Tommy Rees named starter for Champs Sports Bowl

[BurningRiver]

we need to move on. Rees is not the future. Don't know if it's Hendrix, but I really don't think it's Rees. FSU has a good D. I'd rather have Hendrix out there running the option than have Rees out there sitting like a statue in the pocket waiting for someone to get open. Oh well.

 

[North Buffalo Irish]

The correct answer was supposed to be....NO. They do not.

You sure about that? FSU's points allowed in their last 7 games (in which they are 6-1):

7, 14, 19, 7, 0, 16, 16. That's 11 points per game allowed since their 2-3 start.

2010 Miami's defense was not that good.

 

[GoldenDomer87]

Are they faster than Da U from last season?

I don't know. FSU is better coached and they are better than Michigan St. (161, 1, 1), USC (190, 0, 1) and Stanford (60, 0, 1).


Those were the better defenses ND played. Those are passing yards, tds, and ints. That doesn't include the fumble against Mich St. as well.

Edit: I just think Hendrix gives ND a more potent offense. When you play a good defense you need as many points as possible.

 

[kmoose]

I don't know. FSU is better coached and they are better than Michigan St. (161, 1, 1), USC (190, 0, 1) and Stanford (60, 0, 1).


Those were the better defenses ND played. Those are passing yards, tds, and ints. That doesn't include the fumble against Mich St. as well.

Edit: I just think Hendrix gives ND a more potent offense. When you play a good defense you need as many points as possible.

Michigan State has a better D than Florida State, and we hung 30+ on them. It will be a test, for sure, but it's not an impossible task.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Michigan State has a better D than Florida State, and we hung 30+ on them. It will be a test, for sure, but it's not an impossible task.

Thank you...

 

[N_D_Fighting_Irish]

Hendrix is going to play...a ton. Rees being the starter means that FSU will have to prepare for both.

Face it, do you really want all the pressure put on Hendrix going against an SEC type defense giving up like 14 pts a game? If and when Rees struggles, Andrew can play the hero role in a back-up situation. If Hendrix were to start and struggle, then where do we go from there? Back to limited Rees?

I think we all saw that Kelly will finally pull Rees when the team is struggling. Hendrix will play a lot (Kelly said he'll have a 'package', which I'm sure is being expanded big-time), so I'm not even worrying about this one at all.

Isn't one of the unquestioned attritubes of Rees is that he is mentally tough. I imagine Rees would handle the benching as well as Crist did. If Hendrix struggles terribly, Rees, with all the experience he has gained, should step in and help this team. Hendrix NEEDS to experience the pressure and NEEDS to experience playing against a fast defense. No reason to start Rees or even to play Rees...unless Rees is still in the running to start next year.

 

[GoldenDomer87]

Michigan State has a better D than Florida State, and we hung 30+ on them. It will be a test, for sure, but it's not an impossible task.

7 points came on special teams and 3 came from a RJ return in mop up duty. (Nothing Rees had to do with)

Rees can pick apart Maryland and Purdue, but it sure didn't feel that way against Mich St., USC, or Stanford. Look, I'm just stating my observations from (what I would like to think) a pretty educated football fan.

Don't get me confused though, I'm going to the game and will be cheering the Irish on like crazy.

 

[phgreek]

If I were Kelly I wouldnt have told reporters that I was starting Tommy. Coach D on power hour said Kelly would be dumb if he announced who the starter was. Now FSU has a month to plan for Tommy.

hope they do just that...how'd stanford look when Andrew took the field...they looked stunned.

Tommy is the named starter because, well...why wouldn't he be? He got hurt against Stanford, he will start. If we do not run the ball effectively, he'll get 3 and longs, drop 8, and we'll stall. If that happens Andrew will get the Lion's share of the remaining snaps.

I don't think it matters who we name as the starter because there simply isn't any real film on Andrew to study anyway...they'll look real hard at the Stanford game, and put some schemes in to contain Andrew...won't be adequate.

In the end we'll score between 13 and 20 points unless we get help from D and STs.

Can we hold them to less than that...we should.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Isn't one of the unquestioned attritubes of Rees is that he is mentally tough. I imagine Rees would handle the benching as well as Crist did. If Hendrix struggles terribly, Rees, with all the experience he has gained, should step in and help this team. Hendrix NEEDS to experience the pressure and NEEDS to experience playing against a fast defense. No reason to start Rees or even to play Rees...unless Rees is still in the running to start next year.

Rees is still a member of this team and is still very much in contention for next year....much to the chagrin of many here.

 

[Rocket89]

FSU has a S+P ranked defense of 6th nationally.

MSU is at 7th in the country.

That doesn't include this weekend's game against Wisconsin for Sparty---in which they would tumble a bit in the rankings.

Pretty close defenses, personally think FSU's speed makes them quite a bit more dangerous.

 

[Rocket89]

Also, I have no problem with Rees starting and I expected it. And I'm pretty pro-Hendrix in my overall sentiments.

You can't throw Hendrix in for this game if he's not ready. Rees has been the starter and can start this one out and see how he does with Hendrix coming in periodically or taking over if Rees truly struggles.

It's really not that controversial.

 

[North Buffalo Irish]

Michigan State has a better D than Florida State, and we hung 30+ on them. It will be a test, for sure, but it's not an impossible task.

They do?! MSU's points allowed since the victory over Michigan:

31, 24, 21, 3 (Indiana), 17 (Northwestern), 42.

Sparty's defense was awesome against the likes of Youngstown State, Florida Atlantic, Central Michigan, and Ohio State's anemic "offense". Since their impressive showing against Denard, not so much.

 

[DillonHall]

Michigan State has a better D than Florida State, and we hung 30+ on them. It will be a test, for sure, but it's not an impossible task.

I'm not sure how you can definitively say that Michigan State's defense is better. Besides, that was a long time ago, before defenses learned how to defend us. And Michigan State is an exception, please stop alluding to the win when you have much more recent and numerous examples to the contrary.

EDIT: others echoed my thoughts while I was typing

 

[kmoose]

FSU has a S+P ranked defense of 6th nationally.

MSU is at 7th in the country.

That doesn't include this weekend's game against Wisconsin for Sparty---in which they would tumble a bit in the rankings.

Pretty close defenses, personally think FSU's speed makes them quite a bit more dangerous.

I have no idea what a S+P ranked defense is.....

but according to the NCAA, Michigan State is 5th in Total Defense, while FSU is 6th.

http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2011&rpt=IA_teamtotdef&site=org&div=IA&dest=O

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

I have no idea what a S+P ranked defense is.....

but according to the NCAA, Michigan State is 5th in Total Defense, while FSU is 6th.

http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2011&rpt=IA_teamtotdef&site=org&div=IA&dest=O

It's a premium stat...

 

[Rocket89]

I have no idea what a S+P ranked defense is.....

but according to the NCAA, Michigan State is 5th in Total Defense, while FSU is 6th.

http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2011&rpt=IA_teamtotdef&site=org&div=IA&dest=O

It's a stat used by Football Outsiders using fancy adjustments and such.

Most of the stats have both teams pretty even anyway.

F/+ has FSU at 8th and MSU at 10th.

FSU held 9 opponents under 350 yards per game. So did MSU.

FSU's performance against Oklahoma (310 yards---season low for what was then a healthy Sooner offense) is a pretty scary omen.

I think MSU is a little more experienced, probably better coached, but FSU has more raw talent, speed, and playmaking ability.

 

[betecd]

Isn't one of the unquestioned attritubes of Rees is that he is mentally tough. I imagine Rees would handle the benching as well as Crist did. If Hendrix struggles terribly, Rees, with all the experience he has gained, should step in and help this team. Hendrix NEEDS to experience the pressure and NEEDS to experience playing against a fast defense. No reason to start Rees or even to play Rees...unless Rees is still in the running to start next year.

This is how I feel about Rees as QB:

Consuela says "No" for about 30 seconds - YouTube

 

[Who'saWildManNow]

^

 

[returnofthemack]

Hendrix is not going to catch FSU off-guard. They have a month to prepare for us and Pitt, Wake, BC, USC, and Stanford have given them the pretty simple blueprint to take care of Tommy. This is a game where Jonas will really be missed. I feel like the power running game would have worked pretty well since the FSU defense is more about speed than power. Whatever, hopefully Kelly makes better use of his preparation time than he did against USC.

 

[t3hjc]

I hope not, or else Rees may complete less than 50% of his passes (15/29 vs. Miami last year).

Rees played well against Miami. Let's knock it off with the baseless disparaging.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Hendrix is not going to catch FSU off-guard. They have a month to prepare for us and Pitt, Wake, BC, USC, and Stanford have given them the pretty simple blueprint to take care of Tommy. This is a game where Jonas will really be missed. I feel like the power running game would have worked pretty well since the FSU defense is more about speed than power. Whatever, hopefully Kelly makes better use of his preparation time than he did against USC.

Ethan Johnson is going to be under center for the Irish. Surprise!!!

 

[returnofthemack]

Miami had just lost their head coach. The situations are not the same. FSU also has more talent on their D than the U did.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Rees played well against Miami. Let's knock it off with the baseless disparaging.

BINGO!!!!

 

[GreatGolson]

i agree with some of the posters above, start hendrix, if he struggles put in rees to try and manage the game. in reality though i think we will see hendrix in as much if not more than he was in stanford (before tommu was benched altogether)

 

[returnofthemack]

Ethan Johnson is going to be under center for the Irish. Surprise!!!

Now that's a hell of a wildcat. Though I'd prefer Bruce Heggie.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

If I'm Hendrix, I'm considering a transfer. Clearly Rees can do no wrong and Hendrix won't get the job even if he earns it.

 

[dshans]

For some reason this thread brought this to my addled mind. It may be a bit out of bounds, but "that's how I roll."

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dXeNqwNC5Y0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I apologize for the reversed image and subtitles, but this is the best video and audio reproduction I found available on the youtube thingy.

Have at it, lads and lassies. Qué sera, sera. I'll be drinkin', screamin', shoutin' "Praise the Lord" or cryin' in me tumbler o' Jameson with y'all come game night. Come hell, high water, Rees, Hendrix or Crist.

March on to victory ...

 

[North Buffalo Irish]

Rees played well against Miami. Let's knock it off with the baseless disparaging.

Mm, not really. He played okay. Didn't turn the ball over and let Miami self-destruct.

 

[NDdomer2]

Well it won't be Crist. Kelly said he won't have much time to practice with team while trying to find a new location.

 

[NDinL.A.]

If I'm Hendrix, I'm considering a transfer. Clearly Rees can do no wrong and Hendrix won't get the job even if he earns it.

Yeah, cause that makes a ton of sense. You transfer, sit out yet another year, and start your 4th year in college having played only a couple of games in your entire career, never having started, and now you have to fight for your job again.

Meanwhile, at ND, you play well in the bowl game (b/c for the life of me I can;t see how you don't realize that he's going to play a ton), stick your nose in the playbook and work like hell all off-season, and you go into next year as the favorite to be the starter.

I think I like the latter better...