Coach D was saying the biggest loss was Collinsworth, that he's now a shell of his former self due to injuries. But that he was Harrison Smith like in terms of getting everybody lined up, once he went down there was nobody back there, then we lose Joe Smith and the defense is somewhat rudderless on the field and it shows.
Clearly Collinsworth is a leader on the field and losing him hurts like heck. Same with Schmidt. The team is so young that there is no one available to fill the leadership-on-the-field void. IMO that's a huge factor in the failure of our defense to live up to their performance in first half of the season.
I don't care if Flutie hates Notre Dame or not. He is paid to do his job and he does it well in my opinion. It would be impossible not to be critical of Kelly in the last game. That was the poorest coaching job I have ever seen. Contrast Flutie to Don Criqui on the radio broadcast. Now he is a Notre Dame man through and through. But he is impossible to listen to. Not only does he not know down and distance, he is also unsure of who has the ball, who is playing who and what city he is in.
I don't mind him being critical of Kelly, especially when it is deserved in abundance as it was Saturday. My beef, as Sid pointed toward correctly, is the disparity in calling the game. He went on a mini-rant justifying a call going against ND, but if something were to favor ND (as it did) then he's taking the opposite position. That's just being a dick. So I read over in the bloodbath that is NDN, it appears that the defense that was on the field by the end of the game Saturday had only 2 starters/projected starters from the start of the season. That explains a whole lot. I have to ask, why is the offense not doing more to protect the defense?
Actually, Corey, he went on the rant because the call favored ND. He was dead silent when the same call went against ND and gave NW a second chance at a 2-point conversion. I don't have a problem with any commentator criticizing where it's justified, as it was on Saturday. It's his personal agenda that skews his opinions. Those who pay attention know what I mean. If some ND fans like him, so be it. Like I said, to each his own.
George, While we will agree to disagree re: Flutie, I agree with you re: Don Criqui. Last Saturday I listened to the first 2 1/2 quarters on the radio while driving back home from a distant funeral. I was frustrated by how he called the game. I didn't notice any mistakes regarding players on the field, but his play-by-play was annoying. IMO a radio guy should paint a picture of action for the listener on each play. He described the beginning of the developing play then in most cases jumped right to the end result with nothing or not much in between. It was a frustrating experience.
Sid, My bad. I got that twisted. I gotta stop multitasking. That baby has gotta learn some patience. When Carson was little, I used the satellite radio headphones to listen to ND games because Carson's games were always scheduled for the same time. Also, I had a 2 hour drive to go to each game/practice. Anyway, there was like a 4 year period in which I relied on Mr Criqui because I couldn't see the game. It's the most frustrating thing. He would go on and on without ever giving the score. I remember one time the poor people around me had to listen to me vent because my son played an entire half of pee wee football and I couldn't get the score. I knew down and distance. I knew the temp and wind.. I didn't know who was winning.. He seems like he loves ND though
Corey, No problem. I've found that whatever multi-tasking skills I might have had at one time have dimmed with age. Believe it or not, there have been a few times when I've had trouble focusing on driving while talking at the same time....to the person next to me, not on a phone. I forgot to mention Criqui's tendency to not give the score. I don't know how long it was after I tuned to the game before I knew the score, but it seemed like forever.
Yeah the little girl requires far more constant attention than Carson ever did at the same age. He was my little muppet headed meatball. His little sister requires a lot more attention. I'm sure it will just get worse in time, so I'm gonna have to get better. If nothing else, this thread provided me with a quick trip down memory lane to remind me just how much of the Weis years that I missed! Man, good times.