in” untill the real QB is ready to perform. IMO Hendrix is going to be the 2012 starter over Golson just for the fact Hendrix will be starting his 3rd year in this system and have a much better understanding of the playbook than Golson will

Rees was 23/32 for 261 yards and 4 TD’s. He had a pretty good day too…

Great day for the offense. Not exactly a brilliant insight when a team scores TDs on its first 6 possessions, all in the first half, but this is the first time the offense put together a complete game. Rees was excellent. Anyone who does not see his improvement is not paying attention. Sadly I suspect his naysayers are still waiting for him to screw up though so they can say I told you so.

For the second straight week BK and Co. did a great job scheming to get a WR more touches. Floyd last week, and Riddick this week. We really got to see what Riddick can mean to this offense yesterday. Get him the ball on the move and in space and look out. Floyd and Eifert were their usual selves, men among boys. One negative, someone needs to teach TJones how to block before he hurts a teammate.

The run game was excellent. The OL completely dominated (as it should against AF) and the RBs again ran with power and speed. The couple of glimpses we got of McDaniel were encouraging. It would be good to see some more from him. ND may have more depth at RB than I thought. The other frosh RB, GA3, every time they hand him the ball, he looks like his future is at WR and not at RB.

Now for the not so good … the defense. Bad game, no other way to put it. AF moved the ball pretty much at will, running and throwing. Against a service academy option attack, you need disciplined team defense. Every player has a job to do and if one drops the ball, the defense gets gashed, and that happened with disturbing regularity yesterday. They handled the inside run game pretty well, as they should with their size advantage, but they got shredded on the outside. That needs to get fixed before they meet Navy. Fortunately USC runs nothing like the AF offense, so ND should match up better schematically.

Special teams had maybe their best overall day, but that is not saying much. No bad snaps. They kept scoring TDs, so Ruffer just had PATs and Turk, while not called on much, was fine. Brindza’s depth on KOs is maddeningly inconsistent, but coverage was better.

Good time for the week off. Rest up a bit, and two weeks to prepare for USC. Hopefully ND continues to improve and turns this into a national statement (ND is back!) game. USC is not its usual nasty self, but there is still a lot of talent. Barkley and Woods is the best passing combo ND will face this season. Their defense has struggled, but I expect Kiffin Sr will cook up some defensive puzzles for Rees. Rees needs to be smart again with the ball, like he has been the last couple of weeks. This could be a statement game for them, too.

For instance, in the USF game, they were sloppy, but almost came back in the second half and won that game. Michigan, our offense was rolling, but mistakes in the secondary, more turnovers and some lucky bounces against the good guys led to another loss. But, MSU marked a turning point for this team. By beating a ranked opponent, who is also a rival, it gave our boys the confidence that they needed to tell themselves that they will be OK, that this season isn’t lost. Against Pitt, they showed that they might not be on their game every week, but the effort to overcome sloppiness and a superior defensive scheme was rewarded with a win. The Purdue game showed ND how to take the wind out of the opponent’s sails, while the AF game showed the Irish how to put a game out of reach pretty early and to keep tacking on.

Every week has taught the team something different and the team is better for it. Meanwhile, turnovers have quietly gone away (knock on wood). Rees looks much more comfortable in the offense by going through his progressions and not locking on to MF all game long. The line looks super, the RBs are phenomenal and the run defense is stellar.

BK is right, yards don’t matter against the academies, it’s points. Something has to be said for a team that gained that many yards and only scored 19 points. That to me is the bigger fail, than the defense allowing that many yards.

Has he been getting in on special teams?

Rees has been great the last two weeks but when you look at body of work, he has been DECIDEDLY MEDIOCRE. His best two games of the year were against the worst 2 defenses he’s faced. His worst games of the year have been against the best 3 teams—MSU, UM, and Pitt—he’s faced. Let’s see him turn in stellar efforts against USC and Stanford before we anoint him as really good. And make no mistake: Hendrix will at least challenge for the starting job in 2012 and be on Rees’ heels every second of the 2012 season.

I absolutely love all the discussion we’re having today! Nice and healthy community we have here!