What we learned

[Green Goblin]

You didnt see the 2009 big east championship game? Kelly was livid all game long. Red faced, f-bomb dropping, screaming @ assistants, etc. But talk to any player that has played for Kelly, and or any coach under him, and they have nothing but respect and admiration for him.

If the players cant handle the yelling then transfer/get off the team. This team has been soft for too long. Don't like it? go play for another school.

When you are frustrated, lack confidence, ect. YOU SIMPLY WILL NOT PERFORM. Its why they tell you not to panic. Its why in boxing/martial arts whatever to not lose your head and not to fight angry. You have to be able to focus. You have to have confidence in yourself.

When Riddick dropped that ball and got up, you could see it in his eyes. His eyes were WIDE OPEN, that means he has no idea what is wrong and his confidence is totally shaken. He had NO confidence at that point. The announcers were dopes and said he looked like he wanted someone else to blame. As a former WR myself, I know EXACTLY what he was thinking. A great coach would settle him down.

Watch that scene again when it goes up on hulu.

 

[Green Goblin]

Let's everybody keep in mind, we also don't see what goes on during practice. Kelly may be a warm cuddly teddy bear during practice (I doubt it) but we are judging him on the basis of what happens on TV for one three hour block (or 5:10) each week.

I like to see a coach with some fire in his gut. Do I necessarily think it's always effective? No. But do I want to see some emotion? Yes.

I'm sure Kelly is great when things are cool.

My high school was EXACTLY the same type. Everyone respected and loved him but he'd go nuts when things went wrong at the game.

Not an excuse, its something Kelly needs to improve. No one's perfect.

 

[Grahambo]

Kelly and a lack of professionalism? Laughable. He yells too much?? Also laughable. Does anybody want Weis and his style back? Willingham?

BK and his attitude is what we need. A new mentality. Don't accept losing. Don't accept failing. Success is what should drive you. The mistakes made were mental yesterday.

 

[Shillelagh Law]

I watched Cincy a lot of times over his last two seasons, and I will stand by my earlier statement.

Win or lose, its wrong. Just because he was successful at Cincy doesnt mean its right and I will never agree with stepping over the line. A couple of good years at cincy doesnt make him Knute Rockne.

If you watch the video after the int, he just loses it and its ugly watching. There is nothing constructive there whatsover just Kelly's out of control anger. What is going to help here, screaming 'CATCH THE ****ING BALL' or chewing the player out and telling him forcefully if necessary that he should be looking after passing point x, that he has screwed up and to ask him what he was doing (or similar, you know what I mean).

I have played for coaches who scream and get in your face like Coach Kelly, coaches who chew you out constructively and coaches who say nothing if you screw up and will speak to you later (cold shoulder). The guy I felt worst about letting down and determined to make up for it wasnt coach A. There is a world of difference about getting chewed out and being belittled.

We will have to agree to disagree on this one.

 

[DomerInHappyValley]

I watched Cincy a lot of times over his last two seasons, and I will stand by my earlier statement.

Win or lose, its wrong. Just because he was successful at Cincy doesnt mean its right and I will never agree with stepping over the line. A couple of good years at cincy doesnt make him Knute Rockne.

If you watch the video after the int, he just loses it and its ugly watching. There is nothing constructive there whatsover just Kelly's out of control anger. What is going to help here, screaming 'CATCH THE ****ING BALL' or chewing the player out and telling him forcefully if necessary that he should be looking after passing point x, that he has screwed up and to ask him what he was doing (or similar, you know what I mean).

I have played for coaches who scream and get in your face like Coach Kelly, coaches who chew you out constructively and coaches who say nothing if you screw up and will speak to you later (cold shoulder). The guy I felt worst about letting down and determined to make up for it wasnt coach A. There is a world of difference about getting chewed out and being belittled.

We will have to agree to disagree on this one.

He did tell the player that he should be looking after point x that he screwed up and asked him what he was doing.
It didn't happen because of a rookie mistake it happened on a route that he has run over a thousand times in his life and he'll run a thousand times more.
He screwed up he knew he screwed up and I'm willing to be that everything that Coach was saying he was saying to himself all the way to the side line.
And in my experience as a WR when the coach is disgusted and gives you the cold shoulder get used to being on the sideline because you just lost your job.

 

[Rhode Irish]

Can we ban these eggshell psyche whiners from the Internet? What kind of world do you live in where it is wrong for a football coach to yell at his football players? Just go away. I am beyond tired of hearing about this. If you want to bitch about stupid turnovers and penalties, I'm with you. But the coach's demeanor has 0% to do with what went wrong yesterday, so please shut about it.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

FWIW, I think this year is different than previous ones (see ACamp's frustrations).

After stepping back again this morning as well as reading Coach D's ISD breakdowns... This is, in a nutshell, why I think it's different.

1. The defense played pretty darn well. They were in bad positions all day, but only allowed 3.5 yards a play. In years past, we would have put up a bunch of points, but would have given up 40 as well. And I'm pretty sure that Lynch and Tuitt will only get better as the year goes along.

2. The offensive line was solid and, at times, dominated. Even when we were putting up great numbers with Jimmy, he was always banged up. And we could never really run the ball effectively.

Mistakes, yes. And I don't think it was just "luck" that caused us to lose. But, draw up a recipe for a good team.

Dominate on the offensive line and play good defense...

 

[rtrn2glory]

what i learned from yesterday is that we would be 4-5 win team without michael floyd...manti's good, but floyd is by far our most valuable player.

 

[BestBIrish47]

Can we ban these eggshell psyche whiners from the Internet? What kind of world do you live in where it is wrong for a football coach to yell at his football players? Just go away. I am beyond tired of hearing about this. If you want to bitch about stupid turnovers and penalties, I'm with you. But the coach's demeanor has 0% to do with what went wrong yesterday, so please shut about it.

I was really shocked when I saw all the rants about Kelly yelling. The players are playing football in exchange for a World Class education. I understand the yelling looks horrible on live TV, with the NBC cameras zoomed in, but how do you expect Kelly to react? The TJ Jones interception was another huge momentum killer that was 100% preventable. There is zero excuse to TJ not having his head turned around looking for the ball, he his a full scholarship football player. The only way to truly change behavior is with Pleasure or Pain. If he would have pat TJ on the head and said, "it happens, shake it off, but hey..good route man, just look next time" I would have had a NBC camera zoomed in on me for yelling.

 

[rtrn2glory]

personally i don't have a problem yelling at players, i agree it needs to be done to motivate/teach, but after awhile maybe the blame needs to go on the shoulder of the coaches, i'd like to see him yell at some of the coaches at times, because to completely blame the players is selfish and wrong. when you have two QB's making the same mistake that tells you something about their coach

on another note, cierre better get in good shape and be ready to get banged up bcuz we are nothing offensively with him not on the field and we're even worse with floyd off it.

 

[autry_denson]

My two cents:
Yes, things went about as badly as they could go. There were a bunch of bad breaks - but, we have to be honest and see that many of the "flukes" that occurred throughout the game were reflections of team weakness.
1) We have 4 QBs, one has a strong arm but hasn't proven to be effective, the 2nd is a solid game manager, the 3rd and 4th have potential but can't handle the offense right now - it shouldn't be shocking that we saw erratic QB play in Week 1;
2) RB depth is probably the most obvious weakness of the offense - it's not a complete fluke, then, when Jonas Gray comes into the game when Wood needs a blow, and proceeds to fumble at the goal line;
3) We have two elite playmakers on offense - again, it shouldn't come as a shock when guys other than Floyd and Wood drop balls, make mental mistakes, etc. (although Riddick's game was beyond comprehension).

One positive to take away from this game is that our defense looks elite. Rarely in my life as a fan have I wished that the opposing team would go for it on 4th down, but I found myself continually hoping that Holtz might gamble a bit - with those big bodies coming in to spell the starters, I felt as confident in the Irish defense as I have in a long time. It's tough to tell from this game whether South Florida is actually going to be good this year or not, but I thought the D looked impressive.

A win next week will make a lot of the heartache we're all feeling right now go away quickly.

 

[DuffHouse12]

why are we concerned about the coach blowing multiple gaskets, and not 2 of our starting wide receivers looking like jokes?

clearly the issue is execution on offense. summer vacation is over. Irish weren't ready.

 

[BestBIrish47]

why are we concerned about the coach blowing multiple gaskets, and not 2 of our starting wide receivers looking like jokes?

clearly the issue is execution on offense. summer vacation is over. Irish weren't ready.

THIS... I am starting the grow in faith that the Irish Fan base hasn't become softer than the Pilsbury Dough Boy. Yesterday , I was disgusted by the Kelly is being too hard posts. I did everything I could not to disrespect anyone on here. We are all on the same side here, but the reality is, tough love, accountability, and real world consequences are all a part of life. The yelling will benefit our players when they leave Notre Dame and go on to whatever they decide.

 

[DomerInHappyValley]

I learned that we are going to learn a lot about this team and coaching staff in the next week.
I learned that we have some fighters and now we need a warrior to throw this team on his back and say "no f'ing more. The losing and mental mistakes end today."
Until that happens we are just another 8 or 9 win team year in and year out.

 

[ohara831]

You cannot get down in the red zone 3 times and get 0 points because you turn the ball over each time, and still expect to win. Turnovers kill. You know BK preaches this over and over, and what happened yesterday had to absolutely rip his guts out. It did mine, and I'm not even the HC.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

You cannot get down in the red zone 3 times and get 0 points because you turn the ball over each time, and still expect to win. Turnovers kill. You know BK preaches this over and over, and what happened yesterday had to absolutely rip his guts out. It did mine, and I'm not even the HC.

4 times.
We missed the chip shot field goal too.

If people think Kelly looked like a mad man, you should've seen me last night.

 

[DuffHouse12]

looking forward to Michigan - this team needs to have a strong week of practice. Two players that I want to see step up in leadership - Harrison Smith and Gary Gray. they both had opportunities to make big plays and came away with penalties instead. I'd like to see them take charge of this team and get people focused. they are two seniors who made mental errors, and would be great examples to the rest of the team as to how to respond, and how to execute. they have a chance to lead the whole team, not just the D.

Theo, TJ, Ruffer, Motta, J. Gray... all those guys would benefit from an example set by the two seniors on defense. this is definitely now the biggest game of the season.

 

[Te'o4Heisman]

There were some earlier comments about this in another thread. I am all for him getting upset at personal fouls and fumbles-- however he lost it on TJ for running a bad or wrong route (or not looking for the ball). I think he stepped over the line...and that is IMO

The team obviously responded as they played hard until the final whistle, and actually played their way back into the game and had a chance up until we didnt recover the onside kick. Coach Kelly blows a gasket, but at no point did I ever question if he lost control of himself and might do something that could get him fired.

 

[AdmiralBackhand]

Eating breakfast with a sore jaw this morning. Punching oneself during the game out of frustration is bad. I didn't just learn this, but I cannot help myself.

 

[rtrn2glory]

You cannot get down in the red zone 3 times and get 0 points because you turn the ball over each time, and still expect to win. Turnovers kill. You know BK preaches this over and over, and what happened yesterday had to absolutely rip his guts out. It did mine, and I'm not even the HC.

not just the red zone my man...inside the 5 YARD LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 21 points left on the field.

 

[johnnyoooo]

Golson

Golson

During the rain delay second half the announcers gave us a hint about spread offenses. They kept wondering if Kelly would put in Golson for the second half. Why would they mention a green freshman Qb to come into the game. It is because most of your top teams know to run the spread effectively you need a runner type Qb which many of them have. Just look at Daniels yesterday with his moblity as contrasted to Crist or Rees who are pure pro passing attack offense Qbs. Both stand back in the pocket like statues waiting to get sacked, Golosn certainly is not ready yet but Kelly knows he needs a running Qb and bet you from now on he will recruit runing type Qbs like Golson. So the announcers were mentioning Golson not because Crist was off and need to be yanked with normally Rees coming in, But rather a Qb who could run which is expected of a spread offense Qb.

 

[BeauBenken]

I learned that people really want to put blame on Kelly when everyone should good and know that a lot of our players **** the bed. End of story.

Crist also doesn't provide/project confidence for our team. I might have said that earlier in this thread. I don't know.

Oh, and Theo needs to catch the ****ing ball. I mean DAMN.

 

[rikkitikki08]

we learned the Notre Dame fan base is becoming used to making excuses to explain our lack of execution. South Florida didnt even play that well...and beat us because the Irish decided to beat themselves.

Amen, we had this game won easily....i blame ourselves not the fact that USF won the game...which they didnt. We lost the game

 

[ShakeDown]

I learned y'all are crazy hah.

On a serious note (well, more serious, some of you ARE crazy) I learned that we are finally a high octane team with a defense to match. Minimize the mental errors and we are a 9-3 to 10-2 team.

Keep the errors and it's going to be a long *** season.

Go Irish.

 

[koonja]

I learned y'all are crazy hah.

On a serious note (well, more serious, some of you ARE crazy) I learned that we are finally a high octane team with a defense to match. Minimize the mental errors and we are a 9-3 to 10-2 team.

Keep the errors and it's going to be a long *** season.

Go Irish.

The first part I agree with, lol.

Second part I don't follow. If we didn't have Michael Floyd we literally might not have scored a TD. You say "and a defense to match", so I assume you're talking about the offense when you say high-octane. The offense under Kelly, so far, hasn't been high octane at all. I think we'll see it soon, though.

 

[ShakeDown]

Second part I don't follow. If we didn't have Michael Floyd we literally might not have scored a TD. You say "and a defense to match", so I assume you're talking about the offense when you say high-octane. The offense under Kelly, so far, hasn't been high octane at all. I think we'll see it soon, though.

Only Floyd? I saw Wood looking like a 1000+ yd back in the first half, an O-Line that was opening monster gaps, Eifert getting open down field creating massive match-up problems, and promise from Reese coming into a game in under-less-than-ideal conditions. We moved the ball at will, it was sickening to watch us hamstring ourselves like that in the redzone.

Theo can play. He needs to get out of his head. We have some serious players on this team.

Better to take a lump now than against Navy or Tulsa, I say. (I freaking know we don't play Tulsa this year, don't miss my point)

USF didn't beat us. We Lost.

 

[koonja]

Only Floyd? I saw Wood looking like a 1000 yd back in the first half, an O-Line that was opening monster gaps, Eifert getting open down field creating massive match-up problems, and promise from Reese coming into a game in under-less-than-ideal conditions. We moved the ball at will, it was sickening to watch us hamstring ourselves like that in the redzone.

Theo can play. He needs to get out of his head. We have some serious players on this team.

Better to take a lump now than against Navy or Tulsa, I say.

USF didn't beat us. We Lost.

I'm just saying you called our offense high octane. I'm saying without Floyd, we may not even have scored a TD. That's not a high octane offense. Not yet. We don't need to get into an argument about semantics here. I think this offense will show huge improvement after the first couple games.

 

[BestBIrish47]

Early in the Football game when we could operate with Balance on Offense, we looked explosive. Dayne missed Vanilla throws, our receivers dropped some vanilla passes. (vanilla = routine) Both things can be addressed and fixed. I do have to say looking back with a sober mind that USF pinned their ears back knowing we would pass and Tommy moved the ball well. There is much to be encouraged by if you can get past the Vomit inducing thought of yet another unjustified loss at home.

 

[ShakeDown]

I'm just saying you called our offense high octane. I'm saying without Floyd, we may not even have scored a TD. That's not a high octane offense. Not yet. We don't need to get into an argument about semantics here. I think this offense will show huge improvement after the first couple games.

Haha SEE... y'all are crazy! I sincerely apologize sir if my definition of high octane is not up to snuff.

I will retract my prior declaration on "high octane" and say this:

We have a very talented offense, should we decide to man up and stop playing like cowards.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

Early in the Football game when we could operate with Balance on Offense, we looked explosive. Dayne missed Vanilla throws, our receivers dropped some vanilla passes. (vanilla = routine) Both things can be addressed and fixed. I do have to say looking back with a sober mind that USF pinned their ears back knowing we would pass and Tommy moved the ball well. There is much to be encouraged by if you can get past the Vomit inducing thought of yet another unjustified loss at home.

^This