Post Game Observations (Navy '14)...

[Bogtrotter07]

Play calling at the end was suspect. We get the ball twice at their 30 and can't even get a f'ing FG. The offense was clicking but the conservative calls shut it down. Luckily Navy is a shitty passing team.

Our special teams, once again, sucks ass.

That's all I got.

This is the first good post in this thread, other than Grahambo's, oh yeah, and anything BGIF posts. Interestingly enough, Nuke, Graham, and BGIF, are never cry babies, and they know football.

Just pointing out that the defense played a worse game statistically than 2010's loss...the loss Diaco was almost beheaded after....but still won --> game ball to BK, Golson, and offense.

Seriously hate this game every year.

Really interested to see how rankings play out.

See? This is what I mean : "Seriously . . . every year." = pussified whining like Kelly was labeling complaints about chop blocks. Same kind of thing

"Really . . . rankings play out." Who that actually loves the game actually gives a hoot about rankings?

And now for a truly preposterous point. I mean did you say this aloud to actually hear how it sounded before said it? I bet ND had more stops this year against Navy, than they have had for a long time! I didn't count. But no year under Diaco other than '12 did we jump to the lead like we did in this one. Never. So O and D played well. And this was the best Navy offense that Kelly has faced.

Though the Navy defense wasn't really good, it was a great improvement over some of those in the recent past and they played the whole game. This put extra pressure on ND, that they hadn't had to deal with in the Diaco era.

 

[dublinirish]

4. In the 1980's and 1990's, ND could rely on at least a few of their players having seen the option rushing attack at the high school level. There's likely not a player on the roster today who encountered that style of offense before coming to ND. This may be as much of a factor as any perceived deficiencies at the DC position.

Bk should have put Malik Zaire in at MLB!

 

[Cali_domer]

My post game observation:

Ya'll done predicting blowouts against Navy yet or nah?

My prediction of 35-32 was pretty close

 

[Buster Bluth]

Does anyone have a link for a full-event replay... I only caught the 2nd half.

Noonkick.se

 

[Whiskeyjack]

From OFD's review of the Navy game:

Final Thoughts

• From the Golson interception on there was very little on the field that made me think Notre Dame was going to win this game. Nothing summed this up more in my mind than a pair of perfectly defended passes by Cole Luke in which he tipped the ball BOTH TIMES and the receiver still caught the passes.
• I've seen a lot of comments hoping that the Irish coaching staff can 'figure out the option' next year. You don't ever really figure out the option. There's no magic scheme. That's what makes it so tough to defend because it minimizes Notre Dame's strengths and forces the Irish to do something other than physically dominate. Every once and a while a team truly shuts Navy down but when they're amped up against Notre Dame and saving little wrinkles all season just for us it's always a tough task.
• I'm not going to weigh in on whether Notre Dame should keep Navy on the schedule (I go back and forth on it) but to me the bigger question surrounds the future of Ken Niumatalolo as head coach. Navy has been very fortunate to have Paul Johnson and Niumatalolo leading the program and it's resulted in virtually zero terrible Navy teams for 12 years. That's a long time to be in a dog fight almost every time Navy takes the field. With Niumatalolo only 49 years old you have to wonder if he's in Annapolis for another 10 years.
• With back-to-back big performances Tarean Folston has now taken a firm lead as the leading rusher for this team. He'll need to average 94 yards per game down the stretch to become the first Irish back to break the 1,000 yard mark since Cierre Wood in 2011.
• Here are the stats that Golson is on pace for this season: 299 for 476, 62.8% completions, 3,755 yards, 36 TD, 11 INT with 446 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns.
• Losing Joe Schmidt to a broken ankle injury is the single worst outcome from this game. The defense has been overcoming odds all season in breaking in a new DC, missing Russell and Ishaq, without Collinsworth virtually all season, and now the QB of the unit is gone. We might be running out of magic.
• There's been one performance in the driving rain against the worst Stanford offense in half a decade but otherwise the Irish defense has looked pretty average over the last 15 quarters. The only exception in 4 out of the last 5 games was the first half against Florida State. Otherwise, the Irish are pretty much giving up about 6 yards per play recently and this isn't going to get it done for the remainder of the schedule. That's a huge predictor that another loss is on the horizon.
• Sunday we learned that running back Greg Bryant tweaked his ankle and didn't play. That's leaves him with only 11 carries over the past month.
• One of the keys to this season's offense is Golson's ability to spread the ball around through the air. With 1 more reception on the season by C.J. Prosise that'll give the Irish 5 players with at least 20 catches on the season. Last year the offense only had three such players (Jones, Daniels, Niklas) and with a nice finish both Carlisle and Folston could easily notch 20 receptions this season as well.
• The announced attendance of 36,807 at FedEx Field was the lowest to see a Notre Dame game since 2011 when the Irish played in front of 36,307 at Wake Forest. That's a really low number for Notre Dame standards but at least in that Wake Forest game they brought in additional seating for 105% capacity. On Saturday night more than half of FedEx Field was empty. I don't know if playing at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (34,000 capacity) is the answer--and remember Navy has never wanted the game on their campus for all these decades--but playing in half empty NFL stadiums isn't ideal for this game. For the majority of the home Navy games the rivalry has been played in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, or Cleveland. For these later season games it might be a good idea to start playing the games in San Diego, San Antonio, and in the Southeast of the country where the weather is more favorable.
• This was a frustrating game and I was more worried during this one than in any other this season that Notre Dame would lose. If they had lost, it would have been seriously bad. So much of the positive mojo that was built this season would have been obliterated. That said, it'll be a game to tuck away and forget about. The Irish were favored by a couple touchdowns and only won by 10 points. On the national scene it's really nothing too damning.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Bk should have put Malik Zaire in at MLB!

Clever!

Here is a really good post too :

I simply don't know enough about defense to make a really informed post on this... but my biggest observation is that read + react just does not work against a team executing at the level Navy was unless your DBs can consistently get off blocks and be a factor on the perimeter.

We had some busts after Morgan came into the game, but I'd rather give up a couple big plays selling out for a drive killer than still give up big plays while simultaneously being paper cut to death at 3-4 yards per play on the ground.

So burn the game film because we're never going to play another game like that.

Actual important takeaways not related to option football goofiness:
-Injury bug finally hit. Going to be really interesting to see who is healthy/fresh for next week. Defense is thin.
-Golson became completely gun shy after throwing that pick. Refused to throw into any kind of tight window or over defenders. I understand that, but he needs to play to make plays like he did against FSU.
-Brian Kelly did a horrible job in terms of in-game management. He needs to get his head out of his ass and learn when the math says you don't kick long field goals in high winds when it doesn't change the opponents drive goal conditions. He also absurdly stuck to throwing the ball when Folston was dominant all night and he could've kept feeding him. I'm NEVER in the "run more" camp for the sake of just running more... but before the late 4Q clock grinding Folston was darn near 10 YPC... come on coach... similarly against FSU, Folston had a very impressive drive and then when it go to crunch time in the second half we almost completely abandoned the run.
-Nyles Morgan is so physically more gifted than Joe Schmidt I'm not entirely sure how big the drop off is going to be. I think he can compensate for the mental shortcomings with his abilities, my question is can the rest of the defense?

My question is how they can overcome Morgan's lack of "Gorderclonenbrain." German word.

The only thing wrong with Golson's game tonight was that the reads on the routes on some of those plays, including the interception were fvcked up. Kelly admitted it. Why attack a team that is shutting down the seam by routes that put multiple receiving targets in that area? They had a safety low, a cornerback to the outside, and a centerfielder on that pick. ND should have been using CRob to attack the perimeter; CRob on the sidelines; and CRob jumping on the fades and in the corner.

No one can shut down the triple option. Not without a lot of luck! Does everybody, (ND fans), get that Navy is the leading rushing team in the nation? By contrast our friends in Ann Arbor have the identical record, 4-5. Care to look at their rushing stats? The leading rushing team in America has lost more than they have won. That says a number of things, including that you don't need to stop it to win. But it also says that nobody can stop it!

 

[kmoose]

This is the first good post in this thread, other than Grahambo's, oh yeah, and anything BGIF posts. Interestingly enough, Nuke, Graham, and BGIF, are never cry babies, and they know football.

If the rest of us are so stupid and beneath your superior intellect, maybe you should just open your own board, and then you won't be bothered by all of the worthless posts?

 

[Bogtrotter07]

If the rest of us are so stupid and beneath your superior intellect, maybe you should just open your own board, and then you won't be bothered by all of the worthless posts?

Oh hear we go! I said post, not person, brain, intellect. I said first not last. And I would much rather you open your own board. I will even help.

I am tired of having a 7-1 team, that should through no fault of their own, be 8-0, and have a bunch of people who predicted they would be 7-5 to 9-3 spend their time bitching.

As far as those of superior football intellect, (which is what we are talking here, right?) BVG, BK, Bobby Elliot, Harry Hiestand, some of the reporters and most knowledgeable experts from ISD, etc., have all made it clear that this is a young team that will make a lot of mistakes. It has been said, over, and over, and over.

So why are some people enjoying bitching so much about the little things, week in and week out, after victories? Must not have much to do with intellect.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Seems like everything has pretty much been covered here...I'll post my thoughts nonetheless:

1. I don't mind that we schedule Navy every year. I don't recall hearing any such complaints when ND hung 50 on them versus just 10 scored by the Midshipmen in 2012.

2. The end of the game when Navy was forced to pass and play outside their normal rhythm? ND bottled them up. This is how you beat Navy - put them behind by several touchdowns and force them to abandon the grind it out run game. ND was about to do this at the end of the first half, and failed to capitalize when Golson threw the pick. That one play changed everything for the duration of the game, but don't lose perspective on the fact that ND was one play away from putting Navy into hurry up mode for the entire second half, which would have gone very differently if that were the case.

3. Navy could not stop ND's offense. The only thing that stopped ND's offense was conservative play calling and poor decisions on the field.

4. In the 1980's and 1990's, ND could rely on at least a few of their players having seen the option rushing attack at the high school level. There's likely not a player on the roster today who encountered that style of offense before coming to ND. This may be as much of a factor as any perceived deficiencies at the DC position.

5. ND has already exceeded expectations for the season. Does it hurt to think that after many fans adjusted their expectations upward, we might not make the playoffs and win a national championship this year? Sure it does. But given the youth of this team and the foundation that Kelly has built and continues to build, the future looks very bright. Some fans seem to forget that it's been quite some time since ND was still being discussed as a championship contender after 8 games of the season - BK has put us in that position 2 of the last 3 years. Perspective, folks.

6. ND was not the only top 10 team who struggled to beat an opponent this weekend. Do our fans think that the voters are more sympathetic to close calls for everyone BUT ND? ND has one of the toughest remaining schedules of any team in college football. Winning out will take care of such concerns. Stumbling into one or two more losses will only confirm those concerns. Either way, ND is still largely in control of its own destiny. The only playoff vote that matters is the final vote, and by then we'll know whether or not ND deserves a spot.

Reps, sir! Especially the highlighted!

 

[koonja]

Oh hear we go! I said post, not person, brain, intellect. I said first not last. And I would much rather you open your own board. I will even help.

I am tired of having a 7-1 team, that should through no fault of their own, be 8-0, and have a bunch of people who predicted they would be 7-5 to 9-3 spend their time bitching.

As far as those of superior football intellect, (which is what we are talking here, right?) BVG, BK, Bobby Elliot, Harry Hiestand, some of the reporters and most knowledgeable experts from ISD, etc., have all made it clear that this is a young team that will make a lot of mistakes. It has been said, over, and over, and over.

So why are some people enjoying bitching so much about the little things, week in and week out, after victories? Must not have much to do with intellect.

Notice that Longo was left out. Glad to see I'm not the only one!

 

[Luckylucci]

Clever!

Here is a really good post too :



My question is how they can overcome Morgan's lack of "Gorderclonenbrain." German word.

The only thing wrong with Golson's game tonight was that the reads on the routes on some of those plays, including the interception were fvcked up. Kelly admitted it. Why attack a team that is shutting down the seam by routes that put multiple receiving targets in that area? They had a safety low, a cornerback to the outside, and a centerfielder on that pick. ND should have been using CRob to attack the perimeter; CRob on the sidelines; and CRob jumping on the fades and in the corner.

No one can shut down the triple option. Not without a lot of luck! Does everybody, (ND fans), get that Navy is the leading rushing team in the nation? By contrast our friends in Ann Arbor have the identical record, 4-5. Care to look at their rushing stats? The leading rushing team in America has lost more than they have won. That says a number of things, including that you don't need to stop it to win. But it also says that nobody can stop it!

While I understand that in playing Navy giving up yards is "understandable" but they scored more points on us than they did against Temple, Texas State, Rutgers, W. Kentucky, Air Force, and twice as much (14) as they did against OSU. Like from the OFD article above, the defense has been very average for a few games now. Thats long enough for it to become a trend. Yes, this is a young team and yes they will make mistakes but if the goal is the playoffs this D has a long way to go. I wasn't going to say anything after UNC and the second half of FSU but 6 yards per play is inexcusable.

 

[Emcee77]

While I understand that in playing Navy giving up yards is "understandable" but they scored more points on us than they did against Temple, Texas State, Rutgers, W. Kentucky, Air Force, and twice as much (14) as they did against OSU. Like from the OFD article above, the defense has been very average for a few games now. Thats long enough for it to become a trend. Yes, this is a young team and yes they will make mistakes but if the goal is the playoffs this D has a long way to go. I wasn't going to say anything after UNC and the second half of FSU but 6 yards per play is inexcusable.

Yeah, that says it all for me. I don't expect to shut Navy out or hold them without a first down or anything like that; I have a lot of respect for Navy. But when they are making our defense look bad compared to some of the very average teams on their schedule, I have to be a little disappointed with our performance.

 

[Luckylucci]

The most alarming part for me is that against both FSU and Navy our D came out flat and what looked to be unprepared to start the second half. Both teams O's had better second halves against our D than in the first. Specifically the 3rd quarter.

 

[T Town Tommy]

The most alarming part for me is that against both FSU and Navy our D came out flat and what looked to be unprepared to start the second half. Both teams O's had better second halves against our D than in the first. Specifically the 3rd quarter.

That's a change from the beginning of the year. Hopefully BVG gets that back on track. I think he will.

 

[kmoose]

I am tired of having a 7-1 team, that should through no fault of their own, be 8-0, and have a bunch of people who predicted they would be 7-5 to 9-3 spend their time bitching.

I am, too. I couldn't agree with the above more.

So why are some people enjoying bitching so much about the little things, week in and week out, after victories? Must not have much to do with intellect.

I think that part of your problem is that you take anything that is not 100% positive as people bitching or complaining about the subject.

After the Florida State game, one of my observations was that I think that Kelly still doesn't completely trust Golson not to turn the ball over, so he has not turned him loose to take off and run. You appeared to take that as talking bad about both Kelly AND Golson. It was neither, I assure you. As I was watching the game, it occurred to me that there were numerous opportunities for Golson to run for 5-6 yards, and put us in a very favorable 3rd down distance. But he wouldn't take off. So as I wondered about that, I came to the conclusion that most likely Kelly is more afraid of the fumble, than of being in 3rd and 8, instead of 3rd and 3. That's not criticism of either coach or quarterback; it is just an observation. Yet you seem to think that I should find another team to root for? Golson had a great game against Florida State, and is having a great season. But that doesn't mean that he is perfect. Pointing out something that is not happening, that could help the team, is not a crime.

 

[Luckylucci]

That's a change from the beginning of the year. Hopefully BVG gets that back on track. I think he will.

Agreed, I was also very concerned by the UNC game where we didn't seem to change our plan at all and BVG admitted as much. We all knew going into the season that we'd have times of brilliance on D and times of angst but these times of angst have been fairly brutal. I believe in the staff and players to turn it around but it needs to be now and fairly drastic.

 

[arndtjc]

7-1.

That is all.

 

[BigIrish]

While I understand that in playing Navy giving up yards is "understandable" but they scored more points on us than they did against Temple, Texas State, Rutgers, W. Kentucky, Air Force, and twice as much (14) as they did against OSU. Like from the OFD article above, the defense has been very average for a few games now. Thats long enough for it to become a trend. Yes, this is a young team and yes they will make mistakes but if the goal is the playoffs this D has a long way to go. I wasn't going to say anything after UNC and the second half of FSU but 6 yards per play is inexcusable.

Plenty of football fans like to apply the transitive property to college football. It's flawed logic, and should be avoided. Saying that a team scored x amount of points versus one opponent and therefore, shouldn't have scored x amount of points versus a perceived superior opponent, fails to acknowledge a whole range of factors, such as:

1. The stage of the season in which they played. Teams play other teams differently late in the season versus early in the season.

2. The perceived quality of the opponent and the degree to which an 18-22 year old player gets "up" for the game.

3. Injuries, suspensions, or other personnel losses.

4. Team psyche/morale.

5. Weather.

6. Game time.

7. Game-planning, offensive and defensive schemes/strategies.

Need I go on? Fans need to focus on the fact that ND is 7-1. Focus on the win/loss records, not how well or poorly an ND opponent played against another team. Complaints about the way in which ND - or any team, for that matter - wins are for whiners waiting for the shoe to drop. That doesn't mean that there's no room for critiques. I thought ND went too conservative against Navy in the second half. But BK had faith in his defense when the game was on the line, and he walked out of there with a win. BK went balls out aggressive against FSU and it damn near worked. At some point, if and when the losses start piling up, there comes a time to question a coach's abilities and decision making. This is not that time.

 

[Luckylucci]

Plenty of football fans like to apply the transitive property to college football. It's flawed logic, and should be avoided. Saying that a team scored x amount of points versus one opponent and therefore, shouldn't have scored x amount of points versus a perceived superior opponent, fails to acknowledge a whole range of factors, such as:

1. The stage of the season in which they played. Teams play other teams differently late in the season versus early in the season.

2. The perceived quality of the opponent and the degree to which an 18-22 year old player gets "up" for the game.

3. Injuries, suspensions, or other personnel losses.

4. Team psyche/morale.

5. Weather.

6. Game time.

7. Game-planning, offensive and defensive schemes/strategies.

Need I go on? Fans need to focus on the fact that ND is 7-1. Focus on the win/loss records, not how well or poorly an ND opponent played against another team. Complaints about the way in which ND - or any team, for that matter - wins are for whiners waiting for the shoe to drop. That doesn't mean that there's no room for critiques. I thought ND went too conservative against Navy in the second half. But BK had faith in his defense when the game was on the line, and he walked out of there with a win. BK went balls out aggressive against FSU and it damn near worked. At some point, if and when the losses start piling up, there comes a time to question a coach's abilities and decision making. This is not that time.

I would totally agree if its just one opponent or one team. Its a majority of their schedule. That definitely counts as a solid data point. If you don't like that one, here's a better one. They were averaging 30.87 pts/game on the season going into saturday. They scored 39 on saturday. That means that they scored 26% above their season avg. against us than their schedule as a whole. You really can't sugarcoat this rough performance.

 

[BigIrish]

I would totally agree if its just one opponent or one team. Its a majority of their schedule. That definitely counts as a solid data point. If you don't like that one, here's a better one. They were averaging 30.87 pts/game on the season going into saturday. They scored 39 on saturday. That means that they scored 26% above their season avg. against us than their schedule as a whole. You really can't sugarcoat this rough performance.

I think you just ignored everything I said in the prior comment. Again, my take on it is that it's folly to use the transitive property in college football. ND played Navy in head to head competition. ND won. The last time I checked, that was the most important stat.

Had ND not thrown a terrible pick at the half and instead marched down the field to the end zone as they had already done several times, putting Navy in a must-pass situation for the second half, do you still think they would have scored 39 points?

 

[Emcee77]

I would totally agree if its just one opponent or one team. Its a majority of their schedule. That definitely counts as a solid data point. If you don't like that one, here's a better one. They were averaging 30.87 pts/game on the season going into saturday. They scored 39 on saturday. That means that they scored 26% above their season avg. against us than their schedule as a whole. You really can't sugarcoat this rough performance.

Exactly. We aren't talking about 3 teams and 2 games here. We are talking about the whole season. NOBODY besides VMI gave up 39 points to Navy. No one--and Navy played some crappy teams. I tend to agree with BigIrish that people often take the "transitive property" too far, but I don't think we are doing that here. We have often struggled to stop Navy in recent years, and it is really bizarre.

 

[IrishLax]

I would totally agree if its just one opponent or one team. Its a majority of their schedule. That definitely counts as a solid data point. If you don't like that one, here's a better one. They were averaging 30.87 pts/game on the season going into saturday. They scored 39 on saturday. That means that they scored 26% above their season avg. against us than their schedule as a whole. You really can't sugarcoat this rough performance.

Here's how I'd sugar coat it... we had a ridiculous game plan that failed miserably and it's completely irrelevant to how this defense may perform against any kind of traditional offense.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Plenty of football fans like to apply the transitive property to college football. It's flawed logic, and should be avoided.

Following on from Lucci's post above, the Selection Committee is going to consider results against common opponents when debating the relative merits of two programs head-to-head. Let's assume that Ohio State wins out, beats MSU and becomes the B1G Champion. That could put them in contention against ND for the 4th playoff spot; in that case, you can rest assured the Committee will consider how each team performed against Navy, since the Middies are one of only two common opponents.

OSU beat them by 17 and only gave up 17 points. ND beat them by 10 and gave up 39. So yes, our objectively poor defensive showing against them could still come back to bite us.

 

[Luckylucci]

Here's how I'd sugar coat it... we had a ridiculous game plan that failed miserably and it's completely irrelevant to how this defense may perform against any kind of traditional offense.

Yes and I'm not throwing my hands up saying forget the season its over. I'm just agreeing with OFD's assessment that this D might not be as good as what we previous thought. We now have some real info that shows that.

 

[koonja]

Following on from Lucci's post above, the Selection Committee is going to consider results against common opponents when debating the relative merits of two programs head-to-head. Let's assume that Ohio State wins out, beats MSU and becomes the B1G Champion. That could put them in contention against ND for the 4th playoff spot; in that case, you can rest assured the Committee will consider how each team performed against Navy, since the Middies are a common opponent.

OSU beat them by 17 and only gave up 17 points. ND beat them by 10 and gave up 39. So yes, our objectively poor defensive showing against them could still come back to bite us.

I don't expect the committee to take it this far, but I watched the entire OSU/Navy game and obviously the ND game. OSU was much closer to losing that game that we were. That final score for the OSU game doesn't paint an accurate picture.

 

[Luckylucci]

Plenty of football fans like to apply the transitive property to college football. It's flawed logic, and should be avoided. Saying that a team scored x amount of points versus one opponent and therefore, shouldn't have scored x amount of points versus a perceived superior opponent, fails to acknowledge a whole range of factors, such as:

1. The stage of the season in which they played. Teams play other teams differently late in the season versus early in the season.

2. The perceived quality of the opponent and the degree to which an 18-22 year old player gets "up" for the game.

3. Injuries, suspensions, or other personnel losses.

4. Team psyche/morale.

5. Weather.

6. Game time.

7. Game-planning, offensive and defensive schemes/strategies.

Need I go on? Fans need to focus on the fact that ND is 7-1. Focus on the win/loss records, not how well or poorly an ND opponent played against another team. Complaints about the way in which ND - or any team, for that matter - wins are for whiners waiting for the shoe to drop. That doesn't mean that there's no room for critiques. I thought ND went too conservative against Navy in the second half. But BK had faith in his defense when the game was on the line, and he walked out of there with a win. BK went balls out aggressive against FSU and it damn near worked. At some point, if and when the losses start piling up, there comes a time to question a coach's abilities and decision making. This is not that time.

I didn't ignore you with my last post I was just giving you actual information/stats. What I said was objective information that was useful in this conversation. A majority of your post was subjective/opinion on how or why that could have effected the outcome.

 

[OrlaNDomer]

We beat Michigan by 31 (really 37) while giving up 0 points. Michigan St beat Michigan by 24 while giving up 11 points.

Michigan St lost @ #5 Oregon by 19 while giving up 46 points.
Notre Dame lost @ #2 FSU by 4 while giving up 31.

Michigan St is 8 and ND is 10.

I don't think the committee has a "recipe" they just vote and make sense of it afterwards.

 

[Emcee77]

Here's how I'd sugar coat it... we had a ridiculous game plan that failed miserably and it's completely irrelevant to how this defense may perform against any kind of traditional offense.

That's a good point. True and useful to bear in mind that how we do against Navy probably has little to do with how we do against other, conventional offenses.

Still, I can't help but be frustrated by some of our performances against Navy in recent years. Why do we consistently have trouble (like, 3 of the 5 years of the Kelly era) with this team when we know what is coming and we outclass them in athleticism.

I wouldn't say it makes me concerned about how we will do against the rest of the schedule, but it annoys me nonetheless.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Still, I can't help but be frustrated by some of our performances against Navy in recent years. Why do we consistently have trouble (like, 3 of the 5 years of the Kelly era) with this team when we know what is coming and we outclass them in athleticism.

My hypothesis:

1. Navy runs an exotic gimmicky option that doesn't remotely resemble any other opponent we face in most years;
2. The practice time required to install a new defensive scheme is a scarce resource;
3. Kelly can prepare for Navy either (a) by installing defensive schemes that he won't use for any other opponents, or (b) by emphasizing simple assignment-based responsibilities and relying on superior athleticism;
4. Kelly thinks that (b) is a better strategic choice for the season as a whole, even though it results in some close shaves with the Middies.

Unfortunately for Navy, we also play Georgia Tech next year, so I expect we'll blow them out in 2015.

 

[ND NYC]

we should start every backup on the 2 deep of our defense to open this game every year