What I expect from Kelly

[Domina Nostra]

This post is from a person who supports Kelly and always has...

In my opinion Kelly evolves. He came in with a my-way-or-the-highway approach, and quickly learned that this had to be tempered both because of (1) the level of fan/alumni scrutinyy and (2) the unique players we recruit ("they are always asking 'why'?"). He became more humble publicly and really reached out to the team.

On the field he realized that in order to win the fan base as well as recruits, he was not going to get a rebuilding year. He had to compile wins, ugly or not, or no one would care about any "progress" that was being made.

But now with a 12-0 season under his belt, I expect him to start talking about taking the "next step." I expect to see a riskier offense and younger defenders being used building on the credit he has built up. I expect [Kelly to risk temporary sert-backs/loses for the sake of] growth.

 

[chicago51]

This post is from a person who supports Kelly and always has...

In my opinion Kelly evolves. He came in with a my-way-or-the-highway approach, and quickly learned that this had to be tempered both because of (1) the level of fan/alumni scruity and (2) the unique players we recruit ("they are always asking 'why'?"). He became more humble publically and really reached out to the team.

On the field he realized that in order to win the fan base s well as recruits, he was not going to get a rebuilding year. He had to compile wins, ugly or not, or no one would care about any "progress" that was being made.

But now with a 12-0 season under his belt, I expect him to start talking about taking the "next step." I expect to see a riskier offense and younger defenders being used. I expect a 9 win season with a lot of growth.

I expect a 11-2 year (including the bowl) plus or minus 2 wins/losses (so 13-0 to 9-4). I see more chances being taken on defense. Next year when get into a BCS bowl of some sort maybe the title game I expect more live tackling leading up to the game. We tackled great all year I don't expect us to miss that many tackles in a bowl game every again.

 

[Irish Insanity]

I expect a 13-0 or 12-1 season.

 

[Canton_Irish]

No reason why this team can't go 12-0 this year. There's no game on the schedule where I expect a loss.

 

[Who'saWildManNow]

It was in part tackling and the fact that Lacy was just a complete monster.. Incredibly nimble and fast for his size. We saw nothing like that combine with the O line.

It's simple to me. Get bigger, stronger and faster. We seemed to be in place to make plays but couldn't. They had they're way with us. Kelly is in the process of getting ND bigger, stronger and faster.

 

[Ndaccountant]

I expect him to continue the trend of replacing seniors with talent. He is doing it this year and I expect that moving forward. The roster must continue to improve.

 

[yankeeND]

I see a bright future for sure! Golson will be a Heisman finalist before he leaves. Daniels and Jones are gonna make an amazing duo and I think Niklas and Neal will make it much easier for our outside guys to achieve that by opening up the middle of the field. Tuitt, Nix, and Day will allow for Ishaq and Shembo to become sack masters and will see a much improved Mathias Farley in coverage next year! That kid is a big-time hitter that is very raw and once he learns how to be a complete DB watch out! Hold the class together and if any recruiting surprises, be pleasant surprises for the IrishMob! Love this team, love all my Irish brothers and sisters on here! Keep your heads up! We are in the best position we could have possibly been in for years! Go Irish!

 

[IrishLax]

What do I expect from Kelly? Honestly, not much more than we saw this year. I don't know if we'll ever get to the level of that Alabama team we saw last night. I just don't know if it's possible.

They take 135ish kids over a 5 year stretch... more importantly, they take 50 DL/OL prospects to our 31... that means they have 60% prospects to groom/develop. They are never going to have holes on their team because they also effectively use JUCOs, grey shirting, and cut dead weight. One of those otherworldly CBs was a JUCO.

As long as we don't play by the same rules I think the reality is we can beat all of our rivals and every team outside of the SEC. I expect Kelly to coach up the offense next year to the point where our redzone O is good enough to have a "very good" attack. I expect our defense to be worse by about 3-4 points a game... but if Grace is as good as advertised and Slaughter gets a 6th and comes back at 100% and Jarron Jones or Sehldon Day steps up at DE we could be even better.

I guess what I expect from Kelly is for him to stick with the plan. It's working. It had us to a BCS level contender ahead of schedule. I think 10 wins and a BCS trip is a good mark as we only have 4 "loseable" games on the schedule next year and all others we should be heavy favorites (Pitt, BYU, ASU being wildcards).

 

[JoeyGetherall]

Just keep winning and keep recruiting.

I see 10-2 next year as a reasonable expectation.

The three wild cards to me are:

@ Michigan
vs. Oklahoma
@ Stanford

 

[Domina Nostra]

It was in part tackling and the fact that Lacy was just a complete monster.. Incredibly nimble and fast for his size. We saw nothing like that combine with the O line.

It's simple to me. Get bigger, stronger and faster. We seemed to be in place to make plays but couldn't. They had they're way with us. Kelly is in the process of getting ND bigger, stronger and faster.

Exactly. You have to get bigger stronger, and faster on defense, and more consistent and precise on offense.

I guess what I expect from Kelly is for him to stick with the plan. It's working. It had us to a BCS level contender ahead of schedule. I think 10 wins and a BCS trip is a good mark as we only have 4 "loseable" games on the schedule next year and all others we should be heavy favorites (Pitt, BYU, ASU being wildcards).

To me, the "plan" that he will stick to is really about recruiting, training, and work-ethic: that is 95% of the battle. But I don't think there is a big picture plan in terms of what the offense or defense needs to look like, except whatever will win. IMHO, I think he will get more creative on offense because he will conclude it is necessary to win the big games.

 

[Ndaccountant]

I expect over the middle passing. We are going to need it to be better on O.

 

[JoeyGetherall]

Also, open up the playbook next year BK. Let it rip.

 

[ulukinatme]

Just keep winning and keep recruiting.

I see 10-2 next year as a reasonable expectation.

The three wild cards to me are:

@ Michigan
vs. Oklahoma
@ Stanford

This is kind of my assessment. USC will still play us tough however, I think Max could be a decent QB after fall camp. I think Michigan State will be improved as well, but I see us getting a win. Both those teams are/were rebuilding and have young talent waiting. Stanford will be a tough game in late November next year though, quite possibly a loss there especially coming off the way they ended the season. Michigan will have a better QB imo and it'll be in the Big House. Oklahoma loses Jones, but I don't think they'll miss a beat. The way I see it next year's schedule will be as tough or tougher than this year considering how many teams were reloading and having uncharacteristically poor seasons.

 

[Patulski]

I expect his offense to look a lot better when he's got Sr's and 5th year Sr's at QB, instead of freshmen and sophomores.

 

[mgriff]

I want some more exotic looks on defense. Sitting in our shell was required this year because were woefully thin in the secondary. I would like to really capitalize on the talent we have been developing and morph into a very good defense. BJax has elite speed so hopefully we can man him up with some people when necessary, play a zone backside with Russell/Wood getting some help, and turn this into an elite defense. I'm not worried about our DLine or LB corps, just the safety position.

Offensively, I'm pretty happy with our WR corps and I expect huge things from the Daniels/TJ partnership. That should be a quality duo complemented by Davonte's skill in the slot and Breezy taking the tops off of coverages. We'll see if Hercules can turn into a serious receiving tight end. Golson should be more clinical in the passing game and I'm fairly confident that we will just plug and play new running backs and OLineman from now on.

 

[GreatGolson]

Just keep winning and keep recruiting.

I see 10-2 next year as a reasonable expectation.

The three wild cards to me are:

@ Michigan
vs. Oklahoma
@ Stanford

This, although a trip to Pasadena for redemption would be nice

 

[Irish4Life09]

I fully expect a completely different team next season.
Instead of one of the strongest defenses and a decent offense, I think it will be exactly the opposite.
I think Kelly opens up the "Cincy" playbook and lets Golson/Kiel let it rip to Daniels/Brown/Neal/TJ. Combine that with a hopefully improved Hercules and a good running game and we could have a DYNAMIC offense.
Our defense will be down a little, but will still be solid.

Excluding the bowl game we averaged 26.75 points/game. I think we up that to around 34-35/game. Comparatively we only gave up 10.3/game defensively. I think that will go up to somewhere around 18-20.

I honestly think we have a very solid year next year. After this season I absolutely expect 10 wins minimum. I think realistically 12-1 with a BCS bowl win.

 

[WakeUpEchoes]

I fully expect a completely different team next season.
Instead of one of the strongest defenses and a decent offense, I think it will be exactly the opposite.
I think Kelly opens up the "Cincy" playbook and lets Golson/Kiel let it rip to Daniels/Brown/Neal/TJ. Combine that with a hopefully improved Hercules and a good running game and we could have a DYNAMIC offense.
Our defense will be down a little, but will still be solid.

Excluding the bowl game we averaged 26.75 points/game. I think we up that to around 34-35/game. Comparatively we only gave up 10.3/game defensively. I think that will go up to somewhere around 18-20.

I honestly think we have a very solid year next year. After this season I absolutely expect 10 wins minimum. I think realistically 12-1 with a BCS bowl win.

Assuming slaughter comes back, we will sacrifice a little bit of our ability to stop the run for a MUCH better secondary. I expect this to offset a little. I'd be interested to know what types of RB's we will face next year. I think it will be down from this year.

No Leveon Bell. No Denard. OU has no running game. U$C will have a running game, worse passing game. And not sure about Stefan Taylor... In any event, we probably won't face insane run games next year, yet will have much better pass D.

 

[ThePiombino]

I fully expect a completely different team next season.
Instead of one of the strongest defenses and a decent offense, I think it will be exactly the opposite.
I think Kelly opens up the "Cincy" playbook and lets Golson/Kiel let it rip to Daniels/Brown/Neal/TJ. Combine that with a hopefully improved Hercules and a good running game and we could have a DYNAMIC offense.
Our defense will be down a little, but will still be solid.

Excluding the bowl game we averaged 26.75 points/game. I think we up that to around 34-35/game. Comparatively we only gave up 10.3/game defensively. I think that will go up to somewhere around 18-20.

I honestly think we have a very solid year next year. After this season I absolutely expect 10 wins minimum. I think realistically 12-1 with a BCS bowl win.

We're not going 12-1 if we're giving up 20 points a game IMO. While that would put us in the 20-25 range most likely, I think it means we've taken a significant step back in the one department that we could really depend on.

 

[RallySonsOfND]

I see a vast improvement on offense with a slight decline on defense. I think averaging mid-30s on offense and allowing mid-10s on defense. Secondary improves and front 7 have a slight decline.

Only the Stanford game at the end of the year is the only game I'm nervous for.
-MSU loses Bell (Entire offense)
-UM loses Denard and key players on both O and D


Huge having both USC and OU at home. (assuming we improve our home play which was pretty poor this year)

 

[yankeehater]

CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!

 

[irishtrain]

I expect him to continue the trend of replacing seniors with talent. He is doing it this year and I expect that moving forward. The roster must continue to improve.

Guys I needed a little pep the last two days so I took a hard look at some of these kids coming in. If they hold together this class is pretty stout. 4 Lineman are big skill guys over 6'6". Kelly played a team that was much better not much else needs said. A glorious bunch of gamers got beat by a better team. Better days ahead. Kelly is the right instrument for this program and they will get another chance.

 

[phgreek]

I think Kelly's first few words after Bama were indeed "next step"...so I think he's doing that.

I think we will miss Manti and Kap quite a bit, especially early against the Michigans...I mean, think about the screens Kap diagnosed and took away....the ability for Manti to run side to side, play the run, and pass. Hard to replace.

 

[RDU Irish]

I will never take a double digit win column for granted after living through the last 25 years of ND football.

Next year I could see our defense being better than this year. Losing Manti, Motta and Kap stinks but you have 8 other starters that will be one year better. Jarron Jones could easily be a Nix type of impact player that would have been rushed into service in years past. Day was impressive as a freshman. Ishaq is due for the light to turn on and start living up to his enormous potential. Moore has been good on special teams and definitely looks the part. Anyone nicknamed Werewolf has to good. Shumate looks like a gamer waiting for an opportunity. We don't even need to count on Redfield and Luke to shore up the secondary or Jaylon to save the LB corp, but they will play if they are ready.

That being said, I think we give up more points, just because this hurdle is set pretty high and I expect the offense to move quicker and score more. Part of our low PPG defense is b/c we were in way too many games to the end. We start blowing a few people out and garbage points will be given up in 4Q.

Future is bright. We gain much more than we lose IMO. While that should mean a wider average margin of victory, it is still not enough to insulate us from the standard deviations from that mean.

 

[ChiRish]

What do I expect from Kelly? Honestly, not much more than we saw this year. I don't know if we'll ever get to the level of that Alabama team we saw last night. I just don't know if it's possible.

They take 135ish kids over a 5 year stretch... more importantly, they take 50 DL/OL prospects to our 31... that means they have 60% prospects to groom/develop. They are never going to have holes on their team because they also effectively use JUCOs, grey shirting, and cut dead weight. One of those otherworldly CBs was a JUCO.

As long as we don't play by the same rules I think the reality is we can beat all of our rivals and every team outside of the SEC. I expect Kelly to coach up the offense next year to the point where our redzone O is good enough to have a "very good" attack. I expect our defense to be worse by about 3-4 points a game... but if Grace is as good as advertised and Slaughter gets a 6th and comes back at 100% and Jarron Jones or Sehldon Day steps up at DE we could be even better.

I guess what I expect from Kelly is for him to stick with the plan. It's working. It had us to a BCS level contender ahead of schedule. I think 10 wins and a BCS trip is a good mark as we only have 4 "loseable" games on the schedule next year and all others we should be heavy favorites (Pitt, BYU, ASU being wildcards).

Great post, and I find it interesting as well. I wonder if it is possible for clean programs to achieve that kind of success. You mention some great points, and those are obstacles that will be highly difficult to overcome. ND isn't going to stoop to the level of forsaking academic integrity, ethics, medically hardshipping players that don't really need it, or even just full on breaking the rules. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

But I do feel, however, that with the current class of athletes we're bringing in, along with the coaches we have, that we can continue to win in the regular season the way we did this year and position ourselves for another battle with the SEC. In that way, we'll have to come out and be creative to try and win that game, but I want to believe that it's possible that one of these days we can help dethrone the conference that refuses to play the game the right way.

Aside from that, I do believe that programs like that, those that do it the wrong way, always get what is coming for them. It seems like a major trend in high school athletes is to recognize that getting a good degree is more important than ever. Look no further than RG3's injury to note that no matter the potential at the NFL, obtaining an education is more important than anything. As long as Kelly continues to recruit these kids at the high level he is now, the talent gap will close to the point that a future Championship game against the SEC will be closer talent-wise, even if not as fully stacked.

I have faith in Kelly too. He's the right coach for the future, just like he's been the right coach the past few years. He'll learn from this season and that game against Alabama. He's shown every step of the way improvement on things he needed to improve on. I have faith that he can make us competitive BCS-wise every year, and with the right mix of guys can give us a fair shot at a championship again soon.

 

[RubberSoul]

I wish we wouldcplay power football on offense. Alabama showed what you can do with a powerful o line, power backs and playaction. They Actually reminded me of the '90s Cowboys.

 

[ClausentoTate]

I predict another 2007.



IMO Kelly is the right coach and we're going to be better on offense and slightly behind where we were on defense this year. Our secondary will have an extra year of experience and we'll have more depth on the d-line but we'll be missing that x-factor of proven, experienced veteran leadership. I think we will have a QB competition in the off-season. Kiel is the real deal but just not in nearly the same mold as Golson... he could be good if he had a chance. We will also miss Cave but only for a while.

The future is bright!

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

Just keep winning and keep recruiting.

I see 10-2 next year as a reasonable expectation.

The three wild cards to me are:

@ Michigan
vs. Oklahoma
@ Stanford

Michigan will be extremely young and limited, Oklahoma doesn't worry me much at all, and Stanford will be big, mean and ugly again. That'll be a big one

 

[QuarrelsomeIrishAmerican]

I solely expect him to stay. Period. I can't stand this NFL non-sense.

 

[EddytoNow]

I solely expect him to stay. Period. I can't stand this NFL non-sense.

I expect him to sign the new contract offer that will include a big pay raise and additional years. From there I expect the defense to remain a strength (although we will give up a few more points) and the offense to make a big leap.