Ok your two reasons that you stated are ridiculous. The triple option and the veer are probably the two hardest plays in college football to stop, especially when you have experienced QB, FB and Wings.....You can simulate things in practice all you want. Thats like saying "I don't understand how you can't stop Peyton Manning, we prepared for him all year long!" Yeah the option has been around for a lot longer than the 70s too. Playing the option is all about playing assignment football and every man has one responsibility and when that responsibility gets blown it generally goes for 10 to 15 yard gain or a TD. the option isolates players and creates matchups that the Defensive player has to win, we didn't win very many of them.....obviously. We didn't play it very well and Navy is very, very good at running that system and they are gonna beat a lot of people running it. **** happens life goes on and Kelly needs to find a way to stop it next year or else he will struggle against navy his entire tenure at ND.
As far as being "uninspired." How exactly would you like them to act... Would like them all to yell and scream at each other? I have seen teams yell and scream at each other, then they point fingers and thats always what it takes to get a defense motivated. The midshipmen hit the irish with "seven different kinds of smoke" they were confused and illprepared, they didn't know how to stop it. I suggest next time you are leading your staff at Mcdonalds and you guys didn't have a good day in preparing cheesburgers. Let everyone yell at each other and point fingers and see what happens, that should be the ticket. The irsh defense was confused and couldn't look to anyone for any advice, our best players are sophomores and yes they are great talents but not yet leaders. 0ur coaches didn't have an answer so what were they supposed to do.......enlighten me please...
Are you a member of the coaching staff? What a pile of BS
Ok, that off my chest, I'll remain polite for the rest of my post and "address" your comments...
So the triple option is difficult to stop, granted, as can state Navy's rushing stats. But can it be slowed down? heck yeah ! how come EVERY other opponent Navy faced this year fared BETTER than us in that regard, including teams most would qualify as "inferior" to ND?
So what's the answer then? PREPARATION. Look no further than the posts above about the Missouri game.
And thanks for helping me prove my point even further: since the option had been around even longer than what I stated, that means College coaches have been subjected to it that much longer, and therefore it should be NATURAL to be able to prepare for it, ESPECIALLY when you state having preparing your team for it for the last few months.
I won;t even address the Peyton comment, comparing Navy's offense to a world class NFL QB is retarded.
So yes, based on this, I'm calling out the DC for not preparing or more likely, BADLY preparing his players. Preparation and practice helped other teams beat or at least compete against Navy, the fact ND was not even in the game remains inexcusable. SO is the fact he was unable to adjust during the game. Simply stopping the FB dive would have taken 100yards off their game, which is at least a score. Have the DE, anyone, crash the FB on every play, period!
As for the second argument about the players, you again assume that being pumped up means having a negative blaming attitude upon one another. Well thanks for assuming I work as a burger flipper, but I'd love to see your team-building techniques!
These are kids, some of them have been in the CW years, and I'm sad to say some seem comfortable being "average". I could go on and on and forward examples of individuals players seemingly giving up on a play, or not being physical on or off a block, but if you can't see those things happening then I can't help you take off your rose-tinted glasses.
They are confused? oh please, like EVEN KELLY said, scheme is only part of the equation, players have to MAKE PLAYS ! they have to win those one-on-one match-ups ! HELL, most of these guys have played Navy before, they weren't dealing with withcraft for crissakes!
The fact that they all seemingly stand there on the sidelines with either a dejected "here we go again" stare, resolved in accepting this sorry state of affairs instead of seeing a few leaders trying to pump their buddies up and spread a never give up attitude is the worst part of it all. Again, if you didn't notice the difference in intensity between both sides then I can't help you.
You said it yourself: our best players are sophomores. whether you were referring to their talent level, will to win or potential leadership is irrelevant, I'll assume it's all three. But by that same token you are conceding that our seniors and juniors are lacking in those areas, which again proves my point.
Do this program a favor, as should we all as fans: stop excusing them. I for one won't miss them when they are gone.
I wish only two things: that the new blood isn't getting infected by this attitude, and the coaching staff doesn't make the same mistakes twice. I'm not convinced yet on either points unfortunately.
