I frankly don’t want to hear about ‘good effort’ from anyone regarding Notre Dame’s 20-19 loss to Georgia today.
Here are some reasons I don’t want to hear about it:
Brandon Wimbush should be better
I don’t want to pile on the quarterback, because there’s so much more to any team than that, and he WAS only making his second start, but if Brandon Wimbush isn’t better than he showed this evening in his third year in the program, Notre Dame’s ceiling is low.
Georgia’s defense is good. But barely five yards per attempt (211 on 39 attempts) isn’t good enough. Sub-.500 completion rate isn’t good enough, even if a few drops deflated it. 1 yard on 16 carries and two lost fumbles, even if substandard pass protection deflated that, isn’t good enough.
Probably ND’s best pure runner didn’t play ONE DAMN SNAP
Every year, there’s an ND player that inexplicably doesn’t see more of the field. Looks like for the second year in a row, Dexter Williams might be the top man on that list.
I don’t know why he doesn’t play. Maybe he pissed someone off in practice. Maybe his pass blocking is just THAT horrendous. But the guy who runs harder than any player on this entire team needs to play a little, and he sure as hell needs to play A SINGLE OFFENSIVE SNAP! I mean, my goodness.
When Josh Adams, God bless him, can’t crack three yards a carry (and it’s hard to blame him), at least TRY the guy who runs as hard as Williams does. Just once. Just to check it out. If he’s so bad he can’t crack the lineup, then I just don’t understand something.
(Side note: Can our All-American first round draft pick offensive linemen please play like it? Both of Wimbush’s fumbles came as a result of blindside hits caused by Mike McGlinchey and Quenton Nelson not stopping their marks.)
When the defense plays like that, ND needs to win
It remains to be seen how good the ND defense actually is. But they played their guts out this evening. Yes, Sony Michel went for nearly six yards a carry and Nick Chubb was close to five. But beyond that, they did everything they could to win. They knuckled down when they needed to and forced field goals. The only TD they surrendered wouldn’t have happened but for a relatively ticky-tack roughing the passer call against Julian Okwara. They got a decent amount of pressure on Georgia QB Jake Fromm. They held a pretty good offense to 20 points. You just can’t reasonably expect more given the BVG-sized hole in that unit. ND needs to win when they get that kind of play.
Georgia’s good – but they’re not great
Georgia has a nice defense, especially up front. They have great running backs, a decent offensive line and a promising young quarterback. But this was a team that was ripe to be beaten tonight by a team good enough to do it.
And what makes it especially galling is that they didn’t play close to as well as they could have. They committed several dumb penalties that did ND favors. They dropped a potential touchdown. They surprisingly only gave Michel and Chubb 13 carries each. This was not Georgia’s A game.
We’re back in purgatory
Before the season, I was of the general opinion that basically anything other than 8-4 would be a clear answer for Notre Dame fans as to what 2018 would look like. Less than 8-4 and you’d have to think a coaching change was coming, and few would argue. Better than that, and there wouldn’t be a change, and few would argue. But this game veritably screamed 8-4. It looks a whole lot like this team is going to be good enough to play with just about everyone but not good enough to make any kind of waves. It was exactly what I didn’t want to happen, and exactly what I feared would.
Tonight doesn’t mean it will happen. ND could get much better from here. But they’re going to have to if we’re not going to be back where we were last November: In a giant state of uncertainty regarding this program.
(Photo credit: AP)
Huge disappointments in ND history:
2. The ACC.
1. The O-line tonight.
I feel bad for the players. Work all offseason, run out the tunnel and see red everywhere (except the student section). If I’m a recruit I gotta conclude that one fan base is crazy for its team and the other is crazy for making a quick buck by selling their tickets.
Kind of like when ND goes to Stanford?
And it’s made a huge difference in our record vs them.
That’s the point though, the crowd thing is annoying but the performance is 100% on the players and coaches. If you can’t execute in that environment, might as well just forfeit the Athens trip in 2019 already.
Probably sucks for recruiting though, I get that.
So let me preface my comment with this: my wife and I never sell our tickets.
However, it’s tempting sometimes. Our two season tickets represent about 5% of our yearly income. When you can recoup 1/3 of that by selling one games worth of tickets, it’s hard not to. I believe Notre Dame would have less of a problem with this if they wouldn’t charge so much for the tickets (including required “donation” to that cost). please don’t get angry with people that love notre dame football and find a way to make purchasing season tickets affordable.
If you need to recoup any of your ticket cost then maybe don’t buy them in the first place. It’s embarrassing to see that many away fans at a home game. 5% of your yearly income? Might want to talk to a financial advisor. The tickets cost what the university says they cost. It’s asinine to me to consider selling them to other teams fans to “recoup” your cost.
Cool down vote me for being realistic.
At least you can be sure I didn’t do it! lol
I down voted you because you were an asshole who let the performance of 18-22 year olds bring you to the point of criticizing another passionate fan’s financial management.
So I’m an a-hole because I’m saying it’s embarrassing to see that many opposing fans at a home game? Don’t buy the tickets if you need to recoup your money along the way.
Just did not love the phraseology. Im with you on the frustrations of a red stadium, but its understandable to me that people are selling when they can get $3500 for two tickets and a parking pass for one game.
Fair enough I guess. Just watch the a-hole comments 🙂
Haha sorry about that. Seems like we agree on pretty much everything else though!
This is a better way to explain what I was trying to say. I hated seeing all that red tonight. And, again, we never sell our tickets. Either we go, or family members go when we can’t be there. Thanks, Dmac, for saying what I was trying to say more eloquently than I was able.
No down votes from me. And no hard feelings either. Thanks.
Yeah, nothing at all wrong with spending 5% of your income on entertainment. The problem lies in choosing ND football for said entertainment. Hobbies are supposed to be fun.
Well.. I also kayak. I’ve yet to figure out a way to blame Brian Kelly and Notre Dame for problems while kayaking, but I’m working on it.
We lost to Duke at home last year. The fans were not the reason.
You’re right but here’s what angers me:
Notre Dame loves their national fanbase and subway alumni for a number of reasons but the national profile and historical support beyond the comparatively small demographic of alumni is why tickets cost so much on the secondary market. Alumni are understandably at the front of the line for tickets even though other fans, probably less well off financially on average, would kill to go to those games. If the primary ticket holders went and cheered then the situation would be just like any other big time program but they sold out, and so fans in disparate parts of the country sitting in front of their tv’s in their transgenerational ND gear may feel like saps.
So my only issue is with the idea of “selling out”. That has to do with my perspective. As someone who struggles a bit to save for our tickets, I’m more understanding of people who sell them.
I’ve never thought about the reactions of alums that live across the country and literally can’t be at the games. It’s a very valid point. Thanks for kindly showing me the other side of the coin.
I’m a little frustrated with all of the comments concerning season ticket holders selling their tickets. I for one can tell you Vivid Seats was flooded with tickets three to four weeks prior to me receiving my season tickets, most of which were below face value or right at face value. This took place soon after an email I received from ND asking if I would like to purchase additional single game tickets. Even if I sold my tickets, there would be no way I could even make my donation back, and no company could make a profit selling tickets for that cheap. These were not your typical 2 to 4 tickets on sale by a season ticket holder, it was 12+ tickets per row.
Could it be that the new partnership between ND and Vivid Seats allowed Vivid Seats to sell unsold tickets or received blocks of tickets from ND at a very low cost?
Has ND essentially subcontracted out ticket sales?
My guess is that ticket sales were way down partially due to last year, gold seaters moving to club level opening up season tickets to guys like me, and people that took the recent popular advise and decided not to buy tickets anymore.
My point is after seeing what happened on Vivid Seats this year, I would not throw all of the blame on the season ticket holders. I believe the University dumped a load of unsold tickets onto Vivid Seats.
Both Kelly and Swarbrick need to go, I’m afraid. The opposing fan invasion doesn’t happen if the program is functional.
Sure it does. Not the first time it happened. Our fanbase doesn’t care. Why should the players? Why should recruits? Hope all those Dawgs enjoyed the Jumbotron.
The fanbase doesn’t care to watch 4-8 play (which continued today). When did this sort of invasion happen in the Holtz era? It doesn’t happen to serious programs. The fact that it happened to us is an indictment of the current condition of the program.
I agree with at least 90% of what you said. I’m not giving up on the season, but I’m very disappointed right now. As far as the Okwara penalty, you don;t hit the QB after he throws the ball. Refs are looking to throw that flag. Don’t give them an excuse to throw it
I agree. It was a bad play by him. I still didn’t like the call, though.
I do not agree with that. Wimbush was getting knocked hard after his release. I didn’t see any flags on those hits. I’m not saying the refs were biased, I just disagree with the call.
I agree it was a BS call. It was quick 1-2, but he was in bounds and one step after he threw when he got *shoved*. It’s not a RTP penalty. If clear wall can’t defend or justify it, I’ll listen to him. But otherwise, it’s the call of the game
If clearwall *can* defend it
I’m not going to. I think it was very overly officious. The point of ROUGHING is to get cheap shots out of the game, protect defenseless QBs who are in a dangerous position. This wasnt even a hard hit, it was a shove to the shoulders almost immediately after the ball was released. Im thinking that’s an incorrect call.
I wasn’t completely sober, but at the game I almost got the impression that the call was a make-up for what appeared to be a missed pass interference the play or two before.
That said, I don’t agree with make-up calls, but it felt like one.
Kind of disagree about the purgatory part. It was well reasoned so its pretty hard to respond to, but ill try my best:
We all kind of knew that this is what this season was going to be. We are certainly more talented than our 4-8 record last year, but you dont go from 4-8 to 10-2 without growing pains. Were not a great program right now. We havent been a great program in my cognizant lifetime (24 years). This purgatory thing is not a new development. Its been here for years. Our big wins are our close loses. But this game did not alter any sort of perspective for me–were the same program weve been for 25 years.
Im disheartened for sure. I’m sick of this feeling like everyone else. But at this point, if someone really buys into the belief we have the top OL in the nation, thats on them. Its underwhelmed for years. To make some sort of radical adjustment on the view of the program based on this game just seems baseless to me. Nothing about this game (or anything at all) tells me Swarbrick should be fired. Nothing about this game changed my view on BK. This game was a microcosm of the past 8 years. Weve been nothing if not consistent. This game was more of the same.
If we’re the same program we’ve been for 25 years, isn’t it time for a change?
Problem is – change to what? I don’t disagree but there’s no better option. There’s no saban or Meyer coming. So we’re stuck at 8/9 – 4/3 ish. Sometimes better sometimes worse. I’m not all that down about this loss in particular. Before the season I penciled this in as a loss. Felt good this week about it but I was wrong. Gotta move on.
We can’t get Saban or Meyer, but suppose we could get a Peterson (if he gets tired of not being able to recruit) or MacIntyre (if he continues winning at Colorado). Hell, what about Mike Leach?! [I know, Eric, I know – but let me dream]. I think Dan Mullen has overachieved at Mississippi State. So let’s wait and see what the landscape looks like before we say “Change!” or “We can’t do better!”
Mullen is a possibility. The rest of those, very doubtful.
I disagreed with you above. But this is 100% where I’m at. “Fire everyone” is a great plan until you realize your best option is Ed Orgeron.
Yep, maybe put out some feelers to Peterson’s agent but Brian Kelly was had a better resume in 2009 than most guys we’d be linked to now. Understand the feeling though, with each passing year Kelly looks like an 8-4 coach with the occasional breakthrough (or collapse).
If it walks like an 8-4 coach and quacks like an 8-4 coach…
And honestly, an 8-4 every year coach is better than we’ve had since Holtz. Why should we expect or think we deserve more?
Because the jokers we hired in between Holtz and Kelly were shown to be giant disasters everywhere else they went afterwards, and yet they still somehow each had their moments at ND. For all the talk about how hard it supposedly is to win here, if those 3 losers could even occasionally look competent, how good might a legitimately great coach’s record be?
“Before the season I penciled this in as a loss.”
There’s the problem.
We don’t know who is better until we try.
Of course we gotta try. I’m just saying coming off 4-8 and looking at the schedule I figured we’d lose this game. Wasn’t wrong. Not particularly happy about it either.
We’ve been the same program for 25 years under 4 different coaches and 3 different ADs. The further we get away from Holtz’s glory years (I’ve experienced all of it sadly, as my freshman year was Davie’s first year), the more ridiculous it becomes to expect a “return to glory”
I know people don’t like this idea, but it’s why I think we should join a conference. It would be nice as a fan to be able to have an 9-3 season not be tremendously disappointing, because we won our conference and went to a decent bowl game. As independent, and with the unrealistic expectations of the fan base (myself included) that we’re somehow going to actually win a NC, the first loss of the year takes a ton of air out of the sails, and after 2, it’s like our only end goal for the season is unattainable so why bother anymore?
Except that you are not going to win any conference at 9-3 – unless you assume we’d schedule 3 very difficult out of conference games (like USC, Stanford, and ???) and lose only non-conference games. The problem? If we lost to those out conference teams we’re probably not beating the best of the ACC either.
You hit on a lot of good things here. I’ll try to present another framing on this, but it’s hard to disagree with what you’ve said.
If we believe the reboot story, then going 8-4 this year is a very good step. Elko is looking like a damn miracle worker with this defense and I think they’ll be better next year, and I think Stepherson’s return from suspension will mask Wimbush’s accuracy issues. Plus, Georgia has top 10 talent, so I’m not as down on the offense as many here [see caveat below]. Maybe next year Dexter Williams finally gets some handoffs.
Caveat: the OL got thrashed tonight. @DMAC, the OL has not underwhelmed for years. It was excellent in 2012, very good in 2013, and great again in 2015 when we got two high draft picks out of it. In 2016 it was below par. Tonight it got beat by a defense with top 10 talent. Let’s see what happens – I predict by game five it will be much more consistent.
That was the positive framing. Here’s the negative framing:
So we go 8-4, and if we recruit well, we probably go 9-3 next year. And then the future would look bright…
EXCEPT: Brian Kelly’s awful 6th year. Like, what is to guarantee that guy doesn’t f*** it up again? And I think that’s what really worries me. I have faith in the coordinators, but when they get hired away, what happens? Is there another BVG lurking in the weeds, waiting to screw us? And that’s why this feeling really sucks. We have the right pieces now for the long term but no evidence the coach can manage for the long term.
@herecometheirish – I hear you, but part of it being time for a change is having a good coach to hire. Last year there were good coaches but more attractive programs (Texas, LSU) hiring. So we need to wait and see what the carousel looks like in November. That said, if we’re 7-5, I’m probably willing to roll the dice.
Last week we were all praising Chip Long and the offense, and it was Elko and the defense that looked like not much had changed–missed tackles, missed assignments, etc. against a bad Temple team. This week, it’s totally flipped. The defense played lights out. The offense was awful. A pulse on offense and we’d have won this game, that’s what makes it so frustrating. We’ll see going forward which was the aberration.
Yep, I was pleasantly surprised about the defense last night. That performance was 100% worthy of a win. Its entirely possible that the o-line gets back to mauling against worse opponents and we get to the USC game comfortably at 5-1. If Wimbush keeps throwing into the stands though, 3-3 is just as likely.
As I said in the chat last night, I believe we are not as good on offense as week 1 showed, nor as inept as week 2 showed. The defense looked great last night, but Georgia’s offense is pretty meh. So as usual 2 games in, the n isn’t big enough to really know what we’re going to look like this year.
The way I see It, ND has a culture problem. I think they are so obsessed with emphasizing academics, which is one of the things I love about them, that they are reluctant to pay the ridiculous salaries these coaches are getting now a days. Not reluctant to pay because they are cheap, but because of the perception of putting more value on football than academics.
I don’t know about salaries, ND does a pretty good job of disguising coach pay due to being a private institution. Basically every list of highest paid coaches shows BK way underpaid with an asterisk that everyone knows he gets more from NBC/Under Armour but no figures are available.
I’m sure the assistants do well enough, too. We brought in Elko who was on everyone’s rising star coordinator lists, same with Sanford before. People love on Hiestand, who left an SEC school and held the same job in the NFL, pretty sure he’s not making peanuts.
Yeah, I don’t think the pay issue is what it was when Lou left. I think that’s a misconception now. Kelly does quite well, it’s just rearranged differently. The whole “don’t want to put more value on football than academics” was a Monk Malloy thing. Jenkins and the current regime appear to fall under the Fr. Ted “We can be good at both” philosophy, as we’ve made a ton of strides forward in terms of facilities, coaching salaries, etc. Just because we aren’t doing it doesn’t mean it’s still the same as under Monk.
We do have a culture problem, but it’s not the one you mentioned. It’s the “we need to be nice to everyone and never impose our will on the football field.” Thats what leads to scrub teams coming in and hanging within a score of us until the last seconds(UCLA 2006, Syracuse, Navy, UVA 2016) and us seemingly never being able to knock off major powers anymore or getting our asses handed to us in major bowl games.
Good write-up. I’ve wanted to believe this could be a great year and completely cleanse the palate of last season but deep down always knew this would be an 8-4 type of year. That would mean no great wins and Ls to USC/Miami/Stanford to come. Still probably true.
Defense has the potential to be fun in a way we haven’t seen since 2012. Offense looked shockingly incompetent. Georgia could be the best D on our schedule but those bad throws can’t be all down to pressure. I’d love to believe Chip Long’s gameplan going forward will look more like Temple than last night’s trash but who knows.
Last night’s game plan on offense looked like Kelly was more involved than he was the week before.
Sure did. Which is mind-blowing.
Maybe I just read to much ND stuff in the off season. It just leaves disappointed in players time and again. Best O line in the country…please? Mismatch nightmares at the receiver positions …HA, catch the ball ! A stud LB in the middle… really ?
Purgatory is about right. Hopefully PJ Fleck will have proven something at Minnesota in 2 years and will be ready for a change. I know some people don’t like his schtick, but who else we got out there that’s an option?
Potential coaching replacements:
1. Chris Peterson
2. Justin Fuente
3. Dave Clawson (we know Elko can coach, so reunite them. WF trending up)
4. Jeff Brohm
5. PJ Fleck
Im not aboard the fire BK crew, but there is two (realistic) guys I would consider:
Cutcliffe and the guy from Colorado.
Cutcliffe’s heart couldn’t handle ND, no way he leaves Duke. McIntyre is a bit of a weirdo (says the guy eyeing PJ Fleck…). He’s apparently very Southern Baptisty, in a Hugh Freeze sort of way (minus hookers).
Dabo is kind of that way as well, and he killing it at clemson, where he almost had to get enjoined for his bible studies lol.
Yeah, that plays at a state school in the South. It’s not an indictment of coaching ability, it’s a “that shit will get old real quick” thing. Malzahn is a better comparison–Auburn folks didn’t mind his schtick when they were in the NC, but 8-4 and they’re sick of him. Though I suppose that’s not any different than any quirky coach. “Row the boat” will be a punchline if Minnesota goes 6-6.
Minus hookers? That alone merits a thumbs up.
Totally forgot Mike MacIntyre. Good call there Dmac.
I think ND is more enticing than VaTech. Maybe not a huge reason to leave if Fuente has a ton of success, but it would definitely be a bigger stage and bigger paycheck.
Clawson is a stretch, I’ll admit. But the guy won a bowl game at Wake Forest last year and they’re clearly trending up. Plus, we’ll get to see him coach head-to-head against BK for a second time this year. He and Elko did a nice job against the 2015 ND team.
Brohm won a ton a WKU and immediately made a bad Purdue team competitive against Louisville. Agree he has to win games at Purdue, but I think he will (partly because the rest of the B1G West is bad).
Clawson won a bowl game at Wake! Woo!! I seem to remember BK had a Cinci team in the Sugar Bowl.
I think Brohm is a legit guy to watch. I just think he’s a few years behind Fleck in terms of development, if for no other reason that he’s got a bigger hole to dig out of at Purdue, and so it’d be 4-5 years before he’d put together that season that made me go “yeah, this is the guy.” I think Fleck could be there in 2 years, and I think that’s the latest we’re looking.
I’m also a Fleck fan, but I have to think they’re on the same timeline here. They’re both in their first season at a P5 program and both had messes of different sorts to clean up. If either of them win the B1G West within 2-3 years, that’s our guy.
Well, I’m watching Fleck’s team dismantle Oregon State. Seems like one is ahead of the other. Brohm’s mess is way worse. Minnesota had a decent team, they lost their coach for off the field reasons.
We should have hired Willie Tagert or PJ Fleck in the offseason instead of waiting for two years.
Amen
No reason for 1 & 2 to leave where they are at. Clawson? Uh…. Brohm needs to prove something at Purdue…which is a graveyard. Fleck is the shot, if he can make noise in the B1GW and knock off Wisconsin to win it at least once in the next 2-3 years.
Man, except for Peterson (and maybe MacIntyre below) all these guys are super underwhelming. I’d need to see another full year of Fuente at Va Tech first. He’s also a lunatic. Clawson and a guy like Mullen are ok for their schools but its a big step up to 10 wins every year. Plenty of guys like Brohm and Fleck have had good years at smaller schools but the lack of a longer track record worries me compared to Kelly before (or say an Urban at Utah).
My in-laws would kill me, but we could do worse than Joe Moorhead (and keeping Elko at DC).
Moorehead is not a bad thought, has HC experience at the FCS level. But he’s got to be a 2-3rd tier choice if we’re going to complain about guys like Fleck or Brohm not having enough FBS P5 experience.
6. Bob Stoops
I think we are thinking about the wrong Stoops. The one at Kentucky.
The game was close as expected and so it goes. All we heard here was the weak, unimpressive GA oline but that didn’t hurt their running game. I liked how the ND defense stood tall though. Not their fault.
Playcalling and oline were bad. Not winnable against a good team. Adams never had a chance. RT is an issue. Left side is supposed to be a strength, wasn’t tonight.
Shame, effort was there, just fell short. Wimbush isn’t a playoff caliber passer this year. Seems like 8-4 at best but they should have a chance in every game, just need to execute. Didn’t tonight. Pretty disappointing since the defense did their part and what was supposed do be the power on offense was very underwhelming.
Why isn’t Sanders a part of the offense? Why didn’t Williams get any opportunities? Next few games should be good to figure things out before SC but they’ve got a lot to figure out.
Sanders, Claypool, Boykin aren’t part of the offense because an ASU retread who “knows the offense” and a Michigan castoff are somehow “better.” I’m about as okay with this one game as I can be with any loss, but despite not being all that angry, I am more resigned to the inevitable fact that this is who we are under Kelly. Potential that if everything breaks right we can be in the national conversation, but more often than not we’re going to make inexplicable decisions and lose games we could win. In seasons like last season, it means we lose to Duke. In good seasons, it means we play good teams like Clemson or Stanford (or possibly UGA) close, but never actually break through. So, purgatory. I’m still not ready to pull the trigger until there’s someone who gives me hope, but I acknowledge it ain’t ever going to be Kelly that gets us to the playoff. Or even to a 10-2 and win over a quality P5 opponent in a major bowl.
I hear you. And Stepherson might be a knucklehead, who knows, but the staff has had him in the doghouse all of 2017. With what he showed last year, he’s a difference maker. But he’s a castoff too for these first 4 games, but not bad enough to get kicked out apparently.
If that’s deserved, which maybe it is, fine. But to your point he grad transfers playing over Claypool, Boykin, even McKinley. Just why
If Stepherson toked up and got suspended, they need to say he got suspended. There’s literally nothing gained by playing coy about it. If he’s just a head case, then move the heck on. But it doesn’t explain any number of strange personnel decisions. For years, on both O and D, this has been an issue. Just frustrating.
Very frustrating for sure
“We’re recruiting great and Heistand is arguably the best o line coach in the country. Also we’re going to rotate a true freshman in a right tackle.”
Classic Kelly garbage where our most athletic players can’t seem to find the field
I’ve reluctantly come to this conclusion, yes.
Except for last year, Kelly has kept us in winning seasons. His first three years were our first three consecutive winning seasons by one coach since Holtz. He’s a perfect placement until someone comes along who we really think can take us to the next level. No reason to take a flyer on an unknown quantity. He’s not driving the program into the ground like Dave Weisingham
This might be a good point.
It is entirely possible, to me, that we look back on this 8 year lull and recognize Kelly was the transition guy we needed. History is probably beginning to point against that, but he has implemented a number of things that are correlated with successful programs. Maybe its up to the next guy to take it to the next level.
I’ve mentioned this before but what you’ve just mentioned is exactly why I dont DESPISE Kelly(or Weis, really) but I still think he needs to be let go and we need to move on. I mean, look, Davie and Willy TOTALLY drove this program into the absolute dirt. Weis wasnt really much better but he did recruit REALLY well and finally started getting us talent again. That was at least a step in the right direction. Then comes Kelly who again takes us another step up. He’s shown that he’s not the ANSWER but we’ve been slowly inching back to where we should be as a national power. Now, the challenge is to find that Meyer/Saban level guy who can send us to the stratosphere. Weis/Kelly made it so that we dont have to have someone come in and turn a miracle to pull us out of the mud, he just has to finish putting the siding on the building and selling it to a buyer.
“our All-American first round draft pick offensive linemen”
We have an, singular, All-American first-round draft pick offensive lineman. McGlinchey will be very lucky to be drafted in round 2.
He’s a right tackle at the next level. Chance to be a good one too. He beefed up tonight but tough to measure up in the next of the Martin-Stanley lineage.
Perhaps, but I feel very confident in predicting that he won’t sniff the first round.
Maybe not first round but he will go high. Has the measurables that the NFL loves. McGlinchey wasn’t even great last year with all the false starts and still was voted an All-American. He looks the part and has a reputation and that will carry the day
The one thing we could have used tonight was speed and our two fastest skill players didnt play a single snap. Stepherson was badly needed tonight. We allowed Georgia to keep stacking the box because they didnt fear our WR one on one. Regardless Wimbush needs to flat play better. The game looked to big for him tonight. At times he looked lost out there. He looked more like the true freshman compared to Fromm. Our O Line played like trash tonight and our new OC called a terrible game in my opinion. I dont want to hear **** else about the left side of our line being elite. The same goes for Mack. They need to put his ass on the back of a milk carton because the elite play he was suppose to give us has been missing. We had the opportunity to get to U$C week undefeated had we pulled this game out. Instead we allowed Georgia and their freaking sea of red to invade our stadium and beat us with a true freshman.
Kelly needs to rally this team some way some how and make sure we only have this one lost when we play U$C. Really bummed about this lost. Heading in I thought we would win.
Ummm CJ Sanders??? Sanders, claypool, and Dexter are the type of athletes who can challenge an SEC D. And we threw to Chris Finke. At least he caught it unlikeAlize.
But Cam Smith knows the offense, and…
I forgot about my friends frustration with Alize. That guy couldn’t catch a cold in this game.
Don’t you think your side note should be like points 1-3? I mean our “two best” offensive players just can’t do anything against good competition. I mean like nothing. I feel so stupid having believed the Mcglinchey nelson hype train two years in a row now. I don’t expect them to dominate a good SEC DL, but you’d thing they’d make SOME plays.
Proud of the D though. Very impressive front 7 play.
Thought the D played great as well.
Mike Leech and Wazzu down 31-17 to Boise State.
https://imgflip.com/i/1vlntu
If I had any idea on how to embed that I would
Just watched BK and Wimbush’s press conference. Really felt bad for Wimbush. Great representative, at least. BK was pissed. He did a fairly good job until the end when he sort of went off on Laken Litman (?), the reporter from the Indy Star.
Laken Litman is the only one in that room who will ask a tough question (the ISD/II guys are often borderline sycophantic), so good on her.
BK was a real ass for the line of questioning. It’s not a gotcha, it’s a real concern after cratering last year.
What was his excuse this time? Which player didn’t step up and make plays?
That O-line. They’re just not playing up to their expectations. I thought Wimbush looked rattled at times. Rattles is being kind to him, some plays he looked scared to me. The defense wasn’t horrible. If you would have told me ND could hold them to 20 points, I would have predicted a win.
https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/sports/hot-brian-kellys-seat-notre-dame-georgia-loss-060113316.html
Forde column is harsh but fair
Not a huge Forde fan, but he’s not wrong. Show us it’s going to be different, Brian–don’t tell us.
The video of that exchange is worse than the transcript. Even after the “New Brian Kelly” (he does yoga!), well, he’s still the same old guy – https://twitter.com/angdicarlowndu/status/906752606625824768
Frankly, I don’t give one grunt on the toilet if he’s a “New Brian Kelly” or if he’s an asshole to reporters. None of that matters at all to me. What matters is losing games we could have won because of inexplicable decisions. Win effing games and you can be a jerkoff to a poor reporter, like Nick Saban often is, and people laugh it off as “oh, that’s just Coach, hahaha.” Doesn’t make me feel good, or like you as a person, but you don’t get to lose games like this and then get upset when people question you.
Man this is the weirdest feeling–I’m still not all that angry about the game itself, because it was in line with what I expected, in terms of result. I’m frustrated as hell at how it happened (such a waste of a great defensive performance) and so despite not being angry about the loss itself, I’m now fully in “not sorry to see Kelly go, let’s just line up a good replacement” camp. It’s not going to change. There will always be something.
I’m with you KG on the game portion. I thought the D played really well, and the offense just couldn’t. Do. Anything. What was the final stat line on rushing yards? Like 60? Just brutal. Couldn’t run, couldn’t get anyone downfield. And man, that strip sack at the end was just crushing (literally and figuratively).
Yeah I can’t get too bothered one way or another about a coach’s personality. A lot of them are jerks but as long as you win and don’t bring the school into complete disrepute (like actual legal/moral issues, not yelling too much), I don’t care.
i usually think Forde is a total ass, but he nailed this one.
I simply can’t get angry at fans who sold their tickets. If the product sucks, people won’t buy it. And Swarbrick is responsible for the product.
Guys, the rules on language still apply even when we lose.
Mea culpa. I’ll try better, coach!
Sorry about that.
“Fun” fact: Notre Dame has lost 9 of its last 10 one score games, dating back to the 2015 game against Stanford.
Well I’m going to go ahead and violate the rules of the post and put a positive spin on last night. GA is a pretty solid team and at the very least they have a very good national perception about them(ESSEEESEEEE). So showing that we can hang with a top tier team from a top conference and save a few questionable calls, could have won the game.
I’m totally with you on Wimbush and I voiced that on Slack last night. I’m kind of on the same thought plane about him and Book as I am with you and Dex. At what point does Wimbush continuing to completely fail make sense to keep him in a game that we had a chance to win if we had just gotten DECENT QB play? Maddening.
And that’s kind of how I’ve been WRT Kelly since 2012. He makes so many maddening decisions that I’m so ready to move on. I dont care if it’s a step down in perceived coaching pedigree or if we take the risk that Stoops has some kind of unreported baggage that will come up as soon as he’s hired…I just want to move on so that I have SOME kind of hope and see something different. I’m kind of tired of being enraged by every stupid Kelly decision at this point.
I would like to have this approach, but am struggling. My frustrations are not just limited to how we played last night. What is driving me crazy is that every single one of us in the Slackchat last night said this very well might be the defining game for BK. And low and behold, we keep up with what is seemingly a very talented team, but we lose the big one. Im sick of watching these big games just to flop down the wire.
Just sucks as a fan.
It is defining. There’s the definition. Close, but no cigar. Can be good, but just not quite good enough. That’s it. That’s the book. I don’t dislike Kelly. I don’t bear him ill will. My general philosophy is to support the coach until we see how far he can take us. It’s pretty clear to me now that there will always be something funky that holds us back, some unexplained personnel decision, or crappy play calling, or didn’t get that DL recruit…the specifics will always change, but it. will. always. be. something.
Just an observation on the game last night. It seemed like Georgia was coached to commit penalties with the thought being the refs won’t call everything. 1. That perception made me lose all respect for them and places them under Mi***** in my book. 2. Did anyone else get that impression or am I imagining things?
I think it’s just you
Hi all – sitting in the Air France lounge, trying to get my head around another hugely sad and frustrating loss for all the reasons you all have put forth. so still happy for this site.
That said, re: Rudy’s point, my spin was that Georgia players are taught to play it to the line and a bit over, not coached to play dirty per se, but that all these hands to the face are part of their MO to create their fast, aggressive, tough defense. Nit suggesting we need or should do that, just that I I did nit sense they were coached to be “dirty” per se. A little like Navy’s o-line… but maybe I am stretching this.
Got to say, KG has point: we all agreed it was a defining game for BK, and… sadly it defined him. Which is sad, in many respects he is a very good coach/program developer, IMO. But KG expresses all this best.
Not gonna go into the game minutiae here but I came away with one overwhelming feeling. We are nowhere close to what we were during the Holtz era (my years at ND). Not in talent, not in skill, and NOT IN GRIT. So, so discouraging.
Purgatory is a good word for it. I agree with above that the late hit was bogus and they were missing worse on Wimbush, but if you leave a game to the refs, that is the risk you take.
Our OL was vastly overrated, second year in a row. Next time McGlinchey stops a speed rush to his left will be the first. As far as LTs go at the next level, he will make an excellent RG.
I regret to say I agree with Flutie that Wimbush is not comfortable in the pocket. Kizer had that poise from the Virginia game on. It seems alien to Wimbush. He needs to develop a clock.
I disagree with the play of the defense. I do agree that they played good enough to win, but we have been helped enormously in our first two games by drops and by inexperienced QBs. A good, experienced QB, especially one with a run game, will light up our secondary like a pinball machine. Fortunately, other than Darnold I am not sure we play one. I think you can put Darnold down for 450 yards and 5 TDs through the air. Always good to help another USC QB to the Heisman. At least, his reward will be the Jets.
Also, can we get rid of Flutie. His working assumption on every play is that the ND player was in the wrong. He was walking so many comments back when he looked at replay there must have been holes in the floor. At least I felt I was learning something from the other former BC analyst before him. With Flutie, not really learning much (other than his Wimbush observation).
Why when our DL stunt are there holes I could run through and when their DL stunts, it is as if our OL has never seen the concept before?
I just got back from the game and although my mental status wasn’t the best, here were my impressions: 1. Georgia fans are more of jerks than I expected. Normally when an opposing team comes into town, they are relatively cordial…UGA fans seemed to think we were some kind of hated rival and that ND fans were some kind of enemy. They were really cocky, acting as if ND was finally going to get a chance to seem some talent play at our stadium. A lot of guys would scream at passing ND fans, bark at them…it really seemed to put everyone on edge beforehand. 2. The jumbo-tron was our biggest and greatest weapon against that. I have always been neutral towards it, but there were multiple times that the screen destroyed any attempt by UGA fans to build momentum. First, the visitors were well-represented and loud right out of the gates. UGA guys in my section were ridiculously and non-ironically rude to start. The shot of the team praying before the team came onto the field got a lot of the visitors to quiet down…you could almost hear them thinking, “well, if these Yankees are praying to Jesus, I can’t root against them too hard.” It really seemed to take the visitors’ cheering a notch down. The clips played also were picked perfectly. They started with a retrospective of one time that ND destroyed GA Tech. A lot of the UGA fans were conflicted, not knowing what to do with that: You mean these Catholics have a history against one of our most hated rivals? Maybe they aren’t too bad. They also showed a demolishing of ‘Bama, but that didn’t seem to be as effective. Clips for how ND is curing paralysis and otherwise saving the world also helped knock the opposing fans down into at least a semblance of respect for us. The UGA band was loud, but it seemed every time they played, the jumbo-tron did something to drown them out. It really killed momentum the best through that. The majority of the game was played with a much louder home crowd than visitors…the way the UGA fans started out of the gate, I wasn’t expecting it to turn out that way. 3. I’ve been to many games where opposing fans seemed to “take over.” Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ohio State (back when Lou was coaching…it’s not a new entity). Part of the benefit of having ND’s mystique is that other team fans will pay a premium to come and experience it. That means that ND is not “just another school,” no matter how often we worry about ND’s place in college football and the future of the program. The fact that UGA felt the need to come in droves and do everything they could to cheer their team on ultimately is a sign of respect for the program and what we historically have done. And I think it implies that there is still a potential to build on… Read more »
What happened to my paragraphs? Sorry this is apparently unreadable.
It looks fine when you click “more” at the end. Appreciate reading the thoughts from someone at the game.
Despite my coaching candidates post above, I’m not in the “Kelly needs to go” camp just yet. I’m willing to let the year play out and keep an eye on what other coaches are doing around the country.
If we end up 9-3 with one win out of USC, Stanford, Miami, I’ll say it was a successful rebound year.
Yeah, for some reason formatting only shows up after hitting the “more” button.
Totally agree on UGA fans. A very high d-bag quotient. Rivaled Florida State in that regard. I was surprised by that.
We had these two complete jerks in the row behind who actually poured a coke out on our bench. Almost sat in it. They were pretty smug about it until they realized that we were completely serious when we told them “Go get some (redacted) napkins and clean that (redacted) up.” They were midgets and my friends and I were not. It was satisfying seeing the little (redacted) come scurrying back with an armful of napkins, apologizing profusely.
Well, I was there and did not get all of that impression. Ga fans all very focused, and since they all paid literally thousands of $$ to come, and are true fans to boot, I didn’t mind that. But my cousin and I has multiple conversations with Ga fans who said how super friendly everyone had been, and how our campus is truly lovely, and they all talked about us coming to Athens in a couple of years.
On the “tron – completely concur with IDOCD. Great post.
The only problem with our crowd and the ‘tron was… yep, the timing. We were once again way late on beefing up the crowd noise before key plays. The band God love them by my log played the Celtic Chant SEVEN times at the worse moment, so to kill crowd noise. If the band just played it a minute earlier…. but the “tron will give us a chance to fix that.
I think this article is a bit harsh. To me, the difference in the game was that the UGA defense, especially the front seven, was the best unit on the field from either team, and they were able to dominate our Oline. That’s mostly why Wimbush looked bad, why we couldn’t run, and why it likely wouldn’t have made a difference having Williams trying to run, given our Oline couldn’t create holes. Yet with all that, ND lost by a point. Sad to see, but hardly shameful or time to fire everyone.
There was a lot of overly optimistic reaction to the Temple game, along the lines of wow, we have a great run game, dominant Oline, and breakaway receiver (Eq.). Fact is, Temple is Temple, Georgia is not.
That over exuberance re Temple set a lot of folks up for disappointment, and led to some thinking the UGA Oline would be terrible, our runners as good as theirs, our Oline able to handle their front 7 etc. The game could maybe have gone either way, both teams got breaks, both teams made serious mistakes. In the end, their defense won the game for them.
I never saw the game as a turning point game for ND–over the years of following ND football, just another tough game between two good teams, and it didn’t go our way. It was exciting to the very end, especially since I was skeptical beforehand that we would be able to stay with them. I’d have been delighted to get the win, but I’m not crushed at the loss. ND football is what it is these decades.
Along those lines, I found this article to be pretty insightful: http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/20580851/conference-realignment-leveled-field-notre-dame
I don’t usually pay attention to Maisel, but I think he’s spot on in this analysis. For reasons stated in the article, plus the numerous disadvantages (from an elite CFB football perspective) that Notre Dame imposes on its football program, I think Kelly is doing about as well as can be expected of a current day ND coach, and much better than his predecessors since Lou. If we insist on managing football the way we do today, while also trying to be elite, I think the last few decades are just the precursor of more to come.
Before this post gets overtaken by others, I just want to laud Andy for putting up insightful, basically dead-on analysis so quickly last night. And not only that, but it’s well-written. Really great work.
I have to say, I wasn’t expecting a downvote on this one.
Some men just want to watch the world burn.
Was away, but managed to catch the first half. Contrary to popular belief, the sky is not falling.