Nov 2 | Virginia Tech

[IrishLax]

I don't like to criticize amateur athletes, if they're not playing well enough it's not their fault it's the coaches' fault (who are paid professionals) for recruiting them and putting them in that situation.

So I will just say that Chip Long should be BVG level fired at the end of this year, and I hope he is. In fact, I think he should've been canned before I woke up this morning. I could easily see ND losing to Duke and Navy with how the offense performed today... the *only* way to beat Navy is by playing better offense than them. You can't consistently stop their offense without a physical, disciplined front 7 and ND clearly doesn't have that.

Navy also ranks better than Notre Dame is advanced stats, suggesting any win for ND would be considered an upset at this point. The coaching staff should frankly be embarrassed with how they failed to address weaknesses on the team that have been evident since Week 1, and how the team has overall regressed rather than improved.

 

[Irishize]

While this team is above average, they just aren’t as good as we all thought/hoped they would be coming into the season. I think the word is “overrated”

 

[ulukinatme]

I don't like to criticize amateur athletes, if they're not playing well enough it's not their fault it's the coaches' fault (who are paid professionals) for recruiting them and putting them in that situation.

So I will just say that Chip Long should be BVG level fired at the end of this year, and I hope he is. In fact, I think he should've been canned before I woke up this morning. I could easily see ND losing to Duke and Navy with how the offense performed today... the *only* way to beat Navy is by playing better offense than them. You can't consistently stop their offense without a physical, disciplined front 7 and ND clearly doesn't have that.

Navy also ranks better than Notre Dame is advanced stats, suggesting any win for ND would be considered an upset at this point. The coaching staff should frankly be embarrassed with how they failed to address weaknesses on the team that have been evident since Week 1, and how the team has overall regressed rather than improved.

I think some fair criticism is fine, as long as it's respectful and not full of malice. I'll call a player out if they need to work on something, or I'll show their strengths with their weaknesses. Call a player "shitty" or say "they suck?" I'll neg someone for that. There's no room for it, these guys are student athletes for our university and deserve better. The average arm chair quarterbacks have no idea what it takes to be a college athlete at a school that takes grades seriously. Coaches, on the other hand? They're generally fair game. They're men, they're 40!

I'm also surprised Long still has a job, I hope at this point he's a dead man walking. I can't imagine how he retains his job after this season, he's certainly in BVG territory at this point. I would take Kelly's playcalling over the garbage we've seen the last few weeks.

 

[Bishop2b5]

After last year, I truly thought ND was past this, but I'm seeing a lot of the same old poor fundamentals and execution that plagued the team a few years ago. These are the sort of mistakes you'd expect in September, not November. On almost every play yesterday and against Michigan, there were players out of place, not looking back at the ball, losing containment, running sloppy routes, bad footwork, missed tackles, half-hearted blocking, and etc. A lot of sloppy play and confusion on some players' part that had little to do with talent and lots to do with attention to detail, effort and fundamentals. That screams assistant coaches not correcting basic mistakes or teaching good technique, and that falls on BK's shoulders for tolerating that from his staff.

 

[NDMontana]

After last year, I truly thought ND was past this, but I'm seeing a lot of the same old poor fundamentals and execution that plagued the team a few years ago. These are the sort of mistakes you'd expect in September, not November. On almost every play yesterday and against Michigan, there were players out of place, not looking back at the ball, losing containment, running sloppy routes, bad footwork, missed tackles, half-hearted blocking, and etc. A lot of sloppy play and confusion on some players' part that had little to do with talent and lots to do with attention to detail, effort and fundamentals. That screams assistant coaches not correcting basic mistakes or teaching good technique, and that falls on BK's shoulders for tolerating that from his staff.

I agree. While you enumerate the specifics, I thought the program in general was beyond getting blown out. I did not think they were done losing games and figured they would still lose some well contested games to Michigan, USC and teams of those ilk. To see them come out and get embarrassed like they did by Michigan was a sobering experience. Michigan has more talent but I did not think they had <I>that</I> much more talent.

So either that was extremely poor effort, bordering on quitting or ND is not even near having top 15 talent. Which is worse?

 

[irishtrain]

Yep! On one of Book's interceptions where Claypool was double-teamed, if he led Claypool, easy touchdown. Claypool had the double team beat.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Yes he did-I'm in on Book as spoken but he missed a touchdown there.

 

[IrishLax]

After last year, I truly thought ND was past this, but I'm seeing a lot of the same old poor fundamentals and execution that plagued the team a few years ago. These are the sort of mistakes you'd expect in September, not November. On almost every play yesterday and against Michigan, there were players out of place, not looking back at the ball, losing containment, running sloppy routes, bad footwork, missed tackles, half-hearted blocking, and etc. A lot of sloppy play and confusion on some players' part that had little to do with talent and lots to do with attention to detail, effort and fundamentals. That screams assistant coaches not correcting basic mistakes or teaching good technique, and that falls on BK's shoulders for tolerating that from his staff.

Pretty much this. Poor team culture/expectation that they can just show up and the other team will lay down. Entitlement. I do not blame the players, I blame the coaches. Last year and the year before we had "hungry" teams because of the team leaders... this year there is a leadership void and the coaches have not filled it.

I promise you all that if ND plays how they did against Virginia Tech in Durham they are going to be coming home with an L. And that's not even talking about Navy... who gives ND trouble, even when they're bad. Navy is a legit top 20ish team this year and has potential to embarrass Notre Dame at home.

 

[irishtrain]

Every game the rest of the year is going to be biting and clawing. There is no sure thing left on the schedule

That's because this is not an elite team-just a great bunch of college kids playing their $%%^# off and showing big grit-Kelly needs to get involved with a little more hands on detail but------ you can see he's coaching hard -real hard -they are fun to watch. Sometimes I just don't get the fan base-these guys are not a top 10 team-we all knew that but good God what an effort they put in every week-now go get Duke because it'll be another super bowl game for them.

 

[Irishize]

Pretty much this. Poor team culture/expectation that they can just show up and the other team will lay down. Entitlement. I do not blame the players, I blame the coaches. Last year and the year before we had "hungry" teams because of the team leaders... this year there is a leadership void and the coaches have not filled it.

I promise you all that if ND plays how they did against Virginia Tech in Durham they are going to be coming home with an L. And that's not even talking about Navy... who gives ND trouble, even when they're bad. Navy is a legit top 20ish team this year and has potential to embarrass Notre Dame at home.

I agree. At this rate, hard for the most optimistic fan to not see at least two more losses. I’m happy for Book for that great GW drive but that should’ve never been required. Maybe he & his teammates can build on that but I think it just delayed the inevitable which may be a Michigan-type debacle vs one of these inferior teams.

 

[Ndaccountant]

Pretty much this. Poor team culture/expectation that they can just show up and the other team will lay down. Entitlement. I do not blame the players, I blame the coaches. Last year and the year before we had "hungry" teams because of the team leaders... this year there is a leadership void and the coaches have not filled it.

I promise you all that if ND plays how they did against Virginia Tech in Durham they are going to be coming home with an L. And that's not even talking about Navy... who gives ND trouble, even when they're bad. Navy is a legit top 20ish team this year and has potential to embarrass Notre Dame at home.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=302962426

I am expecting to see a game like this

 

[stlnd01]

Pretty much this. Poor team culture/expectation that they can just show up and the other team will lay down. Entitlement. I do not blame the players, I blame the coaches. Last year and the year before we had "hungry" teams because of the team leaders... this year there is a leadership void and the coaches have not filled it.

I promise you all that if ND plays how they did against Virginia Tech in Durham they are going to be coming home with an L. And that's not even talking about Navy... who gives ND trouble, even when they're bad. Navy is a legit top 20ish team this year and has potential to embarrass Notre Dame at home.

I feel like player leadership and culture is the hardest thing to assess from outside, and the hardest thing to talk about. But the lack of it is a common ingredient in disappointing seasons. (which in my book this isn't quite... yet).

I do feel like, when you have SEVEN captains, I'm not sure that you really have any. I also think we all underestimated just how much experience - guys who'd been through a lot of ups and downs - we lost from last year. And not just obvious leaders like Tranquil but also non-captain seniors like Tillery, Coney and Dex Williams. Guys like that do a lot to set the tone. I do wonder if this team would feel different with Boykin and Love on it.

 

[BabyIrish]

I think some fair criticism is fine, as long as it's respectful and not full of malice. I'll call a player out if they need to work on something, or I'll show their strengths with their weaknesses. Call a player "shitty" or say "they suck?" I'll neg someone for that. There's no room for it, these guys are student athletes for our university and deserve better. The average arm chair quarterbacks have no idea what it takes to be a college athlete at a school that takes grades seriously. Coaches, on the other hand? They're generally fair game. They're men, they're 40!

I'm also surprised Long still has a job, I hope at this point he's a dead man walking. I can't imagine how he retains his job after this season, he's certainly in BVG territory at this point. I would take Kelly's playcalling over the garbage we've seen the last few weeks.

Amen to both you and Lax. Regardless of how they play, these guys put in a ton of hours each day and they deserve are respect. Yesterday, my son was on campus and the people he was with ran into Claypool and he stopped and took a picture with them. These guys really do care and the way we talk about them should reflect that.

 

[zelezo vlk]

I feel like player leadership and culture is the hardest thing to assess from outside, and the hardest thing to talk about. But the lack of it is a common ingredient in disappointing seasons. (which in my book this isn't quite... yet).

I do feel like, when you have SEVEN captains, I'm not sure that you really have any. I also think we all underestimated just how much experience - guys who'd been through a lot of ups and downs - we lost from last year. And not just obvious leaders like Tranquil but also non-captain seniors like Tillery, Coney and Dex Williams. Guys like that do a lot to set the tone. I do wonder if this team would feel different with Boykin and Love on it.

Big big big time