Mike Goolsby Breaks Down Notre Dame's 12-7 Win vs. Louisville
15 minutes after the conclusion of the Notre Dame-Louisville game, BlueandGold.com's Mike Singer and former Fighting Irish captain and linebacker Mike Goolsby went live on YouTube to break down the game.
Watch the replay in the video player below or on our YouTube page!
Also, we've provided a transcription of part of the show below.
Instant Takeaways
“As we have discussed, this is all a building process leading up to Clemson. Clemson happened to hang 72 on Georgia Tech today who is now 2-3, and we have yet to play a team that is .500, so we can factor that in. The final score here was 12-7 and legitimately it could have been 9-7. We had a drive that was extended on 3rd and long twice by Louisville penalties that were ticky-tack calls -- hands to the face and a bad defensive holding call. Those three points Notre Dame got on the drive don’t even count to me, so let’s call it 9-7.”
“There was some regression even from last week. Last week, the excuse was that ‘Oh, the team didn’t get to tackle, blah blah blah.’ So, now, the team gets a week of full practice and gets worse?”
On any silver linings...
“I would be hard pressed. Silver lining, Kevin Austin got involved. Maybe that is something to feel good about. We have been saying this -- it is never as good or as bad as it seems when you go back and watch the tape. Maybe a saving grace here is that offensively for the Irish, it still seems like we are trying to see what fits. We know we can run the ball, and Coach Rees doesn’t take that for granted and we ran the ball well today. It still seems like we are experimenting in the passing game, so I think you need to mix around the route combinations, mix up some protections, something. I don’t think the offense is as bad as it looked points-wise like you saw today. Book threw the ball downfield against FSU and tried to today, but it was like they forgot that Louisville could blitz. The receivers had a tough time getting open today, but I think that comes down to the types of routes being run.”
“Ultimately it was just a really frustrating game to watch. I was sitting here taking notes asking myself ‘Who is going to make a damn play?’ and create some excitement? That didn’t happen. I have never watched Notre Dame football as intently as I have this year since taking on this role at Blue & Gold, but man it is frustrating. I feel bad for Notre Dame fans. This is really frustrating.”
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