Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1508769
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 7, 2023 5 FAN FORUM WHERE'S THE PRESSURE? Being from Western New York and a huge Buffalo Bills fan, I am one of thousands of Bills backers still stinging from the "13 Sec- onds" playoff debacle loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in January 2022. The Bills defensive phi- losophy/scheme was just mind- numbingly flawed in allowing KC to tie the game, then win it in OT. And then, there was the ND- OSU chaotic finish last night. Fans will question the play call- ing on ND's last offensive series, for legitimate reasons. And as far as the 10 ND defenders on the field for the last two plays, I don't even know how to process that. BUT, the defensive play call that I will never be able to understand occurred on the third-and-19 play for OSU right after the intentional ground- ing penalty. I said to my brother before that play that I hoped for sure that ND would pressure McCord on that play. Every rational mindset, in that situa- tion, called for pressure — down and distance, time outs left, the experience of the OSU QB, etc. I was stunned when ND decided to rush three. NO pressure on McCord, who had plenty of time to deliver that fateful throw. To go soft and cautious on a play of such magnitude, was, to me, an unfathomable and erroneous decision. Again, not hindsight. The game was lost with that decision, much like the Bills' strategy in the "13 Seconds" loss. Fans deserved better in both situations. John P. Butler Olean, N.Y. FAILING GRADE I think BGI's 'D' grade for ND's coaching during the OSU game was way too generous. How can it be that only Al Golden and Marcus Freeman didn't understand that a three-man pass rush wasn't working? And having eight men back didn't prevent third-and-19 and fourth-and-7 completions on the last drive. Failure to have 11 men on the field for the last play is beyond unbelievable. Are these guys ready for prime time? Don Gehring Richmond, Va. LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE The last-second loss to Ohio State was a heart- breaker! But as they lined up for that final play I said to myself, "This is the best I've seen an ND team play in a number of years!" They came back from a deficit in the second half against one of the stron- gest defenses they've seen in a long while. They played with heart, never looked defeated. ND proved it belonged in that game and could play evenly with one of the top teams in the country. Kudos to those young men, and the coaching staff. ND foot- ball deserves to be back in the top tier of CFP contenders. Let's win the remain- ing games! JT O'Reilly '61 BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters, Blue & Gold Illustrated, P. O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702 or e-mail to: sdowney@comanpub.com Needless to say, the pain from Notre Dame's gut-wrenching 17-14 loss to Ohio State lingered into the next week. Plenty of the conversation revolved around the fact the Irish had just 10 players on the field for the Buckeyes' final two offensive plays. Here is a sampling of some of the discussion that took place at our message board on BlueandGold.com. 53green: Watching that game made me feel like they had perfected the game plan to a tee and it almost worked. Especially since we were obviously weaker at WR and continuity going into the game. And a mulligan like that is sure to ruffle someone's feathers to the core. I can't imagine that Marcus is thinking it was a "rookie mistake." And I don't believe they'll just try to forget about it. Plays like that can cost you a title and a multi-million dollar coaching extension. I always believe player transfers/coaching changes are partially a result of being forced to "walk the plank." Someone will eventually bear the weight of that crucial mistake. KevinPS: He isn't trying to sweep it under the rug or minimize it. What he's doing is taking the hit himself instead of putting it on an AC, GA, or player. Boxer1968: Maybe. Odds are Buckeyes could get it in from half-yard line. Would we have had a better chance of stopping them … sure. But they just would have run it somewhere else. SiolentBanjo: Think the best way to rectify the problem is to privately review everything among the parties involved, determine what went wrong, and eliminate any possibility of that ever happening again. Doing this in private might seem like sweeping things under the rug, but it's really a lot better than loud and melodramatic soul searching, which seems to be what some people want. Headless: Accountability doesn't mean publicly shaming someone or firing them for an offense. Ac- countability means that the person recognizes what needs to be changed or improved to fix the issue and makes the necessary adjustments or personal developments to ensure that happens. Irishfan_1983: As the leader of the program, Coach Freeman is taking public accountability. That's leadership. We as fans have no right or expectation to the private discussions with the coaching staff regarding the end of game blunders. I highly doubt Coach Freeman took the Al's [Golden and Washington] back to his office and hugged them on Saturday night. jpm34_NDFI: You learn more from your failures than from success. Learning experience. FROM THE WEBSITE .com .com The Fighting Irish's inability to get pressure on Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord proved costly on the game-winning drive. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER