Since I’m Twitter jailed…
Notre Dame just lost to Stanford 28-14. A late TD made it look better than it was. The 1st half was absolutely miserable. Penalties, turnovers, inability to get plays off, everything that has happened bad during ND games happened in full form. Rees got banged up on a big hit, leading to Kelly putting Hendrix in. This led to some questions from folks, but whatever, if that’s who he wanted to go with, fine.
The main issue is when Rees came back, Kelly decided to start flip flopping the two qb’s play for play. Unsurprisingly, turnovers happened. This of course is after Rees couldn’t get snaps off and we had multiple false starts. In the last week of the year, that shit is just unacceptable. I’m done defending Kelly after this game. At some point you have to show something. This many dumb mistakes at this point in the year is insane. Are there mitigating factors? Sure. Having Braxton Cave out is painful. And I guess you can argue it’s a road game, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Palo Alto listed as a dangerous place to play.
The good news is, there were some bright points. The D played pretty well in the 2nd half. As bad as the 1st was, they stepped up big time in the 2nd. Aaron Lynch is an absolute monster on the Defensive Line. His classmate Stephon Tuitt has shown huge strides this year as well, but missed the game due to some mystery illness that’s been floating around this week. Once Hendrix came in full time during the 2nd half, he showed flashes of success. Yes there was a pick on a ball that was tipped due to being overthrown, but he at least had some success, unlike Rees today.
Odds are, we end up in the Champs Sports Bowl. Am I happy, clearly no, but you take the opportunity and make the most of the extra practice time. Plus, whoever runs their twitter account is awesome. I’ve said this before tonight, but then I had a little exchange with them (here) which was quite amusing. Before the year, I predicted ND going 10-2 in the regular season (read all the idiocy here) with a non BCS bowl win. I always expected to lose to Stanford. The loss tonight is not what’s demoralizing. Just like against USF and Michigan, is was the way we lost that is so damned frustrating. Moreover, the fact that it was ANOTHER time in which sloppy execution, stupid penalties, and ridiculous strategy played such a big part. But it seems like a given we will play FSU in Orlando, and so that will happen. Whatever, I’m done with this year.
So where do we go from here? Lots of people keep saying that this team is on the way up, Kelly will right the ship, etc. I want Kelly to be the guy, but I dont see next year being better. In fact, I see next year being far, far worse. ND’s schedule gets much tougher. The usual suspects appear, with USC and Michigan a year better and further into their new outfits. Add in Miami and Oklahoma in Norman? Plus, the first week of the year ND plays in Dublin against Navy. Navy is a strange enough opponent, but following what is sure to be tons of pomp and circumstance in a different country? That’s a strange opener at the very least.
Now let’s look at what ND loses talent wise. 3 Offensive line starters. Arguably (yes I will argue it) the best WR in the land in Michael Floyd, all 4 starters in your secondary….Sure, the Irish have a lot of young talent, but come on man, you think you will be better with all those guys gone?? I have a hard time believing there wont be a huge drop off.
Maybe I’m being overly dramatic. It wouldn’t be the first time. But I’m yet to see anything leading me to believe that A) Brian Kelly can be the guy and B) we will be any better next year. I hope like hell I’m wrong. I love what Kelly’s done in his career and thought it was a great hire. But how are you having the same issues in the last week of the year that you had at the beginning? How can your team come out so flat in big games so frequently? We’ll just have to see next year. At least I’ll always have my chat with a bowl game.
