Humble thoughts:
a). Tommy Rees is just fine. He will have one of the most productive passing seasons in ND history.
b). Coach Kelly is just fine. He will scheme and direct us to a massive yardage and points total --- as much as he's allowed to do by Diaco's "give them the 20-to-20 yardlines" philosophy of eating time on the clock.
c). Maybe Coach will finally fall out of love with George Atkinson, and play RBs who can catch the ball. Dropping passes stops drives.
And now the really painful things.....
d). although I agree with all that BGIF has said about the defense and replacing Te'o, KLM, and Zeke [let alone Danny], we STILL should be better than we are showing so far. Sheldon Day is very good. Collinsworth is, supposedly, very field smart. The rest of the returning stars are a year older --- they should have improved ... but, no. We seem to have gone backwards.
e). My, and practically every green-koolaid drinker's, optimism about this team was founded upon the belief that the defense would be one of the top-5 if not THE best defense in the country. So far, we're OK, but far from top-5. Why?
f). some of this is what BGIF has said... loss of great leadership. But I believe that it's "worse" than that. This is my very unpopular breakdown:
1]. secondary is flawed. NOT Keivaree Russell. That TD pass was as well defended as one could ask. The ball was placed preternaturally. Farley still takes the wrong road and isn't instinctive. Sometimes he looks great; sometimes.... BJ will be generally "good". Collinsworth will improve with reps. We need him for his brains.
2]. Linebacking isn't productive. Councell and Smith seem athletic and eager enough. So does Grace. So does Shembo. So, in their own strange way would Foxabreese if they were back to sharing WILL situationally. What's wrong??
3]. Nix is efforting his a$$ off; so is Kona. So also seems Day. Tuitt?? I swear he's taking plays off. Is he still sub-par health-wise and everyone's keeping it mum??
But none of that seems sufficient to explain our gap between last year's play and this. If it's not the players [so much], then what?
What if Saban showed the world how to scheme this team, and "we" cannot effectively adjust?? Every opponent has that tape. What if, despite Big Lou elevating his motor to Olympian proportions [I have never seen a man of his size hustle so much], the opposing OCs "see" the ways to neutralize what last year we did so well?? But why haven't WE adjusted??
On the surface it seems like we are trying to with the increased blitzing, but it doesn't seem to work. Why not??
There are coaches who coach a "pretty good" game, and will forever be only pretty good. There are coaches who coach a perfect "fixed" system --- they are the Watchmakers. They are remarkably good at systematizing something that if you are not extremely "ready" for it, "it" will beat you. The Great Clockwork defensive system is what Diaco makes. As Barrett Jones said: they are good because they're simple. But they're simple.
When opponents figure out Great Clocks, IF they have great personnel themselves, the Clocks will not keep good time. The Clockmaker must adjust. Our DC is young at this job; I don't think that he's yet up to it. [I have yet to see a really good adjustment to defensive problems until we have had a halftime to think about them]. Lots of DCs are this way... but they are not the elite DCs. I have watched VT for years. Budd Foster watches the first one or two series, and figures it out before halftime.
And... despite linebacker training, some DCs know how to scheme and time and disguise and change blitzes, and some haven't quite got it [yet]. Watching us, we ain't got it.... lots of big effort to little real effect.
This defense for whatever the reasons has not improved, AND the opposing OCs have done so. .... Very disillusioning. Very off-putting for enthusiasm for another great season. Where I felt that we'd control almost every game on the schedule due to a suffocating defense, now.............. hah!, we better pray that Tommy really shines. He's going to have to outscore a bunch of teams now.
