What was our biggest win this year?

[Lillyliverd]

Was it Temple or Navy? Very disappointing year for me.

 

[KnuteRoc]

Probably UVA... or Temple. Agreed, disappointing season.

 

[poewelch84]

by the rankings Navy, though USC and Pitt were good wins as well. It was a disappointing year but with all the injuries to the defensive secondary as well as several offensive starters I'm not too down on things. I will say Van Gorder should go but he won't at least not with the injuries they had and the fact that they will finally be getting "his guys" for his system but I think next season will be a very short leash.

 

[poewelch84]

by the rankings Navy, though USC and Pitt were good wins as well. It was a disappointing year but with all the injuries to the defensive secondary as well as several offensive starters I'm not too down on things. I will say Van Gorder should go but he won't at least not with the injuries they had and the fact that they will finally be getting "his guys" for his system but I think next season will be a very short leash.

 

[Lillyliverd]

Texas 5-7
Virginia 4-8
GT 3-9
UMASS 3-9
Navy 11-2 (Did not beat a team in final Top 25)
USC 8-6
Temple 10-4 (Weak American Athletic Conference, lost to every decent team they played and beat cupcakes)
Pitt 8-5
Wake 3-9
BC 3-9

It was a nice season. We have certainly had many worse seasons over the past 20 years. Even with the injuries, I felt like we could have beat the teams we lost to. The problem has been we spot good teams points in our big games. We don't show up ready to play. In big games, we let the other team score once, twice, or more before we pull ours heads out of our asses and finally make one fucking play on offense or defense.

I think we will have a nice season next year but I will expect us to lose the Big Games because Brian Kelly is no Urban Meyer or David Shaw or Nick Saban. Brian Kelly is a proven Big Game loser.

 

[KnuteRoc]

Kelly does some things very well, but yep, his teams look as nervous an unprepared as he does. How many opening drives went for points?

Loved how he gave all the excuses to the D...

 

[craigk217]

Texas 5-7
Virginia 4-8
GT 3-9
UMASS 3-9
Navy 11-2 (Did not beat a team in final Top 25)
USC 8-6
Temple 10-4 (Weak American Athletic Conference, lost to every decent team they played and beat cupcakes)
Pitt 8-5
Wake 3-9
BC 3-9

It was a nice season. We have certainly had many worse seasons over the past 20 years. Even with the injuries, I felt like we could have beat the teams we lost to. The problem has been we spot good teams points in our big games. We don't show up ready to play. In big games, we let the other team score once, twice, or more before we pull ours heads out of our asses and finally make one fucking play on offense or defense.

I think we will have a nice season next year but I will expect us to lose the Big Games because Brian Kelly is no Urban Meyer or David Shaw or Nick Saban. Brian Kelly is a proven Big Game loser.

Great points, mang, and I agree. I don't give David Shaw the credit you do, though.

The bold is the biggest thing that bothers me. As long as BK has been coaching, you'd think he would have the game prep/ready-to-play on game day thing down pat. It's painfully obvious, he doesn't ... time after time. It's maddening that a coach at this level of high caliber coaching is lacking in this aspect. When your coach doesn't seem to have his shyt together by kickoff, what do you expect the team to do?

Couldn't agree more with the spotting of points, also. Seems like we're always playing from behind and having to pull wins out at the end during the big games. No killer instinct with this team. You just never know what brand of Irish football you're gonna get ...

 

[poewelch84]

I agree with these guys not seeming ready to play too often Notre Dame does absolutely nothing on opening drives and the other team drives down the field and gets a TD or at least points.

 

[Lillyliverd]

Stanford and ND have similar academic restraints and standards but Shaw has been vastly superior to BK. Since becoming head coach at Stanford, Shaw has won 3 PAC12 Championships and 2 Rose Bowls. Not including Rose Bowl and PAC12 Championship games, Shaw has beat 7 Top 10 teams and another 9 Top 25. That's 21 Big Game victories in one less year than BK has been at ND.

Kelly's Big Game victories:

In 2015 BK beat ranked GT and Temple which will finish unranked but beat unranked Navy which will finish ranked.

In 2014 our ranked victories were over Stanford and LSU but LSU was unranked in final rankings.

ASU was ND's ranked opponent victory in 2013.

2012: ND defeated #10 MSU and #18 Michigan and both ultimately fell out of the polls. Kelly also had 2 of his biggest wins beating #17 Stanford that moved up to #6 and #8 Oklahoma (#15 final).

ND beat #15 MSU in 2011 and #14 Utah in 2010.

I looks to me like BK has won only 7 times playing legit Top 25 teams (teams that finished top 25) while losing 11 Top 25 matches. Additionally, some of those Top 25 victories were negated by inexplicable losses to shit teams. Shaw has lost 3 games to unranked teams while BK has lost 11.

Shaw may not be as good as Meyer or Saban, but he is much better than Kelly. Shaw wins a majority of his big games while Kelly loses a majority of his.

 

[craigk217]

Shaw may not be as good as Meyer or Saban, but he is much better than Kelly. Shaw wins a majority of his big games while Kelly loses a majority of his.

Exactly what I was getting at as far as credit with that comparison.

 

[purguy12]

With all the injuries Im ok. It just sucks another wasted year with injuries. THis team was good and what we saw was injuries taking a toll on this team. Seeing Smith go down was a sad moment. A guy that works hard and was a leader and was about to go in the top 10 gets an injury like that in the last game.

overall im ok with the season. The offense was one of the best and we showed we have a lot of depth. We just need a good DC to help out the offense. It will be fun to see who wins the QB comp. I am a Kizer fan but the bowl game showed a lot of his weaknesses. I think MZ wins it at the end.

 

[purguy12]

Texas 5-7
Virginia 4-8
GT 3-9
UMASS 3-9
Navy 11-2 (Did not beat a team in final Top 25)
USC 8-6
Temple 10-4 (Weak American Athletic Conference, lost to every decent team they played and beat cupcakes)
Pitt 8-5
Wake 3-9
BC 3-9

It was a nice season. We have certainly had many worse seasons over the past 20 years. Even with the injuries, I felt like we could have beat the teams we lost to. The problem has been we spot good teams points in our big games. We don't show up ready to play. In big games, we let the other team score once, twice, or more before we pull ours heads out of our asses and finally make one fucking play on offense or defense.

I think we will have a nice season next year but I will expect us to lose the Big Games because Brian Kelly is no Urban Meyer or David Shaw or Nick Saban. Brian Kelly is a proven Big Game loser.

I disagree BIG time. This season was not Kelly fault. his offense did their part. The only blame he should get is hiring VG but in the end Kelly and his offense did their part. I do agree he isn't as good as Meyer or Saban but we are talking about the 2 best in the country. Kelly is in the Top 10 and I have him in my top 5. What he has to deal with at ND, recruiting, academics and all these injuries most coaches can't do this job. Hence Meyer not taking our job twice. Meyer knows he can't win at ND.

 

[purguy12]

Shaw LOL over rated HC. He got left the Keys of what Harbaugh built. I like shaw but to mention him in the same name as those 2 is just crazy. I mean people forget what Kelly has really done at ND. We went to a NC game(1st time in like 20 years), we have won bowl games, we beat a SEC team in a bowl game, Recruiting top players, Dealing with back to back years where ND had the most starters out for injuries then any other team.

 

[Lillyliverd]

Kelly has improved ND and he is a very good coach overall, not great, not elite, and Shaw has had WAY more success. I don't think Shaw has any players left over from the Harbaugh days. I would like to see your source that states "back to back years where ND had the most starters out for injuries then any other team."

CFB Teams Impacted Most by Injuries

The above was the only one I could find with a quick search and ND is not on the list. Ohio State and Oregon are and they did pretty well last year. Sorry I am not very sharp with a computer so you will need to copy and paste it.

 

[poewelch84]

The injury bug has slowed down this team the past two seasons. I'm not sure any of the teams in that made the playoff would have with the injuries Notre Dame had this season.

 

[poewelch84]

Kelly has improved ND and he is a very good coach overall, not great, not elite, and Shaw has had WAY more success. I don't think Shaw has any players left over from the Harbaugh days. I would like to see your source that states "back to back years where ND had the most starters out for injuries then any other team."

CFB Teams Impacted Most by Injuries

The above was the only one I could find with a quick search and ND is not on the list. Ohio State and Oregon are and they did pretty well last year. Sorry I am not very sharp with a computer so you will need to copy and paste it.

Honestly I don't know that it is the case but they did have a lot of starters go down for the season or part of the season regardless. Also some were at key positions on offense especially. The biggest thing is the team does have more depth than before Kelly arrived they would have had a losing season with these kind of injuries. This season I'm not sure many had so many key losses and played at even remotely as High a level as Notre Dame did.

 

[jjc2009]

Stanford and ND have similar academic restraints and standards but Shaw has been vastly superior to BK. Since becoming head coach at Stanford, Shaw has won 3 PAC12 Championships and 2 Rose Bowls. Not including Rose Bowl and PAC12 Championship games, Shaw has beat 7 Top 10 teams and another 9 Top 25. That's 21 Big Game victories in one less year than BK has been at ND.

Kelly's Big Game victories:

In 2015 BK beat ranked GT and Temple which will finish unranked but beat unranked Navy which will finish ranked.

In 2014 our ranked victories were over Stanford and LSU but LSU was unranked in final rankings.

ASU was ND's ranked opponent victory in 2013.

2012: ND defeated #10 MSU and #18 Michigan and both ultimately fell out of the polls. Kelly also had 2 of his biggest wins beating #17 Stanford that moved up to #6 and #8 Oklahoma (#15 final).

ND beat #15 MSU in 2011 and #14 Utah in 2010.

I looks to me like BK has won only 7 times playing legit Top 25 teams (teams that finished top 25) while losing 11 Top 25 matches. Additionally, some of those Top 25 victories were negated by inexplicable losses to shit teams. Shaw has lost 3 games to unranked teams while BK has lost 11.

Shaw may not be as good as Meyer or Saban, but he is much better than Kelly. Shaw wins a majority of his big games while Kelly loses a majority of his.

Regarding Stanford, the admissions process for Stanford is, some would argue, more stringent than ND. That said, it is also pretty universally regarded that once admitted, Stanford has "basket weaving" type programs to keep the players eligible. No such luck at ND.

But Stanford, I think is well aware of its limitations in recruiting, so they've gone out and devised a system that works, solid defense and power football. They've also had incredible luck (or one hell of a S & C program, where they've suffered little to no injuries in several seasons, whereas, well, I am starting to wonder if our guys are made of glass. Stanford does not have burners at the skill positions, but they are fundamentally sound in almost every aspect of the game. Their system maximizes their talent's potential. And lo and behold, a few solid seasons back to back and even their recruiting is starting to pick up. I'd like Shaw as a coach if he wasn't such a whiny bitch to the refs all game long, but he does know what he's doing, and he's committed to it.

 

[bbirish73]

I don't think it is coaching or talent of players holding Notre Dame back. I really think the biggest problem is devastating injuries. I wish there is a cure for this but I personally think it has nothing to do with strength and conditioning. Its just bad luck

 

[craigk217]

Kelly has improved ND and he is a very good coach overall, not great, not elite, and Shaw has had WAY more success. I don't think Shaw has any players left over from the Harbaugh days. I would like to see your source that states "back to back years where ND had the most starters out for injuries then any other team."

CFB Teams Impacted Most by Injuries

The above was the only one I could find with a quick search and ND is not on the list. Ohio State and Oregon are and they did pretty well last year. Sorry I am not very sharp with a computer so you will need to copy and paste it.

Your article lists pre-season injuries for schools entering the 2014 season ... not the same.

ND has experienced devastating, season-ending injuries over the last couple of years to very key players/positions.

I believe one would be hard-pressed to find a comparable injury list to our Irish this year ... it was really horrendous. Hell, last year for that matter, also, but not as impacting as this year's.

 

[purguy12]

I don't think it is coaching or talent of players holding Notre Dame back. I really think the biggest problem is devastating injuries. I wish there is a cure for this but I personally think it has nothing to do with strength and conditioning. Its just bad luck

100% agree, back to back years we have had big time injuries. Last year we lost 9 starters on D, This year we lost our starting QB, RB, TE plus our starting DT, slot CB. I mean look what this offense did with back ups. Its scary. Then in bowl game we lost Smith, Day was hurt, and others. This team has been banged up. The staff overall has done a nice job just to win some games.