My context: Before the season I boldly predicted that the Irish would have to average 32-35 points per game to be successful. OK, I was a little light with that prediction 8) QB: C- Golson throws as a good a ball as anyone in the college game. But his pocket presence is horrible and I am not convinced he has the mental aspect of the game in hand or that he ever will. His turnovers were the stuff of legend. His confidence has been missing since FSU. RB: B Plenty of talent. Shaky blocking and a coach who clearly wants to throw tamped down their effectiveness. Weakest aspect of this group is pass blocking. WR: A- Great talent. Good hands and YAC. Run routes better than most and block downfield pretty well. TE: D Huge disappointment. Sloppy pass routes and poor blocking on the edges. One of the big negatives surprises of the year. OL: D Very little push and slow feet. Speed rush killed us all year.Yesterday's rolling snap was symbolic. Big and slow. K/P: C- Another huge disappointment. Holder problems to be sure but he let that get into his head and never recovered. Missed numerous big kicks and punted like a high schooler. Au voir, NFL. DL: C Hard to grade because of injuries but, at least when they had depth they made plays. As the ranks thinned they got abused on a constant basis. The dirty little secret? Even at full strength they did not generate much push. We were heavily dependent on the blitz from day 1. LB: B The most athletic part of the defense without question. Schmidt played the position like it was meant to be played and his loss was devastating. Smith is an AA. But what does it say when a walk on is your team leader? CB: C Attrition took its toll here. Coverage was generally better than we are used to. Constant blitzing to generate a pass rush put added pressure here. S: D- Another area of huge disappointment. Excruciatingly bad tackling throughout and they often got lost in space. Most thought this group would be a strength. Spec. teams: B Big improvement over what we have become accustomed to. Coaching: D Fire the offensive coordinator! oops... Kelly is a terrible OC and it has made him an average HC in the process. He never establishes a rhythm, clearly would rather pass than run and has no presence on the sideline because his nose is always buried in his playbook. He is the antithesis to Saban and Meyer. If he does not hire an competent OC and start doing the job he was hired for than this will be par for the course. Uncle Rico? He gets an A for body language and he certain suffered through injuries but his defense was often out of position, confused at the snap and poorly tackled. And his obvious blitz-centric philosophy DEMANDS sure tackling as cover. Fire away!
George, How does graduation/draft affect Notre Dame for next year. If I remember correctly your recruiting class was very good. How many Sophs and Jrs. coming back?
Minimal losses. Almost everyone is back. And the recruiting has been goodwithin the parameters that ND can recruit.
My context: Before the season I boldly predicted that the Irish would have to average 32-35 points per game to be successful. OK, I was a little light with that prediction Cool I would have to agree here, I thought like you we would have to be very good on offense and I expected to be very good on offense. I thought we'd be a 9 win team maybe 10 if things went our way. Just way too young, too thin in the front 7 to have a great defense. QB: C- Golson throws as a good a ball as anyone in the college game. But his pocket presence is horrible and I am not convinced he has the mental aspect of the game in hand or that he ever will. His turnovers were the stuff of legend. His confidence has been missing since FSU. I agree again here, Golson has a strong arm and throws a nice ball, but he doesn't have that calm cool look and as the season went on I believe he began to press and the more he pressed the more errors he made. RB: B Plenty of talent. Shaky blocking and a coach who clearly wants to throw tamped down their effectiveness. Weakest aspect of this group is pass blocking. Last year we didn't run the ball that much, Folston was a little dinged up as was Bryant, GAIII was a disaster, and McDaniel was a our most dependable guy. But I thought that with Folston, Bryant and McDaniel healthy we would run the ball more and better and the OL would be solid. Boy was I wrong, we regressed Folston has had some good games and Bryant has looked good in a clean uniform, McDaniel has not had the Sr. Year he hoped for I assume. Scheme and OL were the problem IMHO. WR: A- Great talent. Good hands and YAC. Run routes better than most and block downfield pretty well. I think this group played very well this year, they were young and inexperienced and didn't have a real leader, that should have been Davaris Daniels. But these guys should be one of the top 5 crews next year. TE: D Huge disappointment. Sloppy pass routes and poor blocking on the edges. One of the big negatives surprises of the year. F OL: D Very little push and slow feet. Speed rush killed us all year.Yesterday's rolling snap was symbolic. Big and slow. Biggest disappointment for me, this group was well thought of, Stanley, Martin and Lombard all had a lot of starts, Steve Elmer was described as a future pro. I don't know if it was coaching, scheme, or lack of communication but they have not played well as a group. They've had a few moments but from a line that only allowed a few sacks with an immobile Tommy Rees to a line that couldn't protect a mobile QB...what happened. Is Harry Heistand the problem? He sure has recruited well based on the recruiting stars. K/P: C- Another huge disappointment. Holder problems to be sure but he let that get into his head and never recovered. Missed numerous big kicks and punted like a high schooler. Au voir, NFL. I thought our guy was going to be one of the top kickers in college this year, I had no worries. He's been mediocre. DL: C Hard to grade because of injuries but, at least when they had depth they made plays. As the ranks thinned they got abused on a constant basis. The dirty little secret? Even at full strength they did not generate much push. We were heavily dependent on the blitz from day 1. I agree, they are decimated and hard to figure LB: B The most athletic part of the defense without question. Schmidt played the position like it was meant to be played and his loss was devastating. Smith is an AA. But what does it say when a walk on is your team leader? I'm not sure Smith made the step up to the next level you expect when you start all 13 games as a freshman. I expected much more, but to be fair he can only do so much. He doesn't show (so far) leadership. Joe Schmidt was the leader. Very thin, Morgan shows a lot of athleticism and he gets to the wrong hole as fast as anybody in college football. I kept reading what a hard worker he was, always studying film...were the lights on so we could see he was really doing that or was he sleeping? CB: C Attrition took its toll here. Coverage was generally better than we are used to. Constant blitzing to generate a pass rush put added pressure here. Not fair, injuries, suspensions, no pressure/push up front. But as a group they weren't good this year. S: D- Another area of huge disappointment. Excruciatingly bad tackling throughout and they often got lost in space. Most thought this group would be a strength. Lost Baratti, Collinsworth, two of the surest tacklers we had, our most physical and athletic player had a hard time letting up and not hitting people late or doing things that caused penalties, then he didn't play anymore. Spec. teams: B Big improvement over what we have become accustomed to. Meh. Coaching: D Fire the offensive coordinator! oops... Kelly is a terrible OC and it has made him an average HC in the process. He never establishes a rhythm, clearly would rather pass than run and has no presence on the sideline because his nose is always buried in his playbook. He is the antithesis to Saban and Meyer. If he does not hire an competent OC and start doing the job he was hired for than this will be par for the course. Uncle Rico? He gets an A for body language and he certain suffered through injuries but his defense was often out of position, confused at the snap and poorly tackled. And his obvious blitz-centric philosophy DEMANDS sure tackling as cover. It is what it is, Kelly has his offense. He's not changing, he's doubling down I've been through this before with Mack Brown, oh wait he didn't have an offense he had Greg Davis who he refused to let go no matter how bad things got, then he had Vince Young and they were in the midst of screwing up Vince when they got the bright idea to stop making him play like Chris Simms and let him be Vince Young. Don't count of Kelly suddenly seeing the light and go to a Kiffin offense where you not only use your QB but also you use your TB and maybe even a fullback at times.
That's a good breakdown Godfather. You graded a few spots higher than I would, but we've all got our different opinions about this team and they are all tainted by how much those spots let us down. Take the bowl game. Take the practice. Take the time to control the media spin on the shitty season. If you don't, someone else will. Better days ahead in terms of talent. I still have major questions about WTF Kelly is doing in terms of strategy. As you guys have mentioned, he sticks to his template and just doesn't budge. I think it should be noted that he DID change the template the year they went to the title game. He'd protect the defense because he knew they had to carry the team. He kept the offense within the boundaries of ability. I think a close inspection of his record before that season, and after, is rather consistent. There's the old saying in poker, if you don't know who the sucker is at the table, it's you. Kelly has to be a terrible card player...
That was an excellent analysis by George and a great review by Terry. I don't have much to add except the following: 1. QB. I never wanted Golson in the first place. The problem with that guy is between his ears. I would have buried him on the bench way back in his freshman year, when he refused to hold the ball on the laces. Watch his face when things don't go right. He's confused and frightened. The other guy, Malik Zaire, appears to be incapable of being scared. He walked right into Notre Dame, despite all the other QBs ahead of him at the time. He just laughed and said, "There's competition everywhere you go, so you might as well go where you want." I'll bet he's never felt the urge to cheat on a test either. THAT'S the guy we want. 2. OL. The OL never recovered from Martin's injury that forced him to move to guard. His replacement, Hegarty, was abused and confused all season. Did you see his snap that just rolled along the ground? Nearly all the pressure on the QB this year came right up the middle: over Hegarty. 3. FS/SS. This group was talented, but young. They needed Collinsworth back there and he was hurt most of the year. Even when he was there, the situation reminded me of Tommy Zbikowski final season. One guy can't cover the whole field...especially when 2/3 young players are making mistakes at the same time. 4. 2014 season. Coaches on the other teams aren't stupid; especially with the schedule we play. They ran right at Morgan, Martini and the rest deliberately. They sealed them up and blew right past them: again and again and again. They took advantage as any good coaches would. This is what happens when all the players are too young at the same time.
The positives on going to a bowl game are just too many to sit at home. The fans who want them to stay home are just frustrated and think it's 1980 again when there weren't that many bowl games and several Irish teams voted not to go a bowl after a poor season/finish. They think that there is some benefit in only going to big bowls against top rated opponents. These minor bowls just piss them off. But the extra practice is huge. On the OL alone you'll probably see McGlinchy a lot at RT and he'll be the starter there next year. Zaire will get a lot of reps in pre-bowl with the first team, so will Greg Bryant. I wouldn't be shocked to see Golson as the starter with a short leash. As much as I like Cam McDaniel, the bulk of the carries need to be split between Folston and Bryant. This is about preparing for next year, not really a thank you to any departing seniors. As an aside, if Kelly goes with Zaire as the starter or pulls Golson and finishes the game with Zaire then I expect that Golson will be in a bind. I doubt if he wants to be a backup as a Sr next year, and I don't know if he is in a position to graduate and move on to another Div1 school and not sure he'd want to move down a division. But then it's his fault if Zaire out works and out plays him.
I second JO'Co. George's report card is well thought out and well graded. Terry's comments are equally well expressed. I don't agree 100% with the analyses, but my differences are not significant. A personal comment. It's this topic which makes me thankful for the Skybox. Everyone here gets emotional about his/her team, but no one gets hysterical in their reactions to their team's performance, good or bad. Based on TOK's references to NDN and George's references to B&G (and I'm sure, the bulletin boards of other programs represented here), Skybox truly is an island of sanity. I can speak only for myself, thank goodness for this forum.
Players have to play and coaches have to coach. Kelly's coaching most likely cost us the Northwestern and Louisville games even with the injuries. 9-3 and while none of us would be jumping for joy...we'd be having a different conversation. I don't know what Swarbrick could be thinking, I'm sure it's not fire Kelly. If for no other reason than they are still paying Charlie Weis and I doubt they want to pay another coach. If he's a savy AD then he's making a list and checking it twice, paying close attention various programs who's coaches might be prime to move to ND should Kelly fail next year. What would be failure? I don't know assuming he doesn't get waylaid by some other thing beyond his control like the whole academic issues that he had to deal with this year. Then 10 game to me should be a min, it's hard/unfair to say a coach has to make the final four to keep his job, but he should be in the mix most if not all the season and be a top 10 program with the talent he has coming back.
Kelly should not be doing double duty as head coach and offensive coordinator. I know some coaches can pull it off but he can not. He should be coordinating the efforts of the entire team, pumping up players on the sideline and conferencing with his other coaches all the time. He is way too immersed in his playbook. This was his first year where the entire roster was "his" players. First he had an academic scandal, then more injuries than the South suffered at Gettysburg and now a full blown QB controversy. Along the way they went from the cusp of the playoffs to five losses in six games and a probable invitation to something called the Belk Bowl. If he leaves it will be by his own doing. He tipped his hand on that in 2012. I have always wanted Urban Meyer here but that ain't going to happen so, if Kelly bails, how about Pat Fitzgerald? He took Kelly to the woodshed with a smile and a laugh. Do you know there is actually a group on BGI that is advocating firing Kelly and hiring Rex Ryan? Did you watch the Monday night game last night? Yeeesshh!
As an outsider of the program, It looks to me like Kelly is trying to act as a sole proprietor does in a small business. Trying to do too many things and not being successful overall. It is like trying to wear too many shoes and losing your sole :wink:
CEO Coach vs Coach who is either essentially his own OCoord or DCoord...so what is the best? Saban seems to be CEO coach Mack Brown was a CEO coach Lou Holtz had a stranglehold on the offense, suffered mostly because he made a number of bad hires at DCoord after Barry Alvarez left. Bob Stoops is a DCoord who has had a number of guys who he turned the offense over to starting with Mike Leach, Mark Mangino, etc. Gary Patterson is a DCoord who relies on OCoord Pete Carrol was a DCoord who had Norm Chow, Sark, Kiffen, etc run his offense. Steve Spurrier like Holtz has a stranglehold on the offense, and relied on a DCoord for the Defense. Urban Meyer I have to think since it's his offense that he's less CEO coach than Saban. Maybe I'm wrong here. I don't know. Gus Mahlzahn ..clearly his own OCoord who relies on DCoord. It seems to me while there are no doubt successful CEO coaches but that most successful coaches end up being focused on the side of the ball that they came from and rely on their Coord for the other side.
Thank you Don and George aka the voices of reason to sooth my sanity I've been asking since the bad losses started piling up, 'what's the point?' If you watch our team, a few things stand out and one of them is that we don't have a direction. You don't look at us and say 'oh yeah, I see what you're doing.' That isn't because Brian Kelly is an international man of mystery. That's because he's doing so many god damned things, even he doesn't know what direction we're going in. I've made this comparison before, but I find it to be a great example. If you watch Alabama, Saban knew he had to pick up his offensive game planning. He doesn't like that and he isn't going to do that. Even when he hired guys who had great offenses, Saban still oversees them and perhaps throttled them a bit. They won titles, so you can't really complain. However, always slightly ahead of the game, Saban found himself slowly slipping on offense. He hires Kiffin. Say what you want about Kiffin, and it's all probably true, but he's a hell of an offensive coach. During the games, there are times in which you can see the cameras catch a glimpse of Saban shooting a look at Kiffin that screams 'I'll cut you and I mean it.' Kiffin tones it down a bit to make Saban happy, and Saban is happy because it offers the defense a breath of air for a bit, before Kiffin starts dialing up plays intended to break Cooper in a 1 on 1 matchup. And that's what great coaches do. They know how to oversee it all and manage. If you spend all your time in the micro, you will miss the bigger picture and that really seems to be Kelly's problem. Because that is the case, the team really doesn't have an identity. During the march to get our ass kicked by the Tide in 12, you may not have liked our identity, but we had one. It's the only year of Kelly's tenure in which I can say that's true.
So you wouldn't consider Holtz a great coach because he kept his hands deep into his offense...quick name 2 Coaches who were OCoord under Lou? No googling. Bet you can name pretty close to all of his DCoord.
Your point is well taken, in fact, I can only name Jim Strong. At the same time, just because Houdini could get out of any lock doesn't make every hack magician the Great Houdini either. Kelly's thing is offense. Is Kelly to his offense what Holtz was to option football? I think that point is very much in debate. At the same time, it could be argued that Holtz' commitment to only one style of offense and his total lack of understanding regarding the passing game caused much of his demise at Notre Dame. The game changed, and the man couldn't, because he was too married to one side of the ball.
Lou's demise at ND was for reasons completely unrelated to the type of offense he ran. It's been well documented over the years.