Impressed so far. Total 180 from last year with almost the exact same personnel. Its hard to know too much yet given that ND is somewhat limited on offense with it’s non-elite WR talent and an inexperienced QB but loved the game plan vs Michael Mayer and how the DL competed in the trenches. Loved the halftime adjustments. Loved that the Lbs and safeties appeared to know where they had to be and were flying to the ball. Our MLB looks like a new player. I’m sure Knowles aggressive nature is going to give up some big plays but for the most part I do think we have the talent at corner to zero blitz. Overall I’m pumped to see more.
he’s a very confident guy. I think he’s taken a lot of the stress off of Day that he had last year where he felt like he had to be in the defensive meetings because he didn’t trust the DC (clearly). Knowles is the HC of the defense which is going to in turn create more dynamic profession on the offense as we break in all the new WRs.
as far as rankings, they are meaningless until November but I think UGA should be #1 since they trounced the #11 team from start to finish. Teams that were favored by 30+ points vs cupcakes did what they were supposed to do and shouldn’t move up. Interesting ND only dropped 3 spots after their loss, but Oregon dropped completely out of the top 25. ND got more credit for competing hard vs Ohio state than Ohio state got for winning. I think if the game went 5 quarters the Buckeyes probably win by 20+. Losing JSN early created a lot of shuffling on the offensive side and took a bit to adapt. Once they got going ND wore down. Osu could have covered the spread at the end and kneeled down. But it doesn’t matter. Time to go 2-0 and continue to get better.