A Bit of Delicious ND Schadenfreude
There is all kinds of good stuff going on over at NDNation.com - the very best source of schadenfreud after an ND loss. Here is my favorite so far - it is an evaluation of Coach Kelly by an ND faithful:
What we have here, is a slim-fast, kindler, gentler Weis.
Ahh... miss you, big guy. xoxo. Thanks for sending us your slim-fast, kinder and most importantly, gentler version.
You can follow the evolution of the above thought at this link:
http://www.ndnation.com/boards/showpost.php?b=football;pid=123883;d=all
September 26th, 2010 at 1:12 AM ^
They are just dying to crown someone else...god bless them
September 26th, 2010 at 1:08 PM ^
This is the best thing I've seen since Michigan's 2010 offense.
September 26th, 2010 at 5:54 PM ^
The worst part is that each of those books probably sold a million copies. The domers want so badly to believe that they are what they used to be that they will latch on to anything at this point. Hell, they gave Weis a massive extension after a close loss to USC. Talk about grasping at straws.
September 26th, 2010 at 12:01 AM ^
can really make a coach look bad are QB and S.
A novice QB has to have one heck of a supporting cast (i.e. defense) to win consistently on the steep slope of the learning curve.
September 26th, 2010 at 12:02 AM ^
I may be in the minority here, but I do believe that Kelly is a very good coach. Being a Ferris State grad, I have been watching him coach since his days at GVSU. He has won on every level. I will simply laugh my you know what off if ND runs him out of town before he is able to get his type of team philosphy installed.
September 26th, 2010 at 12:07 AM ^
That he may or may not be a good coach is sorta irrelevant. What's fun is watching the domers implode.
September 26th, 2010 at 12:36 AM ^
Sorry for not completing my thought. I stated that I believe Coach Kelly is a good coach, the funny part is watching and listening to those domers bail out on him so soon and just turn on him.... That is typical ND.....
September 26th, 2010 at 12:07 AM ^
That he may or may not be a good coach is sorta irrelevant. What's fun is watching the domers implode.
September 26th, 2010 at 10:02 AM ^
A statement so nice, it had to be said twice.
September 26th, 2010 at 12:12 AM ^
This will sound all too familiar, but if Kelly is given enough time, he should have ND back in the game fairly soon. He doesn't have nearly as much rebuilding to do at ND as RR did at Michigan. It looks like many ND fans are even worse than the idiots who were screaming for RR's ass.
September 26th, 2010 at 12:21 AM ^
Rodriguez struggled because he had zero experienced talent on offense. Kelly's defense is thin in the secondary but those guys played their ass off today. The offense is the reason they lost that game today. If Kelly can't put up any points with Crist, Rudolph, Floyd, Riddick, etc., then who is he going to be able to put up points with?
September 26th, 2010 at 12:49 AM ^
Crist is still inexperienced and the team still hasn't had much time to practice Kelly's system.
We all have seen what a difference one offseason can make, and Kelley has a lot of blue chip guys at his disposal.
September 26th, 2010 at 1:03 AM ^
The guy is a year older than Denard and has thrown more passes than Shoelace. Our offseasons have made a difference because we've added blue-chip players or they've gone from being freshmen to viable options. ND has a bunch of experienced, talented players across the board on offense.
Kelly is not Rodriguez. He has never built a BCS conference team (won with Dantonio's players) and has never won a game against an elite opponent. I thought the whole reason to hire Kelly was because he could take the talent Weis had recruited and get them to the next level? If so, he is failing miserably so far (Weis didn't have a problem putting yards and points on the board at ND).
September 26th, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^
That was certainly an issue here when RR was hired.
September 26th, 2010 at 1:28 AM ^
gotta agree with this...their defense played well enough to win...the offense just couldn't score
September 26th, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^
look at their yard totals and per play average. not shabby. 4 sacks and a pick though.
September 26th, 2010 at 2:54 PM ^
Notre Dame has 10 non-freshman offensive linemen on the roster who were 4-star recruits or better on Rivals. They only lost two starters last year and the current unit has tons of experience. Again, I just don't see what pieces Kelly is missing.
September 26th, 2010 at 3:37 PM ^
What are you trying to say? You think Kelly is a shitty coach? Kelly is 4 games into his ND career with 2 heartbreaking losses, yet you seem intent on inferring something out of this, I'm just not sure what.
September 26th, 2010 at 4:28 PM ^
I know the GVSU and CMU fans on here are super high on the guy, but I don't think he's really done anything of note at the BCS conference level (winning a bad Big East while getting smoked against teams like Oklahoma and Florida). The whole reason they hired Kelly was because he could coach up anybody (supposedly), especially on offense. Yet he is putting up just 23 points a game despite having loads of experienced talent across the board.
I don't understand the excuses either. There wasn't a hint of discord when he took the job. The offense isn't really that different/revolutionary from what they were running before (multiple wideouts, pass-happy attack). They just aren't having success on offense. Between the countless coaching mistakes I've seen him make, the constant berating of his quarterbacks, and his odd demeanor with the media, I am not impressed with Kelly at all. I also find it hard to argue that a coach like June Jones or Mike Leach or even Charlie Weis wouldn't be getting a lot more out of this offense.
September 26th, 2010 at 4:37 PM ^
Basically you want to give little weight to his past accomplishments and great weight to his first 4 games at ND. Don't know how accurate you assessment is, but it certainly is a peculiar way of looking at Kelly's career
September 26th, 2010 at 4:45 PM ^
His offense is the perfect weapon for taking advantage of crappy defenses who can't possibly cover 4-5 receivers and get pressure on the quarterback (the kind of defenses you find in the Big East or the lower levels of football). As such, he's had a lot of success at those levels, but I'm not convinced that he has the kind of knowledge as a playcaller and offensive architect to attack better defenses. His Cincinnati teams got crushed whenever they played an elite BCS conference team and his ND offense has woefully underachieved so far this year.
I'm judging the job I've seen him do with the talent he has at ND. A better offensive coach would have a better record right now. So would one who is smart enough to go to a safe alignment against a long-distance field goal in OT.
If someone can explain why he can't put up more than 23 points with the roster he has then I am all ears, but just citing his prior accomplishments against lesser competition isn't really persuasive to me.
September 26th, 2010 at 7:25 PM ^
good recruits who underperform? i have no idea how you're going to blame Kelly at this point without discounting his entire career. apparently you are. go right ahead i guess, but don't be surprised if people take the heuristics over your scouting prowess.
September 26th, 2010 at 9:03 PM ^
If all you can say about a guy is that he's no worse than Charlie Weis, then I don't think he's giving ND fans what they want/expected. The whole point of hiring Kelly was his reputation for overachieving. So far he has completely failed to live up to that expectation despite having loads of offensive talent at his disposal. His lack of coaching awareness cost his team the game against MSU. And apparently he is to blame for the poor offensive showing on Saturday because he wasn't aware that Stanford would be allowed to mix-up what they do on defense.
http://notredame.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1131455
Again, the next person to say something positive about the job he's done at Notre Dame (rather than rehashing his resume at lower levels of football) will be the first person to do so.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:58 AM ^
the suggestion was that Weis' lack of coaching has left them with a lack of skilled talent despite their recruiting numbers. and i'm not sure how you could possibly conclude that we shouldn't probably give Kelly more than a spring and a fall before deciding against him. again, his entire career suggests he's a good coach and your opinion doesn't count for much given all that. at least acknowledge that it's not something most people are going to or should believe.
September 26th, 2010 at 12:15 AM ^
http://www.ndnation.com/boards/showpost.php?b=football;pid=124377;d=this
Much more a sense of resignation and an understanding that ND is not an elite program at present and that there's currently little rational basis to expect it to achieve that status in the near to medium term. There's also a question as to why it's worth investing so much emotional energy in such a program. Were it not for the golden memories of the halcyon days of my youth, I'm not sure that it would be worth investing such energy.
http://www.ndnation.com/boards/showpost.php?b=football;pid=123800;d=this
We suck on offense. We suck on defense. We can't return kicks. We can't punt. Other than kick FGs, we suck at just about everything.
Barring a miracle, I think Kelly is in some deep doo doo.
We look incompetent in every aspect on the field. All you chuckleheads and pickle lickers who were spouting 1986 were morons.
This is nothing like Holtz's first year where his teams look competent and battled tough teams to the end. We just got stomped by Stanford.
September 26th, 2010 at 1:03 AM ^
I saw that thread too, the sense of resignation, sadness, and willingness to not only abandon Kelly, but ND football completely, was quite striking. Please forward this to Brian to make sure it makes This Week in Schadenfreude!
September 26th, 2010 at 8:26 AM ^
from the ND board was off base, because yes while they did get stomped by Stanford, Stanford is a good team. I would hazard an opinion that Harbaugh being a Michigan Man, ND just got beat by Michigan twice this season....
September 26th, 2010 at 9:10 AM ^
That last line says it all ... The attitude of the OP that says, "But we're ND and they're just ... just ... STANFORD!" As though the fact that they were a patsy for a decade means anything to the price of tea in China, and ND is entitled to a win because they're just ND.
I was rooting for ND, because I think it would have made our win over them look better. But, Stanford is legit this year, Harbaugh is 10x better than any coach ND has had since Holtz, and ND deserved every part of getting dismantled.
September 26th, 2010 at 9:36 AM ^
Interstingly enough, Lou Holts was 1-3 four games into his tenure, including a loss at home to Michigan when his FG kicker failed the most important part of his job description....kick a last minute field goal.
By the way, in that game, our defense was so inept, ND didn't punt the entire day.
September 26th, 2010 at 11:06 AM ^
Other than kick FGs, we suck at just about everything.
Is there any way we can convince ND's placekicker to transfer to UM?
September 26th, 2010 at 12:42 AM ^
Michigan beat this apparently pathetic team only in the last minute...Kelly is a good coach. His team is only four games into his tenure...It would have helped U of M if ND had defeated Stanford today...All of that said, it's fun to watch ND fans implode.
September 26th, 2010 at 1:41 AM ^
My favorite quote on that blog
"Additionally, his system is for pussies and he looks like the dad from Teen Wolf. So fuck him."
September 26th, 2010 at 2:30 AM ^
because its true.
September 26th, 2010 at 1:18 PM ^
Coach Kelly could be played by Martin Sheen in the Notre Dame made-for-TV drama, "Fading Echoes."
September 26th, 2010 at 1:47 AM ^
While the Board Ops there can't stand Brian (because he's dared to link to their posts for TWIS), the guy who writes their game analyses (Jvan) is a pretty straight shooter. He's been very complimentary of us this year and predicts us to go 9-3.
September 26th, 2010 at 1:50 AM ^
As much as I hate ND, seeing them get blown out at home by Stanford makes me uneasy, seeing as how we barely squeaked by them and all.
September 26th, 2010 at 9:32 AM ^
Obviously, ND isn't the same team we played in game 2. They WERE undefeated and confident when we faced them. Two deflating losses later and it appears they've lost some confidence in themselves.
September 26th, 2010 at 11:09 AM ^
Well, that and Stanford is probably a lot better than UM this season on defense and special teams. In other words, Stanford is better than UM this season. Stanford will be a real player for the Pac-10 title this season IMO.
September 26th, 2010 at 2:16 AM ^
least a top 10 team.
ND fans are just in another world of reality (similar to Lou Holtz) where they still think they are awesome and should win the National Championship every year, and can and should beat anybody.
In truth they are a mediocre football program that would finish in the middle of the Big 10 every year, and might win the Big East every 3rd year. Look at ND's schedule, they might win no more than 5 games this year.
September 26th, 2010 at 11:07 AM ^
For pure resume rankers, Stanford has a case for #1, especially if they win @ Oregon next week. Their UCLA demolition (at UCLA) suddenly looks great after yesterday's game.
September 26th, 2010 at 9:36 AM ^
PurpleStuff is dead on. imo Kelly is vastly overrated and many M fans like him because he was at GVSU for a long time. He has 10 times more talent than RR started with.
September 26th, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^
they go to the end of the rainbow to gather their pot of gold, but it's just another stupid silver pot.
September 26th, 2010 at 1:22 PM ^
It's more like a cast-iron skillet with some rotten potatoes in it.
September 26th, 2010 at 2:36 PM ^
I really really hope that all the alumni and fans turn against him and that he is forced out before he inevitably turns the program into a winner like he has at every single stop in his career. The fact that they can't realize that this guy is one of the top dozen or so coaches in the country absolutely baffles me.
September 26th, 2010 at 3:44 PM ^
Oh man, it gets better:
Is Kelly our Rich Rodriguez?
But the answer is actually no. No, I wouldn't take Rodriguez and his scheme because I don't think it's a scheme that will actually return Michigan to the top of college football. I could be wrong, but that's what I suspect. I'd be happy with a coach and a system that can win a title, and nothing less.
http://www.ndnation.com/boards/showpost.php?b=football;pid=124858;d=all
September 26th, 2010 at 3:57 PM ^
So based on yesterday's game, I guess we have three "freak" QBs?
September 26th, 2010 at 4:31 PM ^
I think you could also replace "freak athlete" with "not freshman."
ND will be lucky to be above .500. What the fuck are their fans talking about titles for?
September 26th, 2010 at 8:18 PM ^
into opposing message boards. However, I was bored today so I read a bit of NDNation. First observation. Wow are those people depressing. I almost wanted to sign up and tell them 4 games was way to fast to judge Kelly a failure. Second, if you snoop enough, you'll find some great threads where they dig deep into the anals (lol) of Notre Dame history to try to pinpoint exactly where everything went wrong. Truly, Notre Dame fans are the most fascinating bunch I've ever come across, and I really mean that.