Well I have to wish Andrew Luck, good luck, he is a great player and a classy player. That said I have to wonder what might have been if we had put Tommy Rees on the bench sooner. He was just awful tonight, no granted his OL didn't help him very much but still he was just lost out there and had no chance. Hendrix on the other hand was able to take some advantage of the agreesive Stanford defense. That Int that was almost run in was wasted with Rees, but I believe we would have scored if Hendrix had been at the controls. Just like that last TD he probably would have run it in himself. And his arm, it was very nice to see passes zipping around. He's hardly a finished product but Kelly should make him the #1 QB for the Bowl and give him the majority of the reps, Tommy Rees should not see another snap as a ND QB. I believe the ineptness of the 1st half offense affected our defense, notice how we held them to 7 second half points and a lot of punts. Even their one score I pretty much blame on that horrible field we had to play on, poor Zeke Motta never had a chance to make a cut to stay up with the TE. I didn't expect to win as with Luck Stanford was just so superior at that position that it was the determining factor. But now I think we could have won had we had Hendrix the whole game. I was lead to believe that he only had a small package of the offense he could execute, well if that's what he can do with a limited playbook....don't bother to give him more to remember!! On to the bowl! Hendrix play in the 2nd half has given me new hope for the Irish.
QB: The Stanford game has to be Tommy Rees' Waterloo. He wasn't just awful and confused: he showed cowardice. He threw several passes backing away from contact and hurried other throws so that the rushing players wouldn't catch him with the ball in his hands. I'm sure that he felt relieved to be yanked. He was intimidated by everything: his surroundings, the Stanford players...everything. It was one of the worst performances in Notre Dame history and it should never have happened. Andrew Hendrix came as a shock to Stanford. Like Robert Hughes last year against USC, the other team wasn't prepared for a weapon that they didn't believe existed. Suddenly, the Stanford defense couldn't stack the line or use run blitzes. They had to move the strong safety back where he belongs...with the free safety protecting the deep middle and helping the deep sidelines. Their LBs couldn't just roam around whacking people without accounting for the quarterback. They had to know where he was and what he was doing on every play or the rest didn't matter. It changed the game. The first half looked like the Irish were little kids being slapped around by grown men. The second half saw the Irish on the attack. Stanford was back on it's heels through the entire 3rd quarter and the Irish players looked like kids who had been let out of school: free to attack and do a little damage of their own. They looked like a different team. Now we know. Andrew Hendrix is a gamer. He brings with him an absolute cannon that will knock the helmets off receivers who're running lazy routes or LBs who get in the way of his passes. He can also run very well and he's totally fearless in all situations: running or passing. He attacks the other team and his ferocity is contagious... Kelly: I don't want to hear any more from Kelly about how a pre-med student isn't smart enough to run his high school offense. We have Kelly's measure now: he likes to play things safe. That's just swell for having winning seasons, but only the bold can win championships at this level. Just look at that crazy Mad Hatter at LSU. Every game he takes some senseless gamble that leaves me shaking my head, but he wins and he wins, because he's not afraid to turn his stud-ponies loose and let them run. Control Freak Kelly needs to take a lesson from his more successful peers and allow his superior athletes to do what they do best... Timing: Can you imagine what this offense would have looked like if Andrew Hendrix had been the starter earlier in the season? There were some timing issues. WRs who had been used to chasing butterflies were suddenly confronted with wrist-rockets in their face as soon as they turned around. Hendrix also needed a few game tosses to learn when to ease up and put a little air under it; so that the point of the ball comes down to the receiver instead of knocking him over. Hell, by the end of the game, even Riddick was running correct routes and catching passes. This offense will get better with time now that it has a field general... Punt returns: (Sigh) Now that we have our QB, can someone please put Collinsworth back to return the punts and give him a green light? Beastie Boys: I marveled at the play of the true freshmen again tonight. At one point, in the second half, they were all out there at the same time. One of my favorites is Troy Niklas. He's so fast, that it's hard to run around him. He's such a beast that running right at him is a bad idea and once again he tipped passes, because he's almost 6'8". Even Andrew Luck, who's over 6'4" had a hard time getting the ball over him. I'll bet that if Stanford brings it's 6'8" TEs to South Bend next year, Diaco will have a defense that has Niklas single covering them off the line in some situations. I would... Oline: Looked like crap in the first half when they were being outnumbered at the point of attack in everything they tried to do. They looked much better in the second half when the Andrew Hendrix Experience gave the Trees too many points of attack to defend all at once... Punting: Mediocre...except for Kelly's meathead call of having Tommy Rees try another pooch punt. Stanford was so ready for that one, that it was obvious they had worked on stopping it at practice. Who does Kelly think he's fooling? They're kinda smart at Stanford too... Harrison Smith, Michael Floyd etc. Thank you for great senior leadership. We just didn't have enough this year, but the seniors gave everything they had. It was a good group.
How the hell was that guy on the bench? That guy wasn't ready to play? Jeeeeeeeezz.... His INT was a bad pass, but it should also be mentioned that (although high) it went right through both hands of the TE. As JOCO mentioned, sometimes the WRs seemed surprised at the velocity of the ball 25 yards downfield.
I'm going to miss these collaborations but stay tuned for our special Bowl Edition recap combined with a glimpse into the future :wink: My comments in red..... QB: The Stanford game has to be Tommy Rees' Waterloo. He wasn't just awful and confused: he showed cowardice. He threw several passes backing away from contact and hurried other throws so that the rushing players wouldn't catch him with the ball in his hands. I'm sure that he felt relieved to be yanked. He was intimidated by everything: his surroundings, the Stanford players...everything. It was one of the worst performances in Notre Dame history and it should never have happened. Andrew Hendrix came as a shock to Stanford. Like Robert Hughes last year against USC, the other team wasn't prepared for a weapon that they didn't believe existed. Suddenly, the Stanford defense couldn't stack the line or use run blitzes. They had to move the strong safety back where he belongs...with the free safety protecting the deep middle and helping the deep sidelines. Their LBs couldn't just roam around whacking people without accounting for the quarterback. They had to know where he was and what he was doing on every play or the rest didn't matter. It changed the game. The first half looked like the Irish were little kids being slapped around by grown men. The second half saw the Irish on the attack. Stanford was back on it's heels through the entire 3rd quarter and the Irish players looked like kids who had been let out of school: free to attack and do a little damage of their own. They looked like a different team. Now we know. Andrew Hendrix is a gamer. He brings with him an absolute cannon that will knock the helmets off receivers who're running lazy routes or LBs who get in the way of his passes. He can also run very well and he's totally fearless in all situations: running or passing. He attacks the other team and his ferocity is contagious... As I surmised a few weeks prior, Rees' weaknesses were camouflaged by the weak part of the schedule and that his lack of running had this gimmicky offense operating at 60% capacity. Stanford took 1:30 to expose the whole charade. Tommy is a backup. Hendrix changed everything. His ability to run opened up the entire field and playbook. Only because Rees handed him a 0-21 deficit was his impact not be even more dramatic. He throws darts out there and has a touch of gunslinger in him. One can only wonder what this season would have been like..... Kelly: I don't want to hear any more from Kelly about how a pre-med student isn't smart enough to run his high school offense. We have Kelly's measure now: he likes to play things safe. That's just swell for having winning seasons, but only the bold can win championships at this level. Just look at that crazy Mad Hatter at LSU. Every game he takes some senseless gamble that leaves me shaking my head, but he wins and he wins, because he's not afraid to turn his stud-ponies loose and let them run. Control Freak Kelly needs to take a lesson from his more successful peers and allow his superior athletes to do what they do best. Kelly channeled his inner Yosemite Sam again last night, bookending his season with a pair of virtuoso performances in loss of composure. Four timeouts because they could not get the play off which is no wonder as Kelly spends 20 seconds screaming between each play.Tactics? Who runs the shotgun on the goal line? Who asks their least athletic player to quick kick? What team failed to return a single punt for six consecutive games? He couldn't carry water for Les Miles. Timing: Can you imagine what this offense would have looked like if Andrew Hendrix had been the starter earlier in the season? There were some timing issues. WRs who had been used to chasing butterfies were suddenly confronted with wrist-rockets in their face as soon as they turned around. Hendrix also needed a few game tosses to learn when to ease up and put a little air under it; so that the point of the ball comes down to the receiver instead of knocking him over. Hell, by the end of the game, even Riddick was running correct routes and catching passes. This offense will get better with time now that it has a field general... It opens the playbook up. The field suddenly looks larger when we have the ball. Fly patterns are suddenly stylish again. Tackling our QB now becomes work rather than a feast. Now, if Kelly can just resist hobbling him to make a point.... Punt returns: (Sigh) Now that we have our QB, can someone please put Collinsworth back to return the punts and give him a green light? One of the major disgraces of this season. A total abandonment of a key part of any offensive arsenal and a major momentum changer. I am convinced that Kelly orders the fair catch. Beastie Boys: I marveled at the play of the true freshmen again tonight. At one point, in the second half, they were all out there at the same time. One of my favorites is Troy Niklas. He's so fast, that it's hard to run around him. He's such a beast that running right at him is a bad idea and once again he tipped passes, because he's almost 6'8". Even Andrew Luck, who's over 6'4" had a hard time getting the ball over him. I'll bet that if Stanford brings it's 6'8" TEs to South Bend next year, Diaco will have a defense that has Niklas single covering them off the line in some situations. I would... Tuitt was back in SB with a suspected case of mono. These kids are incredible.... Lynch will definitely paly on Sundays one day and Louis Nix is an animal on the nose. Niklas? he may turn out to be the best of the whole litter. Oline: Looked like crap in the first half when they were being outnumbered at the point of attack in everything they tried to do. They looked much better in the second half when the Andrew Hendrix Experience gave the Trees too many points of attack to defend all at once... Ditto. Nothing to add here. Punting: Mediocre...except for Kelly's meathead call of having Tommy Rees try another pooch punt. Stanford was so ready for that one, that it was obvious they had worked on stopping it at practice. Who does Kelly think he's fooling? They're kinda smart at Stanford too... We need a new punter. End of story. Harrison Smith, Michael Floyd etc. Thank you for great senior leadership. We just didn't have enough this year, but the seniors gave everything they had. It was a good group. These guys played here against all odds under two coaches who are/were learning on the job. Additional comments Look for the fallout of Kelly's ham-handed divisive comments from five weeks ago to rear its head in the next couple of months. Teo played unhappy the last five games and it showed. I would be shocked if he hangs around and he SHOULD stay. Dan Fox, the stalwart pass defense LB expert, completed an entire season without touching a football, even by accident. If Eifert bolts for the NFL it will really hurt. This was weird season.
Both Kiper and McShay have Te'o in the top 15 of the 1st round. That will be nearly impossible to turn down.
I thought that the O Line performance was just awful. The jumped offsides 4 times in the first half, twice to start the first possession. That 20 yds. of penalties about equals our abysmal 28 yds. of rushing in the first half. And it wasn't just Rees, Hendrix was under assault a number of times in the second half. The penalty negating Rees's scramble to the 1 was just awful. I wish I could be more enthused by a QB who put one TD on the board in 27 min. in the second half and got another at garbage time against a prevent D manned by 3rd stringers.
It did not look like Stanford was playing 2nd and 3rd teamers at the end, but maybe they were I don't know. But I do know that for a kid who hasn't played but about 25 plays in 2 years he looked like he has a lot of potential. It's going to be some what trying for Kelly in the run up to the bowl game. He's going to be asked a thousand times who will start, what about Hendrix, etc. It already started after the game and he was not eager to give Hendrix much praise, said he did some good things pointed out he had a turnover. I was also surprised that we did not see either GAIII or McDaniel at RB in the game. Kelly said before the game that they would both have to play. I am going to assume that getting down 21-0 was the reason. Given all that Kelly has said all season about Rees including the "he's 12-2, don't you guys know that" comment I would be somewhat shocked if he threw Rees under the bus and gave Hendrix all the reps with the #1's during bowl prep. I'll bet he'll split the reps and start Rees. I think that's fine as long as Hendrix gets a lot of snaps in the bowl game. I'd rather at this point he give more reps to Hendrix and have Rees assume the role as back-up. He knows the offense and with fewer reps will still be ready should Hendrix start out poorly and need to be sat down, but Hendrix will benefit greatly from increased reps. It will be an interesting Spring, there is a solid contigent that feels that Golson will win the job in the Spring that he is the best QB for Kelly's system. I wonder when Dayne Crist will announce he is transfering. He should do so pretty soon I would think, that would allow Kelly to give him his unconditional release and he could visit other schools on "recruiting" visits. People speculate that Charlie will want him at Fla, that Wisconsin will be interested, some think he's already headed to UCLA. If I were him I'd head to Wisconsin, they always have running game and a strong OL, Fla is rebuilding and while he knows Charlies system he won't have WR's and a strong OL and well UCLA is just a freakin' mess why would he want to jump in there.
If you watched the video of this you'd see how guarded he was in answering the question. CoachD's ISD Notebook
Doc I don't think Crist will need a release although I'm sure he'd get one. Since he's graduating, he only has to take a graduate course not offered at ND and he'd be within NCAA rules. (At least I think that's how it works.)
Kind of cool, the opening scene of ICON 27 is Frank Robinson on the field all decked out in Notre Dame gear!! Who knew Frank would be a ND fan.
8) That explains a mystery I've always wondered about. Between-the-Buns in Elkhart sells an elaborate hotdog called the "Frank Robinson."
ND <t>Just a couple of thoughts and my opinion (for what it's worth) on the game. We were in Phoenix at my son Brian's house watching the game.<br/> <br/> First of all too many turnovers and really dumb plays/penalties in the first half combined with Rees' limitations at QB cost us this game. Not to mention the LOUSY conditions of the field which made the loss of Jonas Gray even worse. You really needed a north/south runner like him and the Stanford backs if you were gonna gain many yards at all on that field. Backs like Woods trying to make quick cuts obviously didn't work. <br/> <br/> Secondly, as the game went on and Kelly kept putting Hendrix in I keep telling my son "why doesn't he put Crist in?" When the second half started I was thinking this kid(Hendrix) is really in a tough spot. On the road, hostile crowd. He was way off on his early passes and I thought we are gonna get really killed now. THEN he seemed to get his legs under him and MAN......not only can this kid run but he has a hell of an arm. It looked like when he settled in he got his accuracy and I began to think "we have found our QB"!!!!! It took 2 seasons but I finally saw almost a full half of the football I've been expecting to see since Kelly arrived appear before my eyes!<br/> <br/> Hendrix needs to be our QB for whatever bowl game we are in, win or lose. Next season he defiantly needs to be the starting QB and Golson the backup. I like what Tommy Rees has been able to do for us but it's time to let Hendrix have the reigns and really show what this offense can do. I like what I was able to see. Looked like Cincy from 2 years ago. <br/> <br/> <br/> I know JO'Co has been trying to tell us this for a long time but ...<br/> WE HAVE FOUND OUR QB...HIS NAME IS HENDRIX!</t>
I've never made it to the Between the Buns, I know Gerry and Stu used to retire there after tailgating with us Irish fans, I assume you and Gerry went there when you stayed with him. RIP G-Man, I miss him.
Tim, BK said that in the Spring, all qbs would get an equal chance. My thoughts were that if Rees finished out the season, he would still be favored. Having Hendrix start the second half and show why, IMHO, he will become an excellent, if not a great quarterback, made my day. There is no way he will not be our starter next year. There is a yawning chasm between him and Rees. Have to say I experienced a great relief. I have no antipathy toward Rees. He played the best he could given his ability, which, unfortanatly is marginal.
ND <r>vicm,<br/> <QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> Couldn't agree more with you on Rees and Hendrix. I hated losing the game but was enthused by what I saw with Hendrix. Hell, if I knew he had all that in him I would have been shouting loud and clear early in the season to get him in there! He is the right QB to run Kellys' offense in all dimensions.</r>
Tim, there is this too. When Kelly pulled Crist for the second half and inserted Rees, Rees became his starter. Does this mean anything in terms of Haendrix? On reflection, I don't think so, given Rees' experience in that position.