WatchND highlights:
Not everything is fixed for Notre Dame football. Far from it. But at least they won a football game.
The Irish beat Syracuse 50-33 Saturday, but early on it looked like the score would be much higher. The Irish led 23-13 less than five minutes into the game thanks to some big plays on both sides and C.J. Sanders’ kickoff return for a score. I just burst out laughing when it appeared that Torii Hunter had made it 30-13 after Syracuse just stopped playing after thinking they had him stopped. Hunter’s shoulder was down, but Notre Dame never would be in this game.
That doesn’t mean it was totally stress-free – some horrendous tackling on a punt return for Syracuse late in the first half enabled the Orange to cut the lead to 33-27 before halftime, and then DeShone Kizer tried to hand them even more momentum with a terrible interception. Luckily, Syracuse missed a field goal on that last drive, and the ND defense performed pretty well the rest of the game, all things considered.
That’s right, I just wrote unironically that the ND defense performed pretty well for a time. The Irish defense got off to their characteristic terrible start in their first game freed from the shackles of Brian VanGorder, but after two terrible defensive series early in the game, ND was, if not good, if not even mediocre, at least not oh-my-god-I-want-to-stab-my-own-eyes out bad. Syracuse is the best offense ND has played, most likely, and the Irish surrendered fewer points to them than to any of their previous Power 5 opponents. It’s not a fix, but at least it’s something resembling progress.
On the offensive side, ND looked fantastic against, granted, a defensively overmatched team. The Irish had players running wide open on most pass plays, and if not for Kizer missing some relatively easy throws ND probably drops 60 or even 70 on the Cuse in this game. Even with those missed throws, Kizer went for 471 passing yards, the most in Notre Dame history in a win (he fell 55 yards short of Joe Theismann’s single-game passing record, but that was in a loss).
There is some reason for concern with the offensive line’s ability to run block. There weren’t all that many holes available, though Josh Adams and Dexter Williams both went for over 5 yards per carry. (Williams had 80 yards, most of them on a ridiculously good field-reversing run on a play that was going nowhere fast. He also only had 10 total touches. Would like to see him get the ball a bit more.) Against a very bad Syracuse defensive team, it would’ve been nice for the Irish to have an easier time on the ground. They only converted 1 of their first 6 third downs.
But I’m mostly nitpicking. Today was, on the whole, a positive for a program that sorely needed it. The defense looked at least like it had a pulse, even if they were still pretty bad. Kizer was solid, though he missed some plays. ND’s playmakers did ND’s playmaker things (EQ St. Brown was outstanding, Stepherson busted loose for a long TD). Nyles Morgan legitimately looked very good on the defensive side of the ball, making several nice plays.
This is still going to be a bad year, and who knows where we go from here with a fairly tough stretch of games (@ NC State, Stanford, Miami) coming. But for one day, at least the Irish won a game. I’ll take that for now.
Woo! A win!
If BVG had been able to produce even an average power-5 defense, this team would be 5-0 and a playoff contender…
Sad rec
I got victory whiskey today, that is a good day! Beats despair whiskey. In case you are wondering, this year we are talking about Jameson Black Barrel vs. regular Jameson with a chaser of tears.
I’ll take it. Onwualu is not impressing me at all. They still don’t know how they fit into the scheme, but they did look a lot better. I am still waiting to see some fundamental tackles. Morgan made some solid, under control, tackles. The O-line doesn’t look like they are moving bodies around like last year. We had some good runs though, maybe I’m just not looking at it right.
A win win is a win though. I did see an improvement on defense and the offense looks like they can put up a ton of pints still.
A nice win. Taking care of business v. Syracuse should be assumed, and yet here we are.
It was good seeing some of the older players stepping up in key moments. Nyles, Cage, Rochell. Jarron with another blocked kick. This was a tough matchup coming off a DC firing. Hopefully they make further strides in the week ahead.
Where did this graphic come from? We gonna make some orange juice. Which we did. Because life handed us lemons.
Is that Ice-T?
Lemonade.
Arnold Palmer for me thanks
What’s with these people? Read the sign! Lemonade! Delicious!
Lemon (singular)
I’m glad we made no exCuses and got the job done this week.
I’m sorry, that comment was terrible. I’ll reCuse myself from further discussion.
J’AcCuse, Occtipus: I Syrasly question your commenting etiquette…
Larry Fedora for ND coach!
I’m not ready to fire BK yet, but I am building a list of names. I do think that – as someone else here suggested – Charlie Strong for defensive coordinator is a real possibility. A possibility that delights me.
I honest to God don’t think Kelly’s seat is even remotely warm. He is not worried about his job at all. We don’t have a coaching issue now that BVG is gone. We have a recruiting issue primarily on the defensive side of the ball. That is what is holding this program back.
Take a player like Chase Claypool who has loads of potential. He needs to be on defense IMO. We have plenty of young talent at WR. Schools like Ohio State, LSU and Alabama would turn this kid into a elite three down LB. Claypool has a fantastic frame and is a very good athlete. Players like him need to be on D for us. If it doesnt work and you need to switch him over that can come down the road. I touched on recruiting during the gameday thread and another member said that “we were fine w/ recruiting”. A remark like that makes me want to vomit because its so untrue. If we were fine with recruiting we wouldn’t be in this mess in year 7 of the Kelly era. If we were fine with recruiting we wouldn’t lose to a terrible Duke at home.
Are you high?
@Maybe he doesn’t believe in recruiting rankings, only what he sees with his eyes?@
why is this sarcastic? You should be serious since he clearly doesn’t believe in such rankings.
If you think our recruiting is fine, you need to ask yourself if you are high? Re-watch the OSU
disasterbowl game and ask yourself if recruiting is fine. We had a verbal from not only the best defensive player in this class but a dynamic pass rusher and couldn’t close the deal.Once again I don’t have any issues with recruiting on offense. The players we bring in on that side of the ball are fine. We load up with really good QB, OL and skill players each cycle which elevates our rankings but I think you know that. We have not brought in a elite pass rusher or DT since Tuitt left. We are still trying to replace Nix and Tuitt. We got Hayes who I like but he needs to be in a 3-4. The defense played a lot of 3-4 today and I hope that continues. DL is the single most important position in college football and we continue to come up short. The one year we have a great DL we run the table and make it to the title game.
The same goes for cornerback. I can’t remember the last time we brought in a elite cover corner. Every time we get on the field with a elite team we continue to come up short. If Notre Dame ever wants to truly get that elite label back, they must start bringing in better talent on defense. I can’t believe there is a single Irish fan out there who thinks the talent on our defense is “fine”.
High it is. If you want to blame defensive recruiting for ND losing to Ohio State, that’s not insane. Blaming defensive recruiting for the loss to Duke is.
…..PSSSST…..
…..don’t tell anyone…but….
….recruiting IS a coaching issue, as it’s the coaches who recruit.
Lol. Thanks for the memo. I will write it down so I won’t forget.
I will keep saying this over and over: unless we have a miracle 9-3 type turnaround this season, Brian Kelly will not and should not be the ND head coach after next season unless he gets to double-digit regular-season wins (maybe 11) and is in the playoff conversation.
I would say that’s more or less on the hot seat.
I kind of agree with this. VanGs scheme was horriblay (horrible in Spanish), but his recruiting and insistence on playing starters 120 plays a game were worse. The past 3+ years we’ve had these massive depth chart holes at safety, MLB, DE, DT. We just need more and better bodies.
Everyone wants to scream fire BK. One question, who is going to replace him? The elite head coaches are afraid to come to Notre Dame. Even a great HC like Urban Meyer is afraid to come here. They will never admit it but they are. Those elite coaches want power over their program. They will never get that type of control here. How many coaches did we hire and fire in between Lou and BK?
Notre Dame is still paying its last HC I believe. Kelly just signed a new deal not to long ago if my memory is correct. I dont know how many years is left on Kelly’s deal but I dont see any scenario where ND pays millions to two head coaches who are no longer leading this program. That is not even counting what they have to pay the new guy.
Yes, Kelly screwed up by keeping BVG as DC. That was a major screw up. Even with our terrible start this program isn’t that far away. Like I posted above, recruiting on defense is the only thing holding this program back. Bring in the best DC possible. A DC who is a great recruiter. If Texas fires Charlie Strong you do everything possible to bring him to South Bend. He was a great recruiter while at Florida and he is plugged in down south where the majority of the elite defensive players are.
Notre Dame is no longer paying any former coaches as of December 2015.
Well, then. No wonder so many people want to remedy that.
That somebody was me! I have contributed to the conversation!
You know how NDNation has the Call For Change letter? We need to organize something for making Charlie Strong the DC. Maybe the Back Up the Truck for Charlie campaign? Too wordy?
How about we not do anything like NDNation does.
Reasonable.
Not sure we’re going to have to back up any money trucks for strong. Prolly just a getaway truck. I’ve been thinking about strong too, but if this is the defense he fields in year 3, we’ll gosh I dunno
He’s been a head coach his last two stops. I doubt he’ll go back to being a coordinator. (Yeah, I know, Lane Kiffen, but that’s an exception, I think). He’ll be able to get another HC gig pretty easily.
I want Kiffin for LSU coach. That would be delicious.
Greg Schiano is the DC at Ohio State. He was the HC for Rutgers as well as being the HC for the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Brady Hoke was fired from Michigan and is the current DC for Oregon.
ok. Maybe not so crazy.
I was really glad to see the effort and energy on D. This team played hard for its HC today. We are still a train wreck but their was growth today. After what we saw these past 5 games any growth is a huge step in the right direction.
There was a ton of young players that got to see action. If you are going to be bad, you might as well be bad with a bunch of freshman playing. Some of those young DB looked really good today. Hopefully this team continues to grow on defense. It would be a shame to not make a bowl when you have a team averaging 40 ppg.
I expected a effort like today from Kizer. Kelly said in the postgame presser that Kizer tries to do to much and you could see that the past 2 weeks. He had back to back really stupid plays today. One was a pick and the other was the terrible sack right before the half. Kizer is so talented though. The scary thing is I think he can play better…….much better. This team would be scary if they just had a average defense. It makes me wonder where we would be if Kelly would have fired BVG last year or even after the Texas game?
I am already thinking about the 2017 season and how good we can be if Kizer comes back.
The 235 yards given up during the last 3 quarters was very encouraging. The 20 points that went with those yards wasn’t cool, but the simplified scheme was holding up. Now if the whole defense can grow together and synergize and all that fun stuff i’ll be happier, but this is a good start.
Anyone else disappointed that Kizer DIDN’T get the ND single game passing record today? Thought for sure that Theisman’s record was going down.
He did get the ND record for most passing yards in a win. Theisman’s record game was a loss.
Kind of an irrelevant distinction in my mind. And Theisman was the better QB IMO.
Well if he lost and was playing from behind, chances were he was playing against more of a prevent defense where yards are easier to come by vs a base defense.
Kizer did this with a lead the whole game, albeit against a porous defense.
Yes, it’s an irrelevant comment. Not everything needs to be SUPER SERIOUS. If you find a comment irrelevant, you could choose not to respond in the thread.
It’s not a “Kizer’s better than Theisman” comment. It’s a “man, he was on pace for a record, didn’t get it. I like to see records broken because it’s fun, aw shucks” comment. I don’t really feel like arguing about who we should get to replace the guy who replaces BK after that guy is a tire fire in 2 years.
/reads comment
//deletes “Theismann still better than Kizer” article
@John Huarte was better anyway!@
ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!?
@sarcasm@
It was so obviously sarcasm, I chose to omit the @@’s. Thank you.
@oh@
I’d be willing to bet the USC defense was a lot better than Syracuse, even if in prevent.
That’s great…I already said I’m not arguing the merits of Kizer vs. Theeesmannn. I’m not sure why you’re reading my comments as an argument about this.
Edit: And now I scroll up and see your “irrelevant” comment wasn’t in response to me, it was in response to dannan’s comment about it being a win vs. a loss. So you’re arguing with him–go for it. I don’t know how I can be “shrill” when I’m not actually arguing anything with you, but you be you.
Funny, you see every Disagreement as an argument. Mine was just an ordinary, routine comment, just like the others here.
You’all be perfect in academia, where your students will have to agree with you. Meanwhile this is an open forum, where opinions will, happily, vary.
Do you realize how shrill you get when someone differs with you.
Um…okay.
Have a great day!
Here you go again.
(Shakes head)
Funny how you always jump in behind KG. Are you his mom or wife?
Doubtful, personally my mom and wife rarely back me up on anything.
Fire Kelly
Now this Louisville Clemson game. Very sloppy.
IU 24 MSU 21
Texas loses again.
UVA over Duke.
yeah, very weird.
So you’re saying we should be worried about our SOS in the playoff beauty competition?
Hey everyone,
I just arrived in DC for a few days (buy you a beer if you are in town, KG) – so I missed the game while in flight. Have watched various highlights, and found BK’s post-game presser.
Towards the end of that, he used several very technical words to describe how he and the Hudson-led D coaches had changed defensive back coverages. None of which I understood but clearly they are major changes, esp clear when he talked about changing 2 1/2 years of scheme, and why changing Cole Luke to nickel helped as he had less muscle memory from those past years; and the issues with Drue Tranquil during the week, and on the other hand how the frosh were more like blank slates, so easier to coach up.
I wonder if one of you aficionados (Eric, Larz, Brendan) could translate those terms BK used and maybe even do a film analysis showing the difference?
As much as we have been collectively critical of BVG, it strikes me that this would be an important x’s & o’s contribution to our understanding.
Thanks in advance
Appreciate the offer, but I’ve been in NJ since September.
Darn; I hope all is well (grad school?)
I think KG and the Princeton historians have a big game coming up against the Harvard sociologists.
As Anachronism said, yes, grad school. Otherwise known as “which of these 9 books for this class do I ACTUALLY have to read this week? Oh, this one is by my professor? Yeah, I’ll read that one and skim the rest.”
You’re in DC right now? I’m so sorry.
I was relieved losing Studstill wasn’t a backbreaker. When he left the game I expected the defense to fall apart. Instead the D seemed to slowly improve throughout the game despite his absence.
Also, Dexter is fun to watch. I just hope they encourage him to cut up field more. He often looks like a freshmen trying to break a huge run every play, which usually won’t work. I think most defenses aren’t going to let you reverse field like that.
Most won’t, and he’ll pay for it almost every time. But man, when it works out, it’s really fun to see D1 athletes playing backyard football.
Yeah, I think a lot of them were having fun and a lot looser this weekend, very fun to watch.
Our players were loose this weekend? At ND, I think that’s a minimum 5 game suspension.