Despite having a clear understanding of how the Navy Midshipmen’s offense operates on a regular basis, the Notre Dame defense was still unable to clamp down and ended up on the short end of a 28-27 score. The defeat strips away much of the remaining chance that the Irish will go to a bowl game next month, considering they need to win their final three contests just to be considered for a mediocre bowl attracted by the allure of Notre Dame.
Elusive Targets
The Midshipmen have long relied on its running game to supply the bulk of its offense. Therefore, the fact that they ran the ball 88 percent of the time during this contest shouldn’t have been a surprise. Yet they still racked up 320 rushing yards and were especially effective starting a series, gaining 127 yards on 23 first down carries.
Navy’s quarterback Will Worth was clearly the focal point of the offense, yet he eluded enough defenders to finish the afternoon with 175 yards on 28 carries, crossing the goal line on two occasions.
Third Down Dread
Despite that heavy focus on the run, Navy was still strong when it came to delivering on third down. The Midshipmen’s 10.3 average on 11 third down runs were aided by two key plays that either resulted in a touchdown or set one up.
The first was a 37-yard run by Worth to cap the first drive of the second half and give the Midshipmen a 21-17 advantage. The second came during their next drive. Facing a third-and-seven at the Irish 28, Worth broke off a 27-yard run and soon after gave Navy the lead for good.
Costly Penalties
The Irish were flagged seven times during the game, three penalties coming on offense. All were false starts, but it was their defensive mistakes that helped the Midshipmen score a pair of touchdowns. In the first quarter, a 15-yard personal foul put the ball on the Notre Dame 16 and on the next play, Navy knotted the score.
Then, in the fourth quarter, two calls for 12 men on the field were called on the Irish during the same drive. The first was especially costly, since it turned a fourth-and-six into a fourth-and-one call. The Midshipmen converted and nine plays later, they took the lead for good.
The Stops That Never Came
After Brian Kelly made the decision to kick a field goal to cut the Irish deficit to a single point with 7:28 remaining, the Notre Dame defense needed to make a key stop at some point in the ensuing drive. That stop never happened, most likely due to the exhaustion factor catching up to the Irish defenders.
Navy had just three drives during the entire second half, yet they consisted of 37 plays and over 20 minutes worth of ball control. The first two drives ended with touchdowns and the last managed to eat up the remaining time on the clock. Ironically, the nail in the coffin came on fourth-and-six with 1:19 left, when the Midshipmen completed a 15-yard pass play.
Next Up
With a minor bowl berth the lone motivation remaining for the 2016, the Irish will look to do better next Saturday with another branch of the armed services when they face the Army Black Knights. This latest edition of the Shamrock Series will take place at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The venue seems appropriate for Notre Dame since it marks the first of three last-ditch efforts to salvage their season.
What is most upsetting is the consistent offensive stalls that happen in every game. Something happens and the offense just seems stuck in low gear. I was hoping the Irish would mix things up offensively later in the game. Maybe some mis-directions, jet sweeps, ect. Did Dexter Williams get any carries? I was disappointed in the pay calling, especially near the goal line. Kept hoping that Jarron Jones would have a Miami-like game. The front seven on D gave up too many yards on a regular basis. Special teams kept giving VT excellent field position. The Irish need to stop the penalties, especially on the O-Line.
Now, since we are headed for 4-8, the only questions are which will coaches go and which players will transfer.
ND has 3 coaches calling plays on offense, BK, Denenbrock and Sanford, and this unimaginative offense is the best they can come up with?
It simple fire swarbrick from football duties
Let him do basketball and hockey etc
Hire Lou as a consultant to get us the best football ad and urban Meyer
Why are we waiting?????????!??
Bruce – are you serious asking that question? (“Why are we waiting?”) You don’t build college football programs overnight. You don’t build a Lou Holtz-quality program in 3-years. (even though he did > it was 25-years ago) Also, kids are different these days. (I’m a 49-year old OLD FART) Actualizing the conceptual is very, very hard. Good day.
Kelly has built nothing
Great leaders admit their mistakes and move on
Kelly was a huge swarbrick mistake
But he won’t admit it
He has to go
Kelly has to go
I have waited thru wadsworth white and swarbrick
How many gd years do I have to wait?
Yours is the ideology of a loser.
This is not is not is not Fighting Irish Football.
How long did it take Saban, Meyer, and Harbaugh to build their respective programs?! So I’m calling your BS out, “Hurls.”
I know you want to defend your fellow Bostonian. Perhaps Bill Belicheat will hire BK as the Pats STs coach after he leaves S. Bend.
Bob Davie already convinced Urbs to never take the job. It’s over.
You guys talk like the loser Kelly
You can call me pessimistic, negative or faithless, but I don’t see how “loser” makes any sense in this context. Nor do I understand why your omniscient Urban Meyer would require a consultant such as one Lou Holtz.
George,
There’s clearly a middle ground between “Hurls” and “bj.”
BTW “Hurls”: all the ND coaching legends had won a NC by their third season. So I really don’t buy your “Rome wasn’t built in a day” argument. How long are you willing to wait? Apparently three decades of mediocre football is OK by you.
As for “bj,” he’s a broken record. He says the same thing over and over and never makes any kind of case for his ravings. Apparently no one has ever told him that Urban has already spurned ND twice.
Between “Hurls'” acceptance of wretched football and excuse-making for endless mediocrity, and “bj’s” delusions that Vince Lombardi will come back from the dead and bring back his power sweep with him, there’s the rest of us who have given up on BK’s BS and realize Saban isn’t leaving Bama anytime soon. The rest of us can agree to disagree on who to hire next and when. But just don’t try to sell me “Hurls'” BK is a great Boston guy who deserves a free pass or “bj’s” tiring pleadings to hire Knute Rockne and recruit “the Four Horsemen” and “the Seven Mules.”
I agree with SFR. BK had his chances. Usually by the 3rd or 4th year you know if your coach is the real deal. BK bought himself some extra time with the 2012 season, and yes, some things occurred that weren’t under his control (losing EG for a year, some critical injuries), but their can be no excuses for this year. Losing to Duke crossed the line for me (and then everything since). There is no doubt BK lost this team.
Now we are stuck with BK for one more year. I doubt it will occur, but my hope is that BK does a complete top-down re-evaluation and makes fundamental changes in his coaching. Again, I don’t see it happening, but it’s a hope nonetheless.
And I also agree, BJ just repeats his rants over and over again, and if you disagree with him that ND should grovel and beg coaches who would sooner vomit on them then coach for ND, then you’re a loser. I don’t really sweat it though, because ND is not going to give Meyer another chance to give them the finger.
You guys tell me time and time again a great coach will never come to nd. If you want to make a sale you have to convince the guy that the school wants and will back him. If Lou Holtz told me He speaks for Father Jenkins and he wants
Urban Meyer. I believe Lou. I do not believe swarbrick. It’s a question of belief integrity and honor.
Lou gives us that brand.! go get the best! In the movies Rockne all American Rockne chews out his players for not being fighting Irish!!! Then one of the players yells out: What are we waiting for
No one says a great coach will never come to ND. Only that Saban and Meyer are not coming.
But they are not the only good coaches out there. There are plenty of coaches rising through the ranks that ND can find that will one day be elite coaches in their own right. Even Saban and Meyer worked up the ranks. They didn’t just wake up one day elite. Others have pointed out many of ND’s past elite coaches became elite at ND. There’s no reason ND can’t do the same again.
There was a coach that came to the redskins and did pretty well. His motto was the future is now. I don’t want a coach that maybe maybe someday will be a Cinderella coach from some small Mac level
School that makes it big. There is nothing much left of our reputation. We need a proven winner. You guys quit before u even try. And try and try. In my lifetime I learned you can make unimaginable thinks happen if you try. I don’t want some future possible maybe good coach from western Michigan Or northwestern.
So nobody from the MAC or Northwestern?
So then Ara is out.
1. This is the second time (MSU) on fourth down in the fourth quarter, while trailing, that BK has decided NOT to put the ball in the hands of our best player (our best player by far). That is bizarre.
2. Even in the unlikely event that Kizer does not pick up the first down, you are giving NAVY the ball inside the 15 with the lead – as opposed to kicking the field goal and giving them the ball at the twenty-five still with the lead. I think our “D” would have had a better chance defending a +85 yard field than a 75 yard field. It just all seems so weird.
Bruce GC 77′ 82′
It could have been a 5,000 yard field. They weren’t getting the ball back.
So kick the field goal? How does that help?
Bruce GC
La Crosse, Indiana
No reading comprehension back at ND in the late ’70s?
I’m agreeing with you.
Ron Burgundy
San Diego, CA
Oh. Sorry Ron, I’m still a little stunned by that play call on fourth down – I’m still trying to process it. Yeah, the risk of never getting the ball back was very very high – it’s the flexbone’s forte, and they got touchdowns on 4 of 6 possessions up to that point (I think).
Bruce GC 77′ 82′
I watched the LSU/ALABAMA game last night and I really believe that there isn’t 1 Irish defensive player that could ever play a down on either team and that really shows that Kelly doesn”t understand how to recruit defense we recruit wrs qbs and te every year and yes there are some talented offensive people but how is it possible that we’re playing basically 4 or 5 freshmen in the secondary what happened why is there no sr,jr or sophs you can’t recruit 1 position every 3 years and even now when looking at there recruiting class where are the secondary guys. The first year Kelly coached ND I wanted him fired I started warming up to him cause you could see the talent level improving this year has been a disaster to saay the least I didn’t think we would be very good but never thought it would be this bad I think it all started with the Zaire/Kizer thing against Texas Zaire played bad and it shouldn’t have taken 2 quarters to figure out that Kizer was the guy that night I do believe that Zaire checked out when he found out he wasn”t the starter and I would’nt be surprised if he transfers but the NC St game was the game that really made me think that BK doesn”t get it in an actual hurricane you call 38 pass plays instead of playing Zair Kelly cost us the Texas, NC St, Stanford,and Navy games the defense cost us the Michigan St game and Duke game I also would say that Kizer played a roll in losing the Duke and Stanford game not a big fan of his too
GREAT POST, LOU. YOU HIT ON SOME GREAT POINTS. FIRST, KELLY IS A HORRIBLE PLAY CALLER. HIS FIRST PLAY WHEN THEY GET IN THE RED ZONE IS ALWAYS A RUN , RIGHT UP THE MIDDLE. WASTED PLAY. TOO MANY FIELD GOALS HAVE COST US NUMEROUS GAMES. SANFORD SHOULD CALL THE PLAYS. NOTRE DAME HAS ENOUGH MONEY TO HIRE THE BEST ASSISTANT COACHES AROUND. GET BAMA’S STRENGTH COACH, BUD FOSTER TO RUN YOUR DEFENSE, AND A GREAT SPECIAL TEAMS COACH. KEEP KELLY AROUND AS THE C.E.O. HE IS A GOOD RECRUITER. IF HE HIRES THE RIGHT COACHES AND LETS THEM DO THEIR THING THE IRISH CAN COME BACK. YOU DON’T WANT TO RUIN NEXT YEAR’S RECRUITING CLASS BY FIRING HIM. GET THE RIGHT COACHES AND KELLY WILL BE ALRIGHT. SPEND SOME MONEY, SWARBICK. GET IT DONE!
When the game was tied early on at 7 apiece and N D had third and two inside the 20 Kelly elects to go empty backfield and throw instead of running to try and pick up the first down. If need be with 3rd and 4th downs run the damn ball.
Then he settles for a field goal and he does the same thing with the fourth and 4 with seven and change to go in the game. i guess it took me a long time too figure out the he was not the right guy for this school and it just seems he doesn’t care anymore.
What is scary is Kelly saying on the conference call that he doesn’t feel any major changes are needed. Just keep doing what we are doing and we will break through. He can’t be serious can he? what is the definition of insanity, doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result Swarbrick needs to dump this guy asap. What is there to look forward to? I watched Washington, Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama and Michigan yesterday. Notre Dame is so far away from those teams coaching wise it is laughable.
Now that’s a full day of watching football peter.
I’d like to call bs on it but hey stranger things have happened.
A nice breather, patsy coming up in Army. Just 2 wins away from being bowl ready!
“Mike”,
There are no patsies for ND anymore! Recent history is all you need as proof of this. There’s no (formerly known as) D1 team that can’t beat ND at this point. Heck, there are probably a couple of (formerly known as) D2 teams that could beat ND and even more that could give them a run for their money.
Has anyone noticed that when on the ND broadcasts they mention the opposing QB grew up a ND football fan they somehow play the game of their lives and end up beating the Irish? Year after year I’ve noticed this.
Oh, what a sweet post. Bless your heart.
So let’s assume that ND beats Army. Who else do they beat? VT? USC? Very unlikely.
This team should not play in a bowl unless they finish 6-6. Even that’s a stretch.
Frankly, this whole team and staff should just skulk away at this point and go hide in shame somewhere. This is one of the worst examples of ND football I recall seeing in my life.
Funny how all the “pie-in-the-sky” crowd have gone into early hibernation. Sure we get an occasional haiku or other idiocy from the know-nothings who seem to want to posture about anything other than ND football. But actual in-game or post-game commentary is utterly missing from the “don’t say anything bad about BK bunch”. Even calling the rest of us “Debbie downers” seems to have gone out of style. I guess even the blind-ass crowd can smell a turd!
I think “Magic Mike” is being sarcastic or ironic. No one who actually follows ND football would really believe there’s anything like a patsy on ND’s schedule anymore.
Don’t be so sure
The defense sucks. The offense sucks. Special Teams sucks.
Just wondering who will transfer after the season.
Football (despite the moronic sideline dancing) doesn’t seem like its fun for the players.
Not exactly fun for the fans either…..
Good point on the sideline dancing. It’s clearly working wonders.
Maybe BK will be the one to “transfer.” His ego might be too large to stick around for another year of this humiliation.
Wait till they stumble again against army
The too many men on the field penalty on the punt is not a reviewable penalty, by the way. Refs stole another one. How appropriate. Officiating is an absolute joke. Not being able to keep up with what’s going on or not being able to put yourself in the right position to make the call is one thing, but not knowing the rules is means for immediate termination. Don’t worry, I’m sure the ACC will defend their crew until the cows come home. It’s laughable.
The only season worse than this in my lifetime is Charlie Weis’ team in 2007. The defense simply couldn’t get off the field. Inexcusable. The offense played pretty well in my opinion, although Kizer made 2-3 poor throws in a row in the last series that led to the fg attempt.
The Navy games are different. It’s about using all 4 downs and controlling possessions. You make them punt twice in each half and you win the game. TD’s are more significant than in other games. That’s why ND should have gone for it on 4th down in their last possession rather than kick a FG.
This NotreDame season probably hurts me worse than any I can remember for the reason being I am 60 years old and lived through the great Notre Dame teams of Ara, Lou and Devine. For those of you not old enough to remember those years Notre Dame was elite and could play and beat anyone. Heck I remember some of Lou’s teams when the defense would put 9 guys on the line and Notre Dame would roll up 300 yards rushing. So sad what were seeing today. I just don’t see notre Dame being elite and making national championship runs under Kelly. Even if he fires some assistant coaches until he is removed it won’t get better imo. Oh, sure we may win 9 or 10 games next year but we won’t be on an Alabama, Ohio State level. Just not going to happen as much as we fans want it to.
I expect more of the same next year. Much more.
I wonder how many of those Navy football players were recruited by Notre Dame? My guess is that there were very few or more likely none. Since this is the scenario it is apparent that Kelly is doing less with more. There should not even be a contested game from the likes of Navy or even Duke. Kelly’s team makes the kind of gaffes that high school players make.
For the first time in over 50 years of bleeding Blue and Gold I will be rooting for the opposition. The football program has become nothing more than a marketing tool that sells dog slop to the blinded faithful. The still blinded are looking at this year as a rebuild which is sad since this year is a glaring result of a mismanaged program 7 yrs in the making. GO ARMY!!!
College head football coaches have to do 2 things well — recruit and coach.
In his 7th year at Notre Dame, Brian Kelly has proven he can do neither. Any coach can have a down year, but what has happened this year is ridiculous.
Our recruiting classes have been good under Kelly and people say that our stricter academic requirements prevent us from doing better. While we will probably never be in the top 3 of recruiting classes every year like Alabama or Ohio State because we can’t get just any student athlete, I believe that we get our recruiting classes in spite of Kelly. The lure of Notre Dame actually raises our class rank somewhat and Kelly’s lack of charisma keeps it down. Have you heard him speak? He sounds like a Boston politician when he answers questions from reporters – just like his father who was in politics in the Boston area. If such a thing is possible I think he suffers from anti-charisma. I just don’t think players respond to his personality and this can be a killer on the recruiting trail.
His coaching acumen leaves a lot to be desired. There have been many gaffes over the years from coaching decisions he has made, and today there were at least two — 1) too many men on the field for a Navy punt which led to a 4th and 1 instead of a 4th and 6 so Navy goes for it instead of punting and gets a first down and ultimately scores the go-ahead touchdown; and 2) with 7+ minutes left in the game Kelly has ND kick a field goal to close within one point of Navy even though the previous Navy scoring drive took over 9 minutes and there was a good likelihood that we would never see the ball again after we kicked the field goal. Which is what happened and we lost by one point.
Part of the problem is that Kelly won’t give up the play calling and so sometimes his tactical decisions are head scratchers. He needs to be more like a CEO and plan ahead more than just a play or two. But his ego won’t let him because he thinks he is an offensive genius, even though for much of his tenure at ND the offense has been mediocre at best. Last year was an exception, but I believe that the hiring of Mike Sanford as QB coach and (sort of) Offensive Coordinator immensely helped the offense. There has been some regression this year in the offensive performance.
Kelly earned his reputation at first from his stint as head football coach at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. He did win 2 National Championships there in his last three years and played in a 3rd championship game during that time but in the first 10 years at that school he lost at least 3 games 9 times and the other year he lost 2 games. Good but not great. GVSU is a Division II school which is 2 levels of competition lower than Division I (FBS) where we play. Most coaches who move up from lower levels of competition move up much quicker as they quickly outclass the competition at the lower level. Kelly did not, though he deserves credit for his final three years there which were great. Perhaps when Swarbrick hired him it was another case of the Gerry Faust syndrome. Good coach at a lower level, but one who can’t cut it at the highest level of competition. (He also had 3 mediocre years at Central Michigan and 3 great years at Cincinnati, both Division I schools. His record at Cincinnati was great which got him hired at Notre Dame.)
A bigger problem is that Kelly surrounds himself with coaches he has worked with a long time at these lower levels of competition. Perhaps they aren’t the best assistant coaches. Perhaps they can’t cut it at the highest levels of college football. It is hard to tell but the results for ND over the last 7 years have been mediocre except for the glorious regular season of 2012. However, even in that year, the BCS Championship game was an unmitigated disaster. Kelly and his crew were totally out-coached. He currently has 4 assistant coaches from his earlier head coaching days at GVSU, Central Michigan, and Cincinnati– Mike Denbrock (GVSU), Keith Gilmore (GVSU, CMU, Cincinnati), Mike Elston (CMU, Cincinnati), and strength coach Paul Longo (CMU, Cincinnati). Maybe we need to clean house and get new assistants who have more experience at the top levels of Division I football.
A bigger problem in my mind is that since Kelly has been at ND both his offensive coordinators and defensive coordinators have all come from previous work with him at GVSU, CMU, or Cincinnati. CMU and Cincinnati are Division I (FBS) teams but they are or were in weaker conferences when Kelly was there (the MAC and Big East respectively). He needs coordinators with experience at the Power 5 Conference level of Division I football. Many of these coordinators have left ND for head coaching jobs at other schools and for the most part have failed. Does that mean that they were bad coordinators since they have failed or are failing as head coaches? You can’t say for sure since the skill set is different for a head coach and a coordinator, but their consistent failures as a head coaches may make you think that they weren’t the best at their ND job since the overwhelming evidence is that they weren’t equipped to handle their head coaching duties at their new school.
Here are the coordinators who have left:
Charley Molnar (OC at ND in 2010-2011) – he went to U Mass and his record there was 1-11 and 1-11. He was let go after 2 years.
Chuck Martin (OC at ND in 2012-2013) – he went to Miami of Ohio and his record there is 2-10, 3-9, and 4-6 so far this year.
Mike Denbrock (He is one of 3 people to call the plays currently along with Kelly and Sanford). I personally think that Mike Sanford should be in charge of the play calling by himself, with Kelly providing guidance on occasion as needed (see Urban Meyer and Nick Saban as role models on how they work with assistants). Okay, Denbrock hasn’t left (yet) but I put him in here anyway because I don’t think he should be involved in play calling.
Bob Diaco (DC at ND in 2010-2013) — he went to U. of Connecticut and his record there is 2-10, 6-7, and currently 3-7 so far this year.
Brian Van Gorder (DC at ND 2014, 2015, and part of 2016) — he was a head coach before he was at ND. He coached Georgia Southern in 2006 and was 3-8.
Not a very impressive record as head coaches, but the record doesn’t prove they were bad coordinators. However the evidence makes me wonder.
During Kelly’s first year here, he said — after one horrible loss after being questioned about one particular call he made on offense (going for a long pass on 4th down to get a touchdown and instead suffering an interception instead of taking the easy 3 points from a short field goal) — “Get used to it”. Meaning he was not going to do the expected on offense.
Well, after 7 years I can’t get used to it and I want him gone.
Great analysis why are we screwing around? Let’s go
Get urban Meyer pay him what he wants and put a priest in the locker room
Lou
You portrayed your analysis in a very meaningful manner. I would say you are spot on with your perspective. I STRONGLY agree that Sanford should be calling the plays.
Pathetic. Notre Dame better work to get this right or they better announce the end of football at the university. Notre Dame talks about excellence. There’s been no sustained excellence for 20 years.
C dog..Lou I..and all…I love ND…am an alum..and cherish many memories of the experiences.That said….I look at schools who are constantly successful…and notice that1.non conference schedule may have one tough game out of four…2…conference play has a tiered system….lower.. mediocre..good..great….3 Revolving schedule in conferences for some games while keeping big rivalries of course…4.Synopsis…when one has great talent against FAR LESSER. Talents 25 percent of the time( (scrimmage)…..then 50 percent of the time playing mediocre and good teams…..( some challenges..but not a lot) then 5.Finally…25 % of season at most..if you are the traditional top gun in a conference might be a challenge…..anything can happen in many days…but it is catered to same teams for wins and success…..year after year with few exceptions…..Result? So called Super teams within the 5 super conferences…..YES..occasional surprises happen but the Alabamas of the world DONT HAVE TO BRING THEIR A GAME EVERY WEEK! YES..there is a TARGET ON THEM but given the analysis….they have superb talent AND THEy DONT HAVE TO PLAY TO THEIR HIGHEST LEVEL 75%OF THE TIME!…….Perhaps ND should play 4 teams such as Kent State or Florida A and M…then teams like Kansas and Georgia Southern for 3 .games…keep the AC C rotation and USC and Navy ..one Big 10…or 2 of them….and use nearly half the schedule as scrimmage such as Ohio State does…Notre Dame is at a precipice…we keep the schedules as is..expect to be 8and 4.go to sun bowl and except it OR play teams in IVy League or Academic Minded Universities.whose teams actually have a high graduation rate…..with a few big guns for tradition…..to play Yale and Harvard would bring some purity to the sport perhaps.OR we keep on the present path and scratch our heads wondering why we don’t have more key signature wins en route to a potential Shot at the Title…….ND will still be loved…make money …and have a loyal fan base….but let’s not kid ourselves….we are not on the path to compete with Alabama ( and THEIR team members are not on the path to great academic success for most part)……$$$ victory combo…still possible but it’s time for reality at Notre Dame……love the Irish…and because I do..I put it out there…because it’s true…
Can somebody truly enlighten all here as to WHY ND goes from the ridiculous to the sublime? I have been a fan since the Mid 60s and have a degree from ND….with family and others….and on and on….Love the Irish…WHY ARE WE SO AWFUL EVERY 3 TO 5 YEARS ..Mediocre then really good
..then the cycle all over again??? I do not expect a national championship every year but some form of consistency would be nice to see. I realize all programs have their ups and downs Florida state is not that great this year and why they are still in the top 25 is beyond me but that’s for their website not Notre Dame….Is it admissions? Is it coaching? Do we HAVE the talent to compete with the traditional expectations? I’m shaking my head and wondering….not cynically but truly wondering if ND will be what we hope for ….at least once in a while.I read all commentary with respect…fire the Def.Coordinator..shift this..or that..or we need more intensity in the secondary or special teams flopped today ..fix it…….and on and on….EVERY week for many years now….it’s one fire to be put out..then another..and still another…….what is up with ND?……..I’m not one that boos the team….I just watch the fans.. And the student body and can’t help wondering if we all are thinking the same thing? Can we ask and discuss in a civil manner here please? I believe THAT CIVILITY is alive at ND….and am curious about the thoughts of others.CONCLUSION HERE…. Notre Dame has not been the same since Wadsworth was the athletic director and that happened in the latter part of the Lou Holtz era. That was then this is now but we haven’t been the same and those of us who have been following the Irish for many years know it I Bleed Blue Gold and green and respect all of the other teams( with the exception of Miami and USC when they were coached by Pete Carroll and Lane kiffin)… I respect the other teams seriously what is going on will we ever be worthy of a playoff spot or are we just kidding ourselves? I watched Alabama tonight and we are nowhere near that level of competition and we have not been since the Lou Holtz era… Please someone enlghten all of us and myself and others who truly love the Irish in a civil tone minus the cynicism and personal put-downs…..Go Irish!
Normally I’d take the bowl game for the extra practice time (esp. considering a lot of the players will be back next year). But I would not take a bowl game with a losing record. 5-7 teams can potentially get bowl invites these days, which I personally think is ridiculous (but that’s a post for another day). But I wouldn’t want a bowl game with a losing record. It would feel cheap and undeserved.
At this point, I’m not sure what the extra practice time would mean anyway. Chances are, unless BK is a complete moron I think you’ll see some shuffling of the coaches (and maybe 1 or 2 dismissals) so things will likely be changed around.
The chances were there to beat ND. But as has happened so many times this year they failed to follow through. Even the defense, which had shown considerable improvement since Hudson took over, seemed to take a step back. It almost seems BK is poisoning the whole team. They’d probably play better if BK just didn’t show up.
Oops, I meant the chances were there to beat Navy. Time for bed.
I thought I loved this loser
I thought u loved this loser
BJ where have you been? My faith in BK was shattered forever after the Duke loss. I admit I was a bit slow but there was no excuse for losing to Duke, and there are no excuses for their record this year.
I just disagree with you on their next move. I don’t want to see ND prostrate themselves like the Whore of Babylon on guys it has no chance with.
Watching the AL/LSU game and their dbacks seem to know when to locate the ball when in the air, must be only taught at Alabama.
yup, Nick Saban teaches it personally!
Should get him to come do a clinic in the off season!
Fire Jenkins. Incarcerate Booker.
The four horsemen of the apocalypse: Jenkins swarbrick Bvg and bk
I know the defense sucks but man our offense really sucks too. How do we not score every time we have the ball against that small defense of navy? Pathetic.
I know that Kelly is trying to get Kizer drafted and all but I’d really like to see zaire play a full game and just see what happens.
Still talking about a bowl game is just unbelievable.
Even in obvious passing situations, ND still can’t stop the naval air raid.
All three phases are a horrific travesty.