JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat Sept. 27, 2023

Notre Dame Football Live Chat Sept. 27, 2023

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Eric Hansen

3:10

OK, that's going to do it for this week. Out of time. Thanks for all the great questions. We'll be back to do it all over again next Wednesday at noon ET.

3:09

Tim, I love it. ... So let me skip to No. 2. Finish. Learn to finish. For coaches and players. 3. The O-line takes another step forward (played pretty well vs. OSU), contain some very difficult dual-threat QBs, make special teams special again.

Tim from Kansas City

3:07

Sorry, I hit send before my questions because I’m still blinded by tears. 3 questions: 1. Do you think the team was caught looking ahead to Duke?😉. 2. What do you think is most important for the team to learn as a result of the OSU game? 3. What areas of improvement are most necessary to negotiate the gauntlet of the next 3 challenging games?

Eric Hansen

3:07

Sean, sorry I didn't get to this earlier when I wasn't up against the clock. I am from Ohio and went to school there, so if only two fans were rude to you, you get off easy. There are many good folks there as well. I don't deny how NIL can influence recruiting. I think you are overstating how much it will hurt ND in the future. I think your narrative is flawed, because ND has won big games in the stretch you mentioned. They don't get to two playoffs without doing that. I guess we throw out the wins over Clemson as well? Why I think Marcus has a chance to evolve the program is because of his recruiting and because of the strengths I see in him as a young head coach. Is it an inevitability? No, but I like his chances.

Sean, Schaumburg IL

3:02

Eric, I wanna be measured in what I say. The narrative continues-Notre Dame can't/hasn't won the big game. 2005-USC, 2011-Ann Arbor, 2012-Bama, FSU in Tallahassee, 2015-Clemson/Stanford, 2017/2019 UGA, getting rolled by Miami in Miami and our CFP Semi games. I've been at a couple of those games. DJ Brown HAS TO CATCH that ball. He was thinking of taking that ball to the house instead of catching it. The plethora of mistakes at the end of the game. 10-men. The screen pass call. Allowing the 3rd/19 first down. Just brutal. Al Golden is not a young coach. He's got decades of experience. He's gotta catch the 10-men. Shoutout to Tyler James catching it in real time. Had a couple OSU fans be extremely rude. What makes you think MF can change this narrative? It's not all on MF. It's on the admins as well. NIL is playing a factor. We're those 1 or 2 players short. Would a Peyton Bowen/Keon Keeley type make a difference? Maybe. I'd, sure, like those guys on my team to find out. Crushing game. Go Irish.

Eric Hansen

3:01

Scott, thanks. Hope you have a great time at the game. This is going to be a fun few weeks.

Scott

3:01

From Augusta, Ga. We'll Eric, what can you say that has not already been said. I'm sure there is a lot of self reflection happening, both players and coaches. This is where coaches really earn their pay. Who do you see, players and coaches, really taking the team on their shoulders in Durham? My thought is Marcus and the captains. I'll be in Durham. Hopefully enjoying a beverage in celebration after the game! Maybe more! Cheers Eric for the fine work you do every week. All the best from sunny, warm Georgia!

Eric Hansen

3:01

Hi Jim. The whole things was a bit odd/surreal. It happened on the Pat McAfee show, with someone pretending to be Lou Holtz interviewing the real Lou Holtz. I know it fired up Ryan Day and I understand to an extent why he's sensitive to those kinds of remarks. BUT I have a hard time believing the Ohio State players know who Lou Holtz is or that they played harder and executed better in those critical junctures because they wanted him to eat crow. Ryan Day had his moment after the game and Lou Holtz basically doubled down thereafter.

Jim, Oakwood, OH

2:57

Hey Eric … No !!! today, still in a state of despair. I thought the team played OSU very well until the last OSU drive and GL plays. Kudos to Coach Free for his ownership of the mistakes w/o throwing players or coaches under the bus. A master class in excellent leadership. After a full week by the team and coaches of tempered comments about OSU avoiding giving them bulletin board materiaI, I thought Lou threw a grenade at OSU with his inflammatory comments late in the week. Some comments were his usual showmanship, but then he was mean spirited and personal to Coach Day and undoubtedly fired up Day and OSU. Has Lou lost his filter in his old age? Your thoughts about the wisdom & timing of his personal comments?

Eric Hansen

2:56

I think Notre Dame will want to be balanced, but teams have had far more success running it than throwing it against Duke. At the same time, the pass-efficiency national rank for their opponents has been 54, 81 (FCS), 84 and 126 out of 130. Notre Dame is third.

Frank from Royse City, Texas

2:54

Do you think ND will run the ball more and use the short passing game against Duke? Duke secondary is one of the best in the nation so far.

Eric Hansen

2:54

Tim, I think you know the answer, too.

Tim Thompson

2:53

Nantucket, Ma. Hi Eric and everyone. Thanks for previous week’s clarification on blocked field-goal rules. Obviously everyone is yakking about goal-line stand/ only 10 players. So my specific procedural question is, when the referee stands over ball for equal substitution by defense is a referee allowed/disallowed from telling players or coaches they are short one player. Think I know the answer.

Eric Hansen

2:53

Hi Roger, thanks for your observations along with your questions. Let's start with Chip Trayanum's TD. My oldest son called me as i was driving home from the stadium to ask me about that. He thought Trayanum was down before he scored. When I saw the replay at home on Monday, I thought Trayanum was in. My son has six kids, so maybe by that time in the evening his vision was blurrier than mine, I don't recall a football game at a true road game where then ND fans took over. Neutral site, yes, very much so. However, in the two years I covered ND men's basketball in the '90s, the Irish fans in the Northeast corridor often took over the opponents' arenas, and that's when ND wasn't really very good.

Roger from Peoria

2:47

Hi Eric: My "two cents" on the Notre Dame Stadium Saturday atmosphere is it was worth well more than the price of admission which was a wee bit more than "two cents". I was concerned the "Greenout" goal would fail with the Stadium resembling a Green and Red Christmas venue. Nebraska game pictures might suggest some might count it in the Nebraska consecutive home game sellout streak. I attended the Georgia game which resembled a neutral site game. Ohio State Scarlet was substantially limited to the top of the upper bowl in the South End zone. I recognize Irish fans travel well, but do you recall any non-neutral site Irish road game when Irish blue & gold so dominated that the host's fans complained about the situation? During the official review of the winning TD, the video board replay showed to my "unbiased eye", the ball short of the goal line when the runner's knee touched. A nearby fan must have heard a similar broadcast comment as he said "I think we won!" What did you see in that replay?

Eric Hansen

2:47

Mike, I've hit on most of your points earlier, but let me grab the last one and answer that, yes I do believe 11-1 is possible.

Mike, Phoenix

2:46

Eric, I will say this. Not sure how many big games ND will win scoring 14 points or less. Doesn’t matter if it is Kelly/Rees or Freeman/Parker. You need to score more than 14. Period. And leave Estime in the game! We are on to Duke. How do you think this team responds? Last year lost to Marshall. This year on the road at Duke. I still believe 11-1 is possible. Thanks for the chats and Go Irish!

Eric Hansen

2:46

Ha Jeff. I remember that episode of Cheers. Just watched a Cheers reunion recently on YouTube. ... To your question, the quandary is that Marist played too many snaps in 2022 without the production to match. Then Jack Kiser zoomed past him in the spring and the start of fall camp. Then Marist surged and played very well in the first three games. And then Al Golden had a first-world problem. But JD Bertrand missed the Central Michigan game and Kiser filled in and was Marcus Freeman's defensive player of the game ... and then plays 10 snaps vs. OSU. Al Golden was emphatic Kiser needs to play more. So Saturday it will be interesting to see if that's the case. I will ask Al when I get the chance one of these Tuesdays re analytics. It's an interesting question. Not sure if it changes the rotation, but it is interesting.

Jeff from Phoenix

2:41

Good morning Eric! I hope that the chat is civil today - this week kind of reminds me of that famous quip from George on Cheers when he said "Its a dog-eat-dog world out there and I'm wearing Milk Bone underwear". Onward to Duke. My question is about the linebacker play, now that we have 4 games post the unique defense used vs Navy. Do you believe that there is a significant disconnect between snap counts for Bertrand/Kiser/Liafau/Sneed that doesn’t sync with their productivity (tackles/hurries/sacks)? I didn’t see the PFF scores for this week but where did those land? And, what I find as a related disconnect is that in his news conference yesterday Al Golden didn’t really cite any stats or analytics for the linebacker group, but rather, spoke in generalities. Do you know to what extent Golden and Bullough rely on analytics? Thanks dude!

Eric Hansen

2:40

Absolutely ND has to be able to play in a track meet type game, and those could very well be coming up. But they have to be able to play in this type of game as well. In 2022, Georgia scored 65 in the title game and beat Ohio State 42-41 in the semis, but they also won a 26-22 game with Missouri, a 27-13 game with Tennessee, and a 16-6 game with Kentucky. So doing both well matters.

2:37

Jason, really good questions here. So you're right in calling it seven possessions, because the two that would bring it to nine were 26 seconds at the end of the first half and 1 second at the end of the game. But Ohio State's defensive game plan played into this as much as anything. Their hope wasn't necessarily to shorten the game, but maybe Hartman gets impatient and tries to force something into coverage. So let's compare it to the 2022 OSU game when ND has 10 possessions. This is important ND was patient and had ZERO three-and-outs Saturday and three drives or 11 plays or more, with one being a 96-yard TD drive in the fourth quarter. In 2021, ND had four three-and-outs, zero drives of 11 plays or more and only one longer than six plays (more).

Jason, Lexington KY

2:25

Did Notre Dame limit itself to 7 possessions offensively with playcalling/gameplanning or was that more Ohio State playing a bend but don't break defense? ND had 10 possessions vs Ohio St last year and Coach Freeman said he wanted to e more aggressive this year but it didn't work out that way. When going against big time opponents ND seems to want to play "stall ball" but that's not what those teams do - 6 of 9 CFP champions scored 42 or more, and 8 of 9 scored 33 or more, in the championship game. Does this staff seem like it will ever evolve away from that?

Eric Hansen

2:24

Hi Richard and thank you. And thanks for the reminder. I'm trying to mix in the 10-defender questions, so we don't get a run of them. This one is different and interesting. Wish I had a more interesting answer. It's quite possible there was such a person and they got lost in the moment. And yes, certainly you could have a GA or analyst do that up in the coaches box, which would be the easiest way to spot it. There should have been other safeguards. Marcus Freeman is ultimately responsible And he owned it, and then he did what he should have and not revealed so much about the process that he gave away who was responsible. You publicly blame a coach or a player or a GA and then you do have a morale problem heading into Duke.

richard, rochester, ny

2:19

Eric, Love what you bring to the table on ND football!! Question----HCMF stated that his solution to the 10 man issue is to create a signal that could be relayed in to get a defender to deliberately go offsides, touching an offensive player thus stopping play and allowing us to get the 11th man in. First, though, don't we have to know we're short a man? The problem is not knowing---Tennessee State---we did not know; penultimate OSU snap, we did not know; final OSU snap, we only find out "too late." Don't we need a dedicated counter, whether in the booth on high or on the sidelines, to count our defenders so that we're in the know and then can do something about it? I mean, if we had implemented a dedicated counter system after Tennessee State, Saturday night's nightmare most probably would never ha ve happened.

Eric Hansen

2:18

Hi Tom. I appreciate you wisdom and for thinking I have it. Marcus reiterated Monday there was no buyer's remorse and that he's likely to go for it on fourth-and-1 at certain spots on the field. Obviously that would change if you're down 2 in the closing minute of a game. His inclination is to be better on fourth down, not reconsider and kick. The same scenario you presented could have been flipped. If ND makes the fourth-and-1 and eventually scores, than Ohio State needs two scores in the final 86 seconds. The thing is, it's difficult to say the game would have played out the same way. If the score is different, the calls are likely different in the points leading up to the final plays. I don't have a problem with Marcus going for it, but I agree, they have to be better at it if they are.

Tom from Toronto

2:13

Hi Eric, seems to me that in one respect Saturday night's game was "deja vu" all over again. Last season against Stanford when Notre Dame went for the first down on fourth down, forgoing the field goal attempt, they did not get the first down and eventually lost the game by two points. It seemed that Coach Freeman learned from that experience, as my recollection is that in the later games he took the points, choosing to go for a field goal rather than going for the first down, and it served him well. Maybe in the heat of the moment on Saturday, he forgot this experience.If they had gone for the field goal and made it, the complexion of the game would have changed. All things being equal (and I know that they are not), OSU's final touchdown would have been for a tie game, or a two point conversion for the win. Anyhow, my unrelated question is, with the effort against OSU, do you expect that the team will be ready psychologically and physically for the Duke game? I appreciate your wisdom. Take The Points Tom

Eric Hansen

2:12

Tim, thank you. The officiating crew had a tough time communicating with the TV audience. They mistakenly referred to a pass interference call as defensive holding (later amended). So defensive holding is still 10 yards and an automatic first down. Pass interference is still 15 yards (or a spot foul if the pass was shorter than 15) and an automatic first down. They also charged Iowa State with a timeout, which had to be disappointing for the Cyclone, who were playing Oklahoma State at the time.

Tim - St Louis

2:09

Great job as always. Hope your business got a bump from the Ohio State game. Had a question about pass interference verse holding a pass receiver. Pass interference use to be 10 yards from the line of scrimmage. Now seeing 15 yards on pass holding. Am I out of touch with rule changes ? Thanks for clarifying and keep up the great work

Eric Hansen

2:05

Mike, What an interesting array of questions. Here are my answers: 1) 6:30 a.m. (Had to do my research and vote in the Super 16 poll after we got done with writing, editing, posting, talking people off ledges and doing our Postgame Takeaways show pm YouTube, 2) That's way out of my purview. 3) He did say that, and the answer today would be the same. 3B) Good thought, but Riley Leonard's next stop is the NFL.

mike .k costa mesa

2:01

What time did YOU get to bed ? SUN AM ? .Why are WE NOT HEARING the ND fight song during the game as much?. Somebody asked Freeman a few mo's ago if he would take another qb transfer next yr & he said we will see. My take is yes & Riley Lenord would be a good one.

Eric Hansen

2:01

Hi Matt. I will give you the rapid-fire answers you're looking for, Just make sure this never gets up to the dreaded and forbidden 17-part question. ... 1) At this point, yes, whether Alt leaves or not. And there will be discussion about him moving to LT. 2) Yes, but that doesn't mean it WILL happen, and they could all three be playing behind a portal QB. MAYBE. That's to be determined. 3) I'd give it a 9. 4) Good vibes on Tuesday night. 5) I appreciate your TV-watching suggestive agenda for tonight. I will not have the TV on. Until maybe bed time.

Matt (KC)

1:57

I am sure this chat will be filled with OSU stuff. Hindsight is always 20/20 and it won't help us moving forward to dwell in it now. All my quick questions are future themed: 1. Joe Alt leaves for the NFL, do you think Blake Fischer comes back? 2. I hear the hype on CJ Carr, is he good enough to overtake Steve Angeli or K. Minchey next season? 3. Scale of 1-10, how would you rate the recruiting right now in high end talent we are getting and competing with crazy NIL from other schools? 4. Any perspective on how the player leadership looked Monday after the hard loss and how it speaks to the character of the team? 5. Not a question, but a plug for volleyball, ND volleyball plays #5 Louisville tonight and the Irish have started out great, watch it on ACC network or go if you can. Let's go Irish!

Eric Hansen

1:56

Hi Manny!!! I know it's not a big week for exclamation points. Thanks for mustering the three that you did. I don't think the Marshall loss happened necessarily because of what took place at Ohio State the week before. Bad, bad defensive game plan, that Al Golden would never roll out there in 2023. Not a great day for Tommy Rees either or Marcus. And Duke 2023 is WAY better than Marshall 2022. The Irish are getting back to business, and putting the math problems and the rest behind them. I still believe there's a lot to play for and chase this season, and more importantly, I think they do.

Manny from San Pedro

1:53

Eric!!! Thank you for doing these chats. They really help after losses. How does ND respond against Duke? Last year after Ohio st they dropped a dud against Marshall. What are they doing differently to not be embarrassed at Duke

Eric Hansen

1:53

Hi Aaron. I'll give you at least the PFF numbers from year to year in a future chat. Don't have time to do that on the fun today. But to the eye test, yes. Again, some of it may relate to the limited tackling (taking the runner to the ground) that goes on in practice these days in trying to mitigate practice injuries. Some of it is having Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah on your team. He erases a lot of mistakes. But Clark was a great teacher and you touched on one of his strengths. ... Duke is better at QB than Ohio State, not in raw efficiency numbers, but in savvy and overall ways he can hurt you. What Duke doesn't have is Ohio State's wide receivers. Nobody does. So it's a significant challenge, and a very different one.

Aaron, Washington DC

1:48

Eric, hope your week is going well. I don’t have the stats to support this statement but it seems to me that the defense was a much better tackling unit during the Clark Lea era and it has declined significantly since his departure. Would you agree with that assessment? Do you think there’s acknowledgement by the coaching staff that they need to holistically coach tackling better given the abysmal national ranking in missed tackles? Part II: I think Duke could be a harder matchup for the defense (as compared to Ohio State) due to the mobility of their quarterback. With tackling and lack of d-line penetration being weaknesses of ND’s defense, would you agree that a good runner at the quarterback position for Duke combined with his passing skills could be a more difficult matchup this week? It will be interesting to see if the coaching staff has answers.

Eric Hansen

1:48

Ced, thanks for checking in and for your prediction. I want to buy you a CAPS key for Christmas.

ced walker

1:47

ced walker saginaw michigan rico flores and jaden greathouse will be huge saturday for us at duke we need to chris tyree the ball more in the passing game al golden defensive calls were too much zone coverage and our safeties playing way too deep the middle was open the whole game vs ohio this must get better playing duke trust the process god bless the golden standard rally we are nd go irish love thee notre dame our mother pray for us

Eric Hansen

1:47

I made notes, so I wouldn't forget part of your question and I almost forgot. I like Marty Biagi, like his philosophy, am disappointed overall with the results five games in,

1:46

Tyler James made the case that Audric Estimé should have stayed in the game during ND's last offensive drive. Given the result, that's hard to disagree with. But I have liked what ND has gotten out of its rotation. I'm not sure Jeremiyah Love would have gotten this much play, for instance, under previous running backs coaches. As far as tackling, the end result and the flaws will be remembered, but it was actually ND's top team tackling grade from PFF this season and against its best opponent. Now, for the season, the Irish are kind of middle-of-the-pack in the FBS tacklers. I'm not sure a consultant fixes that, but I do think recruiting better athletes helps. And that's what's happening on the defensive side of the ball. I'd expect to see better tackling next season. (more)

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