Sep 24 | at Pittsburgh

[NDFANnSouthWest]

A fair question. Part of it was the pass protection. But, yes, we should have scored more points. No argument.

I'll take a win and 400 yards of offense.

My point was we are lucky to win the GAME. Rees did well on the last drive.

I understand your point...and its a good one. However, what I am concerned about is the lack of fundementals.

 

[meowmix]

No, I'm not. My argument is not that we're national championship material. But, we have been losing these close games for 3 years. We made a good late run today. We won.

That's new.

This is actually a great point that I hadn't really considered. You're right, we've been finding ways to lose to inferior teams and we actually stepped it up when it mattered today, defensively and offensively. I just hope they can execute at that level all game for the remainder of the season.

 

[anarin]

I'll be happy when I dont see Gray, Motta or Fox out there anymore. When teams ask," where are the weak links in that good defense" all fingers point to those three!!!!

And I cast my vote for Crist next game, Rees reminded me of Rex Grossman of the Chicago Bears in 2006.

 

[Riddickulous]

Gray TD:

#25 Jonas Gray: Notre Dame 79 yard TD run v PITT - 9/24/2011 - YouTube

 

[frankygoes69]

So, would you all rather ND loose than win? Stop acting like they would have won and won big. A W is a W. 2-2 is better than 1-3.

 

[NDinMemphis]

I'll take the win! How many sacks did we have today, my DVR cut off the last part of the 4th quarter? Thanks!

Go Irish!

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

I'd like to see Hendrix in some mop-up duty before being anointed the starter. How do you all know Hendrix doesn't lock on to one receiver more than Rees does? Or if he's an accurate passer? Does he know the offense? Yes, Tommy makes mistakes but he also does a lot of things well. Making a change just to make a change isn't always a bright idea.

Well, I think thats the point. nobody, BK included, knows what Hendrix can do in a game situation, because he's never been in one. Lets get him a couple series against PU and see what we have. We know Dayne is a scattergun and Rees is a turnover machine. Lets at least see what we have in Hendrix. If its happy feet or something, then we can stick with Rees.

 

[maybenextyear]

And I cast my vote for Crist next game, Rees reminded me of Rex Grossman of the Chicago Bears in 2006.

the irish cant afford to play musical chairs with quarterbacks. they won the game. tommy has been winning games. pretty or not, he has been getting results, something dayne hasn't done. ugly or not, it goes down in the win column.

 

[NDFANnSouthWest]

So, would you all rather ND loose than win? Stop acting like they would have won and won big. A W is a W. 2-2 is better than 1-3.

We are happy for the W. However we are discussing the game....

And ND is not LOOSE.

 

[ThePiombino]

wrong - Crist got benched after just as many bad games as Rees has had good - they just weren't all this season.

people need to wake up - Rees has lost 1 game as a started. the Pitt Defense was better prepared than our offense today. that simple. thats on BK and the OC, not on the Quarterback.

Crist has never ever ever once in his entire career had a drive like Rees had in that TD drive. Kid was 8-8 with a TD and a 2pt. Crist is a SENIOR, never played like that in his life. but he has turned the ball over, so has Tommy, so in my eyes thats a wash.

Crist was in his FIRST year of a new offense while coming off of major knee surgery. He got injured again before having the opportunity to GROW like the rest of the team did last year. I firmly believe that had he finished the season healthy last year that he would be a more than capable QB in this system this year.

However, as fate would have it that didn't happen. Enter Rees, who came in and MANAGED 4 straight wins (unless of course you want to count his INT that cost us the Tulsa game...). He did GREAT for us last year. The D stepped up and really helped bail him out of a couple bad spots (i.e. USC game where Tommy almost single-handedly cost us the game).

Back to this year. Crist won the QB competition. He came out with a GREAT 1st drive against USF and then Jonas fumbles, sending the ENTIRE team into a downward spiral (not just Dayne). Granted Dayne came back and had a few mediocre drives and ONE really bad decision on the INT in the endzone. That aside, he was spot-on. I think he deserves another shot. I don't think it's time to waste a year of eligibility on EG. I like Hendrix, but you have to think if he was ready he would have seen the field already.

I truly believe Dayne is out best chance at a BCS game and deserves another chance to prove that. I think he'll get that shot, and when he does, I think we'll all be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Sportster]

Rees reminded me of Rex Grossman of the Chicago Bears in 2006.

{shudder} oh how I remember those days....Grossman couldn't even take the center to QB exchange half the time,lol.

 

[meowmix]

I'll be happy when I dont see Gray, Motta or Fox out there anymore. When teams ask," where are the weak links in that good defense" all fingers point to those three!!!!

And I cast my vote for Crist next game, Rees reminded me of Rex Grossman of the Chicago Bears in 2006.

Fox was pretty awful. He was in perfect position to blow up Graham on a screen and totally whiffed. The play where Gray and Motta were on the receiver who dropped what should have been a 40-yard reception, I almost shattered my remote. Gray and Motta celebrated as if they did something! That would have been an easy reception if that receiver didn't suck. That was pretty much the exact same play Michigan ran except with Harrison instead of Gray. I don't care if it's underthrown, why do none of our db's turn around except for Blanton?

 

[Riddickulous]

I'll take the win! How many sacks did we have today, my DVR cut off the last part of the 4th quarter? Thanks!

Go Irish!

5.

2 by Fleming, 1 each by Lynch, Te'o, and Shembo.

 

[NDFANnSouthWest]

Crist was in his FIRST year of a new offense while coming off of major knee surgery. He got injured again before having the opportunity to GROW like the rest of the team did last year. I firmly believe that had he finished the season healthy last year that he would be a more than capable QB in this system this year.

However, as fate would have it that didn't happen. Enter Rees, who came in and MANAGED 4 straight wins (unless of course you want to count his INT that cost us the Tulsa game...). He did GREAT for us last year. The D stepped up and really helped bail him out of a couple bad spots (i.e. USC game where Tommy almost single-handedly cost us the game).

Back to this year. Crist won the QB competition. He came out with a GREAT 1st drive against USF and then Jonas fumbles, sending the ENTIRE team into a downward spiral (not just Dayne). Granted Dayne came back and had a few mediocre drives and ONE really bad decision on the INT in the endzone. That aside, he was spot-on. I think he deserves another shot. I don't think it's time to waste a year of eligibility on EG. I like Hendrix, but you have to think if he was ready he would have seen the field already.

I truly believe Dayne is out best chance at a BCS game and deserves another chance to prove that. I think he'll get that shot, and when he does, I think we'll all be pleasantly surprised.

Good post.

The thing the Crist gives us ...is a down field throw. Right now opposing D's dont fear the long ball.

 

[frankygoes69]

Go on and discuss then. A win is a win. At least we all will not go to be with that sunken sick feeling. Good for the team, however bad the play went, they still won.

 

[NDFANnSouthWest]

Go on and discuss then. A win is a win. At least we all will not go to be with that sunken sick feeling. Good for the team, however bad the play went, they still won.

thanks.

 

[frankygoes69]

Welcome...

 

[ThePiombino]

"Where was the surgeon the rest of the game?"

we won last i checked.

he was "surgically" throwing the ball in the dirt when the screens were being blown up time after time after time.

You need to take the blinders off. He consistently stalled drives for the majority of the game by never making it past his first read in the progression.

 

[meowmix]

Back to this year. Crist won the QB competition. He came out with a GREAT 1st drive against USF and then Jonas fumbles, sending the ENTIRE team into a downward spiral (not just Dayne). Granted Dayne came back and had a few mediocre drives and ONE really bad decision on the INT in the endzone. That aside, he was spot-on. I think he deserves another shot. I don't think it's time to waste a year of eligibility on EG. I like Hendrix, but you have to think if he was ready he would have seen the field already.

I truly believe Dayne is out best chance at a BCS game and deserves another chance to prove that. I think he'll get that shot, and when he does, I think we'll all be pleasantly surprised.

The thing about Dayne is that he can be an excellent qb as in the first drive against usf. However, when he makes a mistake, he gets way too tentative and plays scared. Rees has the kicker mentality and puts his mistakes behind him and plays each drive as if it were a new one. Rees was much worse throughout the game (sans the 8/8 drive) than Dayne was in the first half against usf. However, I can understand how Kelly decided that Rees at a consistent, but lower level than Crist is better than Crist's stonger abilities combined with his up and down performance. But dear lord, i get nervous every time Rees rolls out of the pocket.

 

[Irish Fam]

I'm not pleased with the way ND played. But, as said before my many other posters, I will take an ugly win 100s of times before I take a good looking loss. I'm sick of hearing talking heads on Sportscenter, Gameday, etc. talking about how good we are despite our record. I want a good record. I would love for it to be beautiful wins, but I'll take a win or wins anyway possible.

 

[ThePiombino]

No, I'm not. My argument is not that we're national championship material. But, we have been losing these close games for 3 years. We made a good late run today. We won.

I didn't imply that's what you were saying, but my point is that ND is not Auburn so what does what Aubrun did last year have to do with the price of tea in China?

That's new.

Agreed. I think this part of a culture change that BK is bringing to the team that will pay dividends in the longrun when the team is comprised of 100% of BK's recruits.

 

[frankygoes69]

Thats right.

 

[meowmix]

So, would you all rather ND loose than win? Stop acting like they would have won and won big. A W is a W. 2-2 is better than 1-3.

I doubt anybody's disappointed that we won and I'm ecstatic that we're 2-2 instead of 1-3. However, discussing whether we have a chance against better teams playing the way we did today is quite valid. Pitt is not even close talent-wise and team-wise to the rest of the team on our schedule (except Purdue and Wake).

 

[NDFANnSouthWest]

Heads up guys we got the green light to continue to discuss.

 

[ThePiombino]

I doubt anybody's disappointed that we won and I'm ecstatic that we're 2-2 instead of 1-3. However, discussing whether we have a chance against better teams playing the way we did today is quite valid. Pitt is not even close talent-wise and team-wise to the rest of the team on our schedule (except Purdue and Wake).

Seriously. Could you imagine this performance against USC or Stanford? Would not be pretty. They need to figure SOMETHING out and quick.

 

[beryirish]

A win is a win so I'm happy but that was close. That was an awesome run by Jonas. Penalties are simply horrible my goodness. The youngsters on the D-Line played grrrrreat! Fleming had some good sacks in a losing effort..(they scored).

AUSTIN!!!!!!! I'm a safe guy...your D played excellent, they are punting out of the redzone/endzone...you're going to get great field position...don't go for the block....I was heated during that whole series.

I started to have doubts with Tommy with his two turnovers. I agree Eifert should have came to the ball but man. I was thinking if Tommy gets another turnover I think you start to see Dayne warmup.

Happy with the win....move on to next week.

 

[frankygoes69]

I got that, but what I'm saying is that we could also play like a NCG team and still let the win go. The uM game is a prime example. Points all over the board but we still lost the game. I will embrace the win, be happy with the win, and look to next week as a better played game by ND, with a win.

 

[NDFANnSouthWest]

Seriously. Could you imagine this performance against USC or Stanford? Would not be pretty. They need to figure SOMETHING out and quick.

And THIS scares...the crap out of me.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

I didn't imply that's what you were saying, but my point is that ND is not Auburn so what does what Aubrun did last year have to do with the price of tea in China?
Agreed. I think this part of a culture change that BK is bringing to the team that will pay dividends in the longrun when the team is comprised of 100% of BK's recruits.

Even the best teams in the country have to endure bad performances. We won this game by .5 less than the vegas spread. And, again, we won.

I'm not satisfied. But, we won. That's new.

 

[Buster Bluth]

I'm not satisfied. But, we won. That's new.

+1