A QB who can string together a lot of methodical drives through the air, while having some mobility to use in case the ND pass rush shows up, is certainly capable of doing what Ridder did to the Irish.Ģ. On the other side of the ball, the ND defense wasn’t horrible, but Desmond Ridder played a very efficient game and made enough big throws to keep the chains moving down the stretch and to keep the Irish from ever completely catching up, which they almost did once Drew Pyne was inserted at QB for ND in the second half. Not Tyree’s most sparkling day on the field, for sure. It didn’t help, either, when Tyree muffed a kickoff that put the Bearcats in position for a field goal immediately after scoring their first touchdown of the game. The Irish ran for just 84 yards in total - 3.0 yards per carry - and thus stud playmakers like Bellyman and backup running back Chris Tyree were heavily neutralized, just as they had been for most of the first few games of the season. The Bearcats also did a great job of bullying that iffy offensive line in order to corral Kyren “ Bellyman” Williams and the rest of the Irish rushing attack - they weren’t going to let ND’s weakness have an uncharacteristically good day. Coan and Buchner were never able to get too comfortable back there, which really hamstrung an already pretty one-dimensional pass-first offense. UC finished the day with 2 sacks and 4 QB hurries as a team, taking advantage of an Irish offensive line that was still not yet settled after multiple injuries at left tackle (and some not-great performances from the other offensive line positions). The Bearcats defense did a good job getting some pressure on the ND QBs, pushing starter Jack Coan and change-of-pace running threat Tyler Buchner to both throw interceptions at the end of otherwise long and successful drives in the first half. I’d say the biggest things they did were bottling up the Notre Dame offense (limiting big plays and playing some solid bend-don’t-break defense) and winning the turnover battle (3-1), capitalizing on opportunities Notre Dame helped give them to stymie any momentum the Irish had built up. What did Cincy do well / take advantage of in that game to hand a talented Irish team their only loss on the year? The Irish have a sparkling record except for the loss to Cincy. Give him a follow here on twitter, and be sure to thank him for his time.ġ. So keep reading for his thoughts on making the playoff, the Irish’s ceiling under Brian Kelly, and he even included an entire dadgum travel guide for you degenerates going to watch this Tech team in South Bend this weekend. I don’t know if we here at FTRS just ask the heavy-hitting questions, or if Pat just had somethings he needed to speak on like a baptist preacher ahead of the church picnic, but we sincerely thank him for his time, effort and candor for this interview.
The Q&A comes at you hot and heavy this week with an interview of Patrick Sullivan of the fine ND website, One Foot Down.