Hilltoppers 28 ND 13 Final
- Thread starter Penlight
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Late second quarter, for the second game in a row, JCA offense had issues clocking the ball. QB tried to clock it but inexplicably went to a knee as he was downing it.
The officials met for 2 minutes and then decided to run the clock. It didn't hurt JCA this week as they got right on the ball and ran a final big play for a TD, but that is two weeks in a row of not executing the clocking of the ball.
I imagine in practice this week they will practice that several dozen times and the QB will make sure he stays on his feet.
The whole game has been kind of brutal, especially the flags. And, I'm not complaining like they were uneven flags on JCA, it's been pretty equal for both teams. But I think I counted 14-15 plays in a row with flags. At one point there were holding flags on 8 concecutive plays, 4 for each team. O-O
Yes, the JC passing game to #3 Washington (3 TD receptions) was much needed. The run game really needs to step up going forward and they need to keep feeding the ball to Washington in the air as well.
Congratulations to the Hilltoppers. JC penalties and a huge turnover helped the Dons in the first half. Dons D looked pretty good. Outside of a nice TD pass from Fraterrigo to Q Jackson before the half, the Dons O was pretty anemic. Respect to the JCA defense they played very well and looked great again tonight.
IMHO, the ND season boils down to the next two weeks. No easy task with Fenwick and SI In consecutive weeks, 2-0 we are in , 1-1 we have a chance, 0-2 we are out and hoping for a Prep Bowl bid. Stay tuned. Go Dons!!
IMHO, the ND season boils down to the next two weeks. No easy task with Fenwick and SI In consecutive weeks, 2-0 we are in , 1-1 we have a chance, 0-2 we are out and hoping for a Prep Bowl bid. Stay tuned. Go Dons!!
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Not used to being beat through the air by JC but it certainly was the case tonight. Washington made great grabs on those TDs. Two of them we had good coverage but he just made the play. Grigsby had a great run on the first drive to set up the first TD. I hope 77 is okay. He never returned after the injury in the first quarter but I thought I saw him trying to work it out on the sideline in the second half.
That 5 minute discussion seemed to settle JCA down and took the momentum from ND. Very tight game that was called tightly too.
Yeah that was a very odd discussion and certainly slowed the game. I thought they were a good crew and they did throw the flags. Honestly I respected them for the fact that I almost never see crews measure for first downs and they did it at least three times.
The clock thing was strange. JCA has a nice gain to get them around the 35 and in striking distance. Timeout called, 1 TO left. 20ish seconds left. They need to save this timeout for a FG, which we failed to do vs SR. The next play JCA QB is sacked on first down and knees the ball instead of spiking on 2nd. The refs meet and then 18 seconds are put back on the clock instead of half being over (or forcing a final TO) and it is 2nd not 3rd down. Maybe the refs never whistled in the second down play before the ball was snapped? ultimately meaning the knee/spike fiasco never really happened? 40-50ish yard TD pass next play. Either way, you have to play every play and #3 came up big tonight.
I don’t really want to get used to it and I’m glad we didn’t do it that much back in my day, but for a night it was fun to see the Hilltoppers win a game through the air.
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My interpretation of what happened was there were roughly 18-20 seconds left when we tried to spike it. The QB (either because his knee got too low or because he inexplicably thought you were supposed to knee when you clock the ball) had his knee graze the ground right before he made his forward throwing motion from an awkward crouch.
It was clear as day and the refs were right to huddle and confirm that it was not an incomplete pass and it was, in fact, a down with the clock still running. I don't know why it took 2-5 minutes of conversation, but 18 seconds was put on the clock. That very slow lull allowed the JC offense to have a play called and to snap it as soon as the clock was set to run at 18 seconds.
I believe it was 100% the right officiating call (even though the conversation around it seemed way longer than necessary) and it has revealed a substantial area of concern and football IQ/awareness that needs addressing. Luckily this week it did not hurt the two minute drill as the long ref conversation essentially served as the spiking that we could not execute.
After last week's end to the first half, I assumed the offense would run a spike in a two minute drill 10-20 times in practice to get it right.
It looks like that may not have happened. I would fully expect this week that the QB will work with his center and all 9 other guys on the offense on getting lined up (even the receivers were too slow back to the LoS today) and spiking the ball. And they won't just work on it, they will likely do it 50 times in a 20 minute window (clock the ball, run a 15 yard sprint and then run back to get lined up and clock it again.....20 minutes on the clock, if we can't execute this 50 times in this span, we do it again. Knee off the ground. Ready...go....). Bam, solved and it will never get screwed up again.
It has happened twice in a row and with this experienced staff I would be shocked if they let it happen a third time.
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“Air Catholic”! What is going on? When is the last time we saw a JCA team have to depend on the pass? Running game is not there this year, except against an outgunned team
In Iowa. Is it the line play? Lot of juniors there. Is it the RB’s? Gonna kill Grigsby with all the touches and his size.
Why no screen plays? Draw plays? QB delays?
Such a great defense this year. Keeping JC in every game. And providing great field position along with their best kicking game ever.
In Iowa. Is it the line play? Lot of juniors there. Is it the RB’s? Gonna kill Grigsby with all the touches and his size.
Why no screen plays? Draw plays? QB delays?
Such a great defense this year. Keeping JC in every game. And providing great field position along with their best kicking game ever.
ND was well coached and tackled well.
They display very good fundamentals on the defensive side of the ball in both run & pass defense.
The Hilltoppers picked up some tough yards on the ground and Washington was crazy good.
Losing the 6'5" 315 lb. OT, forcing an OG to slide to OT and having a 6'0" 230 lb. step up to replace the moved OG stifled the Hilltopper running game.
In this offense, the OL operates like a chorus line where timing and synchronicity is everything, as was witnessed in last year's playoff game when Birsa's injured knee forced too many adjustments in the scheming in just one week and a lot of timing and blocking angles & technique were off just enough to have a sizable impact.
This year's young OL was starting to jell and hopefully the young man's injury is not serious and he is able to return near 100% soon.
I cannot help but wonder if the tremendous weapon that is Durkin manifests itself in a more conservative approach; regardless I'll take he and his talents any day!
They display very good fundamentals on the defensive side of the ball in both run & pass defense.
The Hilltoppers picked up some tough yards on the ground and Washington was crazy good.
Losing the 6'5" 315 lb. OT, forcing an OG to slide to OT and having a 6'0" 230 lb. step up to replace the moved OG stifled the Hilltopper running game.
In this offense, the OL operates like a chorus line where timing and synchronicity is everything, as was witnessed in last year's playoff game when Birsa's injured knee forced too many adjustments in the scheming in just one week and a lot of timing and blocking angles & technique were off just enough to have a sizable impact.
This year's young OL was starting to jell and hopefully the young man's injury is not serious and he is able to return near 100% soon.
I cannot help but wonder if the tremendous weapon that is Durkin manifests itself in a more conservative approach; regardless I'll take he and his talents any day!
I saw the Don's corners running towards the line of scrimmage as soon as the ball was snapped. It seems some quick slant passes to the vacated spots would work. Instead the Hill insisted on running into all the congestion. I guess they think they can run effectively in any situation. They can't yet. The offensive line just isn't where they need to be. Sometimes learning is one step forward and two steps back. Next week they need to be one step forward.
ND also played a 5-man front. At this point, it becomes evident what type of team you have. This JCA team is going to have to scratch and claw for every yard and point they can get. They are going to need to rely on their defense to win games. Once JCA hit a few big pass plays last night, ND started keeping their safeties deep. ND's game plan was to force JCA to throw the ball. To the Hilltoppers credit they finally did and had success with Washington, who was a matchup problem for the Dons.
The penalties are still a major concern. They had five holding calls against them by early in the second quarter. This offense is just not good enough to overcome penalties, let alone that amount of them.
On to Wheaton and St. Francis who will present probably the biggest challenge yet for the pass defense.
Agree with the clawing and scratching for offensive yards this year. So, make the adjustments. Game plan it. Cut down on the penalties as well. Plenty of opportunities to improve and have a special team. The defense is really stepping up and the kicking game is world class. All the offense has to do is be good this year. Not great.
