JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat Oct. 4, 2023

Notre Dame Football Live Chat Oct. 4, 2023

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Eric Hansen

1:31

Sorry, got these a little out of order ... to Mark's question. Thank you, Mark. I think you mean SUCCESSFUL pass plays, not just pass plays. The 31 pass plays the Irish ran against Duke was the most in a game this season ... not by a ton, but it was the most. it's ranged between 24 and 30 in the five games prior. Louisville's defense is pretty balanced, and with the two WRs back, I think you'll see a fairly balanced offensive attack from ND.

1:27

Hi Ced, No. 1 not a bad idea. No. 2 a very good idea. No. 1 would be good against a defense that overpursues.

mark, Orange County CA

1:26

Hi Eric, thanks for hosting these chats. really appreciate your insights. Some old familiar feelings started creeping in during the Duke game but then ND prevailed and a win is a win. With our starting receivers back this week do you think there will be a significant increase in passing plays as compared to the Duke game? What are the defensive strengths of this week's opponent. Fake punt deserves several !!!!!

ced walker

1:25

ced walker saginaw michigan we need to get the ball more to chris tyree run some reverse plays jet sweeps all tobias merriweather need is confidence trust the process god bless the golden standard rally we are nd god country go irish love thee notre dame our mother pray for us

Eric Hansen

1:25

Dave, I can only write how inexcusable and inexplicable it was so many times and in so many ways. The most puzzling aspect was that it came AFTER a timeout to set the defense. But at this point, Marcus isn't going to spill the tea. Unless it happens again, we probably need to move on at this point. I understand your frustration and bumfuzzlement.

Dave from DC

1:19

Hi Eric - the football program put out a fantastic and insightful video yesterday that showed the communication between offensive staff during the final series against Duke. My question is, how on god's green earth does the end of the OSU game happen if this sort of system is in place with the defensive staff?!?

Eric Hansen

1:18

Kevin!!!!!! Sophomore tight end Eli Raridon is expected to make his season debut Saturday night against Louisville. The mental and physical recovery from a re-torn ACL in his right knee took just about a year, roughly 51 weeks. I still think ND eases him in. I would expect his snaps and production to pick up after the first bye week and for the final four games of the season. I yes, I think he can be another dynamic piece to the offense that could use another one.

Kevin-Sleepy Eye,MN

1:15

Eric!!!!!! Let's talk Eli Raridon. What should we expect? Can he make an impact? Go Irish!

Eric Hansen

That link should take you to the video which illustrates the problem with the safety.

1:15

https://x.com/TJamesND/status/1709576607336178041?s=20

1:14

As far as the blocked punts, I do think there have been some rushed punts, and I asked first-year special teams coach Marty Biagi about his philosophy last night.

"There’s definitely some elements where we don’t want to exploit ourselves too much. It’s been weird, there’s been multiple teams this year — and it’s probably because of how good coach Mase was last year, multiple teams have used their snappers in protection which adds one more person. Almost every single team this year has used their snapper into the protection, so it’s hard to gain that advantage, that Plus-1.

"So between that and finding that right time to go after it without just being out of control, because obviously you have to still play for the fakes."

1:11

Tom, wow what a memory. It is coming up this month. Thank you. And yes, I'm really looking forward to the digital visit with the group in Atlanta. Marie from Atlanta, as you know, set that up. I told her NO questions that require calculus (I only got a C+ in that). ... With the running game woes, you nailed two important factors with your question ... not respecting the wide receivers and allowing Duke to add a safety to the run defense, and then the interior line having a bad day and putting ND behind the chains and making it more difficult to produce results in the pass game that would move that safety out of the box. Tyler James' outstanding film review goes into more depth with all this. I'll try to post a tweet that shows the safety problem after I post this answer. (more)

Tom Kennesaw, GA

1:04

Hey Eric, Happy Birthday a few days early if memory serves me right. Also, looking forward to your zoom call with the ND Club of Atlanta on the 17th. Were the struggles of our interior OL vs Duke more to do with the Devils not respecting our WR's than the performance of the players who played so well the week before against a very good OSU DL?? Also, I don't think even the most ardent ND fan expected us to block 7 punts again in 2023, but it doesn't even look like we are getting close enough to force some shanked kicks. Your thoughts?? Thanks and GO Irish!!!!

Eric Hansen

1:03

Ha, Larry. I lined up offsides and started to answer your question prematurely, so penalties offset. .... and thanks for the compliments and for watch/reading/listening. This is where some of the advanced analytics go off the rails for me and I need to lean into the conventional ones. ... So from that standpoint, ND is 19th nationally in sacks allowed out of 130. Wake is 126th out of 130. ND is 33rd in rushing offense and 15th in yards per carry. Wake is 46th and 90th, and that's with Wake playing total defenses ranked 113, 105, 83 and an FCS team (Elon).

Guest

12:46

Larry From Topton, PA – Thanks for all the great writing Eric, and the (Wait – Flag on the play. False Start. Larry from Topton needs to move back 5 yards, but it is still first down). As I was saying Eric, thanks for all the great writing, and insightful podcasts, Football Never Sleeps, and especially your work on WSBT. You are the voice of reason and I really value your opinions. For my question – Ever since Hartman arrived in January, all through spring practice, and into summer camp, we heard something along the lines of: “Sam has never had an offensive line like he will have at ND; just imagine what he can do with the ND athletes surrounding him.” So now that we are ½ way through the season, can you please assess, how does this ND offensive line compare to what Sam had at Wake? Is what he has now a measurable improvement over what he had there?

Eric Hansen

12:45

Hi Lorne. Whether it was zero or one second left, I agree with your 100 percent. And that actually happened to an ND opponent late in the fourth quarter of a game in 2016, though not as late in the fourth quarter. Texas scored to make it 37-35, and with enough time for ND to come back and tie, so kicking the PAT made sense there. Still, it got blocked and Sean Crawford return it for two points to tie the game at 37-37 and send it into OT. Texas ended up winning in the second OT, 50-47.

Lorne

12:41

Lorne from Reno. I'm sorry that I didn't ask this last week, but I was still recovering from the game. Wasn't it a mistake for tOSU to kick the extra point at the end of the game? Had Notre Dame blocked it and returned it for a 2-point conversion, the decision would have seemed inexcusable. With only 1 second left, there is no way that Notre Dame would be able to kick a field goal, so the point was meaningless. Though I am sure this had nothing to do with it (this is solely for the benefit of the conspiracy-theory crowd), wasn't the betting line about 3 points? And no, I did not have Notre Dame +3.

Eric Hansen

12:40

Hi Bob. I can see where it looks like a lack of focus and the ability to regroup, but I don't think that was the culprit. A few things ... with a healthy Riley Leonard and that defense, Duke is a legitimately good team. I think it's the brand name that throws people. The combination of missing its two best WRs and a tough game by the ND interior offensive line made it difficult for ND to have a smooth offensive operation. But this is a challenge of playing four straight night games and playing four straight top 25 teams four weeks in a row. I wrote about the sports science part of ND's approach earlier in the week. There's a mental challenge as well. Only ND, Washington and Kentucky are scheduled to face four ranked teams in succession this season.

Bob (Oxnard, CA)

12:35

Did most fans (and media) underestimate how difficult it would be for the team to re-group and focus after the heart-breaking, last-second loss to Ohio State? Do you think the team will be more focused and play better this week? Thanks.

Eric Hansen

12:34

The players love the change, especially in weeks like this. Here's OT Blake Fisher's thoughts on the change:

”It’s huge, especially a week like this. You get back at like four in the morning. Last year, we were in at like 11 practicing. It was crazy. This year, we showed up at like 12:40 and watched film, got treatment and whatever you do on Sunday. For me, Sundays are like my most stressful days. A lot of people always wonder why, but I’m thinking about school, football and trying to study for the next opponent, call my family and everything. I love to flip it and Mondays we have a walk-through and we watch the game. You’re really like getting two days off.”

12:33

Hi Fred. We're all good, thanks. Birthday coming up this weekend for grandkid No. 4 in the birth order. Let me unpack the different questions you have in here. Penalties have not been consistent in the cause or type. In the Duke game, a lot of it was attributed to the road environment at Duke, which will be magnified exponentially Nov. 4 at Clemson, by the way. That, to me, is on the coaching staff. I am a big believe in Jadarian Price as well. But I think two things are at play here ... being careful to an extent as not to overtax the surgically repaired Achilles tendon and Jeremiyah Love's ascendance. ... And ND only has control over the kick times for its own home games (Ohio State and USC). TV determines that Duke and Louisville are night games, which seemed fairly unlikely heading into the season. It might make you feel better that the team switched from practicing on Sunday this year and taking Monday off to practicing on Mondays and taking Sunday off. (more)

Fred from Richmond

12:26

Eric, I hope all is well with you and your family. I want to get your opinion on the number of penalties the Irish keep having almost every game. Is it a lack of focus, coaching or just players so amped up they are just too aggressive. I also don't understand the absence of Jadarian Price, I felt he looked like a stud when he got the ball in his hands. One last complaint our schedule makers really put us behind the eight ball with these consecutive late away games. The team loses a practice day because of travel, which hurts our preparation. GO IRISH!!!

Eric Hansen

12:26

Hi Ray. I'm assuming you're asking for the good kind of surprises? From a team standpoint — and I know this is going to get some tomatoes thrown at me right after the Duke game — but I would say offensive coordinator Gerad Parker's in-game adjustments over the entire season, and then DC Al Golden's ability to evolve the defense into a more difficult scheme to play against (yes, the tackling needs to be better). Since we got to see so much training camp practices, there haven't been too many individual surprises for me, and most have been rotational players like RB Gi'Bran Payne, WR Rico Flores Jr., TE Cooper Flanagan and then DE Javonte Jean-Baptiste. With JJB, I wasn't sure if he could be more than a timeshare guy. Now, I believe he has a chance to be a difference-maker.

Ray, East Wenatchee, WA

12:18

Eric, What has been the most surprising thing about the team this year from your perspective? Which players have surpised you the most?

Eric Hansen

12:18

The shortened version of what Brown said re Tobias on the podcast is what will get Merriweather past his inconsistencies is making big plays in a game and then building on that confidence. Is it worth the investment? If/when Merriweather plays up to his potential, it changes the dynamic of what opposing defensive coordinators can do in terms of scheming up to limit the rest of ND's offense. If you're going to try to man up with him, you'd better have a corner like Ben Morrison. If you don't, you're taking a huge risk. Right now, there's not enough consistency to warrant that as a risk not worth taking.

12:14

I referenced this week's podcast with former Notre Dame wide receiver Bobby Brown, and I think his answer to that question would be worth listening to for more depth. So here's my take. The sophomore, who had 1 reception last season in limited opportunities, has seven catches halfway through this season for 147 yards and 1 TD. He has also had more snaps than any other Irish receiver this season (243). His talent is real. His impediment to tapping into that, in my opinion, is confidence. I think that's the biggest difference between freshman Rico Flores Jr. and Tobias (they play the same position when everyone's healthy). Tobias may know the offense better, but Flores is oblivious to the crowds, to the expectations, to the pressure. And that's huge. (more)

Dave, ponte Vedra, fl

12:07

I’m sure I have the same concerns as many of your readers—penalties, poor tackling, interior offensive line play, etc. My question is, what’s going on with Tobias Meriweather? For all his obvious gifts, he doesn’t seem to show up. Other than one long completion, I can’t recall much of anything else.

Eric Hansen

Off we go ...

Here are the rules:

12:06

Please include your NAME and HOMETOWN along with your question(s),

As far as this week's chat ...

12:05

► And, finally, thanks to all who have been listening to WSBT radio this season, as I have rejoined Darin Pritchett as a co-host on Weekday SportsBeat (960 AM, live streaming at wsbtradio.com) on Wednesdays and Thursdays during the 2023 Notre Dame Football season. I'm also co-hosting the pregame shows with Darin and Tyler Horka (which is not a clever stage name for Tyler James). The pregame show on Saturday this week runs from 4-6:30 p.m. ET. The weekday shows run from 5-6 p.m. ET. This week’s pregame show starts at 9 a.m. ET. You can download episodes as podcasts.

12:04

► Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Niele Ivey landed a massively impactful recruit on Wednesday morning, in 6-foot-5 center Kate Koval. If you haven’t checked out our story on the nation’s top center and top 5 overall prospect in the 2024 class, here’s your chance: Front and center, Notre Dame WBB lands top post prospect in Kate Koval.

► On this week’s Inside ND Sports Podcast, former Notre Dame wide receiver Bobby Brown, currently an attorney, podcast host and youth football coach. Brown discussed what he's seen from the Irish this season, where the program is headed under Marcus Freeman, how Notre Dame's healthy receivers played against Duke, what Tobias Merriweather needs to do to get back on track, the trust in Rico Flores Jr., if ND could convert someone to wide receiver in the middle of the season, how good Sam Hartman has been, what Gerad Parker has shown as ND's offensive coordinator and more. The podcast can be listened to via SoundCloud or on your preferred podcast platform including: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podbean and Pocket Casts.

12:03

► If you missed the last episode of our aspiring-to-be-viral Notre Dame Football YouTube show, Football Never Sleeps, it keeps its shelf life long after the live presentation. We’ve settled into our Monday night 7 ET time slot. Remember, if you miss the live show, you can catch up anytime on YouTube. Tyler James and I are also doing a live postgame show of our takeaways after every game. Here’s what last week’s show looked like. We’re also partnering with WSBT-TV this season, including collaborating on highlights and analysis. Here’s sports director Pete Byrne and me doing a quick run-through of this week’s game.

Some quick programming notes:

12:02

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