Catching Up On The Film -- Notre Dame/Penn State

Since it took us so long to return from State College we weren't able to re-watch the game until Sunday evening.

So some thoughts on a Monday about what we saw on the rewatch. First negatives, then positives:
Negatives:

• The entire offensive line failed to pick up Dan Connor. He must hope to face teams like this all year. The line also struggled when Sean Lee blitzed, as he was also harassing Jimmy Clausen often.
• Notre Dame's coaches won't scapegoat players, but upon watching the film again -- the Irish clearly have a problem at left tackle. On the first play of the first  possession, Paul Duncan was called for a false start. On the first play of the second possession, one of the linebackers jumped in to blitz and Duncan flinched, jumping offsides again. On the third play of the second possession, when Jimmy Clausen was sacked, Duncan ended up out of position blocking no one. Left guard Michael Turkovich ended up helping on the right side as Penn State blitzed six. Fullback Asaph Schwapp had Josh Gaines blocked, but eventually Schwapp lost the block and led to Clausen's sack. In the fifth offensive series, Duncan got beat again when Penn State rushed four. He was nowhere near his man and Clausen ended up sacked again. The sack on the seventh offensive series was on Duncan's man -- but not his fault. He had good blocking and Clausen should have thrown the ball away instead of holding for the sack. Granted, we don't know what the protection schemes were so it might not all be Duncan's fault, but he seemed to be around the mistakes a lot. To be fair, Duncan played better in the second half, but Penn State was clearly blitzing on the Duncan/Turkovich side almost exclusively in the first half.
• The 11th offensive series was a disappointment for Sam Young. On the fourth play, he was flagged for a false start. The seventh play was a Young hold, nullifying a pass from Clausen to Golden Tate. On the ninth play, Connor slips between Young and Dan Wenger, knocking Wenger down as he and Sullivan were blocking another defensive lineman. Young also got beat again on the 13th and 14th possessions of the game. Before the 11th series, both Young and Wenger had played well.
• On the kick catch interference penalty, wide receiver Derrick Williams did call for a fair catch late. David Bruton was there but would have been called for interference even if he didn't hit him because the ball hit Bruton in the helmet. Good speed, decent play. Bad timing.
• On Williams' punt return for the touchdown we counted five missed tackles -- Terrail Lambert had him snuffed as he caught it, but Williams broke it. Then Maurice Crum missed. Then Tom Zbikowski -- twice. Finally, Geoff Price tried and failed to get Williams.
• Looking back, Travis Thomas' penalty was atrocious. At the very least, Thomas sat on Jerome Hayes, pushed him and took Hayes' helmet off. This was much, much worse than what Justin Brown did against Georgia Tech. There might have been some retribution in there, though, as Thomas and Hayes had collided on an earlier offensive series, when Hayes got the better of Thomas while the senior running back was trying to block.
• While Armando Allen is quick, he sometimes looks tentative when there are holes to be had. On one play in particular, he spent too much time waiting behind a lineman while a hole was there. He also ran directly into Wenger on the first play of the 11th offensive series.
• By the third quarter, Notre Dame's defense was dead. The Irish played what appeared to be more nickel than 3-4 (maybe it was 50 percent split) -- but rarely sent any sort of blitz beyond a four-man rush. By the middle of the third quarter, Notre Dame defenders were bouncing off Penn State players even if they had them wrapped.

Positives:

• As Charlie Weis said, Jimmy Clausen played with poise. He also rarely made a bad decision and showed more agility than I initially thought he had.
• What had been assumed as a weakness and the thinnest position on the roster, the defensive line might be this team's best strength. Trevor Laws and Pat Kuntz both played well. Laws always seemed to be in on plays. On the opposite side, both Dwight Stephenson Jr. and Justin Brown both made big plays. Stephenson ended up in the backfield a handful of times and Brown had good ability to apply pressure. Even when he made a mistake -- like standing around after being faked out on playaction on one play (had he kept going, he could have lit up Anthony Morelli) -- he recovered on the next play by snuffing out a triple reverse for a loss.
• Morrice Richardson, who was playing more as a down lineman than a linebacker, played outstanding at points while he was in there. He had speed off of the edge and sacked Morelli twice. Once was a five-yard facemask, but that is more of an effort penalty than an egregious one.
• Maybe some defensive guys should play offensive line. After Darrin Walls' interception, the defense set up a good wall for him to get down the sideline. Critical blocks came from Zbikowski, Crum, Toryan Smith and Ambrose Wooden.
• The three best players on the defense are Laws, Zbikowski and David Bruton -- in that order.
• Considering what appeared to be a lack of blitzing, Notre Dame's defensive line did a decent job getting pressure on Morelli. The linebackers, too, did a good job chasing down Penn State's running backs.
• Geoff Price rebounded from a bad game well.
• Wide receiver Robby Parris could end up being Notre Dame's most dependable receiver -- especially if poor blocking forces the Irish to keep John Carlson in more to block.

The plan is to break down Michigan-Oregon tape today as well.

Don't forget about the predictions contest. Send your Michigan-Notre Dame predictions to mrothstein@jg.net. First to guess the correct score wins a prize. Also, feel free to send questions for Friday's mailbag by leaving a comment below or e-mailing us at mrothstein@jg.net.

-By Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette

Comments

[Moose Krause]

I don't have Tivo, but it looked to me like Golden Tate ran the Penn State return man down from behind. Did it look that way to you?

Golden Tate was very fast for a high school player. He looks to be very fast for college player also. (This is not always the case.)

[bob drake]

Michael,

Great analysis, specifically regarding the OL

[Gregg]

"The three best players on the defense are Laws, Zbikowski and David Bruton -- in that order." What about Crum and Walls? Bruton got burned by Jordan Norwood and played horrible Cover 3. Zibby was jogging most of the third and fourth quarters. Laws I agree he's been stout.

[Tyler]

Moose, I also noticed that Golden Tate was able to chase down Derrick Williams. I recorded the game, and he did appear very fast on the particular play.