SB Tribune Post Game Articles

[SoCalDomer]

A couple of good articles in the South Bend Tribune today re: the bowl game.

Notre Dame football: Turnovers doom Irish again - southbendtribune.com

"I guess I'm not an offensive guy," Kelly said when pressed about the reputation that first coaxed, then followed him to Notre Dame following an enchanted 2009 at Cincinnati.

"So I'm going to have to evaluate everything that I do and how we do it, because we have to get our offense better. And when I say better, I'm not talking about the way our guys compete. I'm talking about we turn the ball over.

"And we cannot win football games at the highest level if we continue to turn the ball over. So the coach has got to get better. The players have got to get better and we have to solve this issue if we're going to be an elite football team."

I' don't quote that to vindicate my post re: something amiss with the offensive preparation/planning/recruiting/management, but it does seem Brian Kelly is at a loss to understand what is going so terribly wrong. I sure hope he figures it out this off-season.

 

[SoCalDomer]

Notre Dame football: Nothing little about Irish problems - southbendtribune.com

The Irish tag-team plan to direct the offense failed miserably. Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix were unable to generate any sort of consistency.

With the game on the line, they crumbled under the pressure.

...

C'mon, Gunner. Want to reconsider?

"We turned the ball over," Irish coach Brian Kelly said. "We had miscues. We had some penalties that really hurt us. When you play quality competition, you have to clean up the little things."

Little things? Considering the impact on the outcome of the game, those "little things" seemed pretty big.

Lesar is right, the little things like three interceptions kept them from winning, but the problem right now with the offense is that it simply is not going anywhere. Major decisions on planning/preparation/scheme/playcalling are failing miserably.

 

[Grahambo]

Number one on my list of issues is personnel. We have a spread minded coach that has a QB who walks as fast as he runs and can throw the ball about 4 yards accurately. Tommy Rees belongs in the MAC and that's not a negative thing about him. His skills are that limited. We have a WR that caught over 100 balls, a TE who set a record with catches, a rusher who finished with over 1000 yards and a defense that is looking really good.

Turnovers by the QB have cost us three of the four losses this year. We lead the NATION in red zone turnovers with (I think 8, maybe 9). Turn those into FGs and you have 24 missed points. I believe ESPN ran a stat yesterday that said ND has lost 15 of their last 21 games (something like that) by 7 points or less.

Jonas Gray didn't cost us USF, our QB did. They also cost us a chance against USC (Very debatable), who knows how that game turns out if Crist doesn't fumble (Bless that kid). You can easily argue the defense cost us Michigan but 5 turnovers?? Then yesterday, the defense managed just as many points as the offense.

BK is taking the blame because he is the coach but this lies on the quarterback position. We cut half of those turnovers in the red zone down, we are talking about a January bowl game.

Just my personal, subjective, and humble opinion.

 

[SoCalDomer]

BK is taking the blame because he is the coach but this lies on the quarterback position. We cut half of those turnovers in the red zone down, we are talking about a January bowl game.

Just my personal, subjective, and humble opinion.

Did you read the articles? These aren't ESPN meatheads writing. Brian Kelly deserves the blame.

Yes, we obviously agree that turnovers are a problem. But beyond those turnovers, the offense is going nowhere. If they had not turned the ball over and played in a January bowl game, the offense would have been stifled worse than it was last night. The "little things" are symptoms of a much larger problem with the entire system.

During half-time, Lou Holtz asked a simple question. 4-yards out of the endzone, why are you even throwing the ball with a QB who has turnover syndrome all year? It's Tulsa 2010 all over again.

The problem on offense is top down. The decision to pull Crist, playing musical QBs, moving Riddick to slot then back to RB, bad playcalling, abadoning the run, on and on it goes.

 

[Patulski]

Number one on my list of issues is personnel. We have a spread minded coach that has a QB who walks as fast as he runs and can throw the ball about 4 yards accurately. Tommy Rees belongs in the MAC and that's not a negative thing about him. His skills are that limited. We have a WR that caught over 100 balls, a TE who set a record with catches, a rusher who finished with over 1000 yards and a defense that is looking really good.

Turnovers by the QB have cost us three of the four losses this year. We lead the NATION in red zone turnovers with (I think 8, maybe 9). Turn those into FGs and you have 24 missed points. I believe ESPN ran a stat yesterday that said ND has lost 15 of their last 21 games (something like that) by 7 points or less.

Jonas Gray didn't cost us USF, our QB did. They also cost us a chance against USC (Very debatable), who knows how that game turns out if Crist doesn't fumble (Bless that kid). You can easily argue the defense cost us Michigan but 5 turnovers?? Then yesterday, the defense managed just as many points as the offense.

BK is taking the blame because he is the coach but this lies on the quarterback position. We cut half of those turnovers in the red zone down, we are talking about a January bowl game.

Just my personal, subjective, and humble opinion.

BK should take the blame. He's the Head Coach and he's calling the plays. If you have a lot of Red Zone interceptions, why do you keep throwing the ball in the Red Zone? If you don't have a great passing game, why are you throwing the ball as much as you're running the ball in a defensive struggle?

I think a Head Coach's job on game day is to maximize his personnel's strengths and minimize its weaknesses. Perhaps Kelly has a different philosophy though, whereby he's going to run his system and try to develop his players in the way he wants to run his system, despite game day growing pains and the negative results. If so, let's hope it works in the long term, but he's still got to accept that he's going to take the heat when it doesn't work in the short term.

 

[Grahambo]

Did you read the articles? These aren't ESPN meatheads writing. Brian Kelly deserves the blame.

Yes, we obviously agree that turnovers are a problem. But beyond those turnovers, the offense is going nowhere. If they had not turned the ball over and played in a January bowl game, the offense would have been stifled worse than it was last night. The "little things" are symptoms of a much larger problem with the entire system.

During half-time, Lou Holtz asked a simple question. 4-yards out of the endzone, why are you even throwing the ball with a QB who has turnover syndrome all year? It's Tulsa 2010 all over again.

The problem on offense is top down. The decision to pull Crist, playing musical QBs, moving Riddick to slot then back to RB, bad playcalling, abadoning the run, on and on it goes.

To me, the little things is the actual personnel. He didn't inherit a team that was loaded with talent and one that had minimal depth.

 

[Grahambo]

BK should take the blame. He's the Head Coach and he's calling the plays. If you have a lot of Red Zone interceptions, why do you keep throwing the ball in the Red Zone? If you don't have a great passing game, why are you throwing the ball as much as you're running the ball in a defensive struggle?

I think a Head Coach's job on game day is to maximize his personnel's strengths and minimize its weaknesses. Perhaps Kelly has a different philosophy though, whereby he's going to run his system and try to develop his players in the way he wants to run his system, despite game day growing pains and the negative results. If so, let's hope it works in the long term, but he's still got to accept that he's going to take the heat when it doesn't work in the short term.

No matter the play call, it's still up to his QB to make the right decisions.

 

[SoCalDomer]

To me, the little things is the actual personnel. He didn't inherit a team that was loaded with talent and one that had minimal depth.

Please back-up your conclusion with actual facts, because I don't buy it.

When he arrived, ND had a 5-star QB who was ranked #26 overall. He had one of the top-5 WRs in the country, the top TE, and that talent was added to by the 2009 and 2010 classes. I believe if you do the actual checking, the average star ranking of all the offensive players at ND would be significantly higher than what he started with at Cincinnati.

Talent and depth does not explain putting up only 7-points coming off a long bye-week. Offensive decisions by the coaches have failed miserably.

 

[SoCalDomer]

Further proof that the turnovers, while costly and did help to lose the game, were not the big problem with the offense.

1st Quarter
Drive Log: 1st Quarter
Start Time Time Poss Drive Began # of Plays Yards Gained Result
13:48 4:21 ND 22 9 74 Int
6:42 1:07 ND 36 3 9 Punt
3:58 3:49 ND 35 10 35 FG Miss

First drive is 22 plays for 74 yards. That's actually pretty good. Doesn't help that it ended in an INT.
Second drive went for only 3 plays and 9 yards. Not good.
Third drive went for 10 plays, yet they only went 35 yards. It took 10 plays to go 35 yards?

2nd Quarter
Drive Log: 2nd Quarter
Start Time Time Poss Drive Began # of Plays Yards Gained Result
11:22 1:40 ND 1 3 29 Punt
7:05 0:54 ND 37 3 0 Punt
3:31 2:02 ND 1 5 34 Punt
0:44 0:44 ND 4 1 -2 End Half

3rd Quarter
Drive Log: 3rd Quarter
Start Time Time Poss Drive Began # of Plays Yards Gained Result
15:00 3:36 ND 38 8 62 TD
9:03 2:48 ND 20 9 35 Punt

4th Quarter
Drive Log: 4th Quarter
Start Time Time Poss Drive Began # of Plays Yards Gained Result
14:54 0:41 ND 16 3 15 Int
13:18 1:43 ND 21 4 27 Punt
8:05 2:45 ND 15 6 35 Punt
4:06 0:57 FLST 28 3 0 Int
0:24 0:24 ND 5 3 19 End Reg

That's a total of two drives over 60 yards. 7 drives resulted in punts. That's twice as many drives that ended in no points due to anemic offense as ended in a turnover.

Not throwing interceptions would have helped the scoreboard, but that does not explain why the offense was so anemic in general.

 

[Patulski]

Further proof that the turnovers, while costly and did help to lose the game, were not the big problem with the offense.



First drive is 22 plays for 74 yards. That's actually pretty good. Doesn't help that it ended in an INT.
Second drive went for only 3 plays and 9 yards. Not good.
Third drive went for 10 plays, yet they only went 35 yards. It took 10 plays to go 35 yards?



That's a total of two drives over 60 yards. 7 drives resulted in punts. That's twice as many drives that ended in no points due to anemic offense as ended in a turnover.

Not throwing interceptions would have helped the scoreboard, but that does not explain why the offense was so anemic in general.

You have to give Florida State some credit too. Oklahoma's offense was ranked #4 in Total Offense this year. Here's a comparison between how Oklahoma played - with the school's career passing leader at QB- against FSU's defense and how we played with two sophomore QB's:

Total Yards

OK: 310
ND: 280

First Downs

OK: 20
ND: 19

Turnovers

OK: 2
ND: 3

Third Down Efficiency

OK: 4-12
ND: 7-15

 

[obi wan mahoney]

I think Kelly dials up pretty good plays. When you have an awesome tight end and wide out, you're going to want to go to them in clutch situations. Maybe, depth is an issue-not enough options- nonetheless, the qb has to do a better job recognizing when a guy is double covered.

 

[obi wan mahoney]

You have to give Florida State some credit too. Oklahoma's offense was ranked #4 in Total Offense this year. Here's a comparison between how Oklahoma played - with the school's career passing leader at QB- against FSU's defense and how we played with two sophomore QB's:

Total Yards

OK: 310
ND: 280

First Downs

OK: 20
ND: 19

Turnovers

OK: 2
ND: 3

Third Down Efficiency

OK: 4-12
ND: 7-15

Thanks, nice work on that!

 

[Jerry]

Further proof that the turnovers, while costly and did help to lose the game, were not the big problem with the offense.



First drive is 22 plays for 74 yards. That's actually pretty good. Doesn't help that it ended in an INT.
Second drive went for only 3 plays and 9 yards. Not good.
Third drive went for 10 plays, yet they only went 35 yards. It took 10 plays to go 35 yards?



That's a total of two drives over 60 yards. 7 drives resulted in punts. That's twice as many drives that ended in no points due to anemic offense as ended in a turnover.

Not throwing interceptions would have helped the scoreboard, but that does not explain why the offense was so anemic in general.

But the running game opens up if teams actually have to respect the pass. With Rees you watch the flat, the TE seam route and a rainbow deep ball once in awhile. He can't really make any other throws. So looking at stats and saying the QB isn't the problem unless he throws a pick is wrong.

If you get a QB that can fire a 15 yard out route or basically anything on a line downfield it makes the db's play with more of a cushion and the lb's have to help and it just opens up the offense.

 

[Grahambo]

Please back-up your conclusion with actual facts, because I don't buy it.

When he arrived, ND had a 5-star QB who was ranked #26 overall. He had one of the top-5 WRs in the country, the top TE, and that talent was added to by the 2009 and 2010 classes. I believe if you do the actual checking, the average star ranking of all the offensive players at ND would be significantly higher than what he started with at Cincinnati.

Talent and depth does not explain putting up only 7-points coming off a long bye-week. Offensive decisions by the coaches have failed miserably.

I don't use stars or rankings as a way to determine depth or talent. Case in point, Deion Walker who was 4* by Rivals and given a grade of 81 by ESPN. He has all of 1 catch in his career, maybe 2. Please, tell me where is the depth on the team. Outside of the defensive lineman and TE, where else?

 

[Grahambo]

Further proof that the turnovers, while costly and did help to lose the game, were not the big problem with the offense.



First drive is 22 plays for 74 yards. That's actually pretty good. Doesn't help that it ended in an INT.
Second drive went for only 3 plays and 9 yards. Not good.
Third drive went for 10 plays, yet they only went 35 yards. It took 10 plays to go 35 yards?



That's a total of two drives over 60 yards. 7 drives resulted in punts. That's twice as many drives that ended in no points due to anemic offense as ended in a turnover.

Not throwing interceptions would have helped the scoreboard, but that does not explain why the offense was so anemic in general.

That is on the execution of the plays. While you can question some of the play calling, go back and just look at the decisions and the throws.

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

Whatever you think about his first two years, he has one job ahead of him this offseason. He MUST produce ONE starting QB. Rees will not be it, I'm pretty sure even he gets that now. So he's got two options and 8 months to develop them. 2012 is the year we learn exactly the kind of head coach Brian Kelly really is.

 

[bjohnmwc]

Question. Has Floyd taken criticism for not being on the field at the end of the game? I'm not judging, but honestly asking what the general consensus has been.

 

[obi wan mahoney]

I heard he tried to go but felt like he couldn't. I think he must have been pretty banged up. We could have used him.