Interesting
Interesting
TheTurningPOint... I agree with you on most things.
I do like the fact that you talk about his chasing talent and not stars. The great college coaches' do that and I think it should be lauded. Greatest examples in my mind is Mark Ingram.
, 58th running back in the country, and he revived a part of the country where football was on the ropes with all the allegations in the 90s at Alabama. Les Miles did the same exact thing with Jacob Hester. *Fingers crossed on Cam McDaniel being Kelly's Ingram/Hester.* One thing that Kelly's good at two is dangling out offers. He
knew that Perkins and Turner wanted offers but didn't offer them until either they earned it or they were needed. I think that is also important in recruiting because if you know that a kid would do anything to go to your school but you want a more talented player, keep talking to him and then fish out the offer. Both those guys nearly committed on the spot once they were given their offers. It's just one of those intangibles in the coaching world.
I don't agree with the fact that you think that the team could have rolled over dead after the Tulsa loss. I feel that the trust was already built by then and that the guys felt confident after good performances over (ailing) BC, Pitt, (valiant?) Western Michigan. I feel that the bigger games they would have rolled over on was the Michigan/MSU/Stanford losses. After the U of M game, they had all the reason in the world to call it quits and nurse their wounds. Giving up 500+ total yards to one player is crazy I don't care if it had been Alabama. It was just unacceptable. At the end of that MSU game, though we contained them to 4 total rushing yards in the 4th quarter, the entire defense looked whipped and the 4th quarter has been ND's bane for the past decade. Pile on the fake field goal and the embarrassment of Stanford walking all over us, that would have been the point where I feel you would have heard murmurs in the locker room. That was when Kelly I think needed to play the 'trust me I'm a winner' speech.
All that off-season conditioning made them better and they knew that and, minus the blowout to Navy, the team had all sorts of positive momentum going into that Tulsa game and were on the verge of reaching their zenith of fitness. Tulsa had a strong record coming into that game, though they had the athletic caliber of a Western Michigan. That game was a fluke and the guys knew that. Remind me the last time we have seen a blocked PAT for a 2 pt conversion,
and your star quarterback go out injured,
and missing most of your front seven due to the dirty style of play of the Naval Academy (IMO we should play Navy, then have the bye week, then play an average team before playing USC but again
) all in the same game. The football gods had to have been MIA that day because there's no way you see that much bad luck. I see that game as that one 'rare' golf hole where you 4-putt and you walk away saying 'Glad that that next box isn't going to be that bad', and I think the players did the same. I chalk that one up as them saying 'though we're good, we cannot relinquish our grasp on greatness' and I think we will see this group not look past any opponents in the future.
One thing that I noticed over the season was that it took 6-8 weeks for the team to completely turn around from the detriments of Charlie's coaching. Diaco and his 'quick change' sprint drills were so taxing on the team that in interviews I read the players were completely stunned that they could be taxed that much in a summer workout. That had to have made the players respect the coaching staff that they could be worked that hard.
Also, sorry to nitpick, but Kamara was a pretty highly touted recruit coming in...
and #8 receiver in the nation is nothing to scoff at. IMO he should have started all season opposite Floyd and save TJ Jones the year of eligibility.
with all the
-ing I've been doing seems to have given me about a dime's worth.
my bad. Just had a lot to say in response.
Again, solid post TheTurningPOint
