Still working on the Notre Dame replay review. Been a crazy week and was in Austin, TX this past weekend so I didn't get the Sunday morning headstart that I have discovered I will be needing most weeks. A little more than halfway done and below are my thoughts from what I have watched so far.
Pass Offense:
It's been pretty well hashed out by now but Purdue needs Plummer to start going downfield. The problem in the ND game was multi-faceted. Plummer did check down a few times when he had window to throw it. I understand being safe but Plummer has thrown the ball very well so far this year. The majority of his passes have been on the numbers and nice tight spirals. Hoping he can start believing in himself soon.
The second issue is that Purdue really only has two deep threats, Bell and Wright. Bell isn't going to sneak past any safety downfield. Hamilton was shading over him all day. Wright just needs to get out there and play. I know a bunch of people want him benched for Rice or Thompson but he runs the best deep route of the 3 from what I have seen so far. Thompson is good within 10-20 yards of the LOS and Rice hasn't played enough for me to know yet. Wright has beaten teams downfield on several occasions already. He torched DBs in the Iowa and Illinois games last year. I also keep going back to that Oregon State deep ball he dropped. It was a beautiful throw and Wright had beat the CB. Just needs to catch it.
Offensive line played better upon review than I thought. Notre Dame, to their credit, brought a lot of looks. Mixed in the 3-4 and 4-3 while blitzing often. Most of the pressure came from the LB position. So far in my review there have been a few exceptions. Long got beat pretty badly on a third down leading to Plummer getting hit while throwing to Doerue. Holstege got beat on the third down that led to Wright's drop (not sure why he dove for it. The throw was low but he could have simply gone to his knees and waited for it so he could use his hands). Craig decided to dive at the DE on the Wright double throw for some reason. The DE read the play well but Craig can't leave his feet there. Not sure what he was doing. I think he really is best suited to be a OG. Hoping Miller continues to improve as a OT and Craig fills in for Witt next year.
The third issue was Hamilton. He is an All-American talent at safety that can do it all. He might be a first round pick this year. The few glimpses I had downfield Hamilton had really good coverage. To be fair to Plummer the downfield throws this week would have been riskier than your average tight window throw. He still had a few opportunities but Hamilton had good coverage all day.
Run Offense:
Like in the passing game, I thought the OL did better upon review. Hamilton's performance really allowed the LBs to stay in the box and muck up the run game. Notre Dame frequently had 7 guys in the box on Purdue's running attempts. I do have Long down for a bad missed block on a running play and Moussa came in for one play that was a disastrous 3rd and short attempt. The play call wasn't bad but Purdue rushed Moussa onto the field, ran a hurry up offense, and he got a really bad jump on the snap. The DT ran right between him and Miller. Probably either needed to run a different play under the hurry up or run the same play but let Moussa get settled down.
Overall, Notre Dame I think was just a bad matchup for Purdue. Notre Dame's weakness right now is speed at the LB position. Didn't get to watch the entire Toledo game but what little I saw from that and the FSU game, they utilized some speed at the QB and RB positions to keep ND's LBs off balance. Purdue doesn't have the personnel to do the same and that generally isn't how Purdue's offensive strategy is built. The few times Purdue beat the LBs in the flat Hamilton came in and cleaned up the play.
Run Defense:
Purdue remained pretty suffocating in run defense. Johnson has stepped into Watts' absence decently well as a run stuffer. Washington briefly flexed his abilities here as well. Notre Dame tried to double him and have Tyree follow but Washington threw the double team aside and descended upon Tyree. He missed the tackle but Grant quickly cleaned it up. That's the big thing in the run game. Alexander, Graham, and Grant are so quick to react and so good on their reads in run situations that RBs rarely have had the opportunity to gain speed.
Pass Defense:
Another extremely disruptive day by Karlaftis. Notre Dame made a bigger effort to double him than Oregon State and UConn did. I mentioned after the UConn game but both teams thought they could leave him unblocked and use deception to get by him. Notre Dame didn't dare try it. Deen similarly has been very close to big plays. He made a couple excellent moves to shed blocks and put pressure on Coan or Buckner. When I do these reviews I often play and pause the snap on defense quickly. Deen is consistently getting great jumps on the snap. Dude has great reflexes, much like Karlaftis.
Also noticed Purdue mixed some things up front on passing downs. There were a few such situations where they had Sullivan at DE, Johnson at the NT, Karlaftis at the 3 technique, and Deen at DE. It was an interesting idea but I think I would make one change. I would have Karlaftis at DE, next to Johnson at NT, Sullivan at the 3 technique, and Deen outside Sullivan. Again, Deen gets a great jump at the snap. Sullivan doesn't but he is a good bull rushing DL. In passing situations this lineup could cause some havoc.
In anticipation of some questions about Sullivan, I would still leave him at DE. In the run game or not obvious passing downs, he is still good to have at the edge. He has really good play recognition skills and can hold the edge well in the run game. his slow get off at the line was what got Purdue in trouble in the 3-4 last year. The OL gets leverage on him too quickly and can push him off the LOS at the 3 technique.
Graham might work his way into a mid round pick. His coverage skills have really improved and I thought he did a good job on Mayer. NFL scouts are looking for more new age LBs that can run support but also cover TEs in the passing game. Graham is quickly becoming a player that can fill that role if he can bulk up slightly without losing speed.
Secondary has played well in what I have reviewed thus far. Mackey is still really good in run support and in the flat. Still has some issues downfield but has gotten better. Brown did pretty well minus one play, the PI call on him was pretty soft. Notre Dame's receiver ran himself into a tight spot and got bailed out.
Hoping to wrap up the replay review this evening and will tack on any additional notes here.
Pass Offense:
It's been pretty well hashed out by now but Purdue needs Plummer to start going downfield. The problem in the ND game was multi-faceted. Plummer did check down a few times when he had window to throw it. I understand being safe but Plummer has thrown the ball very well so far this year. The majority of his passes have been on the numbers and nice tight spirals. Hoping he can start believing in himself soon.
The second issue is that Purdue really only has two deep threats, Bell and Wright. Bell isn't going to sneak past any safety downfield. Hamilton was shading over him all day. Wright just needs to get out there and play. I know a bunch of people want him benched for Rice or Thompson but he runs the best deep route of the 3 from what I have seen so far. Thompson is good within 10-20 yards of the LOS and Rice hasn't played enough for me to know yet. Wright has beaten teams downfield on several occasions already. He torched DBs in the Iowa and Illinois games last year. I also keep going back to that Oregon State deep ball he dropped. It was a beautiful throw and Wright had beat the CB. Just needs to catch it.
Offensive line played better upon review than I thought. Notre Dame, to their credit, brought a lot of looks. Mixed in the 3-4 and 4-3 while blitzing often. Most of the pressure came from the LB position. So far in my review there have been a few exceptions. Long got beat pretty badly on a third down leading to Plummer getting hit while throwing to Doerue. Holstege got beat on the third down that led to Wright's drop (not sure why he dove for it. The throw was low but he could have simply gone to his knees and waited for it so he could use his hands). Craig decided to dive at the DE on the Wright double throw for some reason. The DE read the play well but Craig can't leave his feet there. Not sure what he was doing. I think he really is best suited to be a OG. Hoping Miller continues to improve as a OT and Craig fills in for Witt next year.
The third issue was Hamilton. He is an All-American talent at safety that can do it all. He might be a first round pick this year. The few glimpses I had downfield Hamilton had really good coverage. To be fair to Plummer the downfield throws this week would have been riskier than your average tight window throw. He still had a few opportunities but Hamilton had good coverage all day.
Run Offense:
Like in the passing game, I thought the OL did better upon review. Hamilton's performance really allowed the LBs to stay in the box and muck up the run game. Notre Dame frequently had 7 guys in the box on Purdue's running attempts. I do have Long down for a bad missed block on a running play and Moussa came in for one play that was a disastrous 3rd and short attempt. The play call wasn't bad but Purdue rushed Moussa onto the field, ran a hurry up offense, and he got a really bad jump on the snap. The DT ran right between him and Miller. Probably either needed to run a different play under the hurry up or run the same play but let Moussa get settled down.
Overall, Notre Dame I think was just a bad matchup for Purdue. Notre Dame's weakness right now is speed at the LB position. Didn't get to watch the entire Toledo game but what little I saw from that and the FSU game, they utilized some speed at the QB and RB positions to keep ND's LBs off balance. Purdue doesn't have the personnel to do the same and that generally isn't how Purdue's offensive strategy is built. The few times Purdue beat the LBs in the flat Hamilton came in and cleaned up the play.
Run Defense:
Purdue remained pretty suffocating in run defense. Johnson has stepped into Watts' absence decently well as a run stuffer. Washington briefly flexed his abilities here as well. Notre Dame tried to double him and have Tyree follow but Washington threw the double team aside and descended upon Tyree. He missed the tackle but Grant quickly cleaned it up. That's the big thing in the run game. Alexander, Graham, and Grant are so quick to react and so good on their reads in run situations that RBs rarely have had the opportunity to gain speed.
Pass Defense:
Another extremely disruptive day by Karlaftis. Notre Dame made a bigger effort to double him than Oregon State and UConn did. I mentioned after the UConn game but both teams thought they could leave him unblocked and use deception to get by him. Notre Dame didn't dare try it. Deen similarly has been very close to big plays. He made a couple excellent moves to shed blocks and put pressure on Coan or Buckner. When I do these reviews I often play and pause the snap on defense quickly. Deen is consistently getting great jumps on the snap. Dude has great reflexes, much like Karlaftis.
Also noticed Purdue mixed some things up front on passing downs. There were a few such situations where they had Sullivan at DE, Johnson at the NT, Karlaftis at the 3 technique, and Deen at DE. It was an interesting idea but I think I would make one change. I would have Karlaftis at DE, next to Johnson at NT, Sullivan at the 3 technique, and Deen outside Sullivan. Again, Deen gets a great jump at the snap. Sullivan doesn't but he is a good bull rushing DL. In passing situations this lineup could cause some havoc.
In anticipation of some questions about Sullivan, I would still leave him at DE. In the run game or not obvious passing downs, he is still good to have at the edge. He has really good play recognition skills and can hold the edge well in the run game. his slow get off at the line was what got Purdue in trouble in the 3-4 last year. The OL gets leverage on him too quickly and can push him off the LOS at the 3 technique.
Graham might work his way into a mid round pick. His coverage skills have really improved and I thought he did a good job on Mayer. NFL scouts are looking for more new age LBs that can run support but also cover TEs in the passing game. Graham is quickly becoming a player that can fill that role if he can bulk up slightly without losing speed.
Secondary has played well in what I have reviewed thus far. Mackey is still really good in run support and in the flat. Still has some issues downfield but has gotten better. Brown did pretty well minus one play, the PI call on him was pretty soft. Notre Dame's receiver ran himself into a tight spot and got bailed out.
Hoping to wrap up the replay review this evening and will tack on any additional notes here.
Last edited:
