Is it time for a change?

[ickythump1225]

He is just too inconsistent for us to go 12-0 or even 11-1

Golson's record as a starter in 2012 11-0* (he missed the first snap of the Miami game but played every other snap) with ND going 12-0 and going to the MNC.

Perhaps you became a fan this season?

 

[IrishLax]

I don't know how you bench Golson, but his turnovers (some of which were just absurdly bad luck) are 100% of the reason why ND lost this game. And they've been a problem for awhile.

So something has to be done. I don't know what though.

 

[averagejoe]

Does anyone actually think we would win more games with Malik Zaire playing?

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Does anyone actually think we would win more games with Malik Zaire playing?

No, but since the future is all some people here like to talk about, it makes sense to play him NOW!!!

 

[IrishSteelhead]

I don't know how you bench Golson, but his turnovers (some of which were just absurdly bad luck) are 100% of the reason why ND lost this game. And they've been a problem for awhile.

So something has to be done. I don't know what though.

The "oopsies" are bound to happen, it's the "head scratchers" that need to be cut the eff out. The latter is starting to outnumber the former at an astronomical rate.

 

[IrishinSyria]

I don't know how you bench Golson, but his turnovers (some of which were just absurdly bad luck) are 100% of the reason why ND lost this game. And they've been a problem for awhile.

So something has to be done. I don't know what though.

Yea, but the O-line was like 80% of the reason for the turnovers.

 

[scUM Hater]

The only change is to drop Navy and join ACC full time. They have to win a conference championship to get to final 4. If they won out with 1 loss they wouldn't have gotten it. Welcome to ACC.

 

[Henges24]

The way this line is playing, hell no. Zaire isn't going to be able to avoid tackles and sacks the way Golson does. Many of Golsons picks this year have come off of deflections and missed catches like Robinsons tonight.

 

[NDBoiler]

16-3 as a starter. Bench him.

To play devil's advocate, as the stat above is often cited in support of Golson, here's another stat: 17-5. That's 17 turnovers in his last 5 games.

I would also point out that the 2012 wins were due in large part to an outstanding defense and not nearly as much to EGs play that season.

 

[BeauBenken]

I agree that there was some bad luck there, but Golson continues to struggle with recognizing blitzes, seeing open receivers and generally making bad decisions at very bad times. I guess we'll have to just take the good with the bad, but I'm going to be old and gray pretty quick at this pace!

ASU would switch their blitz look after our line had called its protection. It was a great job by an athletic ASU team that changed this game not Golson's inability to recognize the blitzes. He's actually pretty damn good at spinning out of blindside blitz, you just can't expect him to do it all the time.

While in the stat book, it will look like all the turnovers are on Golson's shoulders in actuality there are a lot more people to blame other than Golson.

 

[Irishman77]

Anyone want to discuss how slow golson looks running and how out of breath he is after he does run. The added weight did him zero good!

Zaire is a true dual threat and I can't wait!

 

[NDfan12]

Golson is our QB. End of discussion. If anything it's the philosphy of the program that needs to change. How many times these last five or six years have we comeback..gotten close and then the defense lets the other team score on a handful of plays ? Need to have that killer instinct where you put your foot on a team's throat and don't let up until the clock reads 0:00 at the end of four quarters.

 

[scUM Hater]

Anyone want to discuss how slow golson looks running and how out of breath he is after he does run. The added weight did him zero good!

Zaire is a true dual threat and I can't wait!

Wow, you should be posting in the "what are you drinking thread". Without Golson today it would've been a lot worse

 

[Irishnuke]

Golson is our QB. End of discussion. If anything it's the philosphy of the program that needs to change. How many times these last five or six years have we comeback..gotten close and then the defense lets the other team score on a handful of plays ? Need to have that killer instinct where you put your foot on a team's throat and don't let up until the clock reads 0:00 at the end of four quarters.

Golson lost this game for ND, not the defense.

 

[Irishman77]

People can fall in love with a qb like they do a CEO ...but when the stock crashes 50% or the qb turns it over a dozen times in a few games it's time to think different. That is painful but change isn't a choice in these situations.

 

[scUM Hater]

To be in this position during the Davie/Willingham/Weis years would've been a miracle. Anyone off the eagincan forward to to me.

 

[EifertPower]

I'm about a pessimistic as a gets regarding ND football...but i think Golson can win the Heisman next year and have ND 11-1. The bigger issue is why our offensive line is regressing after we thought we had great depth in this position.

We didn't lose this game because of Golson. We lost because of poor preparation, bad decisions, lack of focus, bad adjustments, and poor tackling. Golson fumbles were really bad plays. Most of the interceptions were just really bad luck. And the one at the beginning of the third quarter was influenced by the pressure on his blind side. If he holds that ball a half of second longer he probably would've fumbled on the hit he was about to take.

 

[EifertPower]

Golson lost this game for ND, not the defense.

I disagree. Notre Dame lost this game. Not Golson, not the offensive line, not the defense. We were poor all around, coaching included.

 

[T Town Tommy]

I'm about a pessimistic as a gets regarding ND football...but i think Golson can win the Heisman next year and have ND 11-1. The bigger issue is why our offensive line is regressing after we thought we had great depth in this position.

We didn't lose this game because of Golson. We lost because of poor preparation, bad decisions, lack of focus, bad adjustments, and poor tackling. Golson fumbles were really bad plays. Most of the interceptions were just really bad luck. And the one at the beginning of the third quarter was influenced by the pressure on his blind side. If he holds that ball a half of second longer he probably would've fumbled on the hit he was about to take.

Who gives a crap about winning the Heisman? All Golson needs to do is win the games. The rest will come. Maybe some of this Heisman talk this year is distracting him. No QB wins the Heisman if he turns the ball over, doesn't learn from his mistakes, can't get past his first read in the passing game, and takes losses when all he needs to do is throw the ball in the cheap seats to play another down. Don't get me wrong here. I think Golson is the best option at QB for the Irish... but he has to realize how his ball security issues and poor choices are hurting his team.

Every group has to get better for the Irish to climb to the elite status. The OL has to learn how to pick up blitzes, the WRs have to hold on to the ball and learn how to get seperation, the RBs need to hit the hole (yes Cam does better than the rest) but Cam doesn't have that open field speed to get the big play some of the other backs have.

On defense, who knows. They have played well at times and other times they look horrible. When you can't stop the run, it's hard to lay blame on the cover backs. They can only cover so long, and let's face it, they aren't the greatest cover corners anyway.

Coaches? They need to explain why the team was so inept at picking up the blitz... especially when they knew ASU blitzed all the time. Defensive adjustments? Didn't see a lot of that the last 3-4 games. ASU tanked in the second half because they started sitting on the ball. I have faith in BVG, but it appears his in game adjustments aren't working well right now. And yes, I know you can't make major adjustments at halftime, but whatever he is doing right now is just not working out.

There is so much potential on this Irish team... but when does next year become this year? Time for the Irish to figure that out.

 

[irishff1014]

Who gives a crap about winning the Heisman? All Golson needs to do is win the games. The rest will come. Maybe some of this Heisman talk this year is distracting him. No QB wins the Heisman if he turns the ball over, doesn't learn from his mistakes, can't get past his first read in the passing game, and takes losses when all he needs to do is throw the ball in the cheap seats to play another down. Don't get me wrong here. I think Golson is the best option at QB for the Irish... but he has to realize how his ball security issues and poor choices are hurting his team.

Every group has to get better for the Irish to climb to the elite status. The OL has to learn how to pick up blitzes, the WRs have to hold on to the ball and learn how to get seperation, the RBs need to hit the hole (yes Cam does better than the rest) but Cam doesn't have that open field speed to get the big play some of the other backs have.

On defense, who knows. They have played well at times and other times they look horrible. When you can't stop the run, it's hard to lay blame on the cover backs. They can only cover so long, and let's face it, they aren't the greatest cover corners anyway.

Coaches? They need to explain why the team was so inept at picking up the blitz... especially when they knew ASU blitzed all the time. Defensive adjustments? Didn't see a lot of that the last 3-4 games. ASU tanked in the second half because they started sitting on the ball. I have faith in BVG, but it appears his in game adjustments aren't working well right now. And yes, I know you can't make major adjustments at halftime, but whatever he is doing right now is just not working out.

There is so much potential on this Irish team... but when does next year become this year? Time for the Irish to figure that out.

I can't rep you anymore. Nice post

 

[nsideirish]

Golson is our quarterback and will be our quarterback until he moves on.

 

[ulukinatme]

Again, last year "Tommy lost us the game," this year "It's not Golson's fault, it was a team effort."

 

[Bluto]

Again, last year "Tommy lost us the game," this year "It's not Golson's fault, it was a team effort."

Golson totally blew this one. He's the number one reason ND lost this game. Anybody else watch that kid from Ohio State light up Michigan State? Looked great running and throwing.

 

[ickythump1225]

Again, last year "Tommy lost us the game," this year "It's not Golson's fault, it was a team effort."

Well Golson has also willed us to victories and has been the major reason we're 7-2, I guess any way you look at it good or bad. I can't point to a single game where I thought "wow Tommy really won us that game that from start to finish."

 

[pkt77242]

Well Golson has also willed us to victories and has been the major reason we're 7-2, I guess any way you look at it good or bad. I can't point to a single game where I thought "wow Tommy really won us that game that from start to finish."

While I get what you are saying it is partly because Golson excels at the flashy things while Rees did things such as get us into the right play, call the protections and went through his progressions (all things that generally go unnoticed). Oddly if you took the best parts of Golden and Rees and mashed it together you would have an amazing QB. Well as long as it could avoid turning the ball over.

 

[ulukinatme]

Well Golson has also willed us to victories and has been the major reason we're 7-2, I guess any way you look at it good or bad. I can't point to a single game where I thought "wow Tommy really won us that game that from start to finish."

Quite frankly, I'd rather not rely on one player to keep you in every game because if they don't show up and you're relying on them. There were a number of games last season where Tommy played a great game, but he never got the credit. He was the scapegoat, people only wanted to acknowledge him when things were bad.

Can't have it both ways though, that's my point. Last year everything was Tommy's fault, this season it's a "team effort." I agree with the team effort sentiment, I just find the hypocrisy silly. Golson is obviously a much better athlete, but he might be even more turnover prone at this point than Tommy. Golson probably struggles more with his progressions and pressure, and although he's able to get away using his feet sometimes, that also is what ends up leading to his turnovers often times.

Also, you do realize at this point in the season last year we were 7-2 under Tommy? I would argue that for most of that season the defense was as good or worse than our current one. Better competition last season up to this point too, save for maybe Florida State.

 

[ickythump1225]

While I get what you are saying it is partly because Golson excels at the flashy things while Rees did things such as get us into the right play, call the protections and went through his progressions (all things that generally go unnoticed). Oddly if you took the best parts of Golden and Rees and mashed it together you would have an amazing QB. Well as long as it could avoid turning the ball over.

That was the most frustrating thing about Rees...he was always praised for being smart and all that but his picks were always mind blowing. Rees was good at a few things but so limited at others. Golson kind of reminds me of Brett Favre in that he's going to make you stand up in yell whether it's good or bad. Golson's explosive play making ability makes him worth keeping in the line up

 

[EddytoNow]

Golson's record as a starter in 2012 11-0* (he missed the first snap of the Miami game but played every other snap) with ND going 12-0 and going to the MNC.

Perhaps you became a fan this season?

Hardly. I've been a fan since the early 1960's. Regarding 2012, I remember a defense that was successful in keeping other teams out of the end zone, a Butkus award winning linebacker who made several timely interceptions, a missed call in overtime involving two players with the same number, a goal line stand against Stanford, a quarterback that was limited in what he was permitted to do, and a much maligned back-up quarterback who emerged to save our *** whenever needed while maintaining a team first attitude throughout the season. The success of 2012 was the result of a strong defense and a little luck, not Golson's ability to play consistently and lead the team. Granted Golson did look good in a couple of those victories, but isn't that the definition of inconsistency: Looking good one game and horrible the next.

It is that inconsistency that will cost us two to four games this season and next. Today is a prime example. One half Golson looks like Devin Gardner and we fall behind by 31 points. The next half he starts off by throwing an interception at the goal line before turning his game around to lead a come back that fell short.

 

[ulukinatme]

Golson's explosive play making ability makes him worth keeping in the line up

Sounds like the same people that were stumping for George Atkinson over Theo. Give me Theo consistency over home run threat everyday. You know what you're getting each game with those kinds of players.

 

[pkt77242]

That was the most frustrating thing about Rees...he was always praised for being smart and all that but his picks were always mind blowing. Rees was good at a few things but so limited at others. Golson kind of reminds me of Brett Favre in that he's going to make you stand up in yell whether it's good or bad. Golson's explosive play making ability makes him worth keeping in the line up

Yes and no with Golson. You have to make a crazy amount of explosive plays to make up for 17 turnovers in 5 games. That is just a fucking crazy stat. I don't think we should bench him for the next week but if he turns it over 3+ times next week then it might be time for a change (saying that we have at least a competent back up QB). Speaking of shitty QB play, at least our QBs know how to throw a forward pass unlike LSU's QB.