Jim always said the best experience a player can have is by playing the game........ I cant wait for the upcoming seasons when this 17 and 18 year olds have the experience...... We will return ..... No Doubt here....
Haha! George, I would not judge your observations as reactionary and hysterical. Actually, they are justified. Your report card is well thought out. I can't disagree with any of your grades, except perhaps the coaching, but that's me. Normally, when adversity strikes, I'm alone in my assessment of the situation, and sometimes my assessment is wrong. It's rare that someone expresses similar thoughts to mine, as Diane did. That's why I thanked her. My comment was not directed toward anyone but Diane. The comments that Terry describes by posters on NDN and B&G are hysterical and reactionary. The comments here, while highly emotional at times, are not even close to NDN and B&G. I used to be highly emotional about ND football and would react loud strong at such an ugly loss. Somewhere along the way (aging? health?), I changed. I can't explain why. It just happened. If you felt disrespected by my comment, I apologize. Lord knows I don't want the Godfather to be mad at me.
FIRE HIM NOW....WE JUST DID TO A 9-3 COACH....We have been embarrassed more than you guys this year....with the exception of NWU.... ..... BRING BACK PROP 48!! INCREASE SCHOLARSHIPS!!....that will make the power conferences more even-flow.
It's going to be rough going for Irish fans for awhile. Kelly has always been on the edge of being accepted, when he wins. When he doesn't win, there are a lot of Kelly haters out there. I don't really know how much this season is on Kelly, he certainly had many challenges from losing some upper classmen he was counting on to academics and then the injuries. But he's the HC making millions so he is naturally the focus. Also we should all note that we basically want the same thing. ND to win, and win with integrity like we did under Ara and Lou and Dan Devine who by the way even though he won a NC with Joe Montana was not esp popular and if the internet had been around I'm guessing the online fans would have been hating on Dan every bit as intensely as they do Kelly now. Also note that Sid is one of the most loyal fans, he wants to win as much as the rest of us but he's also most likely to be one of the last to say it's time ...new coach. Krebs has some insight that the rest of us don't by his conversations with friends who had son's play for Kelly. I never saw George post that this connection was 100% for Kelly, loved the guy, etc. Sid had an even closer connection to Lou through his son, and Sid and Brian are unabashedly 100% behind Lou. I wish Kelly could inspire that in fans, but I doubt even if he makes it to the NC game and wins next year that many fans will elevate him to the level that Ara and Lou have had in the hearts and minds of ND fans.
I line up with Sid and Di. We started the year thin in spots due to academic suspensions and we took a boatload of injuries in the same spot, defense. When we had enough personnel with experience and the ability to rotate, we were pretty good. In 2012 we were pretty lucky. We were fortunate in the Pitt and Stanford games. This year the breaks evened out. I can live with that. With the exception of the bonehead decisions in the NW game what happened was understandable. We continue to recruit and we are sending more players to the NFL. Like Di I think next year will be better especially with the competition I expect at QB.
I also agree with Gip's assessment. I'm not mad at the coach. He did the best he could under these circumstances. As I've said many times, the one thing that you can't do is make them older. The one situation that NO team can overcome is when the entire team is too young at the same time. BTW- if anyone needed proof that Kelly is recruiting the right guys...how about the recruits that we lost to USC? The one guy that I wanted last year was a 6'4" 375lb OL from St. John Bosco named Damien Mama. He started at left guard Saturday and road graded us all day. I also wanted Adoree Jackson, another local Catholic school kid who killed us. FYI, this Trojan coach, Sarkisian, is getting the right guys. BTW- most Trojan fans that I know think he's terrible too...
ND <r><QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> God I wish I could honestly say that too but I just don't know what to think anymore. I'm pissed as hell at Kelly now after being one of his biggest supporters for the last five years but I still do not want to hire a new coach. I just want the one we have to do a better job. PLEASE!!!</r>
Out of curiosity, how many of the players who started on Defense last Sat. started against Rice.? Other than Smith were there any?
OK this information will shock you. But it is available on und.com Of the 22 starters for Rice, the following did not start against USC Sheldon Day Conor Hanratty Jarron Jones Cam McDaniel Cody Riggs Joe Schmidt. Of those Conor Hanratty was just shuttled to the back of the bus and Cam McDaniel saw his role change during the season...both were able to play against USC. That leaves 4 starters that were injured and unavailable for USC. Sort of shocking isn't it? But really it wasn't so much the starters as the whole depth on defense. Here's the link to the page: It lists the starters for each game. http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2014-2015/indgbg.html