Book did not lose that game for us. It's preposterous to lay it at his feet. The reason starts and ends with the failure of the coaching staff to prepare this team to compete. You all know that for years I've been a fierce supporter of our head coaches, come hell or high water, whoever they were. In the past I've called out those who consistently criticized ND head coaches. I've defended Willingham, Weis and Kelly when we had mediocre teams. This team has proven over the past season and a half that it's far from mediocre. These outstanding players deserved much better coaching than they got leading up to this game. I'm disgusted with the lack of preparation and the utter incompetence in all phases of our game. If it were up to me, I'd have fired Kelly on the spot. I don't see how he recovers my respect after laying this giant rotten egg.
I cannot believe that our special teams coach did not tell the punt return team members to stay away from blocked punts that go beyond the line of scrimmage. It would have taken all of 30 seconds. I've seen something like that once before when we blocked a FG that also went beyond the line of scrimmage and after touching an ND player the FG team got it back. It was a game against....you guessed it....Michigan. (The legend of Leon Lett.) Brown of Michigan used the same defensive philosophy as Clemson did last season. They over committed to stopping the run. Instead of passing on 1st down for 5-10 yds. we time and again ran and were out manned at the point of attack. Good defensive teams do not respect our passing attack. We don't have great outside speed and the deep ball is not in the arsenal.
Sid is joining the dark side, we have cookies and just in time for Halloween. Sid, my thoughts echo yours. In year 10, that type of performance with that talent level is inexcusable. At the same time, not shocking. We lay an annual egg against someone. Unfortunately, it was against Michigan... again.
Without having a dog in this fight, I will say that everybody has games like Notre Dame just had. I don't watch enough of their games from start to finish to be able to comment on that but they have lost to 2 ranked teams. Now if the complaint is for the performance of the whole season, then that is different but I wouldn't base any decisions on the results of a single game. It could be worse. It could have been against someone like Kansas State!
Buckeyes have had their share of losses to absorb involving Iowa and Purdue in recent years. Chin up and the weather certainly did not help the situation.
It rained on Michigan too. And they had perhaps their best offensive output of the year while we amassed 103 total yards. No excuses. But thanks anyway, Don.
Corey makes an interesting and accurate observation. The regression of our QBs is real. Book is the latest to exhibit symptoms. Wimbush had a real downturn as did Kiser before him. Sid's comments about defending the coaches against others on this Board is true. I myself have felt the honed edge of his literary sword. Much respect to the Don of Indiana. But Book had a QB rating of 12.6 which is abysmal to the nth degree.
During the game Herbstreit had a shot of the ND O line forming a textbook pocket. Instead of stepping up and throwing, Book took off and was stopped for no gain. I re-watched a good part of the game. About 80% of the time Book was throwing without his feet set. The protection was not nearly that bad. He lacks the patience of fortitude to stand and deliver in the pocket.
It is the kind of loss that drives the fanbase crazy, there wasn't a single part of the game that we played well. Ian Book didn't lose that game for us, he was a part of the loss but he didn't lose it all by himself. The coaches prep, the coaches game plan, the play of both lines, everything. Total team loss. Michigan has a lot of talent, but it's not like they have Alabama level talent, those guys just game out mentally prepared to play in that weather and motivated to play. I didn't watch the 2nd half instead watched the Astros, but more than a few ND fans claim the team quit after we scored to go up 17-7 and then UM had a long drive to answer and go up 24-7. Brian Kelly is getting roasted all over the ND boards, it's not the first time. It was the same after the Miami loss in 2017, it was the same after the Clemson loss in 2018, you can predict that if ND loses that there will be a swell of Fire Brian Kelly. Now I'm not a big fan of Kelly, I think he's been a good solid coach at ND, he's won a few big games but he's also gotten his ass whipped in more than a few big games as well. Many feel like he doesn't try hard, that he's not committed to being a Nat'l Championship level program. That he doesn't work hard at recruiting. His teams are soft, etc...goes on and on. I'm not sure what it would take for Jack Swarbrick to fire him, but it'll be more than a bad loss to Michigan that's for sure. Maybe if the team tanks and loses out instead of winning out that might do it, I don't know. But I don't really expect that to happen I expect that at the very worst we'll end up 9-3. A record that doesn't excite anybody but is hardly going to get him fired. The other object of fan ire is Ian Book, I don't feel bad for Kelly because he's being paid millions to be the coach and it's not the first time fans have been on his case. But Ian Book is a kid who is no doubt trying his best, he's had some success, people forget how if not for Book on that last drive vs USC maybe we don't win that game. It's legit that he doesn't have a strong arm, that he seems reluctant to throw downfield, and that he seems to take off too soon. But he's done a lot for the Irish with his limited skill set, we hoped it would expand in his second year, but it is what it is. Is it Tom Rees and Chip Long and Brian Kelly that are holding him back? I don't know. I just hope the team comes together and finishes the season strong. I hope there are opportunities for Phil Jurkovec to come into games and show us what he can do at QB. He's mobile like Book, and has a strong arm that allows him maybe more confidence to take the ball down field. But I would not like to see Book benched for the Va.Tech game because of the teams performance in the Michigan game. On that blocked punt, I know people want to say that nobody bothered to tell the Special Teams that once you touch the ball it's a free ball. But I don't believe it, I do think players make bad judgements in the moment. I see it all the time in games both NFL and NCAA where the punt coverage team is down on the ball and some body on the punt return team lets the ball go off their foot or some how makes it a live ball. They know they are not supposed to touch the ball let it roll to where it's going to roll, but they do, and you know the coaches have told them not to do that.
Kelly said today that Tommy Kraemer will miss 4-6 weeks with a MCL sprain. That really means it's a season ending injury. Could be back for the bowl game. He was having a good year for the Irish, except for Sat night. Also confirmed that Michael Young is in the transfer portal. He only played in 3 games this year so he preserves a year and will have 2 years to play. I've seen that he want's to graduate and do a grad transfer so he doesn't have to sit out a year. Also somebody asked about Ian Book and Kelly said he'll be the starter vs Va.Tech. Never considered anything else. No plan is in place to play Phil more. Josh Lugg and Trevor Rhuland will man the RG slot that Tommy Kraemer played.
"people forget how if not for Book on that last drive vs USC maybe we don't win that game." Some people remember that up until that final drive we had only scored 3 pts. in the second half. And they know why.
There are three players on offense who left after last season and they have not been replaced. Sam Mustipher at center was a stud and a big time anchor on that line. Miles Boykin was a big WR with great hands and enough speed to stretch the field. And Dexter Williams was a stud at RB. Claypool is really working hard for every catch and Chris Finke has all but disappeared. Tony Jones runs hard but does not have the breakaway speed that Williams had. So Book's options this year are limited. And he has developed happy feet and a severe case of locking on his receiver.
So much anger and I'm angry too. Herbie was right. Our team never showed up. We were not prepared to play Michigan or anyone else. Ian Book is doing fine. Look at the film again. We didn't have even one open receiver all night. Not one. Our pass offense is throwing alley-oops to our tall (6'3"-6'7") WRs. It was the same with the backups. That's a goal line offense... Our coaches need to come up with a better plan than that, or we need different coaches. Our players were given no chance to win that game. BTW- congrats to Bobda and Big Blue for taking care of business.
JO'Co is right there is so much anger amongst many ND fans. Part of it is that Kelly has always had a lot of detractors from the day he was hired. Of course part of it is legitimately his failure in big road games, not just losing but getting blown out of the stadium. Many are saying that Kelly quit on the team during the game and then the team quit on themselves. I don't know, when you get beat like that nothing good is going to happen, lots of criticism for all involved. But somehow the team and the coaches have to regroup and move on to Va.Tech.
Getting your ass kicked happens. Getting your ass kicked annually is a problem. After 10 years, that's a lot of problems.
ND fans are always on the edge with Kelly, not all of course, but the din only quiets down when we are winning. Last year there was grudging compliments of the team and Kelly and Clark Lea, etc. That evaporated in a NY minute with the Clemson game. Even if Kelly were to win out and get the Irish a bid to a New Years Six game and actually win it..the din will die down only to just below the surface.
McElwain managed two SEC East titles in a row at UF..... but then went on to get his ass kicked by FSU and Alabama and Michigan. Those ass kickings just do not sit well when they are annual and repetitive I agree.
The double edged sword of success! Once you get the championship level, then not returning every year makes it seem like the season is a total loss. Once you raise the bar it is very difficult to lower it.
You are right about that, since we made the CFP last year and even with the UGA loss there was a chance we could make it again this year, but now that we are out some are calling for us to make changes in who we play in the remaining games to get them ready for next year. So essentially the season is over and it's time to experiment so you get a different QB playing time, etc.