Home › Sideline Forums › Notre Dame Football › The 2011 NDFB Season › Keep Some Perspective on the Long Term (Read this if you're depressed)
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| December 30, 2011 at 8:31 am #9821 | |
 Brad
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Last night hurt, and it hurt because it was the same game we saw all year. A fantastic, dominant defense for 85% of the game that eventually collapsed, and an offense that loves nothing more than to hand the ball over to the defense….particularly when its about to score. The team that led the nation in turnovers continued to give up the ball, and when the team faced its first bit of adversity, it collapsed without any leaders to be found to keep things together. I couldn’t sleep last night at all. But I am forcing myself to keep things in perspective with the following points. - This defense is young, talented, and deep. Its only going to get better, especially with some great corners coming in like Darby and Shepherd, who will be needed sooner rather than later. It can be one of the better defenses in the nation next year. Being able to say that about ND, just two years after the holocaust that was our defense under Weis, is a hell of an accomplishment in improving this program. - This offense killed itself, but still wasn’t that awful. Lets keep in mind this offense put up over 500 yards four times this year. And for the first time in 5-6 years, we had a consistent, impressive rushing attack that could keep the chains moving in most games. We had a true sophomore at QB in Rees who obviously has limitations, but he still hit about 65% of his passes, and was fairly productive. But I get the feeling that Rees has been a band-aid. He simply turns the ball over far too often, and seems to have a knack for turning the ball over in the red zone. Floyd made an insane, circus, juggling catch in the end zone on what was supposed to be a fade…..but he shouldn’t have had to. Rees threw the ball to a perfect spot….for not one but two different FSU players to intercept it. I feel very strongly now that Rees is being used as the starter because Kelly knows the other two simply were not prepared. In that light, overall the offense wasn’t awful this year. But it definitely lost us 5 games with continuous turnovers. - No one is happy with two 8-5 seasons back-to-back. Its not good enough. But keep this in mind, and say this to yourself over and over again until the point is made: THESE ARE THE TWO BEST BACK-TO-BACK SEASONS WE HAVE HAD SINCE 2005 AND 2006. Prior to that, you need to go all the way back to the Holtz Era, where we went 9-3 and 8-3 in 1995 and 1996. Burn that into your brain. - Holtz went 5-6 and 8-4 his first two seasons, and went into his 3rd season without a proven quarterback. Multiple times, Holtz said that it took time to coach up the team, because he needed to A) bring in his guys, who he wanted on the team, and B) to get rid of the guys in the lockerroom who didn’t care enough to work the way he wanted them to. - Another crucial point to remember is that this year’s 8-5 team is entirely different than last year’s 8-5 team. Just because the results were the same does not mean we haven’t improved as a football team. Last year, we were the same, miserable, fluky Weis team that couldn’t run the ball or stop any offense at the beginning of the season. We suffered through adversity and injuries, the Defense improved a hundred-fold, and the team came together and learned how to win at the end of the season by gritting its teeth and grinding out a string of tough wins against teams that were much better than us. Last year, we were a team that fought and WON IN SPITE OF THEMSELVES. We were a team that had to learn how to win, and eventually did. This year, we were a team that seemed to LOSE IN SPITE OF THEMSELVES. We kept ourselves from becoming great, by shooting ourselves in the foot, and giving games away through errors and turnovers. But there was significant improvement in my mind. We were not that Weisian team. This year we were a team that showed moments of dominance against teams like Michigan, Michigan St., and even Florida St. This year, we were a team that could put together 2 or 3 quarters of sharp, aggressive, borderline-elite football against every team we played (Stanford and USC being debatable…we had our moments were overall were outclassed by better teams). This year, we were a team that was capable of DOMINATING THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE, on either side of the ball, for at least portions in every game we saw. I do not remember the last time I could say that about a Notre Dame team. I think you would have to go back to the 90s. You cannot be a Notre Dame fan, have watched this program for years, and say that you didn’t see an improved team. This year’s 8-5 team was not the scrappy team trying to scrape out win after win. It was a team that was capable of domination and knew it, and would not allow itself to become great because it kept shooting itself in the foot. Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades, and your record is what you are, and 8-5 is not good enough. But this years 8-5 team was much, much closer to putting it all together and becoming an 11-2 kind of team than last year’s Irish. Last year’s team was not capable of being much better than it was, and in honestly probably should have lost even more games. This year, the Irish gave away 3 losses in games that they could have ran away with. We still have a lot to work on. We need a QB, we need playmakers at WR, we need DBs badly, and we need to stop turning the ball over. But all in all, I feel and believe that this year’s team was much closer to being a great football team than last years. I feel that this year’s team was much closer to being a Top 10, BCS caliber team than last year. This team has a lot to work on, but I think they are now aware of just how close they were to being a great football team. Maybe thats why this year was so frustrating for me. But I truly believe that this program has improved, and we are closer to being a great team if we can just learn to put it all together. |
| December 30, 2011 at 9:21 am #9822 | |
 goirish
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Seriously? Brian Kelly is no Lou Holtz. Holtz’s teams made very few mistakes and Holtz took personal responsibility for performance. BK is no remotely close to being in Lou Holtz’s league. Not even in the zip code. |
| December 30, 2011 at 10:51 am #9824 | |
 NDtex
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I’m not making any Holtz or any other coaching comparison until I see more. While I believe this team has the potential to be on the rise, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disturbed by our QB problems. I trust that BK made his decisions based on practice and if Hendrix’s INT was any indication, I can see why BK was hesitant to put him in. One thing is for sure, our defense is going to be damned run to watch. Our front seven is going to be simply SICK next season. |
| December 30, 2011 at 12:48 pm #9828 | |
 DayBreakBoys
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Doesn’t matter how good our D is if we can’t score. I feel like any “progress” we made last year and this year (and this year’s is debatable) we be utterly undone by our schedule next year. MSU Those are 5 potential losses. 4 of them are likely losses cause Miami is sketchy. So lets say we win 1 of those. Its still a 4 loss season plus a bowl game. Again, no improvement. We didn’t deserve to beat Sparty this year. We were humiliated by Michigan, I think they will be much better next year. USC will own us. Oklahoma….not even a contest. There’s no room for improvement. We still lack a QB, we lose Floyd and Gray. Our defense should remain good but offensively I think we are in a worse position than we were coming into this year. |
| December 30, 2011 at 1:28 pm #9829 | |
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Brad
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GoIrish, My point was not to put Kelly on the same footing as Holtz. Thats ridiculous. However, now that its brought up, I will point out that both of them had reputations for resurrecting and winning at multiple schools, both came from supposedly inferior schools (Minnesota and Cincy), were both criticized for their sideline behavior, and both won everywhere they went. Honestly, Kelly arguably has a better resume at this point in his career than Holtz did when he was in his second year at ND (as far as wins, experience, and national championships, though thats debatable). But my point was merely that Holtz used to say they way to motivate a lockerroom to play great football was to simply get rid of those who were not motivated, and to bring in guys who are. I am not saying that about any player or person in particular, just noting it. More specifically, what I am trying to convey is the sad reality that this is the 2nd best back-to-back seasons this team has had since 1995-1996. And I think this program is in a much better position right now than we were two or three or four years ago. It still has a lot of problems, but I think they can be corrected. |
| December 30, 2011 at 4:34 pm #9830 | |
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goirish
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We will see. I am sure you will agree that we have been deplorable in Septmber ’10 and ’11. Certainly this calls into question the “coaching” in Spring and Fall camps. Quality coaches have teams that do not make (repeatedly) mental errors. So,…….we will see. Resume aside, I personally have seen little of substance that would indicate that Coach Kelly has the stuff to fix it. |
| December 30, 2011 at 5:44 pm #9831 | |
 starkruzr
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“Deplorable?” Maryland is deplorable. Much of the MAC is deplorable. ND is not deplorable. ND is middle-of-the-road, with some flashes of brilliance and some gut-wrenchingly bad problems. Can we get better? Of course. Should we get better? Of course. But there has been progress. Next year will be VERY difficult. Patience is key. |
| December 30, 2011 at 7:04 pm #9832 | |
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NDtex
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This is hilarious. All 5 potential loses huh? Let’s break down these games that you’ve read into the future: MSU – Losing Cousins next season. They better hope their next QB can come in and make a difference otherwise it is simply a matter of stacking against the run. BTW, saying we didn’t deserve to beat them this year is absurd, that’s one of the best wins we had this season and the team was clicking on all cylinders. Michigan – This will be a tough one for sure, but even this year we basically handed the game to them. Toss up. Miami – Seriously? Jacory is gone next season and their backup, Morris, had a 7:9 TD:INT ratio in 2010. They are constantly mediocre and for crying out loud Boston College beat them this season. Playing in Chicago is basically a great home game as well. Miami won’t be favored. Oklahoma – Has the potential to be another rough game; however, “Big Game” Bob tends to uh, have issues in big games. Take a look at their game against FSU this season. If they face a good defense, they aren’t quite explosive. A tough game to be sure, but I have a hard time marking that a loss. USC – Easily the roughest game on the schedule with Barkley coming back. Best thing in our favor is that it is at the end of the season and a lot can happen for both teams.
Jesus, the sky really is falling for you isn’t it? At QB, there is no doubt Hendrix and Golson will battle. Golson was redshirted for a reason as he likely has the highest QB ceiling of any QB currently on the roster. Would I prefer to have a more experienced QB ready to go? Without a doubt, but the situation isn’t as glum as you try to make it. At RB, you seem to forget that Cierre Wood is actually rather good. He’s had a fantastic season this year and has gotten better every season. I don’t see that trend stopping. We also have McDaniel and GA3 on the roster. McDaniel was a highly touted recruit and we’ve already seen special teams brilliance from GA3. Riddick is also a wild card here, depending on how the staff feels about the WR needs. To top it all off, we have William Mahone and KeiVarae Russell coming into South Bend next season. With all that depth, lead by a senior, plus two highly sought after 4-star running backs and you are freaking out? WOW. WR is a big question mark, but I have a feeling that one of the young guns will step up in a big way. The offense will definitely be dependent on the QB situation; however, I seem to look at the national title game and see two mediocre QBs leading their teams into battle that in reality are lead by their stellar defenses. |
| December 30, 2011 at 7:42 pm #9833 | |
 vegasmark
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@NDTex…good call with the scheduling stuff…I was lamenting to my FSU fan boss last night that our sched is a buzz saw next year, and he talked me off the ledge by making those same points. |
| December 31, 2011 at 9:08 am #9835 | |
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goirish
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Deplorable in the month of September. As in, the team is not ready to play. |
| December 31, 2011 at 12:08 pm #9836 | |
 kyndfan
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Had to disconnect for a couple days. I agree with Tex. Schedule is tough next year, as always, but those are not 5 losses. If Golson steps up, our offense has the potenetial of being explosive. I think everyone agrees the D will be stout. |
| December 31, 2011 at 1:06 pm #9837 | |
 SDI
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Until I see a competent QB emerge, along with somebody besides Tyler Eifert that can consistently get open and catch the ball, I will remain skeptical that ND can do better than 6-6. Those teams on the schedule next year are not all great teams, but Michigan State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Miami, USC and Stanford are all loaded with talent and Pitt, BC, and Wake Forest are no cupcakes. I don’t think that makes me a pessimist either. ND has major question marks on offense at two of the most important positions. I hope that Golson or Hendrix can come out next year and light it up, but I think that is a lot to ask of a first year QB no matter how good they are. |
| January 1, 2012 at 7:04 pm #9853 | |
 Mr. Wednesday
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We looked pretty f***ing ready to play on the first drive of the USF game. We looked pretty f***ing ready to play for the first three quarters of the Michigan game. We looked pretty f***ing ready to play for the entire MSU game. I’m not sure what September games you were watching. |
| January 2, 2012 at 2:43 pm #9861 | |
 IrishLion
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If Hendrix/Golson learn how to make reads at the line like Rees can, the offense will be explosive regardless of losing Michael Floyd. Floyd made Rees look good, but a good enough QB will also make the next no. 1 wideout look good. It works both ways. Also, very excited about the defense next season as well. However, I don’t think people are giving enough attention to losing Blanton/Gray/Smith. Blanton was often the best player on the field not named Teo. I know a good front seven makes the secondary better, but it’s hard to replace those three guys regardless of how good the freshman are (I know we have Lo Wood and Bennet Jackson at corner as well, but they are not close to Blanton’s level of play). Hopefully Slaughter can step in next to Motta and provide great play like he seemed to show the last 3 or 4 games of the season. |
| January 3, 2012 at 8:07 am #9882 | |
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goirish
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seriously? SERIOUSLY?? Watching the games with 10 f***ing turnovers. Watching the games we lost to teams the world expected us to win. I am glad that you take consolation in playing well for several quarters on the way to loosing. I do not. You win or you do not. As I said, we will see this September. We will see if this team is ready to play Notre Dame football. Prior experience would suggest that will not. Hopefully I am wrong. |
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