Comments on: Defensive deficiencies easy to diagnose

By: sweeney66

sweeney66 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:29:37 +0000

I agree. I said that after the game. Harrison Smith leads the team in missed tackles, not just this game but for the season as well.

By: pbabs

pbabs — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:41:10 +0000

I noticed that all of the poor tackling clips were in the second half. I haven’t watched it again in detail, but I actually think the Irish did a decent job in the first half against Polk. I wonder if somehow the defense just lost focus and were trying to go for the “big play”.

By: TLNDMA

TLNDMA — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:35:52 +0000

I hate to single out one player but, #22 Harrison Smith seems to be in most of these clips. Hard to believe he played LB last season, he misses tackles on 3 of 6 clips. On both pass plays he was the deep help, though late getting there it seems.

By: Jan

Jan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:32:24 +0000

Thanks, very enlightening. The silver lining/good news is that this seems to be an issue that can be addressed/coached. Probably what Charlie means when talking about “fundamentals”. I’d be more concerned if the Irish players lacked the size and athletic ability to cleanly make the tackles before additional yardage is gained. Any sense of whether the officials were consistent in not calling the picks on both teams? If not, perhaps this is a topic for Charlie to send to the Pac 10 on tape for an “explanation” before the Pac 10 officials return to South Bend next week.