By Wally
Stanford’s 37-14 beatdown of Notre Dame in South Bend is clearly a stark reminder that it’s a different era at ND. Obviously, these aren’t Lou Holtz’s Fightin’ Irish that most of us fondly remember, but maybe by the end of the season we’ll be able to say this squad resembles Lou’s first ND team that finished sub .500 but showed signs of life and promise for the future. MAYBE.
But here are the cold, hard facts. Notre Dame got their butts kicked, at home, by Stanford … a school who’s admission standards for athletes have typically been higher than ND’s. Sure, we’ve lost to Stanford before, even Lou did, but never were we physically dominated by this brainy school near the bay whose fans prefer wine and cheese over beer and brats. Again, we got our BUTTS KICKED by Stanford, at home! Their mascot is a tree, for crissakes!
From the little that I saw, the signature play of the game was ND trying to get a first down at midfield early in the 4th quarter while down 19-6. On third and one, the Irish tried to pass unsuccessfully. On 4th and short, an off-tackle run was completely stuffed and lost yardage. So here we are, 4 games into the Brian Kelly era, we’re 1-3, and we’re playing football like a bunch of wimps. Lou Holtz woulda run on 3rd down … and his team woulda picked up 5 yards easy. Notre Dame gained a grand total of 50 yards on 24 carries … at home … versus Stanford. Pathetic. Their mascot is a tree … did I say that already?
ND’s only win this year was against a lousy Purdon’t team that also lost at home Saturday … to Toledo. I’m sure Boog will jump to ND’s rescue and again point out that ND is now just 2 plays away from being 3-1, but from where I sit, it’s depressing. We just got our lunch handed to us by Stanford. What’s next … is Harvard gonna try to get us on their schedule??? The whole ND athletic department should be embarrassed. I am. Now the question is this … what will you do about it?? No … I’m not suggesting we fire the coach. But something has to change. BK … what will you do??
Okay … on to more pleasant things. Spent a great weekend at Boise State visiting my daughter and son-in-law. Took in the game Saturday evening. Here are some photos:
Game action on the smurfturf.
Wife Molly, daughter Sarah, SIL Anthony, Wally & friend Dustin during another Bronco win.
The Broncos won convincingly over a game Oregon State squad. BSU outgained the Beavers at a 2-to-1 margin, but Bronco penalties and a muffed punt kept the score closer than it should’ve been. BSU has a way of overcoming adversity and answering immediately when challenged or getting bad news. Kellen Moore enhanced his Heismann candidacy with another great game. Anyway, I loved the atmosphere in and around Bronco Stadium. This was the second time I’ve seen a game at the smurfturf.
Other reactions to Saturdays CFB results: Boise State fans were obviously cheering on Arkansas during their game against Alabama (#1). The Razorbacks had a pretty good lead at halftime, but managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Ryan Mallet is probably no longer a Heismann candidate after throwing some key INTs in the fourth quarter. I don’t want to say Arkansas gagged, but … okay … I just said it.
What happened to Texas?!?!? UCLA romps over them in Austin???? That’s even more amazing than Stanford’s pummeling of ND in South Bend. But at least the Longhorns didn’t get beat by a tree 😉
Yeah the Razorback’s lost a real heart-breaker 24-20 before 76,000 fans Saturday. Mallett was 15-22 250 yds in the 1st half but only 10-16 107 yds in the 2nd half. Real key was the 3 interceptions (one in the endzone, one which Alabama returned to the 12 setting up their go ahead TD and one on our last possession after driving to the Alabama 48 with plenty of time 2-3 minutes and 2 timeouts. We led most of the game including 20-7 late in the 3rd quarter. Total yardage was 421 vs 421. REAL TOUGH LOSS.
Meanwhile ND gets spanked and embarrassed at home. I read where Toledo entered the Purdue game ranked LAST in the nation in total offense. So much for a BK “signature” win.
I will put another panic button in the mail for you, Wally.
This team will only go as far as their QB, as is the case with most teams. Crist is not a legitimate top 40 Div I QB, plain and simple. He is very small timey. Crist is soft, no other way to put it. You cannot coach toughness. All you can do is have a second string that wants to get in. Second string Nick Montana is not even a JC starting QB, and I don’t think he really even wants to get in a game. I think he is content on basking in his Dads rather unspectacular achievements. Kelly cannot afford to run Crist, and honestly I don’t think Crist even has the balls to run. Not only that, Crist is horribly inaccurate. Add to that equation Floyd who could care less about the team and you have a 1-3 team.
I think at this point Kelly might put the seniors and juniors on notice that if they can’t find the brain power to execute plays they will be pickin splinters……
I would prefer an EASY button, Boog.
This is not the same Stanford. Harbaugh’s Cardinal plays gritty football.
Luck may have thrown two ints but he made at least 10 GREAT passes and another great scramble. Luck has great touch, can throw into traffic and sees the field really well. Meanwhile, Crist has trouble throwing to the correct shoulder. Twice, he had Floyd open down the sideline and threw the ball to the inside shoulder.
Armando Allen shows spurts, but, like you said, he needs an offensive line to get some semblance of daylight.
I continue to wear my rose colored glasses. ND LOST 2 games, but this was the first time they GOT BEAT! But then, right now Stanford is beating EVERYONE, including a UCLA team that destroyed Texas. I think Kelly IS doing things and will continue to make changes, including benching some upperclassmen. He’s already done so I believe; where has Robert whatshisname been until 4th quarter Saturday, but then he produced, albeit too little too late. Kelly matches Lou’s start; I still believe he will match his career as well.
Boog! Nate Montana’s father’s unspectacular achievements – you must be jesting!
Wally, what a great weekend it must have been!
On a side note – pretty sweet being in the presence of the Stanley Cup. ND alum and Black Hawk GM, Stan Bowman, brought the Cup with him to the game. The Cup was announced at halftime as the greatest trophy in all of American sports.
Boog,
Please pass the hooter you’re smoking ! Joe Montana is the greatest QB EVER ! You have no idea how hard that is for me to say since I despise Notre Lame and the SF 49ers but it is what it is…So,10-2 not, 9-3 ain’t gonna happen, 8-4 no way,7-5 nope,at this point you’ll be extremely lucky to go 3-9 but will probably be 1-11…Sorry maybe next decade Domers but I doubt it…Sounds all to familiar lately…Oh yea, by the way USC is 4-0 and Petey Carroll 2-1…Now we’re talking football ! Wally, looks like another fabulous roady…Don’t you work anymore ???
Agree with Boog 99% (the 1% is the Joe Montana shot). ND has to be patient with Kelly because he is playing with personnel he didn’t choose. Let’s see what he does with the next couple of classes. Crist is no Tony Pike or whoever he was at Cincy.
The other thing is it seemed like UnWeis was obssessed with having “top recruting classes” without considering how that personnel would work together. Now Kelly is there with a bunch of guys who don’t really fit a system (I think). The guy’s a good coach and whether or not this group buys in or not shouldn’t make or break him.
Wow. extolling the virtues of a team that won’t qualify for any playoff football and the guy who put them there. You stay classy, San Diego.
Wait … now we’re saying Crist is not our guy??????? Boog, you’ve gone from “we’re 2 plays away from being undefeated” and “let’s be patient, I like what i see” to “FIRE THE QUARTERBACK!” Just took one game, huh? Wow. I guess losing bad to a school who’s mascot is a tree will do that to ya. So who needs a button and some extra gaskets now??? And to further prove your insanity, you’ve disparaged the greatest QB of all time. Tsk, Tsk.
Over to cooler heads … Casey … you were there …. Pete, maybe you were too. What is the difference between ND and Stanford right now? Heck … maybe Stanford is a legit Top 5 team this year?
Boise State broke their previous attendance record by like 35 people on Saturday. I knew ther stadium was small, but I didn’t realize it only holds around 35,000. Seems a lot bigger in and around there during the game. Quite an atmosphere for this modest town and team on the cusp of possibly playing for the NC. They will have their hands full later …. on the road at Nevada though. BSU’s QB Kellen Moore is only a junior.
Yes, sir – Boise State vs. Nevada is shaping up to be a real slobber-knocker.
Stanford had a slight edge in EVERY facet of the game. The result is a significant disparity in the score.
Things like – ND defense gets a stop then Stanford downs a punt inside the five.
Or – ND intercepts the ball on the goal line with less than a minute and a half remaining, goes three and out and punts. Stanford takes the punt, moves the ball 35 yards (including Luck scrambling for 7 yards), and kicks a field goal and ND’s collective teeth to close the half.
Stanford has a BIG test this weekend in Eugene. After that, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to see them running the table in the Pac 10.
Just looked up this stat – Stanford’s third down efficiency: 11/16. ND went 4/13.
Kyle Rudolph looked ineffective at best.
Not that this is an easy fix, but it sounds and feels like it boils down to line play … on both sides of the ball. And good line play is absolutely fundamental to good or great football teams and we hear this constantly during pre and post-game shows. You MUST be able to run the ball and protect your QB. A good football team must average AT LEAST 4 yards per carry, esp in college ball. The great ones average 5-6 yards per carry. So ND is not getting any running game to speak of … meanwhile, our QB is getting pressured usually by only a 3 man pass rush. So it’s no mystery why ND’s offense is really struggling at putting points on the board.
Meanwhile, ND’s defensive line is simply not getting a push up the field to either stuff the run and/or pressure opposing QBs. Exhibit A: Why else would Mante Teo record 21 tackles at his LB position??? Nobody in front of him is doing anything meaningful. All the pressure falls onto the LBs and the DBs … this cannot be sustained!!! Or if it continues, ND will be 3-9 again.
For the Irish, I think it boils down to line play … it’s Football 101 … blocking and tackling UP FRONT, my friends.
Yes, Crist needs to play better, but we knew he was inexperienced coming into the year. He has shown some flashes of being quite effective. And he’s also shown his inexperience and inconsistency. But let’s get him some help, for crissakes! The threat of a REAL RUNNING GAME would do wonders for both our offense and defense, but of course we’ve been saying that for several years now. Or has it been a decade or more???
We are only 4 games into the season and already I find myself looking at 2011 verbal committments. I wish BK was more “comfortable” with 4-star recruits…
Russell —
I understand that it was a really tough weekend for you … with yet another ND loss and your Razorbacks letting that big one get away against Bama. So there’s only one thing to do to save your sanity during this CFB season … and that’s to sit next to me on this Boise State bandwagon and cheer on “the little blue team that could”. This could be the greatest Cinderella Story since … well … Cinderella. Okay … then how about “Hoosiers”? 😉
Okay … off we go …
Rey makes a good point about recruits. This whole “star” system used for ranking these kids only works if their talents can be used. Beyond that, you have the whole troubling component of “blue-chip” kids feeling entitled to a certain amount of playing time. If a blue-chipper doesn’t get his run, he usually sulks. Unheralded kids come to campus with a chip on their shoulder a la the Boise State Broncos. Brian Kelly might have a contingent suffering from the entitlement blues.
I’ve stated before on here that: a) BK is “on probation as a gameday tactician” and b) I think most of us sense that there’s something different about BK (compared to UnWeis) that is good … namely a sense of humility and accountability. Here are some quotes that are pretty revealing on both counts:
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The Irish offense struggled on Saturday against a Stanford defense that unveiled a scheme Notre Dame wasn’t prepared for. “I take a lot of the responsibility for not preparing guys adequately enough for drop eight, Cover 3,” said Kelly, who said he expected more Cover 1 from Stanford. “We got them out of Cover 1 real early and to their credit, their response was drop eight and we did not handle ourselves well and that comes back on my preparation, in particular the quarterback. “We’ll have answers for all of those things. I think one of the unique things that I’m learning at Notre Dame is that early in season you’re not going to get great film sometimes. You have to really prepare for every eventuality. Again, I put a lot of that on my shoulders.”
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One reason to continue fretting: Kelly is still on probation as a gameday tactician. Let’s hope he’s a quick learner!
One reason to be hopeful for the future: He knows it and readily accepts the responsibility. (See, Pete …. I can live in that world, too 😉
Maybe good news in that BC is starting a new QB?
Might be bad news if he’s better than the guy they’re sending to the bench. (Sometimes I think ND’s defense could make Casey look like a Heisman candidate). But let’s hope that BC is currently in a state of disarray, which appears to be the case
Hahahahaha
I can’t wait until we play two-hand touch in the future. 🙂
Honestly, I think Kelly thought this job was going to be a step up in terms of athletic ability and football knowledge of the players he inherited. I think he now realizes Cincy actually had athletes that were not only better, but game day smarter. That will take time to change.
As for Crist, I think his ceiling is a top 30 QB, no more. Which will be just fine if his only job is to handoff to the tailback. Which with our 1.5 yards per carry average will minimize the amount of time he has to be on the field.
Boog —
I’m not buying that Cinci has or had better athletes; in fact, I’m pretty sure ND has the better athletes. And ND should also have the smarter athletes. But maybe Cinci and other schools have HUNGRIER athletes and maybe this attribute is the most important of all??? Casey and Rey are sort of suggesting this above and I can buy into that. This is where a guy like Lou Holtz came in … and hopefully Kelly will intervene. NOBODY could bring a blue-chip athlete with an over-sized ego back down to earth like Holtz could. By your second week on campus, you understood completely that it was all about the TEAM and not about you. Or else you sat on your tail at the end of the bench (with us!!!) 🙂
And I’m not going to write off Crist or put a ceiling on his potential. The guy is basically a sophomore at best in terms of experience and the whole offense just changed on him when Kelly arrived. This is WHY I figured we’d lose 5 games … and unfortunately we’re more than halfway there. By the way, Crist was part of Weis’s best recruiting class from Feb ’08 which was ranked #2 by Scout. There were four 5-star recruits in that class: Crist, Floyd, Rudolph and DE Ethan Johnson. Crist is 6’4″ or 6’5″ with a cannon and decent mobility … reportedly also has a great work ethic and leadership. Now, does he need to see the entire field and be more accurate … yes. But it’s way too early to write him off. That would be like Gallo kicking you off the team as a freshman after seeing you walk your first 5 batters. Well … maybe he shoulda …
Wally, Stanford is a legit top 10 team, and per Casey, outshone ND in every aspect, including coaching. Don’t get me wrong on that; I still think KELLY IS THE RIGHT GUY, but I am now more aware of the adjustment it is going to take. I was impressed to no end with how good and TOUGH Stanford is. Harbaugh has done a great job building that program. When Walsh was there they beat you with razzle dazzle, when Losingham had 1 “successful” season, it was with smart players doing smart things. Harbaugh’s boys are winning by playing good, hard, basic football. ND’s basics are so much improved from the UnWeis years, but the tactics are lagging. There are 2 kinds of coaches; prep coaches and game coaches. Kelly is a game coach. He was at Cincy. His strength was in getting his players to perform under pressue. He was not a great prep coach. He’s going to have to get better at that, and I believe he will. Unlike UnWeis, he learns at a reasonable rate.
Gallo couldn’t kick me off the team. He knew chicks dig the heater and would bring fans (all 4 of them) to the stands. Who cares about strikes, they are overrated anyway.
Boog … you’re crackin’ me up. Yes … chicks dig the heater … except when they’re duckin’ for cover behind the backstop. 🙂
Pete … looks like Stanford and ND have traded places for the time being. Stanford is the old ND … and ND is the old Stanford. Anyway, the Cardinal have really taken on the personality of Harbaugh. I love their toughness and tenacity …. we need some of that in our O-line.
Just jumping in after this entertaining reading, my take is that ND O-Line was completely dominated and needs a serious upgrade FAST!!! I don’t think Crist is the problem since he seems to be ok when the protection shows up. The Stanford defense won that game more than offense did. ND defense simply ran out of gas.
Loved the BSU game and texting Wally for live updates.
Well, I will be off to Vienna (Austria) on Saturday for a business trip and i will hopefully be able to catch some higlights on the net. I heard Europeans play a funky version of Futbol not to be confused with the genuine American article.
Have a great trip, Wannabe. I totally buy in to your high level analysis of the Irish. Hope ND is 2-3 when you get back.