Tough 1st half for the Irish, story was the turnovers/mistakes. That punt hitting the Irish player and CJ Sanders making a great catch and run but fumbled going down. The MSU td was just a great play by their WR, Luke had his hands on the ball but the MSU kid just took it away from him. 15-7 at half, MSU leads and they get the ball to start the 2nd half.
It appears that Dantonio has figured out Uncle Rico's defensive scheme and is killing us on both edges. With this defense we walk a fine line. Pretty much have to play error free on offense. If not, we get a score like this. Hopefully we tighten things up in the second half.
It doesn't help that our ****-tacular offense and special teams keep putting the defense right back on the field.
Their OL is beating our DL and their DL is beating our OL. If you lose the battle in the trenches this is what you get. Ass whupping.
Tough loss, but our fate was sealed when they gashed our lines in the 1st half and then part of the 3rd qtr. I was glad to see no quit in the Irish and a valiant effort came up short. You can see the problems with the young DB's not making tackles and being confused on some routes. Kizer came alive and part of it of course when MSU went to the prevent defense, but he still made some great throws. That throw to Smythe was awesome, it put it right in there. The catch by St. Brown was another awesome play. If we don't give them some cheapies with that muffed punt, and the fumble after that great catch and run by Sanders who knows. But hats off to MSU, well coached team that just brings their lunch pails and wants to knock your blocks off. The defense did play better in the 2nd half and forced MSU to punt on a number of 3rd downs. It was disappointing that we had to punt on that last possession, I don't know if going for it would have been the best decision, and it looked like we might get the ball back till the DB got lost and allowed them to make a big pass play. Playoffs are now off the table. But there is a lot of young guys who can still get better, esp the DB's and WR's. The OL has a lot of growing still to do, they did better in pass pro, but that was after MSU went to prevent and we never did get any running game going. So onward we go, there will of course be a week long Fire Kelly fest on a lot of Internet sites. But Duke will be in next week and granted they are not a great team, but you still have to get ready for them and win the game. Stanford looks like a better version of MSU so unless we get a lot better I can see us with at least 1 more loss this year. But beat Duke!
My critique this morning will be a departure from the normal "report card" format. Today I will simply post observations, many incoherent. 501 yards of offense for MSU, a school noted for its defense. NYSE Losers: Cole Luke and Mike McGlinchey. Bother considered NFL locks two weeks ago. The fire department is still on the scene with Luke. McGlinchey has PTSD after being beaten within an inch of his life all night. We need a new center. Kelly's post game press conference indicates that coaching changes are in the wind. 40 top recruits were supposedly in the stands last night. OL , after three games, appears to be grossly over-rated. Or is it the zone blocking scheme that is passive by nature? Kizer is the entire offense. IMHO. the best QB in college and its not even close. Brian Kelly last lost four of his last five games. Urban Meyer has lost four of his last fifty-six games. Defense gets to the ball in good shape. Tackling not so good. Very likely that we will not see the Top 20 again this year. Has MSU EVER had a higher ranked recruiting class than the Irish? This team will NEVER ascend to the next level with Uncle Rico leading the defense. That much is clear. Is there room for the fullback position in Irish football any more? Change is difficult in any organization. Notre Dame football is recession proof. Can you see where I am going with this?
Sunday morning rant: 1. Just how poor is our talent on the DL? We've played on quarter of a season and we have registered ZERO sacks. Without out looking I can state the we are the worst team in the country in that statistic. 2. The number one cause of our loss at Texas, in my opinion was poor tackling. It happened again last night. I guess our young D backs are not strong enough to bring down WRs and RBs. Apparently the only good hits our DBs have had this year are on South Bend policemen. 3. Our coaching decisions are terrible. Is it just me or do others think that if you're down an odd number because your opponent has successfully gone for 2 that you shouldn't wait until the end of the game to try to make up that point. Example: you're down in the 4th quarter by 22 and you score a TD. I believe you try for 2 at that point. If you make it you're back on track and if you miss you have at least 2 more chances at the 2 pt conversion to get even. I think that this extra opportunity is the better play. Now for the BONEHEAD coaching decision of the night. There are a few minutes left in the game and it's 4th and 7. You have 2 AND ONLY 2 choices at this point, let your offense try to get the first down or punt and with your 3 timeouts try to get the ball back. Kelly came up with the dumb choice of first calling a timeout AND THEN PUNTING. If you're going to go for it with the offense, I can see calling the TO to make sure you have the personnel you want on the field and that everyone knows the play. But if you're going to punt and try to get the ball back you don't burn a timeout!!!!(This is just like the 2 pt. call, Mr. Kelly wants to keep putting off making a decision.) 4. I'm happy for Dantonio that we assembled a number of recruits at the game last night to watch his team beat the crap out of us. It's the least we could do.
Each time we score 7 points, we remain one 2 pt. conversion from tying the game. If we try after our 3rd TD (down 16 before conversion) and miss, we now are forced to go for two on each succeeding TD. If we miss one of those, we can't tie the game after our 5th TD even with a 2 pt. conversion and are forced to score yet again (FG or TD) to win the game. After our 4th TD, there were 6 minutes left and 3 TOs, enough time to score a TD and go for 2. If missed, an onside kick, trying for a winning FG. I won't address the last 6 minutes. That's a whole other conversation. I'm just pointing out that, while everyone has his own opinion about when to go for 2, with 11:45 to go (time left after 3rd TD) or 6 minutes left, I'd make the same decisions we made last night to get the points and keep grinding. It's a "To each his own" situation.
Sid, You are right it's very subjective, but seems like it's always proven that trying the 2 pointers early rarely works out. Keep taking the "sure" 1 point, and at the end you'll have a chance...
Certainly, that's not possible............Is it? :shock: I could be way off base, but the thought that kept coming back to me as MSU was butt whipping our defense is that we're soft in the defensive backfield. I know that's not a revelation to most, but I would swear I was watching a throwback replay of games under Davie, Willingham, and Weis, with more missed tackles and blown coverage than I could count. That's not an easily correctable problem. Re: Corey's "not very good" thought, there's no question MSU is a superior team. I recall that about 6-8 years ago, around the time Dantonio came to MSU, our two programs were about even year-to-year. Look how far MSU has come under Dantonio without the highly rated recruits that we get. Obviously, he's put together a solid, highly competent coaching staff. Hats off to him. I'll stop there. P.S. It bothers me that I'm talking this way. I've always supported our coaches long after the seats on the bandwagon have been vacated. The Texas and MSU games have been very troublesome for me. This is Kelly's 7th year. The problems we're seeing on both sides of the ball should be behind us. Obviously, they're not.
I chalk the Texas loss to Kelly's musical QB strategy for two and a half quarters. If it were Kizer only we would have won that one by two TDs. This one was different. Just beat by a better team. Saw two clips of Kelly really tearing into Uncle Rico on the sideline.And another coach as well. F- bombing both of them.
:roll: Texas wasn't that good. They lost to Cal, who was using a castoff QB from Texas Tech... http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/college/college_football/2016/09/cal_qb_davis_webb_finally_gets_shot_to_play_home_state_texas I didn't think MSU was that good either. The Irish have some huge holes in their defense. I lost count of the number of true freshmen out there, but it was a bunch of them. Sometimes Drew Tranquil looked like he was all alone out there trying to stop everything as the kids looked confused... Uncle Rico's days are numbered. This isn't working...
Well it's going to be no fun to be a ND fan for awhile. The fan base is pretty much up in arms over the defense and Van Gorder is the target, but Kelly isn't getting a pass either. He's the guy who hired him and then stuck with him. I thought we would have to be a little bit lucky to go 4-0 in Sept, I did think it was possible but with our defense I thought Mich State was going to be a tough win. I did think we'd beat Texas, not like last year but I thought we'd win, defense let us down there. What is most surprising to me though is the OL, we have been OK in pass protection, but we have been less than OK in the run game. Even though we ran for 200yds against both Texas and Nevada it never felt like we were good in run blocking. Sure we have new guys in new roles, new center, new RG, new RT and new LT. But it's not like these guys just stepped off the bus, they have been in the system, this should be their time to shine. But so far they've been just OK. Both McGlinchy and Nelson pre season AA, both given high grades and expected to be 1st round draft choices. Now again it's a long season and we have plenty of opportunity the improve and all....but if it continues like it has been going, McGlinchy might be looking at being a 1st day draft choice and not a 1st rounder. I know a lot of fans want Kelly to fire Van Gorder now, but I can't really think of many times where the Coord was fired during the season and things got better. Plus according to an article Tim Priester wrote after the Texas game, there really isn't anybody on the current staff who can take over. Plus Kelly is at least publicly backing Van Gorder right now, which I don't blame him. If he's going to be critical of any member of his staff to the press then he might as well fire him. I've been through this before with Mack Brown and Greg Davis, Mack Brown and Manny Diaz. Lou Holtz reportedly all but said Kelly needs to let BVG go on his XM Radio show, but I remember Gary Darnell who might be the worst DCoord I've ever seen and Lou didn't fire him midseason. What's in store, well I look at teams like Miami and Stanford coming in the next month and I could see 2 more losses, then there is USC at the end. So easily I can see a 5 loss season. If we have a 5 loss season, you'd have more fun rooting for wicked Witch of the West than for Kelly and the Irish.
Uncle Rico is taking a lot of heat and at times, it's warranted. At the same time, that loss was not on the defense. The defense DID get off the field only to have us give it right back on a turnover from special teams or one of our micro possessions by the offense. Even after the D had been shredded and worn down, they stood tall and got the stops that we needed to get back in the game. It was the offense that didn't do **** with them. The defense has a lot of room for improvement, but we really need to stop giving our offense a pass.
I'd agree that there is plenty of blame to go around. The last series, when it was 3rd and 2 we had to pass the ball because we had no running game. MSU knew it and brought the house. I see some wondering if we should have gone for it on 4th and 7 instead of punting and putting it on the defense. Either way punt and not get the ball back or go for it and miss the coach is going to get roasted for the decision. Punt it and the defense did their job on the 1st two downs then gave up that long 3rd down pass and it was over. 4th and 7 I'd say our chances on that series were small. If our OL had been performing in the run game then we'd have not been there. And for the mistakes, sure if we don't fumble on the really nice catch and run by Sanders maybe things are different or if we don't have the screw up on the punt return maybe things are different. But what if's are for losers. We lost.