Game Thread: ND vs Pitt Game Day Thread:

[jjc2009]

I've been saying all along that we are not as good as we were last year. That's why I reject out of hand the implication that our performance this year is a referendum on the 2012 season. I also reject the notion that we backed into the NC game. You're right Alabama's "luck" to get there was not the same as ours but we, unlike Alabama controlled our own fate and we stepped up.

 

[idseer]

8 points is all that separated nd from an 8-4 season last year. and 3 of those 4 'losses' would have been against inferior teams. i don't think there's much question nd was extremely lucky to have made the nc game.

i've had my say and you've had yours. so i'll let it go and hope for a better 2014.

 

[jjc2009]

8 points is all that separated nd from an 8-4 season last year. and 3 of those 4 'losses' would have been against inferior teams. i don't think there's much question nd was extremely lucky to have made the nc game.

i've had my say and you've had yours. so i'll let it go and hope for a better 2014.

I agree to disagree. I'll only add that flip those close losses in 2011 were we unlucky then or just not good? Was it bad luck or ineptitude during all those close losses during Weis' years. Seems to me you can't discount close wins as luck and point to close losses as ineptness.

 

[bksballer89]

Fuck Tommy Rees

 

[craigk217]

I think It's been established ( we've been saying that for three years) that BK will abandon the run at the drop of a hat. ND should be able to run every single down and beat a team like Pitt who has none or few NFL level players on the defense. Stanford knows they have them even against Oregon and just ran the ball (42 carries by one back). Stanford will run against USC and ND because they just believe they can.I get a chuckle watching Tommy switching plays with no RB behind him. So he's changing from one pass play to another pass play depending on the look the defense is giving him. So the defense is dictating NDs offensive plays. Now way that should happen with the O line players you have.
Amazing that I'm (as a USC fan) am getting some joy watching the team get better every week and ND is now going to be unranked. Crazy season.

"Get used to it" - BK

I still hate you SloGal ... but, I gotta say, you're right and finally have a valid point!

 

[craigk217]

all i got was shit from a few dedicated dumbells here when i said at the start of the season this was NOT a good team. guys actually suggesting 11-1 and 12-0 were distinct possibilities.
they tried to suggest i'm a bad fan because i see too many negatives but to me the homer is the one who is NOT a good fan. the refusal to see the team as it really is and pissing on everyone who dares suggest otherwise.

rees has been better than i ever expected .... and yet he's STILL bad enough to screw this team over and over. kelly's inability to call a good game and just a horrible situational coach. the defense losing too much quality from the fluke year before. NOT taking advantage of the talent he does have, etc. etc.

what is it about notre dame that they cannot get an actual good coach to save their lives? the notre dame brass are like homer fans. they see a few good things in the coach and so give them 20 year extensions for ridiculous money only to discover too late they actually suck! they're doing the same thing with kelly that they did with weis. who is making these decisions? i think it's obvious even to the homer fans here by now that kelly is NOT doing his job.

roc was right ..... we haven't had a decent coach since 1993 (holtz's last 3 years weren't very good either). how can a school like notre dame go thru 20 years of this? it's incomprehensible.

Iddy ... they dont know you, like I do ... give them all a break until they get to know you better. Do you remember how pissed off I used to get at you? They just dont know how to 'take your comments' sometimes.

Hey Domers ... Iddy is not a bad dude ... trust me, I've known him for a few years now. He is just keeping it 'real'. He's a true ND fan, but he calls it like he sees it, even if we don't wanna see it. He's a 'glass half empty' type when most of yall want to put the kool-aide glasses on ... that's all.

He usually makes some very valid points (albeit we dont wanna hear it or see it). Cut him some slack ... he's not a bad guy 'once you get to know him'.

GOOOO IRISH!!!!

 

[idseer]

Iddy ... they dont know you, like I do ... give them all a break until they get to know you better. Do you remember how pissed off I used to get at you? They just dont know how to 'take your comments' sometimes.

Hey Domers ... Iddy is not a bad dude ... trust me, I've known him for a few years now. He is just keeping it 'real'. He's a true ND fan, but he calls it like he sees it, even if we don't wanna see it. He's a 'glass half empty' type when most of yall want to put the kool-aide glasses on ... that's all.

He usually makes some very valid points (albeit we dont wanna hear it or see it). Cut him some slack ... he's not a bad guy 'once you get to know him'.

GOOOO IRISH!!!!

you trying to take all the fun out of this?

 

[ChicagoIrish]

I think It's been established ( we've been saying that for three years) that BK will abandon the run at the drop of a hat. ND should be able to run every single down and beat a team like Pitt who has none or few NFL level players on the defense. Stanford knows they have them even against Oregon and just ran the ball (42 carries by one back). Stanford will run against USC and ND because they just believe they can.I get a chuckle watching Tommy switching plays with no RB behind him. So he's changing from one pass play to another pass play depending on the look the defense is giving him. So the defense is dictating NDs offensive plays. Now way that should happen with the O line players you have.
Amazing that I'm (as a USC fan) am getting some joy watching the team get better every week and ND is now going to be unranked. Crazy season.

"Get used to it" - BK

Couldn't have said it any better.

 

[idseer]

Couldn't have said it any better.

is that pic you?

 

[ChicagoIrish]

is that pic you?

Haha!

No it isn't.

That would be funny if it was though

 

[idseer]

Haha!

No it isn't.

That would be funny if it was though

too bad. i thought i found your saving grace in being a cat lover.

 

[KnuteRoc]

Isn't that Jay Cutler or are thine eyes deceiving me?

 

[KnuteRoc]

Iddy ... they dont know you, like I do ... give them all a break until they get to know you better. Do you remember how pissed off I used to get at you? They just dont know how to 'take your comments' sometimes.

Hey Domers ... Iddy is not a bad dude ... trust me, I've known him for a few years now. He is just keeping it 'real'. He's a true ND fan, but he calls it like he sees it, even if we don't wanna see it. He's a 'glass half empty' type when most of yall want to put the kool-aide glasses on ... that's all.

He usually makes some very valid points (albeit we dont wanna hear it or see it). Cut him some slack ... he's not a bad guy 'once you get to know him'.

GOOOO IRISH!!!!

I totally agree and am doing just that. Ya'll don't really know me either. I've been on a lot of boards over the years but I don't tend to post a ton. I call it like I see it to and I've been an ND fan going on 30 years now. I don't claim to be a football genius but I do think I have a pretty good grip on the game and its nuances. Some things Kelly does are just dumb. The spread offense is predicated on having good receivers and a QB with a pretty strong arm because your short passes take the place of short inside runs traditional to a pro-style offense, but you need the strong arm to stretch the defense to keep them honest and from jumping or guessing at short(er) routes. Your running game should BENEFIT from the fact that you're trotting out 3-5 WRs and forcing a Defense to play a Nickel, Dime or a modified 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, 4-6 etc. Yet, we make running the ball look hard.

How often do you see the Slant pass run in Kelly's offense?

How often do you see a screen pass to a back in Kelly's offense?

How often do you see clear-outs for a T.E. in the flat in Kelly's offense?

How often do you see Play-Action passes (that actually fool the D) in Kelly's offense? I see some lame ass play-fakes now and then but they don't seem to be fooling anyone and that's likely due to the fact that we pass so much on 1st down that the D is thinking pass first anyway.

How often do you see a Reverse in Kelly's offense? (I think the only one I've seen all year was this past Saturday)

How often do you see any wrinkles off of our main set(s)/formations?

To me the answers to the above questions are all: seldom.

Someone else pointed out how Kelly passes far too much on 1st Down and Runs on 2nd and Long. I agree. Occasionally sure you can do that to change things up and make that D Coordinator think. To me there is no reason why we shouldn't be averaging 5+ yards a RUN on 1st down. We should be in 2nd and shorts much more often than we are. I see us running no back sets on 3rd and 1s!

We can talk about how talented we are or aren't all day long, there's PLENTY of teams out in the college universe that don't have shit for talent but manage to run efficient offenses and decent defenses. At the least they're sound in their schemes or at the least they do things you should be doing on certain down and distances. Our coaches seem to outguess themselves rather than their counterparts more often than not. Kelly yammers about execution this and margin-for-error that, but he never says; boy was I dumb for that gameplan against Pitt. Boy was it ever a mistake not to run Folston. He keeps saying execution which implies the players but then in another breath he'll casually admit that the coaches have made some mistakes (generalizing, never in specifics).

We were lucky to be undefeated last year. Not saying we didn't earn it, but we were lucky too that other teams' mistakes didn't yield us an L. But then you sure as hell can't say that we were equal with Alabama both in terms of talent and coaching. To me that's the more important thing. I gives a damn if we go undefeated but aren't able to even compete with another team we're supposed to be of the same caliber with. If we go 10-2 and lose to really tough opponents and can then come in and play tough with another top 5 team in a bowl game that says a lot more than our season did last year.

The more I reflect on Kelly the more I see him as just another Weis all in love with his Spread offense and passing it all over the place while the Defense is an afterthought. Have we even had someone close to Greg Mattison since he left? I can't recall when we've had the kind of D's he put on the field since. There was a reason we beat Navy 43 straight times in a row, we could DEFEND the freaking option. Now it's like a game with Navy is a freaking nail-biter and I should be jumping for joy because we eeked it out?! Nah.

I don't care what type of offense a coach wants to or chooses to run but when you look inept at running it, or it's so predictable that D's can adjust and shut you down, it may be time to rethink.

 

[awclayton]

8 points is all that separated nd from an 8-4 season last year. and 3 of those 4 'losses' would have been against inferior teams. i don't think there's much question nd was extremely lucky to have made the nc game.

i've had my say and you've had yours. so i'll let it go and hope for a better 2014.

I think T'eo and Golson made a little bit of that luck for us last year. I think they meant more to the team than we realized as we were all swept up in last years run to the NCG. It would still be great to to see this team somehow play balls out and win out and spoil Stanford's season nov. 30th.

 

[idseer]

I think T'eo and Golson made a little bit of that luck for us last year. I think they meant more to the team than we realized as we were all swept up in last years run to the NCG. It would still be great to to see this team somehow play balls out and win out and spoil Stanford's season nov. 30th.

i'd love to see that too. i just don't have the confidence to think kelly can put a game plan together that will do it.

t'eo and golson made most of our luck last year for sure. i find myself wondering if we'd be undefeated right now if golson hadn't screwed up. i think it's likely in fact. it would still be a lesser team than last year's but i don't see now why we couldn't have made a bcs bowl. just too many unfortunate things came together this year.