I hate to say this but watching Buchner miss short passes brought back memories of Golson. He overthrew Williams by at least 3 feet on a 5 yd. pass on what would have been a well set up screen. Maybe he's just too wired and needs to calm down or he's just not accurate.
One of the things that has been gaining steam with the internet ND fans is the disdain for OL coach Jeff Quinn. Forget that he was the coach of that great OL in 2020, but what has he done for you lately. The focus is that we aren't good this year and that is because Quinn can't coach and the revelation that players went to Harry Heistand for additional coaching fueled this even more. Every sack fans the flames even more. But last weekend the OL played better, not great, but they were better. Now maybe part of it was the Va.Tech defense, although most said that Va.Tech did have a good defense and were stout on the DL. They had a different alignment with Alt, Kristofic, Patterson, Madden and Lugg and most think that is what we'll see going forward for now. So the question is if the OL improves through these next 6 games and we get a running game going and the sack totals start to be a 1 or 2 each game instead of 6 or 7, will Quinn be given any credit for the improvement? I think given Quinn and Kelly's history that it's a lock that Quinn will return for 2022. Only if the OL collapses back to 7 or 8 sacks and we lost 2,3 or even 4 of the next 6 games would his job be in jeopardy. Kelly is slow to fire people, he hung on to Brian Van Gorder when he should have been dismissed after the Fiesta Bowl game vs Ohio State.
Regarding HarryGate (Heistand), I read that Kelly knew all about it and approved it enthusiastically. Pete Sampson wrote a great analysis of the VaTech game. He covered several aspects, including the QBs, the performance of the O-line, the role of freshmen, the running yardage, and the possibilities for 2022. . If the internet fans would fork over the cost of a subscription to The Athletic, they might not be so quick to condemn Quinn. Here are 3 excerpts regarding the O-line:
Terry, You are spot on with that statement. Kelly is slow to make changes period, Sometimes that's good and sometimes not so much. If the O-line continues to improve as you mention than I have no problem keeping Quinn. My own reason for saying that though is he is a really good recruiter. That's probably not a good enough reason to keep him though as we both know Hiestand wasn't much of a recruiter at all but once he got the players in house he was great.
Maybe I watched a different game than Sampson. The first 2 series we ran were killed by OL penalties, including a false start on 4th down. Those don't get included in TFLs or sacks but they're evidence of a poor OL. We have talented runners yet the only ND player who averaged over 5YPC was Buchner who often doesn't run through designated holes. Hooray, against an average Va. T team our OL looked better.
I'll take any improvement we can get. The remaining teams on the schedule are not top 25 teams so hopefully the OL play will continue to improve even if it is against "average" defenses.
I see that Mike Brey got a really big time basketball verbal from a top 50 player, something that doesn't happen very often at ND. _____ The Notre Dame men’s basketball program needed to start making waves in recruiting and the Irish just registered a tsunami with 2022 guard JJ Starling, who announced his commitment on Tuesday evening. The 6-foot-4, 180-pounder chose Notre Dame over Duke, Syracuse, Alabama, Stanford, Northwestern and many others, who were chasing Starling until the end. A high-four-star prospect, Starling is a consensus Top 50 player in America and is ranked as the 27th player in the ESPN Top 100. Starling is the highest-rated recruit during the Mike Brey Era since local star Demetris Jackson decided to stay home and sign with the Irish. BREAKING | Elite 2022 G JJ Starling Commits To Notre Dame
I did like what Sampson said here, it's not the NFL/NBA/MLB where teams tank seasons to get better draft positions. You still have to play the games to win, you can't just sit upper classmen because some of the freshmen were studs in HS and everybody wants to see them play. Work them in when they are ready. ___________________________ 1. What if Notre Dame can prepare for next year and win this year at the same time? Because that’s what’s happening, even if it’s getting lost in the conversation about who’s playing and how much. Let’s get something out of the way: Notre Dame doesn’t need to prepare for next year at the expense of winning in October and November this year. That’s how coaches lose locker rooms. That’s how recruiting classes go sideways. But what the Irish did Saturday night at Virginia Tech was both a look ahead to next season and a reminder that what’s done in service of 2022 can also serve 2021.
Thanks, Terry, for your Sampson quotes above. I thought his article was loaded with good - perhaps even thought-provoking - observations.
Kelly has never been one to let backup QBs get significant game experience. How many times did we see Book in the game until the closing minutes with the backup only getting to hand off? ND opens next season at Ohio State and having a QB with no significant game experience wouldn't be advisable. If Buchner can throw accurately Kelly could have a potent RPO offense. The operative word is "accurately."
I would agree with you on Kelly and BackUP QB's. What he's doing with Buchner is very unusual for him (and really for most coaches). I hope we are able to play well enough to have comfortable leads where he can continue to get into games and doesn't have to just be that WildCat QB. The more he plays and the more of the offense he learns he'll grow and hopefully become more accurate. I won't be shocked if Coan is the starter vs USC, I just hope that the OL improvement we saw vs Va.Tech continues and the running game gets going so that we don't have to bring him in so we can run the ball, bring him in to run the usual offense. I feel sort of bad for a kid like Drew Pyne who has always wanted to be a ND QB and seems to be the odd man out for Kelly, in spite of what he does in games. I like all 3 QB's, I really like Jack Coan as well, seems like the ultimate teammate who is ready when you need him. To me that is the key to finishing the season well and preparing for 2022, the OL settling in and the running game getting going, Jack Coan starting and running the offense with protection and a running game, and Buchner coming in and running the same offense not just RPO's.
Another injury, Cane Berrong TE, out for the season with a torn ACL. We started the season with a lot of TE and now it's a smaller room.