Well after this latest dibacle(ND vs MSU)it should be clear to the administration that Bob Davie needs to go if we are to ever return to greatnees in college football. Greatness? What the hell am I talking about, we have to have something that looks like a GOOD team first. We certainly don't have one now and we ain't gonna get one with Bob at the helm. How the hell can you lose to an inferior team like MSU at HOME, AGAIN!!!??? We are in for a long season. I will be surprised if Davie makes it to the end of the season. We are flat gonna get our butts kick in college station next week, you can bet on that!! Tim
Agreed. Time to sell the new house and he hasn't yet moved in. With all that's going on I can't even get mad. Just go away Bob. Just go away.
We stink! This team is lifeless. The offense is non-existent. Our D-Backs are the worst in major college football. Our offensive line can't pass block. Our Qb's couldn't throw deep even if the O-Line could pass block. Forget this season; this team is completely unmotivated. And who will be the HC if Davie does the honorable thing and leaves town? This team needs an entire new coaching staff. What scares me is the spectre of our verbal committments for next season bailing out at the thought of a long term rebuilding program in South Bend. This season? Maybe 4-7. So who will be the next coach? [This message has been edited by George Krebs (edited 09-22-2001).]
Watchout you guys sound like the Florida St. board I was on earlier... I do have a question though... What was it with the grass heighth, it looked like the tundra it was so high??? I was looking for cattle grazing on the other end of the field to bring it down to a playing heighth.It wouldn't be that you were trying to slow the speed of the opposing team would it??? RC
You got it right. We need an entire new coaching staff, NOW! If I know Bob Davie though, he will stay until he is fired. No way will he do the honorable thing. We will be lucky to have 4 wins when it's all said and done. I'm not mad anymore either, just disgusted. I can hear those commits changing their minds now. Look for some transfers soon. Tim
I'd like to see what our 3rd string QB has got. I understand he is a classic dropback passer and has the strongest arm of the three. Matt Lo doesn't know what he is. Watching him try to run the option is painful. Doesn't Davie and Rogers wonder why virtually no one else runs it anymore. And Holliday is looking to run the ball no matter what-every play. Let's see what the next guy has. For that matter, let's go deep into the bench. I don't see anyone on that starting team that you couldn't do without.
I was at the game in section 116, high in the SE corner. I was behind our defense on the 3rd and 9, when MSU scored the TD. As they lined up, I said to my neighbor, there are no safeties. No defensive backs behind the line of scrimmmage. It was the exact same play that beat us last year. The MSU QB couldn't believe his eyes. His memory was good. He remembered the audible he called last year, and did the same thing. I recall that I was one of the last ND fans to jump off the Jerry Faust bandwagon. It happened at Purdue in his last year. We were called for two successive participation penalties, the first for too many men on the field, the second for only 10 players on the field. That's when I said he must go.....and he went. Today, there were two such instances: the TD pass described earlier (Cardinal rule: Never make the same mistake twice), and the fake field goal. That's it. I've had it. Brennan was really down. I spoke to him briefly, but nothing of substance. He sure didn't need to listen to my frustration. I believe that Davie has lost the respect of his players. No one has said anything like that to me. Its just my own sense of what is happening. Guys, it's going to be a long season. [This message has been edited by Irish Sid (edited 09-22-2001).]
I watched highlights of other games. I saw Navy scoring vs BC. I saw Western Mich. scoring vs U of M. Even overmatched teams can run offenses and score points. This ND offense is PATHETIC. In two games it's mustered TD drives of 4 and 6 yds. THAT'S IT!!! And it took 4 freakin' plays to go the 4 yds vs Neb. The really ironic twist is that we'll have a football coach telling his team to "never quit" and he'll be like Faust and never do the honorable thing "QUIT!!!" Who were the judges who had this buffoon as a coach of the year candidate last year? What a joke. By now, I seriously doubt that any more winning streaks against academies and BE also-rans will mean anything. The cure for this ugly wart is surgery. [This message has been edited by gipper (edited 09-23-2001).]
Guys, I can't add too much to what has been said in here... I'm just disgusted with the whole thing... When Rodgers was hired as OC (and Terry can back me up on this), I was concerned because Syracuse ran every offense in the book but was the master of none. They relied on outstanding athletic ability to make plays. I dare anyone to go back and watch the tapes of those Syracuse offenses and show me that the VAST majority of yardage was not achieved via broken plays..How many times did we see their QB roll out, and then reverse back, to hit a wide open WR on a broken coverage? Their running game (option) was solid because the QB was a legit running threat. In this offense, we put in the "safe" QB and have him run the option despite the fact he does NOT possess the ability to do such.. Then we put in "the runner" and all of a sudden he is the only RB we have!?!?! I know Terry just hates that QB draw... But rest assured, if Holliday comes into the game that is the play that will be run. The Oline play was just aweful. The most glaring example was Holliday's scramble in which he ran into not one but TWO Olinemen with the others standing around... Now I fully understand that the kids play the game BUT they must be coached on what to do, even when there appears that there is nothing to do...Of all the games I watched, the play of our Oline looked the worst and that is a shame because they are far more talented then most that I saw... just horrible... Like Sid, I saw that blitz coming and I saw the audible. The second the ball was thrown to the WR in the flat I yelled to my wife "That's the same play that beat us last year!"... Before I could finish my statement, the catch was made and the race to the end zone was on.. No disrespect to Michigan State. They've done what they've had to in order to beat the Irish FOR FIVE STRIAGHT YEARS now even if that only entailed showing up..
Another point. The team's absence from the opening prayer and tribute was glaring to the people in the stands. MSU gained my respect by coming out and standing there with hands clasped.
Further thoughts after watching the tape of the game: The defense played well, and the kicking game was good.
Sid, I saw more then a few remarks about that around the internet. Bob Davie said that he didn't want the kids to "do anything different"... I understand where he is coming from but someone should have stepped in and said "Uhhh Bob, this is different. We wouldn't have canceled games last week if it weren't." But no one did....silly us, leaving Bob to figure it out for himself... I do agree with you about the kicking game and defense being solid but.........
I've been reading a couple of things about the opening tribute. First of all , someone wrote that both ADs decided that the teams would not participate. Than at the last minute Williams decided to send his team out. Davie's explaination was that he wanted the team in the locker room. He didn't want to break up the teams normal routine. Ya know! After being blown out in 2 straight games, maybe it wouldn't have been a bad idea to change the routine. Is that too deep a concept?
Well...I got rained on while playing golf..but the 4 Horsemans at MBC was still very cold and good and the Meat Pie was outstanding. Tailgate was good my Brother in Law did a great job with the Brats/Burgers, I entered the stadium thinking the weekend was looking good. In the back of my mind though I was bothered somewhat by the fact that Bob Davie after making some opening remarks at the Pep rally annoucned he was leaving for a high school football game where his daughter was in the homecomming queen competition. Now given the events of the past week, maybe setting aside some thing like a pep rally for one of your kids is the best thing any father could do...but it was eerie to me to see him walk out and up the ramp and leave the team and coaching staff behind. I also was struck by the fact that the Irish football squad was not on the field. I read what everybody read that the squads weren't supposed to be on the field by agreement of the Athletic Directors. That Bobby Williams had the good sense to figure those two guys wrong and that his players needed to be on the field was neither here nor their...Kevin White and Bob Davie never should have made the deal to keep the teams off the field in the first place...it looked bad to me. Our Offense...I'll back up Corey. He was the first guy to put up a red flag on Kevin Rogers who got his reputation as an inovator because he was lucky enough to coach Donavan McNabb for 4 years who is a magician and is proving that with the Eagles. It wasn't Rogers...it was McNabb. As everybody has pointed out it was a lifeless showing by the offense. I could have called the defense for MSU. Defend the run on first and 2nd down, keep the backs up tight because the QB's can't throw the ball down field more than 5 or 6 yds. If Caryle Holiday is in, defend the QB draw, he has no clue about anything else it appears. Defense...these guys are playing pretty decent, there is not much pass rush but the DB's all support the run well and can't cover or make any thing happen when balls are tipped. But then again with a pathetic offense, you have to be the steel curtain to win a game and look good. If they actually had some offensive support and weren't on the field so long maybe they'd make some really big plays. Highlight of the game...the Punters. You had to be at the game to appreciate the spectacular punting duel that the MSU kicker and our guy put on...it was absolutely amazing. Who would have thunk that Bob Davie would in 5 years solve our kicking prolbems..Hibold and Setta are assets and the strength of the team. With out some sort of miracle I can't see him wining more than 6 games this year, maybe less. I can't imagine that Kevin White isn't talking to people and making a short list. Losses to come. 1. A&M ...although as bad as thier offense is this could be a 0-0 7 OT game. 2. Tenn 3. Stanford...these guys looked good vs ASU. 4. Boston Collge. Terry
Because I was at the Rose Bowl, I didn't get to see the game until I saw the tape. Well now I've seen the tape. This is awful. Except for Navy, Michigan State may be the worst team on our schedule. There's a real chance to lose double digits here. If the Purdue game hadn't been canceled, we'd be 0-3 right now. It's a Mickey Mouse, Pop Warner offense, with people playing out of position and confusion shown by the people who do get on the field. These kids were pumped WAY up by this coaching staff to believe that they were good and now this... If Davie loses control, we could be looking at a 2 or 3 win season. We already know that he doesn't know what he's doing. We've known it for years, but this is an older team that's probably figured it out too. What a disaster... ...JO'Co PS. Come on Kevin. Pull the plug.
Gip, Not only was I thinking along the same lines as you (re two butt kickings) but they were playing a team that had beaten them FOUR STRAIGHT YEARS coming into the game... I think a mixup of some order would be called for.. All, The most frustrating thing about all of this is that this team does have ability. I do agree with the assesment that ND has talent. What we are doing with this talent, goodness knows... The defense is almost good enough to win a game by itself. (see MSU) The kicking game is strong enough to maybe combo with the defense to scrap together another win or two.. But this offense has got to show something. There are teams on our schedule (USC and Tennessee) who may not let us across the 50 unless our special teams guys (hilbold or a kick returner) can get us across there..
Those of you who weren't at the game and think we have a bad team and a bad coach are flat out wrong. We have a bad team and a very, very, very bad coach. It was awful. It was totally X-rated: 3rd and 4--run up the middle 3rd and 22---throw a 10 yard pass 4th and 3-----fake FG Stephen
JO'Co, Agree on the offense and it amazes me how bad the offensive line is as well. This club looks lost all the time and it mirrors Davie. We will lose to an average A&M team this weekend then we get to chase the pass with Highway 15 manning one corner. Doesn't that warm your heart?
Here's what I don't understand. In his press conference Bob Davie talked about us not being an explosive team since Battle broke his leg in the 2nd Qtr and Givins was held out (except for 1 play) due to quad injury. All I can remember is that 2 years ago (this years sophs) were touted as the best group of WR's we've brought on campus in a long time. Omar Jenkins, Ronnie Rodamer, Lorenzo Crawford, etc. Now Rodamer was touted as the big reciever we have been missing from the offense, one who was fast and we could throw the jump ball to, Lorenzo Crawford was touted as being as fast as the Rocket...there was scuttle butt about him being the KO guy last year as a freshman. When Jamaar Taylor looked at these guys comming in he boogied to A&M. So why all of the sudden are these guys chopped liver and not explosive? Does it have anything at all to do with the coaches not calling any plays that allow them to be explosive? I think it might be. Bob Davie is a coach who can't stop being a Defensive coordinator. He might talk like he wants to open up the offense, but like Digger Phelps and uptempo basketball, it's just not in his soul. His comfort zone is low turnover conservative football with a good defense and special teams. Well people can win with that, Stallings did in '92 with Jay Barker and a monster defense...but it's the hard way to go....there is no room for error. You coach all the inovation and explosiveness out of your offense by gameplanning the way he and Rogers have been doing. That 10-10 game was exactly what Davie wanted, he was looking for another Special Teams play or a defensive play. Risky...to say the least. When he lined up to kick the FG, I thought it was the right thing to do there were almost 5 minutes left in the game and the defense was stoping the MSU offense. I figured take the 3pts and get the ball back and take your risks later in the game. When he went with the fake, I was floored...esp with the fake that he did...I've never ever seen a kicker draw play. If you are going to fake come up with something better than that, or just go ahead and go for it on 4th down. Terry
Oh, I went to Mass in the Basilica after the game as usual ;and the Homily was about the terrible events of 9-11 and the priest mentioned that most human decisions are made out of love and hate. Afterwards my nephew Brian (ND '90) wondered out loud if the loving decision at this point would be to fire Bob Davie. I have to say that this really struck me and made me think. Have any of you ever bit off more than you could chew, and were failing but not being a quitter you were hoping that somebody would notice that you were in over your head and help you out by demoting you, taking you off the project, firing you. Well that's Bob Davie.....Kevin White Show Bob Davie some LOVE and fire him! Terry