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Notre Dame Football

Game Thread | No. 9 Notre Dame at Florida State

September 5, 2021
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Game One | No. 9 Notre Dame at Florida State 

Doak Campbell Stadium | 7:30 p.m. ET | ABC | Notre Dame - 7.0 | Over/Under: 55.5

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Notre Dame in Tally

Fighting Irish football is back. 

Notre Dame should win this game on paper, but there are many interesting aspects of this game to watch as Florida State will have a chance to make this one interesting. The Irish offensive is breaking in new quarterback Jack Coan and four new starters on the offensive line. Always tricky, but outside of true freshman Blake Fisher, it’s still a group that’s played in big games. 

Irish receiver Kevin Austin Jr. will also be making his return to the field after basically two years away from the field as he played in just one game a year ago.

It will also be the first time Notre Dame fans get to see Marcus Freeman’s defense. The Blue-Gold Game in the spring was extremely vanilla and some have even stated Notre Dame under 10 plays on defense. 

On the Florida State side, it’s still an unknown how Mike Norvell will play his quarterbacks as Jordan Travis seems like the likely starter while grad transfer McKenzie Milton could play if he’s healthy enough. 

Finally, you have Seminoles left guard Dillan Gibbons facing his former teammates as he transferred from Notre Dame in spring. 


Five Players To Watch

Notre Dame WR Kevin Austin Jr.
Expectations are high for Austin heading into this season and Notre Dame needs him to at least come close to meeting them. Can he be a true WR1 for the Irish? He'll get his first shot to prove it against the Seminoles.

Florida State DE Jermaine Johnson
The transfer from Georgia is going to be counted on to provide a consistent pass rush off the edge for Florida State. The buzz in camp is that he's the best player on the defense. Maybe even the best player on the team. His matchup with true freshman LT Blake Fisher will be one to keep a close eye on.

Notre Dame LB JD Bertrand
Now that we know that Marist Liufau is out of the season, Bertrand steps into the spotlight as the starting Will linebacker. He was someone who rose up the depth chart during the spring and summer and flashed quite a bit as a blitzer.

Florida State QB Jordan Travis
Even though he's listed as a co-starter with McKenzie Milton, it's expected that Travis will be the main guy for most of the game. He's a dynamic runner and has reportedly improved as a passer. He'll need to be much better in that area to give FSU a chance at an upset.

Notre Dame QB Jack Coan
Notre Dame players and coaches have been saying all of the right things about Coan before the season. Now we see if he can live up to the praise he's received. Poise in the pocket is one of his strengths, but Irish fans anxiously await the chance to see him connect on the deep ball with the wide receiver group.


Quotes of the Week

RB Kyren Williams:
"Nobody really knows what Kev (Kevin Austin Jr.) can do. The only people that know what Kev can do is what we see at practice and that's really just our team. 

"We all know what Kevin has in store. We've been bragging out - I know I've been bragging about since I got here. I'm excited and I can't wait for Kevin to show his natural ability to the whole world." 

WR Kevin Austin Jr: 
"I'm very hungry and excited. I've been waiting a long time and it's a great opportunity to finally be here and be in the moment. I have to take by the rails and keep going.

LB Jack Kiser:
"Everybody is certainly excited to get to Sunday and play some real football in an electric environment down in Tallahassee. 

"I don't know what more you could ask for - Florida State vs. Notre Dame on a Sunday night in primetime. It's going to be huge and everyone is very excited to get there." 

Head coach Brian Kelly on what he wants to see from QB Jack Coan:
"Poise would be probably the first one. Decisive. Look, we're not starting a freshman. We're starting a guy that's played this game. We want him to be poised, but we want him to be decisive. He's been in this. He's seen it and knows what it looks like. 

"To be decisive, you have to be confident in your ability and we know Jack is. So go out there and be decisive. 

"The third thing is one of the things we were looking for in this quarterback position is being aggressive. Push the ball. If you got opportunities to push the ball down the field, let's go. Those are the things we've talked to Jack about and now we got to go do it on Sunday." 


For the Instagram users, 2022 tight end Holden Staes‍ will be in Tallahassee with his family for the game and will be taking over the ISD Instagram story for the day. 

Follow us on Instagram here: IrishSportsDaily


For Your Nerves 

Game Thread | No. 9 Notre Dame at Florida State

170,312 Views | 1621 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by DischFalk
Joe1976
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What the hell is going on with the offensive line? Why can't they run block? I'd bench the guy from marshal, put in Rocco and move correl to right guard and tell lugg to pull his head out of his a$$.
Joe
AZdoc
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irishkmg said:

Mike Frank said:

You need 5 yards. You don't need to throw it 50 yards down the field.

Mike


We all got sick of the conservative Book play. I have a bigger problem with the sequencing more than taking shots.


Yeah. That's what we're talking about. Wrong timing.
irish angst
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One crappy play on defense is why this game is close.
bombbomb
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Correll needs to be benched before Madden.
NYNDBLUE
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Last year ND gave up 113 rushing yards per game. Alabama only rushed for 140.

FSU has rushed for 152 yards in a half.
Mike Frank
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Staff
irish angst said:

Mike Frank said:

You need 5 yards. You don't need to throw it 50 yards down the field.

Mike
No timeouts effected the call, right or wrong.
You had 55 seconds. You get 5 yards and the clock stops and you have at least 5 plays at the end zone.

In this situation, you have one chance on a low percentage play.

Mike
liquidcrystal23
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Tommy is calling an awful game. Kelly needs to lite him up during halftime!!
pbrad28
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And 2 for 9 on 3rd down! What!???
TornisODaly
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FSU has been eating ND OL's lunch.

Great job by BK's homeboy. Book's scrambling ability made Quinn look like a decent OL coach.
-------

Tornis
pbrad28
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Yeah sick of conservative play calling not stupid play calling.
andrew32
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Positives:

Foskey is good.

DL in general is good.

Negatives:

Play-calling.

Punting.
k_odie
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Did Blake get benched or is he injured?
Rwolf101
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I have no problems with Coan's game so far. He's got 2 TDs, 160 yards, zero interceptions. All on the road in a hostile night environment with an inexperienced offensive line and some questionable play calls. I'd say he's meeting or exceeding my expectations.

The underthrows are in line with his scouting report. Not the greatest downfield arm. But at least he's standing in there and taking the shot. That's not something we've seen the past 4 years.
ndsean44
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Really premature opinion, but deciding to keep Patterson and move Correll to guard was a mistake. Patterson has been struggling big time with the snaps and Lugg's lack of size is too apparent at guard
Frankbuz
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Keep the crowd out it and wear them down.

On the last series Fisher wasn't out there?
parisite
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the 2 passes in the open field that burned 30 sec and made them burn the last timeout frustrated me. throw beyond the sticks or outside the hash. if not throw it away and stop the clock
Shawndomer
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Coan needs to realize ND doesn't have slow Wisconsin receivers. Throw it and lead the receivers. Let them run under it
sscott43
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Was he primarily blocking the GA transfer? Because that guy is eating our lunch
speedyirish
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Was wondering too. Saw Carmody in.
Rwolf101
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k_odie said:

Did Blake get benched or is he injured?

He had to step put for a video call with Will Shipley. Somebody needed to check on that poor misguided young man to see if he is miserable with his decision yet.
Joe1976
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Mike Frank said:

irish angst said:

Mike Frank said:

You need 5 yards. You don't need to throw it 50 yards down the field.

Mike
No timeouts effected the call, right or wrong.
You had 55 seconds. You get 5 yards and the clock stops and you have at least 5 plays at the end zone.

In this situation, you have one chance on a low percentage play.

Mike


I TOTALLY agree. I'll say this though... IF you're gonna bomb it like that, throw it to Kevin frickin Austin PLEASE...

Joe
Sgt Hulka
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Coan doesn't concern nearly as much as the fact we can't get any push.

The 2 draw plays worked and the other positive runs we had were because Kyren and Tyree are good backs that made plays on their own.
6926bp
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If he leads him a little it's a touchdown
sscott43
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Rwolf101 said:

I have no problems with Coan's game so far. He's got 2 TDs, 160 yards, zero interceptions. All on the road in a hostile night environment with an inexperienced offensive line and some questionable play calls. I'd say he's meeting or exceeding my expectations.

The underthrows are in line with his scouting report. Not the greatest downfield arm. But at least he's standing in there and taking the shot. That's not something we've seen the past 4 years.


Agree 100%. Lots more to be unhappy with here. He's been good and if AA Mayer doesn't **** up an easy catch we'd be singing a different tune
tvanp63
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k_odie said:

Did Blake get benched or is he injured?

I noticed he wasn't in there on the last play. He was struggling with #11.
irishkmg
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I feel like Kyren has created every yard he has by himself
k_odie
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He wasn't in the entire last series
loukydomer
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tvanp63 said:

k_odie said:

Did Blake get benched or is he injured?

I noticed he wasn't in there on the last play. He was struggling with #11.


He was hurt (at least somewhat) on the TD to Wilkins.
Spes Unica
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If our Centet can't get the basic job done, we are in for a world of hurt. Pathetic first half by JP. Coan will be better, but I am disappointed with his pocket presence. The OL is doing him no favors, to be sure.
speedyirish
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I feel Zeke is struggling more than Blake.
Sgt Hulka
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tvanp63 said:

k_odie said:

Did Blake get benched or is he injured?

I noticed he wasn't in there on the last play. He was struggling with #11.


A lot of people are going to struggle with that kid. Hell of a player. Awfully tough first assignment for Blake.
mjhahn
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NYNDBLUE said:

Last year ND gave up 113 rushing yards per game. Alabama only rushed for 140.

FSU has rushed for 152 yards in a half.
Not correct - According to the official stats FSU has 107 yards rushing.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/matchup?gameId=401282614

They have 152 TOTAL yards.
REMND
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tvanp63 said:

k_odie said:

Did Blake get benched or is he injured?

I noticed he wasn't in there on the last play. He was struggling with #11.


Jermaine Johnson, No. 11. , has been the most disruptive defender on the field.
liquidcrystal23
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Is it just me or is the sound really really awful ?
irishtank6900
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I have no issue with Coan other than the 2 underthrown deep shots. I think Tommy has been too conservative, but he's from the Kelly coaching tree they are already thinking 7 point win and get out of town. The QB wrap on third and 5 was horrific.
 
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