Notre Dame's problems fixable...sound familiar?
What he didn't like had nothing to do with the defense being slow - as some analysts have railed — but rather being in the wrong places.....“I don't have to do that. Our kids are going to play hard. We know how we're going to play the game. Now we've got to play cleaner. We've got to be better at the execution.”
As much as Kelly lauded his team's depth in the era-opening 23-12 dismissal of Purdue on Sept. 4, the Michigan game showed that depth is not universal across all positions. Kelly, who won games with a fifth-string QBs at Cincinnati, inherited an ugly algebra problem at quarterback at ND, and he's still dealing with it.
Defensively, the safety spot has been hit hard. Starter Jamoris Slaughter (ankle) didn't practice enough to be effective against Michigan's Robinson, and backup Dan McCarthy wasn't 100 percent, so he wasn't an option either. With freshman Derek Roback having transferred earlier in the week, that left Harrison Smith and Zeke Motta. That meant ND couldn't play nickel, because it uses an extra safety in that package. It also meant that Smith and Motta had to play every snap. “Eighty-something snaps,” Kelly said. “That's way too many.”
Still, ND could have won the game had it been able to stop Michigan on the Wolverines' final possession. Robinson was 5-of-6 passing for 55 yards on the game-winning drive, thanks to misalignment on several plays by the Irish. “Fleming was active, but he misfit a lot of pass-coverage scenarios. especially in the last drive,” Kelly said.
4. Kelly has dealt with adversity well. But he continues to get additional doses of it.It just seems like a mirror of a lot of the problems we've had in transition the last couple of years. Whether that's process or excuse making is which side of the ball you're on, I guess. Oh, and it also mentions, if you're trying to find a #16 Michigan jersey, you're going to have to wait...they're all sold out. ;-)
September 13th, 2010 at 11:21 AM ^
a little faster than it has taken (and is still taking) Michigan. I do think Kelly inherited more defensive talent than RR did (I think the Irish's defense acquitted themselves well-Denard is just freakish), and I don't think mobility at the QB position is as crucial as it is in a strictly read option spread. I think ND is and will continue to be pretty good this year, and I think they get things started with a 31-13 largely non-competitive victory this weekend in East Lansing.
September 13th, 2010 at 11:28 AM ^
and I hope they have a good season now that we have beaten them. I hope the beat little brother at least.
September 13th, 2010 at 11:30 AM ^
I think everyone assumed that Notre Dame has had loads of talent and that Weis was a good recruiter because his classes were highly ranked, but I don't see a lot of impressive athletes on that team, especially on defense. It seemed like every year Weis would sign a good quarterback, one or two skill position guys, and then a bunch of non-descript 4-star TE/DE types that never ended up having any impact on the field, but would shoot them up the recruiting rankings (basically a bunch of big white dudes who would commit at the Army AA game where Tom Lemming drools all over them).
After Crist, Floyd, Rudolph, and Te'o, nobody really stands out on that team and they have serious depth issues now at safety. They may be a little better than last year, but I don't see them making a leap above 7-8 wins until the talent pool improves.
September 13th, 2010 at 11:37 AM ^
with ND was that Floyd was almost a non-factor. He dropped a ball (or two) and did little to help their offense. I don't know whose fault that was for not getting him more involved, but if I were ND I would've been throwing to Floyd all day.
September 13th, 2010 at 12:18 PM ^
How many superstar athletes/players does a team need? Rudolph is actually a lot better player than I remember, he could be a number 1 receiver in any offense, kind of like Travis Beckham from a few years ago, except way bigger.
They definitely have some big time talent, the problem is that their backup qbs suck.
September 13th, 2010 at 12:34 PM ^
They have a just average o-line, no game breakers at tailback (Allen is okay but doesn't exactly strike fear into the heart of a defensive coordinator), no playmakers on the d-line or in the secondary, no second or third wideout, and limited depth all the way around.
That is a recipe for 7-8 wins at best. Last year's team had one of the best quarterbacks in the country throwing to two NFL wideouts and they only managed to go 6-6. "Weis is dumb" does not explain that away entirely.
September 13th, 2010 at 12:39 PM ^
Who didn't end up living up to their hype, for one reason or another.
Sound familiar? ;-)
September 13th, 2010 at 12:07 PM ^
Kelly has a much better situation than the one Rod inherited. Trying to compare this ND team to the Michigan team the last two years is far from accurate and also sells this year's team out. I think ND and Michigan will both keep improving and it will be good for both programs.
September 13th, 2010 at 12:41 PM ^
Just that they have many of the same problems we have, and at least this writer is seeing many of the positive signs that it will change in the future, much like people around here have. And are hopefully being rewarded for, starting now.
September 13th, 2010 at 7:16 PM ^
The talent doesn't fit the style. He will have to take a step back before moving forward. The question is whether he as the balls to dramatically change the approach.
September 13th, 2010 at 11:48 PM ^
How does the talent not fit his style? What's wrong with Crist, Allen, Floyd and Rudolph? That line is overused. He can easily win with what he's got. ND this year is like what we might have been had Mallett, Manningham and Boren stayed (and Butler not gotten into trouble).
September 13th, 2010 at 9:26 PM ^
Kelly never had the talent that fit his style. Most of the players on his teams were recruited by other people. Which was one of the knocks on him when he was being bandied about for the ND job. Can he actually recruit? Recruiting comes easy when you are winning, its just getting there that is the issue.