cowheard:stop blaming kelly

[nd1]

Cowherd: Stop Blaming Brian Kelly - ESPN Video - ESPN

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

True statements are true.

Blaming Kelly for the loss is ridiculous

 

[Rhode Irish]

Nothing could pain me more than to agree with Cowherd, but....

 

[Irish4Life09]

I never thought I could completely agree with Cowherd in anything,but he's right.
Our fanbase has become a bunch of old, crazy people who don't know when to shut up. Let the guy do his job and back off.

 

[gmnysdad]

Colin makes some excellent points. I am interested to see the program when it is mostly Kelly's players in the games.

 

[tadman95]

Colin makes some excellent points. I am interested to see the program when it is mostly Kelly's players in the games.

Agree, and we do need more players. What we don't have yet, or at least haven't have step forward, is the player who takes over a game. That person who can every week make plays that carries thru the team. Floyd, Teo great players but they can't put the team on their back every week. I guess it's that QB or running back that can dominate.

IMHO.....

 

[IrishJayhawk]

Charlie had good classes that were totally unbalanced. And his OL development was terrible.

Whether we become elite or not, I don't know. But, after 3-4 years, this thing is going to be better.

 

[JoeyGetherall]

I am in the minority that I like Colin and he is dead on here. BK didn't suddenly become a bad coach. We have to look in the mirror and realize the players we thought had talent, never really did.

 

[rocket66]

I am in the minority that I like Colin and he is dead on here. BK didn't suddenly become a bad coach. We have to look in the mirror and realize the players we thought had talent, never really did.

Exactly.

 

[enrico514]

I am in the minority that I like Colin and he is dead on here. BK didn't suddenly become a bad coach. We have to look in the mirror and realize the players we thought had talent, never really did.

+ attitude which Kelly will slowly change...

He did get confused about the D Coordinator.

 

[Buster Bluth]

Guys I'm not sure you can even say "Oh look they were just untalented."

This is how I saw the game:

USC dominated the first 1.5 quarters. Notre Dame controlled the next 1.5 quarters, the fourth was useless as Notre Dame blew the game with bonehead execution. I'm not sure it's a talent issue per se. This wasn't 2003, 2004, 2007, or 2008. This was Notre Dame taking a step backward mentally.

I think a lot of people are taking USC's 17-0 run and disregarding the 17-7, which shouldn't been a 24-0 run by Notre Dame. The mistakes Notre Dame made, which have become the usual sadly, gave Kiffin the win. PERSONAL FOULS AND UNFORCED TURNOVERS. It's so god damn aggravating.

They should come out and destroy Navy and end up in Palo Alto at 8-3. From there things will get interesting. This team needs more opportunities to finally turn it on in a big setting. You have to gain that poise.

But yeah, anyone blaming Kelly is nothing short of an absolute moron. Anyone saying "well we're where we were with Weis" (...Holy alliteration, Batman) is a fool.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

Guys I'm not sure you can even say "Oh look they were just untalented."

This is how I saw the game:

USC dominated the first 1.5 quarters. Notre Dame controlled the next 1.5 quarters, the fourth was useless as Notre Dame blew the game with bonehead execution. I'm not sure it's a talent issue per se. This wasn't 2003, 2004, 2007, or 2008. This was Notre Dame's taking a step backward mentally.

They should come out and destroy Navy and end up in Palo Alto at 8-3. From there things will get interesting.

A lot of truth to that. Take the Dayne fumble away and it's tied up, we've got momentum, and the stadium is jumping. On the other hand, the fumble happened.

We're not untalented. We're just halfway there. That's how I see it. But, what do I know. I haven't played football since 1996.

 

[JoeyGetherall]

Guys I'm not sure you can even say "Oh look they were just untalented."

This is how I saw the game:

USC dominated the first 1.5 quarters. Notre Dame controlled the next 1.5 quarters, the fourth was useless as Notre Dame blew the game with bonehead execution. I'm not sure it's a talent issue per se. This wasn't 2003, 2004, 2007, or 2008. This was Notre Dame's taking a step backward mentally.

I think a lot of people are taking USC's 17-0 run and disregarding the 17-7, which shouldn't been a 24-0 run by Notre Dame. The mistakes Notre Dame made, which have become the usual sadly, gave Kiffin the win. PERSONAL FOULS AND UNFORCED TURNOVERS. It's so god damn aggravating.

They should come out and destroy Navy and end up in Palo Alto at 8-3. From there things will get interesting. This team needs more opportunities to finally turn it on in a big setting. You have to gain that poise.

But yeah, anyone blaming Kelly is nothing short of an absolute moron. Anyone saying "well we're where we were with Weis" (...Holy alliteration, Batman) is a fool.

When I mention talent I mean both physical ability and mental ability (aka football smarts). When you combine the two watch out.

I think in a lot of positions we lack both or we have one with out the other.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Guys I'm not sure you can even say "Oh look they were just untalented."

Agreed. 12 of our 18 TOs thus far have come from either Crist or Rees.

When we were all making preseason predictions, many around here pointed to the question marks at QB as the factor that would ultimately keep us from the BCS, and they were right. Erase just two of our red zone TOs and we're at least 6-1, if not 7-0 right now.

But yeah, anyone blaming Kelly is nothing short of an absolute moron. Anyone saying "well we're where we were with Weis" (...Holy alliteration, Batman) is a fool.

Amen.

 

[Rhode Irish]

I am in the minority that I like Colin...

I hope so

...and he is dead on here.

This I agree with.

 

[IlovethehireofCoachKelly]

Cowherd: Stop Blaming Brian Kelly - ESPN Video - ESPN

I have been saying the same thing every week. The only game I would place on the coaches shoulders would be last years preperation for the Navy game and the last couple consulting plays with Tommy Rees of the tulsa game. Brian Kelly is the real deal. When he gets his qb in play he will get em to BSC and win Championships. Right now his only qb is Everest. Its a waiting game. 2012 is not going to be it either. 2013 NC realistically

 

[IrishLax]

Good points by Cowherd (even if he mixed up our DC with Michigan's....). Look at our academic requirements costing us even a shot at Byron Marshall. Or the fact that we can't pick up emergency players from the JUCO ranks.

If you want Kelly to be a 10 win guy we need to be patient. I'm personally leaning more and more towards the ACC or Big East every day that passes.

 

[JoeyGetherall]

Good points by Cowherd (even if he mixed up our DC with Michigan's....). Look at our academic requirements costing us even a shot at Byron Marshall. Or the fact that we can't pick up emergency players from the JUCO ranks.

If you want Kelly to be a 10 win guy we need to be patient. I'm personally leaning more and more towards the ACC or Big East every day that passes.

I could do ACC but Big East football I could not do. I would rather be in the BIG 10-11-12 Lemons and Losers conference.

 

[Buster Bluth]

I could do ACC but Big East football I could not do. I would rather be in the BIG 10-11-12 Lemons and Losers conference.

It's Big Ten or bust for me. There's no way you could be in the ACC and keep most of the rivalries.

Let's not highjack this thread though.

 

[adsnorri]

I'm sure I'm in the minority here but we have the talent here already. That is the lamest excuse I've ever heard. Folks, take a look at the boise states, tcus, etc. do they have better talent? Not even close!! I don't want to hear the schedule argument because every team we have played boise st would have beat if not dominated, not only this year but when moore was an underclassman. So its not talent.

I am on the kelly bandwagon but he has been geting the playcalling jitters in big games. I was at the usc game and we did not stretch the field at all!! Floyd was not double teamed at all the whole game, they simply shut him down with no. 21. How do you not call run plays with our powerful backs and hot route to floyd up top every time hes single covered? What about running the option with tommy rees, I would not run that play in my backyard!! Thats horrible playcalling!

On defense, we still haven't figured out how to stop woods. I would be willing to bet lo wood can't play him one on one!! How about double teaming woods and playing bump and run with the others. Lets pressure the quarterback with some blitzes from the edge and force the short throws into our pressure coverage. When gary gray came off the edge and layed a massive hit, I thought we figured it out, nah! I didnt see any new plays drawn up for this game to stun usc, we didnt try to attack usc's weaknesses at all. Bad news for a team coming off a bye weak. Not sure if andrew hendrix got snaps in the air force game just to force game plan issues but there are no issues if you don't give him more snaps. I need to see this high octane offense you and I were bragging to our buddies about in the summer.
Ok, rant over

 

[IrishJayhawk]

I'm sure I'm in the minority here but we have the talent here already. That is the lamest excuse I've ever heard. Folks, take a look at the boise states, tcus, etc. do they have better talent? Not even close!! I don't wasnt to hear the schedule argument because every team we have played boise st would have beat if not dominated, not only this year but when moore was an underclassman. So its not talent.

I am on the kelly bandwagon but he has been geting the playcalling jitters in big games. I was at the usc game and we did not stretch the field at all!! Floyd was not double teamed at all the whole game, they simply shut him down with no. 21. How do you call run plays with our powerful backs and got route to floyd up top every time hes single covered? What about running the option with tommy rees, I would not run that play in my backyard!! Thats horrible playcalling!

On defense, we still haven't figured out how to stop woods. I would be willing to bet lo wood can't play him one on one!! How about double teaming woods and playing bump and run with the others. Lets pressure the quarterback with some blitzes from the edge and force the short throws into our pressure coverage. When gary gray came off the edge and layed a massive hit, I thought we figured it out, nah! I didnt see any new plays drawn up for this game to stun usc, we didnt try to attack usc's weaknesses at all. Bad news for a team coming off a bye weak. Not sure if andrew hendrix got snaps in the air force game just to force game plan issues but there are no issues if you don't give him more snaps. I need to see this high octane offense you and I were bragging to our buddies about in the summer.
Ok, rant over

They also don't play a decent schedule. They just don't. See Utah's record this year to see what would happen in a major conference. But, yes, they execute like crazy.

 

[JoeyGetherall]

I'm sure I'm in the minority here but we have the talent here already. That is the lamest excuse I've ever heard. Folks, take a look at the boise states, tcus, etc. do they have better talent? Not even close!! I don't want to hear the schedule argument because every team we have played boise st would have beat if not dominated, not only this year but when moore was an underclassman. So its not talent.

I am on the kelly bandwagon but he has been geting the playcalling jitters in big games. I was at the usc game and we did not stretch the field at all!! Floyd was not double teamed at all the whole game, they simply shut him down with no. 21. How do you not call run plays with our powerful backs and hot route to floyd up top every time hes single covered? What about running the option with tommy rees, I would not run that play in my backyard!! Thats horrible playcalling!

On defense, we still haven't figured out how to stop woods. I would be willing to bet lo wood can't play him one on one!! How about double teaming woods and playing bump and run with the others. Lets pressure the quarterback with some blitzes from the edge and force the short throws into our pressure coverage. When gary gray came off the edge and layed a massive hit, I thought we figured it out, nah! I didnt see any new plays drawn up for this game to stun usc, we didnt try to attack usc's weaknesses at all. Bad news for a team coming off a bye weak. Not sure if andrew hendrix got snaps in the air force game just to force game plan issues but there are no issues if you don't give him more snaps. I need to see this high octane offense you and I were bragging to our buddies about in the summer.
Ok, rant over

Speaking of lame, comparing a ND to Boise St. is also lame. As Jayhawk already said their schedule is no where near ND's. Plus their dline this year is pretty damn good. Also, Moore has been there for what seems like 7 years. And he's a Heisman candidate. He's pretty good I'd say. They also sent two WR's to the NFL last year. That's two more than ND did. They have talent.

Also, I would argue that TCU's talent last year was equal to ND. They had a nasty, fast defense and they had a experienced QB in Dalton who is doing a decent job in the NFL.

So in all not only is their talent close to ND's it might be better. And don't give me recruiting class stats. It doesn't mean sh*t once you get on campus.

 

[adsnorri]

Unfortunately, I already said don't mention schedule because to be honest....every time they play a big team, they win. Every time we play a big team we lose.
Ratings do matter coming out of high school no matter what you say. They are a good benchmark for talent. Wheres the development? Kellen moore is great because of development and system.... Show me how our system does not compare yet is not developing?

 

[JoeyGetherall]

Unfortunately, I already said don't mention schedule because to be honest....every time they play a big team, they win. Every time we play a big team we lose.
Ratings do matter coming out of high school no matter what you say. They are a good benchmark for talent. Wheres the development? Kellen moore is great because of development and system.... Show me how our system does not compare yet is not developing?

Your lack of clarity makes it hard to answer your last question... But all recruiting rankings tell me is how good of a HS player you are. That ends the moment you step on campus unless you're Herschel Walker Jr. Yes you're right a big part of it is development. We all know that was neglected under CW. Great staffs like Boise St., Oregon, TCU etc. can take mediocre recruits and make them good college players and in some cases NFL draftees, the proof is in the pudding. But don't tell me the talent level at these schools is not even close to ND because that's simply untrue.

 

[Buster Bluth]

I'm sure I'm in the minority here but we have the talent here already. That is the lamest excuse I've ever heard. Folks, take a look at the boise states, tcus, etc. do they have better talent? Not even close!! I don't want to hear the schedule argument because every team we have played boise st would have beat if not dominated, not only this year but when moore was an underclassman. So its not talent.

I am on the kelly bandwagon but he has been geting the playcalling jitters in big games. I was at the usc game and we did not stretch the field at all!! Floyd was not double teamed at all the whole game, they simply shut him down with no. 21. How do you not call run plays with our powerful backs and hot route to floyd up top every time hes single covered? What about running the option with tommy rees, I would not run that play in my backyard!! Thats horrible playcalling!

On defense, we still haven't figured out how to stop woods. I would be willing to bet lo wood can't play him one on one!! How about double teaming woods and playing bump and run with the others. Lets pressure the quarterback with some blitzes from the edge and force the short throws into our pressure coverage. When gary gray came off the edge and layed a massive hit, I thought we figured it out, nah! I didnt see any new plays drawn up for this game to stun usc, we didnt try to attack usc's weaknesses at all. Bad news for a team coming off a bye weak. Not sure if andrew hendrix got snaps in the air force game just to force game plan issues but there are no issues if you don't give him more snaps. I need to see this high octane offense you and I were bragging to our buddies about in the summer.
Ok, rant over

I'll bite.

Floyd was doubled often, unless I'm blind. They were constantly rolling linebackers underneath him with #21 over the top. They hid it pretty well, too, in my opinion.

The second part is especially stupid. You cannot double cover a guy and cover the other receivers well (all of whom are immensely talented), without being vulnerable on the ground. USC was gashing Notre Dame entirely up the middle. So you'd want to blitz the edges? Yeah...that's how a five-yard burst turns into a forty-yard scamper. The OLB is up field and takes himself right out of the play, allowing the running back to bounce it outside immediately after the first level and run for days.

Your suggestion would literally play right into USC's hands. A guy as good as Woods is going to get his. He had 119 yards...not very crazy numbers for a guy like him. If you pour all of our talent on Woods, you'll break even I guess, but the other guys who are great too now have terrible mismatches all over the field and Barkley is good enough to spread it out liberally (or they could run the ball for seven as usual).

USC's intestinal fortitude on the line won them the game. Well, that and some ridiculous Irish horseshit we've all become accustomed to at this point. They punched Notre Dame right in the mouth via the run, and Notre Dame was forced to be in a defensive situation that they didn't want to be in: solidify the run with extra guys and tighter stances, and live with Wood getting his numbers.

Diaco made the right call. They'd have scored on some huge plays on whatever that is you just suggested.

Some legitimate complaints would be not looking at your opponent as you go nuts after a great play, the NCAA is all about cracking down on taunting and Calabrese's play was all kinds of idiotic. You could probably, and I mean that with the utmost amount of sarcasm, complain about a senior quarterback who was a five-star recruit, not being about to take a god damn snap. Or maybe ask him to not kick it backyard twenty yards after he drops it. I think it's fair to ask Rees to make sure his throw is in front of Wood so it's not a fumble. I don't know, it's just the first god damn thing you talk about when you bring up lateral throws.

Notre Dame doesn't have the ability to beat USC while handing them 17 points like that (or was it 21?). End of story, the playcalling was fine. They were in position but **** their pants.

Here's hoping they aren't too full of themselves should they win the next four before Stanford. They need to go into Palo Alto with a chip on their shoulder and ready to get after it out there. We should all be rooting for Stanford to win until then, because Notre Dame can play with anyone if they focus and they need to prove it already. I'm tired of this mediocrity.

 

[BGIF]

They also don't play a decent schedule. They just don't. See Utah's record this year to see what would happen in a major conference. But, yes, they execute like crazy.

^

Part of the reason they execute so well is 8 to 10 of their 12 games generally are scrimmages. Your QB can survey the field without risk to find his 4th WR with NO Stars DE opposing him. BSU will lose more players to injuries and bumps and sprains playing USF, UM, MSU, and PU. Think EJ, KLM, and Motta among others.

How would the hold up physically playing CAL, ORE, STAN week after week. Yes, they played UGA this year. How would they do following that with South Carolina and GT?

 

[Buster Bluth]

To be fair, many BCS schools have watered down their schedule to the point where it's really a push.

 

[BGIF]

To be fair, many BCS schools have watered down their schedule to the point where it's really a push.

To be fair, most still play 3 or 4 tough games. Here's the opponents for a half dozen of the BCS contenders I put up in another thread on Saturday night.

OKS has KSU in 2 weeks, TT the next, and OU on 12/3.

OU has TT next week, then KSU, A&M and OKS 12/3.

Stanford has USC next week, then ORE CAL and ND.

Clemson has GT next week, 2 weeks to WF, and close with SCA 11/26 then the ACC Game against likely VT in a rematch.

KSU runs the gauntlet with OU, OKS, A&M, and UTX in 4 straight.

ORE has UW, SU, and USC in a row.

BSU doesn't face that kind of slate in 4 years of regular season games.

 

[alohagoirish]

I think this thread needs a little balance. Kelly clearly deserves as much blame as the players for this saturday debacle. He is the head coach and that means something tangible.
To give kelly credit for every positive step the program makes and every win we manage, and then blame the players for everything negative that goes down, i'm sorry that just is not kosher in my book.

USC seemed to know exactly what to do, and it was not the deep pass attack that we all expected. Instead they went right after our weakness running at EJ's spot. We clearly were not prepared for that,our staff was looking at a deep pass attack as well and the defense was caught totally flatfooted. Credit USC staff for smart planning--Debit ND staff for being unprepared.

When an entire team comes out flat, IMHO that is absolutely not an issue with players its an issue with the staff. having your team primed for the game has become a science in football. When to eat, when to practice, when to have contact, and a dozen other variables come into play. When an entire team comes out flat that is a preparation a coaching issue for the most part.

Having only 9 running plays , even with the excuse of playing from behind, simply was poor strategy from the playcaller.

USC came out primed to attack our weakness. We came out somewhat planless, our opening drives were very difficult to find what the object was, what weakness Kelly was attacking. One drive stalled due to the bazarr call of a REES pitch option on second & two. Why not just run right at them and get the first down ? That play had turnover written all over it, a 7 yard loss was actually a good outcome, but that killed drive 2. Drive 3 was killed with the QB switch. that made little to no sense. Hendrix was even passing it was a rythm breaker and a drive killer and once more , what was the weakness we were attacking.

The fast start--the opening strategy as important in football as it is in chess was all credit to USC planning and debit to ND planning.

USC held the ball for a whopping 40 minutes while we got a measily 20. There is plenty of questions for Diaco and by extension Kelly himself as the head man, the man where the buck stops. Its one thing to be outmanned by a better team in the trenches, but USC's OLINE is not a veteran line at all, yet they outmuscled us and pushed us all over the field. They started with a 7 minute drive and they ended with a 7 minute drive. The defensive approach to this game should be questioned IMO.

I won't even get into leaving the timeouts on the field and not even bothering to take the ball back for one last possession. Or the fact that you could almost feel papable panic from the sidelines when REES went down, it got so chaotic a turnover was not a fluke . If Coach had been decisive and either played hendrix or crist, odds are we score. Rotating hendrix in the redzone only to put crist back in again--wow thats asking for trouble. We go so rarely from under center , it was all just very messy & for a team like ours , a team with a proven knack of turning the ball over, it was too many switches.

The team was not up to standards on defense or offense. Blame players individually or collectively but understand the head coach & staff did not coach the best game or have their finest hour on many counts, while supervising this debacle.

 

[irish4ever]

Nothing could pain me more than to agree with Cowherd, but....

Here, here! I feel the exact same way!