General team info

[dublinirish]

In Sampson's article he said Scrauth out for season and Craig out a month

Did MF mix them up? He said Craig was out for year


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[GrangerIrish24]

Schrauth was in a boot and on crutches……Craig was on the sidelines sitting in a chair with his knee brace off (didn’t see him on crutches)

I thought Schrauth tore his achilles the way he was holding his leg

 

[Giddyup]

I don’t think he could reach his ankle with that belly.

 

[jprue24]

Coach O went 11-12 in his last two years and lost the players respect and the locker room. Couple that was some of his embarrassing and stupid comments and actions, it was inevitable. The stadium was empty and the few that were there were booing louder than at the ND-NIU game.

Also, I keep seeing that about BK and from a distance, I agree. He comes across as smug and an asshole, yet I keep seeing videos like the below that are a direct contrast and conflict with those assumptions. Who knows? Maybe the locker room likes him after all? He needs to coach better, however.

---

This had me pumped up

 

[LifelongFan]

Kelly was and is undeniably an asshole. I doubt anyone will argue with that. He is a damn good coach and I am glad he was our coach for as long as he was. I think it was time to separate and that kind of personality can be grating, but how he turned around this program is pretty remarkable. Other than 2016, he won 93 games over 9 seasons. 10 wins a year on average, be an asshole all you want as long as it doesn't cross into abuse and the program is clean off the field.

 

[indianamouse]

Kelly was and is undeniably an asshole. I doubt anyone will argue with that. He is a damn good coach and I am glad he was our coach for as long as he was. I think it was time to separate and that kind of personality can be grating, but how he turned around this program is pretty remarkable. Other than 2016, he won 93 games over 9 seasons. 10 wins a year on average, be an asshole all you want as long as it doesn't cross into abuse and the program is clean off the field.

10 games a year and got blown out in every game that mattered. Yes he beat the teams he should, but the team never showed up for the big games. That's on coaching.

 

[IrishLion]

10 games a year and got blown out in every game that mattered. Yes he beat the teams he should, but the team never showed up for the big games. That's on coaching.

Too many letdowns in big games, sure…

But saying they **never** showed up in big games is revisionist history, unless your definition of “Big Game” is simply bowl games.

 

[Hautian Domer]

10 games a year and got blown out in every game that mattered. Yes he beat the teams he should, but the team never showed up for the big games. That's on coaching.

Not so sure about that. Quickly off the top of my head and I may have some years mixed up, but see 2012 season, 2014: FSU, 2017: Georgia, USC, LSU, 2018: Michigan, Stanford, 2019: Georgia. Some were losses, some were wins, but a lot were big games that we were right in the mix and not "blown out."

Truthfully, he's played harder opponents than Freeman and has had comparable results. Losing on the goal line with 10-men on the field to last year's Ohio State team ... a team that frankly wasn't that good ... is not something to feel good about and put on your CV.

 

[stpeteirish]

Maybe we can stop talking about Brian Kelly or at least put it in a thread labeled "Brian Kelly". Live in the present.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Maybe we can stop talking about Brian Kelly or at least put it in a thread labeled "Brian Kelly". Live in the present.

This.

 

[Huntr]

Stats image, for non twitter users

 

[Irish du Nord]

Stats image, for non twitter users
View attachment 3056483

RTDB and use the TEs

…did Tommy Rees make this analysis

 

[Punky]

Stats image, for non twitter users
View attachment 3056483

I'm certainly not a coaching whiz by any stretch of the imagination, but isn't it rather undesirable to have 7% of your offensive plays be sacks or scrambles?

 

[Crazy Balki]

Too many letdowns in big games, sure…

But saying they **never** showed up in big games is revisionist history, unless your definition of “Big Game” is simply bowl games.

I'd consider "big games" as prominent major matchups, like against top 10 caliber opponents, big road games or obviously NY6/BCS/CFP games.

2010: vs. Stanford (L 14-37)
2011: @ Michigan (L 31-35), vs. USC (L 17-31), @ Stanford (L 14-28)
2012: vs. Stanford (W 20-13), @ Oklahoma (W 30-13), vs. Alabama (L 14-42)
2013: @ Michigan (L 30-41), vs. Oklahoma (L 21-35), @ Stanford (L 20-27)
2014: @ Florida St (L 27-31), @ Arizona State (L 31-55)
2015: @ Clemson (L 22-24), @ Temple (24-20), @ Stanford (L 36-38), vs. Ohio State (L 28-44)
2016: vs. Michigan State (L 28-36), @ USC (L 27-45)
2017: vs. Georgia (L 19-20), vs. USC (W 49-14), @ Miami (L 8-41), @ Stanford (L 20-38)
2018: vs. Michigan (W 24-17), vs. Stanford (W 38-17), vs. Virginia Tech (W 45-23), vs. Syracuse (W 36-3), vs. Clemson (L 3-30)
2019: @ Georgia (L 17-23), @ Michigan (L 14-45)
2020: @ Clemson (W 47-40), @ North Carolina (W 31-17), vs. Clemson (L 10-34), vs. Alabama (L 14-31)
2021: vs. Cincinnati (L 13-24)

10-25 in those type of games. "Never" may not be accurate, but it sure as hell was a once in a blue moon occasion.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

I'd consider "big games" as prominent major matchups, like against top 10 caliber opponents, big road games or obviously NY6/BCS/CFP games.

2010: vs. Stanford (L 14-37)
2011: @ Michigan (L 31-35), vs. USC (L 17-31), @ Stanford (L 14-28)
2012: vs. Stanford (W 20-13), @ Oklahoma (W 30-13), vs. Alabama (L 14-42)
2013: @ Michigan (L 30-41), vs. Oklahoma (L 21-35), @ Stanford (L 20-27)
2014: @ Florida St (L 27-31), @ Arizona State (L 31-55)
2015: @ Clemson (L 22-24), @ Temple (24-20), @ Stanford (L 36-38), vs. Ohio State (L 28-44)
2016: vs. Michigan State (L 28-36), @ USC (L 27-45)
2017: vs. Georgia (L 19-20), vs. USC (W 49-14), @ Miami (L 8-41), @ Stanford (L 20-38)
2018: vs. Michigan (W 24-17), vs. Stanford (W 38-17), vs. Virginia Tech (W 45-23), vs. Syracuse (W 36-3), vs. Clemson (L 3-30)
2019: @ Georgia (L 17-23), @ Michigan (L 14-45)
2020: @ Clemson (W 47-40), @ North Carolina (W 31-17), vs. Clemson (L 10-34), vs. Alabama (L 14-31)
2021: vs. Cincinnati (L 13-24)

10-25 in those type of games. "Never" may not be accurate, but it sure as hell was a once in a blue moon occasion.

Not to rush to the aid of fuBK at all, but including @Temple in 2015 and omitting @ (10) Sparty and vs. (18) scUM (and finally slaying their arch-nemeses in Denard Robinson) in 2012 seems inconsistent. But that's a lot of football season you just listed off so I'm sure there are even others.

I'd also add in 17-14 over #14 Stanford in '14. Might be others. Those were perennial Rose Bowl teams under Shaw. But if you include those, he's still 13-25 (.342).

In summary, he wasn't good in big games, to be sure. MF seems better so far, but there are those head scratchers against the inferior teams that BK routinely took care of from 2012 until he packed his bags. That was year three for him.

 

[NDTH91]

But if you include those, he's still 13-25 (.464).

Think that's actually .342... but the point stands, it's not good

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Think that's actually .342... but the point stands, it's not good

it is definitely .342 lmao my bad

 

[stlnd01]

Not to rush to the aid of fuBK at all, but including @Temple in 2015 and omitting @ (10) Sparty and vs. (18) scUM (and finally slaying their arch-nemeses in Denard Robinson) in 2012 seems inconsistent. But that's a lot of football season you just listed off so I'm sure there are even others.

I'd also add in 17-14 over #14 Stanford in '14. Might be others. Those were perennial Rose Bowl teams under Shaw. But if you include those, he's still 13-25 (.342).

In summary, he wasn't good in big games, to be sure. MF seems better so far, but there are those head scratchers against the inferior teams that BK routinely took care of from 2012 until he packed his bags. That was year three for him.

In his later years, BK found ways to gut out a win in those head-scratchers. Vanderbilt in '18. Toledo in '21. Etc. So far, Freeman has lost them. That's probably the biggest differentiator in BK's favor at this point.
It's not a huge difference, a few points in a few games, except that right now for us it's the difference between being #5 in the country and needing to run the table to make the playoffs.

In big games, Freeman has been better and I don't think it's that close. In 2 1/4 years, he has beaten eight ranked teams (ranked at the time of the game, which I would contend is more relevant in this context than end-of-season rankings. When we played USC last year they were a Top 10 team; it's not our fault we broke them).
It took BK until his sixth season - 2015 - to notch his eighth win over a ranked team. And Freeman's teams have never been blown off the field the way Kelly's were often in big games.

Someone on here was noting after NIU how the team seems to feed on MF's level of emotion. When he's up and it's a big game they're so locked in. But you can't be that up every week. Something for him to work on.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

Not to rush to the aid of fuBK at all, but including @Temple in 2015 and omitting @ (10) Sparty and vs. (18) scUM (and finally slaying their arch-nemeses in Denard Robinson) in 2012 seems inconsistent. But that's a lot of football season you just listed off so I'm sure there are even others.

I'd also add in 17-14 over #14 Stanford in '14. Might be others. Those were perennial Rose Bowl teams under Shaw. But if you include those, he's still 13-25 (.342).

In summary, he wasn't good in big games, to be sure. MF seems better so far, but there are those head scratchers against the inferior teams that BK routinely took care of from 2012 until he packed his bags. That was year three for him.

Also left out was the choke job vs FSU in the Champs Bowl after the 2011 season. BK couldn’t beat Jimbo to save his life…even at LSU.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

In his later years, BK found ways to gut out a win in those head-scratchers. Vanderbilt in '18. Toledo in '21. Etc.

Someone on here was noting after NIU how the team seems to feed on MF's level of emotion. When he's up and it's a big game they're so locked in. But you can't be that up every week. Something for him to work on.

I was at both of these games. Not fun....Vandy in '18, I just remember how much Wimbush struggled to connect with his WRs. Sound familiar? Striking parallels between Ian Book and Angeli at this point in their respective careers.....

I agree, I think that's one of the challenges of coaching is how do you find a consistent message that resonates with the guys for consistent performance, yet find a way to dial it up for the big games to really fire up the troops.

It seems like MF has the latter, but definitely needs to find a way to avoid the let downs. Can't come out flat again at home on Saturday.

 

[FWIrish4]

I was at both of these games. Not fun....Vandy in '18, I just remember how much Wimbush struggled to connect with his WRs. Sound familiar? Striking parallels between Ian Book and Angeli at this point in their respective careers.....

I agree, I think that's one of the challenges of coaching is how do you find a consistent message that resonates with the guys for consistent performance, yet find a way to dial it up for the big games to really fire up the troops.

It seems like MF has the latter, but definitely needs to find a way to avoid the let downs. Can't come out flat again at home on Saturday.

Don’t forget Ball St that same year too!

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Don’t forget Ball St that same year too!

For sure. ND would've destroyed Ball State IMO if they just let Wimbush cook and do what he did well, a la Leonard vs. Purdue. But they insisted on making one of the best athletes on the field one-dimensional and a pocket passer. As if one week of that kind of prep would turn him into Dan Marino against a MAC opponent

 

[Crazy Balki]

Not to rush to the aid of fuBK at all, but including @Temple in 2015 and omitting @ (10) Sparty and vs. (18) scUM (and finally slaying their arch-nemeses in Denard Robinson) in 2012 seems inconsistent. But that's a lot of football season you just listed off so I'm sure there are even others.

I'd also add in 17-14 over #14 Stanford in '14. Might be others. Those were perennial Rose Bowl teams under Shaw. But if you include those, he's still 13-25 (.342).

In summary, he wasn't good in big games, to be sure. MF seems better so far, but there are those head scratchers against the inferior teams that BK routinely took care of from 2012 until he packed his bags. That was year three for him.

I already had Temple on the list.

You may be misremembering the '14 Stanford squad. They were average, as they finished 8-5 that year. They weren't on the same level as the Stanford teams of the previous 4 years.

I'm already stretching to include the likes of VT, who finished 6-7, so you could probably replace that with Sparty '12, but Sparty was a paper tiger. They finished 7-6. So both on that list are questionable. As for Michigan in '12, eh, they were a fringe ranked team, in a home game. Yeah, I get the whole slaying the demon narrative, but you should be winning games against lower ranked opponents at home. And again, they turned out to be a very average 8-5 team. So while beating scUM is always a treat, I can't put them in that same category, since they weren't anywhere close to a top 10 caliber opponent.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

I already had Temple on the list.

You may be misremembering the '14 Stanford squad. They were average, as they finished 8-5 that year. They weren't on the same level as the Stanford teams of the previous 4 years.

I'm already stretching to include the likes of VT, who finished 6-7, so you could probably replace that with Sparty '12, but Sparty was a paper tiger. They finished 7-6. So both on that list are questionable. As for Michigan in '12, eh, they were a fringe ranked team, in a home game. Yeah, I get the whole slaying the demon narrative, but you should be winning games against lower ranked opponents at home. And again, they turned out to be a very average 8-5 team. So while beating scUM is always a treat, I can't put them in that same category, since they weren't anywhere close to a top 10 caliber opponent.

I know you included Temple, and we are probably just splitting hairs at this point, but that's why I started listing off a few of those other teams. Temple finished 10-4 that year as a G5 school.

 

[ab2cmiller]

15 years ago today

 

[stlnd01]

15 years ago today

And more than one IE avatar was born. A great day.

 

[Huntr]

I thought I was gonna stroke out, I was laughing so hard when that happened.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

I was worried he was going to impale himself on a flute.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

That was also the first home win against Michigan State in a while correct?

Weird rivalry in that the road team won more often than not.

Sparty comes back to South Bend in two years.

 

[ulukinatme]

That was also the first home win against Michigan State in a while correct?

Weird rivalry in that the road team won more often than not.

Sparty comes back to South Bend in two years.

Sounds about right, for whatever reason the road teams won out for awhile. 2009 was the leap. 2007 would have been a loss if we played them, I don't recall...blocked that season mostly from memory. 2005 was a late loss at home that resulted in the flag planting, which we'd get revenge the next year in the Mike Valenti rant game. 2003 would have been a loss, but 2004 was a win in East Lansing where Zibby stripped their RB and ran it back for a TD in a huge momentum swing.